cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hormonal and social factors affecting evoked sexual behavior in rhesus monkeys

Male rhesus monkey sexual behavior occurring spontaneously or evoked by remotely-controlled hypothalamic stimulation was studied in dominant and subdominant males with both dominant and subdominant, estrogen-treated or untreated, ovariectomized females. The behavior was quantified in terms of number and duration of ejaculatory sequences, number of thrusts, and number of mounts per sequence. Little or no spontaneous sexual behavior was observed with an untreated ovariectomized female. However, evoked sexual behavior with the exception of evoked ejaculation could be obtained whether the females were treated or untreated. Spontaneous and evoked sexual behavior was directed towards both dominant and subdominant females. The female chosen by the male was in part determined by the dominance status of the female. Evoked sexual behavior differed from spontaneous behavior in terms of an increased number of thrusts per mount, an increased number of ejaculations per session, and a decrease in latency between ejaculatory sequences.
Dynamic Conditional Branch Balancing during the High-Level Synthesis of Control-Intensive Designs

We present two novel strategies to increase the scope for application of speculative code motions: (1) Adding scheduling steps dynamically during scheduling to conditional branches with fewer scheduling steps. This increases the opportunities to apply code motions, such as conditional speculation that duplicate operations into the branches of a conditional block. (2) Determining if an operation can be conditionally speculated into multiple basic blocks either by using existing idle resources or by creating new scheduling steps. These strategies lead to balancing of the number of steps in the conditional branches without increasing the longest path through the conditional block. Algorithms for these strategies have been implemented within the Spark high-level synthesis framework that accepts a behavioral description in ANSI-C as input and produces synthesizable register-transfer level VHDL. Experiments on two moderately complex industrial-strength applications, namely, MPEG-1 and the GIMP image processing tool, demonstrate that conditional speculation is ineffective without using these strategies.
Alternative Formulation of the Job Shop Problem with Due Dates

The classical formulation of the static job shop scheduling problem with job due dates implies that the question of interest to the manager is: What is the best that can be done to meet due dates with fixed resources? Here, two alternative formulations of the problem are proposed; one because of its practical appeal, the other because of its methodological appeal. The latter is used to develop a multi-pass heuristic scheduling procedure aimed at providing a practical tool for attacking any of the three formulations of the problem. This paper describes the basic structure of the scheduling procedure, the machine coding of a specific version of the procedure, and computational experience with a set of test problems ranging in size up to fourteen jobs and seven machines.
Validating a Mentoring Relationship Quality Scale: Does Match Strength Predict Match Length?

Youth mentoring relationships have significant potential for promoting positive youth development. Nonetheless, the benefits derived from such relationships depend considerably on the length and quality of the bonds that are created between mentors and youth. Although some attention has been paid to youth’s experience of relationship quality, few studies have focused on mentors’ experience of relationship quality. In the context of a national sample of mentor and youth dyads in Big Brothers Big Sisters community-based mentoring programs (N = 5,222), the current study validated a new mentor-reported measure of relationship quality, explored associations between mentor and youth assessments of relationship quality, and investigated the capacity of early assessments of relationship quality to predict mentoring relationship duration. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
Kernel wiener filter using canonical correlation analysis framework

This paper addresses the problem of kernel Wiener filler using kernel canonical correlation analysis (CCA) framework. We solve the Wiener filter problem in the higher dimensional mapped domain using the kernel trick. A method is proposed to find approximate Wiener filtered signal in the original space by solving an optimization problem in higher dimensional space. The final form of kernel Wiener filter that relates to kernel Gram matrices, corresponds to the mean shift procedure or weighted nearest neighbor retrieval. The signal estimation and reconstruction capability of the kernel Wiener filter is demonstrated on the United States Postal Service (USPS) digits database. Moreover, a comparison between the linear Wiener filter and reduced-rank kernel Wiener filter is also presented
The Doctrine of Invited Misuse: A Societal Response to Marketing Promotion

Although attention to product liability has been traditionally focused on the producer, the judicial gaze is being turned with greater frequency toward marketing's participation in consumer harm. U...
Molecular Pathogenesis of Lung Cancer

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States for both men and women in 1991. It is also unique among the common cancers in that most cases can be associated with a single environmental exposure, namely cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke contains many substances that can damage DNA and act as carcinogens or mutagens in in vitro systems. It is presumed that this ability to directly damage DNA in lung cells is a primary event in lung cancer carcinogenesis.
A micron-thickness, planar Schottky diode chip for terahertz applications with theoretical minimum parasitic capacitance

The design and fabrication of a novel planar Schottky diode with greatly reduced shunt capacitance for millimeter- and submillimeter-wave applications is described. The dominant pad-to-pad shunt capacitance is minimized by replacing the substrate GaAs with a low-dielectric substitute. This replacement substrate can be easily removed by the user after the device is soldered into the mixer circuit. This will yield the minimum possible pad-to-pad shunt capacitance. >
Small-volume basaltic volcanoes: Eruptive products and processes, and posteruptive geomorphic evolution in Crater Flat (Pleistocene), southern Nevada

Five Pleistocene basaltic volcanoes in Crater Flat (southern Nevada) demonstrate the complexity of eruption processes associated with small-volume basalts, and the effects of initial emplacement characteristics on posteruptive geomorphic evolution of the volcanic surfaces. The volcanoes record explosive processes ranging from "classical" Strombolian mechanisms to, potentially, violent Strombolian mechanisms. Cone growth was accompanied and sometimes disrupted by effusion of lavas from the bases of cones. Pyroclastic cones were built upon a gently southward-sloping surface and were prone to failure of their downslope (southern) flanks. Early lavas flowed primarily southward and, at Red and Black Cone volcanoes, carried abundant rafts of cone material on the tops of the flows. These resulting early lava fields eventually built platforms such that later flows erupted from the eastern (at Red Cone) and northern (at Black Cone) bases of the cones. Three major surface features¯scoria cones, lava fields with abundant rafts of pyroclastic material, and lava fields with little or no pyroclastic material-experienced different posteruptive surficial processes. Failure to account for the different initial surface features can lead to erroneous conclusions about the relative ages of the surfaces based upon modern morphology. Conversely, the recognition of different volcanic surfaces provides the opportunity to study the effects of different initial properties upon posteruptive geomorphic processes. Contrary to previous interpretations that the individual volcanoes were emplaced by polycyclic eruptions (separated by thousands or tens of thousands of years), we argue that the Pleistocene Crater Flat volcanoes are monogenetic, each having formed in a single eruptive episode lasting up to a few years. We show that all eruptive products emanated from the areas of the volcanoes' main cones rather than from scattered vents, as inferred by previous workers. These conclusions provide insight into the processes associated with continental basaltic magmatism and information related to the geometry and timing of volcanic events, which is useful in risk assessments.
Subgroup J avian leukosis virus neutralizing antibody escape variants contribute to viral persistence in meat-type chickens.

SUMMARY. We have previously demonstrated a high incidence of chickens with persistent viremia even in the presence of neutralizing antibodies (V+A+) against the inoculated parental virus in commercial meat-type chickens inoculated at hatch with subgroup J avian leukosis virus (ALV J) field isolates. In this study, we used an ALV J molecular clone, ADOL pR5-4, to determine the role of neutralizing antibody (NAb) escape mutants in maintaining a high incidence of viral persistence, namely, V+A+ infection profile in commercial meat-type chickens. Chickens were housed as a flock in a pen or housed in isolation in solitary Horsfall-Bauer units for testing for NAb escape variants. The emergence of NAb escape variants was evaluated by sequential autologous virus neutralization (VN) (between virus and antibody from the same sampling period) and heterologous VN (between virus and antibody from preceding and succeeding sampling periods). Sequential virus isolates and corresponding antisera from 18 chickens were examined by VN matrix. In all chickens, autologous virus isolates were not neutralized by corresponding antisera. However, some of these resilient autologous virus isolates were neutralized by antibodies from subsequent sampling intervals. Nucleotide sequence analysis of consecutive isolates from three individually housed chickens with V+A+ infection profile revealed distinct changes within the envelope region, suggesting viral evolution to escape the host immune response. These results demonstrate that the emergence of antibody escape variants in commercial meat-type chickens contributes to ALV J persistence.
A quick glance at quantum cryptography

The recent application of the principles of quantum mechanics to cryptography has led to a remarkable new dimension in secret communication. As a result of these new developments, it is now possible to construct cryptographic communication systems which detect unauthorized eavesdropping should it occur, and which give a guarantee of no eavesdropping should it not occur.
The adaptive suspension vehicle

This paper provides a description of the Adaptive Suspension Vehicle. The vehicle uses a legged, rather than a wheeled or tracked, locomotion principle, and is intended to demonstrate the feasibility of systems of this type for transportation in very rough terrain conditions. The vehicle is presently under test, with installation and validation of software modules for different operational conditions scheduled for completion by the end of 1986.
PLANETS AND INFRARED EXCESSES: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM A SPITZER MIPS SURVEY OF SOLAR-TYPE STARS

As part of a large Spitzer MIPS Guaranteed Time Observation program, we have searched for infrared excesses due to debris disks toward 26 FGK field stars known from radial velocity (RV) studies to have one or more planets. While none of these stars show excesses at 24 � m, we have detected 70 � m excesses around six stars at the 3 � confidence level. The excesses are produced by cool material (<100 K) located beyond 10 AU, well outside the ‘‘habitable zones’’ of these systems and consistent with the presence of Kuiper Belt analogs with � 100 times more emitting surface area than in our own planetary system. These planet-bearing stars are, by selection for RV studies, typically older than 1 Gyr, and the stars identified here with excesses have a median age of 4 Gyr. We find a preliminary correlation of both the frequency and the magnitude of dust emission with the presence of known planets. These are thefirststarsoutside thesolarsystemidentifiedashaving both well-confirmed planetary systems and well-confirmed IR excesses. Subject headingg infrared: stars — Kuiper Belt — planetary systems: formation — planetary systems: protoplanetary disks
Survival of Pelagic Juvenile Loggerhead Turtles in the Open Ocean

Abstract We deployed pop-up archival transmitting tags on 15 loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) that had been lightly hooked in the United States pelagic longline fishery and on 10 loggerheads that we dip-netted off the surface to serve as controls in the North Atlantic Ocean. We received data from tags of 10 lightly hooked turtles and 7 control turtles. We used data transmitted by the tags in a known-fate model to estimate annual survival rates and determine if there were differences in survival between the 2 groups. The best model indicates there is no difference in survival between the lightly hooked and control turtles, and the estimated annual survival rate was 0.814 (95% CI = 0.557–0.939). Our results suggest that when all fishing gear is removed lightly hooked turtles may not suffer any additional mortality relative to control turtles.
Effect of some nonionic surfactants on the rate of release of drugs from suppositories

Twenty-eight nonionic surfactants were added to theobroma oil base suppositories. The amount of aminophylline, ephedrine alkaloid, and ephedrine hydrochloride released from these bases was determined by dialyzing the released drug through a cellophane membrane and determining the optical absorbance at the appropriate wavelength. Data obtained indicate that surfactants with HLB values of less than 11 had little effect on the rate of release. Surfactants with HLB values over 11 increased significantly, in most cases, the amount of drug dialyzed. Besides HLB values, other properties of surfactants such as chemical structure, composition, and melting point also affect the rate of release.
Li-ion battery parameter estimation for state of charge

Battery state of charge (SOC) is a critical parameter for the control of propulsion systems in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and electric vehicles (EV). As SOC is not measureable during vehicle operation, an onboard adaptive algorithm is developed in this paper. The algorithm estimates six electrical parameters for Li-ion batteries and provides a reliable SOC based on one of the estimated battery parameters, i.e. open circuit voltage (OCV). Simulation and vehicle validation results show good robustness and adaptation of the algorithm with high computational efficiency and low implementation cost.
Thyroxine Secretion Rates of Two Strains of New Hampshire Chickens Selected for High and Low Response to Thiouracil

ABSTRACT RECENTLY, Pipes et al. (1958) described a radioiodine technique for the in vivo estimation of thyroxine secretion rate in individual fowls. Using this technique, the thyroxine secretion rates were determined in individuals of two strains of New Hampshire chickens selected for several generations on the basis of high and low response to the feeding of thiouracil (herein designated as the high and low lines). Hatching eggs from the low and high lines which had undergone 3 generations of selection were kindly supplied by Dr. C. S. Shaffner of the Poultry Husbandry Department, University of Maryland. The eggs were hatched by the Poultry Husbandry Department of the University of Missouri and raised in our laboratory. The method of producing these two lines of fowls has been reported by El-Ibiary and Shaffner (1950). Shaklee and Shaffner (1952) confirmed that variation in response was influenced by heredity after two generations of selection. Subsequently, . . .
Learning a Compositional Semantics for Freebase with an Open Predicate Vocabulary

We present an approach to learning a model-theoretic semantics for natural language tied to Freebase. Crucially, our approach uses an open predicate vocabulary, enabling it to produce denotations for phrases such as "Republican front-runner from Texas" whose semantics cannot be represented using the Freebase schema. Our approach directly converts a sentence's syntactic CCG parse into a logical form containing predicates derived from the words in the sentence, assigning each word a consistent semantics across sentences. This logical form is evaluated against a learned probabilistic database that defines a distribution over denotations for each textual predicate. A training phase produces this probabilistic database using a corpus of entity-linked text and probabilistic matrix factorization with a novel ranking objective function. We evaluate our approach on a compositional question answering task where it outperforms several competitive baselines. We also compare our approach against manually annotated Freebase queries, finding that our open predicate vocabulary enables us to answer many questions that Freebase cannot.
Large-angle electro-optic laser scanner on LiTaO 3 fabricated by in situ monitoring of ferroelectric-domain micropatterning

We report on a horn-shaped electro-optic scanner based on a ferroelectric LiTaO(3) wafer that is capable of scanning 632.8-nm light by an unprecedented 14.88 degrees angle for extraordinary polarized light and by 4.05 degrees for ordinary polarized light. The device concept is based on micropatterning ferroelectric domains in the shape of a series of optimized prisms whose refractive index is electric field tunable through the electro-optic effect. We demonstrate what we believe is a novel technique of using electro-optic imaging microscopy for in situ monitoring of the process of domain micropatterning during device fabrication, thus eliminating imperfect process control based on ex situ monitoring of transient currents.
Peripheral circuit design for field programmable MCM systems

A field programmable multichip module (MCM) architecture utilizing an array of modified field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) is proposed. Interconnections are provided by a fixed wiring network on the MCM, and by programmable interconnection frames on each FPGA. It is shown that full-swing CMOS peripheral circuits are faster than low-swing CMOS circuits. Buffering configurations for the interconnection frame which exploit the MCM performance benefits were selected and optimized. Bidirectional bus implementations using the frame are presented. >
Output-error adaptive bilinear filters

The authors present an overview of several gradient-type recursive algorithms for adaptive nonlinear filters equipped with bilinear system models. Bilinear models are attractive because they can approximate a large class of nonlinear systems with great parsimony in the use of coefficients. Two algorithms of complexity O(N/sup 3/) (N is the memory span of the bilinear system model used in the adaptive filter) multiplications per sample and two other algorithms of complexity O(N/sup 2/) multiplications per sample are presented. The results of several computer experiments show that at least one of the O(N/sup 2/) complexity algorithms works almost as well as the more complex algorithms. >
Serotonergic inhibition of afterdischarge in peptidergic bag cells

The neuroendocrine bag cells of Aplysia generate a long-lasting afterdischarge causing the release of the peptide egg-laying hormone (ELH) into the hemolymph (Stuart and Strumwasser, 1980). This afterdischarge activity can be elicited in vitro by electrical stimulation of a pleurovisceral connective (PVC) nerve. It has been shown previously that bag cell afterdischarge and egg-laying behavior can also be induced by a purified neuroactive peptide isolated from the atrial gland in the reproductive tract (Heller et al., 1980). The authors find that the afterdischarge can be inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by the extracellular application of low concentrations of serotonin (5 × 10−7M). This inhibitory action of serotonin is blocked by the serotonin antagonist D-butaclamol. Serotonin has been found to prevent egg laying (and associated behaviors) induced by injection of this atrial gland peptide in vivo but not that induced by injection of ELH. Afterdischarge activity in bag cells consists of a short initial phase during which the spike frequency is high and a longer, secondary phase in which the spike frequency is much lower (Kupfermann and Kandel, 1970). Intracellular recordings during serotonin inhibition of afterdischarge indicate significant decreases in spike amplitude (15%) and duration (18%) compared with controls. In addition, the latency and threshold of directly elicited spikes, in the absence of afterdischarge, were increased considerably as a result of serotonin. Arguments are presented from these data that serotonin may be preventing the conductance decrease associated with the long-lasting second phase of afterdischarge and that this effect of serotonin can be overcome by application of the potassium channel blocker tetraethylammonium (TEA). Although a serotonergic input to the bag cell neurons has not yet been described, the pleurovisceral connective nerves, known to contain bag cell process, have the highest concentration of serotonin receptors of any nervous tissue in Aplysia (Drummond, Bucher, and Levitan, 1980). It remains to be determined whether these represent serotonergic synapses on bag cell processes. The authors speculate that serotonin, considered a transmitter mediating sensitization (arousal) in other systems in Aplysia, may act to suppress an ongoing peptide hormone release, which would have triggered a behavior program in the freely behaving animal, thus allowing some degree of behavioral plasticity as a result of changed conditions in the external environment.
On noise induced resonances in neurodynamic models

This work aims at studying dynamical models of neural networks, which exhibit transitions between quasistable states of various complexities. We use the biologically motivated KIII model, which is a high-dimensional dynamical system with extremely fragmented boundaries between limit cycles, tori, fixed points, and chaotic attractors. We study the role of additive noise in the development of itinerant trajectories. Noise broadens the region of the dominance of chaotic attractors. This result is especially useful in the application of KIII and makes it possible to select parameter regions where KIII can operate as a robust dynamic system and associative memory device.
The potential of the internet as a medium to encourage and discourage youth tobacco use

The internet is fast becoming a new battleground between tobacco control advocates and pro-tobacco forces, and this new media will certainly have a greater impact on tobacco use behaviour in the future. This paper reviews how the internet can encourage youth smoking by providing youth access to tobacco products and offering content that glamorises smoking lifestyle and culture, particularly in hundreds of websites and chat rooms. These sites feature pictures of celebrity smokers, provide information about smoking in movies, and provide smoking advice to teen smokers. In contrast, youth smoking is discouraged on online grassroots advocacy and countermarketing websites. Although these strategies show promise, more research is needed to evaluate their impact. Recommendations are made for future research to study pro-smoking internet content and ways to counteract it, as well as to monitor the online activities of the tobacco companies. Finally, some of the challenges in addressing tobacco related internet content are discussed.
Cell-based panning as a means to isolate phage display Fabs specific for a bacterial surface protein

Surface proteins provide a multitude of functions for the bacterial cell. Antibodies to these proteins can provide tools for tagging bacteria and characterizing protein function. Phage display technology has emerged as a powerful method for producing monoclonal Fabs in Escherichia coli. In an effort to study the adhesion mechanisms of Streptococcus parasanguis FW213, Fabs specific for the surface adhesin protein Fap1 were produced using phage display. The immune repertoire of a mouse injected with purified Fap1 was cloned into the phagemid vector pCOMB3, and a combinatorial Fab library was expressed in E. coli. A cell-based panning method using whole S. parasanguis cells was developed and has been shown to be a means for enriching for Fabs specific for the Fap1 protein.
A novel particle source based on electrospray charging for dust accelerators and its significance for cosmic dust studies

In situ cosmic dust analyzers, like those aboard Cassini, Galileo, and Stardust, provide important data about cosmic dust, including the chemical composition of dust particles. Correctly interpreting the data from these cosmic dust analyzers requires laboratory calibration experiments. By studying the impact mass spectrum from a particle of known composition, an unknown particle’s composition can be inferred from its impact mass spectrum measured in situ. This work expands a recently presented method, electrospray charging, introduced as a means of charging minerals, astrophysical ices, and mineral-ice mixtures that are not electrically conductive. This overcomes a limitation of current dust accelerators: they can only charge, and therefore accelerate, electrically conductive particles. This paper presents experiments demonstrating that microparticles (typically 2 micrometers) of olivine, a common mineral in meteorites, and of an ordinary chondrite (Allan Hills A 79045) can be electrically charged even though neither is electrically conductive. This article discusses the acceleration potential of electrospray-charged projectiles, and explores ways to overcome the challenges implicit in coupling an electrospray source to a dust accelerator. Electrospray charging may enable experiments with novel projectiles that are better analogues for cosmic dust than the conductive projectiles currently in use. Theoretical charging limits using this technique would allow micron-sized particles to be accelerated to several km/s using 3 MV potential, with higher velocities for smaller particles.
Human progenitor cells from bone marrow or adipose tissue produce VEGF, HGF, and IGF-I in response to TNF by a p38 MAPK-dependent mechanism

Accumulating evidence suggests that progenitor cells may decrease destructive inflammation and reduce tissue loss by antiapoptotic mechanisms. However, they remain poorly characterized, and many qu...
European corn borer oviposition response to soil fertilization practices and arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of corn

Soil fertility and resulting crop plant nutrition contribute to optimal crop yields in both conventional and organic farming systems. Additionally, soil management practices can affect the colonization and efficacy of arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM), which in turn may improve crop resilience to drought and soil nutrient deficiencies. Soil mineral fertilization and AM colonization have been shown to affect herbivorous insect oviposition response and performance. However, the below-ground interaction of fertilization practices and AM colonization on plant nutrition and insect oviposition response has been largely unexplored. To test this, we obtained soils from agricultural fields managed under 3 different soil fertilization practices for 5 continuous years: Synthetic fertilizers only with a 2-year corn-soybean rotation (conventional farming, or CONV), dairy manure with a 4-year alfalfa/oat-alfalfa-corn-soybean rotation (standard organic farming, or STDO), and dairy manure + 4-year alfalfa/oat-alfalfa-corn-soyb...
COULOMB FRICTION, PLASTICITY, AND LIMIT LOADS

Abstract : Additional attention is given to the somewhat subtle but extremely important difference between Coulomb friction and the apparently corresponding resistance to plastic deformation. It is shown that the limit theorems previously proven for assemblages of perfectly plastic bodies do not always apply when there is finite sliding friction. Theorems are developed which relate the limit loads with finite Coulomb friction to the extreme cases of zero friction and of complete attachment, and also to the case where the frictional interfaces are "cemented" together with a cohosionless soil.
The Importance of Juvenile Wood

The characteristics of juvenile wood can result in major problems with the final product and with mill efficiency, or they can be beneficial. Many of the problems and advantages related to the operational use of juvenile wood are described and discussed in Chapter 8, but several examples have been included here to show how important juvenile wood can be.
Reactive Poly(Arylene Ether) Toughening of Cyanate Ester Networks Via Thermal and MicrowaveCuring

Cyanate ester networks are receiving considerable attention as potential candidates for high temperature adhesives and composite applications. The dicyanates ester monomers cyclo-trimerize 1,2 via addition polymerization to form highly crosslinked polycyanurates (Scheme 1).
Suppression of the malignant phenotype of human glioma cells by overexpression of manganese superoxide dismutase

Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) has been previously shown to suppress the malignant phenotype of human melanoma and breast cancer cells. To test the possible role of MnSOD in glioma malignancy, MnSOD was overexpressed in wild type human glioma U118 cells and subcloned U118-9 cells by transfection of human MnSOD cDNA. The MnSOD-transfected cell lines demonstrated expression of exogenous (plasmid) MnSOD mRNA, increase in MnSOD immunoreactive protein, and a three- to eightfold increase in MnSOD enzymatic activity. The MnSOD overexpressing cell lines became less malignant as demonstrated by requiring a higher serum concentration to grow in vitro and much slower tumor growth in nude mice than the parental and neo control cell lines. These findings further support the hypothesis that MnSOD may be a tumor suppressor gene in a wide variety of human tumors.
Electronic Structure of Layered and Linear Chain Materials by Scanning Probe Microscopy

Transition metal impurities such as Fe, Ni, and Co can be intercalated into the van der Waals gap of layer structure dichalcogenides and these modify the charge-density wave (CDW) structure and CDW energy gaps. Ordered superlattices associated with antiferromagnetic phases can be detected by both scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). STM spectroscopy indicates the formation of a mixed spin-density-wave (SDW) and CDW (SDWCDW) in the doped materials. The quasi-one dimensional trichalcogenide NbSe3 exhibits two CDW transitions and the presence of dilute transition metal impurities produces ordered superlattices due to long range screening of the impurities.
Deciphering Southern Thailand’s violence: organization and insurgent practices of BRN-Coordinate

In 2004, when violence broke out anew in Southern Thailand’s majority Malay Muslim provinces, no one claimed credit. Observers were at a loss to explain the unexpected eruption. Since then, more th...
Measurement Equivalence of the PALS Academic Self-Efficacy Scale

Abstract. There is consistent evidence of the importance of academic self-efficacy beliefs within educational research, as they are linked to critical academic outcomes. Ethnic and gender differences in academic self-efficacy have been found in nations outside of the United States, suggesting differences in how individual students perceive their academic abilities. However, if researchers are interested in making mean-level comparisons of academic self-efficacy across diverse subpopulations of students, it is imperative to assess the measurement equivalence of the scale used across these subgroups prior to drawing any conclusions based on score inferences. The current study assessed the measurement invariance of the academic self-efficacy scale of the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS; Midgley et al., 2000) across gender and race among 4,148 high school students in the Southeastern US. The results indicated partial measurement invariance across African American females, African American males, Ca...
Mutations in the pore region of ROMK enhance Ba2+ block

The sequence of the hydrophobic “P” (pore) region of a K(+)-selective channel from the kidney (ROMK2) was altered to match that of the closely related inward rectifier (IRK1) channel by changing two amino acids, leucine (L) 117 and valine (V) 121, to isoleucine (I) and threonine (T), respectively. The mutant channel expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes had an apparent inhibition constant at zero voltage [Ki(0)] in the presence of Ba2+ of 0.07 +/- 0.01 mM, which was more than 50 times lower than the Ki(0) of the wild-type channel (4.7 +/- 1.0 mM). The increased sensitivity to Ba2+ was accounted for by the point mutation V121T. Single-channel measurements indicated that the increased affinity involved an increase in the on-rate for Ba2+ block and a decrease in the off-rate. Block by Ca+ was also enhanced. The single-channel conductance of the L1171/ V121T mutant was increased by 50%, whereas the degree of inward rectification, ion selectivity, and apparent affinity for K+ were essentially unchanged. When the neutral asparagine residue within the second putative membrane-spanning domain of the ROMK channel was substituted with aspartic acid, the corresponding amino acid in IRK1, the degree of inward rectification was enhanced but Ba2+ block and single-channel inward conductance were unaffected. Thus the site of Ba2+ binding appears to be distinct from the locus of internal Mg2+ block and from at least one of the sites that determines K+ conjuctivity.
A School Divided: One Elementary School's Response to Education Policy

This article examines how one elementary school was divided into two schools—a primary and an intermediate school—because of how policies were interpreted and enacted with regard to high-stakes testing. The grades in which students took high-stakes tests were privileged in terms of receiving monetary resources and support from staff. An emphasis on testing also influenced how bilingual education was addressed. These organizational decisions highlight how policy operated as a practice of power, where inequitable education outcomes were reproduced. [education policy, high-stakes testing, school organization, elementary school]
Brief of Amici Curiae California Association of Scholars, Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Reason Foundation and Individual Rights Foundation in Support of Petitioner in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action

In this brief, filed before the Supreme Court in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, amici curiae argue:The Sixth Circuit erred in finding the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative to be unconstitutional.The logic of Hunter v. Erickson (1969) and Washington v. Seattle School District No. 1 (1982) can be applied only to laws that promote discrimination, not to law that forbid it.All laws work a "political re-structuring of the kind the Sixth Circuit condemns; that may be among the reasons the Supreme Court has quietly declined to follow Hunter even in cases in which it arguably could be applied.The Sixth Circuit's notion that questions of preferential treatment for racial minorities must be left at a low level of government is contrary to law and the political theory of the nation's founders.Voter Initiatives like the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative hold the key to improving the academic success of under-represented minority students.
Intraoperative pitfalls and complications in defecation disorders and rectal prolapse

Einleitung Fur die operative Therapie des Rektumprolapses in seinen unterschiedlichen Auspragungen existiert nach wie vor kein Goldstandard. Die vorhandene Evidenz legt nahe, dass eine individualisierte Verfahrensauswahl das beste Ergebnis fur den einzelnen Patienten ermoglicht. Die Kenntnis moglicher Fallstricke und des intraoperativen Komplikationsmanagements zu haufig angewandten Verfahren erscheinen als wichtige Voraussetzung eines verlasslichen Leistungsangebotes an betroffene Patienten.
College Women's Responses to a Celebrity Health Disclosure.

ABSTRACTCelebrities can have a powerful influence on people’s health-related attitudes and behaviors, often by publicly disclosing their own personal health decisions. In May 2013, Angelina Jolie, an internationally recognized actress, director, and author, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times disclosing her decision to undergo a prophylactic double mastectomy to reduce her risk of breast cancer after learning that she carried the BRCA1 gene mutation. This cross-sectional study examined whether exposure to Angelina Jolie and her mastectomy disclosure and parasocial involvement (PSI) with Angelina Jolie were related to female college students’ perceived risk of breast cancer and breast cancer screening intentions. Participants were 198 female undergraduate college students. Data were collected anonymously via an online questionnaire and analyzed using bivariate correlations and hierarchical linear regression analyses. Neither exposure to Angelina and her disclosure nor PSI with Angelina Jolie was related ...
Social Control and Optimal Marketing

This chapter presents a framework to design optimal marketing strategy over an opinion dynamics; utilizing the results presented in Chap. 8.
Evaluating the impact of the labor market conditions index on labor market forecasts

This paper examines the usefulness of the labor market conditions index (LMCI) in forecasting key labor market variables, particularly unemployment rates. Using a number of models, we compare out-of-sample forecasts of the unemployment rate with the LMCI to those without the LMCI. We also estimate models of the disaggregated unemployment rates by gender, race, and race by gender, with and without the LMCI, to identify disparities in the predictive power of the LMCI for different subgroups. Last, to determine how the LMCI performs in the presence of labor market shocks, we compare the forecasting performance of the LMCI during recessionary periods and expansionary periods. Our results confirm the potential usefulness of the LMCI as a parsimonious forecasting tool; we find that the LMCI generally improves unemployment forecasts. But, disparities exist in the predictive power of the index across subpopulations and the index forecasts slightly better during recessionary periods than expansionary periods.
The efficacy and safety of electroanatomic mapping-guided endomyocardial biopsy: a systematic review

Electroanatomic mapping (EAM) has been utilized as a modality to improve the sensitivity of endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). We sought to systematically review published medical literature on the efficacy and safety of EAM-guided EMB. We searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, Ovid CDR, Cochrane Central, Scopus, and Web of Science for studies where EAM was used for EMB. Data abstracted included demographics, indications, final diagnoses, histology findings, and technical details of biopsy extraction. Test characteristics including sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), and area under curve (AUC) were calculated on a per-patient and per-biopsy level. Seventeen studies (9 case series, 8 case reports) were included in this systematic review. EAM-guided EMB was performed in 148 patients and results of 207 individual biopsies were available for analysis. The most common indications for EAM-guided EMB were suspected arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC), myocarditis, and cardiac sarcoidosis (CS). The pooled sensitivity and specificity for EAM-guided EMB for the diagnosis of cardiomyopathies (ARVC, myocarditis, CS, and other specific diagnoses) were 92 and 58% on per-biopsy analysis and 100 and 39% on per-patient analysis. Among the individual components of abnormal EGMs, abnormal unipolar EGM had the best AUC on per-biopsy (0.81, 95% CI 0.68–0.90) and per-patient analysis (0.84, 95% CI 0.68–0.92). EAM-guided EMB appears safe. Adverse events included 1 hemopericardium, 2 minimal asymptomatic pericardial effusions, and 1 femoral hematoma. EAM-guided EMB is a safe and efficacious method and might improve test characteristics over conventional fluoroscopy-guided biopsy.
Therapeutic Strategies for Xenotransplantation

The major factor limiting the clinical application of organ transplantation is the supply of human organs. This supply allows only 5-15% of transplants needed in the United States to be performed [1]. One approach to overcoming this problem is to use animals as a source of organs and tissues, that is, xenotransplantation. First attempted at the turn of the century [2], xenotransplantation seems to finally be nearing clinical application, as recent years have brought about much progress in understanding the hurdles to the clinical application of xenotransplantation and the development of novel strategies for dealing with these hurdles. This chapter will summarize the hurdles to the clinical application of xenotransplantation, and the therapeutic approaches that might be used to overcome them. Specific approaches to the control of cellular immune responses to xenotransplantation will not be given, as these approaches will be detailed elsewhere in this volume.
Mental Health Services in Primary Care: Implications for Clinical Mental Health Counselors and Other Mental Health Providers

I am pleased to introduce this special issue of the Journal of Mental Health Counseling dedicated to mental health in primary care. Though the idea of incorporating mental health services into primary care is not new, there is a clear need to promote the transportability of counseling theories and culturally sensitive counseling practices to primary care settings. Clinical mental health counselors who are not aware of the importance of fostering meaningful collaborations and consultation with primary care physicians can garner useful information from the articles that appear in this special issue of the Journal of Mental Health Counseling. Knowledge acquired from this special issue about the dearth of quality mental health care for some patients seen in primary care settings may engender innovative solutions, both put forward by clinical mental health counselors and co-created with primary care physicians. I also hope that the articles in this special issue may stimulate future research and produce implic...
Assessment of the Cardiovascular and Lymphatic Systems

Assessment of the cardiovascular and lymphatic systems first requires a complete signalment, history, and general physical examination. Further assessment of the cardiovascular system begins with evaluation of the cardiac borders through palpation and thoracic percussion. Complete cardiac auscultation requires careful evaluation of several parameters. The location, intensity, and character of normal heart sounds are first determined. This is followed by assessment of heart rate and rhythm. Finally, special attention should be placed on identifying abnormal heart sounds and describing them based on their location, intensity, duration, sound quality, and radiation. Assessment of the arterial, venous, and capillary systems provides additional information on the status of the cardiovascular system. Assessment of the lymphatic system primarily involves evaluation of external and palpable internal lymph nodes. Commonly palpable external lymph nodes include the intermandibular, parotid, retropharyngeal, superficial cervical, subiliac, mammary, and scrotal lymph nodes. Palpable internal abdominal lymph nodes include the iliofemoral lymph nodes and the iliosacral lymph center. Other lymph nodes that may be palpable include the renal, ruminal, and mesenteric lymph nodes. Lymph nodes should be evaluated for size, consistency, and tenderness.
Dorion Cairns: The Last Lecture Course on Ethics

Dorion Cairns was born the son of a Methodist pastor on July 4, 1901. He entered Harvard in 1919 and was first exposed to phenomenology in a course with Raphael Demos, who had studied with Bertrand Russell. Cairns first heard of Husserl and Meinong in something Russell had written, continuing his exposure to phenomenology in a course on general theory of value by Winthrop Bell, who had written his dissertation under Husserl. After his first year of graduate study, Cairns won a scholarship, which was renewed for a second year, and thus he spent two years with Husserl in Freiburg im Breisgau. He returned to study with the phenomenologist, who thought very highly of him, for a year and a half in 1931–32. Cairns’s dissertation, The Philosophy of Edmund Husserl, was accepted at Harvard in June 1933. Then Cairns taught part time at several universities in New York City before securing a permanent position at Rockford College for Girls. After the war and recuperation from tuberculosis, he taught at Rockford for several years; he was next a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy of the Graduate Faculty of Political and Social Science of the New School for Social Research in 1954–60, and thereafter a tenured professor. He initially began a course on intentionality that was extended due to student demand for six and a half semesters. It was subsequently divided into two semesters on intentionality and then one-semester courses on theory of knowledge, phenomenology of thinking, value theory, and ethics. His colleagues were first Alfred Schutz and then Aron Gurwitsch in what was the first center for phenomenology in the United States.1
Scalable Optical Interconnection Networks for Large-Scale Parallel Computers

A new scalable interconnection topology called the Spanning Multichannel Linked Hypercube (SMLH) is proposed along with an optical implementation methodology that combines both the advantages of free space optics with those of wavelength division multiplexing techniques. The SMLH uses the hypercube topology as a basic building block and connects such building blocks using two-dimensional multichannel links (similar to spanning buses). In doing so, the SMLH combines positive features of both the hypercube (small diameter, high connectivity, symmetry, simple routing, and fault tolerance) and the spanning bus hypercube (SBH) (constant node degree, scalability, and ease of physical implementation), while at the same time circumventing their disadvantages. The SMLH topology supports many communication patterns found in different classes of computation, such as bus-based, mesh-based, and tree-based problems as well as hypercube-based problems. A very attractive feature of the SMLH network is its ability to support a large number of processors with the possibility of maintaining a constant degree and a constant diameter. Other positive features include symmetry, incremental scalability, and fault-tolerance. It is shown that the SMLH network provides better average message distance, average traffic density, and queueing delay than many similar networks, including the binary hypercube, the SBH, etc. Additionally, the SMLH has comparable performance to other high-performance hypercubic networks, including the Generalized Hypercube and the Hypermesh.
Uncertainty Principle for Quantum Channels

We extend the quantum entropic uncertainty principle beyond measurements, to a pair of finite-dimensional quantum channels acting on the same input system. This also generalizes strong super-additivity inequality by giving a lower bound on generalizations of conditional mutual information. Moreover we show that the corresponding “squashed” conditional mutual information is additive in this general setting.
Applying regression analysis to model the risk of space flight and terrestrial activities

Abstract This article presents a novel method for coarsely modeling space flight risk in the absence of vehicle-specific data. Risk and usage rates for several different modes of transportation (including space flight) and adventure sports activities (mountaineering, skydiving, and SCUBA diving) were correlated, and a line of best fit equation was derived. The strong, inverse correlation between number of fatal accidents per trip (i.e. risk) and number of trips per year (i.e. usage) (r = −0.90, p