cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Prothrombin time of Rattus norvegicus in Nantong urban district

Objective To determine the prothrombin time(PT) of Rattus norvegicus in Nantong urban district.Methods PT was determined by the way of instrument.Results The average value of PT(INR) was 1.4.No significant difference was observed between Rattus norvegicus and white rats(P0.01);some difference was observed between female and male rats(P=0.945).Significant difference was observed between the rats in two district(P0.01).Conclusion PT values of Rattus norvegicus in Nantong urban district is 0.80-2.29.Regional differences appeared in PT values.
Statistical Tools and R Software for Cancer Driver Probabilities

This chapter provides a description and illustration of CancerMutationAnalysis and Cancer MutationMCMC, two open source R packages specifically designed for the analysis of somatic mutations in cancer genome studies, at both the gene and gene-set levels.
Political Censorship of the Press

‘In waging our war, we do not throw bombs’, declared the socialist newspaper Hamburger Echo on 27 September 1910. ‘Instead we throw our newspapers amongst the masses of the working people. Printing ink is our explosive.’1
Clustering of Multi-image Sets Using Rényi Information Entropy

We propose a clustering method based on the calculation of variables derived from the \(\alpha \)-dependent Renyi information entropy – a point information gain entropy (\(H_\alpha \)) and point information gain entropy density (\(\varXi _\alpha \)), which measure an information-entropic distance between two multidimensional distributions. The matrices of \(H_\alpha \)/\(\varXi _\alpha \) values as functions of the parameter \(\alpha \) and a label of a multidimensional set’s object are classified into groups using a standard k-means algorithm. The method is presented on two multi-image series which in the origin, the number of images in the sets, the number of image color channels, and the pixel resolution differ.
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Gastroesophageal reflux is a common condition in infants and young children, but is most usually asymptomatic or self-limiting. A subset of children, however, develop gastroesophageal reflux disease, in which the reflux becomes pathologic. GERD can result in discomfort, growth failure, respiratory complications, or an apparent life-threatening event. Antireflux surgery provides effective control when medical treatment fails. However, postoperative complications are not uncommon, and an understanding of the underlying physiology is invaluable in selecting patients appropriate for surgical intervention and the management of postoperative symptoms.
Energy-Aware HTTP Data Transfers

Every year, we move more than 1 zettabytes of data over the Internet globally, which consumes several terawatt hours of electricity, and costs billions of US dollars to the world economy. HTTP protocol is used in the majority of these datatransfers, accounting 70% of the global Internet traffic. We claim that HTTP transfers can become more energy efficientwithout any performance degradation, and the overall data movement cost can be reduced drastically. In this paper, we analyze several application-layer parameters that affect the throughput and power consumption in HTTP data transfers, such as the level of parallelism, concurrency, and pipelining. Our experimental results show that up to 80% of energy savings canbe achieved at the sending and receiving nodes during HTTP data transfers and the end-to-end throughput can be increased at the same time.
"Acting White": How the Past Implementation of School Desegregation Helped Create Today's Attainment and Achievement Gaps.

Summarizing my prior work, the only book length treatment of the “acting White” phenomenon (Buck, 2010), I argue that while desegregation was both a moral necessity and a social good, the manner in which desegregation was implemented by White authorities led indirectly to today’s achievement gaps. In the course of desegregation previously all-African-American schools were closed, with their faculty and administrators typically demoted or terminated, and their students sent to previously all-White schools, where they were not always welcomed. This massive social change established scholarly achievement as part of a White identity, not a Black identity. Unfortunately, this diagnoses may not lend itself to easy solutions.
Visual artistic creativity and the brain

Creativity is the development of a new or novel understanding--insight that leads to the expression of orderly relationships (e.g., finding and revealing the thread that unites). Visual artistic creativity plays an important role in the quality of human lives, and the goal of this chapter is to describe some of the brain mechanisms that may be important in visual artistic creativity. The initial major means of learning how the brain mediates any activity is to understand the anatomy and physiology that may support these processes. A further understanding of specific cognitive activities and behaviors may be gained by studying patients who have diseases of the brain and how these diseases influence these functions. Physiological recording such as electroencephalography and brain imaging techniques such as PET and fMRI have also allowed us to gain a better understanding of the brain mechanisms important in visual creativity. In this chapter, we discuss anatomic and physiological studies, as well as neuropsychological studies of healthy artists and patients with neurological disease that have helped us gain some insight into the brain mechanisms that mediate artistic creativity.
The Value of State-Based Surveillance and Surveys in the United States

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses the inclusion of a Surveillance and Survey Method section in the journal, and it mentions articles dealing with the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, public health surveillance, and the Ohio Medicaid Assessment Survey.
Progressions of a New Language: Characterizing Explanation Development for Assessment With Young Language Learners

Few studies have detailed the emergence and growth of the oral language and discourse characteristics of school-age students at different grades and across time (Bailey, 2010; Hoff, 2013). Yet general education teachers and English language specialists need well-articulated, preferably empirically derived progressions of language learning to support their students’ oral language development, particularly with those students who are acquiring English as a new or second language. Explanation skills, which encompass the development of many different language and discourse features, were the focus of this study. The language learners whose elicited oral explanations were used to characterize the order of emergence of features were in kindergarten and third grade (5–6 and 8–9 years old). These students were acquiring English in school with predominantly Spanish as their first language. Development of explanations by a cohort of English monolingual or proficient students provides grade-specific comparison language trajectories. The results are placed within the context of a formative assessment framework in order to assist teachers and students in placing explanations at different phases of sophistication on the progressions. This facilitates charting development and identifying with greater specificity which language and discourse features might be effective targets of contingent instruction to promote students’ oral explanation abilities.
The Brexit effect: the case of UK ADR performance one year later

ABSTRACTIn an unexpected outcome, UK voters decided that it was time to exit the European Union based on the results of a vote held on 23 June 2016. Studies of the affects and implication of Brexit include a study showing that the vote was met with a negative short-term wealth effect for UK American depository receipts (ADRs). This study examines the one-year anniversary holding period returns of these ADRs along with the British Pound and the FTSE 100 to discover any lingering effects from the historical vote. Results indicate that the one-year holding period returns for the ADRs averaged 5.8% for the year while the FTSE gained 4.8%, the S&P 500 gained 15.4% and the Pound lost 13.2% of its value.
Development of murine bariatric surgery models: lessons learned.

Abstract Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) improves comorbidities such as diabetes and hypertension and lowers the risk of obesity-related cancers. To better understand the physiologic and genetic influences of bariatric surgery, a reliable murine model is needed that can be extended to genetically engineered mice. Given the complexity of these procedures, few researchers have successfully implemented these techniques beyond larger rodent models. The purpose of our study was to develop a technically feasible and reproducible murine model for RYGB and sleeve gastrectomy (SG). Mice were converted to liquid diet perioperatively without fasting and housed in groups on raised wire platforms. SG involved significant reduction of stomach volume followed by multilayer repair of the gastrotomy. RYGB procedure consisted of side-to-side, functional end-to-side bowel anastomoses and exclusion of the stomach medial to the gastroesophageal junction. Sham surgeries consisted of enterotomies and gastrotomy followed by primary repair without resection or rerouting. Survival after incorporation of the aforementioned techniques was 100% in the SG group and 41% in the RYGB group at 1 mo after surgery. Only 26% of RYGB mortality was attributed to leak, obstruction, or stricture; the majority of postoperative mortality was due to stress, dumping, or malnutrition. Much of the survival challenge for this surgical model was related to perioperative husbandry, which is to be expected given their small stature and poor response to stress. Utilization of the perioperative and surgical techniques described will increase survival and feasibility of these technically challenging procedures, allowing for a better understanding of mechanisms to explain the beneficial effects of bariatric surgery.
Intersecting geodesics and centrality in graphs

In a graph, vertices that are more central are often placed at the intersection of geodesics between other pairs of vertices. This model can be applied to organizational networks, where we assume the flow of information follows shortest paths of communication and there is a required action (i.e., signature or approval) by each person located on these paths. The number of actions a person must perform is linked to both the topology of the network as well as their location within it. The number of expected actions that a person must perform can be quantified by betweenness centrality. The betweenness centrality of a vertex v is the ratio of shortest paths between all other pairs of vertices u and w in which v appears to the total number of shortest paths from u to w . We precisely compute the betweenness centrality for vertices in several families of graphs motivated by different organizational networks.
Salivary Gland Adenoma

There is very limited published experience using radiotherapy in addition to surgical excision for benign tumor of the salivary glands. Conclusions drawn in regard to local control and/or malignant transformation remain speculative. In the national survey, 73% of the radiation oncologists would not treat salivary gland adenomas.
Brief Therapy of the Stress Response Syndrome

The liaison psychiatrist is frequently called upon to assess the psychological response to loss. He may see a patient in consultation who has been in a catastrophic accident, had a surgical loss of a body part, or is coping with the news of a fatal illness. The medical treatment team may ask more general questions about providing support to patients fearfully anticipating surgery or to bereaved relatives. An understanding of the pattern of the stress response syndrome as an organizing conceptual model can help the liaison psychiatrist to suggest appropriate strategies for primary prevention (Caplan, 1961), intervention, and referral. In this chapter we will discuss the nature of response to a sudden traumatic event and then describe a study of young women after hysterectomy to illustrate its applicability to medical practice. We will outline the strategy for brief psychotherapy for stress response syndromes for those patients who are referred for treatment.*
ISEGS: Individual Student Exercise Generating System

This paper describes software developed by the author and students to meet specific teaching goals in large economics classes. ISEGS generates unique computer-graded assignments for each student from an assignment template. ISEGS supports five types of questions: (1) Multiple-choice, (2) Interactive Diagrams, (3) Numerical, (4) Equation, (5) Short-answer. The software uses open source software (PHP, MySQL) and will run on a web server with these services. This paper also describes the current limitations of the software and experience using this software with a large introductory economics class. The software is freely available to educators, under an open source license, to use, edit, and improve as they choose.
Bone morphogenetic protein signaling in inflammation

Bone morphogenetic protein signaling has long been established as a crucial pathway during embryonic development. In recent years, our knowledge of the function of bone morphogenetic protein signal...
Latent Representations of Dynamical Systems: When Two is Better Than One

A popular approach for predicting the future of dynamical systems involves mapping them into a lower-dimensional "latent space" where prediction is easier. We show that the information-theoretically optimal approach uses different mappings for present and future, in contrast to state-of-the-art machine-learning approaches where both mappings are the same. We illustrate this dichotomy by predicting the time-evolution of coupled harmonic oscillators with dissipation and thermal noise, showing how the optimal 2-mapping method significantly outperforms principal component analysis and all other approaches that use a single latent representation, and discuss the intuitive reason why two representations are better than one. We conjecture that a single latent representation is optimal only for time-reversible processes, not for e.g. text, speech, music or out-of-equilibrium physical systems.
Design of highly active cobalt catalysts for CO2 hydrogenation via the tailoring of surface orientation of nanostructures

The synthesis of nanomaterials with well-controlled morphologies and surface orientations has opened new avenues towards increasing catalytic performance and understanding of fundamental catalytic pathways. Here, we illustrate how tailoring surface orientations of Co3O4 catalysts on the nanoscale results in control over catalytic performance via the preferential formation of active surface species during CO2 hydrogenation. This results in a significant increase in the methane yield on Co3O4 nanorods, as opposed to conventional nanoparticle catalysts, where Co3O4 nanorods inhibit the formation of formate spectator species via the preferential formation of bridged CO as an intermediate species. This design approach provides a new dimension for the development of next generation catalysts and opens new, more efficient strategies for the conversion of carbon dioxide into useful hydrocarbons.
Novel Regime for Antenna Array Oscillators Based on Exceptional Point of Degeneracy

We demonstrate a new regime of operation to conceive radiating array oscillators. This regime is based on the dispersion engineering of coupled transmission lines (CTLs) utilizing an exceptional point of degeneracy (EPD), which represents the coalescence of multiple eigenmodes. We propose the "gain and loss balance" regime for structures exhibiting significant radiation losses to enable an innovative regime for a class of coherent EPD-based radiating oscillators with stable oscillation frequency. Moreover, this class of radiating oscillators shows an interesting trend of how the oscillation threshold scales with the length of the structure. This EPD concept has potential applications in high power-efficiency oscillators and high-power radiation.
Coastal geomorphic response to seasonal water-level rise in the Laurentian Great Lakes: An example from Illinois Beach State Park, USA

Abstract Hydrodynamic processes, such as fluctuating water levels, waves, and currents, shape coastlines across timescales ranging from minutes to millennia. In large lacustrine systems, such as the Laurentian Great Lakes, the role of water level in driving long-term (centuries to millennia) coastal evolution is well understood. However, additional research is needed to explore short-term (weeks to months) beach geomorphic response to fluctuating water level. Developing a process-focused understanding of how water level fluctuations shape coastal response across these shorter time scales is imperative for coastal management. Here, we present measurements of geomorphic response along a lacustrine beach ridge plain to seasonal water level fluctuations during a decadal high-stand in Lake Michigan water level. Frequent topographic change measurements revealed high spatial and temporal variability in geomorphic response to rising lake level. Sites immediately downdrift of shore protection began to erode immediately as lake level increased. The co-occurrence of peak seasonal lake levels and a modest increase in wave energy resulted in erosion and overwash at sites that resisted erosion during the initial seasonal rise in lake level. None of the sites in this study returned to their initial morphology following seasonal lake level rise. Given that peak water levels were nearly identical in 2017 and 2018, yet the majority of erosion at our sites occurred in 2017, we postulate that erosion associated with seasonal lake level rise is primarily a function of the change in annual maximum water level from year to year, rather than solely the elevation of the water level.
Becoming fundable? Converting climate justice claims into climate finance in Mesoamerica’s forests

For the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests, the idea of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) has opened a window for advancing member groups’ claims to territory and community well-being, despite concerns that REDD+ could proceed as development-as-usual in practice. However, the claims underpinning the engagement of this Indigenous and forest peoples’ network in international climate finance processes reflect conceptualizations of climate justice that diverge from those that have dominated policy and popular discussions. This article assesses the multi-scalar efforts of the Mesoamerican Alliance to promote claims to climate finance around different concepts of justice. Using empirical justice analysis to assess the subjects, dimensions, and criteria explicit and implicit in Mesoamerican Indigenous and forest groups’ claims, and drawing on decolonial and Indigenous perspectives on environmental justice, the article presents evidence as to the possibilities and challenges of translating REDD+ into just outcomes in historically marginalized territories. Using participant observation, unstructured interviews, and document and social media review, it specifically assesses the Alliance-proposed Mesoamerican Territorial Fund, which aims to directly capture climate finance, bypassing problematic relations with national governments and traditional donors. The article finds that although Indigenous peoples and local communities have made significant advances in terms of representation, recognition, participation, and concrete funding, the constraints of “becoming fundable” may hinder more transformative and reparative pathways to just climate outcomes.
Superconducting Films of Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O by Laser Deposition

Superconducting Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O (BSCCO) films have been grown on single crystal [100] MgO by laser deposition. The films are highly c-axis oriented perpendicular to the substrate. The 2212, 2223 and 2234 phases of the BSCCO system have been grown independently in film formed from a sintered 2223 BSCCO target. By post annealing at 8700C for five minutes, the critical temperature of as-grown predominantly single phased films was increased from below 77K with semiconductor behavior to above 80K with metallic behavior. Post-annealed BSCCO films were transformed from a single phase to a multiphase film. The current density of these films ranged from 103 to 104 amp/cm2 at 77K.
Context of Interracial Childbearing in the United States

Previous studies often identify multiracial individuals through children born to intermarried parents and overlook those born to unmarried interracial parents. Using natality microdata from National Center for Health Statistics in the United States, we examine patterns and trends of births born to interracial parents regardless of mothers’ marital status. Births born to interracial parents have been increasing steadily from 5% in 1980 to 14% in 2016. Interracial fertility varies greatly by parents’ racial pairing and mothers’ educational attainment and context of childbearing play an important role. Children born to interracial parents of whom one is African American tend to have mothers who are unmarried and do not have completed college education. In contrast, children born to Asian American-white parents tend to have mothers who are married and have completed college. Hispanic-white and American Indian-white parents have the patterns in the middle. Our results show that children born to interracial parents outside marriage are more likely to have mothers with less education than those in marriage. These unmarried parents are most likely to involve a black partner and least likely to involve an Asian American partner. Indeed, social boundaries among multiracial individuals are not created equal and integration of multiracial populations depends on race and ethnicity, context of childbearing, and socioeconomic resources.
Depression, Alcoholics Anonymous Involvement, and Daily Drinking Among Patients with co-occurring Conditions: A Longitudinal Parallel Growth Mixture Model.

Background Patients with cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders often find it difficult to sustain long-term recovery. One predictor of recovery may be how depression symptoms and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) involvement influence alcohol consumption during and after inpatient psychiatric treatment. This study utilized a parallel growth mixture model to characterize the course of alcohol use, depression, and AA involvement in patients with cooccurring diagnoses. Methods Participants were adults with cooccurring disorders (n = 406) receiving inpatient psychiatric care as part of a telephone monitoring clinical trial. Participants were assessed at intake, 3-, 9-, and 15-month follow-up. Results A 3-class solution was the most parsimonious based upon fit indices and clinical relevance of the classes. The classes identified were high AA involvement with normative depression (27%), high stable depression with uneven AA involvement (11%), and low AA involvement with normative depression (62%). Both the low and high AA classes reduced their drinking across time and were drinking at less than half their baseline levels at all follow-ups. The high stable depression class reported an uneven pattern of AA involvement and drank at higher daily frequencies across the study timeline. Depression symptoms and alcohol use decreased substantially from intake to 3 months and then stabilized for 90% of patients with cooccurring disorders following inpatient psychiatric treatment. Conclusions These findings can inform future clinical interventions among patients with cooccurring mental health and substance use disorders. Specifically, patients with more severe symptoms of depression may benefit from increased AA involvement, whereas patients with less severe symptoms of depression may not.
Impact of serological and PCR testing requirements on the selection of COVID-19 convalescent plasma donors.

BACKGROUND: Convalescent plasma is undergoing randomized trials as a potential therapeutic option for COVID-19 infection. Little empirical evidence exists regarding the determination of donor eligibility and experiences with donor selection. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: This prospective study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in New York to select plasma donors for a randomized, double-blind, controlled convalescent plasma trial. Clearance for donation required successful completion of an online questionnaire and an in-person screening visit, which included (a) completion of a Donor Health Questionnaire (DHQ), (b) Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody testing using an immunochromatographic anti- severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) test, (c) Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing if <28 days from symptom resolution, and (d) routine blood bank testing. RESULTS: After receiving 3093 online questionnaires, 521 individuals presented for in-person screening visits, with 40.1% (n = 209) fully qualifying. Subjects (n = 312) failed to progress due to the following reasons: disqualifying answer from DHQ (n = 30, 9.6%), insufficient antibodies (n = 198, 63.5%), persistent positive PCR tests (n = 14, 4.5%), and blood donation testing labs (n = 70, 22.4%). Importantly, 24.6% and 11.1% of potential donors who reported having PCR-diagnosed infection had low or undetectable SARS-CoV-2 antibody levels, respectively. Surprisingly, 62.9% (56/89) of subjects had positive PCR tests 14-27 days after symptom resolution, with 13 individuals continuing to be PCR positive after 27 days. CONCLUSION: It is feasible for a single site to fully qualify a large number of convalescent plasma donors in a short period of time. Among otherwise qualified convalescent plasma donors, we found high rates of low or undetectable antibody levels and many individuals with persistently positive PCR tests.
Prevalence of bacteremia in dairy cattle with acute puerperal metritis

Dairy cattle are susceptible to numerous disorders in the immediate post-partum period. Acute puerperal metritis (APM), defined as the presence of a fetid, watery uterine discharge, an enlarged, flaccid uterus, and overt signs of systemic illness that may include fever, dehydration, depression, and toxemia, is one of the most commonly encountered infectious diseases in modern dairy practice. After calving, more than 90% of cattle experience some degree of contamination of the uterine lumen with bacteria. Through the processes of uterine involution and normal immune function, most cattle clear this contamination and experience no complications. However, cattle with retained placenta, hypocalcemia, and significant negative energy balance fail to clear uterine contamination and develop APM. Bacteremia has been documented in approximately 32% of adult dairy cattle with coliform mastitis. In cows with acute coliform mastitis, the presence of bacteremia, particularly blood borne infection with organisms such as E. coli, Pasteurella multocida and Mannheimia hemolytica, had a significant impact on cow survival. The purposes of the study reported here were to investigate the prevalence of bacteremia in dairy cattle with naturally occurring APM, determine if an association exists between the bacteria cultured from the bloodstream and those present in uterus and identify factors that may be of use in predicting occurrence of bacteremia in cattle with APM.
Effectiveness of Positive Discipline Parenting Program on Parenting Style, and Child Adaptive Behavior.

In this study, a community sample of parents attending free 7-week Positive Discipline parenting workshops were recruited, as well as a non-randomized community control. Both samples consisted of primarily Hispanic parents with similar demographic information and attrition rates (initial N = 91), as well as children of similar age (mean age 6.89 and 6.95 years) and gender. Parenting stress, parenting style, and parent-reported child adaptive behavior were assessed at baseline and after three months. Longitudinal analysis was performed using mixed-effects regression modeling. Results indicate that attendance in Positive Discipline parenting workshops was related to a decrease in authoritarian parenting style, a decrease in permissive parenting style, and a decrease in parental stress. It was also related to an increase in child academic competence, and a decrease in externalizing-hyperactive behavior (both parent-report). These results suggest that positive discipline parenting workshops may alter parenting style and may positively impact children of parents who attend.
ON DEMAND: Feedback to the Future: Providing Writing Feedback to Foster Students’ Transfer of Knowledge (15 mins)

Instructors are sometimes frustrated when the feedback they provide for student writing seems not to be acted on in subsequent assignments. This problem, we propose, is more complex than urging students to pay attention to prior feedback in future assignments. It’s a matter also of providing feedback that supports transferable learning and that cues students to apply that learning going forward. In this presentation we share a variety of moves instructors can make in their written feedback to foster students’ forward-reaching transfer of learning. Drawing on theories of learning transfer (Perkins & Salomon, 1988; Devet, 2015; Hill, 2016), which propose that transfer must often be cued, primed, and guided, we developed a framework to help identify a repertoire of moves that can support transfer. We provide examples drawn from written feedback on student writing. We will briefly (re)introduce participants to transfer theory; connect that theory to the framework we used to identify or shape feedback on student writing; and present example examples of each type of move.
A longitudinal study of menthol cigarette use and smoking cessation among adult smokers in the US: Assessing the roles of racial disparities and E-cigarette use.

Abstract Using nationally representative longitudinal data from Wave 1 to Wave 4 of the Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health Study in the United States, we examined whether the association between menthol cigarette use and smoking cessation was modified by race/ethnicity and e-cigarette use. Multivariable discrete-time survival models were fit to an unbalanced person-period data set (person n = 7423, risk period n = 18,897) for adult respondents (ages 25+) who were current established cigarette smokers at baseline. We found that adults who smoke menthol cigarettes had lower odds of smoking cessation, but the effect was modified by race/ethnicity as non-Hispanic (NH) Black menthol smokers had lower odds of quitting smoking than NH White or Hispanic menthol smokers. We also found that e-cigarette use was associated with higher odds of smoking cessation among both menthol and non-menthol smokers, but the association was stronger among menthol smokers. Our results suggest that a menthol smoking ban may have a favorable impact on smoking cessation for NH Black adults. In addition, our results also suggest that a menthol smoking ban may be more effective if menthol smokers have access to e-cigarettes as a way to quit cigarette use.
Zirconium-diboride silicon-carbide composites: A review

Abstract Zirconium diboride (ZrB2) and silicon carbide (SiC) composites have long been of interest since it was observed that ZrB2 improved the thermal shock resistance of SiC. However, processing of these materials can be difficult due to high and different sintering temperatures and differences in the thermodynamic stability of each material. ZrB2–SiC composites have been processed in a variety of ways including hot-pressing, spark-plasma sintering, reactive melt infiltration, pack cementation, chemical vapor deposition, chemical vapor infiltration, stereolithography, direct ink writing, selective laser sintering, electron beam melting, and binder jet additive manufacturing. Each manufacturing method has its own pros and cons. This review serves to summarize more than 60 years of research and provide a coherent resource for the variety of methods and advancements in development of ZrB2–SiC composites.
Introduction to Structure and Properties of Biological Tissues

Macromolecules and polymers are the principle building blocks of tissues. Without these large molecules, life as we know it would not be possible, because these moieties are responsible for the completion of most biological processes. Biological macromolecules are classified into four groups of large molecules: proteins, polysaccharides (sugar polymers), nucleic acids, and lipids. These classes are differentiated by their repeat units, the chemical structure that is repeated over and over again to make a large chain. The properties of long chains of repeat units linked together are dependent on the chemistry of the chain. The physical properties of long-chained molecules also depend on the rotational freedom around the backbone, as diagrammed in Figure 2.1. Regardless of the exact chemistry of a macromolecule–s backbone, the physical behavior is fixed. The modulus or resistance of a polymer to deformation is independent of the backbone chemistry, but the temperature at which a particular behavior is observed is dependent on the backbone chemistry. At some temperature, all polymers behave like a rubber band, stretching easily and reversibly. This temperature, at which a polymer behaves like a rubbery material, is the glass-transition temperature. The glass-transition temperature is affected by the chemistry of the repeat unit and by how it affects the backbone flexibility. The relationship between the chemistry of the backbone of a polymer and its rubberiness is more complex than just analysis of the backbone rotational freedom; this is discussed later in this chapter.
U.S. accounting professors' perspectives on textbook revisions

Abstract In response to increasing concerns about the cost of university education, we examine one contributor to these costs: the revision cycle of accounting textbooks. We approach the issue from several perspectives. First, by examining copyright dates for 69 accounting textbooks, we find that accounting textbooks have been revised at an increasing rate over the past 28 years. Second, through a survey of faculty, we find that that faculty across accounting sub-disciplines believe that revision cycles should be slower. Faculty who teach sub-disciplines that change more slowly, such as cost accounting, prefer longer revision cycles than do faculty who teach in rapidly changing fields. In addition, faculty who are not textbook authors see less value in frequent textbook revisions. Regarding cost to students, more experienced faculty, female faculty, and faculty who are not authors are more likely to consider the price students pay for textbooks as an important factor in the textbook-selection decision. Third, an examination of published reviews of accounting textbooks indicates that none refer to the cost to students, and few address whether the revised edition is worthwhile. This multi-pronged approach lays the foundation for several recommendations for accounting faculty in these changing times, including our suggestion for the development of a new system of textbook material creation and delivery that would be free to accounting students.
An Overoxidation Journey with a Return Ticket

The peroxiredoxins are ubiquitous enzymes that catalyze the reduction of hydrogen peroxide. In their Perspective, Georgiou and Masip discuss some intriguing new details of peroxiredoxin biochemistry that reveal how these enzymes can be simultaneously both antioxidants and modulators of signal transduction ( Wood et al.; Woo et al.).
Bacterial Contamination and Amino Acid Incorporation by Isolated Mitochondria

Abstract The data presented in this paper emphasize the importance of eliminating bacterial contamination in studies of amino acid incorporation into isolated mitochondria. A correlation between the number of bacteria present and amino acid incorporation into mitochondria was observed when pure cultures of bacteria were added to mitochondria prepared under sterile conditions. Low concentrations of dinitrophenol, presumably a selective inhibitor of amino acid incorporation into mitochondria, inhibited amino acid incorporation into some species of bacteria. In addition, a lack of correlation between amino acid incorporation and bacterial growth in time studies has been demonstrated. These results suggest that the criteria advanced by various workers to indicate that bacterial contamination is of little importance in studies of amino acid incorporation into mitochondria are insufficient. Mitochondrial preparations essentially free of bacterial contamination (less than 100 bacteria per ml of incubation medium) can incorporate amino acids into their protein in the presence of adenine nucleotides, Mg++, phosphate, a complete amino acid mixture, ethylenediaminetetraacetate, and succinate.
A Faculty Merit Pay Allocation Model

Merit review processes within academic departments usually consist of two parts: a performance review and evaluation step and a monetary calculation step. Of the two, the performance review step is clearly the more important in achieving fairness and equity. However, the monetary calculation step also plays a key role in maintaining the integrity of the overall process. In an attempt to address the issue of salary compression, the principle used by most departments in allocating merit pay is to award comparable percentage increases in salary to faculty members with similar merit ratings. A merit pay allocation model based on this principle is presented in this paper. The model, a major generalization of an earlier one presented by Camp, Gibbs, and Masters (1988), enables users to calculate merit pay amounts for individual faculty members in a systematic and efficient manner. It is also sufficiently flexible to allow for the incorporation of policy directives often contained in pay packages.
Expression of Mig (Monokine Induced by Interferon-γ) Is Important in T Lymphocyte Recruitment and Host Defense Following Viral Infection of the Central Nervous System

Induction of a Th1 immune response against viral infection of the CNS is important in contributing to viral clearance. The present studies demonstrate a role for the T cell chemoattractant chemokine Mig (monokine induced by IFN-γ) in contributing to a Th1 response against mouse hepatitis virus infection of the CNS. Analysis of the kinetics of Mig expression revealed mRNA transcripts present at days 7 and 12 postinfection (p.i.) but not early (day 2) or late (day 35) in the infection. To determine functional significance, mouse hepatitis virus-infected mice were treated with anti-Mig antisera, and the severity of disease was evaluated. Such treatment resulted in a marked increase in mortality that correlated with a >3 log increase in viral burden within the brains as compared with control mice treated with normal rabbit serum. Anti-Mig-treated mice displayed a significant decrease ( p + and CD8 + T cell recruitment into the CNS as compared with normal rabbit serum-treated mice. In addition, anti-Mig treatment resulted in a significant decrease ( p p
The content of electronic mentoring: A study of special educators participating in an online mentoring program

THE CONTENT OF ELECTRONIC MENTORING: A STUDY OF SPECIAL EDUCATORS PARTICIPATING IN AN ONLINE MENTORING PROGRAM By Roberta Gentry, 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, 2011 Major Director: Evelyn Reed, Ph.D., Associate Professor Chair, Department of Special Education and Disability Policy School of Education The purpose of this study was to describe the content and frequency of interactions that occurred in an electronic mentoring program involving beginning special educators and their mentors. In addition, the characteristics of mentors’ and mentees’ and perceived outcomes of mentees’ were provided. This study sought to address questions about the types of support that new special educators seek and receive. A mixed method research design was utilized to explore the archived transcripts of mentors’ and mentees’ discourse as well as mentees’ and mentors’ post-surveys. Data were analyzed through the use of quantitative and qualitative methods and interpreted through the use of Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium standards, How People Learn framework, and documented needs and concerns of beginning special educators based on a review of literature. Surveys responses included descriptive information and perceptions of beginning teachers concerning their levels of preparedness at the completion of the pilot program. This study provides an understanding of electronic mentoring within one program in order to inform efforts for mentoring and induction of beginning special educators.
Characterization of a nonribosomal peptide antibiotic solid dispersion formulation by process analytical technologies sensors.

ABSTRACT The focus of present investigation was to characterize and evaluate the variability of solid dispersion (SD) of amorphous vancomycin (VCM), utilizing crystalline polyethylene glycol (PEG-6000) as a carrier and subsequently, determining their percentage composition by nondestructive method of process analytical technology (PAT) sensors. The SD were prepared by heat fusion method and characterized for physicochemical and spectral properties. Enhanced dissolution was shown by the SD formulations. Decreased crystallinity of PEG-6000 was observed indicating that the drug was present as solution and dispersed form within the polymer. The SD formulations were homogenous as shown by near infrared (NIR) chemical imaging data. Principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square (PLS) method were applied to NIR and PXRD (powder X-ray diffraction) data to develop model for quantification of drug and carrier. PLS of both data showed correlation coefficient > 0.9934 with good prediction capability as revealed by smaller value of root mean square and standard error. The model based on NIR and PXRD were two folds more accurate in estimating PEG-6000 than VCM. In conclusion, the drug dissolution from the SD increased by decreasing crystallinity of PEG-6000, and the chemometric models showed usefulness of PAT sensor in estimating percentage of both VCM and PEG-600 simultaneously.
A Class of Rectangular Hybrid Systems with Computable Reach Set

A class of rectangular hybrid systems is presented whose reach set is computable. The class is specified in terms of a controllability condition. That condition can be verified.
Evidence of Informed Trading Prior to Earnings Announcements

This study examines transactions in stocks during the thirty trading days prior to earnings announcements. Using two methodologies, we find evidence of informed trading for initiators of large transactions (presumably institutions) but not for initiators of small transactions (presumably individuals). Specifically, we find that, relative to a control period, initiators of large transactions tend to buy (sell) stocks prior to earnings announcements that exceed (fall short of) analyst forecasts. In addition, the fraction of total stock price movement that occurs on large transactions is substantially higher during the pre-announcement period than during the control period. Results of both tests suggest, contrary to previous research, that some large traders have and use superior private information prior to large earnings surprises.
Who’s Afraid of Ceteris-Paribus Laws? Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Them

Ceteris-paribus clauses are nothing to worry about; a ceteris-paribus qualifier is not poisonously indeterminate in meaning. Ceteris-paribus laws teach us that a law need not be associated straightforwardly with a regularity in the manner demanded by regularity analyses of law and analyses of laws as relations among universals. This lesson enables us to understand the sense in which the laws of nature would have been no different under various counterfactual suppositions — a feature even of those laws that involve no ceteris-paribus qualification and are actually associated with exceptionless regularities. Ceteris-paribus generalizations of an ‘inexact science’ qualify as laws of that science in virtue of their distinctive relation to counterfactuals: they form a set that is stable for the purposes of that field. (Though an accident may possess tremendous resilience under counterfactual suppositions, the laws are sharply distinguished from the accidents in that the laws are collectively as resilient as they could logically possibly be.) The stability of an inexact science’s laws may involve their remaining reliable even under certain counterfactual suppositions violating fundamental laws of physics. The ceteris-paribus laws of an inexact science may thus possess a kind of necessity lacking in the fundamental laws of physics. A nomological explanation supplied by an inexact science would then be irreducible to an explanation of the same phenomenon at the level of fundamental physics. Island biogeography is used to illustrate how a special science could be autonomous in this manner.
Taxonomic Investigations on Expressed and Cryptic Phospho-β-glucosidases in Enterobacteriaceae

In the Enterobacteriaceae, beta-glucosides are catabolized by a complex system formed of three permeases, with partly overlapping substrate specificities, and two hydrolytic enzymes, phospho-beta-glucosidase A and B, which hydrolyze only phosphorylated beta-glucosides. Some Enterobacteriaceae such as Klebsiella-Aerobacter (Enterobacter) possess the complete system; others possess only parts of it or may have a cryptic phospho-beta-glucosidase activity without permease activity. A screening test applied to strains belonging to several genera of Enterobacteriaceae showed that strains of Citrobacter, Hafnia, and Serratia exhibit a degree of similarity in phospho-beta-glucosidase activity and inducibility which could be useful in their taxonomic characterization; others, such as Aerobacter aerogenes, Erwinia, and Proteus vulgaris, are more heterologous. Owing to the presence of inducible phospho-beta-glucosidases A and B in Citrobacter, the fermentation of beta-methyl glucoside and the fermentation of arbutin in mixture with cellobiose could be of diagnostic value in the differentiation of Citrobacter from Salmonella. Wild-type strains of Escherichia coli, Shigella, and Salmonella are phenotypically similar in their inability to catabolize beta-glucosides, the presence of constitutive P-beta-glucosidase A, and the lack of beta-glucoside permeases I and II. Their beta-glucoside-fermenting mutants show, however, a phospho-beta-glucosidase and beta-glucoside permease activity which is characteristic for mutants from each genus. The differences in the phenotype of the mutants reflect probable differences in the presence of cryptic genes in the wild-type strains and could be of evolutionary significance.
Single amino acids in the carboxyl terminal domain of aquaporin-1 contribute to cGMP-dependent ion channel activation

Background Aquaporin-1 (AQP1) functions as an osmotic water channel and a gated cation channel. Activation of the AQP1 ion conductance by intracellular cGMP was hypothesized to involve the carboxyl (C-) terminus, based on amino acid sequence alignments with cyclic-nucleotide-gated channels and cGMP-selective phosphodiesterases.