cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
CHAPTER I – Foundations

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the development of group theory. Group theory began with finite permutation groups. Any arrangement of n objects in a row is called a permutation of the objects. If one selects some arrangement as standard, then any other arrangement can be regarded as achieved from it by an operation of replacements. If the replacements of two operations are performed in succession, one get an arrangement that could be achieved directly by a third operation, called the product of the two operations. In a remarkable application of a group theory in its infancy, Galois showed that every algebraic equation possesses a certain permutation group on whose structure its properties depend. A generalization of the permutation group and the next step historically is the group of linear substitutions on a finite number of variables. Substitutions or matrices admit a greater freedom of algebraic treatment than do permutations.
Natural Rate in a Shadow Rate Term Structure Model

We propose a shadow rate no-arbitrage DTSM with drifting trends to estimate the natural rate of interest. With the shadow rate reflecting overall financial market condition (Wu and Zhang (2019)), its long run forecast (in real term), defined as our natural rate, provides a useful measure against which monetary policy stance may be assessed. We apply our model to treasury yields data in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany for the sample from November 1972 to December 2019. We find that all three natural rates have been declining since as early as the 1990s and have all turn negative in the most recent few years. Furthermore, there is a strong co-movement among the three natural rates indicating that global factors contribute significantly to the natural rate declining dynamics, corroborating findings in Holston et al. (2017). The term premium estimates from our model are quite stationary and are significantly and positively correlated with several inflation uncertainty measures, consistent with Wright (2011).
Troubling America's historical waters: Toward the transdisciplinary study of U.S. lynchings as an active present

This review considers a range of literatures that facilitate a critical discussion of lynching and legacies of lynching as present realities of the 21st Century in the United States of America. Although scholars in this field generally pride themselves on being “apolitical,” America's pioneering lynching scholars and anti-lynching advocates desired to eradicate lynching because it tangibly threatened the safety of Black, racially minoritized, and resource-deprived communities inside and outside of the U.S. South. However, scholars selectively engage this history despite its relevance to the production of their research. Likewise, routine displays of white supremacist violence throughout the COVID-19 pandemic—including the lynching of Ahmaud Arbery—are exacerbating the health and welfare of communities that are already experiencing other inequities. This review mobilizes the Transdisciplinary Frame to address these concerns. This frame leverages the interventionist and anti-racist praxes that created the field of lynching scholarship to advance an emancipatory sociology and scientific knowledge through the study of lynching's legacies. Furthermore, the Transdisciplinary Frame galvanizes scholars to use innovative methods to explore how racially minoritized individuals and resource-deprived communities in the 21st Century are grappling with safety concerns that may or may not be tied to legacies of U.S. lynching. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Budorcas t. taxicolor (Takin)

Skin biopsies of two animals from the group at Bronx Zoo, New York, were kindly made available by Dr. E. Dolensek. Stock is frozen of the male in our tissue bank. The karyotype of the male is prepared by the C-band technique, the female is G-banded.
Picturesque Interiority: Eliza Fenwick’s Secresy and the Novel of Information

Eliza Fenwick’s Romantic novel Secresy; or, The Ruin on the Rock (1795) provides a forum for discussing two forms of writing usually thought of as linked to twentieth-century business culture: the memorandum and classified information. Using ideas drawn from information theory – especially the idealization of both transparent and blocked communication – this essay links these concerns to developments in the psychology of depth and the interiority of character in novels of the British Romantic period. The essay shows how Secresy applies the specific language of William Gilpin’s extremely popular treatises on the picturesque technique of viewing landscapes to illustrate a close relationship between narrations of interiority and picturesque descriptions of broken, ruined, and hidden features within the British landscape.
Path to the Future: Generative Evaluation for Simultaneous Renewal of ICT in Teacher Education and K-12 Schools

Educational organizations, teachers and teacher educators are challenged to renew their practice and to respond to changing community and national demands, including changing technologies. This requires ‘simultaneous renewal’ of teacher preparation and collaborating K-12 schools. The ongoing development of effective models of ICT-enriched learning and teaching environments in both universities and schools will remain a challenge. There is also the need to develop appropriate methodologies and approaches for researching simultaneous renewal of education across interconnected educational organizations. Two universities and partner elementary schools in the USA have been working on simultaneous renewal of teacher education to develop exemplary practice technology under the initiative to Prepare Tomorrow’s Teachers to use Technology (PT3). Iowa State University started first with their project called ‘Technology Collaboratives’, followed two years later by the University of Florida Technology Initiative project, which draws upon TechCo’s approach, strategies and evaluation. The innovative ‘generative evaluation’ is a key overarching strategy within each project to support their simultaneous renewal and also the inter-project collaboration. This paper proposes that generative evaluation may also inform regional and international collaborations to renew ICT in teacher education thus develop organizations and programs better suited to the teachers and the learners in our future.
Abstract P2-03-13: Multiple breast cancer risk variants are associated with differential transcript isoform expression in tumors

Introduction: Genome-wide association studies have identified over seventy single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with breast cancer. A subset of these SNPs regulate expression of nearby genes, but the functional effects of the majority remain unknown. We hypothesized that some breast cancer risk SNPs may regulate alternative splicing of nearby genes. Methods: We used RNA sequencing data and matched germline genotypes from The Cancer Genome Atlas for 358 estrogen receptor (ER)-positive and 109 ER-negative breast tumors. For each risk SNP, we tested the association between genotype and exon-, junction-, and transcript-specific expression of genes within 500 kilobases, adjusting for overall gene expression. We excluded associations potentially related to error in mapping to pseudogenes or bias in mapping to the reference genome. Results: Six breast cancer risk SNPs were associated with differential isoform expression of seven nearby genes at FDR Conclusion: Regulation of differential transcript expression appears to be an important functional mechanism of breast cancer risk SNPs. These associations allow us to identify likely candidate causal genes, and also specific exons and transcripts that may mediate breast cancer risk, opening a new window into the link between risk variants, gene function, and outcome. Citation Format: Jennifer L Caswell, Scott Huntsman, Donglei Hu, Elad Ziv. Multiple breast cancer risk variants are associated with differential transcript isoform expression in tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirty-Seventh Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium: 2014 Dec 9-13; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(9 Suppl):Abstract nr P2-03-13.
Score As You Lift (SAYL): a statistical relational learning approach to uplift modeling

We introduce Score As You Lift (SAYL), a novel Statistical Relational Learning (SRL) algorithm, and apply it to an important task in the diagnosis of breast cancer. SAYL combines SRL with the marketing concept of uplift modeling, uses the area under the uplift curve to direct clause construction and final theory evaluation, integrates rule learning and probability assignment, and conditions the addition of each new theory rule to existing ones. Breast cancer, the most common type of cancer among women, is categorized into two subtypes: an earlier in situ stage where cancer cells are still confined, and a subsequent invasive stage. Currently older women with in situ cancer are treated to prevent cancer progression, regardless of the fact that treatment may generate undesirable side-effects, and the woman may die of other causes. Younger women tend to have more aggressive cancers, while older women tend to have more indolent tumors. Therefore older women whose in situ tumors show significant dissimilarity with in situ cancer in younger women are less likely to progress, and can thus be considered for watchful waiting. Motivated by this important problem, this work makes two main contributions. First, we present the first multi-relational uplift modeling system, and introduce, implement and evaluate a novel method to guide search in an SRL framework. Second, we compare our algorithm to previous approaches, and demonstrate that the system can indeed obtain differential rules of interest to an expert on real data, while significantly improving the data uplift.
Transcriptional activation by the human cytomegalovirus immediate-early proteins: requirements for simple promoter structures and interactions with multiple components of the transcription complex.

Abstract We have utilized a number of well-defined, simple, synthetic promoters (upstream factor binding sites and TATA elements) to analyze the activation mechanisms of the human cytomegalovirus immediate-early (IE) proteins. We found that the 86-kDa IE protein (known as IEP86, IE2(559aa), or ppUL122a) can recognize and activate a variety of simple promoters, in agreement with the observation that it is a promiscuous activator. However, in the comparison of otherwise identical promoters IEP86 does have preferences for specific TATA elements (hsp70 > adenovirus E2 > simian virus 40 early) and specific upstream transcription factor binding sites (CAAT > SP1 approximately Tef-1 > ATF; no activation with AP1 or OCT). In contrast, the 72-kDa IE protein (known as IEP72, IE1(491aa), or ppUL123) alone did not significantly activate the simple promoters under our experimental conditions. However, each promoter activated by IEP86 was synergistically affected by the addition of IEP72. In addition, the 55-kDa IE protein (IEP55, a splice variant form of IE2, IE2(425aa), or ppUL122b) repeatedly had a negative effect, downregulating the activation of promoters caused by IEP86 and the synergy of IEP86 and IEP72. We show that the ability of IEP86 to activate many simple promoters correlates not only with its previously described ability to interact with the TATA-binding protein (TBP) (B. A. Furnari, E. Poma, T. F. Kowalik, S.-M. Huong, and E.-S. Huang, J. Virol. 67:4981-4991, 1993; C. Hagemeier, S. Walker, R. Caswell, T. Kouzarides, and J. Sinclair, J. Virol. 66:4452-4456, 1992; R. Jupp, S. Hoffman, R. M. Stenberg, J. A. Nelson, and P. Ghazal, J. Virol. 67:7539-7546, 1993) but also with its ability to interact with the transcription factors which bind to the upstream element of promoters it activated (e.g., SP1 and Tef-1 but not Oct-1). This ability to have multiple interactions with the promoter complex may be crucial for transcriptional activation, since the IE proteins cannot activate promoters having only a TATA element or only an upstream transcription factor binding site. In addition, we show that proteins which bind IEP86 also bind to IEP55. Thus, the negative effect on transcription noted with IEP55 may be the result of competition with IEP86 for interaction with the promoter complex. The synergy caused by IEP72 appears to be mediated by a more indirect mechanism. This is suggested by our observation that IEP72 could not bind to any of the proteins tested (TBP, Tef-1, or Oct-1) or to IEP86.
A 470mV 2.7mW feature extraction-accelerator for micro-autonomous vehicle navigation in 28nm CMOS

This paper proposes a power-efficient speeded-up robust features (SURF) extraction accelerator targeted primarily for micro air vehicles (MAVs) with autonomous navigation (Fig. 9.7.1). Typical object recognition SoCs [4-6] employ an application-specific algorithm to choose specific regions of interest (ROIs) to reduce computation by focusing on a small portion of the image. However, this approach is not feasible in applications where the whole image must be analyzed, such as visual navigation that requires the extraction of general features to determine location or movement. In addition, multicore architectures need to run at high clock frequencies to meet high peak performance requirements and the power consumption of inter-core communication becomes prohibitive. Since feature extraction algorithms require significant memory accesses across a large area, parallelization in a multicore system requires costly high-bandwidth memories for massive intermediate data.
Effect of Intraoperative Anesthetic Events on Postoperative Patient Satisfaction

Objective To assess overall perioperative and anesthetic care-specific patient satisfaction. Design We mailed questionnaires postoperatively to three groups of surgical patients (those who underwent anesthesia without complications, those who experienced airway management difficulties, and those who had cardiovascular perturbations) and analyzed the responses. Material and Methods All patients 18 to 75 years of age who underwent hospital-based surgical procedures in our acute-care hospitals during the interval from January to September 1993 were eligible for this investigation. We asked a total of 315 patients—105 in each of the three study groups—about their satisfaction with perioperative care. Specific positive or negative comments that the patients returned in their questionnaires were tabulated into the following sub-categories: physician, nurse, technique, time, and institution concerns. Results Of the 315 questionnaires sent to patients, 239 (75.9%) were returned. No difference in overall patient satisfaction (defined as very satisfied or a combination of very satisfied and satisfied) was noted among the groups. No patients identified themselves as dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with their overall care, although a small percentage expressed dissatisfaction because of time delays. The specific patient comments suggested that the positive interactions with physicians and nurses outweighed the concerns about time delays. Conclusion This study showed that intraoperative anesthetic events did not affect patient satisfaction. Interactions with physicians and nurses dominated the decision about patient satisfaction, and time delays were the most frequently cited negative comment.
Direct catalytic upgrading of biomass pyrolysis vapors by a dual function Ru/TiO2 catalyst

The results of catalytic treatment of vapors exiting a g/min pyrolysis unit before product condensation to the liquid phase using a Ru/TiO2 catalyst for oak and switchgrass pyrolysis are reported. The pyrolysis is conducted at 500°C and the catalysis at 400°C at atmospheric pressure with a hydrogen partial pressure of 0.58 atm. It is found that the catalytic treatment provides significant conversion of light oxygenates to larger, less oxygenated, molecules and, simultaneously, bio-oil phenolics are also converted to less oxygenated phenolics with methoxy methyl groups transferred to the ring. The activity of the catalyst gradually diminished with increasing biomass fed to the system. Untreated pyrolysis oil forms a single liquid phase with some tarry material, consistent with the literature, whereas the treated liquid product forms separate oil and aqueous phases, the latter of which is about 80% water. The oil from the treated vapors has a lower initial viscosity with only a small increase upon accelerated aging compared to the untreated product oil, which has a dramatic increase in viscosity after aging. This is indicative of poor oil stability for untreated oil that is further confirmed by large increases in molecular weight, while the treated oil has a small increase in molecular weight after accelerated aging. In an effort to understand compatibility with refinery streams, the solubility of the oils in tetralin was examined. The untreated oil was found to have very limited solubility in tetralin, whereas the treated oil phase was completely soluble except for a small aqueous phase that appeared. There are a number of challenges in developing a high yield process for pyrolysis based conversion of biomass to transportation fuels. The Ru/TiO2 catalyst used here shows promise for conducting multiple types of favorable reactions in the presence of the full spectrum of primary pyrolysis products that creates significant product stability under mild conditions. This could lead to higher liquid yields of stable, refinery compatible, product oil. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 59: 2275–2285, 2013
ACM SIGGRAPH user experience initiatives

There has been a substantial growth in the number of educational and networking opportunities for professionals in the computer graphics and related fields in the last three years. One of the fastest areas of growth is in the field of computer user experience and the development of cultural communities through the advent of portal technologies, blogs, and wikis.
Pacing polarity and left ventricular mechanical activation sequence in cardiac resynchronization therapy

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between polarity of left ventricular (LV) pacing and the resultant regional, global, and transmural mechanical sequence of contraction. Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is widely utilized in patients with drug refractory congestive heart failure with systolic dysfunction (EF 120 ms). However, little is known about polarity of pacing stimulation and the resultant differences in LV mechanics. The polarity of pacing was altered sequentially in 20 patients (73 ± 13, 16 males) with preexisting biventricular devices with potential choice of multiple vectors for pacing stimulation. Initial unipolar or extended bipolar configurations were switched to bipolar configuration or vice versa, and echocardiographic images were acquired for off-line analysis. Regional and global LV longitudinal and radial mechanics were assessed selectively from the subendocardial and subepicardial regions with 2D speckle-tracking echocardiography. Left ventricular capture by each vector configuration was confirmed by local lead capture and appropriate QRS alteration. Unipolar pacing resulted in increased dispersion of LV regional endocardial strains with a higher base-to-apex gradients of longitudinal shortening strains (P < 0.05). LV longitudinal shortening strain magnitude was higher at LV base with bipolar stimulation in comparison with unipolar stimulation (−10.5 ± 10.5 vs. −4.2 ± 6.3, P = 0.02). There is a difference in the mechanical activation sequence of the LV between unipolar vs. bipolar pacing stimulation. This may have important implications for CRT.
Micro-regional mapping of HbO2 saturations and blood flow following nicotinamide administration.

Abstract Purpose: Although nicotinamide administration has increased the radiosensitivity of experimental tumors, there is a scarcity of data detailing the underlying physiological mechanisms. The current study presents a method for quantifying both microregional distributions of intravascular HbO 2 saturations and the presence or absence of blood flow in adjacent frozen tumor sections. Methods and Materials: Two murine tumor cell lines, KHT and SCCVII, were implanted and quick-frozen without the use of anesthetics. Nicotinamide was administered IP 1 h prior to freezing, and a fluorescent dye that preferentially stains cells adjacent to blood vessels was injected IV 1 min prior to freezing. To visualize the presence or absence of blood flow, six micron sections were first cut using a cryostat. The remaining frozen tumor block was then analyzed cryospectrophotometrically to determine intravascular HbO 2 levels. Results: While KHT HbO 2 levels increased somewhat predictably following nicotinamide, the response in SCCVII tumors varied with distance from the tumor surface. Near the periphery, SCCVII HbO 2 levels increased, but nearer the tumor center, HbO 2 levels actually decreased. Perfused blood vessels were uniformly distributed throughout the tumor volume except in regions of necrosis. Even vessels containing no measurable oxygen remained perfused, as evidenced by the presence of the fluorescent marker. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that nicotinamide raises intravascular HbO 2 saturations in both KHT and SCCVII tumors. This increase in oxygen delivery is not evenly distributed throughout the tumor volume in spite of a uniform distribution of perfused blood vessels. Blood flow in a substantial proportion of these vessels is most likely not sufficiently rapid to serve a functional purpose in terms of oxygen supply to the surrounding tumor tissue.
Why do statisticians answer silly questions that no one ever asks

“Other people don't understand us”, wail statisticians. But do statisticians try to understand what other people want? Statisticians answer silly questions that no one in their right minds would ever ask, says Matt Briggs. Instead they should give useful answers to the questions that people actually do ask.
A meta-analysis of adolescent smoking prevention programs.

OBJECTIVES. A large number of studies evaluating adolescent smoking prevention programs have been published. Systematic quantitative reviews of this literature are needed to learn what does and does not work. The present meta-analysis focuses on the efficacy of school-based programs. METHODS. Evaluations of 94 separate interventions were included in the meta-analysis. Studies were screened for methodological rigor and those with weaker methodology were segregated from those with more defensible methodology; major analyses focused on the latter. RESULTS. Behavioral effect sizes were found to be largest for interventions with a social reinforcement orientation, moderate for interventions with either a developmental or a social norms orientation, and small for interventions with the traditional rational orientation. Attitude effect sizes followed the same pattern, but knowledge effect sizes were similar across all four orientation categories. CONCLUSIONS. Because behavioral effect represents the fundamental ...
Possible role of sodium and calcium ions in retention and physiological release of norepinephrine by adrenergic nerve endings

Calcium and barium ions deplete tritium labeled stores of norepinephrine (NE) from rat heart slices incubated in Na+-free media containing choline+. The reciprocal of the rate constant of appearance of 3H-NE in the medium, plotted as a function of the reciprocal of the calcium2+ or barium2+ concentration, forms a linear curve. Sodium+ is a non-competitive antagonist of calcium2+. The calcium2+ requirement for release is greater in the presence of choline+ or potassium+ than in the presence of sucrose. The possible roles of sodium+ and calcium2+ in the storage of norepinephrine in adrenergic nerve endings, and in the release of norepinephrine by the nerve impulse, are discussed.
Regional push: Towards a geography of development and growth in lowand middle-income countries

Regional push derives from the geographic agglomeration of economic activities, and is expressed in increments to national productivity. Various pieces of statistical evidence in favour of the existence of regional push effects in low- and middle-income economies are marshalled. The origins of these effects in different sorts of externalities and increasing returns to agglomerative scale and scope are analysed in theoretical terms. Further evidence for the existence of these effects is displayed in a brief review of published case studies of African, Asian, and Latin American regions. A number of observations are then offered on the possibilities of identifying viable developmental policies and practices directed to enhancing the productivity-boosting properties of regions in low- and middle-income economies.
Computational Model of Interstitial Transport in the Rat Brain Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging

In spite of the high therapeutic potential of macromolecular drugs, it has proven difficult to apply them to recovery after injury and treatment of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurodegenerative diseases. One barrier to systemic administration is low capillary permeability, i.e., the blood-brain and blood-spinal cord barrier. To overcome this barrier, convection-enhanced delivery (CED) infuses agents directly into tissue to supplement diffusion and increase the distribution of large molecules in the brain [1,2]. Predictive models of distribution during CED would be useful in treatment optimization and planning. To account for large infusion volumes, such models should incorporate tissue boundaries and anisotropic tissue properties.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Effect of purified phospholipases on the binding of tetrodotoxin to axon plasma membrane

The role of phospholipids in the binding of [3H]tetrodotoxin to garfish olfactory nerve axon plasma membrane was studied by the use of purified phospholipases. Treatment of the membranes with low concentrations of either phospholipase A2 (Crotalus adamanteus and Naja naja) or phospholipase C (Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens) resulted in a marked reduction in tetrodotoxin binding activity. A 90% reduction in the activity occurred with about 45% hydrolysis of membrane phospholipids by phospholipase A2, and with phospholipase C the lipid hydrolysis was about 60--70% for a 70--80% reduction in the binding activity. Phospholipase C from B. cereus and Cl. perfringens had similar inhibitory effects. Bovine serum albumin protected the tetrodotoxin binding activity of the membrane from the inhibitory effect of phospholipase A2 but not from that of phospholipase C. In the presence of albumin about 25% of the membrane phospholipids remained unhydrolyzed by phospholipase A2. It is suggested that these unhydrolyzed phospholipids are in a physical state different from the rest of the membrane phospholipids and that these include the phospholipids which are directly related to the tetrodotoxin binding component. It is concluded that phospholipids form an integral part of the tetrodotoxin binding component of the axon membrane and that the phospholipase-caused inhibition of the binding activity is due to effects resulting from alteration of the phospholipid components.
CURE OF APLASTIC ANÆMIA IN PAROXYSMAL NOCTURNAL HÆMOGLOBINURIA BY MARROW TRANSFUSION FROM IDENTICAL TWIN: FAILURE OF PERIPHERAL-LEUCOCYTE TRANSFUSION TO CORRECT MARROW APLASIA

Abstract The ability of syngeneic peripheral leucocytes to cure marrow aplasia was tested in a patient with paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (P.N.H.). Transfusion of 7.1×10 10 white cells obtained by leucopheresis from an identical-twin donor, providing 3·4×10 4 myeloid progenitors (C.F.U.-C)/kg, failed to improve marrow function within two months. In contrast, transfusion of 1·3×10 10 nucleated bone-marrow cells, representing 6·4×10 4 C.F.U.-c/kg, from the same donor resulted in prompt bone-marrow recovery. These observations support the hypothesis that aplastic anaemia in P.N.H. is a stem-cell defect that may be corrected by the simple infusion of relatively small numbers of normal bone-marrow cells. They also seem to indicate a distinct advantage of marrow cells over peripheral-blood mononuclear cells in their ability to correct marrow aplasia.
Effective Spring Stiffness for a Planar Periodic Array of Collinear Cracks at an Interface between Two Dissimilar Isotropic Materials.

Explicit analytical expressions are obtained for the longitudinal and transverse effective spring stiffnesses of a planar periodic array of collinear cracks at the interface between two dissimilar isotropic materials; they are shown to be identical in a general case of elastic dissimilarity (the well-known open interface crack model is employed for the solution). Since the interfacial spring stiffness can be experimentally determined from ultrasound reflection and transmission analysis, the proposed expressions can be useful in estimating the percentage of disbond area between two dissimilar materials, which is directly related to the residual strength of the interface. The effects of elastic dissimilarity, crack density and crack interaction on the effective spring stiffness are clearly represented in the solution. It is shown that in general the crack interaction weakly depends on material dissimilarity and, for most practical cases, the crack interaction is nearly the same as that for crack arrays between identical solids. This allows approximate factorization of the effective spring stiffness for an array of cracks between dissimilar materials in terms of an elastic dissimilarity factor and two factors obtained for cracks in a homogeneous material: the effective spring stiffness for non-interacting (independent) cracks and the crack interaction factor. In order to avoid the effect of the crack surface interpenetration zones on the effective spring stiffness, the range of the tensile to transverse load ratios is obtained under the assumption of small-scale contact conditions. Since real cracks are often slightly open (due to prior loading history and plastic deformation), it is demonstrated that for ultrasound applications the results obtained are valid for most practical cases of small interfacial cracks as long as the mid-crack opening normalized by the crack length is at least in the order of 10−5.
Comparing finite difference time domain and Monte Carlo modeling of human skin interaction with terahertz radiation

Assessing the biological reaction to electromagnetic (EM) radiation of all frequencies and intensities is essential to the understanding of both the potential damage caused by the radiation and the inherent mechanisms within biology that respond, protect, or propagate damage to surrounding tissues. To understand this reaction, one may model the electromagnetic irradiation of tissue phantoms according to empirically measured or intelligently estimated dielectric properties. Of interest in this study is the terahertz region (0.2-2.0 THz), ranging from millimeter to infrared waves, which has been studied only recently due to lack of efficient sources. The specific interaction between this radiation and human tissue is greatly influenced by the significant EM absorption of water across this range, which induces a pronounced heating of the tissue surface. This study compares the Monte Carlo Multi-Layer (MCML) and Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) approaches for modeling the terahertz irradiation of human dermal tissue. Two congruent simulations were performed on a one-dimensional tissue model with unit power intensity profile. This works aims to verify the use of either technique for modeling terahertz-tissue interaction for minimally scattering tissues.
Electrocatalytic Activity of Transition Metal Oxide-Carbon Composites for Oxygen Reduction in Alkaline Batteries and Fuel Cells

Conductive transition metal oxides (perovskites, spinels and pyrochlores) are attractive as catalysts for the air electrode in alkaline rechargeable metal-air batteries and fuel cells. We have found that conductive carbon materials when added to transition metal oxides such as calcium-doped lanthanum cobalt oxide, nickel cobalt oxide and calcium-doped lanthanum manganese cobalt oxide increase the electrocatalytic activity of the oxide for oxygen reduction by a factor of five to ten. We have studied rotating ring-disk electrodes coated with (a) various mass ratios of carbon and transition metal oxide, (b) different types of carbon additives and (c) different types of transition metal oxides. Our experiments and analysis establish that in such composite catalysts, carbon is the primary electro- catalyst for the two-electron electro-reduction of oxygen to hydroperoxide while the transition metal oxide decomposes the hydroperoxide to generate additional oxygen that enhances the observed current resulting in an apparent four-electron process. These findings are significant in that they change the way we interpret previous reports in the scientific literature on the electrocatalytic activity of various transition metal oxide- carbon composites for oxygen reduction, especially where carbon is assumed to be an additive that just enhances the electronic conductivity of the oxide catalyst. (C)more » 2013 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.« less
Perelman's Theory of Argumentation and Natural Law

Chaim Perelman and Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca published "The New Rhetoric" fifty years ago, renewing interest in the rhetorical tradition and generating a diverse body of scholarship. This article draws from a plenary talk delivered at the international conference, "The Promise of Reason," held at the University of Oregon to mark the publication anniversary. I argue that Perelman's insistence on the absence of certainties and the need for argumentation in matters relating to law and justice has interesting, even if surprising, connections to the natural law tradition. I contend that there are at least three points of convergence: (1) natural law claims are important, and perhaps unavoidable, commonplaces in legal practice; (2) natural law claims can be viewed as invoking Perelman's famous, and often misunderstood, idea of a universal audience; and (3) the natural law tradition can be reconceived by "naturalizing rhetoric," by which I mean recognizing that human nature is rhetorical. A naturalized rhetoric embraces the paradox that non-essentialism is essential to our being, and that we can find a foundation for reflection in anti-foundationalism. I conclude that Perelman's theory of argumentation provides a way to resuscitate natural law theorizing while moving beyond the false certainties that Perelman understood only impede our quest for justice.
Modulations of membrane potential oscillations with drive, calcium overload, ryanodine, and caffeine*

Abstract The objective of this study is to determine the conditions that generate overdrive excitation and overdrive suppression in canine cardiac Purkinje tissue superfused in vitro . Drive-induced (3 Hz) perturbations in the membrane potential of a calcium overloaded (induced by strophanthidin) Purkinje fiber (from a canine heart) were differently modulated by caffeine and ryanodine. Whereas the postdrive oscillations in the membrane potential V os (single or multiple oscillations in the diastole of the action potential) and/or spontaneous rate (postdrive suppression or postdrive excitation [PDE]) depended on the concentration of strophanthidin (PDE occurred at 2.5 × 10 −7 M, and V os were seen variably at several concentrations), caffeine (2–3 mM) in the presence of a lower concentration of strophanthidin (1.25 × 10 −7 M) induced PDE. At these lower concentrations, either drug administered alone only induced V os . On the contrary, the characteristic effects of ryanodine (10 −8 M) in the presence of strophanthidin (2.5 × 10 −7 M) were either a consistent postdrive suppression immediately or the induction of a pronounced afterdepolarization ([AD] a depolarization following the repolarization of the action potential) whose amplitude decreased with time and suppression. At higher concentrations of ryanodine (10 −5 M-10 −6 M) in a calcium overloaded tissue (strophanthidin, 1.25 × 10 −7 M) overdrive induced a pronounced AD in most cases, with subsequent depolarization and cessation of activity in less than 20 minutes. Ryanodine alone caused suppression of postdrive diastolic potential at lower concentrations (10 −9 M-10 −8 M), a pronounced AD (amplitude diminished with later drives), and suppression at higher concentrations (10 −6 M-10 −5 M). The tissue eventually depolarized (at higher concentrations) and ceased all activity. The authors conclude that caffeine (2–3 mM) had synergistic effects on the already-present calcium overload and, hence, induced PDE. Ryanodine, by its effects on either the sarcoplasmic reticulum and/or plasma membrane, may have reduced K + conductance nonspecifically in countering PDE without affecting the occurrence of calcium overload in this tissue.
BiPbVO5 — A new bismuth lead vanadate

BiPbVO5 was prepared for the first time and single crystals were grown by the Czochralski technique. Precession x-ray photographs indicated triclinic symmetry with space group 1 or 1. The lattice parameters are a = 7.082 A, b = 7.802 A, c = 5.203 A, a = 111.788 deg., β = 95.207 deg., γ = 108.717 deg.
Intracellular Ca2+ activates phospholipase C.

Abstract It is well established that a receptor-mediated mechanism, perhaps involving a guanine nucleotide binding protein, directly activates polyphosphoinositide-specific phospholipase C. Recent evidence indicates that in excitable tissues a rise in cytosolic Ca2+ can also activate the phospholipase C. The activation of phospholipase C by Ca2+ can be a direct effect rather than a result of the Ca2+-dependent release of neurotransmitters which activate phospholipase C through a receptor-mediated mechanism. Ca2+-activated phospholipase C may represent a positive feedback system for Ca2+: small increases in cytosolic Ca2+ induced by Ca2+ influx across the plasma membrane may result in higher cytosolic Ca2+ concentrations due to IP3-induced release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores. The activation of phospholipase C by Ca2+ may also provide a mechanism for diacylglycerol generation and protein kinase C activation following Ca2+ influx. Thus, the regulation of phospholipase C activity by Ca2+ may be physiologically important in regulating cytosolic Ca2+ and protein kinase C in excitable tissues.
Molecular properties of water

Abstract Extended basis set configuration interaction calculations have been performed on the 1A1 ground state of water at the experimental geometry. Using a wavefunction which yielded the lowest variational energy to date, a variety of molecular properties have been evaluated and their convergence with respect to basis set discussed.
An all-electron Hartree—Fock investigation of the electronic structure and nature of bonding in the molecule YPd

Abstract In the present investigation we present all-electron ab initio Hartree—Fock (HF) calculations of the three low-lying electronic states 2 Δ, 2 Σ + , and 2 Π resulting from the interaction between an yttrium atom in the 2 D4d 1 5s 2 term and a palladium atom in the 1 S4d 10 term. The basis sets used were of double-zeta quality in general, but the 4d orbitals were represented by triple-zeta functions. The chemical bond in all three states can be attributed to donation of charge from the filled dσ and dπ orbitals of the Pd atom into the empty or partially filled dσ and dπ orbitals of the Y atom and a back-donation of charge from the filled 5s orbital of Y into the empty 5s orbital of Pd. The bonding in the YPd molecule produces a small negative charge on the Y atom. Dipole moments of 0.52, 0.37 and 0.61 D, respectively, have been predicted for the 2 Δ, 2 Σ + and 2 Π states. Equilibrium distances, dissociation energies and vibrational frequencies have been calculated for the low-lying states of YPd.
"The voice of nature" in Gray's Elegy.

Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" commemorates a problematic sexuality that traditional readings of the poem's "melancholy" usually ignore. By reconsidering the poem in light of theories of abjection, this essay uncovers the powerful poetic expression of sexuality at odds with mid-century culture and shows how the poet's awareness of his own homosexuality shaped the familiar features of the most popular poem of the eighteenth century.
PREY CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR OF AMBLYSEIUS LARGOENSIS IN RELATION TO HUNGER

A series of constant observations on Amblyseius largoensis (Muma) on excised avocado leaves in the laboratory revealed that the hunger level of this predator directly affected the time spent feeding on individual prey, the relative aggressiveness, the frequency of successful captures, the length of digestive pause, and the speed of movement. Feeding and nonfeeding periods occurred in constantly recurring cycles. Hungry predators captured 2–4 prey in succession; after each capture a digestive pause followed, the length of which increased (up to 7–8 h) as the predator became increasingly satiated. This cycle was repeated 2–3 times in 24 h. Several thresholds appeared to be responsible for this behavior pattern.
Path models linking correlates of self-esteem in a multi-ethnic adolescent sample

Abstract Path analysis was performed to delineate the interrelations between state anxiety, aggression, substance abuse, depression, gender, ethnicity, family support, and self-esteem in a sample of 684 Hawaiian/part-Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian (e.g. Caucasian, Filipino, Hispanic, Japanese, or Mixed/two or more ethnicities) adolescents. The theorized model proposed that self-esteem was determined by family support and gender, and that family support, in turn, was predicted by state anxiety, aggression, substance abuse, depression, and ethnicity. The derivation of this model was based on previously documented findings of the associations between self-esteem and indices of adolescent adjustment, theorized multi-directionality of these interrelations, non-existence of an exhaustive theory accounting for the predictive links between these variables, and centrality of the ohana or family system and its integral network of support within the Native-Hawaiian culture. Goodness-of-fit indices indicated a poor fit between the theorized model and data. Subsequent model modifications were based on succeeding path analytical results, and conjointly encompassed an effort to find a model that fit the data well. Changes to the theorized model included eliminating three paths (i.e. from aggression and ethnicity to family support and from gender to self-esteem), and adding three paths (i.e. from depression, state anxiety, and aggression to self-esteem). The retained “final” Model 6 fit the data very well, and delineated the prediction of self-esteem by depression, state anxiety, aggression, and family support, which was, in turn, determined by depression, state anxiety, and substance use.
Ultraviolet Photochemistry of Diacetylene: Reactions with Benzene and Toluene†

The reactions of metastable diacetylene with benzene and toluene are explored using a molecular beam pump−probe time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Diacetylene is laser-excited to the 210610 band of the 1Δu ← X1Σ+g transition, whereupon rapid intersystem crossing occurs to the lowest triplet states. The triplet state diacetylene then reacts with either benzene or toluene as the gas mixture traverses a short reaction tube (∼20 μs). The reactions are quenched as the gas mixture expands into the ion source region of a time-of-flight mass spectrometer where the primary photoproducts are detected using vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photoionization or resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI). The major products from the reaction of diacetylene and benzene have molecular formulas C8H6 and C10H6, and are identified as phenylacetylene and phenyldiacetylene using R2PI spectroscopy. The major products from metastable diacetylene's reaction with toluene are C9H8 and C11H8. The C9H8 product is confirmed as a mixture of o-, m-, ...
Paradoxes, Protests and the Mujeres de Negro of Northern Mexico

On November 25, 2002, thousands of people marched through the streets of Mexico City and demanded, in the name of social justice, an end to the violence against women in northern Mexico. ‘Ni Una Mas’ (not one more) was their chant and is also the name of their social justice campaign. Their words referred to the hundreds of women and girls who have died violent and brutal deaths in northern Mexico and to the several hundred more who have disappeared over the last ten years. These Ni Una Mas marchers, many working with human rights and feminist organizations in Mexico, are protesting against the political disregard and lack of accountability, at all levels of government, in relation to this surging violence against women. And the symbolic leaders of their movement are the Mujeres de Negro (women wearing black), who are based in Chihuahua City. In this article, I examine how the Mujeres de Negro demonstrate how feminist politics so often plays upon the negotiation of spatial paradoxes in order to open new a...
Evidence that somatomedin is synthesized by multiple tissues in the fetus.

Abstract Production of somatomedin-C, a growth hormone-dependent peptide believed to mediate the growth-promoting actions of growth hormone, has been assessed using explants of fetal mouse tissues. Quantitation of this peptide in media of explants cultured for 3 days has been accomplished with a membrane receptor assay for somatomedin and a specific radioimmunoassay for somatomedin-C. Somatomedin-C is produced by the 11-day-gestation fetal mouse liver, increases exponentially in parallel with liver growth until the 16th day of gestation, and falls postnatally. Media somatomedin is believed to be derived by de novo synthesis since saline extracts of liver and most other fetal tissues contain only a small fraction of the activity in culture media. The immunoreactive material secreted into media appears to be closely related to human somatomedin-C since it produces dilution curves which are parallel to those of pure hormone, migrates on Sephacryl 200 at a size similar to that of one of the components of human serum somatomedin-C, dissociates into small molecular weight material with acid treatment, and isofocuses in a range comparable with that of somatomedin-C purified from human serum. Eleven-day limb bud mesenchymal micromass cultures and 17-day-gestation intestine, heart, brain, kidney, and lung also synthesize immunoreactive somatomedin-C in serum-free medium. For these tissues, the media activity was far in excess of the tissue extractable activity. Somatomedin activity in excess of the tissue extractable activity, however, was not found in media from 17-day-gestation placenta. The finding that multiple tissues synthesize somatomedin-C raises the possibility that the primary biological actions of this hormone are exerted locally at its sites of origin. Although a function of this type by a peptide has not been widely suspected, it seems plausible that the cells of fetal tissues are capable of producing local mitogens in much the same manner as the postulated inducers of tissue differentiation.