cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Near Exogeneity and Weak Identification in Generalized Empirical Likelihood Estimators: Fixed and Many Moment Asymptotics

This paper analyzes near exogeneity and weak identification in Generalized Empirical Likelihood Estimators. Near exogeneity and weak identification are related to the exogeneity and relevance of the instruments, respectively. These two issues are important from an applied perspective, such as empirical growth theory and labor economics. In the case of empirical growth and institutional economics literature a small number of moments/instruments are used in studies. First, we analyze the limit behavior of estimators and tests under fixed number of weak moments and near exogeneity. We show that Anderson-Rubin (1949) and Kleibergen (2002) type of tests' limits change when there is small correlation between the instruments and the structural equation error. The new limits are obtained under the null hypothesis at the true vale of the parameter. The test statistics are no longer asymptotically pivotal in the joint case of near exogeneity and weak instruments compared to the weak identification case. We also show that when used with the x2 critical values, which are not valid in the case of near exogeneity and weak instruments, the tests show very large size distortions. This is an important warning to applied researchers who may use these tests without taking into account the near exogeneity problem. We try subsampling and delete-d jackknife methods to recover asymptotic limits. Both of these methods are inconsistent. However, we show that the asymptotic limit of delete-d jackknife is arbitrarily close to true limit and only slightly liberal. In simulations, exponential tilting based tests with delete-d jackknife method have good size compared to the others. Then we develop the limits of estimators and tests under many weak moments with near exogeneity. The results are different from the fixed moments case. Estimators are consistent, and test limits are simple, noncentral x2.
Contribution of Human Prefrontal Cortex to Delay Performance

Neurological patients with focal lesions in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and age-matched control subjects were tested on an auditory version of the delayed-match-to-sample task employing environmental sounds.Subjects had to indicate whether a cue (S1) and a subsequent target sound (S2) were identical. On some trials, S1 and S2 were separated by a silent period of 5 sec. On other trials,the 5-sec delay between S1 and S2 was filled with irrelevant tone pips that served as distractors. Behaviorally,frontal patients were impaired by the presence of distractors.Electrophysiologically,patients generated enhanced primary auditory cortex-evoked responses to the tone pips, supporting a failure in inhibitory control of sensory processing after prefrontal damage. Intrahemispheric reductions of neural activity generated in the auditory association cortex and additional intrahemispheric reductions of attention-related frontal activity were also observed in the prefrontal patients.Together, these findings suggest that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is crucial for gating distracting information as well as maintaining distributed intrahemispheric neural activity during auditory working memory.
Identification of a novel sulfonated oxysterol, 5-cholesten-3β,25-diol 3-sulfonate, in hepatocyte nuclei and mitochondria

This study reports the discovery of a novel sulfonated oxysterol found at high levels in the mitochondria and nuclei of primary rat hepatocytes after overexpression of the gene encoding steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StarD1). Forty-eight hours after infection of primary rat hepatocytes with recombinant adenovirus encoding StarD1, rates of bile acid synthesis increased by 4-fold. Concurrently, [(14)C]cholesterol metabolites (oxysterols) were increased dramatically in both the mitochondria and nuclei of StarD1-overexpressing cells, but not in culture medium. A water-soluble [(14)C]oxysterol product was isolated and purified by chemical extraction and reverse-phase HPLC. Enzymatic digestion, HPLC, and tandem mass spectrometry analysis identified the water-soluble oxysterol as 5-cholesten-3beta,25-diol 3-sulfonate. Further experiments detected this cholesterol metabolite in the nuclei of normal human liver tissues. Based upon these observations, we hypothesized a new pathway by which cholesterol is metabolized in the mitochondrion.
Translational regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor expression in renal epithelial cells by angiotensin II.

ANG II regulates growth factor expression in the kidney. We investigated whether ANG II regulated vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) synthesis in proximal tubular epithelial (MCT) cells. ANG...
Knowledge-based scheduling analysis software for highway rehabilitation and reconstruction projects

Most of California's highway infrastructure was built between 1955 and 1970. These pavements had 20-year design lives, and many now require frequent maintenance. In 1998, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) launched the Long-Life Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies (LLPRS) program to rebuild approximately 2,800 lane kilometers of high-traffic-volume urban freeway in the 78,000-lane kilometer state highway network over a 10-year period. Priorities identified for the successful implementation of LLPRS projects are the selection of construction schedules and the development of traffic management plans that minimize road user and agency costs. This paper presents a construction simulation program called CA4PRS (Construction Analysis for Pavement Rehabilitation Strategies). The program was developed as a scheduling and production analysis tool for LLPRS projects for use during the planning and design stages. CA4PRS estimates the optimized distance and duration of highway rehabilitation projec...
Effects of harmful algal blooms on competitors: Allelopathic mechanisms of the red tide dinoflagellate Karenia brevis

Because competitive interactions may have led to adaptations enabling bloom-forming phytoplankton to dominate pelagic communities, we explored the allelopathic effects of one red tide dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis, on competing phytoplankton species. Exposure to waterborne compounds from natural K. brevis blooms resulted in growth inhibition or death for four of five co-occurring species tested, whereas compounds exuded by K. brevis cultures suppressed three of these same competitors (the diatoms Asterionellopsis glacialis and Skeletonema costatum and the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum) plus one additional species (the dinoflagellate Akashiwo cf. sanguinea) that was unaffected by bloom exudates. K. brevis exudates lowered photosynthetic efficiency and damaged cell membranes of competing phytoplankton, but had no effect on competitor esterase activity, nor did they limit competitor access to iron. Overall, during blooms, K. brevis exudes potent allelopathic compounds, competitors vary in their susceptibility to K. brevis allelopathy, and K. brevis may achieve nearly monospecific blooms by lowering the photosynthetic efficiency of competitor species and increasing competitor membrane permeability, eventually resulting in competitor growth suppression or death.
Diffusion MRI properties of the human uncinate fasciculus correlate with the ability to learn visual associations.

Abstract The uncinate fasciculus (UF) is a cortico–cortico white matter pathway that links the anterior temporal and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In the monkey, transection of the UF causes significant impairments in learning conditional visual–visual associations, while object discrimination remains intact, suggesting an important role for the UF in mediating the learning of complex visual associations. Whether this functional role extends to the human UF has not been tested directly. Here, we used diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and behavioral experiments to examine the relation between learning visual associations and the structural properties of the human UF. In a group of healthy adults, we segmented the UF and the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) and derived dMRI measures of the structural properties of the two pathways. We also used a behavioral experiment adapted from the monkey studies to characterize the ability of these individuals to learn to associate a person's face with a group of specific scenes (conditional visual–visual association). We then tested whether the variability in the dMRI measures of the two pathways correlated with variability in the ability to rapidly learn the face–place associations. Our study suggests that in the human, the left UF may be important for mediating the rapid learning of conditional visual–visual associations whereas the right UF may play an important role in the immediate retrieval of visual–visual associations. These results provide preliminary evidence suggesting similarities and differences in the functional role of the UF in monkeys compared to humans. The findings presented here contribute to our understanding of the functional role of the UF in humans and the functional neuroanatomy of the brain networks involved in visual cognition.
Using semantic networks to counter cyber threats

Intrusion detection is one of the most challenging tasks and of highest priority in the cyber security field; however, traditional intrusion detection techniques often fail to handle the complex and uncertain network attack correlation tasks. We propose the usage of semantic networks that build relationships among network attacks and assist in automatically identifying and predicting related attacks. Also, our method can increase the precision in detecting probable attacks. Experimental results show that our Semantic Network using the Anderberg similarity measure performs better in terms of precision and recall compared to existing correlation approaches in the cyber security domain. Specifically, our contributions are as follows: (1) We automatically construct a first mode Semantic Network from characterizing features of network attacks using similarity. (2) The first mode semantic network is calibrated by adding external semantic rules provided by domain experts, in order to generate a more adaptable second mode semantic network. (3) We evaluated the prediction capability of the semantic networks by experimenting with various similarity measures including Anderberg, Jaccard, Simple Matching and traditional correlation coefficients; we discovered that the “Anderberg” similarity coefficients outperform all other tested similarity measures in terms of precision and recall.
Correlation between potency of calmodulin inhibitors and effects on cellular levels and cytotoxic activity of Doxorubicin (Adriamycin) in resistant P388 mouse leukemia cells

Abstract The relationship between potency of phenothiazine and naphthalene-sulfonamide calmodulin inhibitors and their effects on cellular levels and cytotoxic activity of doxorubicin was evaluated using the doxorubicin-sensitive and >100-fold doxorubicin-resistant P388 mouse leukemia model system. In cytotoxicity studies using cell counts based on proliferation following a 24-hr drug exposure and in survival based on colony formation in soft-agar after a 2-hr drug exposure, the calmodulin inhibitors significantly enhanced the cytotoxic effects of doxorubicin in the resistant but not parent-sensitive P388 cells. However, survival in soft-agar (based on colony formation) following long-term drug exposure (∼120 hr ) revealed that the cytotoxic effects of doxorubicin were significantly increased by the calmodulin inhibitors in both sensitive and resistant P388 cells. Laser flow cytometry studies on single-cell doxorubicin levels indicated that treatment with doxorubicin in the presence of trifluoperazine had no effect on drug levels in sensitive cells but significantly enhanced cellular accumulation and retention of doxorubicin in resistant cells. Furthermore, unlike treatment with doxorubicin alone, in the presence of trifluoperazine, heterogeneity in cellular drug levels in the resistant P388 cells was not observed. Among the various calmodulin inhibitors effective in enhancing cellular levels and cytotoxic effects of doxorubicin in the resistant P388 cells, chlorpromazine was approximately two-fold less potent than trifluoperazine or prochlorperazine and only N -(4-aminobutyl)-5-chloro-2-naphthalenesulfonamide but not N -(4-aminobutyl)-2-naphthalenesulfonamide was active.
New applications and technology scaling driving next generation A/D converters

Recent trends for A/D converters are here presented. New applications and technology scaling are the main driving forces on next generation ADCs. Adaptive ADCs and ultra-low power ADCs are motivated by new demanding specifications. Technology scaling stimulates the time-domain versus voltage-domain ADCs. Furthermore, various techniques to eliminate the power hungry opamps are in progress.
Intervening in gun markets: an experiment to assess the impact of targeted gun-law messaging

The objective of this study was to assess whether targeting new gun buyers with a public safety message aimed at improving gun law awareness can modify gun purchasers’ behaviors. Between May 2007 and September 2008, 2,120 guns were purchased in two target neighborhoods of the City of Los Angeles. Starting in August 2007, gun buyers initiating transactions on odd-numbered days received a letter signed by prominent law enforcement officials, indicating that law enforcement had a record of their gun purchase and that the gun buyer should properly record future transfers of the gun. The letters arrived during buyers’ 10-day waiting periods, before they could legally return to the store to collect their new gun. Subsequent gun records were extracted to assess the letter’s effect on legal secondary sales, reports of stolen guns, and recovery of the gun in a crime. An intent-to-treat analysis was also conducted as a sensitivity check to remedy a lapse in the letter program between May and August 2007. The letter appears to have no effect on the legal transfer rate or on the short-term rate of guns subsequently turning up in a crime. However, we found that the rate at which guns are reported stolen for those who received the letter is more than twice the rate for those who did not receive the letter (p value = 0.01). Those receiving the letter reported their gun stolen at a rate of 18 guns per 1,000 gun-years and those not receiving the letter reported their gun stolen at a rate of 7 guns per 1,000 gun-years. Of those receiving the letter, 1.9% reported their gun stolen during the study period compared to 1.0% for those who did not receive the letter. The percentage of guns reported stolen in these neighborhoods is high, indicating a high rate of true gun theft, a regular practice of using stolen-gun reports to separate the gun buyer from future misuse of the gun, or some blend of both. Simple, targeted gun law awareness campaigns can modify new gun buyers’ behaviors. Additional follow-up or modifications to this initiative might be needed to impact the rate at which guns enter the illegal gun market and ultimately are recovered in crimes.
Precision spectroscopy of trapped highly charged heavy elements: pushing the limits of theory and experiment

Atomic spectroscopy results from the electron beam ion trap at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have generally agreed with the predictions of theory extremely well. An interesting exception is our recent result on the helium isoelectronic sequence at Z = 22, which agrees instead with a meta-analysis of all prior measurements above Z = 15, but disagrees with both theory and a contemporaneous report of an independent measurement at Z = 18 which claims to validate theory to high accuracy. Here, a potential systematic shift involving high-n satellite lines induced by double charge exchange is quantitatively estimated and shown to be potentially significant in experiments involving gasses. Suggestions for further refinements in estimating the magnitude of this systematic shift are given.
A 600 $\mu$ W BAW-Tuned Quadrature VCO Using Source Degenerated Coupling

A bulk-acoustic wave (BAW)-tuned quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (BQVCO) designed in 0.13 mum CMOS is presented. The BQVCO operates at 2.1 GHz, with a power consumption of 600 muW at a 1 V supply. The oscillator achieves a phase noise of -143.5 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset with a figure of merit (FOM) of 212.1 dB. A new time-varying source degeneration coupling mechanism has been used to quadrature-couple the two oscillator cores for I/Q signal generation, reducing the required headroom of the series coupling transistors. A binary weighted capacitor array is designed for fine frequency tuning of the QVCO. For comparison, an identical QVCO with on-chip LC tank is fabricated, achieving a FOM of 179.7 dB.
Moving spectroelectrochemical cell for surface Raman spectroscopy

The construction of a moving spectroelectrochemical cell for surface Raman spectroscopy is described. Spectral distortions due to the photodegradation of the surface-bound species are reduced significantly, permitting the use of a higher incident laser power to enhance the Raman signal. The performance of the cell is demonstrated with the surface-enhanced resonance Raman spectra from the protein cytochrome P450cam (CYP101) adsorbed on a silver electrode. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Coronary atherosclerosis and its effect on cardiac structure and function: evaluation by electron beam computed tomography

Coronary artery disease affects millions of Americans annually. In evaluating coronary artery disease, it is important to develop diagnostic methodology that can screen patients before the onset of symptoms or cardiac events and, in addition, evaluate the functional aspects of coronary artery disease, including any residual effects on the heart after events have occurred. Electron beam computed tomography allows the identification of coronary calcium, which is a marker for coronary atherosclerotic disease, and also allows the quantification of cardiac function, which may be altered from coronary atherosclerosis or the occurrence of a cardiac event. Thus, electron beam computed tomographic imaging is having a major impact on the diagnosis and follow-up on coronary artery disease.
Longitudinal changes in airway remodeling and air trapping in severe asthma.

Rationale and Objectives Previous cross-sectional studies have demonstrated that airway wall thickness and air trapping are greater in subjects with severe asthma than in those with mild-to-moderate asthma. However, a better understanding of how airway remodeling and lung density change over time is needed. This study aimed to evaluate predictors of airway wall remodeling and change in lung function and lung density over time in severe asthma. Materials and methods Phenotypic characterization and quantitative multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT) of the chest were performed at baseline and ∼2.6 years later in 38 participants with asthma (severe n = 24 and mild-to-moderate n = 14) and nine normal controls from the Severe Asthma Research Program. Results Subjects with severe asthma had a significant decline in postbronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 second percent (FEV 1 %) predicted over time ( P P P P = .030 and .009, respectively) with no change in emphysema-like lung or air trapping. Baseline prebronchodilator FEV 1 % inversely correlated with WA% and WT% (both P Conclusions Severe asthma subjects have a greater decline in lung function over time than normal subjects or those with mild-to-moderate asthma. MDCT provides a noninvasive measure of airway wall thickness that may predict subsequent airway remodeling.
Heterogeneities in ICC Ca2+ Activity Within Canine Large Intestine

Background & Aims In human and canine colon, both slow (slow waves, 2–8/min) and fast (myenteric potential oscillations [MPOs]; 16–20/min) electrical rhythms in the smooth muscle originate at the submucosal and myenteric borders, respectively. We used Ca 2+ imaging to investigate whether interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs) at these borders generated distinct rhythms. Methods Segments of canine colon were pinned with submucosal or myenteric surface uppermost or cut in cross section. Tissues were loaded with a Ca 2+ indicator (fluo-4), and activity was monitored at 36.5 ± 0.5°C using an electron multiplying charge coupled device (EMCCD). Results Rhythmic, biphasic Ca 2+ transients (5–8/min), similar in waveform to electrical slow waves, propagated without decrement as a wave front (2–5 mm/s) through the ICC-SM network lying along the submucosal surface of the circular muscle (CM). In contrast, rhythmic intracellular Ca 2+ waves (∼16/min) and spontaneous reductions in Ca 2+ were observed in ICCs at the myenteric border (ICC-MY). Normally, intracellular Ca 2+ waves were unsynchronized between adjacent ICC-MY, although excitatory nerve activity synchronized activity. In addition, spontaneous reductions in Ca 2+ were observed that inhibited Ca 2+ waves. Nω-nitro-L-arginine (100 μmol/L; nitric oxide antagonist) blocked the reductions in Ca 2+ and increased the frequency (∼19/min) of intracellular Ca 2+ waves within ICC-MY. Conclusions ICC-SMs form a tightly coupled network that is able to generate and propagate slow waves. In contrast, Ca 2+ transients in ICC-MYs, which are normally not synchronized, have a similar duration and frequency as MPOs. Like MPOs, their activity is inhibited by nitrergic nerves and synchronized by excitatory nerves.
Acetyl-L-Carnitine in Mood, Aging, and Disease

Acetyl-L-carnitine (ALCAR) is an acetyl derivative of carnitine, an endogenous molecule biosynthesized in vivo and supplemented by diet mainly from meat and dairy products. Both carnitine and acetyl moieties have important neurobiological properties. The acetyl moiety of ALCAR can be used to maintain acetyl-CoA levels and carnitine is important in the β-oxidation of fatty acids. Other reported neurobiological effects of ALCAR include modulation of: 1) brain energy and phospholipid metabolism; 2) cellular macromolecules, including neurotrophic factors and neurohormones; 3) synaptic morphology and; 4) synaptic transmission of multiple neurotransmitters. Potential molecular mechanisms of ALCAR activity include: 1) acetylation of -NH2 and -OH functional groups in amino acids and N terminal amino acids in peptides and proteins resulting in modification of their structure, dynamics, function and turnover and 2) acting as a molecular chaperone to larger molecules resulting in a change in the structure, molecular dynamics, and function of the larger molecule. ALCAR is reported in double-blind controlled studies to have beneficial effects in major depressive disorders and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) which are found in high prevalence in the geriatric population.
Exploiting Structured Ontology to Organize Scattered Online Opinions

We study the problem of integrating scattered online opinions. For this purpose, we propose to exploit structured ontology to obtain well-formed relevant aspects to a topic and use them to organize scattered opinions to generate a structured summary. Particularly, we focus on two main challenges in implementing this idea, (1) how to select the most useful aspects from a large number of aspects in the ontology and (2) how to order the selected aspects to optimize the readability of the structured summary. We propose and explore several methods for solving these challenges. Experimental results on two different data sets (US Presidents and Digital Cameras) show that the proposed methods are effective for selecting aspects that can represent the major opinions and for generating coherent ordering of aspects.
Expression of Antisense RNA Targeted against Streptococcus thermophilus Bacteriophages

Antisense RNA complementary to a putative helicase gene (hel3.1) of a cos-type Streptococcus thermophilus bacteriophage was used to impede the proliferation of a number of cos-type S. thermophilus bacteriophages and one pac-type bacteriophage. The putative helicase gene is a component of the Sfi21-type DNA replication module, which is found in a majority of the S. thermophilus bacteriophages of industrial importance. All bacteriophages that strongly hybridized a 689-bp internal hel3.1 probe were sensitive to the expression of antisense hel3.1 RNA. A 40 to 70% reduction in efficiency of plaquing (EOP) was consistently observed, with a concomitant decrease in plaque size relative to that of the S. thermophilus parental strain. When progeny were released, the burst size was reduced. Growth curves of S. thermophilus NCK1125, in the presence of variable levels of bacteriophage kappa3, showed that antisense hel3.1 conferred protection, even at a multiplicity of infection of approximately 1.0. When the hel3.1 antisense RNA cassette was expressed in cis from the kappa3-derived phage-encoded resistance (PER) plasmid pTRK690::ori3.1, the EOP for bacteriophages sensitive to PER and antisense targeting was reduced to between 10(-7) and 10(-8), beyond the resistance conferred by the PER element alone (less than 10(-6)). These results illustrate the first successful applications of antisense RNA and explosive delivery of antisense RNA to inhibit the proliferation of S. thermophilus bacteriophages.
Serotonin (5-Hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT): CNS Pathways and Neurophysiology

Serotonergic neurons are located in the brain stem raphe nuclei and give rise to a broad system of axonal projections. They have a slow, rhythmic firing pattern, which is greatest during alert waking states; hence, they can be classified as wake-on cells. The postsynaptic actions of serotonin may be excitatory or inhibitory, depending on the receptor subtype expressed by a target cell. Through its effects on neuronal excitability in diverse regions of the brain and spinal cord, the serotonergic system as a wake-on system is positioned to coordinate complex sensory and motor patterns in support of the waking state.
The Political Heart of Criminal Procedure: DNA and the Fifth Amendment

Challenges to the collection and databasing of DNA samples almost always proceed under the Fourth Amendment. The Fifth Amendment is rarely considered a viable legal claim, largely due to the longstanding distinction between testimonial evidence, which receives Fifth Amendment protection, and non-testimonial evidence, which does not. In this short essay, written as a chapter in a book celebrating the life and work of Professor William J. Stuntz, I draw upon United States v. Hubbell as a means of arguing that the Fifth Amendment might in fact cover certain kinds of DNA investigative activity. Specifically, I analogize a requirement to produce documents otherwise unknown to investigators, which the Court found to constitute self-incrimination, to a requirement that defendants provide a DNA sample not to match a specific crime scene, but so that investigators can compile DNA databases to troll for matches. In both cases, the concern is that investigators compel information from a suspect in order to create rather than confirm suspicion, and thus the Fifth Amendment ought to apply.
Alcohol Policies and Child Maltreatment

The purpose of this project is to empirically estimate the propensity for alcohol-related public policies to influence rates of child abuse and neglect. The alcohol regulations of interest include beer, wine, and liquor taxes and prices, drunk driving laws, and licenses to sell liquor. The public health and policy relevance of the project derive from the extremely detrimental effects of parental substance abuse problems on the health and well being of children. The close association of parental alcohol abuse and the maltreatment of children suggests that public policies, and alcohol control policies in particular, can play a role in improving the lives of abused children. The first aim of the project is to estimate the effects of alcohol control policies in reducing the number of families and the number of children with confirmed or suspected reports of child maltreatment. The second aim is to estimate the effects of alcohol control policies in reducing the number of children with confirmed or suspected reports of the following specific types of child maltreatment: a) physical abuse; b) neglect or deprivation of necessities; c) medical neglect; d) sexual abuse; and e) psychological or emotional abuse or neglect. The third aim is to investigate the effects of alcohol control policies in reducing the number of children who die as a result of abuse or neglect. The fourth aim is to explore the effects of alcohol control policies in reducing the total number of children entering foster care and the number of children who enter foster care because of an alcohol-abusing parent, or because of their own alcohol abuse. The final aim is to estimate the effects of alcohol control policies in reducing the length of time spent in foster care. This project uses secondary data from two federal data collections and other sources to estimate a reduced form equation which relates alcohol prices and policies to measures of child maltreatment. Child maltreatment will be represented by state-level counts of child abuse and neglect and children entering foster care. Count models will be used as the primary estimation technique, although a duration analysis will also be used to estimate the effects that stricter alcohol control policies may have in reducing the length of time children spend in foster care. All models will also control for other state level factors which may confound the relationships between alcohol control policies and child maltreatment.
A Further Look at P.L. 480 and the Balance of Payments

The present methods of balance-of-payments accounting which show that P.L. 480 shipments have no effect on U.S. balance of payments are misleading. The P.L. 480 program may have important side effects on U.S. and competitor-country sales and hence have an indirect influence on balance of payments. The adverse effects of U.S. aid programs on the U.S. balance of payments can be overemphasized because a substantial part of that aid is tied to purchasing in the United States. The present U.S. balance-of-payments account also reveals little about the effects of P.L. 480 exports on national income. The experience with the Marshall Plan should be reviewed to gain insights leading to possible improvements in P.L. 480.
Intrinsically secure communication in large-scale wireless networks

The ability to exchange secret information is critical to many commercial, governmental, and military networks. Information-theoretic security – widely accepted as the strictest notion of security – relies on channel coding techniques that exploit the inherent randomness of the propagation channels to significantly strengthen the security of digital communications systems. Motivated by recent developments in the field, this thesis aims at a characterization of the fundamental secrecy limits of large-scale wireless networks. We start by introducing an information-theoretic definition of the intrinsically secure communications graph (i S -graph), based on the notion of strong secrecy. The i S -graph is a random geometric graph which captures the connections that can be securely established over a large-scale network, in the presence of spatially scattered eavesdroppers. Using fundamental tools from stochastic geometry, we analyze how the spatial densities of legitimate and eavesdropper nodes influence various properties of the Poisson i S -graph, such as the distribution of node degrees, the node isolation probabilities, and the achievable secrecy rates. We study how the wireless propagation effects (e.g., fading and shadowing) and eavesdropper collusion affect the secrecy properties of the network. We also explore the potential of sectorized transmission and eavesdropper neutralization as two techniques for enhancing the secrecy of communications. We then shift our focus to the global properties of the i S -graph, which concern secure connectivity over multiple hops. We first characterize percolation of the Poisson i S -graph on the infinite plane. We show that each of the four components of the i S -graph (in, out, weak, and strong component) experiences a phase transition at some nontrivial critical density of legitimate nodes. Operationally, this is important because it implies that long-range communication over multiple hops is still feasible when a security constraint is present. We then consider full-connectivity on a finite region of the Poisson i S -graph. Specifically, we derive simple, explicit expressions that closely approximate the probability of a node being securely connected to all other nodes inside the region. We also show that the i S -graph is asymptotically fully out-connected with probability one, but full in-connectivity remains bounded away from one, no matter how large the density of legitimate nodes is made. Our results clarify how the spatial density of eavesdroppers can compromise the intrinsic security of wireless networks. We are hopeful that further efforts in combining stochastic geometry with information-theoretic principles will lead to a more comprehensive treatment of wireless security. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Highly dispersed palladium(II) in a defective metal-organic framework: application to C-H activation and functionalization.

High reversibility during crystallization leads to relatively defect-free crystals through repair of nonperiodic inclusions, including those derived from impurities. Microporous coordination polymers (MCPs) can achieve a high level of crystallinity through a related mechanism whereby coordination defects are repaired, leading to single crystals. In this work, we discovered and exploited the fact that this process is far from perfect for MCPs and that a minority ligand that is coordinatively identical to but distinct in shape from the majority linker can be inserted into the framework, resulting in defects. The reaction of Zn(II) with 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (H2BDC) in the presence of small amounts of 1,3,5-tris(4-carboxyphenyl)benzene (H3BTB) leads to a new crystalline material, MOF-5(Oh), that is nearly identical to MOF-5 but has an octahedral morphology and a number of defect sites that are uniquely functionalized with dangling carboxylates. The reaction with Pd(OAc)2 impregnates the metal ions, cr...
Description and Habitat of Efferia kondratieffi sp. nov. with Notes on Efferia aestuans (L.) (Diptera: Asilidae)

A new species of Efferia (Diptera: Asilidae) is described in the “Aestuans Species Group” from specimens collected in the Appalachian mountains of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. Both male and female genitalia and accessory sclerites are described and illustrated, and a key presented to distinguish the new species from others in the group. The new species is sympatric and synchronous with the closely related E. aestuans (L.) and allopatric to an even closer relative of uncertain taxonomic status from Texas and Oklahoma. Measurements are presented for the new species, E. aestuans, and a western relative and diagnostic characters of the three are illustrated. Distribution maps for all three species are presented. A probable history is given for the formation of the new species and its western relative from a common ancestor during the Pleistocene. Genitalia of males of the new species appear incompatible with females of either the allopatric western relative or E. aestuans.
Genetic variations in number of dopamine neurons in mouse brain: evidence that all dopamine systems are involved

Several years ago (Ross et al., 1976; Baker et al., 1980) we discovered that the activity of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) varied in the midbrain of two inbred and neurologically “normal” strains of mice, CBA/J and BALB/cJ. The differences in TH activity were found in regions of the midbrain harboring cell bodies of dopamine (DA) containing neurons including those of the medially situated A10 neurons of the ventral tegmentum and the laterally situated neurons of the A9 group of the substantia nigra, pars compacta. Differences in enzyme activity were also detected in target areas innervated by these neurons: the olfactory tubercle and nucleus accumbens, areas innervated by A10 neurons; and the corpus striatum, the principal target of A9 neurons of the substantia nigra (Ross et al., 1976; Baker et al., 1980; Reis et al., 1981). The differences in enzyme activity were such that CBA/J mice had between 60 to 80 percent the activity of their BALB/cJ counterparts.
Primary care physician assistant and advance practice nurses roles: Patient healthcare utilization, unmet need, and satisfaction.

Abstract Purpose Team-based care involving physician assistants (PAs) and advance practice nurses (APNs) is one strategy for improving access and quality of care. PA/APNs perform a variety of roles on primary care teams. However, limited research describes the relationship between PA/APN role and patient outcomes. We examined multiple outcomes associated with primary care PA/APN roles. Methods In this cross-sectional survey analysis, we studied adult respondents to the 2010 Health Tracking Household Survey. Outcomes included primary care and emergency department visits, hospitalizations, unmet need, and satisfaction. PA/APN role was categorized as physician only (no PA/APN visits; reference), usual provider (PA/APN provide majority of primary care visits) or supplemental provider (physician as usual provider, PA/APN provide a subset of visits). Multivariable logistic and multinomial logistic regressions were performed. Results Compared to people with physician only care, patients with PA/APNs as usual providers [5–9 visits RRR=2.4 (CI 1.8–3.4), 10+ visits RRR=3.0 (CI 2.0–4.5): reference 2–4 visits] and supplemental providers had increased risk of having 5 or more primary care visits [5–9 visits RRR=1.3 (CI 1.0–1.6)]. Patients reporting PA/APN as supplemental providers had increased risk of emergency department utilization [2+ visits: RRR 1.8 (CI 1.3, 2.5)], and lower satisfaction [very dissatisfied: RRR 1.8 (CI 1.03–3.0)]. No differences were seen for hospitalizations or unmet need. Conclusions Healthcare utilization patterns and satisfaction varied between adults with PA/APN in different roles, but reported unmet need did not. These findings suggest a wide range of outcomes should be considered when identifying the best PA/APN role on primary care teams.
Fungi in Foods

It was possible to compare recovery of yeasts and molds from 30 food samples by three methods, employing plate count agar and broth with added antibiotics. Although the pour plate and surface plate methods gave comparable results, the Most Probable Number (MPN) procedure consistently yielded the highest counts. With some of the samples, the MPN method was the only one in which recovery occurred. It thus appears that this procedure is practical for detection of fungi and may be of use in survey work or when analyzing foods containing low numbers of microorganisms.
Hyperbolic Cooling Tower Dynamic Response to Wind

The dynamic response of a hyperbolic cooling tower experiencing a wind loading is determined by a finite element method of analysis using a step-by-step numerical method of timewise integration. Using as the forcing function the actual recorded wind pressures neasured by transducers installed about the throat of the Martin's Creek tower, the tower's dynamic response is determined and compared to its quasistatic response.
Characterization of Sclerotinia minor populations in Texas peanut fields

In the summer of 2004 an epidemic of Sclerotinia blight of peanut, a disease caused by Sclerotinia minor, occurred in Texas in fields where the disease was never previously detected. The disease was observed on many plants within one of the fields (>3,000 disease foci), though most foci were < 1 m. We hypothesized that these observations were inconsistent with the recent introduction of a monocyclic pathogen, even if disease developed under conducive environmental conditions. The pattern of disease is most suggestive of the presence of foliar (ascospore) infections, though air temperature was above the known limits for apothecia development if the pathogen had arrived in the field in 2004 peanut seed. To further examine this epidemic, 232 isolates were collected, across a variety of spatial scales spanning this field and other Texas peanut fields, and evaluated for aggressiveness, fungicide sensitivity, and genotypic diversity. There was wide variation among isolates for the phenotypic characteristics measured, but there was no evidence that a genotypically unique, highly aggressive, and fungicide resistant isolate had been introduced or evolved. The predominant genotype, TX1, which contained 154 isolates, was found in every county and field population. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Antiapoptotic action of carbon monoxide on cultured vascular smooth muscle cells.

Vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) generate carbon monoxide (CO) from the degradation of heme by the enzyme heme oxygenase. Because recent studies indicate that CO influences the properties of vascular SMCs, we examined whether this diatomic gas regulates apoptosis in vascular SMCs. Treatment of cultured rat aortic SMCs with a cytokine cocktail consisting of interleukin-1 (5 ng/ml), tumor necrosis factor- (20 ng/ml), and interferon- (200 U/ml) for 48 hr stimulated apoptosis, as demonstrated by DNA laddering, caspase-3 activation, and annexin V staining. However, the exogenous addition of CO (200 ppm) completely blocked cytokine-mediated apoptosis. The antiapoptotic action of CO was partially reversed by the soluble guanylate cyclase inhibitor, H-[1,2,4]oxadiazolo[4,3a]quinoxalin-1-one (10 µM). In contrast, the p38 mitogenactivated protein kinase inhibitor, SB203580 (10 µM), had no effect on SMC apoptosis. These findings indicate that CO is a potent inhibitor of vascular SMC apoptosis and that it blocks apoptosis, in part, by activating the cGMP signaling pathway. The ability of CO to inhibit vascular SMC apoptosis may play a critical role in attenuating lesion formation at sites of arterial damage. Exp Biol Med 228:572–575, 2003
Religion and Belief After the Turn to Power: A Response to Craig Martin

The introduction of power as a key analytical concept was a watershed moment in the history of religious studies. But what exactly does it mean to embrace the turn to power? Does it mean giving up on the study of experiences, meanings, and beliefs? Or does it just mean changing how we approach them? In my book, Visions of Religion , I argue that we can retain experience and meaning as meaningful analytical concepts even after the turn to power. We can do so without embracing any of the key assumptions of perennialism or what Craig Martin calls neo-perennialism. In this response to Martin, I show that his categorization of my approach as neo-perennialist is based upon a series of misattributions.
Acute Benefits After Liposomal Bupivacaine Abdominal Wall Blockade for Living Liver Donation: A Retrospective Review.

Abstract Objective To investigate whether the addition of liposomal bupivacaine abdominal wall blocks to a multimodal analgesic regimen improves postoperative numeric rating scale pain scores and reduces opioid consumption in patients undergoing living liver donation. Patients and Methods We conducted a single-center, retrospective review of patients who underwent living liver donation from January 1, 2011, through February 19, 2016, and received multimodal analgesia with (block group) or without (control group) abdominal wall blockade. The block solution consisted of liposomal bupivacaine (266 mg) mixed with 30 mL of 0.25% bupivacaine. Both groups received intrathecal hydromorphone. Main outcome measures were pain scores, opioid requirements, time to full diet, and bowel activity. Results Postoperative day 0 pain scores were significantly better in the block group (n=29) than in the control group (n=48) (2.4 vs 3.5; P=.002) but were not significantly different on subsequent days. Opioid requirements were significantly decreased for the block group in the postanesthesia care unit (0 vs 9 mg oral morphine equivalents; P=.002) and on postoperative day 0 (7 vs 18 mg oral morphine equivalents; P=.004). Median (interquartile range) time to full diet was 23 hours (14-30 hours) in the block group and 38 hours (24-53 hours) in the control group (P=.001); time to bowel activity was also shorter in the block group (45 hours [38-73 hours] vs 67 hours [51-77 hours]; P=.01). Conclusion Abdominal wall blockade with liposomal bupivacaine after donor hepatectomy provides an effective method of postoperative pain control and decreases time to full diet and bowel activity.
Raman Crystallography, the Missing Link Between Biochemical Reactions and Crystallography

The goal of my presentations is to explain the contributions that Raman spectroscopy can make to the understanding of dynamic processes in structural biology. While most of my examples focus on enzymes, the principles we will develop apply to many biomolecular systems.
Basic Principles of Diagnostic Ultrasound

For diagnostic purposes ultrasound may be used in pulse-echo, Doppler, holographic, and other modes. The discussion in this chapter is limited to pulse-echo, which is the use of short-pulse, sonar-like techniques to display two-dimensional sections through soft tissues. Although pulse-echo has been used with success in many clinical applications since the middle 1950s, there has. recently been a surge of renewed interest in the modality and a vast increase in the number of applications of the technique. Marked improvements in technology have been responsible for the increase in the usefulness of this modality primarily due to the introduction of display system modifications summarized by the term “gray-scale ultrasonography” which have replaced previous bistable display techniques. Much of this improved technology was evolved by Kossoff and his co-workers (Kossoff, 1974a, 1974b) at the Ultrasonic Institute in Sydney, Australia, who reported the clinical value of the technique in obstetrics and gynecology and in observation of the breast and thyroid. A similar machine was evaluated in England which demonstrated the value of the technique when applied to the investigation of the hepatobiliary tract (Taylor, Carpenter, and McCready, 1973; Taylor and McCready, 1976; Taylor, Carpenter, McCready, and Hill, 1976).
Impact of survey length and compensation on validity, reliability, and sample characteristics for Ultrashort-, Short-, and Long-Research Participant Perception Surveys.

Introduction The validated Research Participant Perception Survey (RPPS-Long) elicits valuable data at modest response rates. Methods To address this limitation, we developed shorter RPPS-Ultrashort and RPPS-Short versions, fielded them with the RPPS-Long to a random sample of a national research volunteer registry, and assessed response and completion rates, test/retest reliability, and demographics. Results 2228 eligible registry members received survey links. Response rates were 64% (RPPS-Ultrashort), 63% (RPPS-Short), and 51% (RPPS-Long), respectively (P<0.001). Completion rates were 63%, 54%, and 37%, respectively (p<0.001). All surveys were reliable with Cronbach's alpha = 0.81, 0.84, and 0.87, respectively. Retest reliability was highest for RPPS-Short (Kappa=0.85). Provision of compensation increased RPPS-Short completion rate from 54% to 71% (p<0.001). Compensated respondents were younger (p<0.001), with greater minority representation (p=0.03). Conclusions Shorter surveys were reliable and produced higher response and completion rates then long surveys. Compensation further increased completion rates and shifted sample age and race profiles.
Effects of elevated pressures on the activated sludge process

Results of investigations on the effects of elevated pressures on a pilot scale activated sludge process are reported. Parameters of prime interest were pressure overlying the system, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS). Variations in responses were described by the reaction rate constant k, of the first order BOD reaction and the ultimate BOD L. It was found that increasing the applied pressure accelarated the BOD reactions.