cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An improved stepsize of the subgradient algorithm for solving the lagrangian relaxation problem

Abstract The Lagrangian relaxation approach has been successfully applied to many large-scale mathematical programming problems. The Lagrangian relaxation problem itself is a non-differentiable optimization problem. One of the methods for solving such problem is the subgradient algorithm. In this paper, we propose an improved stepsize of the subgradient algorithm for solving the Lagrangian relaxation problem. Our version of the algorithm may significantly improve the rate of convergence of subgradient algorithm when applied to the solution of Lagrangian relaxation problem. An illustrative numerical example is also given.
Introduction – From Modell Deutschland to Model Europa: Europe in Germany and Germany in Europe

Does Germany retain its status in a European Union of 25 member states as a model for the evolution of integrated Europe and for the political economies of individual countries, or have the Federal...
Understanding Salmonella enteritidis in laying chickens : the contributions of experimental infections

Abstract A significant proportion of human Salmonella enteritidis (SE) outbreaks in recent years has been traced to the consumption of contaminated eggs produced by infected laying flocks. Experimental SE infections in chickens have been used to acquire a considerable amount of basic information about the interaction between SE and the avian host. After oral or parenteral inoculation of chickens, SE can colonize the intestinal tract, invade and disseminate to reach numerous internal organ sites, and elicit the production of specific antibodies in serum and egg yolks. Experimental infection of laying hens can result in the deposition of SE in the contents of eggs before oviposition, although generally in rather small numbers and at a relatively low frequency. The consequenses of experimental SE infection have been shown to vary significantly with the strain and dose of the inoculum. Some SE isolated have been shown to produced various clinical effects, including decreased egg production by hens. The information provided by experimental SE infections in chickens has played an important role in the formulation of appropriate strategies for reducing the incidence of SE in commercial laying flocks and thereby also reducing the incidence of transmission of SE to consumers via contaminated eggs.
Differential conformational dynamics in the closely homologous FK506-binding domains of FKBP51 and FKBP52

As co-chaperones of Hsp90 (heat-shock protein 90), FKBP51 (FK506-binding protein of 51 kDa) and FKBP52 (FK506-binding protein of 52 kDa) act as antagonists in regulating the hormone affinity and nuclear transport of steroid receptor complexes. Exchange of Leu119 in FKBP51 for Pro119 in FKBP52 has been shown to largely reverse the steroid receptor activities of FKBP51 and FKBP52. To examine whether differences in conformational dynamics/plasticity might correlate with changes in the reported receptor activities, 15N-NMR relaxation measurements were carried out on the N-terminal FKBP domains of FKBP51 and FKBP52 as well as their residue-swapped variants. Both proteins exhibit a similar pattern of motion in the picosecond–nanosecond timeframe as well as a small degree of 15N line-broadening, indicative of motion in the microsecond–millisecond timeframe, in the β3a strand of the central sheet. Only the FKBP51 domain exhibits much larger line-broadening in the adjacent β3 bulge (40′s loop of FKBP12) and throughout the long β4–β5 loop (80′s loop of FKBP12). The L119P mutation at the tip of the β4–β5 loop completely suppressed the line-broadening in this loop while partially suppressing the line-broadening in the neighbouring β2 and β3a strands. The complementary P119L and P119L/P124S variants of FKBP52 yielded similar patterns of line-broadening for the β4–β5 loop as that for FKBP51, although only 20% and 60% as intense respectively. However, despite the close structural similarity in the packing interactions between the β4–β5 loop and the β3a strand for FKBP51 and FKBP52, the line-broadening in the β3a strand is unaffected by the P119L or P119L/P124S mutations in FKBP52.
Fish and Flour for Gold: Southern Europe and the Colonial American Balance of Payments

A neglected trade and its commodities are emphasized in Professor Lydon's consideration of the colonial merchants' search for profitable returns to England.
Diffraction-free beam generation using refracting systems

Abstract An optical refracting system has been designed to transform an input Gaussian laser beam into a diffraction-free Bessel beam. The optical systems characteristics are optimized for ease of fabrication.
Internal tidal currents over the summit of cross seamount

Abstract Spectral analysis of 46 days of record from a current meter deployed above the summit of Cross Seamount (approximately 300 km west of the Hawaiian Islands) indicates that the strongest current fluctuations were driven by the semidiurnal tide. The tides accounted for 28% of the variance in the current spectrum, were mainly baroclinic in character, and were propagated towards the west-northwest. The amplitude of the S2 current flowing parallel to the major axis of the current ellipse ranged between 4 and 9 cm−1 s. The S2 current was 1.5 times larger than the M2 current. This ratio is 4 times larger than is expected for this region of the Pacific and is not a general characteristics of flows over seamounts. Instantaneous current speeds over the seamount often exceeded 20 cm s−1 and were probably responsible for the small ripples observed on the sediment-covered regions of the summit.
Control design optimization for an asymmetric half-bridge converter

This paper presents control design optimization for an asymmetric half-bridge (AHB) converter with current-doubler-rectifier (CDR) for high-performance airborne applications. An accurate dynamic model will be first developed by taking into account the zero-voltage switching transition. Input voltage feedforward control is used to improve line regulation. A simple linear feedforward control law is developed to linearize the complex nonlinear dc voltage transfer function. Placement of the output EMI filter and its effects on output impedance as well as voltage feedback control loop design are studied, and an optimized design with the EMI filter included in the voltage loop is presented. The analysis and design are validated by simulation and measurement results of a 2 kW module.
Effects of thermal treatments on the lattice properties and electronic structure of ZrH x

In order to examine possible sources of the discrepancies between the proton NMR parameters for ${\mathrm{ZrH}}_{\mathrm{x}}$ as reported by R. C. Bowman, Jr., et al. [Phys. Rev. B 27, 1474 (1983)] and C. Korn [Phys. Rev. B 28, 95 (1983)], proton spin-lattice relaxation times (${T}_{1}$), lattice parameters, and magnetic susceptibilities (\ensuremath{\chi}) have been measured for high-purity ${\mathrm{ZrH}}_{\mathrm{x}}$ samples in the composition range 1.5\ensuremath{\le}x\ensuremath{\le}1.9 that had been typically annealed at 525 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C for 21 d. When these results are compared with the corresponding parameters obtained on the as-prepared ${\mathrm{ZrH}}_{\mathrm{x}}$ samples of Bowman et al. it was found that the anneals generally had only minor effects on the proton ${T}_{1}$ values, lattice parameters, or \ensuremath{\chi}(T) behavior. The most notable exception is a ${\mathrm{ZrH}}_{1.70}$ sample that was initially composed of a mixture of \ensuremath{\delta}(fcc) and \ensuremath{\epsilon}(fct) phases and converted to just the \ensuremath{\epsilon} phase upon annealing. Although the anneals gave small systematic decreases in the unit-cell volumes, the tetragonal distortions (i.e., c/a ratios) were not affected within experimental accuracy. Furthermore, both the proton (${T}_{1}$T${)}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1/2}$ peak and ${T}_{1}$T temperature dependences were also not significantly changed by these anneals. Although the \ensuremath{\chi}(T) values in the \ensuremath{\epsilon} phase decrease rapidly with increasing hydrogen content, a local \ensuremath{\chi}(T) maximum that reflects the Pauli component from a peak in the Fermi-level density of states is observed near x=1.80. The dominant \ensuremath{\chi}(T) decrease is primarily attributed to reductions in the orbital contribution with the increasing tetragonal distortion. Variations in the concentrations and distributions of oxygen and paramagnetic impurities are believed to be responsible for most of the differences found in the previous studies.
Cars as roadside units: a self-organizing network solution

Deploying roadside units, RSUs, for increasing the connectivity of vehicular ad hoc networks is deemed necessary for coping with the partial penetration of DSRC radios into the market in the initial stages of DSRC deployment. Several factors, including cost, complexity, existing systems, and lack of cooperation between government and private sectors, have impeded the deployment of RSUs. In this article, we propose to solve this formidable problem by using a biologically inspired self-organizing network approach whereby certain vehicles serve as RSUs. The proposed solution is based on designing local rules and the corresponding algorithms that implement them. Results show that the proposed approach can increase the message reachability and connectivity substantially.
Endocannabinoids Mediate Synaptic Plasticity at Mixed Synapses

Endocannabinoids are generally known to suppress excitatory or inhibitory synaptic transmission. Now, in an elegant series of experiments, Cachope et al. reveal a novel signaling pathway whereby endocannabinoids indirectly potentiate mixed chemical and electrical synapses. Gap junction-mediated transmission can thus be potentiated via distinct frequency-dependent mechanisms.
Crystallite-Scale Model for NOx Storage and Reduction on Pt/BaO/Al2O3: Pt Dispersion Effects on NOx Conversion and Ammonia Selectivity

A recently developed crystallite-scale regeneration model [D. Bhatia, M.P. Harold and V. Balakotaiah, Catalysis Today 151 (2010) 314] is extended and new data are reported that provide insight about cyclic NOx storage and reduction (NSR). The model is based on the concept of NOx spillover from Pt to BaO and diffusion in the barium phase during storage and the reverse process during regeneration. The model is shown to predict the main features of NOx storage, such as the increase in NOx breakthrough time with increased Pt dispersion for fixed Pt loading. The increase in NOx storage with Pt dispersion is a result of (i) an increase in exposed Pt area which leads to a higher intrinsic NO oxidation activity, and (ii) an increase in the interfacial perimeter between Pt and BaO which promotes the rate of NOx spillover. These effects outweigh the known increase in activity with crystallite size. The model is used to simulate the complete lean-rich cycles in order to elucidate the effects of Pt dispersion on various cycle-averaged variables such as NOx/H2 conversion and N2/NH3 selectivity. The simulations show that a higher stored NOx diffusivity is needed to satisfactorily predict experimental conversion and selectivity trends. This finding suggests the possible involvement of enhanced diffusion, likely of the reductant, during the regeneration. The model is used to study various storage and regeneration timing protocols, such as the use of shorter cycle times to achieve a high cycle-averaged NOx conversion and NH3 selectivity for low dispersion catalysts. The model also predicts incomplete storage phase utilization both at the crystallite and reactor scales. For example, a reactor containing high Pt dispersion catalyst tends to utilize the storage phase effectively at the crystallite scale but can have significant axial storage non-uniformities, whereas a reactor containing low dispersion Pt catalyst tends to have a more axially uniform storage but poorer local utilization.
Early iron deficiency stress response in leaves of sugar beet.

Iron nutrient deficiency was investigated in leaves of hydroponically grown sugar beets (Beta vulgaris) to determine how ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) gene expression is affected when thylakoid components of photosynthesis are diminished. Rubisco polypeptide content was reduced by 60% in severely iron-stressed leaves, and the reduction was directly correlated to chlorophyll content. The concentration of Rubisco protein in iron-stressed leaves was found to be regulated by availability of mRNAs, and CO2 fixation by Rubisco was reduced from 45 [mu]mol CO2 m-2 s-1 in extracts from iron-sufficient leaves to 20 [mu]mol CO2 m-2 s-1 in extracts from severely stressed leaves. The rate of CO2 fixation was directly correlated to leaf chlorophyll content. Rubisco in iron-sufficient control leaves was 59% activated, whereas in severely stressed leaves grown under the same light, Rubisco was 43% activated. RNA synthesis was reduced by about 50% in iron-deficient leaves, but 16S and 25S rRNA and ctDNA were essentially unaffected by iron stress.
Sappho Fr. 31: Anxiety attack or Love Declaration?

In a recent article1 the psychiatrist George Devereux reached the following conclusion about fr. 31: Sappho as a ‘masculine lesbian’ experiences ‘a perfect, “text-book case”, anxiety attack’, elicited by ‘a love-crisis’, viz. by the presence of a male rival for the attention of Sappho's favourite girl. He then sums up: ‘In fact, even if there existed no explicit tradition concerning Sappho's lesbianism, her reaction to her male rival would represent for the psychiatrist prima facie evidence of her perversion’ (p. 21).
Individual differences and the stress response

Abstract Amid the deleterious consequences of prolonged stress, there is tremendous variability in how readily various stressors provoke stress responses in different individuals. This review covers some of the underpinnings of such differences, heavily emphasizing adrenocortical secretion of glucocorticoids during stress, and responsiveness to psychological, rather than physical stressors. Psychological stress is shown to involve loss of control or of predictability, an absence of outlets for frustration, an absence of social support, and a perception of events worsening; some powerful studies show that the physiological and pathophysiological responses to identical physical stressors will vary dramatically as a result of manipulating some of those psychological variables. Those findings are then used to interpret a literature concerning differences in the stress response among individuals of different ranks among a variety of social animal species. In a broad manner, social dominance in a stable hierarchy, with its attendant psychological rewards, is associated with a more adaptive stress response, as measured by a number of physiological endpoints. However, considerable subtleties in this relationship exist, transcending the mere issue of rank. Instead, rank and its physiological correlates are sensitive to the society in which the rank occurs, the individual's experience of both that rank and that society, and personality factors that color the perception of external events. Finally, these primate studies are used to interpret data in the health psychology field concerning individual differences and coping mechanisms in humans.
On Deriving Design Equations for Information Retrieval Systems.

In recent research on document retrieval systems, considerable attention has been devoted to the problem of defining appropriate performance measures, but very little has been done to derive design equations that make use of them. Design equations show the relationships that obtain between retrieval performance and the design characteristics of the system under analysis. Because design equations, when and if they become available, will be the keystones of retrieval system theory, the question of how they can be derived is an important one. In this paper, the question is investigated in three case studies corresponding to three different types of retrieval systems. A design equation is derived for each of the three system types, the equation in each case showing the relationship between expected search length, used as a performance measure, and certain system characteristics having to do with the distribution of index terms over the document collection and the number of errors in the search requests.
Rapamycin is an effective inhibitor of human renal cancer metastasis

Rapamycin is an effective inhibitor of human renal cancer metastasis. Background Human renal cell cancer (RCC) is common and is 10 to 100 times more frequent in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and candidates for renal transplantation. Treatment of metastatic RCC is largely ineffective and is further undermined by immunosuppressive therapy in transplant recipients. A treatment regimen that prevents transplant rejection while constraining RCC progression would be of high value. Methods We developed a human RCC pulmonary metastasis model using human RCC 786-O as the tumor challenge and the severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) beige mouse as the host. We explored the effect of rapamycin, cyclosporine, or rapamycin plus cyclosporine on the development of pulmonary metastases and survival. The effects of the drugs on tumor cell growth, apoptosis, and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) and transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) were also investigated. Results Rapamycin reduced, whereas cyclosporine increased, the number of pulmonary metastases. Rapamycin was effective in cyclosporine-treated mice, and rapamycin or rapamycin plus cyclosporine prolonged survival. Rapamycin growth arrested RCC 786-O at the G 1 phase and reduced VEGF-A expression. Immunostaining of lung tissues for von Willebrand factor was minimal and circulating levels of VEGF-A and TGF-β1 were lower in the rapamycin-treated mice compared to untreated or cyclosporine-treated mice. Conclusion Our findings support the idea that rapamycin may be of value for patients with RCC and that its antitumor efficacy is realized by cell cycle arrest and targeted reduction of VEGF-A and TGF-β1. A regimen of rapamycin and cyclosporine, demonstrated to be effective in reducing acute rejection of renal allografts, may prevent RCC progression as wel, and has the potential to prevent mortality due to RCC in patients with ESRD who have received renal allografts.
Monolithic porous polymer stationary phases in polyimide chips for the fast high-performance liquid chromatography separation of proteins and peptides

Poly(lauryl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) and poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) stationary phases in monolithic format have been prepared by thermally initiated free radical polymerization within polyimide chips featuring channels having a cross-section of 200micromx200microm and a length of 6.8cm. These chips were then used for the separation of a mixture of proteins including ribonuclease A, myoglobin, cytochrome c, and ovalbumin, as well as peptides. The separations were monitored by UV adsorption. Both the monolithic phases based on methacrylate and on styrene chemistries enabled the rapid baseline separation of most of the test mixtures. Best performance was achieved with the styrenic monolith leading to fast baseline separation of all four proteins in less than 2.5min. The in situ monolith preparation process affords microfluidic devices exhibiting good batch-to-batch and injection-to-injection repeatability.
Benchmark-based design strategies for single chip heterogeneous multiprocessors

Single chip heterogeneous multiprocessors are arising to meet the computational demands of portable and handheld devices. These computing systems are not fully custom designs traditionally targeted by the design automation (DA) community, general purpose designs traditionally targeted by the computer architecture (CA) community, nor pure embedded designs traditionally targeted by the real-time (RT) community. An entirely new design philosophy will be needed for this hybrid class of computing. The programming of the device will be drawn from a narrower set of applications with execution that persists in the system over a longer period of time than for general purpose programming. But the devices will still be programmable, not only at the level of the individual processing element, but across multiple processing elements and even the entire chip. The design of other programmable single chip computers has enjoyed an era where the design trade-offs could be captured in simulators such as SimpleScalar and performance could be evaluated to the SPEC benchmarks. Motivated by this, we describe new benchmark-based design strategies for single chip heterogeneous multiprocessors. We include an example and results.
From Loyalty to Conflict: Addressing Fiduciary Duty at the Officer Level

Conflicts of interest are the quintessential agency cost-the constant, lurking danger that agents may seek their own personal gain, rather than the good of the corporation. Yet many corporate employees lack knowledge as to exactly what constitutes a conflict of interest. This ignorance facilitated the kind of fraud seen in Enron, WorldCom, and the options backdating scandals, and may help explain the out-sized payouts that many high-level corporate officers received even as the financial institutions they headed verged on self-destruction. Each case required not only affirmative fraudulent behavior on the part of a few, but also the tacit acceptance of individuals throughout the company.Currently there are no solutions to the core agency problem of conflicts. Corporate law, in both theory and practice, focuses on conflicts of interest only at the board level via the duty of loyalty. It largely ignores the true corporate decision makers - the CEO, CFO, and other corporate officers. To the extent state corporate law does address conflicts at the officer level, it only discusses how to treat conflicts that have been voluntarily disclosed - it is silent about how to identify conflicts ex ante. Federal regulation has likewise failed to prevent rogue agents from taking from their principals. Neither the Organizational Sentencing Guidelines nor Department of Justice memoranda on entity-level prosecution focuses on incentivizing corporations to prevent conflicts. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandates disclosure of waivers of a corporation's code of ethics for senior officers, but this rule may have the perverse effect of encouraging corporations to weaken their codes, so that there are fewer waivers to disclose. This Article is the first to examine this question as an empirical problem, analyzing SEC filings and concluding that, indeed, this Sarbanes-Oxley requirement may not lead to any meaningful disclosure.Because evidence suggests that part of the problem might be a lack of understanding of what constitutes a conflict, this Article advocates education as the best option, and explores implementation mechanisms such as conflicts training, licensing, or certification for high-level corporate officers.
Reduced Prevalence of Epstein-Barr Virus-Related Lymphocryptovirus Infection in Sera from a New World Primate

The recent discovery of an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-related lymphocryptovirus (LCV) naturally infecting common marmosets demonstrated that gamma-1 herpesviruses are not limited to human and Old World nonhuman primate hosts. We developed serologic assays to detect serum antibodies against lytic- and latent-infection marmoset LCV antigens in order to perform the first seroepidemiologic study of LCV infection in New World primates. In three different domestic colonies and in animals recently captured from the wild, we found that the seroprevalence of marmoset LCV infection was not as ubiquitous as with EBV or Old World LCV. These biologic differences in LCV infection of New World versus human and Old World primate hosts correlate with the evolution of the LCV viral gene repertoire.
Susceptibility of the Anaerobic Bacteria, Group D Streptococci, Enterobacteriaceae, and Pseudomonas to Semisynthetic Penicillins: Carbenicillin, Piperacillin, and Ticarcillin

Sodium piperacillin T-1220, a new semisynthetic penicillin, was tested in vitro against 297 clinical isolates of anaerobic bacteria and 669 aerobic bacteria by the conventional agar dilution method and compared with carbenicillin and ticarcillin. At a 100-mug/ml concentration the three drugs showed comparable effectiveness against the anaerobes tested. However, at 20 mug/ml, piperacillin was the most effective drug against Bacteroides fragilis, peptostreptococci, and group D streptococci. At this drug concentration only 48% of the B. fragilis strains exhibited susceptibility to carbenicillin only, 64% exhibited susceptibility to ticarcillin but 90% exhibited susceptibility to piperacillin. Similar findings were observed with peptostreptococci and group D streptococci. On a weight basis piperacillin was statistically shown to be the most effective antibiotic of the three tested against these anaerobes. At 20 mug/ml, piperacillin exhibited a statistically significant difference (P < 0.01) over carbenicillin and ticarcillin for Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas isolates, and Citrobacter diversus. At both 20- and 100-mug/ml concentrations, piperacillin appeared to be the most effective (calculated P < 0.01) upon Klebsiella species, K. pneumoniae, S. marcescens, and C. freundii in activity over ticarcillin and carbenicillin.
Gene expression profiling studies of aging in cardiac and skeletal muscles

To examine transcriptional alterations associated with aging in skeletal muscle and the heart, we and others have used DNA microarrays to compare the gene expression profile of young and old animals. Aging results in a differential gene expression pattern specific to each tissue, and most alterations can be completely or partially prevented by caloric restriction (CR) in both heart and skeletal muscle. Transcriptional patterns of tissues from calorie-restricted animals suggests that CR retards the aging process by reducing endogenous damage and by inducing metabolic shifts associated with specific transcriptional profiles. These studies demonstrate that DNA microarrays can be used in cardiovascular aging research to generate panels of hundreds of transcriptional biomarkers, providing a new tool to measure biological age of cardiac and skeletal muscles and to test interventions designed to retard aging in these tissues.
From molecular biology to geology: a surprising trajectory.

thasbeennearly50yearssinceIstarteddoingmolecularbiologyasagraduatestudentintheSanFrancisco,California94131Department of Biophysics at The Johns Hopkins University. I am still doing molecularbiology,butInowfindmyselfjustasinterestedingeology;andalthoughIwillneverreallybeageologist,IhavebeenonsomefascinatingfieldtripsinthepasteightyearstoSouthAfrica,Namibia, Oman, Australia, the Bahamas, and the American West. I am even coauthor of a paperin geology (1), so I will reflect in this article how this came to pass.In 1965, when I left Johns Hopkins to begin my postdoctoral position in Cambridge, England,therewerealmostlimitlesspossibilitiesaheadinbiology:thefinaldecipheringofthegeneticcodewas in progress, and we thought we knew how genes were controlled. However, the eukaryoticworld was largely unexplored, and at the molecular level, we knew nothing about embryology.Never entering my mind at the time was the possibility that I would enter the business arena in aserious way, and it is because I did become involved in business that I am now interested ingeology. As I try to reconstruct the events that gave rise to my entry into business, the importantelements involve not only what happened in biology that led to biotechnology but, in fact, whathappenedintheworldatlarge,particularlyinthechaoticperiodofthelate1960sandearly1970s.I had a wonderful time in Cambridge. I learned genetics from Sydney Brenner and RNAsequencingfromFredSangerandcamehometomyfirstjobatUniversityofCalifornia,SanDiego(UCSD), in La Jolla with the plan of putting those two approaches together to solve importantproblems in gene regulation. However, in the fall of 1968, when I arrived at the UCSD campus inmy tweed coat and rep tie, I was unprepared for what was going on. A demonstration was inprogress.Theregentsandthen-GovernorRonaldReaganweremeetingatUCSD,andthestudentswere demonstrating in sympathy with the free speech movement going on in Berkeley. As theVietnam War progressed and our students became increasingly vocal and active in opposition,mostofmyjuniorfacultypeersandIwereledtotakepart.Withintwoyears,Ihadshedmytweedcoat, and my hair had grown to my shoulders.Ofparticularimportancetothisstorywasmyinvolvementwithacadreofphilosophystudentsat UCSD in the formation of a free school for our children. The philosophy department was thecenteroftherevolutionatUCSD:HerbertMarcusewasthere,andoneofhisstudentswasAngelaDavis. Our school, Pepper Canyon, embraced every wacky and fascinating educational fad of thetime,fromCarlRogersencountergroupsfortheparentstoMaoismforthestudents.(Wewere,ofcourse,kickedofftheUCSDcampusafteroneyear,buttheschoolactuallywentonforfouryears,when the students themselves asked for its dissolution. As far as I can tell, none of them wasirreparably harmed by the experience.)This seemingly irreversible diversion from the world of business actually led to the two mostimportant elements of my involvement with it. First, it was at Pepper Canyon that I met PeterJohnson. Peter was a philosophy student and was one of the founders of the school. Peter was a
Gestational Diabetes: Is It Preventable?

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the most common complications of pregnancy and is strongly related to subsequent risk of type 2 diabetes. The epidemics of obesity and diabetes and the...
Stability margins for Hurwitz polynomials

The authors treat the robust stability issue using the characteristic polynomial, for two different cases: first in coefficient space with respect to perturbations in the coefficient of the characteristic polynomial; and then for a control system containing perturbed parameters in the transfer function description of the plant. In coefficient space, a simple expression is first given for the l/sup 2/-stability margin for both the monic and nonmonic cases. Following this, a method is given to find the l/sup infinity /-margin, and the method is extended to reveal much larger stability regions. In parameter space the authors consider all single-input (multi-output) or single-output (multi-input) systems with a fixed controller and a plant described by a set of transfer functions which are ratios of polynomials with variable coefficients. A procedure is presented to calculate the radius of the largest stability ball in the space of these variable parameters. The calculation serves as a stability margin for the control system. The formulas that result are quasi-closed-form expressions for the stability margin and are computationally efficient. >
A technique for determining the symmetry properties of molecular graphs

A procedure has been devised to determine the automorphism partition and the automorphism group for nondirected graphs. The general approach is to reveal the permutational symmetry by means of its systematic destruction. Symmetry decomposition pathways are created by numerically weighting specific series of vertices. Each pathway leads to a discrete ordered vector. Each pair of pathways that match reveals an element of the automorphism group. Results are presented for two molecular graphs. Further potential applications of this approach to problems of isomorphism, canonical labeling, and structural indexing are discussed.
Artiodactyl success over perissodactyls in the late Palaeogene unlikely to be related to the carotid rete: a commentary on Mitchell & Lust (2008)

[Mitchell & Lust (2008)][1] present evidence that the carotid rete of artiodactyls allows for a dissociation between brain and carotid artery temperatures, muting whole body thermoregulatory responses, and thus allowing for energy and water conservation. They argue that this morphological feature
The symbiotic roles of the professor, the technician, and the student in undergraduate engineering design education

As one mechanism to attempt to teach the concept and procedures of engineering design, Widener University has a year-long Senior Design Project as a capstone to the design components within the course-oriented laboratory activities in general. These laboratories and senior design activities require the structural teamwork of the supervising faculty member, the students, and the technician. It is noted that such design-oriented activities as the proper method of keeping a laboratory notebook, effective sketching, the reading of prints and specifications, the understanding of fabrication techniques, the basic capabilities of machine tools, and the procedures of purchasing supplies and components should be presented to students before they are allowed to face the real manufacturing world as engineers. At Widener University, an attempt is made to accomplish these goals by the organized and appropriate utilization of the engineering technician in the design education loop. >
Selection of Nearby Microlensing Candidates for Observation by the Space Interferometry Mission

I investigate the prospects for using the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) to measure the masses of nearby stars from their gravitational de—ection of light from more distant sources, as originally suggested by and by I derive an analytic expression for the total observing time Paczync ski Miralda-Escudec . T tot required to measure the masses of a —xed number of stars to a given precision. I —nd that T tot P r max , where is the physical depth to which candidates are searched, or where is the r max T tot P k min , k min minimum proper motion to which candidates are searched. I show that can be reduced by a factor T tot of 4 if source availability is extended from to Increasing and and decreasing V s \ 17 V s \ 19. r max V s k min require a signi—cantly more aggressive approach to —nding candidates. A search for candidates can begin by making use of the Luyten proper motion catalog together with the USNO-A2.0 all-sky astrometric catalog. However, a thorough search would require an all-sky proper-motion catalog such as USNO-B or Guide Star Catalog II, which are not yet available. The preliminary observations necessary to prepare for the mission will become more difficult the longer they are delayed because the candidate pairs are typically already within 1@@ and are getting closer. Subject headings: astrometryGalaxy: stellar contentgravitational lensing
Varicella susceptibility and vaccination strategies in young adults.

Background: Varicella infection causes substantial morbidity in young adults. Most military basic trainees are 18 to 21 years old, yet the Army has no varicella vaccination policy. We therefore determined varicella susceptibility in a population of Army basic trainees, examined variables that might predict antibody status, and developed a vaccination strategies model. Methods: Fifteen-hundred ninety-five trainees completed a demographic and historical questionnaire. Varicella antibody status was determined on 1201 volunteers. These data plus information from the literature were used to construct a decision tree of vaccination strategies that was applied to the total population of Army basic trainees in 1995 (n = 65,298). Results: Fifty (4.2 percent) of 1201 soldiers were antibody negative. Trainees who lived with no or 1 sibling while growing up were most likely to be seronegative (P Conclusions: In young adults a positive varicella history accurately predicts immunity, but verification of a negative history with antibody testing is recommended before vaccination.
Ethanol treatment of lymphoblastoid cell lines from alcoholics and non-alcoholics causes many subtle changes in gene expression.

Abstract To elucidate the effects of a controlled exposure to ethanol on gene expression, we studied lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) from 21 alcoholics and 21 controls. We cultured each cell line for 24 h with and without 75 mM ethanol and measured gene expression using microarrays. Differences in expression between LCLs from alcoholics and controls included 13 genes previously identified as associated with alcoholism or related traits, including KCNA3 , DICER1 , ZNF415 , CAT , SLC9A9, and PPARGC1B . The paired design allowed us to detect very small changes due to ethanol treatment: ethanol altered the expression of 37% of the probe sets (51% of the unique named genes) expressed in these LCLs, most by modest amounts. Ninety-nine percent of the named genes expressed in the LCLs were also expressed in brain. Key pathways affected by ethanol include cytokine, TNF, and NFκB signaling. Among the genes affected by ethanol were ANK3 , EPHB1 , SLC1A1 , SLC9A9 , NRD1 , and SH3BP5 , which were reported to be associated with alcoholism or related phenotypes in 2 genome-wide association studies. Genes that either differed in expression between alcoholics and controls or were affected by ethanol exposure are candidates for further study.
A Pheromone-Based Utility Model for Collaborative Foraging

Multi-agent research often borrows from biology, where remarkable examples of collective intelligence may be found. One interesting example is ant colonies? use of pheromones as a joint communication mechanism. In this paper we propose two pheromone-based algorithms for artificial agent foraging, trail-creation, and other tasks. Whereas practically all previous work in this area has focused on biologically-plausible but ad-hoc single pheromone models, we have developed a formalism which uses multiple pheromones to guide cooperative tasks. This model bears some similarity to reinforcement learning. However, our model takes advantage of symmetries common to foraging environments which enables it to achieve much faster reward propagation than reinforcement learning does. Using this approach we demonstrate cooperative behaviors well beyond the previous ant-foraging work, including the ability to create optimal foraging paths in the presence of obstacles, to cope with dynamic environments, and to follow tours with multiple waypoints.We believe that this model may be used for more complex problems still.
Postconditioning Does Not Reduce Myocardial Infarct Size in an In Vivo Regional Ischemia Rodent Model

In our laboratory, postconditioning reliably reduces lethal ventricular arrhythmias in an in vivo rat model but its effect on necrosis in our model is unknown. In the present analysis, we tested a variety of postconditioning regimens in anesthetized rats subjected to 45 minutes of coronary occlusion and 120 minutes of reperfusion or 30 minutes of coronary occlusion and 120 minutes of reperfusion. In all studies, area at risk was determined by the blue dye technique and area of necrosis was assessed with triphenyl tetrazolium chloride staining and computerized planimetry of ventricular slices. Postconditioning regimens included 4 cycles of 10 seconds of reperfusion/10 seconds of reocclusion, 4 cycles of 20 seconds of reperfusion/20 seconds of reocclusion, 8 cycles of 30 seconds of reperfusion/30 seconds of reocclusion, and 20 cycles of 10 seconds of reperfusion/10 seconds of reocclusion. Postconditioning did not reduce myocardial infarct size with any of these regimens.
Relationship of Anger, Stress, and Coping With School Connectedness in Fourth‐Grade Children

Background: High trait anger and stress, ineffective patterns of anger expression, and coping are risk factors for the development of disease and negative social behaviors in children and adults. School connectedness may be protective against negative consequences in adolescents, but less is known about this in school-aged children. The purposes of this study were to characterize relationships between trait anger, stress, patterns of anger expression, resources for coping, and school connectedness and to determine if race and gender moderate these relationships in elementary school–aged children. Methods: Using self-report, standardized instruments, a convenience sample of 166 fourth graders in 4 elementary schools in 1 US school district was assessed in the fifth week of the school year. Results: School connectedness was positively associated with social confidence and behavior control and negatively associated with trait anger, anger-out, and stress. In multiple regression analyses to test for interactions, gender did not moderate the effects of school connectedness in any of the models, while race moderated the relationships between school connectedness and both stress and social confidence. Students with higher school connectedness had lower trait anger and anger-out and higher behavior control, regardless of gender and/or race. White students higher in school connectedness had lower stress and higher social confidence. Conclusions: Findings indicate the protective effect of school connectedness on trait anger, anger-out, and behavior control in school-aged children, regardless of race or gender. The protective effect of school connectedness on stress and social confidence may depend on race.
Adjusted Forward Rates as Predictors of Future Spot Rates

Prior studies indicate that the predictive power of implied forward rates for future spot rates is weak over long sample periods and typically varies dramatically across different subperiods. Fama (1976, 1984) conjectures that the low forecast power is due to a failure to control for the term premium embedded in forward rates. We show that Fama's conjecture is consistent with the data using any of four different models of the term premium. We measure the term premium using a variety of ex ante instruments, including the junk bond premium,bid-ask spreads in Treasury bills, the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index's dividend yield and the conditional volatility of interest rate changes using an Autoregressive Conditionally Heteroscedastic (ARCH) process. Forward rates adjusted for the term premium are reliable predictors of future spot rates over the entire 1963-1993 period.
Is the Bowl Championship Series a Cartel? Some Evidence:

The cartel view of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) implies that it creates an advantage for automatic qualifying (AQ) member schools relative to other Division IA/FBS schools in recruiting the best players and hiring other inputs. The resulting playing-field advantage should produce more wins over “outsiders.” Weaker AQ schools benefit relatively more because previously they had competed more closely with outsiders for players. The evidence generally supports the cartel view. The AQ BCS schools and conferences have significantly increased their win percentage against outsiders. Also, the weaker AQ schools have performed better against the top tier, and have shown the greatest improvement against outsiders.
Myth: Cool mist is an effective therapy in the management of croup.

Croup is the most common infectious cause of acute airway obstruction in children between 1 and 6 years of age, accounting for 90% of cases of stridor. The majority of cases of croup are caused by parainfluenza and occur during the late fall and winter. Mist has been a mainstay for croup since the 19th century and, even today, many emergency departments (EDs) routinely begin cool mist therapy for patients with croup. Further therapy of croup typically includes nebulized racemic epinephrine and corticosteroids.
New roles and challenges in neurosurgery of acromegaly.

Acromegaly is a disease that shortens life expectancy (1-3) and causes severe systemic problems during life (4). It can arise and be recog nized quickly if the onset is rapid, as in gigantism Unfortunately there is usually a delay in diagnosis, on average 9 yr (4). The longer the delay the more likely patients are to develop partially or completely irreversible systemic problems, such as sleep apnea (5) and arthritis. Although some of the signs and co-morbidities of acromegaly are permanent, there is good evidence that cure of the disease reverses early mortality (3, 6, 7). It has been estimated that life expectancy is shortened by about 10 yr overall, and longer when diabetes or heart disease are already present at the time of diagnosis.
Immature neocortical neurons exist as extensive syncitial networks linked by dendrodendritic electrical connections.

The properties of immature cortex that may enable it to exhibit large-scale wavelike activity during a brief critical developmental period were investigated by imaging neuronal calcium signals in n...
Black-White Disparities in Test Scores: Distributional Characteristics

This paper investigates the distributional characteristics of racial differences in mathematics achievement, with particular attention to the potential influence of unexplained, and possibly unwarranted, racial differentials in rates of school suspension. It is well known that black students consistently score lower than whites on achievement tests, on average, even after controlling for family and schooling factors. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 cohort, we decompose the racial gap in mathematics test scores from the Peabody Individual Achievement Test-Revised (PIAT-R) into a component due to racial differences in underlying characteristics and another component that is unexplained by differences in measured characteristics. We account for the possible endogeneity of suspensions in our analysis and show that the portion of the racial gap that is unexplained differs between the top and the bottom of the test score distribution. Our results suggest that researchers should pay more attention to the problem of concentration of black students among those at the bottom of the distribution and their scarcity among those at the top of the test score distribution to better understand the factors that account for the observed disparities.
African Diasporans 'Flow' Through the Boundaries of Race and Space: The Concept of Identity Across the Generations with Specific Attention to Two Ghanaian Hip-Hop Artists

The African Diaspora has grown over time in the 21st century. Initially the diaspora was defined as those Africans taken to the present day Americas through the transatlantic trade. Since the 1960’s, Africans have been moving to the United States. There is a need to have a discourse around the unique experience of African families that have immigrated to the United States, and a retrospective look at the life of their children. Those that represent this population are challenging the myth of a monolithic Black experience, and these voices must be analyzed and added to the conversation on identity. This presentation will discuss the research findings from an exploratory study that utilized grounded theory as a framework to understand first and second-generation Ghanaians conceptualization of their racial, cultural, and ethnic identity across the two generations. It will also relate the findings to two Ghanaian hip-hop artist lyrics and explore their lyrical expression of the varied aspects of identity.