cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Control of Electronic Structure and Conductivity in Two-Dimensional Metal–Semiquinoid Frameworks of Titanium, Vanadium, and Chromium

The isostructural, two-dimensional metal–organic frameworks (H2NMe2)2M2(Cl2dhbq)3 (M = Ti, V; Cl2dhbqn– = deprotonated 2,5-dichloro-3,6-dihydroxybenzoquinone) and (H2NMe2)1.5Cr2(dhbq)3 (dhbqn– = deprotonated 2,5-dihydroxybenzoquinone) are synthesized and investigated by spectroscopic, magnetic, and electrochemical methods. The three frameworks exhibit substantial differences in their electronic structures, and the bulk electronic conductivities of these phases correlate with the extent of delocalization observed via UV–vis–NIR and IR spectroscopies. Notably, substantial metal–ligand covalency in the vanadium phase results in the quenching of ligand-based spins, the observation of simultaneous metal- and ligand-based redox processes, and a high electronic conductivity of 0.45 S/cm. A molecular orbital analysis of these materials and a previously reported iron congener suggests that the differences in conductivity can be explained by correlating the metal–ligand energy alignment with the energy of intervale...
Bike Angels: An Analysis of Citi Bike's Incentive Program

Bike-sharing systems provide a sustainable and affordable transportation alternative in many American cities. However, they also face intricate challenges due to imbalance, caused by asymmetric traffic demand. That imbalance often-times leads to bike-sharing stations being empty (full), causing out-of-stock events for customers that want to rent (return) bikes at such stations. In recent years, the study of data-driven methods to help support the operation of such system, has developed as a popular research area. In this paper, we study the impact of Bike Angels, an incentive program New York City's Citi Bike system set up in 2015 to crowd-source some of its operational challenges related to imbalance. We develop a performance metric for both online- and offline-policies to set incentives within the system; our results indicate that though Citi Bike's original offline policy performed well in a regime in which incentives given to customers are not associated to costs, there is ample space for improvement when the costs of the incentives are taken into consideration. Motivated by these findings, we develop several online- and offline- policies to investigate the trade-offs between real-time and offline decision-making; one of our online policies has since been adopted by Citi Bike.
Heuristic Framework for Multi-Scale Testing of the Multi-Manifold Hypothesis

When analyzing empirical data, we often find that global linear models overestimate the number of parameters required. In such cases, we may ask whether the data lies on or near a manifold or a set of manifolds, referred to as multi-manifold, of lower dimension than the ambient space. This question can be phrased as a (multi-)manifold hypothesis. The identification of such intrinsic multiscale features is a cornerstone of data analysis and representation, and has given rise to a large body of work on manifold learning. In this work, we review key results on multiscale data analysis and intrinsic dimension followed by the introduction of a heuristic, multiscale, framework for testing the multi-manifold hypothesis. Our method implements a hypothesis test on a set of spline-interpolated manifolds constructed from variance-based intrinsic dimensions. The workflow is suitable for empirical data analysis as we demonstrate on two use cases.
The Ethnographic Move in Contemporary Art: What Does it Mean for Art Education?

The recent shift in contemporary art of artists using ethnography as an integral component in their artistic practice opens a range of issues regarding the relationship between experience in the field, interpretation, and artistic representation. Through a focused investigation of site-specific art, I discuss the problems with “pseudo-ethnography” and the possibilities of alternative models of artist as ethnographers. I read the artworks of three women artists who I argue provide another model of artist as ethnographer, one that represents experience as relationally constituted and a resource for critical reflection. Contemplating the relationship between art and ethnography, I explore its implications for art education.
Chapter 44 – Introduction

Whereas the great majority of the chapters in this textbook have focused on specific psychiatric and neurological disorders, in this last section the reader is invited to take a step back and consider some broader questions. The first chapter in this section examines ethical issues that arise within both basic and clinical neuroscience. The next chapter looks at the epidemiology of brain disorders, seeking patterns that might provide additional insight into the causes of these conditions, with a focus on neurological disease. The final chapter addresses a particular epidemiological issue, namely the increased disease risk experienced by minority populations in the USA and elsewhere.
Quantifier Spreading in School-Age Children: An Eye-Tracking Study

Children make quantifier-spreading errors in contexts involving sets in partial one-to-one correspondence; e.g., Every bunny is in a box is rejected as a description of three bunnies, each in a box, along with two extra boxes. To determine whether a signature pattern of visual attention is associated with the classic q-spreading error as it occurs in real time, eye-movements were recorded while children (N = 41; mean 8 y;9 m, range 5;8–12;1) performed a sentence-picture verification task, with every modifying either the figure or ground of locative scenes (every bunny vs. every box). On trials designed to elicit the classic error, children performed at chance (53.3% correct). Errors involved greater numbers of fixations to the extra objects/containers, time-locked to regions following the quantified noun phrase. Correct responses were associated with longer reaction times, indicating additional processing required for quantifier restriction; accuracy was uncorrelated with verbal or nonverbal intelligence and only weakly associated with age. The findings underscore the susceptibility of school-age children to make errors given a default expectation for distributive quantifiers like every to refer to sets in one-to-one correspondence and their inattention to sentence structure.
Scaling and collapse of conditional velocity structure functions in turbulent premixed flames

Abstract A new scale-sensitive physical-space conditional analysis is outlined and used to examine the scaling and collapse of velocity structure functions in turbulent premixed flames. The conditioning is based on local instantaneous temperatures in the premixed flame, and structure function scaling and collapse are examined using Kolmogorov-type dimensional arguments and scaling relations. Both longitudinal and lateral structure functions are computed using the local flame normal and tangent as reference directions. The analysis is based on data from direct numerical simulations of unconfined statistically-planar flames at three different intensities of turbulence in the premixed reactants. The analysis shows that as the turbulence intensity increases and for locations near the unburnt reactants, conditional structure functions approach the rN/3 inertial range scaling predicted by Kolmogorov, where N is the structure function order. Using conditionally-calculated scaling variables, it is further shown that structure functions throughout the flame increasingly collapse as the turbulence intensity increases, with a more complete collapse observed for longitudinal structure functions and for small r within the analytic (or dissipative) range. These results suggest that, at sufficiently high intensities, Kolmogorov-type scaling laws and dimensional arguments may retain some validity in premixed flames, provided that scaling variables are computed on a conditional basis for different temperatures.
Markers of Systemic Involvement and Death in Hospitalized Cancer Patients With Severe Cutaneous Adverse Reactions

Background Severe cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) are frequent in inpatient oncology. Early intervention might reduce morbidity, mortality, and hospitalization costs; however, current clinical and histologic features are unreliable SCAR predictors. There is a need to identify rational markers of SCARs that could lead to effective therapeutic interventions. Objective To characterize the clinical and serologic features of hospitalized patients with cancer who developed SCARs. Methods Retrospective review of 49 hospitalized cancer patients with a morbilliform rash, recorded testing for serum cytokines (interleukin [IL] 6, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor [TNF] α) or elafin, and a prior dermatology consultation. Patients were categorized as having a simple morbilliform rash without systemic involvement or complex morbilliform rash with systemic involvement. Results Fifteen out of 49 patients (30.6%) were deceased at 6 months from time of dermatologic consultation. Elafin, IL-6, and TNF-α were significantly higher in patients who died compared with patients who were still alive at 6 months. IL-6 and IL-10 were significantly higher in patients with a drug-related complex rash. Limitations Retrospective design, limited sample size, and high-risk patient population. Conclusion In cancer patients with SCARs, elafin, IL-6, and TNF-α levels might predict a poor outcome. Agents directed against these targets might represent rational treatments for the prevention of fatal SCARs.
How Ca2+ influx is attenuated in the heart during a "fight or flight" response.

Bazmi and Escobar highlight a recent investigation of the mechanisms that regulate Ca2+ influx during sympathetic stimulation.
Sex and gender influence symptom manifestation and survival in multiple system atrophy

Abstract To evaluate the influence of sex and gender on clinical characteristics and survival in multiple system atrophy (MSA), we reviewed MSA patients with autonomic testing 1998–2012. Of 685 patients, 52% were male. Median survival overall was 7.3 years for males, 7.6 years for females. Survival from diagnosis was 2.9 years in males, 3.8 years in females. Females were more likely to initially manifest motor symptoms. Males were more likely to have orthostatic intolerance and early catheterization. In conclusion, our data show longer survival from diagnosis in females and slight overall survival benefit which may be related to initial motor manifestations.
What makes people choose within-domain versus across-domain compensation following a self-threat? The role of self-verification motives

ABSTRACTConsumers who experience a psychological threat may compensate by acquiring a product that directly boosts the threatened aspect of their self-concept (i.e., within-domain compensation), or...
Nitric oxide (NO), methylation and TIMP-1 expression in BL6 melanoma cells transfected with MHC class I genes.

We have previously found that transfection of BL6-8 melanoma cells with the H-2K, but not H-2D/L genes resulted in loss of their metastatic ability that was associated with decrease in their invasiveness and up-regulation of TIMP-1 expression. In the present study using the methylation-specific PCR (MSP) we found that lack of TIMP-1 expression in BL6-8 is associated with methylation in the TIMP-1 5′ regulatory area. In the H-2Kb transfected CL8-1 melanoma cells up-regulation of TIMP-1 was in parallel with loss of TIMP-1 gene methylation. Treatment of BL6-8 with 5-azacytidine or with an inhibitor of histone deacetylase trichostatin A resulted in up-regulation of TIMP-1 expression. These results indicate that methylation and histone deacetylation play an important role in transcription repression of TIMP-1 in BL6 melanoma cells. Some data showed that nitric oxide (NO) could affect methylation and expression of various gene. Therefore we analyzed NO production in B16 melanoma cell lines with different expression of TIMP-1. We have found that B16F10 and BL6-8 melanoma cells do not express TIMP-1 and do not produce nitric oxide (NO) even after stimulation with IFN-γ and LPS. However, BL6-8 cells transfected with H-2Kb or H-2Kd, but not H-2Dd or H-2Ld gene expressed TIMP-1 and produced NO constitutevely. NO production in these cells was further stimulated by IFN-γ and LPS. Northern blot analysis showed that expression of iNOS was paralleled with TIMP-1 expression in the tested melanoma cells. However, NO produced by SNAP or inhibition of NO production by NMA did not affect TIMP-1 expression in the tested melanoma cells. Thus, TIMP-1 expression and NO production in BL6 melanoma cells transfected with MHC class I gene coincides but it remains unclear whether NO is responsible for the change in TIMP-1 methylation and expression.
Refining canine welfare assessment in kennels: Evaluating the reliability of Field Instantaneous Dog Observation (FIDO) scoring

Abstract Accurate assessments of behavior and welfare are needed to evaluate the state of domestic dogs maintained in commercial breeding (CB) and other types of kennels. Field assessments of dogs’ states of being must be valid, reliable, and efficient. However, concerns about observer subjectivity and situational variation in dogs’ responses pose a challenge to incorporating behavioral metrics into welfare assessment tools. The Field Instantaneous Dog Observation (FIDO) tool, designed to capture the immediately observable physical and behavioral status of dogs in kennels, was thus examined to determine: 1) reliability of behavioral scoring when used by novice raters, and 2) whether dogs’ behavioral responses to a stranger’s approach within their home pens changed as a function of assessment duration. In study one, the behavioral component of the FIDO tool was conducted by two novice raters using 50 dogs housed at two US shelters. Dogs’ behavioral responses to approach were organized into three categories: red, indicating a fearful response to approach, green, indicating an affiliative or neutral response to approach, and yellow, indicating an ambivalent response to approach. Intra-rater reliability was assessed for each rater by comparing live observation scores with scores obtained from video recordings of the same tests. Agreement between raters’ scores from video recordings was also calculated. In study two, 81 commercial breeding dogs maintained at four USDA-licensed CB facilities were approached and FIDO scored for behavioral responses by one observer every five seconds for 30 s. Of the 81 subject dogs, 56 met the criteria for full sampling. Results from study one indicated that raters showed almost perfect agreement between their scores of live and video-recorded dog responses (kappa = 0.83, 0.89) and between each other (kappa = 0.87), reflecting high intra- and inter-rater reliability. Results from study two indicated that over a 30-s time frame with 5-s increments, 91% of the dogs showed no change in their behavioral responses to approach. This suggests that the first five seconds of approach provide a reliable time point for assessing behavior using the FIDO tool and indicates no benefit to extending FIDO scoring of dogs’ immediate responses to a stranger’s approach beyond that. These results provide preliminary evidence of the reliability of the behavioral component of the FIDO tool even when used by novices in behavioral assessment. Further research is needed to validate scores obtained using the tool against other indicators of immediate welfare state and against long-term indicators of overall welfare.
Manufacturing the Polymeric Metallic Connectors by the Investment Casting Method

In this article, the problems that arise in the procedure of molding by the investment casting method are considered. Information about polymeric metallic materials, their application features is described. The important aspects of the quality of molding manufactures be investment casting method are considered. Some methods for improving the quality of products are proposed. The optimal technological process, to choose the size and number of ingredients of the molding mixture to recycle the shell forms as raw materials, has been found by field experiments and the obtained technological process was resource-saving, highly productive, with a lower cost of the produced details.
Calibration of Fundamental Diagram for Macroscopic Freeway Traffic Flow Model Using Whale Optimization Algorithm

Speed-density relationships also referred as fundamental diagram (FD), play a central role in traffic flow theory and transportation engineering. However, the main problem in developing the FDs reside in the way their parameters are selected. In this paper we use the whale optimization algorithm (WOA) to calibrate the unknown parameters of the FD, this algorithm is compared with Complex-Box algorithm that is well used in the literature. The obtained results confirm that the traffic model developed using WOA is more accurate and thus, the traffic classification rate obtained using the proposed system including the WOA was significantly increased.
Kinetic Investigation on the Cationic Polymerization of o-Phthalaldehyde: Understanding Ring-Expansion Polymerization

Depolymerizable polymers are of interest for engineering applications, especially when their decomposition products can be recycled back into high-value monomers. Polyphthalaldehyde and its derivat...
A 12.8-Gbaud ADC-Based Wireline Receiver With Embedded IIR Equalizer

This article demonstrates an analog-to-digital converter (ADC)-based receiver for NRZ/PAM4 modulation, featuring a time-to-digital converter (TDC)-assisted multi-bit/cycle asynchronous successive approximation register (SAR) ADC with embedded IIR equalization filter driven by the differential source followers with an active gain. It re-uses the existing sampling network of time-interleaved (TI) ADCs and incorporates active Gm-C integrators to form a tunable IIR equalizer response. The prototype is fabricated in 65-nm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) and achieves an efficiency of 2.43-pJ/b using the 12.8-Gbuad PAM4 modulation scheme. The eight-way TI ADC measures 4.84 peak effective number of bit with power consumption of 36.3 mW while occupying 0.24 mm2 core area.
A Theory for the High-Tc Cuprates: Anomalous Normal-State and Spectroscopic Properties, Phase Diagram, and Pairing

A theory of highly correlated layered superconducting materials is applied for the cuprates. Differently from an independent-electron approximation, their low-energy excitations are approached in terms of auxiliary particles representing combinations of atomic-like electron configurations, where the introduction of a Lagrange Bose field enables treating them as bosons or fermions. The energy spectrum of this field accounts for the tendency of hole-doped cuprates to form stripe-like inhomogeneities. Consequently, it induces a different analytical behavior for auxiliary particles corresponding to “antinodal” and “nodal” electrons, enabling the existence of different pairing temperatures at T ∗ and T c . This theory correctly describes the observed phase diagram of the cuprates, including the non-Fermi-liquid to FL crossover in the normal state, the existence of Fermi arcs below T ∗ and of a “marginal-FL” critical behavior above it. The qualitative anomalous behavior of numerous physical quantities is accounted for, including kink- and waterfall-like spectral features, the drop in the scattering rates below T ∗ and more radically below T c , and an effective increase in the density of carriers with T and ω, reflected in transport, optical and other properties. Also is explained the correspondence between T c , the resonance-mode energy, and the “nodal gap”.
Spectroscopic ellipsometry as an in-situ monitoring tool for Bi2Se3 films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Abstract In-operando spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) was used to measure the optical response of Bi2Se3 films grown on sapphire substrates in a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) reactor during cool-down from a growth temperature of 225 °C. A temperature dependent dielectric model was refined for the topological insulator Bi2Se3 by taking SE spectra at different temperatures and fitting the amplitude ratio and phase difference of orthogonally polarized light using Bi2Se3 films with varying thickness. In-operando SE demonstrated here enabled determining the dielectric function of substrate and growing film unobscured by surface or interface reactions. Its sensitivity to sample temperature and film thickness variations allows determining growth temperature, absolute film thickness, and growth rate in real time, rendering it a reliable and universal approach for a direct comparison of growth conditions between different growth campaigns, thus offering the potential to improve reproducibility of the growth conditions for Bi2Se3 based films and heterostructures.
Context-aware sequence labeling for condition information extraction from historical bridge inspection reports

Abstract Effective upkeep of aging infrastructure systems with limited funding and resources calls for efficient bridge management systems. Although data-driven models have been extensively studied in the last decade for extracting knowledge from past experience to guide future maintenance decision making, their performance and usefulness have been limited by the level of detail and accuracy of currently available bridge condition databases. This paper leverages an untapped resource for bridge condition data and proposes a new method to extract condition information from it at a high level of detail. To that end, a natural language processing approach was developed to formalize structural condition knowledge by formulating a sequence labeling task and modeling inspection narratives as a combination of words representing defects, their severity and location, while accounting for the context of each word. The proposed framework employs a deep-learning-based approach and incorporates context-aware components including a bi-directional Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) neural network architecture and a Conditional Random Field (CRF) classifier to account for the context of words when assigning labels. A dependency-based word embedding model was also used to represent the raw text while incorporating both semantic and contextual information. The sequence labeling model was trained using bridge inspection reports collected from the Virginia Department of Transportation bridge inspection database and achieved an F1 score of 94.12% during testing. The proposed model also demonstrated improvements compared with baseline sequence labeling models, and was further used to demonstrate the capability of detecting condition changes with respect to previous inspection records. Results of this study show that the proposed method can be used to extract and create a condition information database that can further assist in developing data-driven bridge management and condition forecasting models, as well as automated bridge inspection systems.
Rappers’ Rhymes Are Not Admissions to Crimes: Eliminating the Unlawful Use of Rap Lyrics Against Rappers in Criminal Proceedings

Rap is well-established as a predominantly black genre. Among the 500 readily identifiable criminal cases where courts admit rap lyrics against rappers, an overwhelming majority led to young black men’s convictions. Because society believes rap is “more literal, offensive, and in greater need of regulation” than country, punk rock, or heavy metal, most rap lyrics contain unfair prejudice which substantially outweighs the probative value of the lyrics in the eyes of a jury. Therefore, courts often misapply Federal Rule of Evidence (FRE) 403 to rap lyrics when they admit rap lyrics into evidence. Judges also participate in discrimination against young black male rappers because rap is so inextricably linked to black men and judges usually admit unfairly prejudicial rap lyrics into evidence against the rapper defendant, even though rap lyrics are usually unreliable sources of literal admissions of guilt. This discrimination is so prevalent today that it violates the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause under Bolling v. Sharpe because it results in grossly unfair outcomes in the American justice system against young black men. Additionally, prosecutors commonly use rappers’ lyrics against rappers as evidence of literal admissions of guilt even though the First Amendment is intended to protect artistic expressions and rappers’ lyrics are usually not specific enough to be literal admissions. Therefore, judges also violate rappers’ First Amendment right to free speech when they admit lyrics that are not literal admissions of guilt. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of the United States’ majority opinion did not discuss in depth the issue of the First Amendment on the most recent criminal rap case, Elonis v. United States. By avoiding the First Amendment issue, the Supreme Court left addressing rappers’ plight until another day. Accordingly, this Article is the first to propose that the Supreme Court adopts this Article’s unique and new stringent factor test into the Federal Rules of Evidence. This Article also proposes additional safeguards. For instance, the jury must be given jury instructions limiting the scope of the rap lyrics and providing a background on the realities of rap and its negative treatment in society. Lastly, defendants should be highly encouraged to hire an expert in rap to explain their prejudicial value if the prosecution wants to admit those lyrics into evidence. These new safeguards will serve to lower the chance of a court wrongfully admitting a rapper’s unfairly prejudicial lyrics into evidence against him in a criminal trial, give young black men a better chance at a fair trial, and allow for a broader right to freedom of expression. If this is not immediately remedied, other entertainers including comedians, horror story novelists, painters, and more could be convicted of crimes they did not commit simply for their artistic expressions.
Nazi Science, wartime collections, and an American museum: An object itinerary of the Anthropologie Symbol

A number of recent works have explored the value of scholarly efforts to “unpack” museum collections and examine the constitutive networks and histories of objects. The interrogations of collections through methods such as object biographies and itineraries imparts important knowledge about the institutions, disciplines, and individuals who made museum collections, contribute to deeper understandings of the roles of objects in creating meaning in and of the world, and suggest implications for future practice and policies. This article examines the object itinerary of a cultural property item of negative heritage: a three-dimensional painted plaster work of craft-art originally designed to symbolize the scientific practice of anthropology in early twentieth-century Germany and later associated with wartime collecting during World War II, the history of American archaeology, and the modern repatriation movement in museums.
Methyl-Beta-Cyclodextrin Restores K IR Channel Function in Brain Endothelium of Female Alzheimer's Disease Mice

Background As the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States, Alzheimer's disease (AD) entails deteriorating endothelial control of blood flow throughout the brain. In particular, reduced inward-rectifying K+ (KIR) channel function in animal models of aging and AD compromises endothelial function and optimal perfusion of brain parenchyma. Deficient endothelial KIR channels may result from aberrant interaction with plasma membrane cholesterol as a primary regulator of membrane fluidity and ion channels. Objective We tested the hypothesis that mild methyl-β-cyclodextrin (MβCD) treatment to reduce membrane cholesterol may restore endothelial KIR channel function in brain endothelium of old AD mice. Methods Membrane potential was continuously measured in isolated endothelial tubes from posterior cerebral arteries of young (1 to 3 months) and old (16 to 19 months) female 3xTg-AD mice before and after mild treatment with the cholesterol-removing agent MβCD (1 mmol/L). Elevated extracellular potassium ([K+]E; 15 mmol/L) and NS309 (1μmol/L) activated KIR and Ca2+-activated K+ (SKCa/IKCa) channels respectively before and after MβCD treatment. Results SKCa/IKCa channel function for producing hyperpolarization remained stable regardless of age group and MβCD treatment (ΔVm: ∼-33 mV). However, as deficient during AD, KIR channel function was restored (ΔVm: -9±1 mV) versus pre-MβCD conditions (-5±1 mV); a progressive effect that reached -14±1 mV hyperpolarization at 60 min following MβCD washout. Conclusion In female animals, MβCD treatment of brain endothelium selectively restores KIR versus SKCa/IKCa channel function during AD. Thus, the endothelial cholesterol-KIR channel interface is a novel target for ameliorating perfusion of the AD brain.
Lipid vesicles as carriers for introducing biologically active materials into cells.

Publisher Summary Lipid vesicles have been used extensively over the past 10 years as model membranes from which to obtain information on the physicochemical organization of lipid bilayers and to study the interaction of various membrane-active drugs with lipids. More recently, experiments in several laboratories have shown that mammalian cells in vitro and in vivo will incorporate large numbers of lipid vesicles without cytotoxic effects. Since a wide variety of materials can be entrapped inside vesicles and various glycoproteins and glycolipids can be inserted into the vesicle membrane, cellular uptake of vesicles of defined composition offers a potential method for modifying cellular composition and for introducing nonpermeable biologically active materials into cells. This chapter discusses current methods for the production of different types of lipid vesicles and discusses the mechanism by which vesicles are incorporated into cells. Recent work on the use of lipid vesicles as “carriers” to introduce biologically active materials into cells in vitro and in vivo is also reviewed, and a brief outline is presented on the feasibility of developing methods in which vesicles could be targeted to specific parts of the cell and to particular cell types.
Bacteriophage T4 inhibits colicin E2-induced degradation of Escherichia coli DNA. 3. Zone sedimentation analyses of the DNA degradation products.

Abstract Zone sedimentation analyses of DNA degradation products have been used to determine directly which stages of colicin E2-induced DNA degradation are subject to inhibition by infection with bacteriophage T4. Infection with a T4 mutant (gene denA) deficient in an early stage of T4-induced degradation (endonuclease II, which nicks, i.e. breaks one strand of a double strand) inhibits the breakage of double strands (cutting) normally induced by colicin E2. The action of T4 polynucleotide ligase is not solely responsible (if at all) for this inhibition, because a T4 mutant deficient in both endonuclease II and ligase still inhibits E2-induced cutting activity. In control experiments in which E2 was omitted, the T4 mutant deficient in endonuclease II and ligase (and deoxycytidylate hydroxymethylase, to prevent phage DNA synthesis) cuts and nicks host DNA more extensively than the corresponding mutant having a functional ligase gene. Infection with a T4 mutant (gene 46) deficient in a late stage of phage-induced DNA degradation (solubilization of 106 molecular weight fragments) prevents the E2-induced solubilization of host DNA and leaves this DNA in fragments of 106 average molecular weight. We conclude that, under conditions that permit protein synthesis, T4 infection inhibits both the cutting and solubilizing activities of E2; it is not clear whether E2 alone causes nicking under our conditions and thus whether T4 inhibits such nicking. When protein synthesis is blocked by chloramphenicol, T4 infection has virtually no effect on the E2-induced production of 106 molecular weight fragments of DNA, but does inhibit their solubilization; however, this inhibition is less complete than when protein synthesis is permitted.
The Laws of War: Regulating the Use of Force

This chapter provides an introduction to the two main bodies of law governing the use of force: jus ad bellum, which governs when states can use force; and jus in bello (or the law of armed conflict), which governs the conduct of hostilities and the protection of persons during armed conflict.
Impact factor: a valid measure of journal quality?

Objectives: Impact factor, an index based on the frequency with which a journal's articles are cited in scientific publications, is a putative marker of journal quality. However, empiric studies on impact factor's validity as an indicator of quality are lacking. The authors assessed the validity of impact factor as a measure of quality for general medical journals by testing its association with journal quality as rated by clinical practitioners and researchers. Methods: We surveyed physicians specializing in internal medicine in the United States, randomly sampled from the American Medical Association's Physician Masterfile (practitioner group, n = 113) and from a list of graduates from a national postdoctoral training program in clinical and health services research (research group, n = 151). Respondents rated the quality of nine general medical journals, and we assessed the correlation between these ratings and the journals' impact factors. Results: The correlation between impact factor and physicians' ratings of journal quality was strong (r2 = 0.82, P = 0.001). The correlation was higher for the research group (r2 = 0.83, P = 0.001) than for the practitioner group (r2 = 0.62, P = 0.01). Conclusions: Impact factor may be a reasonable indicator of quality for general medical journals.
On Some Peculiarities of Dynamic Switch between Component Implementations in an Autonomic Computing System

Behavior of the delta algorithm of autonomic switch between two component implementations is considered on several examples of a client-server systems involving, in particular, periodic change of intensities of requests for the component. It is shown that in the cases of some specific combinations of elementary requests costs, the number of clients in the system, the number of requests per unit of time, and the cost of switch between the implementations, the algorithm may reveal behavior that is rather far from the desired. A sufficient criterion of a success of the algorithm is proposed based on the analysis of the accumulated implementations costs difference as a function of time. Suggestions are pointed out of practical evaluation of the algorithm functioning regarding the observations made in this paper.
High-dose and fractionation effects in stereotactic radiation therapy: Analysis of tumor control data from 2965 patients.

Abstract Background and purpose Two aspects of stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) require clarification: First, are tumoricidal mechanisms at high-doses/fraction the same as at lower doses? Second, is single high-dose SRT treatment advantageous for tumor control (TCP) vs. multi-fraction SRT? Material and methods We analyzed published TCP data for lung tumors or brain metastases from 2965 SRT patients, covering a wide range of doses and fraction numbers. We used: (a) a linear-quadratic model (including heterogeneity), which assumes the same mechanisms at all doses, and (b) alternative models with terms describing distinct tumoricidal mechanisms at high doses. Results Both for lung and brain data, the LQ model provided a significantly better fit over the entire range of treatment doses than did any of the models requiring extra terms at high doses. Analyzing the data as a function of fractionation (1 fraction vs . >1 fraction), there was no significant effect on TCP in the lung data, whereas for brain data multi-fraction SRT was associated with higher TCP than single-fraction treatment. Conclusion Our analysis suggests that distinct tumoricidal mechanisms do not determine tumor control at high doses/fraction. In addition, there is evidence suggesting that multi-fraction SRT is superior to single-dose SRT.
Contextual Sequence Prediction with Application to Control Library Optimization

Sequence optimization, where the items in a list are ordered to maximize some reward has many applications such as web advertisement placement, search, and control libraries in robotics. Previous work in sequence optimization produces a static ordering that does not take any features of the item or context of the problem into account. In this work, we propose a general approach to order the items within the sequence based on the context (e.g., perceptual information, environment description, and goals). We take a simple, efficient, reduction-based approach where the choice and order of the items is established by repeatedly learning simple classifiers or regressors for each “slot” in the sequence. Our approach leverages recent work on submodular function maximization to provide a formal regret reduction from submodular sequence optimization to simple costsensitive prediction. We apply our contextual sequence prediction algorithm to optimize control libraries and demonstrate results on two robotics problems: manipulator trajectory prediction and mobile robot path planning.
Graduate Education and Social Stratification

Graduate and professional education play an increasingly important role in economic inequality and elite formation in the United States, but sociologists have not subjected stratification in and through graduate education to the same level of scrutiny recently applied to undergraduate and subbaccalaureate education. In this review, we discuss how prominent stratification theories might be extended to studies of the role of graduate and professional education, and we review research about stratification at junctures along student pathways into and through postbaccalaureate education to the labor market. Especially in doctoral and professional education, we find persistent stratification, including pronounced educational inheritance and disparities in participation and degree attainment by race/ethnicity and gender. We propose future directions for inquiry, highlighting unanswered questions and conceptual issues concerning how the field of and pathways through postbaccalaureate education contribute to socia...
Iron(II) Acetylacetonate

[14024-17-0] C10H14O4Fe (MW 254.06) InChI = 1S/2C5H8O2.Fe/c2*1-4(6)3-5(2)7;/h2*3,6H,1-2H3;/q;;+2/p-2/b2*4-3-; InChIKey = LFORAFQNBQKDRY-FDGPNNRMSA-L Physical Data: mp 175° C (dec.) Form Supplied in: solid; widely available. Purification: synthesis and manipulations should be carried out in an oxygen-free atmosphere.2 Handling, Storage, and Precautions: avoid contact with skin and eyes. Avoid formation of dust and aerosols. Store in a cool place. Keep container tightly closed in a dry and well-ventilated place. Stable under recommended storage conditions.3 Hygroscopic. May liberate 2,4-pentanedione upon decomposition. Incompatible with strong oxidizing agents. Hazardous decomposition products formed under fire conditions - carbon oxides and iron oxides.
Sedimentary sulfur geochemistry of the Paleogene Green River Formation, western USA: Implications for interpreting depositional and diagenetic processes in saline alkaline lakes

Abstract The sulfur geochemistry of the lacustrine Paleogene Green River Formation (Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, USA) is unlike that of most marine and other lacustrine rocks. Distinctive chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical characteristics of the formation are pyrrhotite and marcasite, high contents of iron mineral sulfides strikingly enriched in 34 S, cyclical trends in sulfur abundance and δ 34 S values, and long-term evolutionary trends in δ 34 S values. Analyses that identified and quantified these characteristics include carbonate-free abundance of organic carbon (0.13–47 wt%), total iron (0.31–13 wt%), reactive iron (>70% of total iron), total sulfur (0.02–16 wt%), acid-volatile monosulfide (S Av ), disulfide (S Di > 70% of total sulfur), sulfate (S SO 4 ) and organosulfur (S Org ); isotopic composition of separated sulfur phases (δ 34 S Di,Av up to +49‰); and mineralogy, morphology and paragenesis of sulfide minerals. Mineralogy, morphology, δ 34 S Di,Av , and δ 34 S Org have a distinctive relation, reflecting variable and unique depositional and early diagenetic conditions in the Green River lakes. When the lakes were brackish, dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria in the sediment produced H 2 S, which initially reacted with labile iron to form pyrite framboids and more gradually with organic matter to form organosulfur compounds. During a long-lived stage of saline lake water, the amount of sulfate supplied by inflow decreased and alkalinity and pH of lake waters increased substantially. Extensive bacterial sulfate reduction in the water column kept lake waters undersaturated with sulfate minerals. A very high H 2 S:SO 4 ratio developed in stagnant bottom water aided by the high pH that kinetically inhibited iron sulfidization. Progressive removal of H 2 S by coeval formation of iron sulfides and organosulfur compounds caused the isotopic composition of the entire dissolved sulfur reservoir to evolve to δ 34 S values much greater than that of inflow sulfate, which is estimated to have been +20‰ A six-million-year interval within Lake Uinta cores records this evolution as well as smaller systematic changes in δ 34 S, interpreted to reflect ~ 100,000-year lake-level cycles. When porewater was exceptionally reducing, unstable FeS phases eventually recrystallized to pyrrhotite during diagenesis. A much later reaction related to weathering altered pyrrhotite to marcasite.
Solving Unconfined Groundwater Flow Management Problems with Successive Linear Programming

Groundwater management models are often applied to problems in which the aquifer state is a mildly nonlinear function of managed stresses. The use of the successive linear programming algorithm to solve such problems is examined. The algorithm solves a series of linear programs, each assembled using a response matrix. At each iteration perturbation from the most recent value of the managed stresses is used to estimate response coefficients. Iterations continue until a convergence criterion is met. The algorithm is tested on a water supply problem in Antelope Valley, Calif. where large volumes of water are injected and extracted each year producing a significant nonlinear response in the unconfined aquifer. The algorithm is shown to perform well under a variety of settings.
The Digital Bridge: A Boomer's View of Course Management Software in the Gen Y Classroom

Today's Generation Y student population entered adulthood in a world immersed with digital technology. This commentary discusses the migration of educators, primarily from the Baby Boomer generation, in the use of digital technology as part of an educational process designed to engage current student cohorts.
A New Academic Vocabulary List

This article presents our new Academic Vocabulary List (AVL), derived from a 120-million-word academic subcorpus of the 425-million-word Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA; Davies 2012). We first explore reasons why a new academic core list is warranted, and why such a list is still needed in English language education. We also provide a detailed description of the large academic corpus from which the AVL was derived, as well as the robust frequency and dispersion statistics used to identify the AVL. Our concluding case studies show that the AVL discriminates between academic and other materials, and that it covers ?14% of academic materials in both COCA (120 million+ words) and the British National Corpus (33 million+ words). The article concludes with a discussion of how the AVL can be used in settings where academic English is the focus of instruction. In this discussion, we introduce a new web-based interface that can be used to learn AVL words, and to identify and interact with AVL words in any text entered in the search window.
Damage Sensing by Inverse Estimation of Electrical Resistivity of Composite Structure

Damage or defect in a composite structure can significantly alter the average resistivity of the structure. A method to estimate the resistivity of composite structures using an inverse problem solving algorithm is presented that uses voltage distribution on the structure as data. Electrodes attached to the surface of the structure are used to obtain voltage data in response to current injection through a pair of these electrodes. The forward problem involves using the finite element method to predict the voltages at the electrodes using known values of resistivity. The inverse problem involves solving for the resistivity values using the experimentally measured voltage data. If the material does not have uniform properties, the computed resistivity values are average values. To explore the possibility of using this approach to detect defects in manufacturing or damage due to loading, the effect of artificially induced damage/defect on the overall resistivity of the structure is studied.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Default, reputation, and balanced-budget rules

Abstract Is a balanced-budget rule compatible with a government honoring its debt obligations? According to the conventional explanation, governments honor their debt obligations to maintain a good reputation for future borrowing. The ability to borrow is desirable because it allows for greater tax smoothing. However, a balanced-budget rule limits the ability to smooth taxes, rendering a large class of competitive equilibria not compatible with a government honoring its debt obligations. The reputation model predicts default as the equilibrium outcome under a balanced-budget restriction. Insofar as this prediction is falsified by empirical observation, mechanisms other than reputation must be at work.
An Algorithm for multispecies diffusion fluxes

Abstract We have developed an accurate and efficient algorithm to solve for the general multi-species diffusion velocities. The algorithm is accurate and the so
Non-destructive evaluation of residual stresses in thin films via X-ray diffraction topography methods

Quantitative x-ray diffraction topography techniques have been used to measure the residual strain magnitude and uniformity of deposition for Mo and W sputtered films on Si(100) substrates. High sensitivity rocking curve measurements were able to determine differential strains for films as thin as 2.5 nm; while Bragg angle contour mapping had similar sensitivity and was also able to assess coating uniformity and stress distribution over areas covering a whole wafer. Measurements of strain versus film thickness over a range of 2.5 nm to 80 nm showed that a critical thickness exists for maximum residual strain. Growth beyond this range produces stress relaxation. This non-destructive type of analysis could be employed on a wide range of film-substrate combinations.
Analysis of the Human RAD51L1 Promoter Region and Its Activation by UV Light

Abstract The human REC2/RAD51B gene (HGMW-approved symbol RAD51L1) encodes a 350-amino-acid protein with regional homologies to members of the RAD52 epistasis group. It is induced by DNA-damaging agents, and the overexpression of this gene product causes G1/S cell cycle arrest. In this report, the promoter region, containing the UV-responsive element, is revealed. Deletion analyses of a 1699-base fragment at the 5′ end of the human REC2/RAD51B cDNA identified a 116-base sequence that appears to be responsible for radiation induction. This fragment contains many DNA sequences that have been identified in the promoter regions of other radiation-inducible genes in yeast and humans. Within this region are “consensus” binding sites for both the AP2 and the p53 proteins that may act to regulate the expression of the human REC2/RAD51B gene. Five putative transcripts have been identified from regions 5′ of the promoter element that splice near the ATG translation start site. None of the transcripts contain the UV-inducible element nor the consensus transcription factor binding sites.