cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Observation of mode-converted ion Bernstein waves in the Microtor tokamak

Mode-conversion processes play an important role in the radio-frequency heating of tokamak plasmas. This paper reports the first direct observation of externally driven ion Bernstein waves in a tokamak plasma. The waves are only observed in mixed-species plasmas near the ion-ion hybrid resonance layer and are interpreted as being the result of linear mode conversion of the fast magnetosonic wave.
Elevated daytime rat pineal and serum melatonin levels induced by isoproterenol are depressed by swimming

Abstract Isoproterenol (1 mg/kg) was subcutaneously injected into adult male rats during the day to stimulate pineal N-acetyltransferase (NAT) activity and pineal and serum melatonin levels. Two hours after isoproterenol administration when levels of each of these variables had increased significantly, the experimental animals swam for 10 min in 22°C water. At 15 min after swimming onset, pineal and serum melatonin levels were highly significantly depressed compared to those in control animals that did not swim. The high NAT level was not influenced by swimming. In a second study, isoproterenol injected rats swam for either 1, 3, 6 or 10 min and were sampled 15 min after the onset of swimming. The reduction in the elevated pineal melatonin in these animals was correlated with the length of the swim, i.e., as the duration of swim increased the percent reduction in pineal melatonin also increased. Neither pineal NAT nor hydroxyindole-O-methyltransferase (HIOMT) activities were influenced by swimming. The results suggest that elevated pineal and serum melatonin induced by isoproterenol can be depressed with no effect on the activity of the enzymes which convert serotonin to melatonin.
Optimal flow control in acyclic networks with uncontrollable routings and precedence constraints

This paper introduces a novel optimal flow control problem that seeks to convey a specified amount of fluid to each of the nodes of an acyclic digraph with a single source node, while minimizing the total amount of fluid inducted into the network. Two factors complicating the aforementioned task are (i) the presence of nodes with uncontrollable routing of the traversing flow and (ii) a set of precedence constraints regarding the satisfaction of the nodal fluid requirements. It is shown that the considered problem can be naturally formulated as a continuous-time optimal control problem that can be reduced to a hybrid optimal control problem with controlled switching. This property subsequently enables the solution of the considered problem through a Mixed Integer Programming formulation. Additional results in the paper establish the NP-hardness of the considered problem, highlight its affinity to some well known scheduling problems, and offer guidelines that can alleviate the increased problem complexity.
The State of Undergraduate Learning

How much are students learning in college? That question begs another one: What should students be learning in college? In Our Underachieving Colleges, former president of Harvard, Derek Bok, propo...
Throughput enhancement by cross-layer header compression in WLANs

A major limiting factor in increasing the throughput of wireless networks has been the bottleneck of prohibitive signaling overhead. A number of header compression schemes have been proposed to solve this particular problem. These, however, come with their set of limitations and suffer from a loss of practicality in certain cases. Our contribution in this paper is two-fold; firstly, we propose a practical framework for cross-layer header compression which improves vastly on existing data rates (by more than 25% of raw throughput at high SNRs). This is achieved by applying independent compression algorithms to both MAC and PHY data units, thus ensuring better throughput. Secondly, we analyze the performance of proposed scheme in slow fading as well as fast fading environments to demonstrate robustness.
Validity of utility measures for women with urge, stress, and mixed urinary incontinence

Objective We sought to evaluate the construct validity of 3 health status classification system instruments–Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI-3), EuroQol (EQ-5D), and Short Form 6D (SF-6D)–and a visual analog scale (VAS) for measuring utility scores in women with urge, stress, and mixed urinary incontinence. Study Design Utility scores were measured in 202 women with urinary incontinence. Pelvic floor symptom severity and quality of life were measured using the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire, respectively. Construct, discriminant, and concurrent validity were evaluated. Results Significant correlations were noted between utility scores and the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (r = –0.22 to –0.42, P P P = .02) and the SF-6D (0.76 ± 0.12, 0.74 ± 0.12, and 0.81 ± 0.11, respectively, P = .02) but not the HUI-3 or the VAS. There was a clinically important difference in utility scores (>0.03) between women with urge or mixed incontinence as compared to stress incontinence for the HUI-3, EQ-5D, and SF-6D but not the VAS. Utility preference scores were significantly lower for women with combined urinary and fecal incontinence (0.69-0.73) than urinary incontinence alone (0.77-0.84, P Conclusion The HUI-3, EQ-5D, and SF-6D, but not the VAS, provide valid measurements for utility scores in women with stress, urge, and mixed urinary incontinence.
A Log-Linear Model with Latent Features for Dyadic Prediction

In dyadic prediction, labels must be predicted for pairs (dyads) whose members possess unique identifiers and, sometimes, additional features called side-information. Special cases of this problem include collaborative filtering and link prediction. We present a new {log-linear} model for dyadic prediction that is the first to satisfy several important desiderata: (i) labels may be ordinal or nominal, (ii) side-information can be easily exploited if present, (iii) with or without side-information, latent features are inferred for dyad members, (iv) the model is resistant to sample-selection bias, (v) it can learn well-calibrated probabilities, and (vi) it can scale to large datasets. To our knowledge, no existing method satisfies all the above criteria. In particular, many methods assume that the labels are binary or numerical, and cannot use side-information. Experimental results show that the new method is competitive with previous specialized methods for collaborative filtering and link prediction. Other experimental results demonstrate that the new method succeeds for dyadic prediction tasks where previous methods cannot be used. In particular, the new method predicts nominal labels accurately, and by using side-information it solves the cold-start problem in collaborative filtering.
Soil quality: an indicator of sustainable land management?

Soil quality appears to be an ideal indicator of sustainable land management. Soil is the foundation for nearly all land uses. Soil quality, by definition, reflects the capacity to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and promote plant and animal health. By reflecting the basic capacity of the soil to function, it integrates across many potential uses. Nonetheless, few land managers have adopted soil quality as an indicator of sustainable land management. There are a number of constraints to adoption. Most could be overcome through a concerted effort by the research community. Specifically, we need to address the following issues: (1) demonstrate causal relationships between soil quality and ecosystem functions, including biodiversity conservation, biomass production and conservation of soil and water resources. True calibration of soil quality requires more than merely comparing values across management systems; (2) increase the power of soil quality indicators to predict response to disturbance. Although there are many indicators that reflect the current capacity of a soil to function, there are few that can predict the capacity of the soil to continue to function under a range of disturbance regimes. Both resistance and resilience need to be considered; (3) Increase accessibility of monitoring systems to land managers. Many existing systems are too complex, too expensive, or both; (4) Integrate soil quality with other biophysical and socio-economic indicators. Effective early-warning monitoring systems will require not just the inclusion of both biophysical and socio-economic indicators, but also the development of models that incorporate feedbacks between soil quality and socio-economic conditions and trends and (5) Place soil quality in a landscape context. Most ecosystem functions depend on connections through time across different parts of the landscape. In conclusion, soil quality is a necessary but not sufficient indicator of sustainable land management. Its value will continue to increase as limitations are diminished through collaboration between scientists, land managers and policymakers. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.
Invisible Labours: Mill Work and Motherhood in the American South

With an almost total lack of access to contraceptive information before the mid 1930s, a high percentage of married women working in the textile mills of the American south were or rapidly became mothers. Without the financial resources to provide their families with wholesome food, medical care, and adult supervision, these women, who bore many children and shouldered most domestic duties in addition to their mill jobs, presumably had particular health care needs. This essay intially questions the usefulness of traditional categories that label physical ailments and accidents as either job-related or lifestyle-related. A group of female physicians in Greenville and Spartanburg Counties in South Carolina, all of them southern natives, worked during the 1930s to address some of the most immediate medical needs of the region's working women. These physicians had no appreciable effect, however, on workplace conditions and did not question the social and economic relationships that led so many working mothers to depend on their services. This essay also provides a partial analysis of public health services available to working mothers in Carolina mill villages during the Depression decade and explores reasons why the region's female medical professionals failed to challenge a form of social organization that left working mothers' particular health care needs unaddressed.
Technology scaling trends and accelerated testing for soft errors in commercial silicon devices

Summary form only given. We consider the soft error sensitivity trends to various memory and logic components as they are scaled to smaller dimensions, higher integration densities, and lower operating voltages. We also review the three radiation mechanisms responsible for soft errors in the terrestrial environment and discuss the methods for characterizing radiation sensitivity and methods for extrapolating product soft error rate (SER) from accelerated tests - with a focus on the difficulties in using test chip SER data to derive actual product mean-time-to-failure from soft errors. We then focus on technology scaling trends for SER, showing that although DRAM bit SER has been reduced by about four to five times per generation, DRAM system failure rates remain unchanged because the amount of system memory has increased as fast as the reductions in DRAM bit SER. We also show that in deep sub-micron regime, the SRAM single bit SER saturates as a function of technology scaling. We also review techniques for reducing SER and conclude that error correction is the beast means of mitigating memory soft errors, and that in high reliability systems that employ error correction on all embedded memory, the product failure rate is limited by the sequential logic SER.
Hallipterus excelsior, a Stylonurid (Chelicerata: Eurypterida) from the Late Devonian Catskill Delta Complex, and Its Phylogenetic Position in the Hardieopteridae

Abstract The priority of the names Stylonurus excelsior and S. lacoanus from the Late Devonian of the eastern United States has been disputed since they were first recognized as synonyms. The genus Hallipterus was later erected for the two known specimens, and they were again separated into distinct species, based on six listed differences, seemingly resolving the priority dispute. However, four of the differences are not present or can be interpreted as ontogenetically or taphonomically induced, and the remaining two are putatively interpreted as sexually dimorphic based on comparisons with Tarsopterella, a closely related taxon. The two species are therefore synonymized again and the species epithet excelsior is considered to have priority. Advocates of both names also provided different reconstructions, mainly based on other stylonurids. Hallipterus is placed in the Hardieopteridae based on putative synapomorphies with Hardieopterus and particularly Tarsopterella, the latter also clearly a hardieopteri...
Output interference in recognition memory

Dennis and Humphreys (2001) proposed that interference in recognition memory arises solely from the prior contexts of the test word: Interference does not arise from memory traces of other words (from events prior to the study list or on the study list, and regardless of similarity to the test item). We evaluate this model using output interference, a decline in accuracy as a function of the words presented during test. Output interference is consistent with models that allow interference from words other than the test word, when each test produces a memory trace, and hence a source of interference. Models positing interference solely from prior contexts of the test word itself predict no effect of items presented during test, without added assumptions. We find robust output interference effects in recognition memory. The effect remains intact after a long delay, when study-test lag is held constant, when feedback is provided, and when the test is yes/no or forced choice. These results are consistent with, and support the view that interference in recognition memory is due in part to interference from words other than the current test word.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE METEORITIC MINERALS AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE SIMPLIFIED CLASSIFICATION OF METEORITES

The essence of this paper is contained in 6 tables entitled: (1) the 5 groups of minerals and their members, some or all of which occur as essential meteoritic minerals; (2) the essential or Class I meteoritic minerals; (3) the primary accessory or Class II meteoritic minerals; (4) the secondary accessory or Class III meteoritic minerals (including both trace (t) and doubtful (d) minerals); (5) the subclasses of meteorites and their symbols (in the simplified classification of meteorites); and (6) the (2-dimensional) classificational sequence of meteorites. These tables are described and discussed, and certain conclusions are drawn from them, especially from Table 6. An “Addendum on Certain Subclasses Not Mentioned in Table 5” is included between the main part of the paper and the “Notes and References” at the end.
Ionic Partition Coefficients and Electroosmotic Flow in Cylindrical Pores: Comparison of the Predictions of the Poisson-Boltzmann Equation with Experiment

Abstract Passive transport studies with net negatively charged model, porous membranes have shown that cationic solutes preferentially partition into the membrane relative to anionic solutes. In addition to direct electric field effects, iontophoretic transport studies with similar membranes have shown that convective solvent flow may increase the cationic solute flux, while impeding the anionic solute flux across the membrane. These observations show the importance of the electric potential within the membrane pores. The radial electric potential is a function of the surface charge density of the pore "wall" and the ionic strength of the electrolyte. The Poisson-Boltzmann equation may be used to describe the relationship between surface charge density and the electrical potential profile. In the present study, the transport pathways for charged and uncharged solutes were modeled as right cylindrical pores. Assuming a particular value for the surface charge density, the numerical solution to the Poisson-Boltzmann equation (in cylindrical coordinates) was solved to obtain the radial potential profile. This profile was then used to predict the electroosmotic velocity (at 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 M ionic strengths) from the equations of fluid motion. Through comparison with experimental velocity data, a best estimate of the surface charge density was established and then used to predict the partition coefficients at each ionic strength. The surface charge density was found to be essentially independent of ionic strength with a mean value of 0.0068 C/m2. The predicted partition coefficients were in good agreement with the experimentally determined values which indicated that the surface charge density determined from the velocity calculations was a reasonable estimate.
The Manufacture of Sterilized Caramel Milk

Summary A process was developed for the preparation of a caramel-flavored sterilized milk for use as a beverage by the armed forces. The milk was made by mixing a caramel base with plain and concentrated milk to produce a product containing 5 per cent milk fat and 22 per cent total solids. The mixture was canned and processed by the same procedure as is used for evaporated milk. Some caramel milks were more stable than samples of evaporated milk in flavor, viscosity and body during storage for one year at 86° F.
Low serum testosterone and mortality in older men.

Context: Declining testosterone levels in elderly men are thought to underlie many of the symptoms and diseases of aging; however, studies demonstrating associations of low testosterone with clinical outcomes are few. Objective: The objective of the study was to examine the association of endogenous testosterone levels with mortality in older community-dwelling men. Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a prospective, population-based study of 794 men, aged 50–91 (median 73.6) yr who had serum testosterone measurements at baseline (1984–1987) and were followed for mortality through July 2004. Main Outcome Measure: All-cause mortality by serum testosterone level was measured. Results: During an average 11.8-yr follow-up, 538 deaths occurred. Men whose total testosterone levels were in the lowest quartile (<241 ng/dl) were 40% [hazards ratio (HR) 1.40; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14–1.71] more likely to die than those with higher levels, independent of age, adiposity, and lifestyle. Additional adjustment for health status markers, lipids, lipoproteins, blood pressure, glycemia, adipocytokines, and estradiol levels had minimal effect on results. The low testosterone-mortality association was also independent of the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and prevalent cardiovascular disease but was attenuated by adjustment for IL-6 and C-reactive protein. In cause-specific analyses, low testosterone predicted increased risk of cardiovascular (HR 1.38; 95% CI 1.02–1.85) and respiratory disease (HR 2.29; 95% CI 1.25–4.20) mortality but was not significantly related to cancer death (HR 1.34; 95% CI 0.89–2.00). Results were similar for bioavailable testosterone. Conclusions: Testosterone insufficiency in older men is associated with increased risk of death over the following 20 yr, independent of multiple risk factors and several preexisting health conditions.
On “Exegetical Function” in Rewritten Scripture: Inner-Biblical Exegesis and the Abram/Ravens Narrative in Jubilees

While no consensus obtains among specialists as to what the term “rewritten Bible” (or “rewritten Scripture”) properly denotes—or whether, indeed, it is proper to use at all—most agree that the texts thought to represent this category are basically exegetical in character. That is, they are supposed to have as their aim or goal the interpretation of texts that are now part of the Hebrew Bible. At the same time, it is universally recognized that the authors of so-called rewritten Bible compositions exercised a substantial degree of freedom in their retelling. They clearly had their own interests, motives, and aims, distinct from those of the biblical narrative. These interests (sometimes characterized as “ideological” in nature), in turn, determine the structure or literary shape of their work, including such basic elements as character, plot, scope, and narrative voice. Thus, while it is constitutive for the genre or category that such works mainly follow the sequence and wording of the biblical text, they are not—and cannot be—identical to the latter in compositional form. Every rewritten Bible composition is defined by its own retelling strategy or program.
A CHLORELLA‐DAPHNIA FOOD‐CHAIN STUDY: THE DESIGN OF A COMPATIBLE CHEMICALLY DEFINED CULTURE MEDIUM 1, 2

A series of media compatible to the survival of Daphnia as well as to the growth requirements of Chlorella has been formulated, and some of the relationships of ion balance and salt tolerance of Daphnia have been explored. Potassium salt solutions were toxic unless combined with sodium salts of equal or higher concentration. Nitrate ion was variably toxic. The compatible media were developed by 1) reducing K+ and increasing Na+ so that Na+ became the predominant cation; 2) reducing NO3‒ to a minimum consistent with Chlorella requirements and increasing Cl‒ so that it became the predominant anion; and 3) eliminating extraneous toxic factors from distilled water and noninert polyethylene containers.
Effects of Chain Length and Unsaturation of Fatty Acid Mixtures Infused into the Abomasum of Lactating Dairy Cows

Six cows were utilized in a 6 x 6 Latin square design with 21-d periods to determine effects of the postruminal profile of fatty acids on dry matter (DM) intake, milk yield and composition, nutrient digestibilities, and plasma metabolites. Treatments were abomasal infusions of 1) control [168 g/d of meat solubles (carrier for fatty acids) plus 10.6 g/d of Tween 80 (emulsifier)], 2) control plus 450 g/d of mostly saturated fatty acids, 3) control plus 450 g/d of palm oil fatty acids low in linoleic acid, 4) control plus 450 g/d of palm oil fatty acids, 5) control plus 450 g/d of soybean oil fatty acids, and 6) control plus 450 g/d of soybean oil fatty acids high in palmitic acid. Treatments 2, 3, 4, and 6 contained similar ratios of C16 to C18 fatty acids. Infusion of soybean oil fatty acids or soybean oil fatty acids high in palmitic acid decreased intakes of DM, organic matter, crude protein, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, gross energy, and total fatty acids and tended to decrease yields of milk and fat-corrected milk compared with the infusion of mostly saturated fatty acids. Infusion of palm oil fatty acids low in linoleic acid or palm oil fatty acids decreased milk fat percentage compared with other treatments. Ruminal characteristics and apparent digestibilities of DM, organic matter, crude protein, acid detergent fiber, neutral detergent fiber, energy, total fatty acids, and total C18 fatty acids were not different. Infusion of fatty acids increased concentrations of cholesterol in plasma. The amount of unsaturated fatty acids passing into the small intestine may influence responses of dairy cows to supplemental fat.
Assessment of obesity management in medical examination

Obesity is a growing international health problem that has already reached epidemic proportions, particularly within the United States where a majority of the population is overweight or obese. Effective methods of treatment are needed, and should be taught to physicians by efficient means. There exists a disconnect between the rising obesity prevalence with its high toll on medical resources, and the lack of obesity education provided to practitioners in the course of their training. One particular shortfall is the lack of representation of obesity on standardized medical examinations. Physician attitudes toward obesity are influenced by their lack of familiarity with the management of the disease. This may include dietary restriction, increasing physical activity, behavior modification, pharmacotherapy, and surgical interventions. Thus, curricular changes in the medical education of obesity could help reduce morbidity and mortality associated with this disease.
Modeling Active Microwave Remote Sensing of Multilayer Dry Snow using Dense Media Radiative Transfer Theory

In this paper, we model the backscattering coefficients of multi-layer dry snowpacks, based on Dense Media Radiative Transfer theory (DMRT) with the Quasicrystalline Approximation (QCA). The DMRT model accounts for adhesive aggregate effects, which leads to dense media Mie scattering by using a Sticky particle model. The same set of DMRT equations are used for modeling both active and passive remote sensing. The model is validated by using the Cold-Land Processes Field Experiment CLPX ground based polarimetric scatterometry observation at local-scale observation site (LSOS) and airborne polarimetric Ku-band scatterometer (POLSCAT) data at Fool-Creek, Fraser. The snow density profiles are from ground observation and grain sizes are fitting parameters. It shows that the co-polarization simulations are in good agreement with the data, the cross-polarization simulations are around 2 dB lower than ground based observation and 5 dB lower than airborne observation. With the same set of multi-layer snowpack profile, the QCA/DMRT model matched co-polarization backscattering coefficients and all 4 channels of brightness temperature observations simultaneously at LSOS. The cross-polarization simulation can be improved by 3-dimensional numerical solutions of Maxwell equations (NMM3D). Study at Fool-Creek shows that NMM3D/DMRT simulations can match both co-polarization and cross-polarization observations simultaneously.
Nicaea and Its Legacy : An Introduction

It is a privilege to have the opportunity for such extended reflection on my book Nicaea and Its Legacy. No doubt some authors feel that their manuscripts are truly finished before they are published: I am one of those who merely abandons a manuscript to the copy editors when other pressures demand an end to hostilities. It should be no surprise, then, that I have always envisaged Nicaea as a snapshot of a moving landscape, not just in the ever-growing body of scholarship on the fourth century, but also in my own thinking. Accordingly I will begin here as I was invited to do in our discussion at Harvard, by offering an account of what I think Nicaea accomplishes and of some areas in which the book needs further work.
Ecosystem biogeochemistry model parameterization: Do more flux data result in a better model in predicting carbon flux?

Reliability of terrestrial ecosystem models highly depends on the quantity and quality of the data that have been used to calibrate the models. Nowadays, in situ observations of carbon fluxes are abundant. However, the knowledge of how much data (data length) and which subset of the time series data (data period) should be used to effectively calibrate the model is still lacking. This study uses the AmeriFlux carbon flux data to parameterize the Terrestrial Ecosystem Model (TEM) with an adjoint-based data assimilation technique for various ecosystem types. Parameterization experiments are thus conducted to explore the impact of both data length and data period on the uncertainty reduction of the posterior model parameters and the quantification of site and regional carbon dynamics. We find that: (1) the model is better constrained when it uses two-year data comparing to using one-year data. Further, two-year data is sufficient in calibrating TEM's carbon dynamics, since using three-year data could only marginally improve the model performance at our study sites; (2) the model is better constrained with the data that have a higher “climate variability” than that having a lower one. The climate variability is used to measure the overall possibility of the ecosystem to experience all climatic conditions including drought and extreme air temperatures and radiation; (3) the U.S. regional simulations indicate that the effect of calibration data length on carbon dynamics is amplified at regional and temporal scales, leading to large discrepancies among different parameterization experiments, especially in July and August. Our findings are conditioned on the specific model we used and the calibration sites we selected. The optimal calibration data length may not be suitable for other models. However, this study demonstrates that there may exist a threshold for calibration data length and simply using more data would not guarantee a better model parameterization and prediction. More importantly, climate variability might be an effective indicator of information within the data, which could help data selection for model parameterization. We believe our findings will benefit the ecosystem modeling community in using multiple-year data to improve model predictability.
The Effects of Inlet Turbulence Intensity Levels and Computational Domains on Non-Premixed Bluff-Body Flame

The bluff-body stabilized flame provides an ideal case to investigate the interactions between chemical reactions and turbulence. This paper uses CFD to study the effects of inlet turbulence intensity levels for boundary conditions and compare 2D axisymmetric and 3D geometries on the non-premixed turbulent combustion characteristics. The predictive capabilities of the k-e turbulence model are evaluated and compared with the experiments of Correa and Gulati for a bluff-body flame of 27.5%CO/32.3%H2/40.2%N2 and air [1]. The assessment of the modeling techniques with the study of inlet turbulence intensity and between computational domains is compared with experimental profiles. Results showed that the inlet turbulence intensity in the fuel-jet had a substantial impact on the axial decay of mixture fraction and temperature, which did not support the conclusion Correa and Gulati [1] that the flow was relatively insensitive to the inlet profiles. The inlet turbulence intensity of 4% was used to compare the value assumed by Hossain [2] and the results showed a great improvement around the fuel jet inlet and axial profiles. The numerical results of the 2D axisymmetric and 3D domains showed that the 3D domain provided better predictions, which is consistent with Shih et al.[3] that the prediction of axisymmetric jets is unexpectedly poor for the k-e turbulence model due to the underestimation of the dissipation. Further analysis in terms of velocity and strain rate distributions was also conducted to better understand the effects of turbulence intensity levels and computational domains on mixing and fluid dynamics in the reaction zone. Radial velocity results along the centerline provided the reason for the differences between computational domains, for which 2D axisymmetric simulations underestimated the radial velocity magnitude along the centerline. Central profiles of strain rate showed the change of flow and mixing by different turbulence intensity levels.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
Relationship between flowering of wild rice and larval mosquito (Diptera : Culicidae) abundance in California

Densities of larval Culex tarsalis Coquillett and Anopheles spp. populations were monitored in experimental plots of white rice, Oryza sativa L., and wild rice, Zizania palustris L., in Lake County, CA, during the spring and summer of 1989. Plant height, floral debris drop, water quality, and bacterial counts were measured and contrasted between the two systems. Anopheles spp. and C. tarsalis populations in wild rice were 6 and 2.6 times higher, respectively, than in the white rice over the entire season. A significantly greater number of notonectids and hydrophilid larvae were sampled in the wild rice treatments and did not appear to be responsible for the difference in larval mosquito populations. A positive correlation was found between average larval density and plant height for Anopheles spp. in both wild and white rice and for C. tarsalis in wild rice during the early growing season. In the latter half of the growing season, only Anopheles spp. densities showed a significant correlation with plant height. A significant positive correlation was demonstrated between the number of shed wild rice anthers and larval densities for both Anopheles spp. and C. tarsalis. No significant differences were noted in either water quality factors or bacterial counts between white and wild rice treatments. In the field, development of C. tarsalis larvae was slower in wild rice than in white rice plots before flowering but faster during flowering. However, temperature-adjusted developmental times were significantly shorter for the wild rice group only during flowering. In the laboratory, C. tarsalis completed development from second instar to adult when fed only wild rice pollen. These results suggest that wild rice pollen serves as a nutrient source for larvae in the field. In addition, the floral components of wild rice may serve as an oviposition attractant and structural refuge for the immature stages.
The Mouthparts of Blackflies with Special Reference to Eusimulium Lascivum Twinn

The work herein described is a special study of a local species, Eusimulium lascivum Twinn. Though this species occurs in considerable numbers at the outlet of Cayuta Lake, N. Y., it has never been taken, to the author's knowledge, in the act of taking blood. Whether it is a bloodsucker is doubtful for, despite its abundance, it did not attack while the author was collecting his specimens.
A study of airway smooth muscle in asthmatic and non-asthmatic airways using PS-OCT (Conference Presentation)

Present understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of asthma has been severely limited by the lack of an imaging modality capable of assessing airway conditions of asthma patients in vivo. Of particular interest is the role that airway smooth muscle (ASM) plays in the development of asthma and asthma related symptoms. With standard Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), imaging ASM is often not possible due to poor structural contrast between the muscle and surrounding tissues. A potential solution to this problem is to utilize additional optical contrast factors intrinsic to the tissue, such as birefringence. Due to its highly ordered structure, ASM is strongly birefringent. Previously, we demonstrated that Polarization Sensitive OCT(PS-OCT) has the potential to be used to visualize ASM as well as easily segment it from the surrounding (weakly) birefringent tissue by exploiting a property which allows it to discriminate the orientation of birefringent fibers. We have already validated our technology with a substantial set of histological comparisons made against data obtained ex vivo. In this work we present a comprehensive comparison of ASM distributions in asthmatic and non-asthmatic human volunteers. By isolating the ASM we parameterize its distribution in terms of both thickness and band width, calculated volumetrically over centimeters of airway. Using this data we perform analyses of the asthmatic and non-asthmatic airways using a broad number and variety and subjects.
Current Controversies and Changing Standards in Mammography

Abstract Screening with mammography for early detection of breast cancer has been widely scrutinized since its beginning. This scrutiny continues to bring new standards to light. This article will talk about the current controversies, mainly screening in general, screening for the 40- to 49-year-old group, perceived harms of mammography, and overdiagnosis in the screened population. We will also discuss the changing standards concerning breast density. The article will conclude with adjunct breast cancer screening options.
Gastrointestinal prophylactic therapy among patients with arthritis treated by rheumatology specialists.

OBJECTIVE: To determine rates of gastroprotective agent (GPA) use among patients with arthritis treated by rheumatologists, and to determine factors associated with GPA prescription. METHODS: In a longitudinal outcome study, 11,451 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) reported all medication use, ulcer history, functional status, and sociodemographic characteristics. RESULTS: GPA were used in 21-24% of all patients with RA and OA and in about 35-40% of all high risk patients. In unadjusted analyses, GPA use was similar among NSAID users and non-users. In multivariable logistic regression analyses GPA use was associated with non-specific (NS) NSAID and COX-2 NSAID, prednisone, low dose aspirin, comorbidity, Health Assessment Questionnaire functional score, age
Hobbes on Church and State

De Cive is a dry, closely-argued treatise. Leviathan is a far more impassioned work. That is especially true of the last two parts, which discuss religion and church-state relations. After 1640 the collapse of the church courts and of censorship (which had been in the hands of the clergy) made it easy for people to publish anticlerical and heterodox doctrines. For a while, it seemed that a harsh and intolerant Presbyterian system of church government might be established in England. But a coalition between congregationalists or Independents (supported by Oliver Cromwell), Erastians (including John Seiden), and radical religious sects (such as the Baptists) ensured the defeat of the Presbyterians by 1648. In the next few years a great many authors put forward schemes for the reform of the church and universities. Hobbes was one of a large number of writers who attacked the clergy’s pretensions to power, and who advocated educational reform. He hoped that the universities would abandon scholastic theology in favour of scientific research. The same hope informed the thinking of Sir Francis Bacon and of Samuel Hartlib’s circle of friends, which was much influenced by Bacon.1
The Impact of Product Disposal Strategies on Triple Bottom-Line Performance in Supply Chains: The Role of Relational Resources

Sustainability, a holistic corporate responsibility, has emerged as a business buzzword and megatrend, to redesign the competitive landscape among firms (Carter and Easton 2011; Lubin and Esty 2010). The idea has led the traditional firm responsibility of shareholder value creation morph into a much broader perspective to envelop environmental and social impact of business operations (Closs et al. 2011; Hazen et al. 2011). Thus, firms are challenged to “reinvent” their businesses to adopt various sustainability strategies and become more environmentally conscious and socially responsive while creating economic value to their shareholders and customers. However, research exploring the relationship between performance outcomes and sustainability initiatives in supply chains is sparse (Hazen et al. 2011; Markley and Davis 2007). Thus, sustainability in supply chains is a rich area for academic research. The limited research so far has yielded conflicting outcomes on the relationship between sustainable supply chain management and competitive advantage or other performance outcomes (Kim 2011; Zhu and Sarkis 2004).
Determining the Topic Hashtags for Chinese Microblogs Based on 5W Model

A hashtag is an important metadata in microblogs and used to mark topics or index messages. With topic-related hashatags microblogs are well grouped, and users can retrieve the microblogs efficiently and then follow the interested conversations. At the same time, microblogging service providers can leverage hashtags to classify the massive microblogs for building high-level applications such as event detection and tracking, sentiment analysis, and opinion mining. However, statistics show that hashtags are absent from most of the microblogs. In this paper, we summarize the similarities between microblogs and short-message-style news, and then propose an algorithm named 5WTAG for detecting microblog topics based on the model of five Ws(When, Where, Who, What, hoW). Since five-W(5W) attributes are the core components in event description, it is guaranteed theoretically that 5WTAG can extract the semantical topic from a microblogs properly. We introduce the detailed procedure of the algorithm 5WTAG in this paper including microblog segmentation and candidate hashtag construction. We propose a novel method of recommendation computing for ranking candidate hashtags, which combines syntax analysis and semantic analysis, and observes the distribution law of human-annotated topic tags. We conduct comprehensive experiments to verify the semantical correctness and completeness of the candidate hashtags as well as the accuracy of recommendation using the real data from Sina Weibo.
A Qualitative Examination of Physician Gender and Parental Status in Pediatric End-of-Life Communication

ABSTRACTIn this study we utilized the framework of patient-centered communication to explore the influence of physician gender and physician parental status on (1) physician-parent communication and (2) care of pediatric patients at the end of life (EOL). The findings presented here emerged from a larger qualitative study that explored physician narratives surrounding pediatric EOL communication. The current study includes 17 pediatric critical care and pediatric emergency medicine physician participants who completed narrative interviews between March and October 2012 to discuss how their backgrounds influenced their approaches to pediatric EOL communication. Between April and June of 2013, participants completed a second round of narrative interviews to discuss topics generated out of the first round of interviews. We used grounded theory to inform the design and analysis of the study. Findings indicated that physician gender is related to pediatric EOL communication and care in two primary ways: (1) th...
Narrative Processes and Well-being in the Context of Chronic Illness

The purpose of the current study was to broaden research on how narrative processes relate to well-being by examining narratives of an ongoing challenge in a novel context living with a chronic health problemas narrative researchers have focused primarily on discrete past events. By studying self-defining illness memories of a sample of midlife adults living with chronic health problems, I was able to examine the relation between narrative processes and well-being in the context of an ongoing event. Results indicate, as hypothesized, that both positive resolution and agency were associated with well-being. However, in contrast to my hypothesis, the narrative processes did not mediate the relation between physical health and well-being. These findings have implications both for the study of narrative processes as well as for individuals living with chronic health problems.
Courts in a Resource-Starved Developing Economy: Case Disposition and the Quantity-Quality Tradeoff in Post-Conflict Nepal

An effective judiciary is key to prosperous markets and sustained economic development, yet empirical evidence on the functioning of courts in the developing world is very scarce. We examine a court-level panel dataset from the resource-starved, post-conflict Nepal to assess the determinants of the volume of case disposition and presence of a quantity-quality tradeoff. We advance the existing empirical literature on courts by utilizing a novel measure of judicial staffing and suggesting a new instrumental variables approach to address the associated endogeneity concerns. Unlike previous research on judiciaries elsewhere, we find that in Nepal judicial staffing exhibits a robustly positive effect on court output and that caseload-induced congestion effects may be important. We do not find evidence implying that increasing court output would decrease adjudicatory quality. We discuss the policy implications of our results.
Rainbow Detectives: When Art Gets Meteorology Wrong

Art and science often complement each other, but occasionally they can collide when the needs of artistic license and the realities of atmospheric physics are at odds. For example, as meteorologist...
Chapter 63 – 1990 Fear

Fear is the subjective representation of potential danger in the environment. Fear can be protective, in that it keeps animals from harm, or damaging, if excessive fear prevents necessary maintenance, mating, or care for young.
Kinetic Monte Carlo simulation for homogeneous nucleation of metal nanoparticles during vapor phase synthesis

We present a free-energy driven kinetic Monte Carlo model to simulate homogeneous nucleation of metal nanoparticles (NPs) from vapor phase. The model accounts for monomer-cluster condensations, cluster-cluster collisions, and cluster evaporations simultaneously. Specifically, we investigate the homogeneous nucleation of Al NPs starting with different initial background temperatures. Our results indicate good agreement with earlier phenomenological studies using the Gibbs' free energy formulation from Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT). Furthermore, nucleation rates for various clusters are calculated through direct cluster observations. The steady state nucleation rate estimated using two different approaches namely, the Yasuoka-Matsumoto (YM) and mean first passage time (MFPT) methods indicate excellent agreement with each. Finally, our simulation results depict the expected increase in the entropy of mixing as clusters approach the nucleation barrier, followed by its subsequent drastic loss after the critical cluster formation resulting from first-order phase transitions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Oseltamivir-zanamivir combination therapy suppresses drug-resistant H1N1 influenza A viruses in the hollow fiber infection model (HFIM) system

Drug-resistant influenza is a significant threat to global public health. Until new antiviral agents with novel mechanisms of action become available, there is a pressing need for alternative treatment strategies with available influenza antivirals. Our aims were to evaluate the antiviral activity of two neuraminidase inhibitors (oseltamivir and zanamivir) as combination therapy against H1N1 influenza A viruses, as these agents bind to the neuraminidase active site differently: oseltamivir requires a conformational change for binding whereas zanamivir does not. We performed pharmacodynamic studies in the hollow fiber infection model (HFIM) system with oseltamivir (75mg Q12h, t1/2: 8h) and zanamivir (600mg Q12h, t1/2: 2.5h), given as mono- or combination therapy, against viruses with varying susceptibilities to oseltamivir and zanamivir. Each antiviral suppressed the replication of influenza strains which were resistant to the other neuraminidase inhibitor, showing each drug does not engender cross-resistance to the other compound. Oseltamivir/zanamivir combination therapy was as effective at suppressing oseltamivir- and zanamivir-resistant influenza viruses and the combination regimen inhibited viral replication at a level that was similar to the most effective monotherapy arm. However, combination therapy offered a clear benefit by preventing the emergence and spread of drug-resistant viruses. These findings demonstrate that combination therapy with two agents that target the same viral protein through distinctly different binding interactions is a feasible strategy to combat resistance emergence. This is a novel finding that may be applicable to other viral and non-viral diseases for which different classes of agents do not exist.