cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multipurpose radiomatic automated flow liquid scintillation counter system for measurement of burst or delayed chemiluminescence reactions: Model-drug inhibition with luminol-dependent myeloperoxidase

Abstract We have developed an automated, highly sensitive system for the detection of chemiluminescent reactions that are rapid or burst-type reactions. Approximately 25 samples per hour can be run with human myeloperoxidase-H 2 O 2 -high Cl − . This is due to the difficulties of washing out cationic myeloperoxidase from the flow cell. Various nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs were run against the enzyme and the most inhibitory were ascorbate and BW755C at doses around 10 −7 M , while sulindac sulfide and indomethacin were the most inhibitory at 10 −6 M range. Aspirin and salicylate were partially effective at the 10 −5 M range. This type of CL system should be generally useful for a variety of fast CL reactions, because it is automated, with continuous recording, and integration of peaks is possible.
Lightweight formal models of software weaknesses

Many vulnerabilities in today's software products are rehashes of past vulnerabilities. Such rehashes could be a result of software complexity that masks inadvertent loopholes in design and implementation, developer ignorance/disregard for security issues, or use of software in contexts not anticipated for the original specification. While weaknesses and exposures in code are vendor, language, or environment specific, to understand them we need better descriptions that identify their precise characteristics in an unambiguous representation. In this paper, we present a methodology to develop precise and accurate descriptions of common software weaknesses through lightweight formal modeling using Alloy. Natural language descriptions of software weaknesses used for formalization are based on the community developed Common Weakness Enumerations (CWE).
Plasma Retinol-Binding Protein

Vitamin A is mobilized from liver stores and transported in plasma in the form of the lipid alcohol retinol, bound to a specific transport protein, retinol-binding protein (RBP). A great deal is known about the chemical structure, metabolism, and biological roles of RBP. RBP is a single polypeptide chain with molecular weight close to 20,000. RBP interacts strongly with plasma prealbumin, and normally circulates in plasma as a 1:1 molar RBP-prealbumin complex. Both the primary and the tertiary structure of prealbumin are known, and the primary structure of RBP has recently been reported. Much information is available about the protein-protein and protein-ligand interactions that are involved in this transport system. Many clinical studies have examined the effects of a variety of diseases on the plasma levels of RBP and prealbumin in humans. Plasma RBP levels are low in patients with liver disease and are high in patients with chronic renal disease. These findings reflect the facts that RBP is produced in the liver and mainly catabolized in the kidneys. Delivery of retinol to extra-hepatic tissues appears to involve specific cell surface receptors for RBP. Vitamin A mobilization from the liver, and delivery to peripheral tissues, is highly regulated by factors that control the rates of RBP production and secretion. Retinol deficiency specifically blocks the secretion of RBP, so that plasma RBP levels fall and liver RBP levels rise. Injection of retinol into vitamin A-deficient rats stimulates the rapid secretion of RBP from the liver into the plasma. The cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate these phenomena are under investigation. Elucidation of these mechanisms should help define the basic mechanisms that control the mobilization, transport, and delivery of vitamin A.
A Profile of Today's Distance Learners: An Investigation of Demographic and Individual Difference Variables of Distance and Non-Distance Learners.

ABSTRACT Distance learning has existed for more than a century (Huntley and Mather, 1999; Sherry, 1995). However, recent technological advances have rejuvenated the distance learning industry by making it possible for institutes of higher education to provide their services at many locations at the convenience of the student, without compromising quality (Magiera, 1994). As a result, the numbers of students that are taking courses at a distance have increased exponentially. As this market grows, it is important to determine how similar or different present day distance learners are from non-distance learners so that they might be better served. This study attempts to accomplish this task by comparing key demographic and individual difference variables of distance and non-distance learners. Results revealed significant differences in gender, age, employment status, motivation, and risk taking propensity between distance and non-distance learners. Study implications and directions for future research are al...
New methods of analyzing industrial aliphatic lipids

Methods are described for the rapid fractionation of classes of lipids containing the hetero elements N, P, and S such as primary amines, secondary amines, tertiary amines, and quaternary ammonium salts containing one, two, or three long-chain moieties; amides, nitriles, and other nitrogenous lipids; alkyl sulfates and sulfonates; alkyl phosphates and phosphonates.
Elevated 17-Hydroxyprogesterone and Testosterone in a Newborn with 3-Beta-Hydroxysteroid Dehydrogenase Deficiency

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is the most frequent cause of ambiguous genitalia and adrenal insufficiency in newborn infants. The diagnosis of the specific enzyme deficiency resulting in the condi...
Pre-Columbian tuberculosis in northern Chile: molecular and skeletal evidence.

Analysis of 483 skeletons from Arica (Chile) and review of mummy dissection records demonstrates an overall 1% prevalence rate for tuberculosis between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 1500. Tuberculosis cases cluster in the period A.D. 500-1000 which correlates with fully agropastoral societies. Considering only these agropastoral societies, about 2% of their members show tuberculosis lesions. A segment of DNA unique to Mycobacterium tuberculosis was identified in an extract from the vertebral lesion of a 12-year-old girl with Pott's disease from about A.D. 1000, establishing the pre-Columbian presence of tuberculosis with the most specific evidence currently available.
A novel non-aqueous aluminum sulfur battery

Abstract An aluminum–sulfur battery comprised of a composite sulfur cathode, aluminum anode and an ionic liquid electrolyte of AlCl3/1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride is described. The electrochemical reduction of elemental sulfur has been studied in different molar ratios of the electrolyte, and aluminum tetrachloride ions have been identified at the electroactive ionic species. The Al/S battery exhibits a discharge voltage plateau of 1.1–1.2 V, with extremely high charge storage capacity of more than 1500 mAh g−1, relative to the mass of sulfur in the cathode. The energy density of the Al/S cell is estimated to be 1700 Wh kg−1 sulfur, which is competitive with the most attractive battery chemistries targeted for high-energy electrochemical storage. Characterization by means of SEM, XRD and XPS of the battery components reveal complete dissolution of sulfur-based discharge products to the electrolyte. The low cost, natural abundance and high volumetric energy density of both anode and cathode materials define a research path for new materials and cell designs for next-generation Al/S battery systems.
Leucine-regulated self-association of leucine-responsive regulatory protein (Lrp) from Escherichia coli.

Lrp is a global regulatory protein in Escherichia coli that activates expression of more than a dozen operons and represses expression of another dozen. For some operons, exogenous leucine reduces the extent of Lrp action, for others it potentiates the effect of Lrp, and for yet other operons it has no effect. In an effort to understand how leucine affects Lrp-mediated expression, we examined Lrp self-association and the effect of leucine on self-association using light scattering, chemical cross-linking, and analytical ultracentrifugation. The following results were obtained. (i) Lrp self-associates to a hexadecamer and octamer with the predominant species being hexadecamer at microM concentrations. (ii) Lrp undergoes a leucine-induced dissociation of hexadecamer to octamer. (iii) A mutant Lrp lacking 11 amino acid residues at the C terminus does not form higher-order oligomers, suggesting that the C terminus is involved in subunit association. (iv) At nM concentrations, Lrp dissociates to a dimer. It is proposed that leucine regulates the equilibrium between Lrp oligomers and thus Lrp occupancy of sites within different operons, leading to diverse regulatory patterns.
Bounds on Moments of Linear Functions of Order Statistics from Weibull and other Restricted Families

Abstract We give two different sets of bounds for the expected values of range, midrange and some other linear functions of order statistics from certain restricted families of distributions. The bounds are obtained by using Jensen's inequality on the expected values of some functions of the distribution function F which are convex (concave) strictly increasing. The bounds could be very useful, since exact values for the moments of these statistics, in general, are difficult to compute. The Weibull distribution is treated as a special case.
An automated technique for segregating populations with a high incidence of Regan isoenzyme in serum

Abstract The Regan isoenzyme is a placental-type alkaline phosphatase which has been found in sera and tissues of one out of seven cancer patients. Consequently it may be useful to segregate populations with a high incidence of Regan isoenzyme in serum for clinical investigation by the elaboration of a suitable method for Regan isoenzyme which preferably should be automated. Such a method is reported. It depends on the heat stability of the Regan isoenzyme and the use of favorable conditions of pH (10.7) and of phenylphosphate substrate concentration (72 mM). The coefficient of variation is 3% above 0.1 placental isoenzyme units. In an ambulatory population, the mean value and standard deviation were 0.048 ± 0.022 and 13% of the subjects registered a value greater than 0.15 units. Confirmation of the identity of Regan isoenzyme requires an additional immunoenzyme electrophoretic technique.
Detection of cerebral lateralization of function using EEG alpha-contingent visual stimulation

Abstract Lateralized functional specialization of cortical processing of linguistic and spatial information and anatomical lateralization of processing of hemiretinal stimuli were investigated with a randomized factorial design in 14 right-handed male undergraduates using EEG alpha-contingent visual stimulation. Words or geometric designs of equal luminosity and size were presented by computer to randomly selected visual half-fields contingent on the occurrence of alpha at one of 4 placements (left and right occipital and left and right temporal). The replicative reliability of alpha block and, by implication, the control of each stimulus type over different cortical sites, was assessed with the alpha control ratio (mean alpha duration/standard deviation of alpha durations). The alpha control ratio was significantly greater for alpha-contingent vs. random (non-contingent) stimulation. Within alpha-contingent data alone, cerebral lateralization was significantly demonstrated in the 2-way interactions of EEG hemisphere × visual field of stimulation, and of EEG hemisphere × type of stimulus (verbal or spatial). The alpha control ratio was higher for contralateral visual half-field stimulation compared to ipsilateral stimulation. Control was also significantly higher for cognitively appropriate stimulus-hemisphere combinations (verbal stimuli and left cerebral hemisphere, or spatial stimuli and right hemisphere) vs. inappropriate combinations (verbal, right hemisphere, or spatial, left hemisphere). These electrophysiological data corroborate in normal subjects the previous conceptions of hemispheric specialization ascertained with brain-damaged patients.
A flexible super-capacitive solid-state power supply for miniature implantable medical devices

We present a high-energy local power supply based on a flexible and solid-state supercapacitor for miniature wireless implantable medical devices. Wireless radio-frequency (RF) powering recharges the supercapacitor through an antenna with an RF rectifier. A power management circuit for the super-capacitive system includes a boost converter to increase the breakdown voltage required for powering device circuits, and a parallel conventional capacitor as an intermediate power source to deliver current spikes during high current transients (e.g., wireless data transmission). The supercapacitor has an extremely high area capacitance of ~1.3 mF/mm2, and is in the novel form of a 100 μm-thick thin film with the merit of mechanical flexibility and a tailorable size down to 1 mm2 to meet various clinical dimension requirements. We experimentally demonstrate that after fully recharging the capacitor with an external RF powering source, the supercapacitor-based local power supply runs a full system for electromyogram (EMG) recording that consumes ~670 μW with wireless-data-transmission functionality for a period of ~1 s in the absence of additional RF powering. Since the quality of wireless powering for implantable devices is sensitive to the position of those devices within the RF electromagnetic field, this high-energy local power supply plays a crucial role in providing continuous and reliable power for medical device operations.
Microstructure Properties and Strengthening Mechanisms of the AS4-3501-6 Polymeric Resin With Embedded Terfenol-D Particles

Polymeric composite laminates play a vital role in the fabrication of strong, lightweight materials. Composites also play a critical role in the aerospace and automotive industries. They are the very things that protect us from harsh environments. Due to widespread usage, it is important to understand how these materials age and perform over time. The advantages of polymeric composites are high rigidity, high strength to weight ratio, corrosion resistance, high fatigue strength, low thermal expansion, and manufacturability. The advantages of polymeric composite parts in machines and vehicles are low mass, high speed of operation, excellent fatigue resistance, quiet running due to shock absorption, easy installment and demounting, low maintenance cost, low energy costs during production and life cycle. Despite the advantages, there are concerns regarding the long-term durability of these composites especially when it comes to performances under critical and varying conditions. Since Terfenol-D, a magnetostrictive material will be placed in these polymeric composites for structural health monitoring, it is imperative to understand the microstructure of the particles and their net effect on the resin, e.g. distortions, volume fraction, and induced strain. Terfenol-D (Tb1−xDyxFe2) is of the cubic laves phase structure in which there is less plastic deformation which in turn makes the particles hard and brittle.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
An introduction to LabVIEW exercise for an electronics class

National Instruments' LabVIEW has become a popular programming environment for data acquisition in academia and industry. Most LabVIEW reference materials require a significant investment of time. At the University of San Diego (USD), the authors wanted to provide an introduction to LabVIEW for all electrical engineering majors without adding additional classes or laboratories to the curriculum. During a summer research experience, two electrical engineering juniors at USD wrote a tutorial on LabVIEW and designed a one-hour exercise to introduce students to LabVIEW. The exercise allowed students to obtain the amplitude frequency response of a simple RC circuit using a function generator and an oscilloscope. Students had previously done this experiment manually in their sophomore circuits' class. Thus the concepts of the lab were familiar and they could focus on the advantages of having LabVIEW automate the data acquisition and analysis. Twenty-one students in a junior-level Electronics course performed the "Introduction to LabVIEW" exercise in Fall 2001.
What are we feeding our inmates

The current economic downturn has caused some states to consider serving inmates less food to save money. Because South Carolina has been reported to have the lowest meal costs at $1.13/day per inmate, this study analyzed nutritional value of its prison meals. Menus were obtained from the South Carolina Department of Corrections and a county detention center. Analysis of adherence to Dietary Reference Intake recommendations revealed higher levels of cholesterol, sodium, and sugar and lower levels of fiber, magnesium, potassium, vitamin D, and vitamin E than recommended. Increasing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and reducing sodium and sugar in inmate meals may improve health, decrease chronic disease, reduce medical costs, and benefit taxpayers.
Transversality for equivariant exact 1-forms and gauge theory on 3-manifolds

An equivariant jet transversality framework is developed for the study of critical sets of invariant functions on G manifolds. Techniques are developed to extend transversality results to the infinite dimensional Fredholm setting. As an application, the generic structure of the SU(4) perturbed flat moduli space of an integral homology 3-sphere is described, as well as the generic structure of the parameterized moduli space for a path of perturbations. A similar analysis of the U(3) moduli space for rational homology 3-spheres is also carried out.
Successful intravenous streptokinase treatment of a child with Kawasaki disease complicated by acute myocardial infarction

A 9-year-old boy developed ischemic cardiac symptoms 1 year after he presented with Kawasaki disease. The myocardial infarction was confirmed by the typical changes of electrocardiograms, echocardiograms, cardiac enzymes, thallium myocardial scintigrams, and angiograms. With successful intravenous streptokinase therapy, he remained well during the following 4 months.
Hardware-Assisted Application-Level Access Control

Applications typically rely on the operating system to enforce access control policies such as MAC, DAC, or other policies. However, in the face of a compromised operating system, such protection mechanisms may be ineffective. Since security-sensitive applications are most motivated to maintain access control to their secret or sensitive information, and have no control over the operating system, it is desirable to provide mechanisms to enable applications to protect information with application-specific policies, in spite of a compromised operating system. In this paper, we enable application-level access control and information sharing with direct hardware support and protection, bypassing the dependency on the operating system. We analyze an originator-controlled information sharing policy (ORCON), where the content creator specifies who has access to the file created and maintains this control after the file has been distributed. We show that this policy can be enforced by the software-hardware mechanisms provided by the Secret Protection (SP) architecture, where a Trusted Software Module (TSM) is directly protected by SP's hardware features. We develop a proof-of-concept text editor application which contains such a TSM. This TSM can implement many different policies, not just the originator-controlled policy that we have defined. We also propose a general methodology for trust-partitioning an application into security-critical and non-critical parts.
Nonmuscle myosin II moves in new directions

For many years, analyses of the role of the actomyosin cytoskeleton in many basic cellular processes have centered on actin. Increasingly, however, a number of investigators are examining proteins that are proximal to actin; in particular, nonmuscle myosin II (NMII). Recent experiments have increased our understanding of the role of NMII in three related cellular activities: generation of cell polarity, cell migration and cell-cell adhesion. Progress has been particularly promising thanks to the use of new microscopic, genetic and biochemical techniques. In mammalian systems, generation of transgenic mice and the introduction of specific siRNAs have been useful in deciphering the role of the three different isoforms of NMII: NMIIA, NMIIB and NMIIC. Studies in Drosophila and Aplysia, which are informative model systems for investigating the function of NMII, have also shed light on NMII. Recent work examines the contractile and structural roles that NMII plays at cell-cell boundaries, and both its contractile and actin-crosslinking roles in cell migration. In addition, NMII might also function as a scaffold molecule, anchoring signaling molecules, such as kinases and Rho GTPase guanine nucleotide exchange factors.
A DECISION MODEL FOR SELECTING ALTERNATIVE HYPOTHESES: AN EXTENSION*

A decision rule for selecting a one-sided or two-sided alternative for a standard hypothesis test is developed. Using a prior distribution of the parameter to be tested, the alternative is chosen which maximizes expected power. The test of a binomial parameter is presented to illustrate the method.
Non-operative management of the urinary tract in spinal cord injury.

Various options exist for the management of the lower urinary tract in chronic spinal cord injury. These options include chronic indwelling catheterization, urethral sphincterotomy, and intermittent catheterization supplemented with anticholinergic agents. Sixty-four spinal cord injured patients, treated with intermittent catheterization and anticholinergic therapy, were evaluated for long-term efficacy in maintaining upper tract status and preservation or improvement in continence. Complications of therapy were also evaluated. Therapy was based upon initial urodynamic evaluation followed by limited subsequent evaluation of the urinary tract. Mean follow-up was 54 months. Only I patient developed hydronephrosis. Fifty-nine patients either became continent or experienced improved continence on therapy Eight patients required surgical procedures either to increase outlet resistance (2) or to decrease intravesical pressures (6). The most common complication of therapy was urinary tract infection. Thirty-nine infections occurred in 23 patients, 16 of which were febrile. Fifteen patients were non-compliant with treatment recommendations. The only factor related to therapeutic complications which reached statistical significance was non-compliance with therapy. The combined use of intermittent catheterization and anticholinergic agents provides an effective means to prevent hydronephrosis and establish continence in chronic spinal injury. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Evaluation of the need for routine esophagram after peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM)

Peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) is a novel surgical option for the treatment of achalasia. Most centers perform a routine esophagram on postoperative day (POD) #1 to rule esophageal perforation and leaks. In this study, we sought to determine the clinical utility of routine contrast studies post-POEM. POEM was performed using an anterior submucosal tunnel and selective myotomy of the circular muscle layer. A routine contrast esophagram was obtained on POD #1. We conducted a retrospective review of the radiologists’ interpretations of these studies and compared them to patient’s clinical course. Seventy-eight patients were included. Among these, two complications occurred. One patient was non-compliant with postoperative nil per os orders and developed epigastric pain suspicious for a leak that was demonstrated on esophagram. Another patient had subcutaneous emphysema on POD #1 esophagram, a finding that was also present on physical examination, without esophageal leakage. Another esophagram in an asymptomatic patient was suspicious for submucosal tunnel hematoma which prompted a return to the operating room with negative results. Overall, 56 patients had abnormal studies. POD #1 esophagram demonstrated a sensitivity of 100 % and specificity of 45 % in identifying clinically significant complications. In this series, we found routine esophagram to have a high sensitivity but a very low specificity in detecting clinically significant complications. Routine esophagram after POEM may not be necessary.
A note on the military and social science theory

(1985). A note on the military and social science theory. Third World Quarterly: Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 132-143.
Construct Validity of Area Specific Self-Esteem: The Hare Self-Esteem Scale.

To date there has been little convincing evidence that children differentiate between areas of experience in evaluating their self-esteem. The purpose of this study was to provide empirical support for area-specific self-esteem as a valid construct. Factor analysis of the Hare Self-Esteem Scale yielded three factors corresponding to home, peer, and school self-esteem. In addition, each of the area-specific subscales behaved as expected. Home self-esteem was significantly associated with social class; peer self-esteem, with recent family moves; and school self-esteem, significantly with test anxiety and reading and mathematics achievement.
Simulated hypogravity and proline incorporation into salt-extractable macromolecules from cell walls

Abstract Proline [U- 14 C] was fed to shoots of intact Tagetes patula grown normally, on horizontal clinostats, or on vertical clinostats rotating at 15 rev/hr. After various periods the incorporation of 14 C into salt-extractable material from the cell walls of stems, petioles, leaves and flowers was determined. The cell walls of the gravity-compensated plants (grown on horizontal clinostats) has the highest amount of salt-extractable radioactivity. A 2- to 9-fold increase was observed in comparison to either the normal or vertical clinostat plant controls. Some physico-chemical properties of the salt-extractable fraction suggest that it consists of highly charged, low MW entities, possibly short chain peptides. On acid hydrolysis this material yields radioactive aspartic acid, glutamic acid and proline. The presence of labelled hydroxyproline is suggested. After acid hydrolysis of the cell walls of leaves, it was found that ca 4 times the amount of 14 C was incorporated in the hypogravity-grown plant compared to the controls. It appears likely that extensibility changes in tissues under simulated hypogravity required additional cell wall protein.
1966 AND ALL THAT: CODIFICATION, CONSOLIDATION, CREEP, AND CONTROVERSY IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE COASE THEOREM

The year 1966 was central to the history of the Coase theorem debates, featuring the entry of the idea of a ‘Coase theorem’ into economic discourse and the eruption of the controversy over the the correctness of Coase’s negotiation result. This paper examines economists’ treatments of Coase’s result in 1966 and through the remainder of the decade, a period during which its place in the professional discourse began to solidify and three ‘camps’ began to develop around it: those who believed Coase’s result correct but of limited real-world applicability, those who found it relevant for explaining and devising policy with regard to a wide swath of externality-related phenomena, and those who argued and purported to demonstrate that this result was simply incorrect or wrong-headed on one or another grounds.
Storytelling as Pedagogy: An Unexpected Outcome of Narrative Inquiry

This study examines how the use of narrative research methods can serve as pedagogical strategies in preservice teacher education. In this study, we see the intersection of narrative inquiry and storytelling-as-pedagogy. The two often intersect, but rarely has that intersection been examined in a systematic manner. This study examines data collected as one ESL preservice teacher and one Bilingual preservice teacher were followed from their language arts methods class into student teaching and then their first year of teaching to see how they reflected on, questioned, and learned from their experiences. Incidents where narrative inquiry served as pedagogical tools were examined. Although storytelling-as-pedagogy was not a goal in this study, we found that it was an outcome of utilizing narrative inquiry as a methodology.
An index of clear air turbulence

An index is derived for the intensity of turbulence in a sloping baroclinic layer. Preliminary estimates of this index from ordinary meteorological information suggest that the index is proportional to turbulent energy and that it discriminates better between regions of varying intensity than vertical wind shear or Richardson number. An exact test, however, would require more detailed synoptic information than is usually available.
Depression and cognitive impairment following recovery from thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura

After recovery from an acute episode of acquired thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), patients often describe problems with memory, concentration, and endurance. We have previously reported the occurrence of depression and cognitive impairment in these patients. In this study, we describe the frequency, severity, and clinical course of depression and cognitive impairment. Fifty-two (85%) out of 61 eligible Oklahoma Registry patients who had recovered from TTP, documented by ADAMTS13 activity <10%, have had at least one (median, four) evaluation for depression over 11 years using the Beck Depression Inventory-II; 31 (59%) patients screened positive for depression at least once; in 15 (29%), the results suggested severe depression at least once. Nine of these 15 patients had a psychiatric interview, the definitive diagnostic evaluation; the diagnosis of major depressive disorder was established in eight (89%) patients. In 2014, cognitive ability was evaluated in 33 patients by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and the Repeatable Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Both tests detected significant cognitive impairment in the patients as a group. Fifteen out of the 33 patients had been evaluated by extensive cognitive tests in 2006. The 2014 RBANS results were significantly worse than the 2006 results for the overall score and two out of the five RBANS domains (immediate and delayed memory). Neither depression nor cognitive impairment was significantly associated with the occurrence of relapses or ADAMTS13 activity <10% during remission. These observations emphasize the importance of screening evaluations for depression and cognitive impairment after recovery from acquired TTP. Am. J. Hematol. 90:709–714, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Gauge theory and knot homologies

Topological gauge theories in four dimensions which admit surface operators provide a natural framework for realizing homological knot invariants. Every such theory leads to an action of the braid group on branes on the corresponding moduli space. This action plays a key role in the construction of homological knot invariants. We illustrate the general construction with a simple example based on surface operators in N =4 twisted gauge theory which lead to a categorification of a variant of the Casson invariant. c
Peripheral nerve pathways to neurons in the guinea pig inferior mesenteric ganglion determined electrophysiologically after chronic nerve section

Abstract Peripheral synaptic pathways to neurons in the guinea pig inferior mesenteric ganglion (IMG) were studied. Nerve trunks innervating neurons in the ganglion were surgically sectioned and intracellular electrical responses to nerve stimulation were measured 6–8 days after surgery. In all animals ganglia were decentralized by removal of the lumbar sympathetic chain ganglia L2 through L4 and in addition two peripheral nerves were sectioned leaving the ganglion innervated by only one peripheral nerve. Fast and slow excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) were evoked with electrical stimulation of each of the nerve trunks and with distension of the colon. The thresholds to evoke fast EPSPs and the amplitude of slow EPSPs were compared for each nerve trunk among the different surgical groups including sham-operated controls and completely denervated ganglia. Both fast and slow EPSPs could be evoked electrically from each intact peripheral nerve trunk after the other three nerve trunks had been sectioned, which demonstrates that nerve fibers with cell bodies in the regions innervated by the peripheral nerves make functional synaptic connections with neurons in the inferior mesenteric ganglion. In general, nerve sections increased the threshold for evoking fast EPSPs and decreased the amplitude of electrically-evoked slow EPSPs compared to control ganglia. Synaptic potentials could also be evoked with stimulation of cut nerve trunks, demonstrating that branches of nerve fibers from peripheral nerves enter other nerve trunks. The hypogastric nerve was unique in that branches of axons eliciting fast but not slow synaptic potentials in the ganglion entered this nerve trunk. Distension-induced fast and slow EPSPs were present only if the lumbar colonic nerve was intact and they were not altered by section of the other nerve trunks. In contrast, the slow EPSPs evoked with electrical stimulation of the lumbar colonic nerve were significantly smaller when at least one other nerve trunk was sectioned suggesting that the axon branches from other nerve trunks which enter the lumbar colonic nerve are not activated by distension. These studies demonstrate that neurons eliciting either fast or slow synaptic potentials with cell bodies in regions innervated by the peripheral nerve trunks make functional synaptic connections with neurons of the inferior mesenteric ganglion. The results also suggest that the majority of mechanosensory neurons mediating excitatory synaptic responses to colon distension are neurons with a peripheral cell body.
The Collision of Two Lexicons: Librarians, Composition Instructors and the Vocabulary of Source Evaluation

Abstract Objective – The study has two aims. The first is to identify words and phrases from information literacy and rhetoric and composition that students used to justify the comparability of two sources. The second is to interpret the effectiveness of students’ application of these evaluative vocabularies and explore the implications for librarians and first-year composition instructors’ collaborations. Methods – A librarian and a first-year composition instructor taught a class on source evaluation using the language of information literacy, composition, and rhetorical analysis (i.e., classical, Aristotelian, rhetorical appeals). Students applied the information learned from the instruction session to help them locate and select two sources of comparable genre and rigor for the purpose of an essay assignment. The authors assessed this writing assignment for students’ evaluative diction to identify how they could improve their understanding of each other’s discourse. Results – The authors’ analysis of the student writing sample exposes struggles in how students understand, apply, and integrate the jargon of information literacy and rhetoric and composition. Assessment shows that students chose the language of rhetoric and composition rather than the language of information literacy, they selected the broadest and/or vaguest terms to evaluate their sources, and they applied circular reasoning when justifying their choices. When introduced to analogous concepts or terms between the two discourses, students cherry-picked the terms that allowed for the easiest, albeit, least-meaningful evaluations. Conclusion – The authors found that their unfamiliarity with each other’s discourse revealed itself in both the class and the student writing. They discovered that these miscommunications affected students’ language use in their written source evaluations. In fact, the authors conclude that this oversight in addressing the subtle differences between the two vocabularies was detrimental to student learning. To improve communication and students’ source evaluation, the authors consider developing a common vocabulary for more consistency between the two lexicons.
“Prostitution” Behavior in a Tropical Hummingbird

For an animal to survive, it must acquire sufficient energy to meet metabolic requirements. In many vertebrates a territory helps insure adequate energy for the resident (Brown 1964, Fisler 1969). The size and quality of the territory will depend on the spatial and temporal characteristics of the food supply and competition for the food (Holmes 1970, Wolf and Stiles 1970). Most hummingbirds feed principally on nectar although they also eat small insects (Wagner 1946, Stiles 1971, Wolf and Hainsworth 1971). Male hummingbirds of many species defend groups of flowers from other hummingbirds, from other nectar-eating birds, and sometimes from insects. The ability of a male to maintain a territory depends on the relative dispersion of flowers and his dominance relationships with other species and individuals in the area (Brown 1964, Stiles and Wolf 1970, Wolf and Hainsworth 1971). In most hummingbirds that have been studied to date, males generally dominate females; there are a few exceptions (Wolf 1969). Male dominance over females may restrict the availability of energy to the female. Thus, when food is scarce or when the optimum resources can be controlled easily by the males, the subordinate females usually must exploit poorer nectar sources than the males. Female hummingbirds of most species apparently are solely responsible for the nesting effort and there is no long-term pair-bond (Wagner 1954, Wolf 1964, Lack 1968), although males of some species may provide indirect aid (Wolf and Stiles 1970, Snow and Snow 1973). This means that even during the breeding season, females of most species are not able to cohabit or regularly to use an area defended by the male. In most species nesting females do not and probably cannot hold territories around flowers (Wolf and Wolf 1971, Stiles 1973) and they are forced to forage at energetically poor, undefended sites. Females whose behavior enables them to exploit food defended by males would seem to have a selective advantage in both the breeding and nonbreeding season. This report describes use of aspects of mating behavior in the nonbreeding season by female Purplethroated Carib Hummingbirds (Eulampis jugularis) to gain ready access to nectar supplies on male territories. Since sexual behavior in these cases is being used for an energetic benefit for the female, I term this "prostitution" behavior.
Introducing Modeling Transition Diagrams as a Tool to Connect Mathematical Modeling to Mathematical Thinking

ABSTRACTThis study contributes a methodological tool to reconstruct the cognitive processes and mathematical activities carried out by mathematical modelers. Represented as Modeling Transition Diagrams (MTDs), individual modeling routes were constructed for four engineering undergraduate students. Findings stress the importance and limitations of using micro-analysis to examine modeling processes. The findings and the MTDs were used to critically question the implications of using modeling cycles as a theory of mathematical modeling processes.
Murine Model of Bacterial Keratitis

Publisher Summary This chapter describes a murine model of bacterial keratitis. Both inbred strains of mice and outbred mice are used in this model. The choice of whether to use an outbred mouse or an inbred mouse with a resistant or susceptible phenotype depend on the nature of the study. The anesthetic is administered by inhalation by placing a mouse within a jar containing the anesthetic. The degree of anesthesia can be monitored by the animal's loss of equilibrium and rapid but steady respiration. The length of time required to anesthetize a mouse varies with the construction of the anesthetizing jar and with the size and strain of mouse. Following anesthesia, the mice are placed beneath a stereoscopic microscope and the central cornea of each mouse is scarified with three 1-mm incisions using a 26G needle. The wounds are randomly examined histologically to ensure that they penetrate the epithelial basal lamina, but extend no deeper than the superficial corneal stroma. After wounding, the bacterial suspension is topically applied to the scarified cornea by using a calibrated micropipette with a sterile disposable tip. After infection, the mice are placed into a holding cage to recover from the anesthesia. After recovery, they are transferred to a cage containing fresh bedding. At daily intervals after infection, animals are grossly observed to ensure that animals are infected and to grade the progression of the disease. To facilitate grading of sealed eyes, the eyelid may be gently swabbed with a sterile cotton swab moistened with sterile saline and then gently opened sufficiently widely to grade the ocular disease.
Are Dogs Social Generalists? Canine Social Cognition, Attachment, and the Dog-Human Bond:

Reports of variability in the social behavior of the domestic dog (Canis lupus familiaris) are common across populations, breeds, and individuals. This has often been considered a challenge for characterizing the nature and origins of the domestic dog’s social cognition. Here, we propose that this variability might be explained by social plasticity, a trait that could contribute to the success of the domestic dog and facilitate the dog-human bond. Additional research specifically aimed at investigating population and individual variation in canine social behavior, such as attachment-style research, may provide important insight into domestic dogs’ biological success, as well as knowledge that could benefit both dogs and humans in a wide range of applied settings.
On developing a conceptual modeling report management tool for digital forensic investigations

In digital forensic investigations, reports are used to communicate the results of a digital forensic investigation. In addition to the submission of typed reports, investigators often supplement these reports by using forensic software to generate a detailed report of their analysis. This report includes their evidential findings and also provides logs indicating the steps taken during the examination of digital evidence. Although it may take several months to a year before the case goes to court, investigators must still be able to recall the case facts. In this paper, we propose the development of a conceptual report management tool that graphically organizes the facts of the case. This map would allow investigators and prosecutors to quickly and easily collaborate and review the significant details of the case in preparation for court.
Thermal-Aware Adaptive Fault-Tolerant Routing for Hybrid Photonic-Electronic NoC

Microring resonators, key components in on-chip photonic networks, are extremely sensitive to thermal variations, resulting in high failure rate optical transmission. Recently, hybrid photonic-electronic networks-on-chip (HPENoCs) have become popular because they exploit both electrical and photonic interconnects to satisfy stringent bandwidth, latency and energy demands of future chip multiprocessors (CMPs). Traditionally, power-hungry trimming methods using metal heaters are applied to stabilize microring resonant wavelengths. In this work, we propose a thermal-aware fault-tolerant routing technique (TAFT) that exploits the dual path diversity of HPENoCs to perform adaptive routing, given on-chip thermal conditions. TAFT achieves bit error rate (BER) of 10-11, exceeding required for reliable optical transmission (10-9); TAFT further guarantees connectivity of 99.98%. Compared to conventional power trimming, TAFT achieves 30% power efficiency, while it incurs 17% throughput overhead and only 2% latency overhead in real system benchmarks.
Evaluation of an Automated Beef Carcass Washing and Sanitizing System under Production Conditions

Beef half carcasses were hand- or machine-washed and then machine-sanitized with 1.5% acetic acid. Sanitizer was applied at 14.4 or 52°C. Counts of Escherichia coli , Enterobacteriaceae and aerobic bacteria, made on samples collected by excision of tissues before and after treatments, demonstrated that machine washing and sanitizing reduced counts more than did hand washing. Counts were reduced more by hot than cool acetic acid. Percentages of samples with counts of log10 5.0/200 cm2 or higher after treatment were 26 and 46 for samples from carcasses sanitized with 1.5% acetic acid at 52 and 14.4°C, respectively. After hand washings 65% of the samples had these high counts.
People Like Nudges (Mostly)

In recent years, there has been a great deal of debate about the ethical questions associated with “nudges,” understood as approaches that steer people in certain directions while fully maintaining freedom of choice. Evidence about people’s views cannot resolve the ethical questions, but in democratic societies (and probably nondemocratic ones as well), those views will inevitably affect what governments are willing to do. Existing evidence, including several nationally representative surveys, supports two general conclusions. First, there is a widespread support for nudges, at least of the kind that democratic societies have adopted or seriously considered in the recent past. Importantly, that support can be found across partisan lines. Second, nudges will not receive majority approval if they steer people in directions that are inconsistent with their interests or their values.
Coupled Hydro-Biomechanical Modeling of Bioreactor Landfills: New Modeling Framework and Research Challenges

Bioreactor landfills are emerging as a sustainable option in place of traditional landfills because of their inherent benefits such as waste to energy conversion, early waste stabilization, landfill space recovery, and its beneficial reuse with no long-term risks of leachate treatment and disposal. However, the performance of a bioreactor landfill is dictated by the coupled processes within the landfill. Understanding the individual system processes and their interdependencies is crucial in order to numerically model this system. Till date, there is no single model which can account for coupled processes to assess the performance of bioreactor landfills holistically. In this paper, a new mathematical modeling approach is presented that incorporates coupled hydraulic, mechanical, and biological processes in bioreactor landfills. Few results obtained from numerical simulations using this mathematical framework are briefly discussed, and major research challenges associated with the numerical modeling are highlighted.
Effects of Pitch and Rhythm Priming Tasks on Accuracy and Fluency during Sight-reading

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of pitch and rhythm priming tasks on sight-reading accuracy and fluency. High school wind instrumentalists (N = 182) were assigned to one of...
Visual data classification in post-event building reconnaissance

Abstract Post-event building reconnaissance teams have a clear mission. These teams of trained professional engineers, academic researchers and graduate students are charged with collecting perishable data to be used for learning from disasters. A tremendous amount of perishable visual data can be generated in just a few days. However, only a small portion of the data collected is annotated and used for scientific purposes due to the tedious and time-consuming processes needed to sift through and analyze them. This crucial process still significantly relies on trained human operators. To distill such information in an efficient manner, we introduce a novel and powerful method for post-disaster evaluation by processing and analyzing big visual data in an autonomous manner. Recent convolutional neural network (CNN) algorithms are implemented to extract visual content of interest automatically from the collected images. Image classification and object detection are incorporated into the procedures to achieve accurate extraction of target contents of interest. As an illustration of the computational technique and its capabilities, collapse classification and spalling detection in concrete structures are demonstrated using a large volume of images gathered from past earthquake disasters.