cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reforming a State Corporate Income Tax

In 1987, Governor Cuomo signed the Business Tax Reform and Rate Reduction Act, which restructured New York’s Article 9-A corporate income tax. This was the first major overhaul of the state’s tax system since 1944. The process toward change began in 1981, when the legislature created the New York Tax Study Commission at the urging of Speaker of the Assembly Stanley Fink, who realized that the tax system needed an overhaul. The bipartisan Commission hired the author of this article as its first director in 1982. The Commission’s first major project was a review of the Article 9-A corporate income tax. This long article (413 pages and 1,046 footnotes), focuses on the findings of the Commission regarding Article 9-A, but also examines general issues surrounding state corporate income taxes. Chapter Two discusses the effect of state taxes on business location decisions, which was an instrumental factor in the development of New York’s corporate income tax. The article continues with an explanation of the framework of New York’s franchise tax statute prior to the 1987 Act, including four alternative methods a corporation could use to calculate its franchise tax: (1) a tax on income-plus-compensation, (2) a tax on capital, (3) a tax on entire net income, or (4) a minimum tax of $250. Chapter Three analyzes Article 9-A, and discusses the income-plus-compensation alternative. This alternative was a flawed attempt to solve the issue of excessive compensation, and was eliminated by the 1987 Act. Chapter Four examines the alternative tax on capital, which was changed drastically by the 1987 Act. This chapter explains that the Act failed to eliminate all of the shortcomings of this alternative. Chapter Five addresses the alternative tax on net income. Also discussed in this chapter are the two most important tax credits in New York’s system: (1) the investment tax credit, and (2) the employment incentive credit. Chapter Six considers various approaches to reforming New York’s rules regarding the taxation of investment income. This chapter further discusses the allocation of income by a multijurisdictional corporation in New York, and whether the Article 9-A tax should extend to transportation activities. The article concludes by lauding the many positive reforms of New York’s corporate income tax system, and explains that the agenda for future reform is in place. The article urges the State to institutionalize tax reform, which will permanently protect the integrity and operation of the tax system.
Predicting Opioid Overdose Risk of Patients with Opioid Prescriptions Using Electronic Health Records Based on Temporal Deep Learning

Background: The US is experiencing an opioid epidemic, such that opioid overdose is causing more than 100 deaths per day. Identifying patients at high risk of Opioid Overdose (OD) can help to make early clinical interventions to reduce the risk of OD. We aim to build a deep learning model that can predict the patients at high risk for opioid overdose and identify most relevant features. Method: The study included the information of 5,231,614 patients from the Health Facts database with at least one opioid prescription between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2017. Potential predictors (n = 1185) were extracted to build a feature matrix for prediction. A Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) based model was built to predict overdose risk in the next hospital visit. Prediction performance was compared with other machine learning methods assessed using machine learning metrics. Findings: Our temporal deep learning model built upon LSTM outperformed the other methods on opioid overdose prediction. It achieved the highest F-1 score (F-1 score: 0.8065, AUCROC: 0.8885). The model is also able to reveal top ranked predictive features, including medications and vital signs. Interpretation: This study demonstrates that a temporal deep learning based predictive model can achieve promising results on identifying risk of opioid overdose of patients using the history of electronic health records. It provides an alternative informatics-based approach to improving clinical decision support for possible early detection and intervention to reduce opioid overdose. Funding: This work was funded partially by the Stony Brook University OVPR Seed Grant 1158484-63845-6. Declaration of Interests: The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose. Ethics Approval Statement: All the data used in the study are de-identified, and the study is approved by Stony Brook University.
Demystifying Medico-legal Challenges of Artificial Intelligence Applications in Molecular Imaging and Therapy

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been rapidly embraced by imaging fields and offers a variety of benefits in nuclear medicine; however, the biggest hurdles to AI in health care will likely not be technological but legal. What happens when an error occurs in the AI setting? A variety of legal causes of action, ranging from medical malpractice, to notions of vicarious liability/agency to products liability may come into play in an AI-related lawsuit. Physicians working with AI need to understand these causes of action, stay abreast of legal developments in AI, and advocate for appropriate guidelines and legislation.
Friction Wear Lubrication: A Textbook in Tribology

Chapter 1. The State of Knowledge in Tribology Available Literature in Tribology Conferences on Friction, Lubrication, and Wear Held in the U.S. The Several Disciplines in the Field of Tribology The Consequences of Friction and Wear The Scope of Tribology References Chapter 2. Strength and Deformation Properties of Solids Tensile Testing (Elastic) Failure Criteria Plastic Failure (Yield Criteria) Transformation of Stress Axes and Mohr Circles Material Properties and Mohr Circles von Mises versus Mohr (Tresca) Yield Criteria Visco-Elasticity, Creep, and Stress Relaxation Damping Loss, Anelasticity, and Irreversibility Hardness Residual Stress Fatigue Fracture Toughness Applications to Tribology References Chapter 3. Adhesion and Cohesion Properties of Solids: Adsorption to Solids Atomic (Cohesive) Bonding Systems Adhesion Atomic Arrangements: Lattice Systems Dislocations, Plastic Flow, and Cleavage Adhesion Energy Adsorption and Oxidation Adsorbed Gas Films Chapter 4. Solid Surfaces Technological Surface Making Residual Stresses in Processed Surfaces Roughness of Surfaces Final Conclusions on Surface Layers References Chapter 5. Contact of Nonconforming Surfaces and Temperature Rise on Sliding Surfaces Contact Mechanics of Normal Loading Recovery Upon Unloading Adhesive Contact of Locally Contacting Bodies Area of Contact Electrical and Thermal Resistance Surface Temperature in Sliding Contact Comparison of Equations 5 through 9 Temperature Measurement References Chapter 6. Friction Classification of Frictional Contacts Early Phenomenological Observations Early Theories Development of the Adhesion Theory of Friction Limitations of the Adhesion Theory of Friction Adhesion in Friction and Wear and How it Functions Adhesion of Atoms Elastic, Plastic, and Visco-Elastic Effects in Friction Friction Influenced by Attractive Forces Between Bodies Friction Controlled by Surface Melting and Other Thin Films Rolling Resistance or Rolling Friction Friction of Compliant Materials and Structures, and of Pneumatic Tires Influence of Some Variables on General Frictional Behavior Static and Kinetic Friction Tables of Coefficient Friction Vibrations and Friction Testing Analysis of Strip Chart Data How to Use Test Data References Chapter 7. Lubrication by Inert Fluids, Greases, and Solids Fundamental Contact Condition and Solution Practical Solution Shaft Lubrication Hydrodynamics Tire Traction on Wet Roads Squeeze Film Lubrication with Grease Lubrication with Solids References Chapter 8. Wear Terminology in Wear History of Thought on Wear Main Features in the Wear of Metals, Polymers, and Ceramics Practical Design References Chapter 9. Lubricated Sliding - Chemical and Physical Effects Friction in Marginal Lubrication Wear in Marginal Lubrication Boundary Lubrication The Mechanical Aspects of Scuffing
Tumor Microenvironmental Signaling Elicits Epithelial-Mesenchymal Plasticity through Cooperation with Transforming Genetic Events

Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) facilitates the escape of epithelial cancer cells from the primary tumor site, which is a key event early in metastasis. Here, we explore how extrinsic, tumor microenvironmental cytokines cooperate with intrinsic, genetic changes to promote EMT in human mammary epithelial cells (HMECs). Viral transduction of transforming genetic events into HMECs routinely generated two distinct cell populations. One population retained epithelial characteristics, while an emergent population spontaneously acquired a mesenchymal morphology and properties associated with cancer stem cells (CSCs). Interestingly, the spontaneous mesenchymal/CSCs were unable to differentiate and lacked epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity. In contrast, exposure of the transformed HMECs retaining epithelial characteristics to exogenous transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) generated a mesenchymal/CSC population with remarkable plasticity. The TGF-β-induced mesenchymal/CSC population was dependent on the continued presence of TGF-β. Removal of TGF-β or pharmacologic or genetic inhibition of TGF-β/SMAD signaling led to the reversion of mesenchymal/CSC to epithelial/non-CSC. Our results demonstrate that targeting exogenous cytokine signaling disrupts epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity and may be an effective strategy to inhibit the emergence of circulating tumor cells. The model of epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity we describe here can be used to identify novel tumor microenvironmental factors and downstream signaling that cooperate with intrinsic genetic changes to drive metastasis. Understanding the interaction between extrinsic and intrinsic factors that regulate epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity will allow the development of new therapies that target tumor microenvironmental signals to reduce metastasis.
Gilbert and Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody by Carolyn Williams

In Gilbert and Sullivan: Gender, Genre, Parody, Carolyn Williams convincingly and engagingly supports her thesis that the comic operas of William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan evolved chronologica...
Brain Infection and Degenerative Disease Studied by Proton MRS

The sections in this article are 1 Infections 2 Degenerative Diseases 3 Acknowledgements 4 Biographical Sketches Related Articles
Ontogeny of hemoglobin in the house sparrow.

A ‘switchover’ from synthesis of predominantly embryonic hemoglobin to synthesis of predominantly adult hemoglobin occurs during differentiation of the house sparrow. This ‘switchover’ is demonstrated by a change in electrophoretic pattern generally comparable with that of the chicken, slightly different from those of the duck and man, and, perhaps, dissimilar to that of the red-wing blackbird. Differences in electrophoretic mobility show that 10-day embryos possess one hemoglobin not present in early hatchlings and two hemoglobins not present in adults. Major adult hemoglobin is synthesized by the tenth embryonic day; and minor adult hemoglobin, between the tenth embryonic day and the seventh day after hatching. The major increase in concentration of hemoglobin occurs between 2 and 11 days after hatching, a time when the two predominant embryonic and two predominant adult hemoglobins are being synthesized. The percentage of packed cells (hematocrit) also increases significantly within this period. Similarities of peptide maps for the house sparrow and other species, such as the owl, indicate the presence of α-and β-polypeptide chains in adult house sparrow hemoglobin. The shift to hemoglobins with faster anodic mobilities and the presence of a higher concentration of hemoglobin in adults than in early hatchlings suggest that this synthesis is predominantly in the β-chains.
From PET to PET/CT

In the decade since the previous edition of this chapter was written, positron emission tomography (PET), and more recently PET/computed tomography (CT), has continued to grow in prominence within the field of nuclear medicine imaging. Surveys conducted by the market research firm IVM (Greenbelt, MD) show an average annual increase of 10.4 % in the number of PET and PET/CT studies performed between 2005 and 2008 (IMV Medical Information Division. PET Market summary report. http://www.imvinfo.com/index.aspx?sec=pets only hybrid PET/CT systems were being manufactured.
Illusory-Figure Lightness: Evidence for a Two-Component Theory

Physical darkness gradients were introduced into an illusory-figure pattern which were sufficient to eliminate the illusory lightness effect otherwise seen there. Next, such a gradient was left in place along one edge of that figure while the other edges were returned to physical homogeneity with the surround. Rather surprisingly, the physical gradient still present along the unaltered edge was now overwhelmed by illusory lightness. It is argued that this anomaly suggests that illusory-figure lightness may be composed of two additive components, one of which is figure-ground contrast enhancement and the other of which is contingent upon that first component.
Directed Chromosome Loss by Laser Microirradiation

In this article I have presented data that indicate the feasibility of attaining the five objectives outlined in the introduction. It should be possible to assign genes to specific chromosome regions by (i) selective DNA deletion of a 0.25- to 0.5-µ.m segment of one or both homologous chromosomes, (ii) deletion of one or both entire homologous chromosomes, or (iii) combining cell fusion with selective deletion of whole chromosomes and then deletion of chromosome segments. By laser microirradiation it should be possible to determine which chromosomes and chromosome regions are essential for immediate cell survival by removing from individual cells whole chromosomes, and chromosome segments from each of the chromosomes in the karyotype, and then assessing the cloning efficiency of each cell. For example, we have already determined that removal of one large chromosome No. 1 from PTK2 cells does not prevent the cell from undergoing a subsequent mitosis. It should also be possible to generate new classes of mutants by damaging small selected areas of DNA with the laser beam and then cloning the irradiated cells—but this has yet to be demonstrated. This procedure might reveal recessive alleles on the nonirradiated homolog, or might result in the direct production of a genetic mutation. Irradiation of identical places on both homologous chromosomes could result in deletion of a genetic locus which ultimately might be detected as a deficiency in a metabolic pathway or some other cellular abnormality. Studies on chromosome stability and DNA constancy can be conducted with laser irradiated cells. For example, the karyotypic analysis of chromosome No. 1 suggests that a cellular mechanism exists to maintain the constancy of this chromosome in both the diploid and tetraploid cell lines. The same approach could be used with each of the chromosomes in the karyotype. Various cytochemical procedures could be used for making quantitative DNA studies of the cells, and chromosome and DNA analyses could be performed at varying times following laser microirradiation. It might also be possible to study the repair of chromosomal damage caused by laser irradiation. The cells could be examined by autoradiographic, cytochemical, and electron microscopy procedures at varying times after irradiation, and because the precise location, time, and nature of the mutational event would be known, subsequent analysis of repair and alteration would be facilitated.
Local structural change close to Tc in Nd2−xCexCuO4−y

Abstract A pair distribution function (PDF) analysis of pulsed neutron powder diffraction data has been carried out to investigate the local atomic structure of Nd 2− x Ce x CuO 4− y , x =0.165, over a range of temperatures close to T c ( T c =22 K ). Simulation of the PDFs using structural models indicate that, at all temperatures up to 50 K, the local atomic structure is significantly distorted from the T′ structure. Both 0(1) (in-plane) and 0(2) (out-of-plane) atoms are displaced from their average sites. Furthermore, we see evidence of a structural modification occurring between 25 and 40 K. Such a change is not observed in a nonsuperconducting x =0.2 sample down to 10 K, which suggests that this modification may be connected with the superconductivity.
Fireworks in the Primate Retina: In Vitro Photodynamics Reveals Diverse LGN-Projecting Ganglion Cell Types

Diverse cell types and parallel pathways are characteristic of the vertebrate nervous system, yet it remains a challenge to define the basic components of most neural structures. We describe a process termed retrograde photodynamics that allowed us to rapidly make the link between morphology, physiology, and connectivity for ganglion cells in the macaque retina that project to the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Rhodamine dextran injected into the LGN was transported retrogradely and sequestered within the cytoplasm of ganglion cell bodies. Exposure of the retina to light in vitro liberated the tracer and allowed it to diffuse throughout the dendrites, revealing the cell's complete morphology. Eight previously unknown LGN-projecting cell types were identified. Cells could also be targeted in vitro for intracellular recording and physiological analysis. The photodynamic process was also observed in pyramidal cells in a rat neocortical slice.
A compiler framework for extracting superword level parallelism

SIMD (single-instruction multiple-data) instruction set extensions are quite common today in both high performance and embedded microprocessors, and enable the exploitation of a specific type of data parallelism called SLP (Superword Level Parallelism). While prior research shows that significant performance savings are possible when SLP is exploited, placing SIMD instructions in an application code manually can be very difficult and error prone. In this paper, we propose a novel automated compiler framework for improving superword level parallelism exploitation. The key part of our framework consists of two stages: superword statement generation and data layout optimization. The first stage is our main contribution and has two phases, statement grouping and statement scheduling, of which the primary goals are to increase SIMD parallelism and, more importantly, capture more superword reuses among the superword statements through global data access and reuse pattern analysis. Further, as a complementary optimization, our data layout optimization organizes data in memory space such that the price of memory operations for SLP is minimized. The results from our compiler implementation and tests on two systems indicate performance improvements as high as 15.2% over a state-of-the-art SLP optimization algorithm.
Breaking through to remote data and services

Most large-scale applications integrate remote services and/or transactional databases. Yet building software that efficiently invokes distributed service and accesses relational databases is still quite difficult. Existing approaches to these problems are based on the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Object-Relational Mapping (ORM). RPCs have been generalized to distributed object systems with remote proxies, a kind of remote object reference. ORM tools generally support a form of query sub-language for efficient object selection. The last 20 years have produced a long litany of technologies based on these concepts, including ODBC, CORBA, DCE, DCOM, RMI, DAO, OLEDB, SQLJ, JDBC, EJB, JDO, Hibernate, XML-RPC, Web Services and LINQ. Even with these technologies, complex design patterns for service facades and/or bulk data transfers must be followed to optimize communication between client and server or client and database, leading to programs that are difficult to modify and maintain. While significant progress has been made, there is no widely accepted solution or even agreement about what the solution should look like. In this talk I present a new unified approach to invocation of distributed services and data access. The solution involves a novel control flow construct that partitions a program block into remote and local computations, while efficiently managing the communication between them. The solution does not require proxies or an embedded query language. Although the result itself is elegant and useful, what is more significant is the realization that the original problems cannot be solved using existing programming language constructs and libraries. This work calls into question our assumption that general-purpose programming languages are truly general-purpose.
Performance analysis of ultra-wideband antennas for microradar applications

This paper presents three different types of ultra-wideband (UWB) antennas for RF micro-radar applications in range of 1-3 GHz and discusses performance characteristics of each antenna. The electromagnetic radiation properties of antennas are analyzed based on their gain, bandwidth, voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR), conductivity, and form and size factors. In addition, the performance of each antenna is investigated with different feed line configuration to determine influence of feed line configuration upon the performance of each UWB antenna. The antennas were modeled using electromagnetic simulation software, FEKO. The software simulates the performance of each antenna via Method of Moment (MoM) technique that is a powerful method for analysis of electromagnetic radiation characteristics of RF antennas. This paper presents the simulation-based performance comparison of the three selected UWB antennas under the same operational bandwidth.
The biolistic® PDS-1000/he device

This paper describes the design, operation, and performance of the Biolistic® PDS-1000/He device, which is used to transform living organisms with foreign DNA. DNA is delivered to cells in association with microscopic metal particles, called microcarriers, that are propelled at high velocity towards target tissues. The microcarriers are accelerated on a plastic cylinder, called a macrocarrier, which is driven by a shock wave of helium gas. The effectiveness of the PDS-1000/He device was tested by bombarding tobacco cell suspension cultures with microcarriers that were coated with plasmid DNA containing the B-glucuronidase (GUS) and neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPTII) genes. Two days after bombardment, there were 6835 ± 594 cell clusters per petri plate that expressed the GUS gene. Kanamycin resistant colonies were observed 6 to 8 weeks after bombardment, at a rate of 838 ± 134 colonies per bombarded plate.
Dynamic modelling of Stirling cryorefrigerator

Abstract A dynamic model describing the dynamics, fluid dynamics and thermodynamics of a Stirling cryorefrigerator has been developed. The approach presented in this paper was to divide the system into several control volumes and develop a system of dynamic equations that model the gas flow from one volume to another. The displacer motion was modelled as a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) forced system. The non-linear system of differential equations is solved by numerical integration routines that use the Adams-Moulton method with an adaptive integration step. The algorithm is illustrated through an example. The effect of several system parameters on the system's overall performance was evaluated. The study included a parametric analysis of the input pressure ratio, the friction factor of the regenerator, the sliding friction and the sticking friction of the displacer. The results presented clearly show the effect of each parameter on the system's capacity and motion characteristics. A sticking friction value is determined at which the displacer halts, resulting in a zero cryocooler capacity. The phenomenon of non-centred displacer motion was investigated in more detail. A solution to the problem is proposed and demonstrated through an example, where centred displacer motion is achieved by a simple system modification of the void volume of the spring chamber.
Pulsed EPR studies of copper proteins

For more than 30 years, continuous wave EPR spectroscopy has been used to characterize active site structures of paramagnetic metalloproteins. For some metal centers, attempts to identity metal ligands from correlative information derived from EPR investigations of model compounds 1–5 constitutes some of the earliest examples of how bioinorganic chemistry can be used to mimic physical properties of metal-containing biomolecules.
BIOSOCIAL BASES OF REACTIVE AND PROACTIVE AGGRESSION: THE ROLES OF COMMUNITY VIOLENCE EXPOSURE AND HEART RATE

In order to more fully understand how individual differences influence adaptation to violence, this study examined the moderating influence of resting heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) between community violence (CV) exposure and child reactive/proactive aggression. Forty 7-13-year-old community children self-reported CV exposure (i.e., victimization, witnessing, or hearing about violence) and were assessed for resting HR and HRV. Parents rated them on reactive/proactive aggression. CV victimization was positively related to proactive aggression only in conditions of low HR, and witnessed CV was positively related to reactive aggression only in conditions of high HRV. Main effects were not found for CV exposure or psychophysiological functioning, suggesting the importance of their interaction. Findings are discussed in terms of HR under-arousal, emotion dysregulation, fearlessness, and behavioral disinhibition as components that can increase aggression in response to violent contexts. Findings support a biosocial basis for childhood aggression and have implications for prevention and treatment. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Diagnostic accuracy of chromogranin A and calcitonin precursors measurements for the discrimination of ectopic ACTH secretion from Cushing's disease.

Context: Inferior petrosal sinus sampling (IPSS) best discriminates between the two causes of ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome, Cushing’s disease (CD) and ectopic ACTH secretion (EAS). However, when sampling is not available, adjunctive diagnostic tests might be helpful. Neuroendocrine tumors may secrete chromogranin A (CgA), calcitonin (CT), procalcitonin (ProCT), a fragment of the amino terminus of procalcitonin (NProCT), and/or ACTH. Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the ability of serum CgA, CT, ProCT, or NProCT values to distinguish CD from EAS. Design and Setting: We conducted a prospective pilot study at a clinical research center. Subjects and Methods: Serum ProCT, NProCT, and CgA were measured in six patients with occult EAS diagnosed by IPSS, 25 CD patients, and 11 patients with histologically proven EAS. Results: Nine EAS patients (53%) had at least one value above the reference range, including CgA alone (n = 4), ProCT alone (n = 3), CgA and ProCT (n = 1), and NProCT and ProCT (n = 1). Of nine (36%) CD patients with one or two abnormal values, seven had increased ProCT only, one had increased NProCT only, and one had increased CgA and ProCT. CgA had a positive predictive value of 83% and a negative predictive value of 70% for the diagnosis of EAS; other markers showed less discrimination. On pituitary magnetic resonance imaging, no EAS patient had an abnormality, whereas 21 of 25 patients with CD had a mass. Conclusion: These preliminary results suggest that an abnormal CgA and normal pituitary magnetic resonance imaging favor the diagnosis of EAS, but normal tumor markers do not exclude the diagnosis.
Wingless Signaling at Synapses Is Through Cleavage and Nuclear Import of Receptor DFrizzled2

Wingless secretion provides pivotal signals during development by activating transcription of target genes. At Drosophila synapses, Wingless is secreted from presynaptic terminals and is required for synaptic growth and differentiation. Wingless binds the seven-pass transmembrane DFrizzled2 receptor, but the ensuing events at synapses are not known. We show that DFrizzled2 is endocytosed from the postsynaptic membrane and transported to the nucleus. The C terminus of DFrizzled2 is cleaved and translocated into the nucleus; the N-terminal region remains just outside the nucleus. Translocation of DFrizzled2-C into the nucleus, but not its cleavage and transport, depends on Wingless signaling. We conclude that, at synapses, Wingless signal transduction occurs through the nuclear localization of DFrizzled2-C for potential transcriptional regulation of synapse development.
Prenatal Diagnosis of Spontaneous Bladder Rupture in a Female Fetus

Spontaneous bladder rupture is a rare condition, with diagnosis more rare in the prenatal than postnatal period. To our knowledge, there have been 7 cases of prenatally diagnosed bladder ruptures and all have been males. We report the first case of prenatal diagnosis of spontaneous bladder rupture in a female fetus. After a primary Cesarean-section birth, a tear in the newborn infant bladder dome was identified and repaired in 2 layers. The cause of the bladder rupture remains unknown.
Evidence for a second chemotactic system in the cellular slime mold, Polysphondylium.

Abstract An unidentified substance(s) in a commercial guanosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphoric acid (cyclic 3′,5′-GMP) preparation is effective in attracting the aggregating amoebae of the cellular slime mold, Polysphondylium pallidum . Bacterial extracts ( Escherichia coli ) and amoeba extracts ( P. pallidum ) attract both vegetative and aggregating amoebae. A crude enzyme preparation from amoebae is capable of reducing the chemotactic activity of the extracts on aggregating amoebae and eliminating the activity of the unknown substance in the commercial cyclic 3′,5′-GMP preparation. As only the extracts were shown to contain folic acid, and since the enzyme does not reduce folic acid activity, it is suggested that the extracts contain a factor (possibly folic acid) primarily active on vegetative amoebae and an acrasin. The commercial cyclic 3′,5′-GMP preparation contains only an acrasin. The acrasin is heat stable and nondialyzable.
The economic burden placed on healthcare systems by childhood obesity

The obesity epidemic has transformed children's healthcare, such that diabetes, hypertension and the metabolic syndrome are phrases more commonly used by child health providers than ever before. This article reviews the economic consequences of this epidemic for healthcare delivery systems, both in the short term when obesity has been associated with increased utilization, and in the long term where increased likelihood of adult obesity and cardiovascular disease is well documented. Large investments through research and prevention are needed and are likely to provide strong returns in cost savings, and would optimally emerge through a cooperative effort between private and government payers alike.
Existential threats to Israel: learning from the ancient past

Israel is one of the only countries whose existence is openly called into question. There are a number of contemporary threats that could bring an end to Israel as a Jewish democracy. They include ‘hard’ threats of nuclear destruction and conventional invasion and ‘soft’ threats of an emerging Arab majority and elite actions to end Israel either as a Jewish state or as a democratic state. Israeli policymakers can learn how to cope with these threats by examining how Israel was destroyed in ancient times. Israel's destruction at the hands of the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans reinforces Realist lessons for contemporary Israel. They include the dangers of relying on outside allies for support, the need to prevent adversaries from gaining the capability to destroy you, the risks of an unfavourable demographic balance, and how internal conflict can bring about one's demise. Although appeasement proved to be the preferred policy for some of Israel's ancient forebears, the total threat posed by some of mode...
Studying Rare Events Through Qualitative Case Studies Lessons from a Study of Rampage School Shootings

This article considers five methodological challenges in studying rare events such as school shootings. Drawing on the literature on causal analysis in macro-historical and other small-N research, it outlines strategies for studying school shootings using qualitative case studies and illustrates these strategies using data from case studies of two rampage school shootings: Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky, and Westside Middle School outside Jonesboro, Arkansas. Strengths and limitations are discussed as well as lessons for studying rare events.
Simplifying the complexity of diffusion flames through interpretation in C/O ratio space

Abstract Understanding the structure of diffusion flames is often complicated by the dependence of flame structure on the boundary conditions, e.g. composition, temperature and flow field (e.g., strain rate in a counterflow flame.) In this paper, the local carbon-to-oxygen atom ratio (C/O ratio) is applied as a variable to interpret the flame and soot zone structures of counterflow diffusion flames from numerical results with detailed chemical kinetics and transport. Radical pool and soot precursor zones are shown to be clearly delineated in C/O ratio space. The boundary of these two zones, as well as the flame location, are shown to be independent of both stoichiometric mixture fraction ( Z s t ) and strain rate when interpreted in C/O space. The kinetic ratio is used to study the characteristics of key chemical reactions and to identify regions of equilibrium for these reactions. The results of this paper indicate that the C/O ratio is a valuable variable for interpreting flame structure and soot precursor chemistry for diffusion flames.
Substrate heating rates for planar and cylindrical-post magnetron sputtering sources

Results are presented for the substrate heating energy/atom required in the planar magnetron sputtering of Al, Cr, Ni, Cu, Mo, In, Ta, W, and Pt in Ar, as well as Al and Cr in O2. Data are also obtained for cylindrical magnetron sputtering of Nb, Ag, Ta, W, and Pb-Sn in Ar, and Mo sputtered in Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe. Planar and cylindrical magnetron heating rates were comparable. Special experiments were conducted to examine the contributions to substrate heating of plasma species and ion neutralization and reflection at the cathode; the results obtained indicate that charged plasma species do not significantly contribute to the heating, but that neutralized and reflected ions play a significant role in the planar as well as cylindrical cases despite the differences in cathode geometry.
Efficacy of Porcine Versus Bovine Surfactants for Preterm Newborns With Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of a porcine surfactant (poractant alfa) versus bovine surfactants (beractant and calfactant) with respect to clinical outcomes among preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome. METHODS: A search of major electronic databases, including Medline (1980–2010) and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, for randomized controlled trials that compared poractant alfa versus beractant and/or calfactant among preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome who required intubation and surfactant treatment was performed. The primary outcome was oxygen requirement at a postmenstrual age of 36 weeks. RESULTS: Five randomized controlled trials involving 529 infants compared poractant alfa versus beractant for rescue treatment. No trials studied surfactant prophylaxis, and none compared poractant alfa versus calfactant. The incidences of oxygen dependence at a postmenstrual age of 36 weeks were similar for poractant alfa and beractant. Infants treated with poractant alfa at 100 mg/kg (low dose) or 200 mg/kg (high dose) exhibited statistically significant reductions in deaths (relative risk: 0.51 [95% confidence interval: 0.30–0.89]), the need for redosing (relative risk: 0.71 [95% confidence interval: 0.57–0.88]), oxygen requirements, duration of oxygen treatment, and duration of mechanical ventilation. The test of heterogeneity yielded positive results for the latter 2 outcomes. The difference remained statistically significant for deaths and the need for redosing with high-dose poractant alfa but not for low dose poractant alfa. CONCLUSIONS: There were significant reductions in deaths and the need for redosing with high-dose poractant alfa but not low-dose poractant alfa, compared with beractant.
The relationship of sexual attitudes, attitudes about women, and racial attitudes in white males

A questionnaire measuring sexual attitudes, attitudes about women, and racial attitudes was administered to 350 White male college students. Sexual attitudes characterized by sexual guilt, emphasis on personal and social control of sexual expression, and depersonalization of sex were significantly positively correlated (p<.001) with attitudes that typified women in terms of traditional “masculine—feminine” stereotypes and “good” (nonsexual)—“bad” (sexual) dichotomies. These stereotyped and dichotomous attitudes about women and constricted and depersonalized sexual attitudes were both significantly positively correlated (p<.001) with negative racial attitudes. The implications of these results and other research suggested by this investigation are discussed.
Magnetic scan head for high-frequency recording

A stationary magnetic head scans the width of a record magnetically, enabling successive lines of video information to be recorded on a slowly moving tape. The head contains a large number of laminations. All except one of these are blocked from transducing action with the tape by currents through sweep windings. As the sweep currents are changed, every lamination becomes active in succession. For playback, such a head operates on a magnetic-modulator principle which is sensitive to flux rather than to its rate-of-change.
The interface vibrational contribution to the thermodynamic functions of the system of liquid and solid separated by a planar interface

We study theoretically the interface vibrational contribution to thermodynamic properties of a system of solid and liquid in contact across a planar interface. We express thermodynamic quantities such as the free energy and specific heat in terms of the interface density of vibrational states. We derive a simple analytic expression for this function in terms of the static Green's tensor of the system. In order to calculate the free energy, we modify the Debye model to apply it to the interface problem. We also obtain the dynamical Green's tensor for the system of liquid and solid separated by a planar interface.
Inelastic scattering of fast electrons in clusters of small spheres

Abstract The inelastic scattering of fast electrons in ≈ 10 nm diameter aluminum spheres has been observed using 1 nm diameter probes of 100 keV electrons. Contrary to expectations, significant bulk scattering occurs even in spheres with 5 nm diameters. Furthermore, the bulk inelastic scattering probability displays an oscillating dependence on the sphere diameter, depending strongly on the spatial frequency content of the incoming electron probe. The surface plasmon scattering has been obtained as a function of impact parameter for single spheres, for clusters of spheres, and for a flat surface to guide the theoretical understanding. The scattering probability corresponds closely to the expected behavior predicted by simple electrostatic boundary-value calculations. Anomalously high scattering very close to the surface (
Droplet and Bubble Dynamics in Saturated FC-72 Spray Cooling on a Smooth Surface

Droplet and bubble dynamics and nucleate heat transfer in saturated FC-72 spray cooling were studied using a simulation model. The spray cooling system simulated consists of three droplet fluxes impinging on a smooth heater, where secondary nuclei outnumber the surface nuclei. Using the experimentally observed bubble growth rate on a smooth diamond heater, submodels were assumed based on physical reasoning for the number of secondary nuclei entrained by the impinging droplets, bubble puncturing by the impinging droplets, bubble merging, and the spatial distribution of secondary nuclei. The predicted nucleate heat transfer was in agreement with experimental findings. Dynamic aspects of the droplets and bubbles, which had been difficult to observe experimentally and their ability in enhancing nucleate heat transfer were then discussed based on the results of the simulation. These aspects include bubble merging, bubble puncturing by impinging droplets, secondary nucleation, bubble size distribution, and bubble diameter at puncture. Simply increasing the number of secondary nuclei is not as effective in enhancing nucleate heat transfer as when it is also combined with increased bubble puncturing frequency by the impinging droplets. For heat transfer enhancement, it is desirable to have as many small bubbles and as high a bubble density as possible.
Shock-Free Wing Design

A simple numerical method for generating wing shapes that will be shock free at a specified supercritical Mach number is described. The method involves using a fictitious gas law for the supersonic domain to make the governing equations elliptic. Requirements on this gas law are detailed and a method for computing the real flow in the supersonic domain, given initial data on the embedded sonic surface, is described. The failure of the method to yield a shock-free flow when a limit surface occurs in the supersonic flow, and the difficulties that arise because the initial-value problem for the supersonic domain is ill-posed, are delineated. Finally, a small perturbation algorithm is used to illustrate the procedure and results are given for a simple baseline wing. NCREASED fuel efficiency, and in the case of commercial aircraft, productivity, can be achieved by operating aircraft at supercritical Mach numbers, provided that shock waves can be avoided or made acceptably weak. Two-dimensional procedures for prescribing airfoil sections that are shock free have already provided improvements in aircraft efficiency by employing these airfoils on swept wings. Three-dimensional effects have compromised such designs to some extent, and extensive wind tunnel development tests have been required to recapture the benefits of these "supercritical airfoils." Sobieczky et al. l demonstrated a method of modifying baseline configurations so that they would be shock free at a prescribed Mach number and lift coefficient. This procedure provides a special opportunity for improving aircraft per- formance through a careful selection of the baseline con- figuration in order to provide wings and wing-body com- binations that are shock free at supercritical Mach numbers, and that have acceptable off-design performance. Yu2 and Yu and Rubbert3 have also documented that this procedure is possible and demonstrated its application. As was first described by Sobieczky,4 a numerical algorithm is used to solve a fictitious set of equations for the flow past the baseline configuration. These equations are identical to the correct equations for subsonic portions of the flow, but they are modified when the flow becomes super- sonic, so that even though the flow speed is larger than the local speed of sound the equations themselves remain elliptic. This procedure generates a numerical solution that satisfies the appropriate equations where the flow is subsonic, and the appropriate boundary conditions on the configuration outside of the supersonic zone. The results of this calculation provide the flowfield at the sonic surface. This surface and flowfield define an ill-posed initial value problem for the supersonic domain that is to be solved using the correct equations. Because this problem is ill-posed in three dimensions any numerical method must, in principle, be unstable. This in- stability, however, is of no consequence for moderate to high aspect ratios. However, if the detailed definition of the spanwise modifications required to make the wing shock free
A study on neural networks

The Hopfield neural network is a mathematical model in which each neuron performs a threshold logic function. an important property of the model is that a neural network always converges to a stable state when operating in a serial mode. This property is the basis of potential applications of neural networks such as associative memory devices, computational models, etc. This article reviews some of the known properties of the model and presents some new results regarding its possible applications. the principal contributions which are developed in this article are: (1) Showing that a very large class of mappings are not feasible by neural nets, in particular mappings which contain spheres, e.g., Hamming codes. (2) Showing that the neural network model can be designed to perform a local search algorithm for the Directed Min Cut problem. (3) Exploring the term “capacity of the neural network model” and criticizing some results known in the literature. (4) Showing the limitations of the model for its use as a pattern recognizer by proving that all images with a single black point can be recognized by the network iff the network is fully connected.
Assessment of nutritional components in prolongation of life and health by diet

Restricting the food intake of rodents extends the median length of life and the maximum life-span. It also retards most age-associated physiologic change and age-associated diseases. Our research indicates that the ability to retard disease processes is not the major reason for the extension of life-span or for the retardation of age change in most physiologic systems. Rather, it appears that most of the actions of food restriction are due to its ability to slow the primary aging processes. We found this action to relate to the restriction of calories rather than specific nutrients (e.g., protein or fat or minerals). Our findings point to the reduction in caloric intake per rat rather than per gram lean body mass as the basis of the retardation of aging processes by food restriction. The challenge is to learn how caloric intake per rat is coupled to the aging processes. We are currently focusing on the possibility that neural and endocrine mechanisms are involved. Our preliminary findings point to the likelihood of an involvement of the insulin-glucose system.
Flexible Model for Time'Cost Tradeoff Problem

This paper presents a flexible mixed integer-programming model for the solution of the time/cost tradeoff problem encountered in project management. Whereas it is commonly assumed that the time/cos...
Comparison of the Ultracentrifuge Method for Molecular Weight Determination with the Classical Methods

UP to the present there has been scant possibility for a direct comparison between the ordinary methods for the determination of molecular weights of substances in solution and the recently developed ultracentrifuge method. In fact, Adair's refined osmotic pressure measurements on haemoglobin,1 giving a value (66,000) that compares favourably with the ultracentrifuge value of 68,000,2 provided the only independent data. It was therefore thought desirable to attempt a comparison on a substance of sufficiently low molecular weight to give fairly trustworthy results with the ordinary methods of boiling-point elevation or freezing-point lowering.
Reason in economics versus ethics

Examines how the different concepts of rationality have been used (and confused) by economists who have followed modern philosophers′ understanding of human reason. Offers a philosophical discussion as a means to understanding rationality and its incumbent problems of interpretation.