cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Incorporating Experience Quality Data into CRM Models: The Impact of Gambler Outcomes on Casino Return Times

Enabled by modern interaction-logging technologies, managers increasingly have access to data on quality levels in customer interactions. We consider the direct marketing targeting problem in situations where 1) the customer's experience quality level varies randomly and independently from occasion to occasion, 2) the firm has measures of the quality levels experienced by each customer on each occasion, and 3) the firm can customize marketing according to these measures and the customer's behaviors. A primary contribution of this paper is a framework and methodology to use data on customer experience quality data to model a customer's evolving beliefs about the firm's quality and how these beliefs combine with marketing to influence purchase behavior. Thereby, this paper allows the manager to assess the marketing response of a customer with any specific experience and behavior history, which in turn can be used to decide which customers to target for marketing. This research develops a novel, tractable way to estimate and introduce flexible heterogeneity distributions into Bayesian learning models. The model is estimated using data from the casino industry, an industry which generates more than $60 billion in U.S. revenues but has surprisingly little academic, econometric research. The counterfactuals offer interesting findings on gambler learning and direct marketing responsiveness and suggest that casino profitability can increase substantially when marketing incorporates gamblers' beliefs and past outcome sequences into the targeting decision.
Development and analysis of the Elementary Student Coding Attitudes Survey

Abstract There is an increasing emphasis on teaching young learners to code; yet, there are few tools designed to measure the effect of learning to code on children. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a tool to assess changes in young learners' attitudes toward coding: the Elementary Student Coding Attitudes Survey (ESCAS). We validated the scale using Confirmatory Factory Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling with responses from over 6000 4th-6th grade students (aged 9–12 years). Survey validation revealed a scale consisting of five constructs that comprise young learners' attitudes toward coding: social value, coding confidence, coding interest, perception of coders, and coding utility. In our analysis, students' grade level, ethnicity, gender, coding frequency, coding experience, and math interest influenced social value, which in turn influenced coding interest, perception of coders, and coding utility. Students' math confidence, coding frequency, coding experience, ethnicity, and coding interest predicted their coding confidence. Among observable variables, coding frequency and math interest had the greatest influence on social value, which substantially influenced all other factors. We discuss how this tool can help those who teach coding to young children to better measure and understand the variables that may influence young learners’ attitudes toward coding over time.
Local Economic Conditions and Fertility from the Great Depression through the Great Recession

This paper reexamines the association between local economic conditions and fertility using a new dataset of county-level birthrates and per capita income in the United States spanning the period 1937–2016. Using a panel data model, we estimate that growth in local income is positively associated with birthrates over our entire sample period and that the strength of that association peaked during the 1960–1990 period and has declined in recent decades. We additionally estimate dynamic responses to local income shocks, finding that birthrates remain elevated for up to four years after a shock.
Intraocular Pressure Reduction after Phacoemulsification: A Matched Cohort Study

Purpose Phacoemulsification has been linked to lowered intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with glaucoma, ocular hypertension, anatomic narrow angles, and in glaucoma suspects, but the magnitude of change has varied. Design Retrospective cohort study. Participants Patients with glaucoma treated from June 2010 through May 2015 who underwent phacoemulsification (surgical group) were matched to patients who did not (nonsurgical group) for age, gender, type of glaucoma, baseline IOP, and number and type of glaucoma medications. Methods Electronic medical record information was used to compare the matched surgical and nonsurgical groups. Main Outcome Measures Change in IOP, change in number of glaucoma medications, and likelihood of a glaucoma procedure within 36 months after phacoemulsification. Intraocular pressure measures were obtained from Goldmann applanation tonometry when available (45%), and otherwise with the iCare tonometer (iCare USA, Raleigh, NC), the Tono-Pen (Reichert Technologies, Depew, NY), noncontact tonometry, and pneumotonometry. Results Among 16 169 matched pairs, average IOP after the index date was lower in the surgical than nonsurgical group throughout follow-up to 36 months. The difference was greatest during months 1 through 18, during which IOP increased by 0.22 mmHg from 16.49 mmHg in the average nonsurgical patient and decreased by 0.99 mmHg from 16.50 mmHg in the average surgical patient (difference in difference, 1.21 mmHg; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12–1.30 mmHg). The difference in difference was greatest for patients with ocular hypertension (2.00 mmHg) and for patients with preoperative IOP of 20 mmHg or more (2.46 mmHg). By 30 to 36 months, 5% (95% CI, 4%–6%) fewer surgical patients used an ophthalmic medication. In the surgical group, the odds of selective laser trabeculoplasty were reduced in patients with ocular hypertension (odds ratio [OR], 0.27; 95% CI, 0.10–0.74) or glaucoma suspects (OR, 0.31; 95% CI, 0.20–0.47), whereas the odds of glaucoma surgery were elevated in surgical patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.08–2.01). Conclusions The association of phacoemulsification for cataract with IOP reduction was lower than in past referral-based studies. Surgeons should expect to reduce IOP approximately 1 to 2 mmHg with phacoemulsification in patients with preoperative IOP of less than 20 mmHg.
A practical test for a planted community in heterogeneous networks

One of the fundamental task in graph data mining is to find a planted community(dense subgraph), which has wide application in biology, finance, spam detection and so on. For a real network data, the existence of a dense subgraph is generally unknown. Statistical tests have been devised to testing the existence of dense subgraph in a homogeneous random graph. However, many networks present extreme heterogeneity, that is, the degrees of nodes or vertexes don't concentrate on a typical value. The existing tests designed for homogeneous random graph are not straightforwardly applicable to the heterogeneous case. Recently, scan test was proposed for detecting a dense subgraph in heterogeneous(inhomogeneous) graph(\cite{BCHV19}). However, the computational complexity of the scan test is generally not polynomial in the graph size, which makes the test impractical for large or moderate networks. In this paper, we propose a polynomial-time test that has the standard normal distribution as the null limiting distribution. The power of the test is theoretically investigated and we evaluate the performance of the test by simulation and real data example.
Longitudinal Associations Between Changes in Cigarette Smoking and Alcohol Use, Eating Behavior, Perceived Stress, and Self-Rated Health in a Cohort of Low-Income Black Adults

BACKGROUND Black adults in the U.S. experience significant health disparities related to tobacco use and obesity. Conducting observational studies of the associations between smoking and other health behaviors and indicators among Black adults may contribute to the development of tailored interventions. PURPOSE We examined associations between change in cigarette smoking and alcohol use, body mass index, eating behavior, perceived stress, and self-rated health in a cohort of Black adults who resided in low-income urban neighborhoods and participated in an ongoing longitudinal study. METHODS Interviews were conducted in 2011, 2014, and 2018; participants (N = 904) provided at least two waves of data. We fit linear and logistic mixed-effects models to evaluate how changes in smoking status from the previous wave to the subsequent wave were related to each outcome at that subsequent wave. RESULTS Compared to repeated smoking (smoking at previous and subsequent wave), repeated nonsmoking (nonsmoking at previous and subsequent wave) was associated with greater likelihood of recent dieting (OR = 1.59, 95% CI [1.13, 2.23], p = .007) and future intention (OR = 2.19, 95% CI [1.61, 2.98], p < .001) and self-efficacy (OR = 1.64, 95% CI [1.21, 2.23], p = .002) to eat low calorie foods, and greater odds of excellent or very good self-rated health (OR = 2.47, 95% CI [1.53, 3.99], p < .001). Transitioning from smoking to nonsmoking was associated with greater self-efficacy to eat low calorie foods (OR = 1.89, 95% CI [1.1, 3.26], p = .021), and lower perceived stress (β = -0.69, 95% CI [-1.34, -0.05], p = .036). CONCLUSIONS We found significant longitudinal associations between smoking behavior and eating behavior, perceived stress, and self-rated health. These findings have implications for the development of multiple behavior change programs and community-level interventions and policies.
If You Want to Go Far Go Together: Unsupervised Joint Candidate Evidence Retrieval for Multi-hop Question Answering.

Multi-hop reasoning requires aggregation and inference from multiple facts. To retrieve such facts, we propose a simple approach that retrieves and reranks set of evidence facts jointly. Our approach first generates unsupervised clusters of sentences as candidate evidence by accounting links between sentences and coverage with the given query. Then, a RoBERTa-based reranker is trained to bring the most representative evidence cluster to the top. We specifically emphasize on the importance of retrieving evidence jointly by showing several comparative analyses to other methods that retrieve and rerank evidence sentences individually. First, we introduce several attention- and embedding-based analyses, which indicate that jointly retrieving and reranking approaches can learn compositional knowledge required for multi-hop reasoning. Second, our experiments show that jointly retrieving candidate evidence leads to substantially higher evidence retrieval performance when fed to the same supervised reranker. In particular, our joint retrieval and then reranking approach achieves new state-of-the-art evidence retrieval performance on two multi-hop question answering (QA) datasets: 30.5 Recall@2 on QASC, and 67.6% F1 on MultiRC. When the evidence text from our joint retrieval approach is fed to a RoBERTa-based answer selection classifier, we achieve new state-of-the-art QA performance on MultiRC and second best result on QASC.
A Case for Fat: How Increasing Dietary Fat (and Decreasing Carbohydrates) Can Treat Cancer, Obesity, and Heart Disease and why Marketers Should Care: An Abstract

This research reviews literature from marketing, medicine, nutrition, metabolism, genetics, pathology, and other academic areas that offers empirical evidence of the role of the ketogenic diet in treating inflammatory diseases.
The Financial Accountancy With Greater Perspective

Financial accountancy is the important part of human life without financial accounting the dream of the correctness is not possible.
Lectin Affinity Chromatography

This unit describes the use of lectins for preparative glycoprotein purification. Con A-Sepharose and WGA-agarose are used for convenience and availability. Instructions are given for a small-scale pilot procedure to test for lectin binding and to determine elution conditions. There are many variations on the basic procedure in the literature, but all use the same principles: bind the protein to immobilized lectin through its sugar chain, wash away unbound protein, and elute bound protein with a simple sugar that resembles the sugar ligand of the bound protein.
Genistein-enriched diet tends to increase oxidative stress in the vasculature of female ob/ob mice (693.9)

Morbid obesity is associated with cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, such as atherosclerosis and diabetes. Endothelial dysfunction, an imbalance between contractile and relaxing endothelial factors, plays a central role in the pathogenesis of these diseases. Superoxide is a reactive oxygen species that is elevated with obesity and causes endothelial dysfunction via scavenging of the endogenous vasodilator nitric oxide resulting in hypertension. The objective of this study was to characterize the effects of genistein, a naturally occurring isoflavonic phytoestrogen, on superoxide concentrations in the vasculature of obese (ob/ob) female mice, an animal model of type 2 diabetes. Genistein has documented antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties; however, it is not known whether this prevents oxidative stress in the vasculature. Genistein was hypothesized to reduce superoxide in blood vessels of female ob/ob mice. Isolated aortae and mesenteric arteries from control (standard rodent chow containing 2...
The outcome of artificial urinary sphincter placement after a mean 15-year follow-up in a paediatric population.

Objective To evaluate the long-term outcome in children who had an artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) placed, after a minimum of 10 years of follow-up. Patients and methods The medical records of patients who had an AUS placed at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan were reviewed and a telephone questionnaire was then completed by all patients with an AUS currently in place. Results Forty-seven children initially had an AUS placed between October 1978 and August 1986; medical records and follow-up were available for 32. After a mean follow-up of 15.4 years, 13 patients had had the AUS removed and 19 currently have an intact AUS. Erosion or infection was responsible for all AUS removals. Possible risk factors for AUS removal were prior AUS erosion, prior bladder neck surgery and a balloon pressure of >70 cmH2O. Eighteen of 19 patients with an intact AUS are dry and seven void volitionally. Revision was the most common reason for additional surgery, but the revision rate has decreased with the most current AS-800 model, to 0.03 revisions per patient-year. Of the 13 patients with an AS-800 model placed after 1987, nine have not required revision. Upper tract changes were mild and uncommon. Conclusion The AUS is a durable and effective surgical option in the management of neurogenic urinary incontinence, and is the only reliable technique that can preserve volitional voiding. With technical improvements to the AUS and a longer follow-up, the revision rate has decreased. Causes of AUS removal may be preventable with improvements in surgical technique and patient selection. AUS placement should be considered as a first choice for the surgical management of neurogenic sphincteric incompetence.
Capacity and variable data rate for wireless communications

The general trend in wireless technology development is to increase communication capacity for mass market. The propagation problem and limited frequency spectrum still exist. How to achieve the goal of the wireless technology is an important issue. In this work we study the trade off between interference and variable data rate of a typical DPSK link. The objective is to find out what data rate is tolerable for message services under interference. From the study it is realized that interference is the most important issue involved in any multiple access systems. To account for more accurately the relationship between variable data rate and capacity it is also necessary to discuss the quality of service (QOS). This can be either at the link level, i.e. BER or at a higher level such as outage probability. Simulation results showed multipath fading interference has a detrimental effect on single channel data rate. A simple analysis is done to show user capacity, QOS and power management in an uncoordinated multiple access system. >
Sparse recovery using sparse random matrices

Over the recent years, a new linear method for compressing high-dimensional data (e.g., images) has been discovered. For any high-dimensional vector x, its sketch is equal to Ax, where A is an m×n matrix (possibly chosen at random). Although typically the sketch length m is much smaller than the number of dimensions n, the sketch contains enough information to recover an approximation to x. At the same time, the linearity of the sketching method is very convenient for many applications, such as data stream computing and compressed sensing. The major sketching approaches can be classified as either combinatorial (using sparse sketching matrices) or geometric (using dense sketching matrices). They achieve different trade-offs, notably between the compression rate and the running time. Thus, it is desirable to understand the connections between them, with the goal of obtaining the “best of both worlds” solution. Several recent results established such connections, indicating that the two approaches are just different manifestations of the same underlying phenomenon. This enabled the development of novel algorithms, including the first algorithms that provably achieve the (asymptotically) optimal compression rate and near-linear recovery time simultaneously. In this talk we give an overview of the results in the area, as well as look at some of them in more detail. In particular, we will describe a new algorithm, called “Sequential Sparse Matching Pursuit (SSMP)”. In addition to having the aforementioned theoretical guarantees, the algorithm works well on real data, with the recovery quality often outperforming that of more complex algorithms, such as l1 minimization. Joint work with: Radu Berinde, Anna Gilbert, Howard Karloff, Milan Ruzic and Martin Strauss.
Liposome-encapsulated curcumin: in vitro and in vivo effects on proliferation, apoptosis, signaling, and angiogenesis.

BACKGROUND Because a role for nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of pancreatic carcinoma, this transcription factor is a potential target for the treatment of this devastating disease. Curcumin (diferuloylmethane) is a phytochemical with potent NF-κB-inhibitory activity. It is pharmacologically safe, but its bioavailability is poor after oral administration. METHODS The authors encapsulated curcumin in a liposomal delivery system that would allow intravenous administration. They studied the in vitro and in vivo effects of this compound on proliferation, apoptosis, signaling, and angiogenesis using human pancreatic carcinoma cells. NF-κB was constitutively active in all human pancreatic carcinoma cell lines evaluated and liposomal curcumin consistently suppressed NF-κB binding (electrophoretic mobility gel shift assay) and decreased the expression of NF-κB-regulated gene products, including cyclooxygenase-2 (immunoblots) and interleukin-8 (enzyme-linked immunoassay), both of which have been implicated in tumor growth/invasiveness. These in vitro changes were associated with concentration and time-dependent antiproliferative activity (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay [MTT assay]) and proapoptotic effects (annexin V/propidium iodide staining [fluorescence-activated cell sorting] and polyadenosine-5′-diphosphate-ribose-polymerase cleavage). RESULTS The activity of liposomal curcumin was equal to or better than that of free curcumin at equimolar concentrations. In vivo, curcumin suppressed pancreatic carcinoma growth in murine xenograft models and inhibited tumor angiogenesis. CONCLUSIONS Liposomal curcumin down-regulated the NF-κB machinery, suppressed growth, and induced apoptosis of human pancreatic cells in vitro. Antitumor and antiangiogenesis effects were observed in vivo. The experiments in the current study provide a biologic rationale for treatment of patients suffering from pancreatic carcinoma with this nontoxic phytochemical encapsulated in liposomes for systemic delivery. Cancer 2005. © 2005 American Cancer Society.
Is uncertainty in complex disease epidemiology resolvable

The imposed limitations on what we can know about nature have been long recognized. Yet in the field of epidemiology a futile search for lifestyle-related risk factors for common chronic diseases continues unabated. This has led to the production of a growing body of evidence about potential lifestyle risk factors that tend to be marginal, contradictory, irreproducible, or hard to interpret. While epidemiologists are calling for a more refined methodology, I argue that our limitation in studying complex diseases is insurmountable. This is because the study of lifestyle-related small risks requires accurate measurement of multiple behaviors-exposures over a long period of time. It is also because in complex systems such as population’s health, the effect of rich interactions between its parts cannot be predicted based on traditional causal models of epidemiology. Within complex systems, understanding the interactions between system components can be more important than the contribution of each to disease risk.
Shooting (or Ignoring) the Messenger

Political science produces highly policy-relevant research, but politicians ignore it in favor of their own (or their supporters') biases. I give examples from such fields as anti-immigrant politics, political business cycles and the politics of redistribution. The sole area in which politicians do attend closely to scholarly research is where it assists their own efforts at electoral success (e.g. effect and duration of political advertising). But politicians equally ignore the expertise of climatologists, physicists, biologists, economists and even spies, where that expertise contradicts their own preferred policies. All of this points more to a problem of democratic politics than of political (or any other) science.
Processing Techniques to Reduce Toxicity and Antinutrients of Cassava for Use as a Staple Food

ABSTRACT: Cassava is a valuable source of food for developing countries, but it contains highly toxic cyanogen compounds and antinutrients. Cyanogens are found in 3 forms in cassava: cyanogenic glucoside (95% linamarin and 5% lotaustratin), cyanohydrins, and free cyanide. Different processing techniques exist to remove cyanogens and their effectiveness depends on the processing steps and the sequence utilized, and it often is time-dependent. Pounding or crushing is the most effective for cyanogenic glucoside removal because it ruptures cell compartments, thus allowing direct contact between linamarin and the enzyme linamarase that catalyzes the hydrolytic breakdown. Crushing and sun-drying cassava roots made into flour removes 96% to 99% of total cyanogens, whereas soaking and sun-drying into lafun or fufu, or soaking and fermenting and roasting into gari or farina, removes about 98% of cyanogens. For cassava leaves, which have 10 times more cyanogens than roots, pounding and boiling in water is an efficient process to remove about 99% of cyanogens. Other strategies to reduce toxicity include development of low-cyanogen cassava varieties and cassava transgenic lines with accelerated cyanogenesis during processing. Although phytate and polyphenols have antioxidant properties, they interfere with digestion and uptake of nutrients. Fermentation and oven-drying are efficient processing methods to remove phytate (85.6%) and polyphenols (52%), respectively, from cassava roots. Sun-drying the leaves, with or without prior steaming or shredding, removes about 60% phytate. Cassava is a nutritionally strategic famine crop for developing countries and, therefore, reducing its toxicity and improving its nutritional value is crucial.
IEEE 802.16j-relay fortified aeromacs networks; benefits and challenges

Aeronautical Mobile Airport Communications System (AeroMACS) is an IEEE 802.16 standard-based (WiMAX) broadband aviation transmission technology, developed to provide safety critical communications coverage for airport surface in support of fixed and mobile ground to ground applications and services. We have previously demonstrated that IEEE 802.16j-amendment-based WiMAX is most feasible for AeroMACS applications. The principal argument in favor of application of IEEE 802.16j technology is the flexible and cost effective extension of radio coverage that is afforded by relay fortified WiMAX networks, with virtually no increase in the power requirements. In this article, following introductory remarks on airport surface communications, WiMAX and AeroMACS; the IEEE 802.16j-based WiMAX technology and multihop relay systems are briefly described. The two modes of relay operation supported by IEEE 802.16j amendment; i.e., transparent (TRS) and non-transparent (NTRS) modes, are discussed in some detail. Advantages and disadvantages of using TRS and NTRS in AeroMACS networks are summarized in a table. Practical issues vis-a-vis the inclusion of relays in AeroMACS networks are addressed. It is argued that the selection of relay type may affect a number of network parameters. A discussion on specific benefits and challenges of inclusion of relays in AeroMACS networks is provided. The article concludes that in case it is desired or necessary to exclusively employ one type of relay mode for all applications throughout an AeroMACS network, the proper selection would be the non-transparent mode.
Management of cerebral cavernous angiomas in children presenting with seizures

Until recently intracranial cavernous angiomas were thought to be rare vascular malformations that usually presented in adulthood as an intracerebral hemorrhage, an expanding mass lesion, or with the new onset of seizures. Prior to the advent of computed tomography (CT), and more recently magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), their diagnosis in childhood was extremely rare. However, the CT and MRI features of cavernous angioma are quite distinctive and allow early diagnosis and treatment. Advances in surgical techniques permit successful removal of these potentially devastating lesions and amelioration of the associated seizure disorder. Seven children with cerebral cavernous angiomas have been treated at the Children's Hospital Medical Center since 1980. Six children presented with seizures and one with an intracerebral hemorrhage. All had characteristic findings on CT and/or MRI and underwent surgical excision of symptomatic lesions. Intraoperative sonography, electrocorticography, and cortical mapping were used when indicated and were found to be helpful in the surgical management of these patients. Our experience suggests that symptomatic cerebral cavernous angiomas in children are not as rare as previously thought and that surgical treatment using modern neurosurgical techniques is both safe and appropriate and can be helpful in the management of associated seizures.
State space forecasting and noise reduction

Effects of nonlinearity and noise on the problem of finding states and dynamics are discussed. The problems which arise in the construction of the state-space models for scalar time series are described. Solutions are presented for the case when error due to noise dominates parameter estimation error, and a framework for the general case is outlined. >
Identifying hot spots of security vulnerability associated with climate change in Africa

Given its high dependence on rainfed agriculture and its comparatively low adaptive capacity, Africa is frequently invoked as especially vulnerable to climate change. Within Africa, there is likely to be considerable variation in vulnerability to climate change both between and within countries. This paper seeks to advance the agenda of identifying the hot spots of what we term “climate security” vulnerability, areas where the confluence of vulnerabilities could put large numbers of people at risk of death from climate-related hazards. This article blends the expertise of social scientists and climate scientists. It builds on a model of composite vulnerability that incorporates four “baskets” or processes that are thought to contribute to vulnerability including: (1) physical exposure, (2) population density, (3) household and community resilience, and (4) governance and political violence. Whereas previous iterations of the model relied on historical physical exposure data of natural hazards, this paper uses results from regional model simulations of African climate in the late 20th century and mid-21st century to develop measures of extreme weather events—dry days, heat wave events, and heavy rainfall days—coupled with an indicator of low-lying coastal elevation. For the late 20th century, this mapping process reveals the most vulnerable areas are concentrated in Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Niger, Somalia, Sudan, and South Sudan, with pockets in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mauritania, and Sierra Leone. The mid 21st century projection shows more extensive vulnerability throughout the Sahel, including Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, northern Nigeria, Niger, and across Sudan.
Applications of correlated photon statistics with a biphoton source in an organic material

The process of generating entangled photons by a biphoton source is examined in the context of the detection of correlated two-photon absorption (TPA) induced fluorescence in an organic material. This effect may have possible applications in spectroscopy as well as chemical and biological sensing. The use of certain organic branched molecules which possess large cross sections for random TPA is presented in relation to the magnitude of the correlated two-photon absorption rate. The results of the angular dependence of the biphoton statistics are presented. Estimates of the expected correlated two-photon-absorption rate and subsequent number of emitted photons from the organic material are discussed.
Nucleoside and RNA Triphosphatase Activities of Orthoreovirus Transcriptase Cofactor μ2

The mammalian Orthoreovirus (mORV) core particle is an icosahedral multienzyme complex for viral mRNA synthesis and provides a delimited system for mechanistic studies of that process. Previous genetic results have identified the mORV μ 2 protein as a determinant of viral strain differences in the transcriptase and nucleoside triphosphatase activities of cores. New results in this report provided biochemical and genetic evidence that purified μ2 is itself a divalent cation-dependent nucleoside triphosphatase that can remove the 5′ γ-phosphate from RNA as well. Alanine substitutions in a putative nucleotide binding region of μ2 abrogated both functions but did not affect the purification profile of the protein or its known associations with microtubules and mORV μNS protein in vivo. In vitro microtubule binding by purified μ2 was also demonstrated and not affected by the mutations. Purified μ2 was further demonstrated to interact in vitro with the mORV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, λ3, and the presence of λ3 mildly stimulated the triphosphatase activities of μ2. These findings confirm that μ2 is an enzymatic component of the mORV core and may contribute several possible functions to viral mRNA synthesis.
Intracellular K+ activities in Aplysia californica gut: Effect of transported solutes

Abstract 1. 1. Intracellular K+ activity (aki) (368 mM) is above electrochemical equilibrium and constitutes the major portion of intracellular osmolality. 2. 2. Neither glycine nor glucose had any effect on (aki). 3. 3. Ouabain decreased (aki) from control toward electrochemical equilibrium. 4. 4. Activity coefficient of K+ reflects a totally free K+ intracellular pool for this ion.
Rewriting the Victorians: Theory, History and the Politics of Gender

1. Engendering History for the Middle Class: Sex and Political Economy in the Edinburgh Review Judith Newton 2. From Trope to Code: The Novel and the Rhetoric of Gender in Nineteenth-century Critical Discourse Ina Ferris 3. Demonic Mothers: Ideologies of Bourgeois Motherhood in the Mid-Victorian Era Sally Shuttleworth 4. Water Rights and the "Crossing o' Breeds": Chiastic Exchange in The Mill on the Floss Jules Law 5. Tess, Tourism, and the Spectacle of the Woman Jeff Nunokawa 6. "To Tell the Truth of Sex": Confession and Abjection in Late Victorian Writing Marion Shaw 7. Reading the Gothic Revival: "History" and Hints on Household Taste Christina Crosby 8. Excluding Women: The Cult of the Male Genius in Victorian Painting Susan P. Casteras 9. Of Maenads, Mothers, and Feminized Males: Victorian Readings of the French Revolution Linda M. Shires 10. The "Female Paternalist" as Historian: Elizabeth Gaskell's My Lady Ludlow Christine L. Krueger. Afterword: Ideology and the Subject as Agent Linda M. Shires
Does Quantum Mechanical Tunneling Affect the Validity of Hole Volume Distributions Obtained from Positron Annihilation Lifetime Measurements

Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, which is applied to measure distributions of hole volume sizes in polymers, uses a model to relate the positronium (Ps) lifetime to hole volume dimensions. It is assumed in this model that the Ps remains in one site until annihilation. Recently, the validity of this last assumption has been questioned by Yu et al. (Yu, Z.; McGervey, J. D.; Jamieson, A. M.; Simha, R. Macromolecules 1995, 28, 6268.), who calculated the tunneling rate between sites and concluded that the rate was rapid enough that a Ps would typically sample many hole volumes before annihilating. To investigate this question we calculated the rate for Ps in one potential well to transfer to a second. We found for appropriate, equal wells, that the rate is comparable with that of Yu et al., while for only slightly unequal wells the transfer is cut off. This cutoff is a consequence of the removal of the degeneracy of the single well energies. For multiple wells it is found that Anderson localization...
Antagonists at Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 5

As a result of intensive investigation, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, a number of potent and selective metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGluR5) antagonists have been discovered. The structure activity relationship studies that led to the discovery of these mGluR5 antagonists are presented in this review. Results from studies on selected mGluR5 antagonists in animal models that simulate drug reward, reinforcement, and relapse appear promising. The comorbidity between drug abuse and anxiety and depression make drugs active in these disorders of great interest. Clinical studies showed that the mGluR5 antagonist fenobam was an active anxiolytic drug. Several new mGluR5 antagonists produced anxiolytic and antidepressant-like effects in animal models of these disorders. The results from the clinical and animal studies provide information for new approaches to finding mechanistically distinct pharmacotherapies to help patients achieve and maintain abstinence from cocaine, methamphetamine, opiates, ethanol, and nicotine (smoking).
Combustion Behavior of Solid-Fuel Ramjets

AN experimental investigation was conducted of the combustion behavior in solid fuel ramjets in order to determine the effects of configuration variables and operating conditions on combustion performance. Variables considered were fuel port flow rates, bypass dump momentum and geometry, and bypass ratio. Contents To be used in a tactical situation, the solid-fuel ramjet has to demonstrate combustion stability and high efficiency over the expected operating envelope of altitudes and Mach numbers. It must also show performance comparable to that of liquid-fuel ramjets and ducted rockets. Combustion studies on the solid-fuel ramjet have been underway at United Technologies—Chemical Systems Division since 1971.l The solid-fuel ramjet has two distinct combustion zones within the fuel grain: the recirculation zone behind the sudden expansion inlet, which provides flame stabiliation; and a diffusion flame in the developing boundary layer region after flow reattachment. Unburned gaseous fuel escapes from under the flame at the aft end of the fuel grain and results in decreased combustion efficiency. Aft mixing chambers and bypass air designs are being used to increase the efficiency. A schematic of the solid-fuel ramjet is shown in Fig. 1. The apparatus employed a polymethylmeth acrylate (PMM) fuel with a fuel port to dump inlet area ratio of 9.0 and a fuel port to nozzle throat area ratio of 4.0. The exit area of the grain was held fixed at the initial port area by using a thin orifice plate. The aft mixing chamber had a length to diameter ratio of 2.93. The aft mixing chamber consisted of three interchangeable sections such that the axial location and angular orientation of the bypass dumps could be varied. A summary of the test conditions is presented in Table 1. Figure 2 presents data obtained without bypass air. The regression rate expression indicates a weaker dependence on pressure than the earlier data of Boaz and Netzer.2 Figure 3 presents data obtained with bypass air. A slightly stronger dependence on pressure was shown while regression rate indicated very little or no dependence on air flux for the values tested. In the bypass situation, the mass flux through the grain is low but the pressure is maintained high, due to the total mass flux through the nozzle throat. These conditions minimize the convective heat flux to the fuel surface. For lower mass flux through the grain, the regression rate increases relative to the air flux; thus, more gas with radiative properties (fuel rich) is present. These results indicate that using bypass with PMM fuel changes the principal wall heat flux mechanism from convection to radiation.
Market orientation: relation to structure and performance

Purpose – Organizational structure dimensions have been theorized as antecedents to and organizational performance as a consequence of market orientation. Multiple studies have investigated the theorized relationships and returned inconsistent results. The purpose of this study is to identify and resolve the inconsistencies.Design/methodology/approach – Results from prior studies were summarized and a structural equation modeling approach was used to analyze new data collected from 173 manufacturing organizations.Findings – Of the structure dimensions (formalization, specialization, decentralization, integration) tested, only formalization was found to be a positive predictor of market orientation. Market orientation was found to be a positive predictor of both financial and marketing performance.Research limitations/implications – The body of evidence assembled does not support the proposition that organizational structure impacts market orientation. It does, however, support the proposition that a marke...
Position and Orientation Distributions for Locally Self-Avoiding Walks in the Presence of Obstacles.

Abstract This paper presents a new approach to study the statistics of lattice random walks in the presence of obstacles and local self-avoidance constraints (excluded volume). By excluding sequentially local interactions within a window that slides along the chain, we obtain an upper bound on the number of self-avoiding walks (SAWs) that terminate at each possible position and orientation. Furthermore we develop a technique to include the effects of obstacles. Thus our model is a more realistic approximation of a polymer chain than that of a simple lattice random walk, and it is more computationally tractable than enumeration of obstacle-avoiding SAWs. Our approach is based on the method of the lattice motion-group convolution. We develop these techniques theoretically and present numerical results for 2-D and 3-D lattices (square, hexagonal, cubic and tetrahedral/diamond). We present numerical results that show how the connectivity constant μ changes with the length of each self-avoiding window and the total length of the chain. Quantities such as 〈 R 〉 and others such as the probability of ring closure are calculated and compared with results obtained in the literature for the simple random walk case.
Asymptotic expansions of densities of sums of random vectors without third moment

Asymptotic expansions of densities of the normalized sums of random vectors with at least finite third moment have been studied extensively (Normal Approximation and Asymptotic expansions. Wiley, New York.). In this note, we obtain the asymptotic expansions of densities of the normalized sums of i.i.d. random vectors with regularly varying density with index between 4 and 5, which implies that third moment is infinite.
Difficulty of refusal to assist the outgroup nonmonotonically affects the intensity of prejudiced affect

Building on emotional intensity theory (Brehm in Pers Soc Psychol Rev 3:2–22, 1999), we propose that difficulty of engaging in prejudiced behavior should nonmonotonically influence prejudiced affect. In two experiments, we informed anti-gay participants about a gay and lesbian student organization’s need for assistance. We operationalized refusal to help the organization as a behavioral tendency motivated by the experienced prejudiced affect. To manipulate difficulty of refusing to help, in Study 1, participants were offered an opportunity to help by volunteering either 6 h (easy to refuse to help), 2 h (moderately difficult to refuse), or ½ h (very difficult to refuse) per week. In Study 2, we used the same manipulation except that the participants in the very difficult to refuse condition were asked to volunteer ½ h every other week. In both experiments, participants in the control condition were asked to help but no amount of time was specified. As predicted, prejudiced affect was a cubic function of difficulty of refusal to help: affect decreased from the control to the easy condition, increased from the easy to the moderately difficult condition, and, in Study 2, decreased from the moderate to the very difficult condition. Implications of the findings and future directions for research are discussed.
Personality Change in Head Trauma: A Validity Study of the Neuropsychology Behavior and Affect Profile

This study represents the first attempt to cross validate and report on the Neuropsychology Behavior and Affect Profile (NBAP) using closed head injury (CHI) participants. The NBAP is designed to measure emotional functioning before and following a brain event. Two CHI samples, differing primarily by method of ascertainment, were compared to a group of normal controls. Results provided support for concurrent and predictive validity of the NBAP across both CHI samples. Significantly higher levels of postinjury emotional functioning in clinic-referred CHI patients compared to CHI individuals not seeking treatment (strictly research participants) was demonstrated. A surprising finding was that pre-injury emotional levels of clinic-referred subjects were rated as less severe than that of controls. Based on this finding, the possibility of a gradient effect was discussed in which raters appeared to place selectively greater weight on current condition, while simultaneously making premorbid levels less severe than they really were. Results were discussed in the context of study limitations and directions for further research.
Possibilities of filter-refining of metals and the required characteristics of the filter elements: A review

At the present time, the application of ceramic filter elements (in particular, straight-channeled and “foam” filters) forms a promising direction in the development of filter-refining of steels and alloys. The conducted studies indicate that it is advisable to mount the straight-channeled filters in the regions of the pouring units where a high throughput (discharge capacity) is required (e.g., in the channels of the casting nozzles) and to place the “foam” filters in the regions where a sufficient pressure head can be ensured (e.g., in the partitions of the intermediate ladles).
Ocean Surface Winds from Space - A Collaborative Education Effort

Ocean surface winds play a significant role in the global ocean-atmosphere system. Surface winds drive the worlds ocean currents, transport atmospheric heat and moisture, force nutrient rich upwelling areas, create surface waves and swell, and can reach destructive force in both extratropical and tropical cyclones. Although the oceans cover 70% of the Earth's surface, the network of ocean wind observations obtained from conventional buoys and ships is very sparse. The measurement of ocean surface winds using remote sensing technologies is the only means of obtaining wind information over large portions of the global ocean in a timely manner. The Ocean Surface Vector Winds Team (OSVWT) of the Satellite Oceanography and Climatology Division (SOCD) within the NOAA/NESDIS/Center for Satellite Applications and Research (StAR) has been producing satellite-derived ocean surface wind data since the mid 1990s. Wind products from several remotely sensed sources such as QuikSCAT and WindSat are available in near real time (NRT) on the Internet and are also distributed within NOAA. These wind products are used by operational forecasters, scientific researchers and the marine community. The researchers and forecasters from NOAA Ocean Prediction Center (OPC), the NESDIS StAR Ocean Winds Team and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) have partnered to increase awareness of the various ocean surface wind vector products available and to develop the educational materials needed to expose these products and to educate teachers at various levels about the latest technology for measuring and interpreting remotely sensed ocean vector winds. To accomplish this it has been proposed to host an educator workshop OPC. This workshop would target educators that train professional and future mariners in meteorology, oceanography and storm avoidance. Teachers from state maritime colleges, federal academies, and professional training institutions would be among those invited to participate. This workshop would be hosted by both researchers and forecasters and held within an operational forecast environment to promote hands-on experience. This paper will provide background information on current and new ocean surface wind remote sensing technologies, give examples of how products are used within the operational environment, and discuss the development of training material
Incorporating realistic constraints into a student team software project

Instruction in the theory and practice of the System Design Life Cycle is a significant component of introductory software engineering courses. In this study, project development pressures and management realities, which imitate those found in an industrial setting, were used to enhance student team projects. This paper examines the results of those constraints and presents an assessment of student experiences.
Nonlinear free vibrations of elastic structures

Abstract An approach to nonlinear free vibrations of elastic structures is developed with the aid of Hamilton's principle and a perturbation procedure. The theory is analogous to the theory of initial postbuckling behavior due to Koiter. It provides information regarding the first order effects of finite displacements upon the frequency, period and dynamic stresses arising in the free, undamped vibration of structures. Attention is restricted to structures which are linearly elastic. The theory is illustrated by application to the free vibration of beams and rectangular plates.