cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A short functional survey is responsive to changes in functional status in vulnerable older people.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether an abbreviated five-item functional status survey consisting of five activities of daily living (ADLs) reflects changes measured over time in a full 12-item functional status survey. DESIGN: Longitudinal evaluation with mean follow-up of 11 months. SETTING: Two managed-care organizations in the United States. PARTICIPANTS: Four hundred twenty community-dwelling older people at moderate to high risk of death and functional decline enrolled in the Assessing Care of Vulnerable Elders (ACOVE) observational study. MEASURES: Number of ADL abilities according to the short (range 0–5) and full functional status surveys (range 0–12); change in function as defined according to a 1-point change in short score and 1- to 2-point change in full survey scores. RESULTS: Changes in short functional status survey scores were highly correlated to changes in long survey scores (correlation coefficient=0.88). On average, a 1-point change in the short survey score was associated with a 1.4-point change on the long survey score (P<.001). The short survey correctly classified 93% of those who declined according to the long survey, adjusting for chance agreement (κ=0.82) and was responsive to decline in function (sensitivity 82–94%, specificity 94–97%, and area under the receiver operating curve 0.91–0.93 for 1- to 2-point decreases in full survey ADL counts). CONCLUSION: The short functional status survey is an efficient way to detect changes in functional status in vulnerable older populations for clinical and research purposes.
Induction of hypoxic root metabolism results from physical limitations in O2 bioavailability in microgravity.

Numerous spaceflight experiments have noted changes in the roots that are consistent with hypoxia in the rootzone. These observations include general ultrastructure analysis and biochemical measurements to direct measurements of stress specific enzymes. In experiments that have monitored alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH), the data shows this hypoxically responsive gene is induced and is associated with increased ADH activity in microgravity. These changes in ADH could be induced either by spaceflight hypoxia resulting from inhibition of gravity mediated O2 transport, or by a non-specific stress response due to inhibition of gravisensing. We tested these hypotheses in a series of two experiments. The objective of the first experiment was to determine if physical changes in gravity-mediated O2 transport can be directly measured, while the second series of experiments tested whether disruption of gravisensing can induce a non-specific ADH response. To directly measure O2 bioavailability as a function of gravity, we designed a sensor that mimics metabolic oxygen consumption in the rhizosphere. Because of these criteria, the sensor is sensitive to any changes in root O2 bioavailability that may occur in microgravity. In a KC-135 experiment, the sensor was implanted in a moist granular clay media and exposed to microgravity during parabolic flight. The resulting data indicated that root O2 bioavailability decreased in phase with gravity. In experiments that tested for non-specific induction of ADH, we compared the response of transgenic Arabidopsis plants (ADH promoted GUS marker gene) exposed to clinostat, control, and waterlogged conditions. The plants were grown on agar slats in a growth chamber before being exposed to the experimental treatments. The plants were stained for GUS activity localization, and subjected to biochemical tests for ADH, and GUS enzyme activity. These tests showed that the waterlogging treatment induced significant increases in GUS and ADH enzyme activities, while the control and clinostat treatments showed no response. This work demonstrates: (1) the inhibition of gravity-driven convective transport can reduce the O2 bioavailability to the root tip, and (2) the perturbation of gravisensing by clinostat rotation does not induce a nonspecific stress response involving ADH. Together these experiments support the microgravity convection inhibition model for explaining changes in root metabolism during spaceflight. 2004 COSPAR. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Diverse Sensitivity Thresholds in Dynamic Signaling Responses by Social Amoebae

The complex transition from a single-cell to a multicellular life form during the formation of a fruiting body by the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is accompanied by a pulsatile collective signaling process that instigates chemotaxis of the constituent cells. Although the cells used for the analysis of this phenomenon are normally genetically identical (isogenic), it is not clear whether they are equally responsive to the waves of the signaling stimulus, nor is it clear how responses across the population influence collective cell behavior. Here, we found that isogenic Dictyostelium cells displayed differing sensitivities to the chemoattractant cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). Furthermore, the resulting signaling responses could be explained by a model in which cells are refractory to further stimulation for 5 to 6 min after the initial input and the signaling output is amplified, with the amplification threshold varying across the cells in the population. This pathway structure could explain intracellular amplification of the chemoattractant gradient during cell migration. The new model predicts that diverse cell responsiveness can facilitate collective cell behavior, specifically due to the presence of a small number of cells in the population with increased responsiveness that aid in propagating the initial cAMP signaling wave across the cell population.
Voiding Dysfunction: What Can Radiologists Tell Patients and Pediatric Urologists?

OBJECTIVE. Imaging children with dysfunctional voiding remains a challenge because 98% of these children have normal anatomy. Identifying the 1–2% of children who do have an anatomic basis for incontinence is important; this article focuses on how pediatric urologists use imaging for the evaluation of patients with this condition. CONCLUSION. Imaging a patient with dysfunctional voiding can provide findings that will allow an accurate diagnosis and lead to optimal management. The key for the pediatric urologist is using imaging studies judiciously because the diagnostic yield is low. If every patient with dysfunctional voiding who presents to the clinic undergoes imaging, there will be little gain. Understanding in which patients to try imaging sooner versus trying medical and behavioral management first is a function of experience.
pDCS: Security and Privacy Support for Data-Centric Sensor Networks

The demand for efficient data dissemination/access techniques to find the relevant data from within a sensor network has led to the development of data-centric sensor networks (DCS), where the sensor data as contrast to sensor nodes are named based on attributes such as event type or geographic location. However, saving data inside a network also creates security problems due to the lack of tamper-resistance of the sensor nodes and the unattended nature of the sensor network. For example, an attacker may simply locate and compromise the node storing the event of his interest. To address these security problems, we present pDCS, a privacy-enhanced DCS network which offers different levels of data privacy based on different cryptographic keys. In addition, we propose several query optimization techniques based on Euclidean Steiner Tree and Keyed Bloom Filter to minimize the query overhead while providing certain query privacy. Finally, detailed analysis and simulations show that the Keyed Bloom Filter scheme can significantly reduce the message overhead with the same level of query delay and maintain a very high level of query privacy.
Use of electron beam phase-shift techniques in radiative lifetime determinations

Abstract A discussion is presented of theoretical and experimental aspects of radiative lifetime determinations using an electron beam phase-shift apparatus. Some new results for metals are reported.
Dynamic Frequency Scaling and Energy Saving in Quantum Chemistry Applications

Modern high-performance computing system design is becoming increasingly aware of the energy proportional computing to lower the operational costs and raise reliability. At the same time, high-performance application developers are taking pro-active steps towards less energy consumption without a significant performance loss. One way to accomplish this is to change the processor frequency dynamically during application execution. In this paper, a representative computationally-intensive HPC application GAMESS is considered with the aim to investigate the energy saving potential of its various stages. GAMESS is a quantum chemistry software package used worldwide to perform {em ab initio} electronic structure calculations. This paper presents energy consumption characteristics of two Self-Consistent Field method implementations in GAMESS, which radically differ in their computer resource usages. The dynamic frequency scaling optimization is applied to these implementations and serves as verification for the proposed general energy savings model. The developed model provides the minimum of on the compute node energy consumption under a given performance loss tolerance for various processor frequencies.
The Possibility of Characterizing the Severity of Fires by A Single Parameter

Because language conveys the idea of fire severity by a single expression, it has always seemed desirable to find a single variable for its quantification. The earlier suggestion by the author that the total heat absorption per unit surface area of the compartment boundaries during the period of full fire development, to be referred to as overall heat load, be used as a measure of destructive potential of fires, has been critically examined. It has been found that for many reinforced and prestressed concrete building elements, the overall heat load is indeed an approximate descriptor of the severity of compartment fires, irrespective of their temperature histories.
Beam convergence and current limitations in crossed-field electron guns

A simple derivation leads to a useful expression for the maximum achievable convergence in a crossed-field electron gun in terms of the normalized final beam potential. Expressions for maximum attainable beam currents are given. These show the severe limitations on the short gun at high values of magnetic field.
Recurrent sampling in soils inundated by Hurricane Katrina, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana: Analytical results

Recent flooding in New Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina caused surface waters to mingle with a variety of hazardous chemicals. The prolonged inundation of low-lying neighborhoods caused the potentially contaminated surface waters to saturate the underlying soils, possibly leaving behind contaminants once the floodwater receded. An area of Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish, was sampled on three occasions for the presence of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) metals and volatile organic carbons. Seven sample sites were established and sampled to a depth of 2 m (6.6 ft) on two or three site visits separated by approximately 30 days each. Additionally, surface bag sediments from each site were collected for toxicity testing. A total of 78 soil core, 12 surface soil bag, and several field reference samples were acquired. Key research questions were as follows. (1) Are detectable flood-related contaminants present in soil samples? (2) Are contaminants present at varying depths? (3) Do the concentrations of analytes change over time and by depth? (4) Are there possible toxicity and bioaccumulation effects? Flood-deposited sediments contained detectable contaminants. Sediment analysis revealed detectable levels of metals and organics in the soil at each location at each depth sampled. With deeper depths sampled, metal concentrations generally remained consistent, whereas the volatile organic concentrations generally decreased. Trending change in concentrations between events indicates a depth effect for metals. Results for volatile organics were mixed. Potential toxicity and bioaccumulation results will be discussed in the future.
How developers detect and fix performance bottlenecks in Android apps

Performance of rapidly evolving mobile apps is one of the top concerns for users and developers nowadays. Despite the efforts of researchers and mobile API designers to provide developers with guidelines and best practices for improving the performance of mobile apps, performance bottlenecks are still a significant and frequent complaint that impacts the ratings and apps' chances for success. However, little research has been done into understanding actual developers' practices for detecting and fixing performance bottlenecks in mobile apps. In this paper, we present the results of an empirical study aimed at studying and understanding these practices by surveying 485 open source Android app and library developers, and manually analyzing performance bugs and fixes in their app repositories hosted on GitHub. The paper categorizes actual practices and tools used by real developers while dealing with performance issues. In general, our findings indicate that developers heavily rely on user reviews and manual execution of the apps for detecting performance bugs. While developers also use available tools to detect performance bottlenecks, these tools are mostly for profiling and do not help in detecting and fixing performance issues automatically.
Analysis of the MISR LAI/FPAR product for spatial and temporal coverage, accuracy and consistency

Abstract The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument provides global imagery at nine discrete viewing angles and four visible/near-infrared spectral bands. MISR standard products include green leaf area index (LAI) of vegetation and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by vegetation (FPAR). This paper describes the research basis for transitioning the MISR LAI/FPAR products from provisional to validation status. The efforts included not only comparisons to field data but also analyses of relationships, consistency and complementarity between various MISR products derived by independent algorithms. For example, we show how the energy absorbed by the ground below vegetation can be estimated from two independent MISR products, FPAR and BHRPAR (bi-hemispheric reflectance at PAR wavelengths). Further, we show that this information can be used to derive at least three measures of canopy structure — Beer's law extinction coefficient, mean leaf inclination and the gap fraction or vegetation ground cover. The spatial and temporal coverage of the LAI/FPAR product is mainly limited by cloud contamination. However, when a successful aerosol retrieval is performed, typically 95% of pixels have surface reflectance retrievals suitable as input to the LAI/FPAR algorithm. The algorithm provides LAI/FPAR retrievals in 50–80% of these pixels with suitable input. The early versions of the algorithm overestimated LAI values in grasses and broadleaf crops. The MISR LAI product from the recalibrated algorithm (version 3.3) is assessed by comparison with field data collected in a 3 × 3 km agricultural area (grasses and cereal crops) near Avignon, France. LAI retrievals in other biomes are compared to MODIS LAI product of known accuracy. The MISR LAI product shows structural and phenological variability in agreement with data. Our results suggest that the product is accurate to within 0.66 LAI in herbaceous vegetation and savannas and is an overestimate by about 1 LAI in broadleaf forests. LAI retrievals over needle leaf forests remain at provisional quality level.
Statistical methodology for massive datasets and model selection

Astronomy is facing a revolution in data collection, storage, analysis, and interpretation of large datasets. The data volumes here are several orders of magnitude larger than what astronomers and statisticians are used to dealing with, and the old methods simply do not work. The National Virtual Observatory (NVO) initiative has recently emerged in recognition of this need and to federate numerous large digital sky archives, both ground based and space based, and develop tools to explore and understand these vast volumes of data. In this paper, we address some of the critically important statistical challenges raised by the NVO. In particular a low-storage, single-pass, sequential method for simultaneous estimation of multiple quantiles for massive datasets will be presented. Density estimation based on this procedure and a multivariate extension will also be discussed. The NVO also requires statistical tools to analyze moderate size databases. Model selection is an important issue for many astrophysical databases. We present a simple likelihood based 'leave one out' method to select the best among the several possible alternatives. The performance of the method is compared to those based on Akaike Information Criterion and Bayesian Information Criterion.
Performance of DS/CDMA communications with continuous-phase signals

Two examples of Direct-Sequence Code Division Multiple Access (DS/CDMA) communication systems with offset quadrature signals and smoother chip pulses than the rectangular pulse of the conventional Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (OQPSK) modulation are presented. The two systems use Minimum Shift Keying (MSK) and Sinusoidal Frequency Shift Keying (SFSK), which are continuous-phase modulation formats. It is shown that these two systems outperform OQPSK with regard to both bandwidth consumption and bit error probability. >
On the importance of reducing the energetic and material demands of electrical energy storage

Two prominent low-carbon energy resources, wind and sunlight, depend on weather. As the percentage of electricity supply from these sources increases, grid operators will need to employ strategies and technologies, including energy storage, to balance supply with demand. We quantify energy and material resource requirements for currently available energy storage technologies: lithium ion (Li-ion), sodium sulfur (NaS) and lead-acid (PbA) batteries; vanadium redox (VRB) and zinc-bromine (ZnBr) flow batteries; and geologic pumped hydroelectric storage (PHS) and compressed air energy storage (CAES). By introducing new concepts, including energy stored on invested (ESOI), we map research avenues that could expedite the development and deployment of grid-scale energy storage. ESOI incorporates several storage attributes instead of isolated properties, like efficiency or energy density. Calculations indicate that electrochemical storage technologies will impinge on global energy supplies for scale up — PHS and CAES are less energy intensive by 100 fold. Using ESOI we show that an increase in electrochemical storage cycle life by tenfold would greatly relax energetic constraints for grid-storage and improve cost competitiveness. We find that annual material resource production places tight limits on Li-ion, VRB and PHS development and loose limits on NaS and CAES. This analysis indicates that energy storage could provide some grid flexibility but its build up will require decades. Reducing financial cost is not sufficient for creating a scalable energy storage infrastructure. Most importantly, for grid integrated storage, cycle life must be improved to improve the scalability of battery technologies. As a result of the constraints on energy storage described here, increasing grid flexibility as the penetration of renewable power generation increases will require employing several additional techniques including demand-side management, flexible generation from base-load facilities and natural gas firming.
Teaching Intonation in Discourse Using Speech Visualization Technology.

Abstract Intonation, long thought to be a key to effectiveness in spoken language, is more and more commonly addressed in English language teaching through the use of speech visualization technology. While the use of visualization technology is a crucial advance in the teaching of intonation, such teaching can be further enhanced by connecting technology to an understanding of how intonation functions in discourse. This study examines the intonation of four readers reading out-of-context sentences and then the same sentences as part of coherent discourse-level texts. Two discourse-level uses of intonation, the use of intonational paragraph markers (paratones) and the distribution of tonal patterns, are discussed and implications for teaching intonation are addressed.
Longitudinal transcriptional analysis of developing neointimal vascular occlusion and pulmonary hypertension in rats.

Pneumonectomized rats injected with the alkaloid toxin, monocrotaline, develop progressive neointimal pulmonary vascular obliteration and pulmonary hypertension resulting in right ventricular failu...
Preliminary estimates of regolith generation and mobility in the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory, Pennsylvania, using meteoric 10Be

Abstract This study seeks to quantify the rate and timing of regolith generation in the Critical Zone at the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory (SSHO). Meteoric 10 Be depth profiles were determined using measurements from 30 hillslope soil and bedrock core samples in an effort to constrain 10 Be inventories. The SSHO is located in the temperate climate zone of central Pennsylvania and comprises a first-order watershed developed entirely on a Fe-rich, organic-poor, Silurian-aged shale. Two major perturbations to the landscape have occurred at SSHO in the geologically recent past, including significant and sustained periglacial activity until after the retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet (∼21 ka) and deforestation during early colonial land-use. Bulk soil samples ( n = 16) were collected at three locations along a planar hillslope on the southern ridge of the catchment, representing the ridge top, mid-slope and valley floor. Rock chip samples ( n = 14) were also collected from a 24 m deep core drilled into the northern ridge top. All meteoric 10 Be concentration profiles show a declining trend with depth, with most of the 10 Be retained in the uppermost decimeters of the soil. Meteoric 10 Be inventories are higher at the mid-slope and valley floor sample sites, at 3.71 ± 0.02 × 10 10 at/cm 2 and 3.69 ± 0.02 × 10 10 at/cm 2 , than at the ridge top site (1.90 ± 0.01 × 10 10 at/cm 2 ). The 10 Be inventory at the convex ridge top site implies a minimum residence time of ∼10.6 ka, or if erosion is steady, an erosion rate of 19.4 ± 0.2 m/My.
Formation and characterization of organic monolayers on semiconductor surfaces.

Organic-semiconductor interfaces are playing increasingly important roles in fields ranging from electronics to nanotechnology to biosensing. The continuing decrease in microelectronic device feature sizes is raising an especially great interest in understanding how to integrate molecular systems with conventional, inorganic microelectronic materials, particularly silicon. The explosion of interest in the biological sciences has provided further impetus for learning how to integrate biological molecules and systems with microelectronics to form true bioelectronic systems. Organic monolayers present an excellent opportunity for surmounting many of the practical barriers that have hindered the full integration of microelectronics technology with organic and biological systems. Of all the semiconductor materials, silicon and diamond stand out as unique. This review focuses upon the preparation and characterization of organic and biomolecular layers on semiconductor surfaces, with special emphasis on monolaye...
Bacterial Exploitation of Host Cell Signaling

As a way of enhancing infections, bacterial pathogens often alter host cell signaling pathways. Here, we describe recent work that highlights a new phosphatase from an intestinal and wound-invading pathogen that manipulates host cell phosphoinositide circuits. Despite the active-site homology between bacterial inositol phosphatases and mammalian phosphatases, sequence differences between them suggest that the development of specific inhibitors may be feasible.
Cationization of protein antigens. VI. Effects of cationization on the immunoregulatory properties of a bovine serum albumin peptide, a.a. 506-589.

Cationization of bovine serum albumin (BSA) causes a profound increase in its immunogenicity. To establish if immunoregulatory properties of an immunosuppressive peptide are affected by cationization, a BSA peptide, a.a. 506-583, was cationized and tested for its immunogenic properties. A greatly reduced amount of cationized peptide compared to native peptide was required to stimulate BSA-primed T cells to proliferate in vitro. Mice primed with the cationized peptide administered with an adjuvant responded with a significantly greater anti-BSA response than mice immunized with the native form of the peptide. In the absence of an adjuvant i.v. or i.p. administration of the native peptide was immunosuppressive, while the cationized form was immunoenhancing. Both forms of the peptide stimulated in vivo induction of L3T4+ (CD4), and Lyt-2+ (CD8) T cells. Removal of Lyt-2+ T cells from lymph node cultures following immunization with the native peptide caused a significant increase in the proliferation of the remaining T cells. This increase was not observed when the mice were immunized with the cationized peptide. No major BSA B cell determinants were present within the peptide sequence. Mice immunized with the peptide exhibited a negligible anti-BSA antibody response compared to those immunized with the whole BSA molecule. Furthermore, the peptide did not inhibit anti-BSA antibody binding to BSA. We demonstrated that cationization modifies immunoregulatory properties of an immunosuppressive BSA-derived peptide.
3D-ProWiz: An Energy-Efficient and Optically-Interfaced 3D DRAM Architecture with Reduced Data Access Overhead

This paper introduces 3D-ProWiz , which is a high-bandwidth, energy-efficient, optically-interfaced 3D DRAM architecture with fine grained data organization and activation. 3D-ProWiz integrates sub-bank level 3D partitioning of the data array to enable fine-grained activation and greater memory parallelism. A novel method of routing the internal memory bus to individual subarrays using TSVs and fanout buffers enables 3D-ProWiz to use smaller dimension subarrays without significant area overhead. The use of TSVs at subarray-level granularity eliminates the need to use slow and power hungry global lines, which in turn reduces the random access latency and activation-precharge energy. 3D-ProWiz yields the best latency and energy consumption values per access among other well-known 3D DRAM architectures. Experimental results with PARSEC benchmarks indicate that 3D-ProWiz achieves 41.9 percent reduction in average latency, 52 percent reduction in average power, and 80.6 percent reduction in energy-delay product (EDP) on average over DRAM architectures from prior work.
Mechanical behavior of the femoral head in Legg-Perthes disease.

The research described herein is concerned with the development of a “restricted” three-dimensional finite element model of the femoral head that permits the mechanical behavior of the hip joint in Legg-Perthes' disease to be simulated and studied. This “restricted” finite element model allows the femoral head to be treated as a non-axisymmetrically loaded axisymmetric solid of revolution. In order to minimize computer costs, and in recognition of the several uncertainties present in the mechanical description of the system, a number of simplifying assumptions are introduced. These assumptions include an axisymmetric geometry, axisymmetric and linear-elastic material properties, small deformation and displacement, and an approximate load distribution on the femoral head. The computer analyses reveal the relation between the magnitude and the distribution of the stresses in the femoral head and such parameters as (1) the position in the gait cycle, (2) the thickness of the articular cartilage, (3) the exte...
A coupled, two-dimensional hydrodynamic-marsh model with biological feedback

Abstract A spatially-explicit model (Hydro-MEM model) that couples astronomic tides and Spartina alterniflora dynamics was developed to examine the effects of sea-level rise on salt marsh productivity in northeast Florida. The hydrodynamic component of the model simulates the hydroperiod of the marsh surface driven by astronomic tides and the marsh platform topography, and demonstrates biophysical feedback that non- uniformly modifies marsh platform accretion, plant biomass, and water levels across the estuarine landscape, forming a complex geometry. The marsh platform accretes organic and inorganic matter depending on the sediment load and biomass density which are simulated by the ecological-marsh component (MEM) of the model and are functions of the hydroperiod. Two sea-level rise projections for the year 2050 were simulated: 11 cm (low) and 48 cm (high). Overall biomass density increased under the low sea-level rise scenario by 54% and declined under the high sea-level rise scenario by 21%. The biomass-driven topographic and bottom friction parameter updates were assessed by demonstrating numerical convergence (the state where the difference between biomass densities for two different coupling time steps approaches a small number). The maximum coupling time steps for low and high sea-level rise cases were calculated to be 10 and 5 years, respectively. A comparison of the Hydro-MEM model with a parametric marsh equilibrium model (MEM) indicates improvement in terms of spatial pattern of biomass distribution due to the coupling and dynamic sea-level rise approaches. This integrated Hydro-MEM model provides an innovative method by which to assess the complex spatial dynamics of salt marsh grasses and predict the impacts of possible future sea level conditions.
Mediating Mobility and Membership Along Nyanja's Littoral

Traversing national boundaries and international networks of commerce, control, and expertise, Nyanja (Lake Victoria) has long been a crucible for transformative social dynamics characterized by what I call the littoral – literally, the shoreline. It is a place of heightened prospects for actual and economic mobility, alternative moralities of sexual and economic exchange, and competing valuation of space and resources for leisure, protein, and politically strategic purposes. In a region where politics are so often assumed to be aligned along immutable tribal or ethnic lines, at the littoral, identity and belonging are actively renegotiated, and further, are closely linked to the practices and politics of living along the lake. / Attending to the gendered movements, meanings, and materialities generated at the littoral, this paper combines oral history and ethnographic attention with a rereading of early accounts of Buganda and the Baganda. I examine how women worked through and with various spiritual and political authorities in creative and instrumental ways. This analysis suggests a more mobile conception of territoriality, authority and identity that challenges now classic understandings of rural Buganda as landed, patriarchal and parochial.
Mediation: The Romantic Days Continue

This article reflects on South Texas College of Law’s Symposium on The Lawyer’s Duties and Responsibilities in Dispute Resolution and draws out the common ADR themes and shared visions for the field among the scholars and practitioners present. Fueled by the Symposium’s opening remarks that "[t]he romantic days of ADR appear to be over," the article offers a summary of the commonalities that may be foundational consensus points for mediators, a discussion of why defining and refining core values is a preliminary task to resolving ethical questions, and ultimately a conclusion that, if a common ground is reached about the core values of the mediation process, the romantic days of mediation will continue.
Tumor necrosis factor and the pathogenesis of Pichinde virus infection in guinea pigs.

Pichinde virus (PIC) is a reticuloendothelial arenavirus of the New World tropics. A guinea pig passage–adapted strain of this virus (adPIC) is uniformly lethal for inbred guinea pigs, while the related, prototype strain (PIC3739) has attenuated virulence. The abilities of adPIC and PIC3739 to induce tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in vivo and in cultured macrophages were compared. Infection with adPIC, but not PIC3739, was associated with detectable serum TNF that peaked in week 2 of infection. Tumor necrosis factor was found in the spleens of adPIC- and PIC3739-infected animals in week 1 of infection ; TNFα mRNA levels in spleens and livers of adPIC infected animals increased and remained high throughout infection, whereas PIC3739-infected organs showed down regulation of TNFα mRNA late in infection. Peritoneal macrophages explanted from adPIC-infected animals showed enhanced lipopolysaccharide-inducible TNF production. Altered regulation of TNF production may play a role in the pathogenesis of guinea pig arenavirus disease.
Rapid Development of Latent Inhibition: No Effect of Implanted Site

Summary.-Preliminary data suggested that latent inhibition developed rapidly in rats with unilateral electrode placement in the mesencephalic reticular formation. The present study suggests that electrode placement in such racs is irrelevant to this effect, as rats with implants in ocher structures as well as unimplanted rats showed the rapid development of latent inhibition. Latent inhibition has been defined as the decremental effect of nonreinforced pre-exposure to the to-be-conditioned stimulus on subsequent conditioning. One of the important variables controlling this effect is the number of pre-exposures prior to conditioning; many studies, under a wide variety of conditions, did not show latent inhibition with fewer than 16 pre-exposure trials (Lubow, 1973). In preliminary work to establish parameters for subsequent experiments on latent inhibition in rats implanted in the mesencephalic reticular formation, we were surprised to find that such racs showed latent inhibition with as few as 4 to 6 pre-exposure trials. We had previously noted a deficit in performance in rats bearing mesencephalic reticular electrodes, relative to unimplanted rats, on a different task (DeVietti & Kirkpatrick, 1977) and suspected that this effect might explain the rapid development of latent inhibition in such rats. To test this notion we varied the implanted site in various groups of rats, including rats which were not implanted, to determine if the implantation procedure or the implanted site influenced the development of latent inhibition. Three basic groups were formed. Two groups were implanted unilaterally, with electrodes in one group aimed at the mesencephalic reticular formation (see'DeVietti & Kirkpatrick, 1977). The second group was a composite of rats with placements varied in the same anterior-posterior plane as rhe former implants to yield subgroups with electrode tips located in corpus callosum, cortex, or not penetrating the cortex. The third group was unimplanted. Following a 7- to 10-day recovery period, half of each group individually received a total of six presentations of the to-be-conditioned stimulus, a 15-sec. tone, with two presentations administered on each of three successive days at approximately Min. 2 and 7 of a 10-min, session. These trials were administered in a Plexiglas, sound-attenuated chamber with a grid floor. The remaining rats were individually placed in the box for the same periods of time but the tone was not presented. Following the pre-exposure phase, the 24-hr. thirsty rats were allowed to drink from a tube now present in the box for a total of 110
The Influence of Soil Acidity on the pH Value of the Contents of the Digestive Tract of Japanese Beetle Larvæ.

In determinations of acidity within the digestive tract of insects it is important to know the fluctuations in pH brought about by variations in the acidity of the food taken in. In order to answer this question for larvae of the Japanese beetle ( Popillia japonica Newm.) specimens from soil plots varying in pH were dissected and tested for acidity by a potentiometer circuit ( 1 )[2][1] with a quinhydrone electrode ( 2 ). [1]: #fn-2
Dark State Dynamics of Red Fluorescent Proteins in the Cell Environment Measured in Microfluidic Flow

Fluorescent proteins (FPs) have opened new avenues for exploring the biological world, and much progress in microscopy techniques has resulted from understanding and manipulating their photophysics. In particular, the non-radiative and optically-induced recovery of photo-excited FPs trapped from long-lived dark states forms the basis for many super-resolution imaging techniques. We have employed time and frequency-domain technique to capture the dynamics of dark sate conversion (DSC) and ground state recovery (GSR) processes and investigate the molecular mechanisms of these phenomena. In our time-domain method, FPs are excited with millisecond time-scale pulses with a variable inter-pulse delay, to directly obtain the GSR rate in a model-free manner. The complementary frequency-domain technique, which relies on the sinusoidal modulation of excitation intensity and measurement of “phase advance” resulting from the asymmetry of the fluorescence signals, is suitable for high-throughput DSC rate measurements. The GSR and DSC time-constants of mCherry, TagRFP-T and Kriek FPs measured using those techniques fall in the ms-μs range of time-scales, suggesting that these phenomena might be associated with conformational change or protonation of the chromophore.Building on these developments, we capitalized on a high-throughput flow-cytometry platform for simultaneous characterization of the DSC and irreversible photobleaching of large FP libraries generated by site-directed or random mutagenesis. We employed the frequency-domain technique for DSC rate characterization whereas the determination of irreversible photobleaching is based on pulsed bleaching and subsequent recovery. Our results provide evidence for a correlation between those above-mentioned processes that might reveal the pathways of photo-bleaching processes of the FPs. This unique capability of characterizing the dark states of large FP libraries has potential of finding new mutants with novel photo-physical properties for diverse applications in, for example, optogenetics and super-resolution imaging.
Study on the mechanism of the autophagy protection activated by the ischemia postconditioning with skin flap

Objective The ischemia postconditioning is used for the protection of skin flap,a further study is done to explore the mechanism of the ischemia postconditioning on the skin flap.Methods The adult newzlend rabbits are divided into 3 group.A group is provided with ischemia postconiditoning,B group is provided with autophagy inhibitor 3-M ATP plus ischemia postconditio ning.C group is provided with direct ischemia with microvascular clamp.The study includes the respective test of the content of Beclin1,LC3 and the survival of skin flap of each group.Results The rabbits all survived.No difference existed between B and C group about content of Beclin1,LC3(P 0.005).No difference was found about the skin flap survival.But about the above three parameters,A group was found to have significance between B and C group.Conclusion Ischemia postconditioning can protect the skin flap which may be attributed to the role of the activation of autophagy.
The pathogenesis of gallstones.

Intensive investigations into the mechanism of gallstone formation have revealed that cholesterol supersaturation of the bile is a necessary but insufficient condition for cholelithiasis. A defect in the regulation of monohydrate crystal nucleation appears to be the most critical factor. The possible influences of serum apoproteins, of gallbladder mucin, and of biliary sludge are discussed.
Irradiating with a Prosthesis or Metal Pin in the Radiation Treatment Field

This is a case study of a patient who had a liposarcoma of the tibia and also had a titanium pin directly in the treatment field. A total midline dose of 63 Gy was prescribed. The effects of the pin in the treated area was examined. Four different methods were used to examine and verify the delivered dose: (1) Treatment planning computerized isodose curves, (2) A parallel plate ion chamber and polystyrene phantom, (3) TLD, and (4) Film dosimetry. The results from all four methods of dose examination are compiled and are used to make a decision on what to do about the dose non-uniformity due to the dense titanium pin. If a prosthesis or metal pin is in the treatment area, one must determine the composition of the pin. Then one should verify or examine the results of the dose perturbations produced. One may or may not want to change the original dose prescription but the dose throughout the irradiated volume will be changed due to the metal pin. It is important to evaluate these effects, as discussed in this article, to accurately deliver a prescribed dose.
Errata and Addenda

• p. 2, various places. It is implicitly assumed that the dot product α · v is defined via an isomorphism V ∼= K. • p. 3, lines 1–7. This discussion has some inaccuracies. What is true (and not too hard to prove) is that over R we can take W = X . Over an arbitrary field K, there exists a linear subspace W whose dimension equals rank(A), such that codim(H ∩W ) = 1 for all H ∈ A. We then define AW := {H ∩W : H ∈ A}. • p. 4, lines 13–14. Naturally it should be assumed that H1, . . . , Hp are distinct. • p. 4, Example 1.2, line 2. Change “L line” to “line L”. • p. 4, Example 1.2, line 2. Change AK to Ak. • p. 7, second figure. The line y = 0 is missing. • p. 8, line 12–. Though “maximal” is used in a standard way, for the sake of clarity one can define a maximal chain to be a chain that is contained in no larger chain. Thus in a finite poset every maximal chain is saturated, but not conversely. • p. 8, line 8–. Replace x < y by x ≤ y (since later the notation rk(x, x) is used). • p. 10, line 10. Add at the end of the line: “The following result is known as the Mobius inversion formula.” • p. 10, end of proof. Should be ζg = f ⇐⇒ g = μf
Quantification of Environmental DNA (eDNA) Shedding and Decay Rates for Three Marine Fish.

Analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) to identify macroorganisms and biodiversity has the potential to significantly augment spatial and temporal biological monitoring in aquatic ecosystems. Current monitoring methods relying on the physical identification of organisms can be time consuming, expensive, and invasive. Measuring eDNA shed from organisms provides detailed information on the presence and abundance of communities of organisms. However, little is known about eDNA shedding and decay in aquatic environments. In the present study, we designed novel Taqman qPCR assays for three ecologically and economically important marine fish—Engraulis mordax (Northern Anchovy), Sardinops sagax (Pacific Sardine), and Scomber japonicas (Pacific Chub Mackerel). We subsequently measured fish eDNA shedding and decay rates in seawater mesocosms. eDNA shedding rates ranged from 165 to 3368 pg of DNA per hour per gram of biomass. First-order decay rate constants ranged from 0.055 to 0.101 per hour. We also examined the s...
Regret-Minimizing Exploration in HetNets with mmWave

We model and analyze a User-Equipment (UE) based wireless network selection method where individuals act on their stochastic knowledge of the expected behavior off their available networks. In particular, we focus on networks with millimeter-wave (mmWave) radio. Modeling mmWave radio access technologies (RATs) as a stochastic 3-state process based on their physical layer characteristics in Line-of-Sight (LOS), Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS), and Outage states, we make the realistic assumption that users have no knowledge of the statistics of the RATs and must learn these while maximizing the throughput obtained. We develop an online learning-based approach to access network selection: a user-centric Multi-Armed Bandit Problem that incorporates the cost of switching access networks. We develop an online learning policy that groups network access to minimize costs for RAT selection, analyze the regret (loss due to uncertainty) of our algorithm. We also show that our algorithm obtains optimal regret and in numerical examples achieves 24% increase in total throughput compared to existing techniques for high throughput mmWave RATs that vary over a fast timescale.
Reconstructing Meaning After Sexual Assault

Abstract This chapter reviews research on four components of meaning making following sexual assault and interventions addressing these components. Several findings emerged. First, self-blame is associated with more distress, whereas focusing on what can be controlled in the present (e.g., the recovery process) is associated with less distress. Second, survivors often report that their beliefs about themselves, others, and the world changed in a negative direction following the assault; having more negative beliefs is in turn associated with reporting more distress. Third, survivors often report positive life changes, particularly more compassion. Finally, cognitive processing therapy was specifically designed to help sexual assault survivors reduce their fear and change the meaning of the event and has been shown to be effective in several studies, with treatment gains maintained 5–10 years posttreatment. Online interventions that increase perceived control also show promise.
Mechanism of zinc oxide retardation in alkali-activated materials: an in situ X-ray pair distribution function investigation

Alkali-activated materials are a new class of sustainable materials that can help supplant highly CO2-intensive ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Chemical admixtures and additives that manipulate the hydration and setting of OPC are readily utilized in the construction industry. However, for alkali-activated materials, the impact of these additives on the evolution of the atomic structure of the binder gel is largely unknown. Here, we utilize nano-ZnO (nanoparticles of zinc oxide), a known retarder for OPC hydration, and investigate its influence on the alkali-activation reaction in high and low calcium alkali-activated materials (slag and metakaolin systems, respectively). Using isothermal calorimetry and in situ X-ray pair distribution function analysis, the mechanism of nano-ZnO retardation in alkali-activated materials is uncovered, revealing that calcium plays a pivotal role in dictating whether nano-ZnO has an impact on the alkali-activation reaction. These results also provide important insight on the ability of slag and metakaolin-based alkali-activated materials to effectively immobilize zinc within the binder gel, which is of relevance to the waste solidification/stabilization community.