cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Realizing User Privacy and Security Issues in Edutainment e-Solutions.

Edutainment set a unique approach for incorporating learning enriched with dynamic platforms of multimedia end enjoyment. Computerized systems built with edutainment philosophy represent an extended mechanism for wider user space and educational functionalities. Similar to other computer applications and systems, cybersecurity remains an obvious challenge for system users operators. In this paper, we review general categories of cybersecurity challenges that can affect edutainment systems. We also suggest practical recommendations that should be considered by designers and operators to improve cybersecurity resilience of edutainment systems.
High-pressure shock tube study of ethanol oxidation: Ignition delay time and CO time-history measurements

Abstract Ethanol oxidation was studied by measuring CO time-histories and ignition delay times behind reflected shockwaves at elevated pressures. In this study, experimental conditions included a temperature range of 960–1580 K, pressure range of 17.8–23.9 atm, and initial fuel concentrations of 6.54% and 0.25% with nitrogen and argon used as bath gasses, respectively. The equivalence ratio for high fuel loading was kept constant at 1.0, and for low fuel loading equivalence ratios were 1.0 and 0.5. For high fuel loading, early heat/energy release was observed in nearly all ignition delay time measurements, indicative of preignition; however, data collected are in good agreement with model predictions. These events are interpreted as a transition from mild to strong ignition. For the low fuel loading cases (ϕ = 1.0 and 0.5), no early heat/energy release was observed. Comparisons of measured CO concentration profiles with the predictions from kinetic mechanisms of Metcalfe et al. (2013), Mittal et al. (2014), and Zhang et al. (2018) were made assuming constant internal energy and volume for the test gas. Such comparisons in addition with performed sensitivity and pathway analyses for CO formation revealed lower temperature sensitivity to the bimolecular reaction of methyl and hydroperoxyl radicals given by CH3 + HO2 CH3O + OH, and H-atom abstraction by the hydroperoxyl radical at the alpha site on ethanol given by elementary reaction C2H5OH + HO2 sC2H4OH + H2O2. The current study provides important validation targets for ethanol chemical kinetic mechanisms and highlights the benefits of time-history measurements at various temperatures and pressures in a shock tube, which are scare in the literature.
Prenatal electronic cigarette exposure decreases brain glucose utilization and worsens outcome in offspring hypoxic-ischemic brain injury.

It has been shown that prenatal nicotine and tobacco smoke exposure can cause different neurobehavioral disorders in the offspring. We hypothesize that prenatal exposure to nicotine-containing electronic cigarette (e-Cig) vapor can predispose newborn to enhanced sensitivity to hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury and impaired motor and cognitive functions. In this study, pregnant CD1 mice were exposed to e-Cig vapor (2.4% nicotine). Primary cortical neurons isolated from e-Cig exposed fetus were exposed to oxygen-glucose deprivation followed by reoxygenation (OGD/R) to mimic HI brain injury. Cell viability and glucose utilization were analyzed in these neurons. HI brain injury was induced in 8-9-day-old pups. Short-term brain injury was evaluated by triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining. Long-term motor and cognitive functions were evaluated by open field, novel object recognition, Morris water maze, and foot fault tests. Western blotting and immunofluorescence were done to characterize glucose transporters in offspring brain. We found that e-Cig exposed neurons demonstrated decreased cell viability and glucose utilization in OGD/R. Prenatally e-Cig exposed pups also had increased brain injury and edema 24 hr after HI brain injury. Further, in utero e-Cig exposed offspring with HI brain injury displayed impaired memory, learning, and motor coordination at adolescence. Additionally, the expression of glucose transporters decreased in e-Cig exposed offspring brain after HI brain injury. These results indicate that reduced glucose utilization can contribute to prenatal e-Cig exposure induced worsened HI brain injury in offspring. This study is instrumental in elucidating the possible deleterious effects of e-Cig use in the general population.
General Sources for Information Concerning Microscopy

Throughout the text, various books and Journal articles are listed. There are atlases on ultrastructure for insects, protozoans, fungi, mammals, and other organisms. The list below of Journals and general books is not exhaustive but offers a starting point to begin researching questions about biological ultrastructure.
5.06 – Phagocytes

Accumulating evidence suggests that phagocytic cells of the innate immune system, including neutrophils and macrophages, play an important role in the pathogenesis of tissue injury in response to diverse toxicants. Through the release of proinflammatory and cytotoxic oxidants, cytokines, proteases, and bioactive lipids, these cells can contribute to tissue damage. More recent studies suggest that, at later times following injury, macrophages and mediators they generate also play a key role in downregulating the inflammatory response and initiating tissue repair. These divergent activities appear to be mediated by a distinct subpopulation of macrophages. It is apparent that the outcome of inflammatory responses to tissue injury depends on the balance between the pro- and anti-inflammatory actions of these cells. Elucidating the contribution of phagocytes and inflammatory mediators to tissue injury and repair may help in the design of new and effective approaches to mitigating xenobiotic-induced pathologies.
The evolutionary community concept is fully armed and operational: a reply to Sagoff

In 2017 we published a paper in this journal proposing a philosophical framework for recognizing ecological communities as natural entities, the Evolutionary Community Concept (ECC). That paper attracted a lengthy reply; herein we take the opportunity to clarify critical aspects of the ECC and use a case study (the longleaf pine forest) to demonstrate how the ECC can be made operational. We maintain the ECC provides a framework useful for establishing objectives associated with ongoing and proposed restoration and conservation efforts.
Use Energy Storage for Primary Frequency Control in Power Grids.

Frequency stability of power systems becomes more vulnerable with the increase of solar photovoltaic (PV). Energy storage provides an option to mitigate the impact of high PV penetration. Using the U.S. Eastern Interconnection (EI) and Texas Interconnection (ERCOT) power grid models, this paper investigates the capabilities of using energy storage to improve frequency response under high PV penetration. The study result helps to identify the potential and impact factors in utilizing energy storage to improve frequency response in high renewable penetration power grids.
Elevating and Evaluating Curatorial Scholarship

Fashion curation is an integral form of public scholarship within our field and yet has historically been overlooked as such. Unlike creative design scholarship, we have not collectively developed nor agreed upon methods for peer review. As a result, curatorial work is often not considered in tenure-review processes, despite fashion exhibitions meeting the core principles of disseminating scholarship beyond the academy. A recent article in the Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, “Fashion Exhibitions as Scholarship,” challenged members of our field to implement peer review of fashion curation as a way to encourage and elevate this important form of scholarship (Green, et al., 2019). In this experimental salon session, we built upon Green et al.’s (2019) work by using the innovative salon session format as a juried venue for presenting fashion exhibitions rooted in rigor and research. Five fashion exhibitions were presented and discussed during the session.
The large cardinal strength of weak Vopenka’s principle

We show that Weak Vopěnka’s Principle, which is the statement that the opposite category of ordinals cannot be fully embedded into the category of graphs, is equivalent to the large cardinal princi...
Investigating Student Nature of Science Views as Reflections of Authentic Science

The study seeks to explore the extent to which students think pedagogical activities exemplifying various degrees of contextualization accurately reflect the work of scientists. Arguing for scaffolding across multiple degrees of contextualization, Clough (2006) reasoned that different contextualization plays different, but complimentary, roles in promoting conceptual change, and he suggested that decontextualized and moderately contextualized NOS activities may be dismissed by students as not representing authentic science. For this study, sixth-grade students (N = 137) engaged in three activities reflecting various levels of contextualization and responded to Likert and open-ended prompts asking them their perceptions about the relationship between the activity and real science. Students also ranked the activities from most to least like real science. Our findings demonstrate that participants most often described decontextualized and moderately contextualized activities as most representative of real science because participants perceived themselves to be acting like scientists. This study provides empirical support for Hottecke (2008) who, building on Clough (2006), proposed that both authentic contextualization and students’ actions in the classroom play roles in students’ perception of whether NOS teaching scenarios accurately represent authentic science. Given participants’ propensity to view highly contextualized NOS activities as less reflective of real science, this study illustrates the important role of the teacher in guiding student noticing during NOS activities. Challenging students’ narrow, action-oriented views of scientists appears to demand that teachers draw students’ attention to ways in which activities of all degrees of contextualization accurately and inaccurately represent NOS.
Diagnostic evaluation of unknown white-tailed deer morbidity and mortality in New York State: 2011–2017

White-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus are the most popular big game animal in the United States. Recreational harvest of these animals is a critical tool in population management, as well as an important financial resource for state economies and wildlife agencies. Thus, herd health evaluations can provide information to wildlife managers tasked with developing sustainable harvest practices while monitoring for emergent problems. The purpose of our study was to document causes of illness and natural mortality in New York white-tailed deer submitted for post mortem evaluation. Animals were presented by members of the public and wildlife management personnel due to abnormal behavior or unexplained death. We describe demographic and seasonal associations among gross and histologic evaluation and diagnostic testing. Post mortem examinations were performed on 735 white-tailed deer submitted for necropsy in New York from January 2011 to November 2017. Causes of euthanasia or mortality were classified into nine categories. The most common findings were bacterial infections, trauma not evident at time of collection, and nutritional issues, primarily starvation. Using a multinomial logistic regression model, we looked for associations between the mortality categories and age, sex and season. Compared to the baseline of bacterial deaths, adults were less likely to have died from nutritional and parasitic causes, males were less likely to have died from other causes, and risk of death from nutritional reasons decreased from season to season, with lowest risk in winter. These methods can help wildlife biologists track changes in disease dynamics over time.
Employing the Event Study to Assess Returns to Firms from Novel Information Technologies: An Examination of E-Commerce Initiative Announcements

The event study is an important methodology in management research that enables the assessment of value attributable to firm initiatives based on the responses of capital markets to news about firm actions. While capital markets are efficient in processing information about firms, their ability to rapidly determine future benefit streams linked to initiatives involving novel information technologies such as ecommerce technologies may be limited by several factors. There is considerable ambiguity related to benefits from novel technologies and their effects on industries, markets and firms in the short term. At the time of the announcement, relevant information is also not available on complementary initiatives influencing value such as such as changes to business processes, willingness of supply chain partners to make complementary changes etc. Adjustments of stock prices over longer windows are thus likely to reflect more informed assessment of the ability of firms to generate benefits and to appropriate value created by novel information technologies than those within a few days of the event. We examine the returns to e-commerce events in the period from 1999 to 2000 employing a set of short time windows (1-day, 5-days, 10-days bracketing the event) as well as a set of long event windows (6-month, 9-month and 1-year from the event). The results reflect little consistency between abnormal returns in short 1-day, 5-day and 10-day event windows. In contrast, the abnormal returns observed in 6, 9 and 12-month windows, though slightly different are reasonably consistent. Further, the variation of short-run abnormal returns across the two year period appear to be suspiciously similar to the fluctuations of market sentiments related to the Internet, indicating that extraneous, non-firm-specific factors may be very influential in determining short term abnormal returns than is recognized by researchers. We suggest that using longer time windows in event studies involving novel technologies enable reliable assessments of the contributions of events to firm value. The results of the analyses employing a 1-year time window indicate that e-commerce announcements are associated with significant abnormal buy-and-hold returns of 9.51%. Significant abnormal returns are associated with events of conventional firms (11.38%), those that are B2B (20.55%), initiatives involving tangible goods (13.39%) and initiatives that are components of incremental firm strategies (11.43%). These results suggest that e-commerce technologies are significant sources of value for firms; these results are consistent with the overall conclusions of prior research on the issue. Overall, this paper contributes both to the substantive examination of returns from e-commerce events and to the application of event study methodology to examine outcomes linked to novel information technologies by researchers.
Cadmium in cereal products — Nutritional importance

Abstract Cadmium is a silvery white, soft ductile metal with a slight bluish tinge [1]. It belongs to the group IIB family in the periodic table and shares many of its chemical properties with zinc (Zn) and mercury (Hg). Like mercury, cadmium is highly volatile and the vapor is quite reactive and might be harmful to humans. Unlike mercury, however, cadmium and zinc do not form strong metal carbon bonds, which are so important in geochemical cycles and toxicity of mercury [1]. Cadmium ions from contaminated soil, atmosphere, and water are readily transferred from the soil to plants. The degree of absorption and accumulation of cadmium depend on the species of the plant. This process is favored by low soil pH values [2]. This paper reviews toxicity, sources, prevalence and cadmium levels in cereal products.
The Preparation of Olefins by the Pyrolysis of Xanthates. The Chugaev Reaction

In this chapter the Chugaev reaction is defined as the thermal decomposition of the xanthate ester of an alcohol that contains at least one beta-hydrogen atom to produce one or more olefins, carbon oxysulfide and a mercaptan. The formation of olefins by the pyrolysis of xanthates was discovered in 1899 by Chugaev in connection with his studies on the optical properties of xanthates and other compounds. He subsequently employed the reaction in his investigation of terpenes and demonstrated both its utility as an olefin-forming reaction and its usefulness in structural determination. The reaction, which is particularly valuable for the conversion of sensitive alcohols to the corresponding olefins without the rearrangement of the carbon skeleton is analogous to the thermal decomposition of carboxylic esters of alcohols and other derivatives such as carbamates and carbonates, to yield olefins. Keywords: Chugaev reaction; olefins; pyrolysis; xanthates; alcohols; glycols; decomposition; experimental procedures
Organized Sexual Abuse, by M. Salter

Public reactions to disclosures of multiperpetrator, multivictim sexual abuse often range from a contemptuous disbelief that protects perpetrators and silences victims to well-meaning attempts to d...
Software-defined optical access networks for multiple broadband access solutions

The principles of software-defined networking as applied to multi-service broadband optical access systems are discussed, with an emphasis on centralized software-reconfigurable resource management, digital signal processing (DSP)-enhanced transceivers and multi-service support via software-reconfigurable network “apps”.
The effects of salinity on copper and silver toxicity to embryos of the Pacific oyster.

Embryonic development of the Pacific oyster was monitored under various combinations of copper × salinity and silver × salinity. Oyster embryos were exposed to salinities between 14.5 and 33 %, copper concentrations between 0 to 10 ppb and silver concentrations between 0 to 18 ppb. Exposure to salinities between 22.7 and 33 % had no significant effect on normal embryonic development, but salinities below 22.7 % were highly deleterious. Analysis of variance and response surface methodology indicated that there was a significant interaction between salinity and metal concentration in increasing embryotoxicity. This interactive effect was manifested at low salinities where a dramatic decrease in percent normal embryonic development occurred at the lowest concentrations of copper and silver. The direction of the response surface isopleths indicated a shift from a salinity effect to a more pronounced concentration effect as copper concentration was increased, whereas a salinity effect was evident throughout the entire concentration range in the silver experiments. Optimum development of oyster embryos is predicted at salinities between 23 and 33 %, at silver concentration below 15 ppb and copper concentrations below 2 ppb. Low levels of copper and silver, when combined with low salinities, may represent a significant threat to the normal recruitment of oyster embryos.
Geier v. American Honda Motor Co. : A Story of Statutes, Regulation and the Common Law

This essay was written as a contribution to one of Foundation's "Story" series. In Geier, a lawsuit had been brought on behalf of a teenager whose injuries from an accident might have been lessened if her car had contained an airbag. Plaintiffs sued on the straightforward basis that the design choice to omit a safety device of proven merit made the car unreasonably hazardous. Federal safety regulations had required the maker of her car to install some such device as an airbag in at least 10% of the cars it made the year it made her car - but her car had only a manual lap-and-shoulder belt (which she had used). Just weeks before her accident, Congress had passed a statute requiring airbags in ALL cars - but not for several model years into the future. In the Supreme Court, whether federal law allowed the case to proceed proved to be a matter as complex as its theory of liability was simple. At issue was a statute that in one section gave the federal government exclusive authority to set auto safety standards and in provided for the saving of common law claims. How did these two provisions interact? The essay shows just how complicated the question was by looking at the history of both design defect liability (still nascent at the time Congress passed the legislation in question) and federal standards on airbags (finally promulgated only after more than a decade of wrangling). Unsurprisingly, this background produced a variety of perspectives - and outcomes - in state and federal cases prior to the suit at issue here. Introducing even further difficulties was a contemporaneous set of Janus-faced Supreme Court decisions on federal pre-emption of state tort law. Only after taking all of these considerations into account does the essay explore the litigation choices of plaintiffs’ and defense counsel, as well as the Geier opinions. Drawing on two very recent Supreme Court decisions invoking the relationship between regulatory and judge-made law, the essay invites the reader to view the case less in terms of conflict between federal prerogatives and state sovereignty, and more as involving the accommodation of the competing modes of lawmaking and the influence of time’s passage in the modern state.
Radioimmunoassay of gastrin

Summary A highly specific radioimmunoassay for endogenous human plasma gastrin was developed using guinea pig antisera to crude porcine gastrin. Highly purified 125 I-porcine gastrin I, further purified on starch gel electrophoresis after labeling, was employed as tracer, and an anionic exchange resin was used to separate bound and free labeled gastrin. Sensitivity is better than 5 pg per ml. Cholecystokinin-pancreozymin and amino-terminal and carboxyl-terminal gastrin peptides cross-react only poorly in the gastrin-antigastrin system. Plasma gastrin and standard gastrin show parallel inhibition curves against the labeled porcine gastrin. Reproducibility of determinations in different assays is demonstrated. Plasma gastrin is unaffected by boiling for 5 to 10 min. High values of plasma gastrin were observed in 5 patients with Zollinger-Ellison syndrome and in 17 patients with pernicious anemia. Administration of HCl per os or into the stomach in 5 patients with pernicious anemia produced an acute fall in plasma gastrin concentration; the half-time for disappearance of gastrin from plasma was as short as 7 min.
T-bet:Eomes Balance, Effector Function, and Proliferation of Cytomegalovirus-Specific CD8+ T Cells during Primary Infection Differentiates the Capacity for Durable Immune Control

CMV remains an important opportunistic pathogen in solid organ transplantation, particularly in lung transplant recipients (LTRs). LTRs mismatched for CMV (donor+/recipient-; D+R-) are at high-risk for active CMV infection and increased mortality, however the immune correlates of viral control remain incompletely understood. We prospectively studied 23 D+R- LTRs during primary CMV infection to determine whether acute CD8(+) T cell parameters differentiated the capacity for viral control in early chronic infection. T-box transcription factors expression patterns of T-bet > Eomesodermin (Eomes) differentiated LTR controllers from viremic relapsers and reciprocally correlated with granzyme B loading, and CMV phosphoprotein 65 (pp65)-specific CD8(+)IFN-γ(+) and CD107a(+) frequencies. LTR relapsers demonstrated reduced CD8(+)Ki67(+) cells ex vivo and substantially impaired CD8(+)pp65-specific in vitro proliferative responses at 6 d, with concomitantly lower pp65-specific CD4(+)IL-2(+) frequencies, as compared with LTR controllers. However, CMV-specific in vitro proliferative responses could be significantly rescued, most effectively with pp65 Ag and exogenous IL-2, resulting in an increased T-bet:Eomes balance, and enhanced effector function. Using class I CMV tetramers, we observed similar frequencies between relapsers and controllers, although reduced T-bet:Eomes balance in tetramer(+) cells from relapsers, along with impaired CD8(+) effector responses to tetramer-peptide restimulation. Taken together, these data show impaired CMV-specific CD8(+) effector responses is not for complete lack of CMV-specific cells but rather underscores the importance of the T-bet:Eomes balance, with CMV-specific proliferation a key factor driving early T-bet expression and effector function in CD8(+) T cells during primary infection and differentiating the capacity of high-risk LTRs to establish immune control during early chronic infection.
The Role of Thoracotomy in the Management of Pulmonary Metastases from Malignant Melanoma

Thirty-three patients over a 21-year period underwent thoracotomy for resection of suspected pulmonary metastases from malignant melanoma. Eleven patients were found to have nonmalignant disease (Group 1); 10 were found to have unresectable disease (Group 2); and 12 were rendered disease-free (Group 3). Of the patients found to have melanoma, 20 of 22 received post-operative chemotherapy. The median survival of the patients in Group 2 was 10.5 months (3 to 20 months); in Group 3 it was 12 months (3 to 35 months). There were no 5-year survivors. No factors distinguished the three groups preoperatively. Surgical resection still offers the greatest chance for long-term survival, based on reports of patients in the literature who have survived longer than 5 years following resection of pulmonary metastases from melanoma. Thoracotomy is especially useful for staging purposes in those patients found to have no metastatic disease.
CONTINUING EDUCATION OFFERING

This article highlights the primary causes of HIV-related diarrhea. This article also reviews and evaluates available stool outcome measures frequently used in gastrointestinal studies examining fecal outcomes. Discussion focuses on instruments, scales, and other quantitative measures to assess stool outcomes. A discussion of the advantages and limitations of each instrument is included.
A multifactorial postoperative surveillance model for patients with surgically treated clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

ABSTRACTPurpose: We designed scoring algorithms for postoperative surveillance based on multivariately significant predictors of site specific disease recurrence.Materials and Methods: We identified 1,864 patients who underwent partial or radical nephrectomy for nonmetastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma between 1970 and 2000. Clinical features studied included age, sex and symptomatic disease at presentation. Surgical and pathological features studied included nephrectomy type, surgical margin status, 2003 TNM stage, nuclear grade, histological tumor necrosis, sarcomatoid component, cystic architecture and multifocality. Recurrence was classified into locations of abdomen, thoracic region, bone and brain. Recurrence-free survival rates were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards models were fit to test associations with recurrence.Results: Recurrence to abdomen, the thoracic region, bone and brain developed in 185 (10%), 300 (16%), 134 (7%) and 81 (4%) patients, respectively...
Natural convection around a cylinder buried in a porous medium—non-darcian effects

Abstract Natural convection heat transfer around a cylinder embedded in a porous medium is studied numerically using the penalty finite-element method. To model fluid flow inside the porous medium, the Brinkman and Brinkman-Forschheimer equations are used. Numerical results are obtained in the form of streamlines and isotherms. The Rayleigh number values range from 0.04 to 200. Calculated values of average heat transfer rates agree reasonably well with values reported in the literature.
Morbid obesity attenuates the skeletal abnormalities associated with leptin deficiency in mice.

Leptin-deficient ob/ob mice are morbidly obese and exhibit low total bone mass and mild osteopetrosis. In order to disassociate the skeletal effects of leptin deficiency from those associated with morbid obesity, we evaluated bone mass, architecture, gene expression, and indices of bone turnover in WT mice, ob/ob mice allowed to feed ad libitum (ob/ob), and ob/ob mice pair-fed equivalent to WT mice (pair-fed ob/ob). Mice were maintained at 32 °C (thermoneutral) from 6 to 18 weeks of age to minimize differences in resting energy expenditure. ob/ob mice were heavier, had more abdominal white adipose tissue (WAT), and were hyperglycemic compared with WT mice. Femur length, bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density, and midshaft femur cortical thickness were lower in ob/ob mice than in WT mice. Cancellous bone volume (BV) fraction was higher but indices of bone formation and resorption were lower in ob/ob mice compared with WT mice; reduced bone resorption in ob/ob mice resulted in pathological retention of calcified cartilage. Pair-fed ob/ob mice were lighter and had lower WAT, uterine weight, and serum glucose than ob/ob mice. Similarly, femoral length, BMC, and cortical thickness were lower in pair-fed ob/ob mice compared with ob/ob mice, as were indices of cancellous bone formation and resorption. In contrast, bone marrow adiposity, calcified cartilage, and cancellous BV fraction were higher at one or more cancellous sites in pair-fed ob/ob mice compared with ob/ob mice. These findings indicate that the skeletal abnormalities caused by leptin deficiency are markedly attenuated in morbidly obese ob/ob mice.
Epigenetic regulation of LSD1 during mammary carcinogenesis

Inheritable epigenetic regulation is integral to the dynamic control of gene expression under different stimuli for cellular homeostasis and disease progression. Histone methylation is a common and important type of chromatin modification. LSD1, the first known histone lysine-specific demethylase, operates as a key component of several corepressor complexes during development and in disease states. In this review, we focus on the regulation of LSD1 in mammary carcinogenesis. LSD1 plays a role in promoting mammary tumor metastasis and proliferation and in maintaining mammary cancer stem cells. Therefore, LSD1 represents a viable therapeutic target for effective treatment of mammary carcinogenesis.
Project team effectiveness: the case for sufficient setup and top management involvement

Launching and supporting successful maintenance projects is an overlooked aspect of maintenance management research. This paper examines the effects of four important factors on project success: resource allocation, team leader authority, significant project objectives, and top management involvement. Additionally, we investigate the moderating effects of top management involvement on the relationship between inputs and team performance. By examining the responses from 60 industrial teams we found that a project team's ability to function efficiently is positively related to resource allocation and significant project objectives and negatively related to team leader authority and top management involvement. A project team's ability to achieve its business goals was positively related to significant project objectives. Moreover, the relationship was stronger for significant project objectives and project efficiency when top management was involved. The moderator also enhanced the team leader authority–goal...
Measurement of 7 p 1 / 2 -state hyperfine structure and 7 s 1 / 2 - 7 p 1 / 2 transition isotope shift in 203 Tl and 205 Tl

A two-step, two-color laser spectroscopy technique has been used to measure the hyperfine splitting of the $7{p}_{1/2}$ excited state in ${}^{203}$Tl and ${}^{205}$Tl, as well as the isotope shift within the $7{s}_{1/2}$-$7{p}_{1/2}$ transition. Our measured values for the hyperfine splittings, 2153.2(7) MHz (in ${}^{203}$Tl) and 2173.3(8) MHz (in ${}^{205}$Tl), each differ by 20 MHz from previously published values which quoted comparable precision. The transition isotope shift of ${}^{203}$Tl relative to ${}^{205}$Tl was measured to be 534.4(9) MHz. In our experiment, one laser was locked to the thallium $6{p}_{1/2}$-$7{s}_{1/2}$ 378-nm transition, while a second, spatially overlapping laser was scanned across the $7{s}_{1/2}(F=1)$-$7{p}_{1/2}(F=0,1)$ infrared transitions. To facilitate accurate frequency calibration, radio-frequency modulation of the laser was used to create sidebands in the absorption spectrum.
Divided leaders, critical masses, and the escalation of interethnic violence: Suicide terrorism among the Tamil Tigers

By focusing on the intra- and interethnic interactions in Sri Lanka, I show that the intensity of interethnic violence—namely the choice of suicide terrorism by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam—occurs only when the leadership elites of the majority ethnic group are fractionalized and the minority ethnic group relies on its ethnic leadership for its economic well-being. Put differently, the greater intraethnic fractionalization is within the leadership ranks of the majority ethnic group, the greater the willingness of majority group leaders to placate their ethnic brethren and outbid their intraethnic rivals at the expense of the minority ethnic group; and the greater the minority group members’ reliance on their ethnic group leaders for economic resources and upward mobility, the greater their willingness to participate in radical forms of violence such as suicide terrorism.
Functional Characterization of SdcF from Bacillus licheniformis , a Homolog of the SLC13 Na + /Dicarboxylate Transporters

The SdcF transporter from Bacillus licheniformis (gene BL02343) is a member of the divalent anion sodium symporter (DASS)/SLC13 family that includes Na⁺/dicarboxylate transporters from bacteria to humans. SdcF was functionally expressed in Escherichia coli (BL21) and assayed in right side out membrane vesicles. ScdF catalyzed the sodium-coupled transport of succinate and α-ketoglutarate. Succinate transport was strongly inhibited by malate, fumarate, tartrate, oxaloacetate and L-aspartate. Similar to the other DASS transporters, succinate transport by SdcF was inhibited by anthranilic acids, N-(p-amylcinnamoyl) anthranilic acid and flufenamate. SdcF transport was cation-dependent, with a K₀.₅ for sodium of ~1.5 mM and a K₀.₅ for Li⁺ of ~40 mM. Succinate transport kinetics by SdcF were sigmoidal, suggesting that SdcF may contain two cooperative substrate binding sites. The results support an ordered binding mechanism for SdcF in which sodium binds first and succinate binds last. We conclude that SdcF is a secondary active transporter for four- and five-carbon dicarboxylates that can use Na⁺ or Li⁺ as a driving cation.
Enzymic synthesis of peptide bonds. VII. Competition between some benzoylamino acids and benzoyldipeptides in papain-catalyzed reactions with glycinanilide.

Summary A series of competition experiments in which more than one benzoylamino acid or benzoyldipeptide component was present with glycinanilide and papain have been performed. In some reactions, the product represented the faster-reacting component; in others it did not. The second component, in the latter instances, altered the normal course of the reaction.
THE IMPACT OF OPIATE PAIN MEDICATIONS AND PSYCHOACTIVE DRUGS ON THE QUALITY OF COLON PREPARATION IN OUTPATIENT COLONOSCOPY

Background Suboptimal colon preparation is a significant barrier to quality colonoscopy. The impact of pharmacologic agents associated with gastrointestinal dysmotility on quality of colon preparation has not been well characterized.
Synthesis and Characterization of Network Single Ion Conductors Based on Comb-Branched Polyepoxide Ethers and Lithium Bis(allylmalonato)borate

Network single ion conductors (NSICs) based on comb-branch polyepoxide ethers and lithium bis(allylmalonato) borate have been synthesized and thoroughly characterized by means of ionic conductivity measurements, electrochemical impedance, and cycling in symmetrical Li/Li half cells, Li/V6O13 full cells in which a NSIC was used as both binder and electrolyte in the cathode electrode and as the electrolyte separator membrane, and by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The substitution of the trimethylene oxide (TMO) unit into the side chains in place of ethylene oxide (EO) units increased the polymer−ion mobility (lower glass transition temperature). However, the ionic conductivity was nearly one and half orders of magnitude lower than the corresponding pure EO-based single ion conductor at the same salt concentration, which may be ascribed to the lower dielectric constant of the TMO side chains that result in a lower concentration of free conducting lithium cations. For a highly cross-linked system (EO/Li =...
Optimum Load-Shedding Policy for Power Systems

The now classical problem of optimlum dispatching miimizes the cost of production and transmission of electrical power to meet a specified demand under normal operating conditions. It appears logical and desirable to utilize and extend the methodology of optimum dispatching to problems encountered during abnormal operating conditions. This paper, as a first step in that direction, discusses a systematic approach toward minimizing the curtailment of service in a power system after a severe fault. The problem of minimizing load curtailment under a given set of emergency conditions is formulated as a problem of static optimization, subject to operational and equipment constraints. First, a feasible steady-state solution is obtained for the postfault network configuration. Starting from this initial feasible solution, the optinum (minimum curtailment) is approached by a gradient technique. An efficient computational procedure is based on the Newton-Raphson technique for solving the power flow equations, and the Kuhn-Tucker theorem for the optimization. The analytical results are verified on a 26-node example problem. Two typical emergency situations are considered: the loss of generation and the loss of an interconnection tie line. The same optimization procedure and the computed dual (Lagrangian) variables can be utilized for computer programs involving optimum service restoration, generation reserve scheduling, and system expansion studies.
Intelligent user interface for expert systems applied to power plant maintenance and troubleshooting

A research and development project is under way to specify, design, construct, and evaluate a user interface system to meet the requirements of a knowledge-based system for gas turbine electronics equipment maintenance and troubleshooting. The user interface is a portable device with text display, video and overlay graphics display, voice recognition and speech production, special-function keypad, and printer. A modular software structure based on a serial communications protocol between the user interface device and expert system host computer provides flexibility, expandability, and a simple, effective user-interface dialog. >
Propagation Effects In Strong Pump-Weak Probe Coherent Interactions

Analytic and numerical calculations for the propagational dependence of Rabi-Split resulting from a strong resonant pump and a coupled weak off-resonance probe are presented for a Lambda three-level atomic configuration. A semi-classical Maxwell-Bloch formulism was adopted for both the perturbational (using stationary phase and steepest descent asymptotic techniques) and the rigorous computational treatments. This calculation can be considered as a Double Self-Induced Transparency SIT' where the strong pump (multiple of 2n on-axis area) experiences coherent pulse break up, coherent self-focusing 2-4 and depletion as the weak probe (multiple of 0.02n area) cooperatively builds up. Different transition gain ratios (i.e., oscillator strength: p2w) are considered to insure that the weak probe does not get (a) delayed with respect to the pump or (b) get out of synchronization, and cease to overlap. The probe detuning can be as large as the input on-axis pump Rabi frequency. The interplay of nonlinear Raman gain action, dispersion and diffraction give rise concommitantly to a number of effects previously studied independently such as self-phase modulation, wave front encoding, transverse ring formation, self-focusing, quasi-trapping (when pump detuning is also allowed), and asymptotic three-level solitary waves.© (1985) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Pelvic lymph node dissection is beneficial in subsets of patients with node-positive melanoma

The benefits of deep pelvic lymph node dissection (DLND) for patients with node-positive melanoma continue to be debated. The objective of our analysis was to identify factors associated with involvement of pelvic nodes and to determine survival outcomes following DLND. We retrospectively reviewed the records of 804 patients who had undergone any type of lymph node dissection between 1990 and 2001. Logistic regression was performed to identify factors associated with tumor metastasis to pelvic nodes. Associations between clinicopathological factors and survival outcomes were estimated using the Cox proportional hazards model. Of the 804 patients, 235 underwent superficial lymph node dissection (SLND) and 97 underwent combined SLND and DLND (combined LND). Age ≥50 years, number of positive superficial nodes, and positive radiological imaging findings were found to be predictors of metastasis to deep nodes. With a median follow-up of 7.5 years, 5-year overall survival (OS) was 42% for patients with positive deep nodes and 51% for those with negative deep nodes (P = 0.11). OS in patients with melanoma that metastasized to three or fewer deep pelvic lymph nodes is comparable to that in patients with no deep nodal involvement. Multivariate analysis identified number of positive deep nodes, male gender, and extra-capsular extension as independent adverse prognostic factors for OS. These relatively favorable survival outcomes support current surgical practice and the classification of metastatic pelvic nodal disease as stage-III rather than stage-IV (distant) disease.
Behavioral effects of auditory stimulation on kenneled dogs

KEYWORDS: dog; auditory; music; kennel; welfare Abstract Dogs are kenneled in professional facilities for a variety of reasons; however, the kennel environment, even for short periods, is a potential psychogenic stressor for most dogs. Continual stress and the resultant anxiety are undesirable for both ethical and physiological reasons. One growing area of research pertaining to the welfare of kenneled dogs is environmental enrichment, including auditory stimulation. The current study investigated the impact of music (classical, heavy metal, and specifically designed/altered classical) on activity level, vocalization, and body shaking of 117 kenneled dogs. Results suggest that classical music leads to kenneled dogs spending more time sleeping (F8,354 5 12.24, P. 0.0001) and less time vocalizing (F8,354 5 3.61, P. 0.0005) than when exposed to other music types or no music. Heavy metal music, compared with other music types, appears to increase body shaking (F8,354 5 96.97, P. 0.0001), a behavior suggestive of nervousness. It is suggested that playing classical music in a shelter environment may help mitigate some of the stress inherent for many kenneled dogs.
Observation of film states and surface-state precursors for Ag films on Si(111).

Ag films on Si(111)-(7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}7) having thicknesses of 0--17 monolayers were studied with angle-resolved photoemission. The spectra exhibit quasiperiodic peaks with separations between neighboring peaks approximately proportional to the inverse of the film thickness. These are film states associated with the sp band of bulk Ag. A surface-state precursor was also observed on films as thin as two monolayers in thickness.
WORLD MARKETING: GOING GLOBAL OR ACTING LOCAL? FIVE EXPERT VIEWPOINTS

Theodore Levitt's 1983 article on the globalization of markets has left in its wake a pitched battle between advertising agency converts and opponents, and a reassessment of many corporate strategies. Objections that there are only about three global brands‐Coke, McDonald's, and Kodak‐do not deter Proctor & Gamble from setting up global new product planning or N. V. Philips from realigning its advertising accounts worldwide. To illustrate its commitment to the issue, a major agency even recently changed its name to Needham Harper Worldwide.
Brittle-ductile Transition Zone in the Northern Bergell Alps

Along the northern contact of Bergell granite the style of deformation changes from ductile mylonites at high metamorphic grade (amphibolite facies) in the west (Val Bondasca) to brittle faulting at low grade (greenschist facies) in the east (Maloja). This transition is documented with large scale structural observations, petrofabric data and microstructure which suggest that faulting in the Margneta-Maloja-Casaccia region is related to emplacement of the Bergell granite, and not extending beyond Isola, rather than to a large-scale strike slip fault (“Engadine Line”).
Mutations in SACPD-C Result in a Range of Elevated Stearic Acid Concentration in Soybean Seed

Soybean oil has a wide variety of uses, and stearic acid, which is a relatively minor component of soybean oil is increasingly desired for both industrial and food applications. New soybean mutants containing high levels of the saturated fatty acid stearate in seeds were recently identified from a chemically mutagenized population. Six mutants ranged in stearate content from 6-14% stearic acid, which is 1.5 to 3 times the levels contained in wild-type seed of the Williams 82 cultivar. Candidate gene sequencing revealed that all of these lines carried amino acid substitutions in the gene encoding the delta-9-stearoyl-acyl-carrier protein desaturase enzyme (SACPD-C) required for the conversion of stearic acid to oleic acid. Five of these missense mutations were in highly conserved residues clustered around the predicted di-iron center of the SACPD-C enzyme. Co-segregation analysis demonstrated a positive association of the elevated stearate trait with the SACPD-C mutation for three populations. These missense mutations may provide additional alleles that may be used in the development of new soybean cultivars with increased levels of stearic acid.
Electronic structure of Sn/sup +/ centers in KCl:SnCl/sub 2/

It has been observed that ${\mathrm{Sn}}^{+}$ centers in KCl give electron-spin-resonance signals. A theoretical model of the orbital structure of the Sn$\mathrm{Cl}_{2}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ complex is developed to interpret the experimental data. The molecular model involves a certain number of parameters with which the data on Zeeman splitting and hyperfine structure can be reproduced. In order to verify some of the aspects of the semiempirical model, relativistic Dirac-Slater molecular-orbital calculations are performed for an Sn$\mathrm{Cl}_{2}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ complex with four secondary ligands in the equatorial plane, represented by a perturbing-point-ion model.
Number of children and the risk of obesity in older women.

Abstract Background . The purpose of this study is to examine number of live births, other reproductive factors, and health behaviors in relation to obesity risk among older women. Methods . Data were collected during in-person and telephone-based interviews from a population-based cohort in Utah. Results . A total of 2,035 women aged 66–102 are included in this report. Overall, 403 (20%) older women were determined to be obese. The rates of obesity were significantly higher with increasing numbers of children, demonstrating a dose–response relationship ( P Conclusions . In a cohort of older women, higher rates of obesity were associated with increasing number of children that was independent of socioeconomic status and other confounding factors.