cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluating M&A Deals: Floors, Caps, and Collars

As equity consideration has become more popular in acquisitions, so has the use of the "pricing-protection" mechanisms, such as floors, caps and collars. These contractual devices provide insurance to the shareholders of the target, and may protect the buyer as well. The purpose of this note is to define the main categories of price protection, and explain their impact on the payoffs and value of the deal to the target's shareholders.
The Forces of Conviction: The Power and Practice of Mandatory Prosecution upon Misdemeanor Domestic Battery Suspects

This article provides an ethnographic account of the power and practice of mandatory prosecution upon misdemeanor domestic battery suspects. Integrating law and society studies, domestic violence research, and poststructuralist theories of power, it finds that mandatory prosecution engages suspected batterers in multiple power operations that shape their agency in different ways. While many of these operations are familiar from past law and society research, mandatory prosecution alters their practice. In general, the different tactics that legal authorities deploy in their interactions with domestic battery suspects coalesce in an effort to have them plead guilty. The impact of these tactics on batterers, however, is far from clear. Mandatory prosecution increases the number of persons convicted of domestic violence. But abusers’ violence is repeatedly redefined and displaced, as they are processed through the court setting, thus casting doubt on the criminal court's power to affect their accountability. By detailing the court's various points of encounter with domestic battery suspects, this study offers a much-needed empirical framework for future evaluations of court interventions against domestic batterers.
The placental metabolism of vitamin A.

Abstract The importance of the nutritional status of the fetus at the time of delivery is well recognized, and recent work has tended to indicate that fetal deficiencies—particularly of vitamin A—may be responsible for congenital abnormalities. 1, 2 Since the nutrition of the fetus depends not only on the maternal dietary intake, but, to an even greater extent, on the adequacy of transmission across the placental barrier, it becomes of increasing importance that the mechanism of such transmission be understood. The present paper reports an investigation of the placental metabolism of vitamin A. In general, previous studies of vitamin A in the nutrition of the human fetus have been confined to determinations of the maternal and fetal plasma levels of carotene and of the vitamin. 3 Williamson has called attention to the placenta, however, by suggesting that in the rat the transfer of vitamin A across that organ is inversely proportionate to the placental fat content. 4 Furthermore, in the course of the previous work on the fetal metabolism of vitamin C, 5, 6 a knowledge of the placental levels proved invaluable. Accordingly, the status of the fetal nutrition with vitamin A has been reviewed from the point of view of its placental metabolism.
A resurgence of black identity in Brazil? Evidence from an analysis of recent censuses

Background: The second half of the 20th century brought a sharp increase in the number of people self-identifying as "brown" in the Brazilian Censuses. Previous studies have demonstrated that this was not the result of demographic forces, such as differential birth rates, but of a large number of people changing their response in the censuses from "black" or "white" to "brown". Despite the increased black political activism of the last two decades, whether this historical pattern of racial reclassification continued after 1990 has not yet been systematically investigated. Objective: This study investigates if the increase in identity politics by the Brazilian black movement since the 1990s was associated with a number of people changing their answers in the census from non-black to black. Methods: The residual method is used to estimate a counterfactual scenario: what the distribution of the population by race would look like in the 2000 and 2010 censuses if no racial reclassification had occurred during the 1990s and 2000s. Results: The "black" category experienced net gains of 2.2 million and 3.1 million newly reclassified members in the 2000 and 2010 censuses, respectively. By 2010 at least one in every three people in the black population was a newly reclassified black. The increase was particularly strong among males and the younger generations. Conclusions: The historical flight from blackness in Brazil documented by previous studies has reversed in the last two decades. This suggests that the increased black activism might have been successful in valorizing black identity and increasing identification with blackness.
Compression Based on a Joint Task-Specific Information Metric

Compression is a key component in many imaging systems in order to accommodate limited resources such as power and bandwidth. Image compression is often done independent of the specific tasks that the systems are designed for, such as target detection, classification, diagnosis, etc. Standard compression techniques are designed based on quality metrics such as mean-squared error (MSE) or peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR). Recently, a metric based on task-specific information (TSI) was proposed and successfully incorporated into JPEG2000 encoding. It has been shown that the proposed TSI metric can optimize the task performance. In this work, a joint metric is proposed to provide a seamless transition between the conventional quality metric MSE and the recently proposed TSI. We demonstrate the effectiveness and flexibility of the proposed joint TSI metric for target detection tasks. Furthermore, it is extended to video tracking applications to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed metric. Experimental results show that although the metric is not directly designed for the applied task, better tracking performance can still be achieved when the joint metric is used, compared to results obtained with the traditional MSE metric.
Composition and Ultrastructure of Streptomyces venezuelae

Abstract Streptomyces venezuelae is a filamentous bacterium with branching vegetative hyphae embedded in the substrate and aerial hyphae bearing spores. The exterior of the spore is inlaid with myriads of tiny rods which can be removed with xylene. The spore wall is approximately 30 nanometers thick. Occasionally, it can be seen that the plasma membrane and the membranous bodies within a spore are connected. The spore's germ plasm is not separated from the cytoplasm by a nuclear envelope. The cell walls of the vegetative hyphae, which are about 15 nanometers thick, are structurally and chemically similar to those of gram-positive bacteria. The numerous internal membranous bodies, some of which arise from the plasma membrane of the vegetative hypha, may be vesicular, whirled, or convoluted. Membranous bodies are usually prominent at the hyphal apices and are associated with septum formation. The germ plasm is an elongate, contorted, centrally placed area of lower electron density than the hyphal cytoplasm. The spores differ from the vegetative hyphae, not only in fine structure, but also in the arginine and leucine contents of their total cellular proteins.
Prevalence and compensation of academic leaders, professors, and trustees on publicly traded US healthcare company boards of directors: cross sectional study

Objective To identify the prevalence, characteristics, and compensation of members of the boards of directors of healthcare industry companies who hold academic appointments as leaders, professors, or trustees. Design Cross sectional study. Setting US healthcare companies publicly traded on the NASDAQ or New York Stock Exchange in 2013. Participants 3434 directors of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical equipment and supply, and healthcare provider companies. Main outcome measures Prevalence, annual compensation, and beneficial stock ownership of directors with affiliations as leaders, professors, or trustees of academic medical and research institutions. Results 446 healthcare companies met the study search criteria, of which 442 (99%) had publicly accessible disclosures on boards of directors. 180 companies (41%) had one or more academically affiliated directors. Directors were affiliated with 85 geographically diverse non-profit academic institutions, including 19 of the top 20 National Institute of Health funded medical schools and all of the 17 US News honor roll hospitals. Overall, these 279 academically affiliated directors included 73 leaders, 121 professors, and 85 trustees. Leaders included 17 chief executive officers and 11 vice presidents or executive officers of health systems and hospitals; 15 university presidents, provosts, and chancellors; and eight medical school deans or presidents. The total annual compensation to academically affiliated directors for their services to companies was $54 995 786 (£35 836 000; €49 185 900) (median individual compensation $193 000) and directors beneficially owned 59 831 477 shares of company stock (median 50 699 shares). Conclusions A substantial number and diversity of academic leaders, professors, and trustees hold directorships at US healthcare companies, with compensation often approaching or surpassing common academic clinical salaries. Dual obligations to for profit company shareholders and non-profit clinical and educational institutions pose considerable personal, financial, and institutional conflicts of interest beyond that of simple consulting relationships. These conflicts have not been fully addressed by professional societies or academic institutions and deserve additional review, regulation, and, in some cases, prohibition when conflicts cannot be reconciled.
Association mapping for morphological and physiological traits in Populus simonii

Background To optimize marker-assisted selection programs, knowledge of the genetic architecture of phenotypic traits is very important for breeders. Generally, most phenotypes, e.g. morphological and physiological traits, are quantitatively inherited, and thus detection of the genes underlying variation for these traits is difficult. Association mapping based on linkage disequilibrium has recently become a powerful approach to map genes or quantitative trait loci (QTL) in plants.
Fast Huygens' sweeping methods for multiarrival Green's functions of Helmholtz equations in the high-frequency regime

ABSTRACTMultiarrival Green’s functions are essential in seismic modeling, migration, and inversion. Huygens-Kirchhoff (HK) integrals provide a bridge to integrate locally valid first-arrival Green’s functions into a globally valid multiarrival Green’s function. We have designed robust and accurate finite-difference methods to compute first-arrival traveltimes and amplitudes, so that first-arrival Green’s functions can be constructed rapidly. We adapted a fast butterfly algorithm to evaluate discretized HK integrals. The resulting fast Huygens’ sweeping method has the following unique features: (1) it precomputes a set of local traveltime and amplitude tables, (2) it automatically takes care of caustics, (3) it constructs Green’s functions of the Helmholtz equation for arbitrary frequencies and for many point sources, and (4) for a fixed number of points per wavelength, it constructs each Green’s function in nearly optimal complexity O(N log N) in terms of the total number of mesh points N, where the prefa...
Multimode near-field microwave monitoring of free water content of skin and imaging of tissue

We have used the near-field scanning microwave microscopy (NSMM) technique in the 1-10 GHz range to monitor the free water content of skin. The water content is interpreted from the measured dielectric properties of the epidermis. The finger skin was first hydrated by soaking in water at 37 degrees C for 30 min followed by monitoring of water content as the free water evaporated under ambient conditions. The same technique has also been employed to image a 1 cm x 1 cm sample of chicken skin. It has been shown that variations exist in the resonant frequencies and quality factors of tissue under varying physical parameters. The samples analysed were as-received and thermally dehydrated or damaged chicken tissue samples. We contrast between the dielectric properties with the optical images. We also discuss possible application of our imaging technique in clinical monitoring of the wound healing process.
Online video session progress prediction using low-rank matrix completion

The prediction of online video session progress is useful for both optimizing and personalizing end-user experience. Our approach for online video recommendation is to use the session progress information instead of using a traditional rating system. We approach the prediction of session progress as a matrix completion problem, and complete the session progress matrix using noisy low-rank matrix completion (NLMC). Events collected from the end-user video sessions are tracked and logged in a server. We process a large number of logs, represent them as a partially observed user by video matrix, and use regularized nuclear norm minimization for matrix completion. Our initial results show improvement over baseline methods of prediction using just the means. We further investigate the reason for the difference in performance for the same prediction methods between our dataset and the dataset used in the Netflix challenge. Our experiments indicate that the number of observed entries at a given sparsity is a good indicator of the performance of the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) based matrix completion methods. This implies that the results for our dataset would further improve by either observing more entries for the same set of users and videos or by including new users or videos at the same sparsity level. Moreover, we introduce an algorithm to generate submatrices of any required sparsity and size from a given matrix to fairly compare algorithm performances on datasets of varying characteristics.
Service-Level Agreements: Aligning Performance and Expectations

The US Senate's Telecommunications Modernization Project (TMP) will offer voice, data, and video services over a converged network that will provide Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service to more than 16,600 lines. A major challenge is how to maintain service quality and continuity during and after the transition from the current Centrex system to the converged network. Service-level agreements (SLAs) have proven to be effective in ensuring that performance meets the customer's stringent requirements. The Sergeant at Arms, who manages the TMP project for the Senate, and the contractor use SLAs to maintain very high levels of customer satisfaction. They meet periodically to review the SLAs and identify areas of improvement, making it possible to head off problems before they become major issues.
Evolving role of surgery after induction chemotherapy and primary site radiation in head and neck cancer

Chemotherapy, as preliminary treatment before surgery and/or radiation for advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, is no longer novel. In prospective trials to date, however, multiple agent induction chemotherapy has yet to demonstrate the initial presumptive promise of improved rates of cure. As an alternate goal, there has emerged a renewed attentiveness toward limiting treatment morbidity, several strategies for which may be considered. Extirpative, often radical, surgery on the primary site of disease usually represents the most significant threat to life quality. Various ways of limiting surgical morbidity will be considered by way of introduction. The trends of head and neck cancer treatment over the decades, leading into the era of induction chemotherapy and refined radiation techniques, will be described. At the combined Dana-Farber/New England Deaconess Head and Neck Oncology Clinic, an experience with over 300 patients receiving induction chemotherapy for advanced head and neck cancer has been analyzed with an emphasis on the postulate of lessening the extent of surgery in appropriately selected patients. In a comparison between trials initiated in 1980 and 1987, improved complete response rates from 26 to 57% were documented. Survival rates were identical, but the use of planned primary site ablative surgery was decreased from 47 to 14%. While some increase in local failure has been noted in patients treated by primary site radiation alone, surgical salvage appeared to be more effective. The implication of these trends for patterns of failure and surgical salvage and data concerning the need for neck dissection in this group of patients will be briefly summarized. Other trials addressing organ-preservation strategies will also be referenced and the dichotomy between survival-based studies and morbidity-limiting studies illustrated. Independent trends in radiation technique as a potential substitute for traditional surgical practice will be reviewed.
Mental health and rape history in relation to non-medical use of prescription drugs in a national sample of women.

The current study examined prevalence and correlates of non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD), with particular emphasis on lifetime history of rape and PTSD as risk associates. Interviews conducted via telephone using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing technology, resulting in a nationally representative sample of 3,001 non-institutionalized, civilian, English or Spanish speaking women (aged 18–86 years) residing in households with a telephone. Demographic characteristics, rape history, general health/mental health, and substance abuse variables were assessed. NMUPD was assessed by asking if, in the past year, participants had misused a prescription drug. Multivariable logistic regressions were conducted for each theoretically derived predictor set. Significant predictors from each set then entered into final multivariable logistic regression to determine significant predictors of past-year NMUPD. NMUPD was endorsed by 5.5% of the sample (n=164). Final multivariable model showed that lifetime posttraumatic stress disorder, other forms of substance use/abuse, and a history of drug or alcohol facilitated rape were significantly associated with increased likelihood of NMUPD. Risk reduction efforts targeting non-medical prescription drug use among women who have experienced traumatic events and/or abuse substances are warranted. Trauma-focused interventions for drug or alcohol facilitated rape victims should include treatment or prevention modules that specifically address NMUPD.
Subthreshold desensitization of human basophils re-capitulates the loss of Syk and FcεRI expression characterized by other methods of desensitization.

Background Clinical desensitization of patients to drugs involves progressive exposure to escalating doses of drug over a period of 24 h. In prior studies, this method was re-capitulated in vitro to also demonstrate loss of mast cell or basophil responsiveness. However, most signalling studies of human basophils have identified changes in signalling by using other methods of inducing cellular desensitization. Objective This study examined two well-described endpoints of basophil desensitization, loss of syk or FceRI expression, under conditions of subthreshold desensitization. Methods The loss of FceRI and syk was examined in human basophils. Results It was shown that both loss of syk and FceRI/IgE occurred during an escalating series of stimulation (anti-IgE Ab) and that expression loss occurred despite the presence of little histamine release. If basophils were first cultured for 3 days in 10 ng/mL IL-3, the concentration-dependence of histamine release shifted to 100-fold lower concentrations of stimulus. However, loss of syk did not show any change in its EC50 while loss of FceRI also shifted 100-fold. From the perspective of early signal element activation, the marked shift in the EC50 for histamine release was not accompanied by similar shifts in the EC50s for several signalling elements. The EC50s for phospho-Src, phospho-SHIP1, phospho-Syk, or phospho-Cbl did not change while the EC50s for phospho-Erk and the cytosolic calcium response did shift 100-fold. Conclusions These studies show that under normal conditions, subthreshold desensitization leads to loss of two critical signalling molecules (FceRI and syk) but under at least one condition, treatment with IL-3, it is possible to markedly blunt the loss of syk, but not FceRI, while executing a proper subthreshold titration. These data also suggest that IL-3 modifies only the sensitivity of signalling elements that are downstream of syk activation.
Physical Distribution: The Analysis of Inventory and Location

Abstract The cost and service level performance of a manufacturing system or a distribution system depend heavily on the interaction between the physical system design and the inventory control system. This paper examines that interaction and provides some general analytical guidelines for (1) the determination of total system inventory and its distribution within a fixed system design, and (2) the determination of system design as suggested or favored by inventory considerations.
Abstract B32: Colonoscopy utilization in the Black Women's Health Study

B32 Objectives The primary objective of the present study is to determine colorectal screening patterns via colonoscopy utilization in a national prospective cohort, the Black Women’s Health Study. Methods In 1995, 59,000 Black women aged 21 to 69 years were initially enrolled in the Black Women’s Health Study through questionnaires consisting of 54 self-report items that included demographics, medical history, health behaviors, and use of medical care. Follow-up questionnaires were sent every 2 years to update risk factors of interest and ascertain newly diagnosed diseases and screening practices. Logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and the corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Results The study sample comprised 10,992 black women whose ages ranged from 50 to 72 years in 1997 when detailed questions were first asked about cancer screening. Women who utilized mammography were more likely to have a colonoscopy than women who never screened for breast cancer (odds ratio = 2.64, 95% CI 2.27, 3.08). This was the strongest predictor of colonoscopy screening. Conclusion The importance of promoting multiple concurrent cancer screenings may be the best approach to increasing colonoscopy utilization among women. Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2008;1(7 Suppl):B32.
Interfacial fracture of sandwich beams

Abstract Finite element analysis of an interfacial crack between a stiff facing and a soft core with the facing subjected to axial compressive and transverse loads is presented. Stress intensity factors and strain energy release rates are determined for a wide range of core moduli. In addition, the effect of thermal stresses and the tendency for the crack to kink out of the interface are investigated.
Kinetics of Cellular and Humoral Response of Rabbits Immunized with Mycoplasma Pneumoniae

The cellular and humoral responses of rabbits immunized with Mycoplasma pneumoniae antigen in saline or incorporated in Freund's complete adjuvant were examined. Peripheral blood leukocytes were used for the leukocyte migration inhibition (LMI) test. Both groups of animals showed significant LMI activity in the presence of M. pneumoniae as well as cross-reacting M. salivarium antigens but response to M. pneumoniae antigen was more pronounced. In the humoral response no such cross-reactivity was observed. Although some of the animals (3/8) demonstrated antibodies to M. salivarium prior to immunization the titers were not influenced by the immunization with M. pneumoniae antigen. Both groups of animals produced antibodies to M. pneumoniae antigen only, but significantly higher titers were observed in the adjuvant group. Cold hemagglutinins in both groups appeared earlier than the specific antibodies to mycoplasma. The adjuvant had no effect on the production of the cold agglutinins.
Specifying multiple-viewed software requirements with conceptual graphs

Abstract Among the phases of software development, requirements are particularly difficult to specify and analyze, since requirements for any large software system originate with many different people. Each person's view of the software requirements may be expressed in a different notation based on that person's knowledge, experience, and vocabulary. To perform a knowledge-based analysis of the requirements in combination, a single knowledge representation must be capable of capturing the information expressible in several existing requirements notations. This article introduces notation of conceptual graphs based on semantic networks that provides a general representation. Four common requirements notations are shown to be expressible using conceptual graphs; algorithms and examples are provided.
The spatiotemporal organization of auditory, visual, and auditory-visual evoked potentials in rat cortex

Abstract Four placements of an 8×8 channel microelectrode array were used to map auditory, visual, and combined auditory-visual evoked potentials (AEP, VEP, AVEP) from a total of 256 electrode sites over a 7×7 mm 2 area including most of somatosensory, auditory, and visual cortex in the right hemisphere of the rat. The unimodal AEP and VEP consisted of an archetypal response sequence representing a systematic spatial and temporal activation of primary and secondary sensory cortex. Spatiotemporal analysis of these waveforms indicated that they could be decomposed into a small number of spatial and temporal components; components that are related to patterns of specific and non-specific thalamocortical projections connecting the auditory and visual nuclei of the thalamus with primary and secondary auditory and visual cortex. These data suggest that the AEP and VEP complex are the cortical reflection of asynchronous activation of parallel thalamocortical projection systems. The areal distribution of the AEP and VEP also overlapped, primarily in secondary auditory visual cortex, indicating that these regions contain populations of cells responding to either modality. Polymodal auditory-visual stimulation resulted in unique activation of two isolated populations of neurons positioned in secondary auditory and secondary visual cortex which were revealed by difference waveforms, computed by subtracting the sum of the AEP and VEP and the AVEP complex. Retrograde labeling of the polymodal zones indicated that they receive parallel thalamocortical projections primarily from non-specific auditory and visual thalamic nuclei including the medial and dorsal divisions of the medial geniculate nucleus (MGm and MGd), the suprageniculate nucleus (SGN), and the lateral posterior nucleus (LP). The polymodal zone in visual cortex also receives specific projections from the dorsal division of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGd). These data conform to a general model of thalamocortical organization in which specific thalamic nuclei with a high degree of modality specificity make restricted projections to primary sensory cortex and parts of secondary sensory cortex, and association thalamic nuclei with a high degree of sensory convergence make more divergent cortical projections. Primary and secondary sensory cortex, as well as distinct zones of polysensory cortex appear to be activated in tandem via parallel thalamocortical projections. Thus, the cerebral cortex must have simultaneous access to both unimodal and polymodal sensory information.
The role of strain in low-field magnetotransport properties of manganite thin films

Strain-induced large low-field magnetoresistance has been observed in very thin Pr0.67Sr0.33MnO3 films1. To better understand the role of strain in the low-field magnetotransport properties of manganite thin films, we have studied and compared very thin (3-20 nm) Pr0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (PSMO), La0.67Ba0.33MnO3 (LBMO), La0.67Sr 0.33MnO3 (LSMO) and La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (LCMO) films grown on different substrates, such as LaAlO3(001) (LAO), NdGaO3(110) (NGO), and SrTiO3(001) (STO). Due to the lattice mismatch between the films and the substrates ranging from -2.6% to +1%, different strains can be imposed to the films. We have found that: (1) large low-field magnetoresistance(LFMR) behaviors are observed in PSMO, LCMO and LSMO thin films on LAO substrates when a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the film plane, but the maximum LFMR is the largest in PSMO and LCMO samples; (2) most of the films grown on STO substrates show positive MR when a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the film plane, and when the field is parallel to the film plane all films show negative MR regardless of the substrates; (3) the large low-field MR is strongly dependent on the film thickness and the composition of the manganites. The anomalous low-field MR effect will be discussed based on strain-induced magnetic anisotropy and domain rotation and movement.
Quality comparison of websites related to developmental disabilities

The Internet is commonly used to seek health-related information, but little is known about the quality of websites on developmental disabilities. Therefore, we sought to evaluate the characteristics and quality of websites located by searching ten common terms related to developmental disabilities and explore relations between website characteristics and website quality in order to make recommendations on ways to ensure locating good online information. We located 208 unique websites in our November 2012 US searches of Google and Bing. Two independent coders evaluated 10 characteristics of the websites and two different coders assessed the quality of the websites. From the 208 websites, 104 (50%) provided relevant information about the disability being searched. Of these 104 websites, those found to be of highest quality were least likely to be a sponsored result, contain advertisements, be from a for-profit company, and did contain references to peer-reviewed publications or had a top-level domain of .gov or .org. Individuals with developmental disabilities and their family members who choose to obtain disability-related information online should remain vigilant to ensure that they locate high-quality and accurate information and should not replace information obtained from health-care professionals and educational specialists with information found online.
Comparing texture characterization parameters on their ability to differentiate ground polyethylene ski bases

Abstract The objective of this work is to compare the ability of three texture analysis methods—conventional, FFT, and scale-sensitive fractal analysis—to differentiate measurements of polyethylene ski bases (i.e., sliding interfaces) that were stone-ground under different conditions. Ski base grinds allegedly influence the gliding of skis on snow, which is a complex and poorly understood tribilogical interaction. No sufficiently sophisticated models exist on which to optimize the design of a ski base texture. In this study, five polyethylene ski bases were ground, using different conditions, and were then measured multiple times with a scanning laser microscope at three different sampling intervals. The scales that could be used for differentiation of the respective base grinds were determined from F -tests of significance applied to the results of area-scale analysis. Anisotropy of the grinds was characterized as a function of scale, using length-scale fractal analyses in transverse and longitudinal directions. Comparison of the resulting length-scale plots in the two directions shows that anisotropy is most evident at scales below 1.5 mm. Area-scale analysis can differentiate textures when conventional and 2-D FFT cannot and indicates the scales over which the differentiation takes place. Only relative areas can differentiate any of the measurements at the finest scales, 0.2 mm × 0.2 mm with at 1 μm sampling interval, and then only in a limited sense. This indicates greatest similarity between the textures may be at the finest scales, where the texture is formed by the interaction of an abrasive grit with the polyethylene. This also indicates that the surface textures at the finest scales tend to be the most independent of the dressing and grinding conditions.
Application of Estimating Effective Dose from External Radiation using Two Dosimeters during Maintenance Periods at KNPPS

The application of a two-dosimeter and its algorithm and a test of its use in an inhomogeneous high radiation field are described. The goal was to develop an improved method for estimating the effective dose during maintenance periods at Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs). The use of the method in domestic and international NPPs including USA, Canada and Japan was also investigated. The algorithms used by the Canadian Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and American ANSI HPS N13.41, Lakshmanan, NCRP, EPRI and Texas A&M University were extensively analyzed as two-dosimeter algorithms. The possibility of their application to NPPs was evaluated using data for each algorithm from two-dosimeter results for an inhomogeneous high radiation field during maintenance periods at Korean NPPs.
Mandated RFID and Institutional Responses: Cases of Decentralized Business Units

Using a theory-building approach based on case studies, this research explores the responses of four decentralized business units to institutional pressure to adopt Radiofrequency Identification (RFID) technology. The institutional pressure emanates from the Department of Defense, and the affected decentralized business units operate in a large defense contractor. Institutional theory explains how organizations respond to external pressures to adopt new procedures, policies, and technologies. The case studies show how business units vary in their response to the RFID mandate and how different internal dynamics manifest. The responses range from complying faithfully, primarily concerned with satisfying the external constituent, to completely ignoring the mandate and focusing on internal efficiency initiative utilizing RFID. A number of propositions are developed to better understand the organizational responses to exogenous pressure to implement RFID. The paper concludes by proposing future research directions and issues that must be considered further.
Synthesis, electrochemistry, and spectroscopic characterization of bis-dirhodium complexes linked by axial ligands.

The synthesis and electrochemical and spectroscopic properties of bis-dirhodium complexes containing ap or dpf bridging ligands, (ap)4Rh2(C⋮C)2Rh2(ap)4 (2) and (dpf)4Rh2(CNC6H4NC)Rh2(dpf)4 (4), were investigated (where ap and dpf are the 2-anilinopyridinate and N,N‘-diphenylformamidinate ions, respectively). The related “simple” dirhodium species, (ap)4Rh2(C⋮C)2Si(CH3)3 (1) and (dpf)4Rh2(CNC6H5) (3), with the same set of bridging ligands were also synthesized and their properties compared to those of the analogous bis-dirhodium complexes. Compound 1 was obtained by mixing (ap)4Rh2Cl and Li(C⋮C)2Si(CH3)3 in refluxing THF for 16 h under vacuum while compound 2 was prepared by a reaction between (ap)4Rh2(C⋮C)2Li and (ap)4Rh2Cl under similar conditions. The reaction between (CF3COO)4Rh2 and molten Hdpf under vacuum for 24 h leads to the generation of compound 3 with a yield of 65%. The red-orange compound 4 was obtained upon addition of 0.5 equiv of CNC6H4NC at room temperature to a CH2Cl2 solution containing...
The preparation and properties of acrylic and methacrylic acid grafted cellulose prepared by ceric ion initiation. III. Some physical, mechanical, and ion exchange properties

The first two articles were concerned, (1) with the preparation and, (2) with the water retention properties of the grafted cellulose. This articel presents some physical, mechanical, and ion exchange properties. Bleached sulfite softwood puplp filter paper was the substrate and polyacrylic acid the grafted side chains. The thickness of the paper increased with grafting accompanied by a decreased in area, particularly in the machine direction. The air permeabilities of the grafted papers were essentially unchanged even at high degrees of grafting. The dry tensile strength increased somewhat with grafting but the zero span strength decreased. Wet tensiles increased considerably up to about 50% graft, but then decreased. The wet elongations, however, steadily increased but began to level off at 120% graft. Strength properties were also measured with melamine wet strenghened paper. The ion exchange capacities of the dispersed paper pulp indicated that all the grafted polyacid groups were rapidly utilized.
Homopolymer distributions in lamellar copolymer/homopolymer blends

A quantitative mean-field treatment, based on the representation of polymer chain statistics by probability distribution functions, is applied to lamellar blends of an AB diblock copolymer with an A homopolymer. We work in the strong segregation limit, where the interface between A and B microdomains is narrow and the A homopolymer segregates exclusively to the A domain. Copolymer blocks are modeled as end-adsorbed «brushes» which are anchored to opposing sides of a microdomain. Numerical solution of the mean-field equations can be used to determine homopolymer and copolymer profiles for all blend compositions
Distributed detection in a large wireless sensor network

A distributed detection and decision fusion scheme is proposed for a wireless sensor network (WSN) consisting of a large number of sensors. At the fusion center, the total number of detections reported by local sensors are employed for hypothesis testing. Based on the assumption that the received signal power decays as the distance from the target increases, system level detection performance measures, namely probabilities of detection and false alarm, are derived analytically through approximation by using the central limit theorem (CLT). If the number of sensors is sufficiently large, the proposed fusion rule can provide very good system level detection performance, in the absence of the knowledge of local sensors' performances and at low signal to noise ratio (SNR). It is shown that for all the different system parameters we have explored, this fusion rule is equivalent to the optimal fusion rule, which requires much more prior information. To achieve a better system level detection performance, the local sensor level decision threshold should be designed optimally. Numerical methods are employed to find the optimal local sensor level threshold for different sets of system parameters. Guidelines on selecting the optimal local sensor level decision threshold are also provided.
Modeling the relationship of globalized supply chains and corporate social responsibility

This paper develops a framework for the modeling and analysis of a complex global supply chain network with corporate social responsibility (CSR) through integrated environmental decision-making and risk management. Through a multilevel global supply chain network, we model the multi-criteria decision-making behavior of the various decision-makers (manufacturers, retailers, and consumers), which includes the maximization of profit, the minimization of emission, and the minimization of risk. We propose a network performance measure for the evaluation of global supply chain network. We measure the impact of globalization on supply chains’ CSR decision-making and analyze the effects of CSR on prices, product flows, and the global supply chains efficiency. We found that a social responsible global supply chain network is more efficiency than a less responsible one. Moreover, the higher is the level of social responsibility of the network the lower is the price and therefore the higher is the demand for the product.
Les perspectives d’évolution des combustibles

L’evolution des combustibles ne correspond plus uniquement a une evolution des materiaux mais repose pour une part importante sur des avancees significatives dans la modelisation phenomenologique du comportement des assemblages en reacteur. Ces avancees permettent une meilleure mise en oeuvre des progres realises sur les materiaux et s’averent determinantes en termes de manoeuvrabilite des produits, d’integrite des crayons, de performance thermo-hydraulique et de stabilite geometrique des assemblages de combustible.
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF THE DIFFUSION PROCESS OF SECURITIES AND PORTFOLIOS

The nature of the stochastic process generating the path of security prices through time plays an important role in dynamic theories of financial economics. An important consideration is the possible dependency of return variances on price levels. Using 55 years of data separated into five-year intervals, this study demonstrates that, in general, security and portfolio variances are dependent on stock price levels and the relationship is a function of portfolio size. The relationship is unstable over time. The results suggest possible detrimental effects of diversification and financial models based on log-normality are questionable.
Sensitivity of scintigraphy with 111In-lymphocytes for detection of cardiac allograft rejection.

Abstract We recently demonstrated the feasibility of noninvasive detection of cardiac allograft rejection after administration of indium-111-labeled lymphocytes. To determine the sensitivity and specificity of the technique, as well as its value for delineating the severity of rejection, we studied 16 dogs with heterotopic thoracic cardiac allografts. Five animals were evaluated while exposed to immunosuppressive agents. Animals were scanned sequentially after administration of 100–400 μCi of indium-111-labeled autologous lymphocytes. Myocardial lymphocyte infiltration was expressed as the indium excess (IE), defined as the ratio of indium activity of the transplant or native heart compared with that in blood. Scintigraphic results were compared with characteristics of simultaneously obtained endomyocardial biopsies. Among 17 biopsy documented episodes of rejection, 16 were detected scintigraphically. Among 18 biopsies with no evidence of rejection, scintigraphy was uniformly negative. Thus, the sensitivity and specificity of scintigraphy were 94 and 100%, respectively. Biopsies graded as showing no rejection were associated with an IE of 0.3 ± 0.5 (±SD); those graded as mild, 2.8 ± 1.7; those as moderate, 10.7 ± 7.2; and those graded as indicative of severe rejection, 14.2 ± 4.5. Thus, scintigraphy with indium-111-labeled lymphocytes sensitively and specifically detects cardiac allograft rejection and delineates the intensity of the rejection process. It should be useful clinically for assessing potential allograft rejection noninvasively.
Interpretation of polarized spectra

Abstract General formulas are given for the analysis of results of polarized spectroscopy on uniaxial assemblies of partially aligned molecules, using one-photon measurements (absorption, chemiluminescence) and two-photon measurements (photoluminescence, transient and permanent photodichroism, two-photon absorption, ordinary and resonant Raman scattering). The limits of validity of some simplified models are mentioned.
Communication amid uncertainty

The classical theory of communication, starting with the work of Shannon, has always that assumed the meaning of the messages being exchanged is known to the sender and receiver. This assumption set aside a tricky issue and allowed the theory to focus on the more pressing engineering problem of the time - namely communicating the bits efficiently and reliably
Second messengers, the substantia gelatinosa and injury-induced persistent pain

Although there is now unequivocal evidence that the circuitry within the substantia gelatinosa is a major contributor to the transmission and control of nociceptive messages, this was not known 35 years ago, when Pat Wall first focussed attention on this region. In addition to being the target of neurochemically distinct nociceptors, this region contains a heterogeneous population of excitatory and inhibitory interneurons. This review focuses on the contribution of second messenger systems that are found in the substantia gelatinosa. In particular the review highlights their critical contribution to the development of persistent pain conditions in the setting of tissue and nerve injury. Several of the studies used animals with deletions of genes that encode major second messenger molecules, including protein kinase A, C and nitric oxide synthase. Our laboratory has shown that mice with a deletion of the gene that encodes the gamma isoform of protein kinase C (which is almost exclusively expressed in a population of interneurons of the inner part of the substantia gelatinosa) have completely normal acute pain responses. However, the allodynia that characteristically develops after injury does not occur in these mice, particularly when it is generated by partial sciatic nerve injury. By contrast, deletion of genes that encode protein kinase A subunits only show deficits in the development of tissue inflammation-induced pain. These differences highlight the selectivity that characterizes the contribution of different second messenger molecules. Because of the restricted distribution of these molecules, it is likely that they are activated by different populations of primary afferent nociceptor and under very different conditions of injury. Understanding the circuitry within the substantia gelatinosa is thus critical to elucidating the mechanisms through which these second messenger molecules contribute to the development of persistent pain in the setting of injury.
Biochemical Alterations in Partial Bladder Outlet Obstruction in Mice: Up-Regulation of the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase Pathway

Purpose: We evaluated the effect of partial bladder outlet obstruction on bladder weight, protein synthesis, mitotic markers and the mitogen activated protein kinase pathway in a mouse model.Materials and Methods: Mice were divided into 3 groups, including control, sham treated and partially obstructed. Bladders were harvested from the mice in the partially obstructed group 12, 24, 48, 72 and 168 hours after surgical partial outlet obstruction, respectively. Partially obstructed bladders were compared to bladders in the control and sham treated groups by weight, protein content, and expression of proliferating cellular nuclear antigen, cyclin D3, HsP 70, c-jun and phosphorylated c-jun. Bladders were examined histologically for changes occurring with partial obstruction.Results: We tested 3 groups of mice, including control, sham treated and partially obstructed mice, to understand the pathophysiology of the bladder response to partial obstruction. We found no statistical difference in body weight among th...