cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The acute effects of streptozotocin-induced diabetes on rat liver glycerolipid biosynthesis.

Abstract Streptozotocin-induced diabetes produced a significant rise in rat serum and liver triacylglycerol content and hepatic triacylglycerol biosynthesis measured in vivo. Microsomes, isolated from the livers of streptozotocin-exposed animals (2–72 h), exhibited an increased capacity to incorporate sn -[1,3- 14 C]glycerol 3-phosphate into neutral lipid (diacylglycerol and triacylglycerol) in the presence of ATP, CoA and palmitate. The streptozotocin-induced elevation of microsomal neutral lipid production was accompanied by a corresponding rise in the activity of microsomal phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (4-fold after 72 h of streptozotocin exposure). Diabetic-dependent increases in acylglycerol formation, phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity and serum triacylglycerol and fatty acid levels were reversed by administering insulin (10 units protamine zinc/kg) at 16-h intervals (three separate doses) beginning 24 h after streptozotocin exposure. However, the diabetic-related rise in hepatic triacylglycerol content was only partially corrected by insulin administration. Streptozotocin-related increases in liver triacylglycerol biosynthesis and phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity were associated with alterations in plasma factors, since homogenates of hepatocyte monolayers exposed (18 h) to plasma isolated from diabetic (72 h exposure to streptozotocin) animals exhibit an increased capacity to incorporate sn -[1,3- 14 C]glycerol 3-phosphate into triacylglycerol compared to homogenates of cells exposed to plasma from control (non-fasted) animals. The importance of these plasma factors in altering hepatic acylglycerol formation was also supported by the observation that hepatocyte monolayers exposed to a mixture of plasma isolated from normal (non-fasted) animals and plasma components elevated in diabetes (glucagon, glucose, oleate and ketones) showed increases in triacylglycerol formation which were similar to those produced by exposure to diabetic plasma. Additional studies demonstrated that fatty acids (oleate) appeared to be the agent primarily responsible for the diabetic plasma-induced rise in monolayer triacylglycerol biosynthesis and phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activity.
Moderating variables in the relationship between mental toughness and performance in basketball

Abstract Purpose This study explored the relationship between mental toughness and college basketball performance, specifically examining possible moderating variables (gender and starting status). Methods Male and female (n = 197) college basketball players completed the Psychological Performance Inventory-Alternative (PPI-A), a measure of characteristics and skills consistent with mental toughness, and the PERF, an objective measure of basketball performance. Results Findings suggest that basketball performance can be partially predicted by mental toughness and starting status. Males reported greater mental toughness than females. Starters and nonstarters did not differ in mental toughness. Moderated hierarchical regression analysis indicated that mental toughness was related to performance for male players as both a main effect and interaction with starter status. For female players, in contrast, starter status was the only significant predictor of performance. Practitioners are encouraged to foster the psychological skills associated with mental toughness in females and non-starters in basketball. Conclusion Discussion of the PPI-A as a measure of mental toughness and suggestions for its improvement are explored. A need exists for additional research on mental toughness and objective performance, as performance enhancement is a major impetus for research on mental toughness.
Characterization of a Variant Iron Protein of Nitrogenase That Is Impaired in Its Ability to Adopt the MgATP-induced Conformational Change

An Azotobacter vinelandii nitrogenase iron protein mutant has been created which contains an alanine to glycine substitution at amino acid 157. The strain expressing this mutant Fe protein is able to grow under nitrogen-fixing conditions. This contrasts with an A. vinelandii strain described previously which is unable to grow under nitrogen-fixing conditions and which expresses an Fe protein variant that has an alanine to serine mutation at position 157. The A157S Fe protein was unable to support substrate reduction by nitrogenase because of an inability to undergo a required MgATP-induced conformational change. Although the A157G strain grows at 55% of the rate of the wild-type strain, purified A157G Fe protein is only able to support substrate reduction in in vitro assays at a rate that is approximately 20% of the rate supported by the wild-type Fe protein. Electron paramagnetic resonance, circular dichroism spectroscopies, and enzymatic activity data indicate that the A157G Fe protein adopts the correct conformation upon the binding of MgATP. However, kinetic studies using chelation show that this protein undergoes the conformational change more slowly than the wild-type protein. Thus, this mutant has lower activity because of an impaired ability to undergo this conformational change. Comparison of two available x-ray crystal structures of the native Fe protein alone and complexed with the MoFe protein has provided us with a model to explain the change in activity in alanine 157 mutants. Steric interactions with the side chain of residue 157 influence the protein's ability to undergo the initial MgATP-induced conformational change. In the case of the A157G mutant, however, once the correct conformation is attained, the protein can participate in all subsequent reactions including complex formation, electron transfer, and MgATP hydrolysis. Thus, the role of alanine 157 is to stabilize the proper initial conformation upon MgATP binding.
Understanding Sign Language Bibles through Affective Audits in South India

ABSTRACTThis article analyses the role that the emic category of understanding plays in creating new forms of personhood and new worlds for sign language using deaf people in south India. As an ethnographic study of the production, dissemination, and circulation of Indian Sign Language Bible DVDs by an international non-denominational Christian missionary organization, this article analyses how the power of sign language as heart language lies in the potentiality of becoming a fluent signer and a member of a deaf sociality. Bringing the Anthropology of Christianity in conversation with the Anthropology of deafness/sign language studies, this article argues that anthropologists have ignored practices of verifying understanding in our interlocutors. In utilizing the concept of affective audits, this article analyses the practices by which understanding comes to take place. In addition, this article also argues that anthropologists must attend to how research on sensory formations might be presuming a ‘norma...
The Therapy Process Observational Coding System for Child Psychotherapy Strategies Scale

Most everyday child and adolescent psychotherapy does not follow manuals that document the procedures. Consequently, usual clinical care has remained poorly understood and rarely studied. The Therapy Process Observational Coding System for Child Psychotherapy-Strategies scale (TPOCS-S) is an observational measure of youth psychotherapy procedures designed to support the study of usual clinical care by providing a means of characterizing it. Coders independently rated usual care therapy sessions conducted with 43 children (aged 8-15 years) diagnosed with anxiety and depressive disorders. The TPOCS-S showed good interrater reliability, its 5 subscales (e.g., Behavioral, Cognitive, Psychodynamic, Client-Centered, Family) showed good internal consistency, and analyses supported TPOCS-S validity.
Convergence in the human newborn.

Abstract The tendency of the eyes of human newborns to converge was studied in three stimulus situations. Photographs were taken of 28 Ss' eyes when they were presented with two sets of paired stimuli and with a single centrally placed stimulus. To a large extent Ss' eyes did not converge upon the same stimulus. There was a significantly greater tendency to converge when Ss looked at a stripes vs. gray stimulus pair than when they looked at paired color-brightness stimuli or a single center stimulus. The within-subject standard deviation in the distance between pupil centers was significantly greater for the stripes vs. gray stimulus pair than for the color-brightness stimuli or for the center stimulus. The results suggest that unaided human judgments of newborn ocular orientation may not reliably indicate stimulus discrimination and preference in newborn infants.
Removal of Fixed Ammonium from Clay Minerals by Cation Exchange Resins

AMMONIUM in clay minerals that is not replaceable by K+ has been defined as fixed NH4 +. This fixed NH4 + is replaceable to some extent by Na+ and H+, but the amount that can be replaced depends upon the extraction method used. Recent work1,2 has shown that small amounts of K+ or NH4 + in the extracting solution block the replacement of fixed NH4 +. Thus, the efficiency of an equilibrium extraction of fixed NH4 + is decreased by the accumulation of displaced NH4 + in the extracting solution2. If a clay mineral containing fixed NH4 + were equilibrated with a cation exchange resin instead of a soluble salt, there would be less soluble K+ or NH4 + in the system. A comparison of these extraction methods was made, therefore, to determine if there was also less blocking and thus more fixed NH4 + removed in a resin extraction.
Interaction of asymmetric ABCC9-encoded nucleotide binding domains determines KATP channel SUR2A catalytic activity.

Nucleotide binding domains (NBDs) secure ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter function. Distinct from traditional ABC transporters, ABCC9-encoded sulfonylurea receptors (SUR2A) form, with Kir6.2 potassium channels, ATP-sensitive K+ (KATP) channel complexes. SUR2A contains ATPase activity harbored within NBD2 and, to a lesser degree, NBD1, with catalytically driven conformations exerting determinate linkage on the Kir6.2 channel pore. While homodomain interactions typify NBDs of conventional ABC transporters, heterodomain NBD interactions and their functional consequence have not been resolved for the atypical SUR2A protein. Here, nanoscale protein topography mapped assembly of monodisperse purified recombinant SUR2A NBD1/NBD2 domains, precharacterized by dynamic light scattering. Heterodomain interaction produced conformational rearrangements inferred by secondary structural change in circular dichroism, and validated by atomic force and transmission electron microscopy. Physical engagement of NBD1 with...
Synthetic Magnetic Resonance Imaging Revisited

Synthetic magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is an approach suggested in the literature to predict MR images at different design parameter settings from at least three observed MR scans. However, performance is poor when no regularization is used in the estimation and otherwise computationally impractical to implement for 3-D imaging methods. We propose a method which accounts for spatial context in MR images by the imposition of a Gaussian Markov random field (MRF) structure on a transformation of the spin-lattice relaxation time, the spin-spin relaxation time and the proton density at each voxel. The MRF structure is specified through a matrix normal distribution. We also model the observed magnitude images using the more accurate but computationally challenging Rice distribution. A one-step-late expectation-maximization approach is adopted to make our approach computationally practical. We evaluate predictive performance in generating synthetic MR images in a clinical setting: our results indicate that our suggested approach is not only computationally feasible to implement but also shows excellent performance.
Body-shape perceptions of elderly women exercisers and nonexercisers.

Perceptions of current and ideal body shape for 49 elderly women exercisers (66 to 88 yr.) and 29 nonexercisers were measured using a nine-figure sihouette scale. Exercisers showed greater difference between current and ideal shape than nonexercisers, but no association was found for oge 1:urther research needs to consider additional socioeconomic factors and be vabdated from a broader population.
Bernoulli mixture models in application to the evaluation of algorithms estimating functionality of missense mutations

Background Whole genome and whole exome sequencing projects yield thousands of missense mutations with unknown functionality. Direct estimation of the sensitivity and specificity of bioinformatic algorithms predicting the impact of missense mutations on protein function requires a ‘gold standard’ or set of mutations with known functionality. In the absence of a gold standard, additional statistical methods are needed to estimate the accuracy of these algorithms. It has been shown informative predictions depend on the algorithm and sequence alignment employed and often algorithms disagree as to which mutations are predicted deleterious or neutral [1].
Resistance and Resilience of Floating Mat Fens in Interior Alaska Following Airboat Disturbance

The floating mat fens of the Tanana Flats in interior Alaska are productive wetlands near the urban center of Fairbanks. Airboat traffic has created a network of trails through the floating vegetation mats. We established protected areas along established trails, which allowed for measurement of plant community resistance to airboat traffic and resilience following cessation of traffic. The fen plant community was resistant to airboat traffic for two growing seasons, but productivity declined dramatically by the third year. Woody plants, grasses, and most forbs were eliminated in new airboat trails. Aboveground biomass and species diversity in plots protected from airboat traffic re-grew to undisturbed levels after four years. However, woody plants and many forbs did not re-grow in protected areas. Fen vegetation was therefore not resilient following cessation of traffic, as re-grown communities differed in both plant community composition and canopy structure. The loss of woody vegetation in particular has ramifications for possible alterations of ecosystem function. Airboats also reduced the amount of live belowground biomass and changed the vertical distribution of live roots.
Spatially adaptive iterative algorithm for the restoration of astronomical images.

This article develops an iterative spatially adaptive regularized image restoration algorithm. The proposed algorithm is based on the minimization of a weighted smoothing functional. The weighting matrices are defined as functions of the partially restored image at each iteration step. As a result, no prior knowledge about the image and the noise is required, but the weighting matrices as well as the regularization parameter are updated based on the restored image at every step. Conditions for the convexity of the weighted smoothing functional and for the convergence of the iterative algorithm are established for a unique global solution which does not depend on initial conditions. Experimental results are shown with astronomical images which demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Packable composites: overview and technical considerations.

Abstract: Objective: New composites, called packable or condensable composites, are being promoted as amalgam alternatives. The purposes of this review article are to identify these products, define new terminology associated with them, summarize the advertised properties for the materials, discuss the ideal properties for packable composites, review the properties of the major products, and critically evaluate the proposed handling procedures for these materials. Review: The term packable is preferable to condensable for describing this new class of materials. All materials should be considered amalgam alternatives, not amalgam substitutes. The compositions and physical properties reported by manufacturers reveal that none of the materials represents a remarkable improvement over the properties of more traditional universal composites. The designs of Solitaire (Heraeus Kulzer), ALERT (Jeneric-Pentron), and SureFil (Dentsply/Caulk) are discussed in detail. The distinguishing characteristics of all packable compositions are less stickiness or stiffer viscosity than conventional composites, which allow them to be placed in a manner that somewhat resembles amalgam placement. Conclusions: Packable composites may allow more convenient placement in posterior sites and may offer some technique advantages over conventional composites. However, there is no evidence that their clinical properties are consistently better than those of conventional universal composites.
An Examination of Arrest Practices in Regions Served by Multijurisdictional Drug Task Forces

Approximately 800 multijurisdictional narcotics task forces now operate across the country, yet little is known about their impact on drug enforcement practices. This article presents findings regarding arrest practices from a pre-post implementation evaluation with comparison groups of two such task forces operating in Indiana. With varying degrees of success, both task forces achieved their basic objectives of increasing both the number and the seriousness of drug arrests. However, while it appears that the task force structure facilitates the achievement of these aims, it does not appear to be a necessary condition for producing these results.
Star Forming Galaxies in the Ultraviolet

The vacuum ultraviolet provides an important new perspective on galaxies containing massive OB stars. We review UV studies of star formation rates and histories, metal abundances, dust, and hot and cool interstellar matter. We also discuss the potential contributions of UV imaging.
Treatment of Dialysis Catheter–Related Enterococcus Bacteremia With an Antibiotic Lock: A Quality Improvement Report

Background Catheter-related bacteremia (CRB) is a frequent complication of tunneled dialysis catheters, and Enterococcus is a common infecting organism. CRB may be treated by instilling an antibiotic lock into the catheter lumen in conjunction with systemic antibiotics. The efficacy of this approach in Enterococcus bacteremia is unknown. Design Quality improvement report. Setting & Participants 64 catheter-dependent hemodialysis outpatients with vancomycin-sensitive Enterococcus bacteremia treated with a uniform antibiotic lock protocol. Clinical outcomes were tracked prospectively. Quality Improvement Plans Patients received intravenous vancomycin for 3 weeks in conjunction with a vancomycin lock instilled into both catheter lumens after each dialysis session. Measures Treatment failure was defined as persistent fever 48 hours after initiation of antibiotic therapy or recurrent Enterococcus bacteremia within 90 days. A clinical cure was defined as fever resolution without recurrent bacteremia. Major infection-related complications within 6 months were documented. Results Treatment failure occurred in 25 patients (39%) because of persistent fever in 10 and recurrent bacteremia in 15. Treatment success occurred in 39 patients (61%). A serious complication of Enterococcus CRB occurred in 4 of 64 patients (6%); endocarditis in 1 and osteomyelitis in 3. The frequency of serious complications was 16% (4 of 25 patients) in those with treatment failure compared with 0% (0 of 39 patients) in those with treatment success ( P = 0.01). Limitations This was a single-center study. We did not measure serum vancomycin. Conclusions An antibiotic lock protocol permits catheter salvage in 61% of hemodialysis patients with Enterococcus CRB. Serious complications occur in 6% of patients and are more common in those with treatment failure.
Assessment of physical functioning in recurrent glioma: preliminary comparison of performance status to functional capacity testing

Background Performance status (PS) scoring systems are tools of immense clinical importance in the management of patients with malignant disease but these tools are subjective and do not provide an objective evaluation of physical functioning. We conducted a pilot study to explore the feasibility and clinical utility of functional capacity testing to assess physical functioning in recurrent primary malignant glioma patients. Patients and methods Using a cross-sectional design, consecutive patients with recurrent glioma performed a six minute walk (6MW) test to assess functional capacity. Performance status was assessed using Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) scoring system. QOL was assessed by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain scale. Self-reported exercise behavior was assessed using the Godin Leisure Time Exercise Questionnaire (GLTEQ). Results A total of 171 patients were recruited and tested. Seventy percent were diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme (WHO grade IV) and 85% were undergoing therapy. Median KPS was 90% (range, 70–100%). Median 6MW distance was 400 m (range, 102–630 m), equivalent to 56 ± 13% (range, 14–87%) of that predicted for age and sex. KPS, self-reported exercise, and QOL increased across 6MW distance quartiles (P < 0.05) although there was considerable variation within each category. 6MW distance and KPS were significantly correlated with each other (r = 0.34, P < 0.01) and several QOL domains (range, r = −0.43 to 0.46, P < 0.05). Conclusions 6MW distance is a clinically feasible tool that provides an objective measure of physical functioning in select patients with recurrent glioma. Further research is required to investigate the prognostic value of these tests in patients with advanced malignancy.
Laboratory Studies on Resistance of the Body Louse to Insecticides

A strain of body lice, Pediculus humanus humanus L., with 7-fold resistance to lindane from Freetown, Sierra Leone, Africa, was subjected to increasing concentrations of lindane for 73 generations. Resistance to lindane developed to more than 8000 times that of the regular susceptible strain of lice. The original resistance to DDT fell from several hundred-fold to less than 100-fold. A second colony, from the Freetown strain, subjected to malathion for 45 generations became 2 times more resistant to malathion than the regular colony lice. A third colony from the Freetown strain selected with carbaryl for 25 generations developed about 5-fold resistance to carbaryl. A colony from the regular strain selected with lindane for 76 generations become even more resistant to lindane than the Freetown strain, and more than 190 times more resistant to DDT than its parent colony. Another colony from the regular strain selected with DDT for 15 generations developed a 7-fold resistance to DDT without becoming more susceptible to carbaryl, showing that there is apparently no negative correlation in the resistance to these 2 insecticides.
Explanation constraint programming for model-based diagnosis of engineered systems

We can expect to see an increase in the deployment of unmanned air and land vehicles for autonomous exploration of space. In order to maintain autonomous control of such systems, it is essential to track the current state of the system. When the system includes safety-critical components, failures or faults in the system must be diagnosed as quickly as possible, and their effects compensated for so that control and safety are maintained under a variety of fault conditions. The Livingstone fault diagnosis and recovery kernel and its temporal extension L2 are examples of model-based reasoning engines for health management. Livingstone has been shown to be effective, it is in demand, and it is being further developed. It was part of the successful remote agent demonstration on Deep Space One in 1999. It has been and is being utilized by several projects involving groups from various NASA centers, including the In Situ Propellant Production (ISPP) simulation at Kennedy Space Center, the X-34 and X-37 experimental reusable launch vehicle missions, Techsat-21, and advanced life support projects. Model-based and consistency-based diagnostic systems like Livingstone work only with discrete and finite domain models. When quantitative and continuous behaviors are involved, these are abstracted to discrete form using some mapping. This mapping from the quantitative domain to the qualitative domain is sometimes very involved and requires the design of highly sophisticated and complex monitors. We propose a diagnostic methodology that deals directly with quantitative models and behaviors, thereby mitigating the need for these sophisticated mappings. Our work brings together ideas from model-based diagnosis systems like Livingstone and concurrent constraint programming concepts. The system uses explanations derived from the propagation of quantitative constraints to generate conflicts. Fast conflict generation algorithms are used to generate and maintain multiple candidates whose consistency can be tracked across multiple time steps.
The Maven of Mentoring Speaks: Kathy E. Kram Reflects on Her Career and the Field

Mentoring has received significant attention in the management literature for nearly 30 years and has been a practice pervasive in organizational lifelong before its introduction as a phenomenon of study. This interview with Kathy E. Kram assesses her seminal and continued influence on the field. Arguably, no other mentoring scholar has made such indelible marks on the field; Kram laid the foundation with her research in the early 1980s and has since made lasting contributions in the areas of diversity, developmental networks, and alternative relational vehicles. Throughout her career, Kram’s approach to scientific inquiry has been guided by her numerous consulting experiences, which have allowed her to ask questions and provide insights that are relevant to formal mentoring programs and the cultivation of informal relationships. The interview involves a discussion of influences on Kram’s career, the field’s evolution and future, mentoring as a practice, and her current research pursuits.
An Estimator of Propagation of Cascading Failure

We suggest a statistical estimator to measure the extent to which failures propagate in cascading failures such as large blackouts. The estimator is tested on a saturating branching process model of cascading failure and on failure data generated by the OPA simulation of cascading blackouts. The estimator is a standard estimator for the branching process parameter modified so as to avoid saturation effects. We discuss the statistical effectiveness of the estimator and show how estimating the failure propagation and the initial failures leads to estimates of the distribution of the numbers of cascading failures. The estimator is derived from a simple and high-level branching process model of cascading failure. We discuss how branching process approximations and in particular the propagation parameter may arise in several different models, including models of interacting infrastructures.
Obustness of Some Procedures for the Two-Sample Location Problem

Abstract The level of ordinary two-sample procedures is not preserved if the two populations differ in dispersion or shape. The effect of such differences, especially differences in dispersion, on the t, median, Mann-Whitney, and normal scores procedures is investigated asymptotically, and tables are given comparing the four procedures.
Evidence for phosphorylation‐dependent internalization of recombinant human ρ1 GABAC receptors

1. Recombinant wild-type or mutant human rho1 GABA receptors were expressed in human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 or monkey COS-7 cells and studied using the patch clamp technique. 2. Standard whole-cell recordings with 4 mM Mg-ATP in the patch pipette induced a time-dependent decrease in the GABA-activated current (IGABA) amplitude that was not the result of a decrease in GABA sensitivity. In contrast, IGABA remained stable when recordings were obtained using the perforated patch configuration or with standard whole-cell recording and no Mg-ATP in the patch pipette. 3. The inhibitors of serine/threonine protein kinases KN-62 (20 microM) or staurosporine (20 nM) prevented the time-dependent decrease in the amplitude of IGABA seen in the presence of ATP. Alkaline phosphatase (220 U ml-1), when added to the patch pipette in the absence of ATP, induced a transient potentiation of IGABA. Although the protein kinase C (PKC) activator 4beta-phorbol 12-myristate, 13-acetate (PMA) did not reduce the amplitude of IGABA, inclusion of the catalytic domain of PKC in the recording pipette accelerated the time-dependent decrease in current amplitude. These data suggest that phosphorylation is involved in the regulation of the amplitude of IGABA. 4. Mutation of the three PKC consensus sequences of the rho1 receptor had no significant effect on the decline in IGABA, indicating that direct phosphorylation of these putative sites on the rho1 receptor does not underlie the time-dependent decrease in amplitude. 5. In COS-7 cells transfected with wild-type rho1 receptors, the amplitude of IGABA had completely recovered to the original value when the same cells were repatched after 30-40 min, indicating that the decline in IGABA was a reversible process. 6. The inhibitor of actin filament formation cytochalasin B, when added to the patch pipette in the absence of ATP, induced a time-dependent inactivation suggesting that the actin cytoskeleton may play a role in the regulation of the amplitude. 7. Coincident with the decrease in the amplitude of IGABA, the cell capacitance significantly decreased in the presence of ATP in the patch pipette. This decrease in capacitance was not observed in the absence of Mg-ATP. The decrease in the membrane surface area suggests that receptor internalization could be a potential mechanism for the observed inactivation. 8. At 32 C, compared with 22 C, the rate and magnitude of the decline was increased dramatically. In contrast, at 16 C, no significant change in IGABA was observed over the 20 min recording time. This marked temperature sensitivity is consistent with receptor internalization as a mechanism for the time-dependent decline in IGABA. 9. The specificity of the decrease in IGABA was assessed by coexpressing the voltage-dependent potassium channel Kv1.4 along with the rho1 receptor in HEK293 cells. The amplitude of the potassium current (IKv1.4) exhibited very little decrement in comparison to IGABA suggesting that the putative GABA receptor internalization was not the consequence of a non-specific membrane retrieval.
Preteens Are Not Latent, Adolescence Is Not a Disease

In a questionnaire given to 450 Syracuse University undergraduates, more than 50% of the students reported that their parents were comfortable with their sexuality. However, when asked “As you were growing up, what would you wish your parents had told you about sex?”, about 90% of these students indicated that sex was not honestly discussed in their homes.
The Impact of Harvest Timing on Biomass Yield from Native Warm-Season Grass Mixtures

2321 The development of renewable energy sources has become an issue of increasing importance and consequently has grown over the last three decades (Lynd et al., 1991; Sanderson et. al., 1996; McLaughlin and Kszos, 2005). It has been estimated that more than 21 million ha of SG might be needed annually for biomass production (English et al., 2006). If SG or other dedicated herbaceous energy crops were planted at this scale, there could be a significant portion of land currently being used for forage production being displaced by biomass crops (English et al., 2006; Graham et al., 2008; Sanderson and Adler, 2008). To address this issue, dualharvest forage/biomass systems have been explored with interest in using SG for biomass (Sanderson et al., 1999; Guretzky et al., 2011; Mosali et al., 2013). This approach could allow producers the flexibility to divert some biomass production into forage, exploit biomass markets, select alternative harvest options, and the potential to increase profitability (Sanderson and Adler, 2008). Where forage is a priority, growing-season harvests should occur earlier in the growing season when forage has a higher nutritive value (Mitchell et al., 2001; Guretzky et al., 2011; Richner et al., 2014). Several studies have examined dualharvests (i.e., growing-season plus dormant-season) in SG but those harvests occurred in late June or mid-July, when plants had flowered and nutritive value had fallen below optimum levels (Grabowski et al., 2004; Thomason et al., 2005; Fike et al., 2006; Guretzky et al., 2011). In the southern Great Plains, Sanderson et al. (1999) concluded a May/dormant harvest combination was the best approach for a dual-harvest system. In another study from the southern Great Plains, Guretzky et al. (2011) recommended dual-harvest use of SG if the first harvest was taken early in the growing season and the biomass harvest was taken after the first killing frost. In the northern Great Plains, Vogel et al. (2002) recommended an early harvest Climatology & Water Management
The Volume Profile of Call Options

Examination of the profile of the volume of call options traded and the prices at which they trade reveals a non-symmetric relationship which has implications concerning the empirical pricing of these contracts.
Delay and power consumption estimation in embedded systems using hierarchical performance modeling

Embedded systems have become very important in our life; they pervade all fields in today's advanced technology. With the increasing importance of these systems, designers need to estimate the performance metrics such as Delay which includes processing and communication and Power consumption. This procedure is very critical and even crucial at an early stage of design and implementation. Using GPUs and parallelization schemes together shows a promising sight to enhance the delay in a system under investigation with trade-off in power consumption and code size. In this paper, we will analyze that system using Hierarchical Performance Modeling (HPM) to estimate the improvement in the delay by using GPUs and parallelization methods on different hardware architectures and software platforms. The experimental results showed an improvement in the delay each time we used more threads and maximum reduction obtained when GPU was invoked to perform all graphical tasks.
Effects of Epinephrine and Amphetamine on Respiration and Blood Pressure in Different Postures

ConclusionNeither epinephrine nor amphetamine in the doses used affected the alveolar CO2 tension of subjects when standing or lying. Consequently the lowered alveolar C02 of the erect posture may be due to a relative cerebral ischemia.This work was made possible by a grant from the Council on Pharmacy and Chemistry of the American Medical Association.
Experimental Analysis on Impulse Characteristics of Grounding Devices Under High Lightning Current

Reducing grounding resistance of the transmission tower is the most effective measure to improve the protective effect of cloud-to-transmission line strike.The impulse grounding resistance of tower grounding device under high current is not constant,but a nonlinear time-varying resistance,which is affected by many factors.We adopted a large impulse current generator,through burying various forms of grounding devices,to investigate the impulse characteristics with different injection current,different size of grounding device by the use of field experiments.The results show that the impulse characteristics are closely related to the length of the grounding device and the current amplitude.For short grounding device,the soil ionization characteristics determined by the current amplitude have greater impact on the impulse characteristics.With the increasing in the length of the grounding device,the role of the inductance along the grounding electrode is strengthened.Then,the effect of the location of the current injection point and the size of the grounding device become remarkable.
Protective Effect of Heart-protecting Musk Pill on Heart in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats

Objective To investigate the protective effect of Heart-protecting musk pill(HMP) on heart in spontaneously hypertensive rats(SHR),and its possible mechanisms.Methods 6 wk-old male SHR were randomly dicided into the HMP treatment group and model.Age-matched male Wistar-Kyoto(WKY) normotensive rats were used as the control group.Rats in each group were periodically decapitated in batch at three time points(6 week-treatment,14 week-treatment,and 9 week post-treatment).Systolic blood pressure(SBP) was measured by tail-cuff method.Total antioxidant capacity of heart was evaluated with FRAP method.RT-PCR was used to measure the mRNA expression of inflammation-related mediators(ICAM-1,VCAM-1,IL-1β and TNFα).The protein expression of inflammation-related mediators(ICAM-1,VCAM-1,IL-1β,TNFα) was determined by Western Blot and ELISA.Results HMP had no marked effect on SBP,but could elevate total antioxidant capacity of heart in SHR.PCR,Western Blot and ELISA showed that HMP could inhibit ICAM-1,VCAM-1 mRNA expression and ICAM-1 protein expression of heart in SHR after 6 weeks and 14 weeks of treatment,inhibit IL-1β,TNFα mRNA expression and protein expression after 14 weeks of treatment,also inhibit ICAM-1,TNFα mRNA expression and ICAM-1 protein expression after 9 weeks of post-treatment.Conclusion HMP has protective effect on heart independent of its hemodynamic effect on SBP.The mechanism may be associated with the suppression of inflammatory response and the decrease of oxidative stress of heart.
Review of Capital Needs Study

Publishing at its best can be a lively dialogue between a journal's authors and readers. We encourage your responses to what you will be reading in future issues of Health Affairs.
The Divine Matrix: Bridging the Gap between Humanity & the Supreme

Each individual has his/her belief systems that should be respected and complied to, globally. Our belief systems must be linked to desires of knowing God the Supreme for enlightenment. The human mind is designed to directly communicate with our Supreme; by placing our desire before Him. In properly presenting our desires to the Supreme through communication, we positively increase our living standards. However, inconsistency in thought delays the purpose for which our requests are presented. The key to immediate results from the Supreme God is through effective communication. Communication is very crucial in social, business and spiritual sectors. God created us in His own image, therefore directly communication with Him is our prerogative, and privileged. Many believe in prayer through others, others, believe in singularity, and while others believe in group prayers. However, according to research, learning to directly communicate is an essential element in knowing God. It is paramount taking prayer process as a serious business initiative to getting closer to God the Supreme ruler. Success, according to many researchers comes from the mind and not through hard work and dedication as presumed by others. Once we focus prayer sections on specific demands with dedication, God listens. God’s listening processes come from our thinking ability – faith, which is the pillar to achievement. Once created in His image, does not necessary mean all requests can be achieved by mainly perambulating in churches for riches or blessings. However, combination of prayer and mental focusing gets us closer to riches. Once the mind is certain on presentation of request to the Supreme, one is bound to achieve the end result without fail. However, many have several doubts and uncertainties during their communication processes. Such doubts can significantly reduce our relationship with the Supreme. Your belief systems MUST be aligned with your daily thoughts, accompanied with periodic prayers or meditations to achieve the objectives of your request. It is improper to always depend on others to pray for you. Advisably, concentrating on our spiritual coordinates between people we associate is very essential in achieving our desire targets. This spiritual coordination is noticeable through associations with others. These spiritual coordinates are observed through directly eye contact with person’s we consult. The blinking of the eye contact determines your final decision of that person’s spiritual coordinates. The academic researcher had seen this happened on many occasions when two people since childhood lived with clear understanding without any basic quarrels. An example, the academic researcher has unknowingly helped others without basically checking their spiritual coordination, resulting in negative tendencies.
Big data-enabled multiscale serviceability analysis for aging bridges☆

Abstract This work is dedicated to constructing a multi-scale structural health monitoring system to monitor and evaluate the serviceability of bridges based on the Hadoop Ecosystem (MS-SHM-Hadoop). By taking the advantages of the fault-tolerant distributed file system called the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and high-performance parallel data processing engine called MapReduce programming paradigm, MS-SHM-Hadoop features include high scalability and robustness in data ingestion, fusion, processing, retrieval, and analytics. MS-SHM-Hadoop is a multi-scale reliability analysis framework, which ranges from nationwide bridge-surveys, global structural integrity analysis, and structural component reliability analysis. This Nationwide bridge survey uses deep-learning techniques to evaluate the bridge serviceability according to real-time sensory data or archived bridge-related data such as traffic status, weather conditions and bridge structural configuration. The global structural integrity analysis of a targeted bridge is made by processing and analyzing the measured vibration signals incurred by external loads such as wind and traffic flow. Component-wise reliability analysis is also enabled by the deep learning technique, where the input data is derived from the measured structural load effects, hyper-spectral images, and moisture measurement of the structural components. As one of its major contributions, this work employs a Bayesian network to formulate the integral serviceability of a bridge according to its components serviceability and inter-component correlations. Here the inter-component correlations are jointly specified using a statistics-oriented machine learning method (e.g., association rule learning) or structural mechanics modeling and simulation.
Determining the Utility of a Laboratory Eating Paradigm to Explore Social Eating

According to a recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, overweight and obesity have reached epidemic levels in the United States. Researchers are increasingly engaged in exploring eating behavior with the goals of trying to understand what elements of eating behavior might lead to overweight and obesity and applying knowledge from these studies to encourage people to engage in healthy eating behaviors. The purpose of the current study was to determine the utility of a new laboratory eating paradigm that attempts to create a natural social eating environment while maintaining the control possible within a university laboratory. Known effects of gender on eating behavior (e.g. consumption rates and bite size), positive subjective ratings of the food item used, and subjective ratings of perceived eating behavior were replicated to show the utility of the paradigm.
Static Condensation, Hybridization, and the Devising of the HDG Methods

In this paper, we review and refine the main ideas for devising the so-called hybridizable discontinuous Galerkin (HDG) methods; we do that in the framework of steady-state diffusion problems. We begin by revisiting the classic techniques of static condensation of continuous finite element methods and that of hybridization of mixed methods, and show that they can be reinterpreted as discrete versions of a characterization of the associated exact solution in terms of solutions of Dirichlet boundary-value problems on each element of the mesh which are then patched together by transmission conditions across interelement boundaries. We then define the HDG methods associated to this characterization as those using discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods to approximate the local Dirichlet boundary-value problems, and using weak impositions of the transmission conditions. We give simple conditions guaranteeing the existence and uniqueness of their approximate solutions, and show that, by their very construction, the HDG methods are amenable to static condensation. We do this assuming that the diffusivity tensor can be inverted; we also briefly discuss the case in which it cannot. We then show how a different characterization of the exact solution, gives rise to a different way of statically condensing an already known HDG method. We devote the rest of the paper to establishing bridges between the HDG methods and other methods (the old DG methods, the mixed methods, the staggered DG method and the so-called Weak Galerkin method) and to describing recent efforts for the construction of HDG methods (one for systematically obtaining superconvergent methods and another, quite different, which gives rise to optimally convergent methods). We end by providing a few bibliographical notes and by briefly describing ongoing work.
Event Detection Using Correlation within Arrays of Streaming PMU Data

Phasor measurement units provide real-time power system monitoring. We present a data analysis method that leverages statistical correlation and analysis methods to identify power system events. This research uses archived phasor measurement unit data to show that the method is useful for detecting power system events. Results from a lighting strike case study are presented. A monitoring stratagem based on PMU clustering is discussed, and the viability of monitoring pertinent statistical parameters over various clustering schemes is demonstrated.
Aspiration, Piety, and Traditionalism Among Indonesian Islamic Boarding School Girls

Islamic boarding schools or madrasa, as they are known in much of the Muslim world, exist in the public imaginary as places of rote memorization, draconian rules, and limited human flourishing—particularly for young women. Until recently, many scholars of contemporary Muslim societies overlooked these institutions, assumed to be bastions of conservativism, unyielding to pressures to accommodate contemporary cultural and social climates. However, recent anthropological investigations of students’’ lived realities at Islamic boarding schools reveal that these negative stereotypes overlook the diversity of roles that religion plays in society and more specifically, the critical social and historical role Islamic schools play in molding modern, educated, and pious youth.
Blogging out of debt: An observational netnography

BLOGGING OUT OF DEBT: AN OBSERVATIONAL NETNOGRAPHY By: Wendy A. Garland, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Director of Dissertation: Michael D. Davis, Ph.D. Professor, School of Education The purpose of this study was to observe weblogs in their natural setting and to investigate the nature of collective learning within the debt blogging community. How individuals who blog their experiences with getting out of debt use their weblogs as well as the role of the commenter in the debt blogging process were also researched. 0 0 Four distinct literature pools were used to frame this study including the theory of social constructivism, the context of communities of practice, the problem of consumer debt, and the medium of blogging. Utilizing observational netnography, six weblogs were researched which were comprised of individuals or couples trying to get out of debt or who have recently achieved that goal. The primary data included weblog entries and comments from the inception of the weblog to the date of the IRB approval. In addition, “About Me” pages, blogrolls, personal widgets, hypertext links, static text, and the visual context of the weblogs were also included as part of the data. The findings are as follows: