cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of a Consumer Financial Goals Ontology for use with FinTech Applications for Improving Financial Capability

Abstract In this research, we communicate the design and evaluation of a consumer financial goals ontology to be utilized as a knowledgebase within recommender systems applications designed to provide decision support in the domain of financial planning. The goal of this research is to provide a domain conceptualization and knowledge classification of a comprehensive set of financial capability enhancing objectives contextually appropriate for a wide range of socio-economically situated consumers. Currently, to the best of our knowledge, within the domain of consumer financial planning no formal conceptual model or knowledge classification of financial goals exists which might be utilized as a knowledgebase for applications such as a FinTech recommender system. Achieving financial goals is a key behavior associated with consumer financial capability, a topic of critical national economic importance. A holistic representation of domain concepts is critical for advancement of solutions to problems pertinent to a domain. One primary reason for the dearth of applications designed to assist consumers with financial goal setting is the absence of a common domain ontology of financial goals. This study addresses a gap in the literature by contributing to the research knowledgebase an ontology for a domain of consumer financial goals. In doing so, it advances scholarly research through novel domain knowledge classification while providing researchers and practitioners with an ontological knowledgebase for indexing and retrieval within applications designed to improve consumer financial capability through identification and recommendation of specific, context-aware financial goals. The ontology could be used, for example, as a knowledgebase for a Personal Financial Recommender System (PFRS), or other financial technology (FinTech) application, designed to assist users with identification, setting, and tracking of financial goals.
The Relationship Between University Rankings And Outcomes Measurement

This paper examines the relationship between university ranks and outcome measurements. Many students select the university that they will attend based on these rankings In this paper the rankings conducted by two studies are examined. U.S. News and World Report rankings are based upon measures of the quality of input, retention while in school and other measures. A new group of rankings are based on the output performance of universities. Jalbert, Rao and Jalbert (2002) rank schools based on the extent to which the school places its graduates in top CEO positions and the salary that they receive when in these positions. In an optimal world, input rankings should correspond with output rankings. This paper examines the extent to which these rankings track each other and the sensitivity of rankings to changes in methodology utilized.
GRA-LPO: Graph Convolution Based Leakage Power Optimization

Static power consumption is a critical challenge for IC designs, particularly for mobile and IoT applications. A final post-layout step in modern design flows involves a leakage recovery step that is embedded in signoff static timing analysis tools. The goal of such recovery is to make use of the positive slack (if any) and recover the leakage power by performing cell swaps with footprint compatible variants. Though such swaps result in unaltered routing, the hard constraint is not to introduce any new timing violations. This process can require up to tens of hours of runtime, just before the tapeout, when schedule and resource constraints are tightest. The physical design teams can benefit greatly from a fast predictor of the leakage recovery step: if the eventual recovery will be too small, the entire step can be skipped, and the resources can be allocated elsewhere. If we represent the circuit netlist as a graph with cells as vertices and nets connecting these cells as edges, the leakage recovery step is an optimization step, on this graph. If we can learn these optimizations over several graphs with various logic-cone structures, we can generalize the learning to unseen graphs. Using graph convolution neural networks, we develop a learning-based model, that predicts per-cell recoverable slack, and translate these slack values to equivalent power savings. For designs up to 1.6M instances, our inference step takes less than 12 seconds on a Tesla P100 GPU, and an additional feature extraction, post-processing steps consuming 420 seconds. The model is accurate with relative error under 6.2%, for the design-specific context.
A Longitudinal Investigation of First-Generation College Students’ Mentoring Relationships During Their Transition to Higher Education:

Non-parent mentoring relationships are important protective factors for first-generation college students. Previous research has focused on singular mentoring relationships measured at one time poi...
On the Philosophy of John Locke and the Doctrine of Empiricism

John Locke is the founder of empiricism, the philosophical school that explains matter is the source of knowledge. In this presentation, I show the various principles that Locke uses to justify the meaning of idea, quality, sensation, and reflection. It is also important to understand how the blank slate is the foundation for objects impressing their effects on the senses. These slides will give information about the certain relationships between inference, hypothesis, and experimentation. If there is sufficient awareness of what Locke intends to illustrate, there is a greater variety of concepts that are generated from empiricism. The study of science and its connection to philosophy has a significant impact on the development of theory, universal ideas, and the ways that particular ideas relate mind to matter.
AROMA SAR Refocus of Moving Targets having Complicated Pitching Maneuvers

Moving targets are often smeared in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery in the radar cross-range direction to an extent that humans are unable to recognize them. A recent investigation has yielded an Arbitrary Rigid Object Motion Autofocus (AROMA) methodology that gives automatic refocus of moving targets that have arbitrary variation in the target rotation and translation profiles during the coherent SAR collection time. Fundamentally, AROMA extends the Phase Gradient Autofocus (PGA) methods that can give excellent focus of the earth’s surface to instead apply to the refocus of moving targets. The current study examines AROMA performance with regards to complicated pitching motions of the target during the SAR collection time. Specifically, this investigation considers the quality of the AROMA refocused imagery for targets that exhibit complicated pitching variation when injected into a background of measured SAR image data. This analysis reveals that AROMA gives well focused target images that are accurate reproductions of the true underlying target structure.
The Role of African Nurse Diaspora in Addressing Public Health Priorities in Africa.

African countries experience many complex public health challenges that, to tackle, require coordinated, multi-stakeholder, collaborative partnerships at local and global levels. The African nurse ...
Correlates of early stimulation activities among mothers of children under age two in Siaya County, Kenya: Maternal mental health and other maternal, child, and household factors.

Abstract Rationale The first two to three years of life are critical for early child development (ECD), which affects later life trajectories in health, development, and earning potential. Global calls for early stimulation activities to support optimal development among young children are increasing and there is a need to better understand the factors associated with maternal engagement in early stimulation activities, particularly maternal mental health. Objective This study examined important factors associated with early stimulation activities performed by mothers of children ages 0–2 in rural Kenya. Methods Baseline cohort data from an evaluation of an integrated maternal mental health and an ECD intervention included 374 interviews with mothers of children under 24 months. Descriptive and multivariable analyses were performed. Results Maternal mental health was not associated with maternal early stimulation activities. Having worked in the past week was associated with more frequent early stimulation activities. At the child level, female sex was associated with more frequent early stimulation activities but prematurity at birth was associated with less frequent early stimulation activities. At the household level, ownership of children's toys and books was associated with more frequent early stimulation activities. Conclusions This study indicates that both mothers and families could benefit from availability of ECD-friendly resources such as homemade toys and children's books (particularly for low-income families), and tailored messaging to support early stimulation activities for both girl and boy children and for those prematurely-born. Local governments and community-based programs can aim to both raise awareness about the importance of early childhood development and educate caregivers on specific age-appropriate early stimulation activities that promote optimal growth. Future research should also explore the reciprocal and temporal relationships between maternal mental health and early stimulation activities to inform and elucidate their potential synergistic impact on ECD.
Closing the gender gap in reading with readers theater

This sequential explanatory analysis reports on the observed differences in growth on decoding, word knowledge, and reading comprehension between second grade males and females after participating ...
Food Safety of Proteins in Agricultural Biotechnology

Protein Structure and Function in Plants and Animals, P.J. Garlick The Mode of Action of Bacterial Protein Toxins: The Role of Conformational Changes in the Life Cycle of a Protein Toxin, J.W. Seale and L. English Safety Assessment of Bacillus thuringiensis and Bt Crops Used in Insect Control, B.A. Federici and J. Siegel Ecological Safety Assessment of Insecticidal Proteins Introduced into Biotech Crops, J.D. Wolt, J.R. Prasifka, and R.L. Hellmich The Safety of Microbial Enzymes Used in Food Processing, M.W. Pariza Safety Assessment of Biotechnology-Derived Therapeutic Drugs, B.J. Mounho, J.L. Bussiere, and A.B. Weir The Food Safety Assessment of Bovine Somatotropin (bST), B. Hammond Assessment of Food Proteins for Allergenic Potential, S. McClain, S. Vieths, and G.A. Bannon Methods for Estimating the Intake of Proteins in Food, B.J. Petersen Safety Assessment of Proteins Used in Crops Developed through Agricultural Biotechnology: Industry Perspective, E.A. Rice, T.C. Lee, G. Rogan, and G.A. Bannon The Safety Assessment of Proteins Introduced into Crops Developed through Agricultural Biotechnology: A Consolidated Approach to Meet Current and Future Needs, B. Hammond and A. Cockburn Index
EEGs in Elderly Patients: Technical and Other Considerations

(1980). EEGs in Elderly Patients: Technical and Other Considerations. American Journal of EEG Technology: Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 15-23.
Yin and Yang of Tiger Conservation in China

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the status of captive and a wild tiger in China, describes efforts to restore wild tiger populations in China, and discusses the significant ramifications for tiger conservation throughout Asia. In Chinese philosophy, the universe consists of two opposing but complementary forces: yin and yang. Yin is symbolized by water and earth, and yang by fire and air; yin is dark, and yang is light. This concept of opposite but complementary forces can be applied as well to tiger conservation in modern China. One side is a degraded landscape devoid of wild tigers, the other is a farm bloated with captive tigers; wild tigers are poached, captive tigers are bred. China is fundamentally responsible for fueling the global trade in illegal tiger parts, yet it has an emerging, powerful political mandate to resurrect the tiger as a symbol of wilderness. A scientifically rigorous strategy designed to secure the tiger's future on a meaningful scale in southern China is urgently needed. China can continue to ignore growing global criticism of its domestic wildlife policies, and accept the damage to its international reputation, or it can take proactive measures to legitimately become Asia's tiger problem solver. The future of tigers and much of Asia's biodiversity may hinge on this decision.
LiveOps: systems management as a service

Existing Management Systems do not detect the most time-consuming and technically difficult anomalies administrators encounter. Oppenheimer found that 33% of outages were caused by human error and that 76% of the time taken to resolve an outage was taken by humans determining what change was needed. Defining anomaly detection rules is challenging and often cannot be shared across organizations. It requires a deep combined knowledge of the software, workload, system configuration, and tuning parameters specific to the workload and overall distributed application topology. We present LiveOps, a scalable systems and security management service based on auditing the interactions between applications and the persistent state they use. This approach simplifies identifying security vulnerabilities, performs compliance auditing, enables forensic investigations, detects patching problems, optimizes troubleshooting, and detects malware/ intrusions. The service enables knowledge sharing across organizations and administrative boundaries and allows for seamless integration between analysis results from disparate management products that build on it. Our configuration-free agent collects all read and write access to registry entries, files, binaries, and process creation. The agents streaming lossless compression creates log files of only 20 MB per day containing an average of 45 million events. The scalable LiveOps back-end service can analyze 1000 machine days of logs in 30 minutes. LiveOps agents have been deployed on 1149 machines from home systems to corporate desktops, including 381 production MSN servers across 11 sites.
Peptidases in Spheroplasts of Escherichia coli K-12

Abstract To determine whether enzymes that catalyze the hydrolysis of dipeptides are located at or near the surface of Escherichia coli strain K-12, the bacteria were converted to Spheroplasts by treatment with ethylenediaminetetraacetate and lysozyme, and the enzymic activity of the medium surrounding the spheroplasts and of the spheroplast lysate was compared with the activity of a total cell lysate. The substrates were glycyl-L-leucine, glycyl-L-phenylalanine, L-leucylglycine, and L-phenylalanylglycine. Under a variety of experimental conditions, peptidase assays showed that essentially all the peptidase activity of lysed cells is retained within the spheroplasts; the relative amount of enzymic activity toward each dipeptide that is released into the surrounding medium as a result of spheroplast formation is almost identical with the extent of β-galactosidase leakage. A significant portion of the peptidase activity shown by cell lysates exists in a latent condition in intact cells, which show low, but equal, specific activity toward all the peptides. In contrast, cell lysates and sonic extracts and spheroplast lysates exhibit markedly different hydrolytic activity toward the four substrates. A variation in specific activity toward the substrates also is evident after treatment of intact cells with toluene, but toluene treatment permits the expression of only a portion of the activity that is latent in the intact cells and is evident in cell lysates or spheroplast lysates. The activity characteristic of each type of bacterial preparation under a specific set of assay conditions is approximately the same for preparations made from cells harvested from cultures during exponential growth or shortly after the attainment of maximal growth. However, the specific activity of a given bacterial preparation to a given peptide varies depending on the concentration of EDTA and of Mn2+ in the assay mixture. When the concentrations of these substances are varied, it is possible to distinguish readily between enzymes that act on leucylglycine, on phenylalanylglycine, and on the two dipeptides with an amino-terminal glycine residue.
Female immigrant entrepreneurship : Exploring international entrepreneurship through the status of Indian women entrepreneurs in Japan

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explore how entrepreneurial opportunities are used by the rapidly increasing immigrant Indian female population in Japan. Given that a majority of Indian women are housewives and grew up in conservative family backgrounds, this analysis seeks to provide an insight into the situations that aided them and the challenges they faced in their entrepreneurial business ventures far from home.Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a case study analysis through a semi‐structured questionnaire designed on the concept of “Life cycle of minority owned businesses” to track enterprise activity from beginning to end.Findings – The analyses show that although respondents began their stay in Japan as housewives, they shed their image with time, used their talents and diversified into a different role without sacrificing family duties, while also creating employment opportunities for both natives and immigrants. Major hindrances faced due to socio/cultural influen...
Adaptive gain networks

We propose several neuron models featuring adaptive gain parameters in addition to the weights. These are shown to enhance learning speed on parity problems of various sizes. >
A Mixture of Ancient and Modern Understanding Concerning the Distance and Motion of the Moon

Ptolemy's model of the Moon's motion implied that its distance varies by nearly a factor of two, implying that its angular size should also vary by nearly a factor of two. We present an analysis of 100 naked eye observations of the Moon's angular size obtained over 1145 days, showing regular variations of at least 3 arc minutes. Thus, ancient astronomers could have shown that a key implication of Ptolemy's model was wrong. In modern times we attribute the variation of distance of the Moon to the combined effect of the ellipticity of the Moon's orbit and the perturbing effect of the Sun on the Earth-Moon system. We show graphically how this affects the ecliptic longitudes and radial distance of the Moon. The longitude and distance "anomalies" are correlated with the Moon's phase. This is illustrated without any complex equations or geometry.
The Improvement and Verification for the Logistic Population Growth Equation

The classical logistic equation is generalized to a new model with power exponent to the rate of growth of the population. The solutions are presented and a comparing is made with the population census of WU-Gong County, China. The results indicated that the population is affected strongly by the power exponent and the associated characteristics of growth of the population are discussed.
Effects of Skewed Surface Textures on Lubricant Film Thickness and Traction

The effects of surface texture skewness (Ssk) on lubricant film thickness and traction were investigated for elastohydrodynamic lubrication (EHL) contacts. This was accomplished by analyzing three-dimensional simulated surface textures with EHL computational modeling and then verifying the results with rotating ball-on-disk traction experiments. EHL modeling was used to identify critical values for surface roughness average (Sa) and skewness (Ssk) corresponding to a stable lubricant film formation. The critical values were then used to specify test specimen textures that were fabricated for traction experiments. The results from EHL modeling and traction experiments suggest that surfaces with individual skewness Ssk values ranging from −0.4 to −2.2 at constant roughness Sa do not yield significant differences in lubricant film thickness or measured traction. Surfaces with extreme negative skewness Ssk values (approximately −4.7 or lower) may yield significant differences in contact pressure and lubricant ...
Emotional Labor and Organized Emotional Care Conceptualizing Nursing Home Care Work

Based on qualitative comparison of three nursing home facilities, the idea of organized emotional care is proposed as a complement to the concept of emotional labor for understanding care work. It is argued that emotional labor and organized emotional care are distinguished primarily by the presence or absence of organizational feeling rules and affective requirements. Care organizations can be plotted on a continuum with emotional labor at the coercive end and organized emotional care at the other. The proposed distinction restores a positive vision of organizational management of emotion to the sociology of work.
The multitasking clinician: Decision-making and cognitive demand during and after team handoffs in emergency care

Several studies have shown that there is information loss during interruptions, and that multitasking creates higher memory load, both of which contribute to medical error. Nowhere is this more critical than in the emergency department (ED), where the emphasis of clinical decision is on the timely evaluation and stabilization of patients. This paper reports on the nature of multitasking and shift change and its implications for patient safety in an adult ED, using the methods of ethnographic observation and interviews. Data were analyzed using grounded theory to study cognition in the context of the work environment. Analysis revealed that interruptions within the ED were prevalent and diverse in nature. On average, there was an interruption every 9 and 14 min for the attending physicians and the residents, respectively. In addition, the workflow analysis showed gaps in information flow due to multitasking and shift changes. Transfer of information began at the point of hand-offs/shift changes and continued through various other activities, such as documentation, consultation, teaching activities and utilization of computer resources. The results show that the nature of the communication process in the ED is complex and cognitively taxing for the clinicians, which can compromise patient safety. The need to tailor existing generic electronic tools to support adaptive processes like multitasking and handoffs in a time-constrained environment is discussed.
Determinants of glaucoma awareness in a general eye clinic.

Abstract Purpose Heightened public awareness about glaucoma may increase the chance of identifying undetected cases. To ascertain determinants of glaucoma awareness, we surveyed a population visiting a general eye clinic. Design Cross-sectional study. Participants 1197 general eye clinic patients and their companions. Methods We designed and administered a questionnaire about glaucoma to general eye clinic patients and their companions. We created multivariate logistic regression models to ascertain the effect of demographic and clinical features on the likelihood of being unaware of glaucoma. Main outcome measures Adjusted odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals of survery attributes associated with self-perceived unfamiliarity with glaucoma. Results Glaucoma awareness overall (72%) approached that found in the subgroup self-reporting a diagnosis of glaucoma (80%). Survey attributes associated with an increased likelihood of being unaware of glaucoma were African American race (OR = 1.69 [1.28–2.20], Hispanic ethnicity (OR = 2.13 [1.46–3.02]), and less than a college education (OR = 1.67 [1.37–2.05]). Age was also a determinant of glaucoma awareness (for ages 50–64 years, OR=0.60 [0.44–0.80] and for ages 65–79 years, OR=0.56 [0.41–0.75] compared with ages less than 35 years). A self-report of glaucoma was not a determinant of glaucoma awareness (OR = 0.63 [0.33–1.17]), although there was a trend toward enhanced glaucoma awareness in this subgroup. Finally, respondents with a history of employment in the health field (OR = 0.63 [0.49–0.82]) myopia (OR = 0.68 [0.56–0.82]), glaucoma in a first-degree relative (OR = 0.68 [0.53–0.87]), and respondents who reported having a dilated eye examination (OR = 0.53 [0.42–0.66]) were less likely to be unaware of glaucoma than those who did not have these attributes. Conclusions Although glaucoma awareness in this population was high, Hispanics, African Americans, and those with less than a college education were more likely to be unfamiliar with the disease. Interestingly, a self-report of having glaucoma was not a statistically significant determinant of glaucoma awareness.
The rheumatoid factors

GENERAL reviews of rheumatoid arthritis serology summarized knowledge as of 1957 and 1959 [l, 21. The Current Status of the Rheumutoid Factor was the title of a publication appearing early in 1962 [3]. It is the author’s aim to emphasize developments of the past 3 years within the framework of a limited general review. Of necessity, much of the most current work referred to has been published only in the form of abstracts. The productivity of recent years, at least in a journalistic sense, is illustrated in Fig. 1. During the 30-year interval since the streptococcal agglutination test was described 141, interest in the rheumatoid factors (RF)? has
A Single-Institution Review of Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation in Patients Considered “Cautionary” by the American Society for Radiation Oncology

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) issued a consensus statement in 2009 regarding patient selection for accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) following breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for breast cancer (BC). We reviewed our single-institution experience with APBI in patients considered “cautionary” by ASTRO to determine patterns of recurrence. An institutional review board-approved, retrospective chart review was conducted from January 2004 to November 2009. We identified 106 “cautionary” patients with 109 BC. All patients were treated with BCS followed by APBI via balloon catheter brachytherapy. “Cautionary” criteria include patients aged 50–59 years, tumor size 2.1–3.0 cm, close margins (<2 mm), focal lymphovascular invasion, estrogen receptor (ER)-negative tumors, invasive lobular carcinoma, or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) ≤ 3 cm. Rates of recurrence at any site were evaluated. Median follow-up was 3 years. There were 3 IBTR (2.8%) at a median of 3.2 years. The 3-year actuarial IBTR rate was 1.8%. Patients with ER-negative invasive cancers had a higher IBTR rate compared with ER-positive patients (11.8% vs. 2.2%), although this did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.18). There were no IBTR in 46 patients with DCIS. On univariate analysis, there was no association between “cautionary” criteria and risk of local, regional, or distant recurrence. Patients considered “cautionary” for APBI based on ASTRO guidelines had low rates of IBTR. ER-negative patients trended toward a higher IBTR rate with APBI compared with ER-positive patients. Longer follow-up is needed to establish the safety of APBI in “cautionary” patients.
Manufacturing: Computer applications in the factory spur corresponding efforts in the university

When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first space satellite, in 1957, it put intense pressure on the United States to bolster education in engineering and science. One result was an increased emphasis on science in engineering programs.
Schizophrenia, AIDS and the decision to prescribe HAART: results of a national survey of HIV clinicians.

SUMMARY Individuals with schizophrenia are at risk of developing HIV and are known to experience barriers to optimal medical care. Our goal was to determine, among a cohort of HIV clinicians, whether or not the diagnosis of schizophrenia affected the clinical decision to offer highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) to AIDS patients. This is a cross-sectional study of a random, national sample of HIV experts drawn from the membership of the American Academy of HIV Medicine. Participants were mailed a self-administered questionnaire with a case vignette of a new onset AIDS patient and were specifically asked whether or not they would recommend HAART treatment. Vignettes were randomly assigned to include a diagnosis of schizophrenia or not. We located 649 clinicians (93%); 347 responded (53.4%). Responders and non-responders did not differ in demographics or work characteristics. Recommendation of antiretroviral treatment did not differ between those who received a case vignette with schizophrenia vers...
Effect of Magnetic Field on Reduction of Haematite

IN 1872, US patent No. 133099 on the use of a magnetic coil for “Improvement in Reduction of Ores, etc.” was granted to Abraham T. Hay, of Burlington, Iowa1. It was a failure. Naturally, the description of that patent reflects some misconceptions of physics and chemistry of that epoch. For instance; in the author's understanding, heat was the ore reducing factor which in his words “promotes chemical affinity which set free electricity; and electricity develops magnetism and upon this latter phenomenon depends in a great measure the effects produced upon metals and minerals undergoing reduction or purification”. Another author's error related to molten metal supposedly forming a magnetic core in a coil. This shows that a century ago it was not yet known that iron at high temperature, above the Curie point (768° C), was not magnetic. Since Hay's patent, more than a dozen new patents were granted on the use of a magnetic field for treating iron ores for such purposes as separating iron ores from the gangue2, trapping dusts of the magnetic ores in a blast furnace3, sintering them4,5 and so on. In some such patents, efforts were made to bypass Hay's patent; they anticipated that a magnetic field would facilitate reduction of iron ores (carbon or carbon monoxide is commonly used for this purpose), but, like Hay, their methods were failures.
Resonant solitons in semiconductors: Transparency induced by exciton-exciton interactions

Abstract Propagation of femtosecond light pulses spectrally centered at the 1 s -exciton resonance in a semiconductor is studied analytically and numerically. Soliton-like propagation is demonstrated for pulses with the input area exceeding a certain threshold. This phenomenon is shown to be different from the self-induced transparency in atomic systems and associated with the formation of the resonant solitons due to exciton-exciton interactions.
Efficient chemical production of metastable alkaline earth atoms

Abstract The production of metastable Mg, Ca and Sr atoms was found to occur in fast flow low pressure catalyzed N 2 OCO flames. Despite an efficient production mechanism, the final density of excited atoms was limited by quenching to less than 2% of the initial metal atom density.
Effects of minor elements on the physiology of fungi

Numerous reports on the effects of metallic ions on the physiology of fungi have appeared during the nine year period (193947) since this subject was reviewed by Foster (41). It is evident that metallic ions play important roles in the production of many chemicals including the antibiotic substances by microorganisms, and some advance has been made in understanding the effects of metallic ions on fungal metabolism as a by-product of the recent intensive research on the mycological production of these compounds. However, there is still considerable ground to be covered before the specific roles of these metallic ions in the metabolic functions of the organisms is fully understood. It has been decided to confine the material covered in this review nearly entirely to the heavy metals and to omit many of the studies concerned with the effects of the alkaline earth group. In order to integrate the literature in a satisfactory manner, it will be reviewed by organisms rather than by individual elements. While this method does not allow comparisons to be easily drawn, it seems more reasonable, since experimental conditions differ greatly in different laboratories, and generalizations are thus of somewhat limited value. Inasmuch as the actinomycetes apparently resemble fungi in the order of their requirements and their responses to the presence of metallic ions in the medium, they will be included in this discussion.2 Neuberg (100) has included a general discussion on recent developments on the effects of metallic ions on yeast growth and metabolism, and more specific information is mentioned by Joslyn (59). Schopfer (128) and Stiles (150) have discussed the general subject of metallic ions with regard to the physiology of fungi in their recent books.
Elasto-Viscoplastic Response of Silicon to Femtosecond Laser Heating at Elevated Temperature

The elasto-viscoplastodynamics of single-crystalline silicon in response to femtosecond laser pulsing at elevated temperature is studied. Hyperbolic energy transport dynamics is considered in conjunction with the Haasen–Sumino constitutive law to explore the thermo-elasto-visco-plastic response of the silicon material subjected to ultrafast optical heating. A computational scheme with staggered-grids is developed to time-integrate the coupled thermal-mechanical responses of silicon wafer at annealing temperatures up to 1,100 K. Non-thermal melting fluence threshold is examined favorably against published physical data. The elasto-viscoplastic response at high annealing temperature is characterized by thermal stress waves that propagate with increased oscillation amplitude and modified frequency spectrum. It is shown that the induced transverse and longitudinal displacements along with the normal stress components all establish well-defined relations with temperatures, suggesting that they may be utilized ...
Becoming and Being Courageous in the Chronically III Elderly

This grounded theory study was conducted to develop a conceptual framework of courage in the chronically ill elderly. Theoretical sampling was utilized, and 21 individuals who were 67 to 94 years of age were interviewed. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was conducted using the constant comparative method.Based on the findings, becoming and being courageous is a lifelong process that includes a variety of learning experiences. Problem solving is involved, and it is thought to enable the transformation of struggles into challenges. Courageous behaviors are identifiable, and can be maintained with the help of nursing interventions. Outcomes of being courageous include a sense of equanimity and personal integrity.
Response and encoding factors in “ignoring” irrelevant information

Subjects classified either the numerosity or numeric value of elements in successive stimulus displays. In separate experiments, responses were indicated by oral naming, card sorting, manual tapping, and oral “tapping.” Incongruent levels of numeric value slowed naming and sorting, but not tapping, when numerosity was the cue for responding. Incongruent numerosity slowed tapping, but not naming and sorting, when numeric value was the cue. Changes in stimulus response mapping may thus critically alter the ability to ignore an irrelevant stimulus dimension.
Neutron spin-echo study of dynamics of hydrophobically modified polymer-doped surfactant bilayers.

We characterize the effect of adsorbed hydrophobically modified polymers (hm-polymers) on the dynamics of surfactant bilayers by small-angle neutron scattering and neutron spin−echo spectroscopy. Two kinds of hm-polymers, (a) hydrophobically modified poly(acrylate) with tetradecyl (C14) sidegroups randomly grafted to the poly(acrylate) backbone and (b) poly(PEG6k-lysine-stearylamide) with equally spaced hydrophobes, are added to bilayers of penta(ethylene glycol) dodecyl ether (C12E5) and hexanol. Both bare and polymer-doped membranes exhibit a stretched exponential relaxation in the form of S(q,t) ≅ S(q) exp[−(Γqt)2/3], where S(q) is the static structure factor and Γq is the relaxation rate. The relaxation rate depends subtly on the surface coverage of polymer. At high surface coverage, polymer slows down the relaxation by 20%, whereas at low surface coverage, polymer enhances the rate relative to that of the bare membranes. Hindered flow of solvent through the adsorbed polymer layer at high coverage a...
Practical, Interactive, and Object-Oriented Machine Vision for Highway Crack Sealing

This paper discusses a machine vision system that is used to find pavement cracks for a robotic crack sealing machine. The system includes a high-resolution digital camera which captures live or still images of the robot's 3.7 m by 4.3 m (12 ft by 14 ft) workspace. The live images are used for overall crack searching, whereas the higher resolution still images allow for accurate robot path planning. The operator interacts with the system to select cracks to be sealed. With the significant advancement in graphical and object-oriented programming, interactive and object-oriented machine vision offers advantages over fully automatic machine vision in that it is much less expensive, requires less complex hardware, its algorithms are much simpler, easier to develop and implement, and the operation can be much easier, faster, and more accurate reliable. The machine vision system described has been successfully used for sealing many actual highway pavement cracks.
Terms and units used in the measurement of the intensity of optical energy

Abstract The expanding areas of interest of people engaged in electro-optical work leads many into contact with unfamiliar terms and units. This article presents the terms employed in the measurement of the intensity of optical energy employed by physicists, astronomers, and illumination engineers. Factors for converting between systems are presented.
Effects of Protection System Hidden Failures on Bulk Power System Reliability

Protection system hidden failures have been recognized as a contributing factor to power system cascading outages. However, in the current bulk power system reliability assessment practice, protection systems are generally assumed to be perfect, and the effects of hidden failures in protection systems are not taken into account. In this paper, the impact of protection system hidden failures on bulk power system reliability is investigated. A breaker-oriented bulk power system network model is developed to include detailed system substation configurations and associated protection system schemes. Protection system constituents, such as transducers, relays, circuit breakers, may suffer from hidden failures. Hidden failures existing in transducers and relays can be detected by the advanced system real time monitoring and analysis technologies. Thus, the major concern of this work focuses on the analysis of hidden failures in circuit breakers. The hidden failure effects analysis shows that some initial system disturbances can result in the unnecessary outages of intact power system equipment because of hidden failures in circuit breaker trip mechanisms. Contingencies resulting from hidden failure outages are further evaluated by a security-constrained adequacy evaluation methodology to obtain their influence on system reliability. The proposed analysis procedure is demonstrated with a breaker- oriented 24-substation reliability test system, which is developed based on the IEEE 24-bus reliability test system and integrates explicit substation and protection system models in the network model. Evaluation results show that protection system hidden failures downgrade the system reliability level because they lead to the outages of undamaged equipment following initial system disturbances.
Tool support for the static extraction of sound hierarchical representations of runtime object graphs

Ownership domain annotations specify in code architectural intent related to object encapsulation and communication. These annotations also enable the static extraction of a sound hierarchical representation of the runtime object graph. The tool support consists of one Eclipse plugin to typecheck the annotations inserted as Java 1.5 annotations, and another to extract a representation of the runtime object graph abstracted by ownership hierarchy and by types.
The impact of aspirin use on colorectal cancer patients.

The study by McCowan et al. investigated the impact of the aspirin in colorectal cancer patients. Specifically, the authors reported significant reductions in all-cause and cancer-specific mortality rates with aspirin use after cancer diagnosis. Although the results of this study correlate with those reported in the literature, there are concerns with some of these results. First, the authors did not report the histological tumour grades in the patient population. Studies have shown that tumour differentiation is a predictor of prognosis for earlyand late-stage colorectal tumours. It is also associated with lymph node metastasis in submucosal invasive colorectal cancer cases. Because tumour behaviour depends on tumour differentiation, we are unable to determine whether tumour grade had an impact on the result of this study. Second, patients who benefited from taking aspirin (those in the aspirin prediagnosis and postdiagnosis and aspirin postdiagnosis-only groups) had late-stage disease less frequently than did patients who did not benefit from aspirin use (9%, 3% and 21%, respectively). Although disease stage was included in multivariate analysis of predictors of the survival, more frequent and quantitatively higher expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in metastatic disease can independently interfere with the effect of aspirin on progression of disease in late
Histological Investigation of the Adult Alligator Phallic Sulcus

Abstract. Male intromittent organs serve two primary reproductive functions: the physical entry into the female body during copulation and the effective delivery of gametes resulting in internal fertilization. Here we present a histological examination of the adult male American alligator phallus semen delivery apparatus, the sulcus spermaticus. While the highly collagenous basal crurae and more distal shaft of the alligator penis contain the rigid structures that facilitate cloacal intromission, the sulcus is more functionally intricate. Here we show the sulcus spermaticus (an open groove that runs along the ventral aspect of the phallic shaft) to be a spatially heterogeneous reproductive structure containing a complex architecture of multiple tissue types. Sulcus morphology markedly changes from its proximal origin between the crurae to its distal exit from the phallus tip. At the proximal origin of the sulcus, the ductus deferens vent semen into an expanded lumen lined by a convoluted secretory epithel...
Buffer sizing in all-optical packet switches

Packet-switched routers need buffers during times of congestion. We show that a combined input-output queued router needs no more buffering than an output queued router. Using simulations, we show that 10-20 packet buffers are enough.
Late payments and leery applicants: Credit checks as a selection test.

The use of pre-employment credit checks has grown dramatically in the U.S. in recent years, but there has been almost no research on their validity from a selection standpoint and none on how applicants respond to them. We examine the use of credit checks as a selection test, reviewing evidence for their validity and legal considerations. The theoretical part of the article highlights how credit checks are distinct in key respects from more commonly studied selection tests and how they are likely to violate many applicants’ expectations of privacy and procedural justice. The empirical section presents the results of a study of business undergraduates. Consistent with hypotheses, results indicate negative reactions to the use of credit reports in hiring, moderated by job and individual characteristics, and substantial misunderstanding of what credit reports contain. Implications for practice are discussed.
Immunocytochemical localization of retinoid-binding protein in the dogfish retina.

PurposeThe cellular localization of retinoid-binding proteins has been extensively studied in the mammalian retina. Less is known about the distribution and identity of retinoid-binding proteins in lower vertebrate retinas. To understand their cellular functions, we have examined the distribution of specific retinoidbinding proteins in the neural retina and RPE of an elasmobranch, the dogfish.MethodsRetinoid-binding proteins were localized in cryostat sections of dogfish eyes by the indirect immunofluorescence technique. We used well-characterized antibodies that have been previously employed for immunostaining. Immunoblotting was carried out to identify the antigen.ResultsThe studies show that the cellular retinaldehyde-binding protein is present in the RPE and retinal Muller cells, and the interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein is found in the interstitial space between pigment epithelium and retina.ConclusionsThe distribution of retinoid-binding proteins in dogfish retina is similar to that found ...
Enhancement of Platelet and Muscle Actomyosin ATPase Activity and Superprecipitation by the Tumour-promoter 12-O-Tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (PMA)

THE 12-O-tetradecanoate 13-acetate ester of the 20-carbon alcohol phorbol (phorbol myristate acetate, or PMA) is the most active irritant and tumour-promoting ingredient of croton oil1,2. It enhances the activity of some membrane-bound enzymes, especially Na+-K+-dependent ATPase3.
Quantum expulsion of impurities from a Bose condensate

Abstract When a hard-sphere-like impurity is placed in a confined Bose condensate, because it forces a hole in the inhomogeneous condensate wave function, it will be expelled. In contrast to the classical case, Bose condensed atoms can collectively expel massive impurities at T =0 with essentially no individual collision with the impurity. We estimate that C 60 molecules falling through a condensate of atomic hydrogen will be deflected with a radial acceleration comparable to g . At the extremely low density of current hydrogen condensates, only one out of two hundred C 60 will likely encounter a single hydrogen atom during its fall.
Remote homology detection on alpha-structural proteins using simulated evolution

One of the most widely-used methods to date for recognizing protein sequences that are evolutionarily related, termed homologs, has been profile hidden Markov models. For the cases where positive training data for these methods is sparse, Kumar and Cowen in 2009 introduced the paradigm of simulated evolution, a randomized algorithm to construct additional artificial training sequences, which are generated based on a highly simplistic model of how protein sequences evolve. These artificial sequences are then used together with the true positive training sequences to learn the profile hidden Markov model. Kumar and Cowen showed that augmenting the training set with a simple pointwise model of simulated evolution improved the detection of remote homologs for profile hidden Markov models. In 2010, they then constructed a model of simulated evolution that captures the pairwise statistical preferences of residues that are hydrogen bonded in beta-sheets, and showed that it improved the ability of hidden Markov models to recognize remote homologs for beta-structural motifs. In this work, we explore how best to extend the paradigm of simulated evolution to alpha-helical motifs. We determine that simulated evolution can also improve the performance for profile hidden Markov models on detecting remote homologs of alpha-structural proteins.
Biologic Behavior of Canine Uroliths

Canine uroliths may form rapidly or slowly, progressively increase or decrease in size, or become inactive. Associated clinical signs are usually dependent on their locations but may also be influenced by underlying causes. Recurrence of uroliths is unpredictable, being influenced by several variables. Recurrent uroliths are usually, but not invariably, similar in mineral composition to those present during the initial episode.