cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparative life-cycle air emissions of coal, domestic natural gas, LNG, and SNG for electricity generation.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that in the coming decades the United States' natural gas (NG) demand for electricity generation will increase. Estimates also suggest that NG supply will increasingly come from imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). Additional supplies of NG could come domestically from the production of synthetic natural gas (SNG) via coal gasification−methanation. The objective of this study is to compare greenhouse gas (GHG), SOx, and NOx life-cycle emissions of electricity generated with NG/LNG/SNG and coal. This life-cycle comparison of air emissions from different fuels can help us better understand the advantages and disadvantages of using coal versus globally sourced NG for electricity generation. Our estimates suggest that with the current fleet of power plants, a mix of domestic NG, LNG, and SNG would have lower GHG emissions than coal. If advanced technologies with carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) are used, however, coal and a mix of domestic NG, LNG, and SNG ...
Physical distinctions between normalized solutions of the two-body problem of general relativity

It is shown that different models for the symmetric, time-symmetric charged two-body problem of general relativity lead to different quantitative predictions. The models are constructed by solving the source-free initial-value equations on two- and three-sheeted manifolds. The tidal accelerations at the midpoint of the two-body system are shown to be different for these models after they are normalized for mass, charge, and electric dipole moment. This discrepancy vanishes with the charge, but the second derivatives of the Ricci curvature tensor still differ in the limit of vanishing charge.
Relationship between insulin sensitivity, hyperinsulinemia, and insulin-mediated sympathetic activation in normotensive and hypertensive subjects.

The adrenergic response to high physiological hyperinsulinemia was studied in 39 hypertensive subjects (28 men and 11 women) and 25 normal volunteers (15 men and 10 women), using the euglycemic clamp technique. Control studies using 0.45% saline infusions (sham studies) were also performed. Before and during the clamp procedure, plasma norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) were measured using a high performance liquid chromatographic method (HPLC). The association between the increment in NE and E levels and insulin sensitivity, steady-state insulin level during the clamps, waist to hip ratio (WHR), baseline NE levels and gender was studied. NE levels increased during the hyperinsulinemic period (mean increase 46 ± 6 pmol P v baseline and P v sham studies). E levels did not differ between the insulin clamps and the sham studies. Insulin sensitivity was not significantly associated with the increment in NE. Hypertensive subjects had a higher NE increase than the normotensive individuals (55 ± 7 v 30 ± 10 pmol, P = .03), but also had higher insulin levels during the clamps (839 ± 43 v 522 ± 38 pmol, P Preliminary results were presented at the 65th Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1992.
A critical examination of ozone mapping from a spatial-scale perspective

Following the establishment of point measurements of ground-level ozone concentrations have been attempts by many researchers to develop ozone surfaces. This paper offers a critique of ozone-mapping endeavors, while also empirically exploring the operational scale of ground-level ozone. The following issues are discussed: aspects of spatial scale; the spatial complexity of ground-level ozone concentrations; and the problems of previous attempts at ozone mapping. Most ozone-mapping studies are beset with at least one of the following core problems: spatial-scale violations; an improper evaluation of surfaces; inaccurate surfaces; and the inappropriate use of surfaces in certain analyses. The major recommendations to researchers are to acknowledge spatial scale (especially operational scale), understand the prerequisites of surface-generating techniques, and to evaluate the resultant ozone surface properly.
EFFECTS OF AN ENVIRONMENTAL ENDOCRINE DISRUPTOR ON FETAL DEVELOPMENT, ESTROGEN RECEPTOR alpha AND EPIDERMAL GROWTH FACTOR RECEPTOR EXPRESSION IN THE PORCINE MALE GENITAL TRACT

AbstractPurpose: We studied the effect of a potent reproductive tract toxin, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-rho-dioxin, on fetal development and expression of estrogen receptor alpha and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in male swine.Materials and Methods: Fetal domestic swine and miniswine were injected with 1 micro g./kg. dioxin on day 50 of gestation and removed near term (114 days). Germ cell counts were performed on sections of formalin fixed testes. Estrogen receptor alpha protein, and messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and EGFR mRNA expression were analyzed in frozen tissue using Western blotting and semiquantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction.Results: Of 15 dioxin exposed male offspring 8 (53%) had genital anomalies, including cryptorchidism in 4, epididymal detachment in 1, epididymal atresia in 1 and vasal dilatation in 3, while 3 of 17 control male swine (18%) had incompletely descended testes (p = 0.06). High intra-abdominal testes were found in 3 of 4 cryptorchid dioxin...
Effect of unilateral vestibular deafferentation on the initial human vestibulo-ocular reflex to surge translation.

Transient whole-body surge (fore-aft) translation at 0.5 G peak acceleration was administered to six subjects with unilateral vestibular deafferentation (UVD), and eight age-matched controls. Subjects viewed eccentric targets to determine if linear vestibulo-ocular reflex (LVOR) asymmetry might lateralize otolith deficits. Eye rotation was measured using magnetic search coils. Immediately before surge, subjects viewed a luminous target 50 cm away, centered or displaced 10° horizontally or vertically. The target was extinguished during randomly directed surges. LVOR gain relative to ideal velocity in subjects with UVD for the contralesional horizontally eccentric target (0.59 ± 0.08, mean ± SEM) did not differ significantly from normal (0.50 ± 0.04), but gain for the ipsilesional eccentric target (0.35 ± 0.02) was significantly less than normal (0.48 ± 0.03, P 0.05). Surge LVOR latency was symmetrical in UVD, and did not differ significantly from normal. There was no significant difference in response between dark and visible target conditions until 200 ms after surge onset. Chronic human UVD, on average, significantly impairs the surge LVOR for horizontally eccentric targets placed ipsilesionally, but this asymmetry is small relative to interindividual variation.
How Authorship Guidelines in Bioethics Can Ensure Fairness and Accountability

Resnik and Master (2011) introduce an interesting topic that deserves further discussion in the bioethics community. Their proposal (that any two of five stated criteria need to be met to count as ...
Promoting the Effective Evaluation of Collaboratively Produced Scholarship: A Call to Action.

Examples are provided about ways to change professional and ethical practices to promote the creation of a culture that facilitates and equitably recognizes collaboratively produced scholarship.
Image Busters: How Prison Location Distorts the Profiles of Rural Host Communities and What Can Be Done About It

Since the 1980s, rural communities have embraced prisons as a tool for economic development following the decline in resource-based industry in rural areas. Although there are economic benefits fro...
Estimation of the commodity flow of chlorine from storage data

This paper proposes a mathematical model for estimating the road transport of industrial chlorine in the United States from the publicly available storage data. While the railroad industry provides government agencies in the US with data on rail transport of chlorine, such data for road transport are not reported. The decision whether to collect such data presents a conflict between public safety on one hand and increased regulatory burden on the other. Therefore, it is of interest to explore whether it is possible to provide estimates for the road transport using the existing data. We model the transportation of chlorine as a network flow problem. The formulation takes into consideration the entire supply chain, modeling both rail and road transport. Since transportation costs are not known, they are assumed to be random variables with a certain distribution. The road transport estimates are then obtained as a minimum-cost flow distribution induced by the distribution of the cost vector. The solution is visualized by combining the estimates with routing data to produce flow maps in a standard GIS markup language.
Effects of Tebuthiuron on aquatic productivity

Tebuthiuron (N-[5-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl]-N,N′-dimethylurea) appears to control the riparian shrub saltcedar (Tamarix spp.); however, its use is restricted since the fate and effects of this herbicide in aquatic systems are unknown. Possible tebuthiuron impacts on aquatic production were examined in ten 2846-1 three-phase, open-system mesocosms. Each mesocosm contained sediment, water, algae, micro- and macroinvertebrates and fish, and was open to the atmosphere for gas exchange and colonization by indigenous macroinvertebrates and algae. The following nominal doses of tebuthiuron were used: 0 (control), 10, 70, 200, 500, and 1000 μg 1−1. The 200 μg 1−1 dose approximated the highest concentration of tebuthiuron detected in a water body after experimental application to a watershed. Data generated from all treatment levels were used in tebuthiuron fate analysis and in correlation analysis between the mesocosm variables. The control and the 200 μg 1−1 treatment level were replicated (n = 3) to allow for additional statistical analyses of treatment effects at the 200 μg 1−1 level. The adsorption of tebuthiuron to sediments contained in ten mesocosms was described by the Freundlich equation, x/m = 3.24c0.68. Phytoplankton primary production, chironomid density, and chironomid biomass were negatively correlated with tebuthiuron concentration during peak system productivity. Conversely, no trends were observed at any sample date between an omnivorous fish species and herbicide concentration. At the 200 μg 1−1 dose level, only chironomid density was reduced. Factors responsible for reductions in chironomid density may include 1) a species shift in the 200 μg 1−1 treatment algal assemblages toward a greater percentage of ‘unpalatable’ biomass, and 2) decreased algal productivity and/or an algal species shift in mesocosms receiving dose levels greater than 200 μg 1−1. Chironomid density reduction at the 200 μg 1−1 dose level suggests that deleterious effects may occur in some stream systems exposed to a 200 μg 1−1 tebuthiuron concentration.
A possible deficiency in estimates of wet deposition obtained from data generated by the NADP/NTN network

Abstract A conventional precipitation scavenging model is used to evaluate the effect of the performance of a wet-deposition collector on the reported deposition amounts. Three National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network sites in semi arid western Colorado were chosen to evaluate chloride and sulfate wet deposition. Observations of the performance of a wet-deposition collector have demonstrated a delay in opening and cycling during a precipitation event. A significant fraction of wet deposition may be excluded when small amounts of initial precipitation are not sampled and a potentially large fraction of annual wet deposition may be excluded if a majority of precipitation events are small. The actual amount missed depends on the precipitation intensity, variability of intensity with time, raindrop or snowflake size and the individual performance characteristics of the collector. Detailed performance data are needed for individual welt-deposition collectors before accurate estimates of wet deposition can be expected.
Software development: designing for the user

Abstract Very often, software developers spend too much time working on a program's “nuts and bolts” and too little time working on its “user friendliness”. This is especially true of technical software. In the developer's zeal to make sure that every technical detail is perfect, he fails to consider the user who may not even know the difference between source files, object files and executable files. Recently a software package was purchased for the Cleveland State University engineering VAX computer. The program was expected to be used by the Engineering College's students and faculty. Although this particular package was technically excellent, it was cumbersome to use. The intent of this paper is to describe the author's efforts to improve the user interface of this program. In addition to the description of the project, a general set of guidelines will be presented to aid software designers in creating user friendly software. Explanations of device drivers, the use of .COM files and spawning will also be given for those unfamiliar with these terms.
Locating a site on the maize B chromosome that controls preferential fertilization

In maize, the B chromosome can undergo nondisjunction at the second pollen mitosis, producing sperm with two B chromosomes and sperm with zero B chromosomes. Preferential fertilization is the ability of the sperm carrying two B chromosomes to transmit more frequently to the embryo of a kernel than the sperm lacking the B chromosome. A translocation involving the B chromosome and chromosome 9, TB-9Sb, has been used to study preferential fertilization. The B-9 chromosome has the same properties of nondisjunction and preferential fertilization as the standard B chromosome. Deletion derivatives of B-9, which lack the centric heterochromatin and possibly some adjacent euchromatin, were tested for their ability to induce preferential fertilization. They were found to lack the capacity for preferential fertilization.
Transpiration and stomatal conductance across a steep climate gradient in the southern Rocky Mountains

Transpiration (E) is regulated over short time periods by stomatal conductance (Gs) and over multi-year periods by tree- and stand-structural factors such as leaf area, height and density, with upper limits ultimately set by climate. We tested the hypothesis that tree structure, stand structure and Gs together regulate E per ground area (Eg) within climatic limits using three sites located across a steep climatic gradient: a low-elevation Juniperus woodland, a mid-elevation Pinus forest and a high-elevation Picea forest. We measured leaf area : sapwood area ratio (Al : As), height and ecosystem sapwood area : ground area ratio (As : Ag) to assess long-term structural adjustments, tree-ring carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) to assess seasonal gas exchange, and whole-tree E and Gs to assess short-term regulation. We used a hydraulic model based on Darcy's law to interpret the interactive regulation of Gs and Eg. Common allometric dependencies were found only in the relationship of sapwood area to diameter for pine and spruce; there were strong site differences for allometric relationships of sapwood area to basal area, Al : As and As : Ag. On a sapwood area basis, E decreased with increasing elevation, but this pattern was reversed when E was scaled to the crown using Al : As. Eg was controlled largely by As : Ag, and both Eg and Gs declined from high- to low-elevation sites. Observation-model comparisons of Eg, Gs and δ13C were strongest using the hydraulic model parameterized with precipitation, vapour pressure deficit, Al : As, height, and As : Ag, supporting the concept that climate, Gs, tree- and stand-structure interact to regulate Eg. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Influence of Antibiotics or Certain Intestinal Bacteria on Orally Administered Candida albicans in Germ-Free and Conventional Mice

Candida albicans, administered by gastric intubation, persisted in the gastrointestinal tract of gnotobiotic mice for long periods but was eliminated within a relatively short period of time in pathogen-free mice. Oxytetracycline administered by mouth had no reproducible effect on the persistence of C. albicans in the gastrointestinal tract of either germ-free or pathogen-free mice. Prolonged administration of streptomycin extended the time that C. albicans could be recovered from feces of pathogen-free mice when compared to mice not receiving the antibiotic or those receiving a single large dose. There was a brief interval of time during which C. albicans could not be recovered from the feces of gnotobiotic mice contaminated with certain intestinal bacteria, but eventually all mice began to shed the fungus again. C. albicans administered by mouth was not pathogenic for germ-free or pathogen-free mice. It can be concluded from these findings that mice do not possess an innate resistance to C. albicans but that pathogen-free mice do possess some ecological mechanism which prevents establishment of the fungus in their gastrointestinal tract. The reason for the difference in colonization of C. albicans in germ-free or gnotobiotic mice and pathogen-free mice was not determined.
Equalized net diffusion (END) in Image denoising

This article is concerned with the method of diffusion modulation, which can be applied for various conventional partial differential equation (PDE)-based restoration models in order to effectively restore not only fine structures but also slow transitions. We in particular introduce the equalized net diffusion (END) which tries to equalize the anisotropic diffusion over a wide range of image content. Although the new reformulated models incorporating END are highly nonlinear, they can be simulated efficiently by adopting linearized stable numerical procedures. The END-incorporated models have outperformed over the basic (conventional) PDE-based models in both quality and efficiency.
Osmoregulation in Plants: Implications for Agriculture1

Abstract Drought and salinity stress are the major causes of historic and modern agricultural productivity losses throughout the world. Both drought and salinity result in osmotic stress that may lead to inhibition of growth. Salinity causes additional ion toxicity effects mainly through perturbations in protein and membrane structure. In contrast to animals, which rely on Na+/K+-ATPases for the expulsion of osmotica, plants rely on plasma membrane and endosomal ATPase activities to generate proton gradients to drive ion extrusion and intracellular sequestration. Consequently, most angiosperms, including all major crop species, have a diminished capacity for Na+ transport and tolerance to high salinity. New insights into the molecular mechanisms of Na+/K+ discrimination, Na+ extrusion and compartmentation, water transport, and osmolyte biosynthesis and function have led to genetically engineered plants with improved salt, drought, and cold tolerance. A deeper understanding of the complex signal transducti...
RECASTS AND SECOND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Recasts have figured prominently in recent SLA research, with studies documenting significant advantages for learners exposed to this type of negative feedback. Although some researchers have suggested that such findings imply a beneficial role for negative evidence (i.e., information regarding the impossibility of certain utterances in the language being learned), the source of these benefits has not been explored directly, as multiple variables are conflated in recasts. Specifically, recasts not only offer implicit negative evidence, but they also provide positive evidence. Moreover, recasts are believed to make this positive evidence especially salient. In the present study, 74 learners of L2 Spanish engaged in communicative interaction with the researcher in one of the following conditions: (a) recasts (i.e., negative evidence and enhanced salience of positive evidence), (b) negative evidence, (c) enhanced salience of positive evidence, and (d) unenhanced positive evidence (control). Only the recast and enhanced-salience groups performed significantly better than the control group on posttreatment measures, which suggests that the utility of recasts is derived at least in part from enhanced salience of positive evidence and that the implicit negative evidence they seem to provide may not be a crucial factor.
A meta-analysis of group cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

Summary Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder among the general population. Although cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the psychological treatment of choice, the availability of individual therapy is often not sufficient to meet the demand for treatment. Group treatment can increase the efficiency of delivery, but its efficacy has not been well-established. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing group CBT-I to a control group in patients with insomnia were identified. A review of 670 unique citations resulted in eight studies that met criteria for analysis. Outcome variables included both qualitative (e.g., sleep quality) and quantitative (e.g., sleep diary) outcomes, as well as depression and pain severity, at both pre- to post-treatment and follow-up (3–12 mo post-treatment). Overall, we found medium to large effect sizes for sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, and wake after sleep onset and small effect sizes for pain outcomes. Effect sizes remained significant at follow-up, suggesting that treatment gains persist over time. Other variables, including total sleep time, sleep quality, and depression, showed significant improvements, but these findings were limited to the within treatment group analyses. It is clear that group CBT-I is an efficacious treatment. Implications for stepped care models for insomnia are discussed.
Distributed Inference for Latent Dirichlet Allocation

We investigate the problem of learning a widely-used latent-variable model - the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) or "topic" model - using distributed computation, where each of P processors only sees 1/P of the total data set. We propose two distributed inference schemes that are motivated from different perspectives. The first scheme uses local Gibbs sampling on each processor with periodic updates—it is simple to implement and can be viewed as an approximation to a single processor implementation of Gibbs sampling. The second scheme relies on a hierarchical Bayesian extension of the standard LDA model to directly account for the fact that data are distributed across P processors—it has a theoretical guarantee of convergence but is more complex to implement than the approximate method. Using five real-world text corpora we show that distributed learning works very well for LDA models, i.e., perplexity and precision-recall scores for distributed learning are indistinguishable from those obtained with single-processor learning. Our extensive experimental results include large-scale distributed computation on 1000 virtual processors; and speedup experiments of learning topics in a 100-million word corpus using 16 processors.
Metal-albumin-amino acid interactions: chemical and physiological interrelationships.

Following the introduction and passage of transition metal ions such as copper, zinc, cadmium and nickel into appropriate portions of the gastrointestinal tract of man and other animals absorption across the gut mucosa occurs leading to the introduction of these metals into the blood. At this point, due to the functional characteristics of these metals, they appear bound to various ligands and transported to various tissues.
Effect Of Metal Ions On The Binding Of 17β-Estradiol To Humai Endometrial Cytosol

The influence of zinc and other metal ions on the binding of 3 H-17β-estradiol to human endometrial cytosol was studied. Zn 2+ began to interfere with estrogen binding when its concentration in the cytosol exceeded 50 μM. At a concentration of 5 mM, all of the specific binding of 17β-estradiol, including more than 50% of the nonspecific binding of the hormone, was destroyed. Analysis of the binding data revealed that one possible site of action of the cations on the binding protein might be the sulfhydryl group(s) of the 17β-estradiol binding site. The inhibition of 17β-estradiol binding brought about by Zn 2+ was partially abolished by dithiothreitol. Among the metal ions tested, Cu 2+ was found to be the most potent inhibitor, followed by Cd 2+ , Zn 2+ , and Pb 2+ . At 1 mM, Mn 2+ , Ba 2+ , Ca 2+ , and Mg 2+ had little effect, but at 5 mM, their inhibitory action became more appreciable. K + and Na + had no effect on 17β-estradiol binding. The stimulatory effect of 5 mM Zn 2+ , Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , and K + on the binding of 3 H-l7β-estradiol to a macromolecular fraction from bovine endometrium was not observed in human endometrial cytosol.
The Search for Dark Matter with the XENON Experiment

The XENON Dark Matter Experiment aims at the direct detection of dark matter Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with dual phase (liquid/gas) xenon time projection chambers (XeTPCs). Following the successful performance of the XENON10 detector, which has shown in 2007 the best sensitivity to spin-independent coupling of WIMPs to matter, we have designed and completed the construction of a new TPC with an active LXe shield, containing a total of 170 kg of xenon. The detector, mounted in the same passive shield used for XENON10, is currently undergoing final commissioning at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory. I will review the XENON10 results, present the status of the XENON100 phase and plans for the future XENON1T experiment.
Effects of mastication and microbial contamination on ruminal in situ forage disappearance.

In an experiment to determine the effects of mastication and microbial contamination on in situ forage disappearance, samples of masticated (M) or nonmasticated alfalfa hay (AH), orchardgrass hay (OGH) and bermudagrass hay (BGH) were incubated in the rumen of two steers for 6, 12, 24, 48 and 96 h. Using diaminopimelic acid as a marker, microbial DM and CP contamination ranged from 10.3 to 22.3% and 46.3 to 95.3% of residual DM and CP, respectively. Percentage contamination was influenced by both time of incubation and forage treatment (P less than .001). Corrected DM and CP disappearances (DMD and CPD) were higher than apparent disappearances (P less than .001). Maximal NDF and ADF disappearances (NDFD and ADFD) obtained at 96 h were 58.2, 52.4; 62.7, 62.3 and 56.7, 52.6% for AH, OGH and BGH, respectively. Lag times (h) for corrected DMD and CPD were shorter (at least P less than .05) than for apparent disappearances, except for corrected CPD of AH. There were no differences (P greater than .10) in lag time of NDFD or ADFD among forages. Rates of disappearance (%/h) of corrected DMD and CPD were faster (at least P less than .01) than for apparent disappearances. The total quantity of microbial CP (mg CP/g DM) associated with residues varied with time depending on forage type (P less than .001). There was a significant relationship between the quantity of microbial CP contamination and the extent of disappearance. Masticated forages followed trends similar to those of nonmasticated forages, but the effect of mastication was not consistent. Results support the need for microbial correction of in situ forage residues.
Persistent Patrol in Stochastic Environments with Limited Sensors

The need for persistent patrol and detection arises in many contexts such as crime prevention, search and rescue, post-conflict stability operations, and peace keeping. In these situations, military or police units are not only effective deterrents to would-be adversaries but also a speedy task force to intercept any trespassers or provide swift security and assistance. With recent advances in technology, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are well-suited for these tasks because they possess a large bird’s-eye view and are unhindered by ground obstacles. The path planning algorithms used in such missions play a critical role in minimizing the required resources, and maximizing the quality of provided service. Moreover, in many of these mission scenarios, if a patrol pattern is regular or predictable, adversaries can plan a counter strategy to the patrolling effort. In other words, unpredictability is one of the key features of planning in these circumstances. In this work, we propose and analyze the Persistent Patrol and Detection Problem (PPDP), a generic mathematical model for UAVs with limited sensors performing such a mission in a stochastic environment. Incidents occur dynamically and stochastically according to a general renewal process with known time intensity and spatial distribution in a planar region. The UAV is modeled as a point mass traveling at a constant speed with unbounded acceleration. The UAV detects incidents within the footprint of its onboard sensors, i.e., within its visibility range. We want to minimize the expected waiting time between the occurrence of an incident, and its detection epoch. Furthermore, we prefer stochastic trajectories so that would-be adversaries cannot predict the UAV’s motion based on past observations to plan for evasion. Related research focuses on search and rescue missions in which the number of searched objects is known at the beginning of the missions.1,2, 3 In other words, these works present static problems in terms of the number of objects to be found. In contrast, incidents of interest in the PPDP arrive continuously with unknown arrival times, and therefore the search effort must be persistent and preventive. This inherent difference between the PPDP and previous works has made the PPDP a dynamic problem in term of the number of incidents. ∗V. A. Huynh is with the Laboratory of Information and Decision Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139. vuhuynh@mit.edu †J. J. Enright is with Kiva Systems, 225 Wildwood Ave, Woburn, MA 01801. jenright@kivasystems.com ‡E. Frazzoli is with the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139. frazzoli@mit.edu
Cobalt(III) Werner Complexes with 1,2-Diphenylethylenediamine Ligands: Readily Available, Inexpensive, and Modular Chiral Hydrogen Bond Donor Catalysts for Enantioselective Organic Synthesis

In the quest for new catalysts that can deliver single enantiomer pharmaceuticals and agricultural chemicals, chemists have extensively mined the “chiral pool”, with little in the way of inexpensive, readily available building blocks now remaining. It is found that Werner complexes based upon the D3 symmetric chiral trication [Co(en)3]3+ (en = 1,2-ethylenediamine), which features an earth abundant metal and cheap ligand type, and was among the first inorganic compounds resolved into enantiomers 103 years ago, catalyze a valuable carbon–carbon bond forming reaction, the Michael addition of malonate esters to nitroalkenes, in high enantioselectivities and without requiring inert atmosphere conditions. The title catalysts, [Co((S,S)-dpen)3]3+ ((S,S)-33+) 3X–, employ a commercially available chiral ligand, (S,S)-1,2-diphenylethylenediamine. The rates and ee values are functions of the configuration of the cobalt center (Λ/Δ) and the counteranions, which must be lipophilic to solubilize the trication in nonaqu...
To Verify or Not to Verify, That is The Question Voters’ use and expectations of voting verification methods

Recently developed secure, end-to-end voting systems are designed to allow voters to confidentially verify on the internet that their ballot selections are cast and counted correctly. In response, this research paper characterizes both voters’ desire to actually use vote verification methods and the format of verification that users expected. 767 registered voters participated in a 2012 pre-election poll. Respondents were queried about their confidence in current voting systems, if they would want to be able to verify the accuracy of their ballot after voting in an election, and the preferred verification format to be used in future voting methods. The findings demonstrate voters’ confidence in current voting systems could be improved, possibly by being able to verify that their votes were cast and counted accurately. Voters indicated that they would want to be able to check on their votes in future elections. In addition, there was not a single form of verification that was preferred by most respondents—meaning a verification form that fulfills all users’ expectations would need to be developed. In order to increase voter use and acceptance of secure, voter verifiable voting methods, these findings should be considered when developing the next generation of systems.
Nomograms are superior to staging and risk grouping systems for identifying high-risk patients: preoperative application in prostate cancer.

Purpose of review We outline a generic approach to using a nomogram to predict a continuous probability of failure in high-risk patients (rather than putting patients into groups), in order to identify patients whose risk exceeds a cutoff point. We discuss the goals of any staging system, what markers should be included, and models of markers. Recent findings Selection of high-risk patients for any cancer has traditionally been accomplished by the creation of risk groups, or perhaps clinical stages. Ideally, high-risk patients should be identified as accurately as possible, because of the treatment and psychological implications for the patient. We argue that a continuous multivariable prediction model, such as a nomogram, is the most appropriate and accurate way to select high-risk patients. This type of model predicts outcome more accurately than risk grouping or staging systems. As an example, we use our preoperative prostatic specific antigen recurrence nomogram to identify patients at high risk of biochemical failure, who are in need of an effective neoadjuvant therapy. Summary It will follow from our discussion that identification of high-risk patients should follow four simple steps. First, select the endpoint of interest for the trial or the patient. Second, select the method that predicts the endpoint as accurately as possible. Third, determine the cutoff of predicted probability beyond which it makes sense to give the patient experimental therapy. Fourth, offer the novel therapy to the patient whose prediction of the endpoint, using the most accurate prediction method, exceeds the threshold.
Familiäre amyotrophische Lateralsklerose mit hochgradiger Balkenverschmälerung

Es werden 3 Geschwister mit a. L. beschrieben, von denen 2 genau pathologisch-anatomisch untersucht werden konnten. Es fand sich neben den bekannten Ausfallen im motorischen System eine starke Balkenverschmalerung, ferner fanden sich auser laminaren Ganglienausfallen in den motorischen Regionen der Rinde auch solche in anderen Hirnregionen, vor allen Dingen in der Area limbica. Die laminaren Ausfalle der nicht motorischen Rindenregion mussen mit der Balkenverschmalerung in Zusammenhang gebracht werden. Zum Schlus ist es mir ein Bedurfnis, meinem verehrten Lehrer, Herrn Prof.A. Jakob, fur seine liebenswurdige Unterstutzung und Hilfe auch an dieser Stelle meinen herzlichsten Dank zu sagen.
MANAGEMENT OF HABITUAL ABORTION.

Examination of the habitual aborter should include, in addition to routine studies, a hysterogram, determination of basal metabolic rate, body temperature charting, and endometrial biopsy. Study of the husband is also recommended. Preconceptional management is aimed at improving health and nutrition, eliminating gynecologic abnormalities, and supporting an inadequate secretory endometrium. When pregnancy occurs, management calls for adequate rest, good nutrition, administration of progestogens, and frequent examination.
Propensity-Score Matching as Panacea for Correcting Self-Selection Bias in Observational Studies

Copyright: © 2016 Liu E. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. *Corresponding author: Echu Liu, Department of Health Management and Policy, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO 63104, USA, Tel: (314) 977-1304; E-mail: echuliu@slu.edu
The Motives of Japanese Retailers'Entry into the Overseas Market, Their Achievements and the Causes of Their Withdrawal

The retailers of Japan have played an important role in the process of the internationalization of retailing businesses. The motives and decision- making procedures of the retailing businesses of Japan for their entry into the overseas market vary with their specific business ranges, the particular market to enter and the time when their entry takes place. However, the business achievements of the Japanese retailers in the overseas market are far from being satisfactory, and many cases of withdrawal have already occurred. Therefore, a careful study of the initial motives of their entry into the overseas market and the causes of their unoptimistic business achievements will not only provide useful information for Japanese retailers with their formulation of overseas operation strategies, but will also benefit all the retailing businesses of the countries and regions being entered into with their drawing up of retailing operation strategies.
Sequential combined modality therapy for stage III non-small cell lung cancer

These pilot trials clearly demonstrate the feasibility of administering neoadjuvant chemotherapy to patients with stage III NSCLC. Response rates in most of these trials reach or exceed 50%, indicating increased activity of chemotherapy in NSCLC when used at an earlier time in the natural history of the disease, as has been shown in other diseases. In addition, histologic confirmation of complete response can occasionally be achieved. Most of the studies reviewed here have included patients with unresectable disease, who would now frequently be classified as stage IIIB. For these patient cohorts the survival data reported are frequently disappointing, suggesting that the high response rates to neoadjuvant chemotherapy do not necessarily translate into improved survival of the patients. On the other hand, where patients with stage IIIA disease were treated and surgery was included in the overall treatment plan, the survival data are more encouraging. Although most chemotherapy regimens have included cisplatin, it is not clear which combination of drugs and which schedules are superior. Clinical research, therefore, clearly needs to continue to focus on the development of innovative drug combinations and the evaluation of new drugs in NSCLC in an attempt to further increase overall and complete response rates to neoadjuvant chemotherapy. At the same time, randomized studies are needed to unequivocally establish whether the addition of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to standard therapy improves survival for stage IIIA and/or stage IIIB NSCLC as compared with standard therapy alone. Results from one such randomized study, which was conducted by the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB), have recently been reported. One-hundred and eighty patients with unresectable NSCLC were randomized to receive radiotherapy alone or two cycles of cisplatin and vinblastine followed by radiotherapy. One-hundred and fifty-five eligible patients were analyzed for response. Of 77 patients receiving radiotherapy alone, 43% responded, including 16% with a complete response. Of 78 patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, 56% responded to both treatment modalities, including 19% with complete response. With a median follow-up of 19 months, the median survival was 16.5 months for patients receiving combined modality therapy and 8.5 months for patients receiving radiotherapy alone. The pattern of relapse was identical in both study arms, showing a predominance of local recurrence or of combined local and distant recurrence, whereas few patients experienced distant disease progression alone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Kidney Cell–Adapted Infectious Bronchitis Virus Arkansas Delmarva Poultry Industry Vaccine Confers Effective Protection Against Challenge

We previously demonstrated that adaptation of an embryo-attenuated infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) Arkansas Delmarva Poultry Industry (ArkDPI)-derived vaccine to chicken embryo kidney (CEK) cells shifted the virus population towards homogeneity in spike (S) and nonstructural protein genes. Moreover, the typical Ark vaccine subpopulations emerging in chickens vaccinated with commercial Ark vaccines were not detected in chickens vaccinated with the CEK-adapted virus. In this study, chickens vaccinated with a low dose (1.6 × 10(3) EID50/bird, where EID50 is 50% embryo infectious dose) of CEK-adapted Ark vaccine at 5 days of age showed a significant reduction of IBV RNA in lachrymal fluids and decreased incidence of IBV RNA detection in tracheal swabs 5 days after challenge compared to unvaccinated challenged chickens. In a second experiment, 5-day-old chickens were vaccinated with 10(4) or 10(5) EID50/chicken of CEK-adapted Ark vaccine, and protection was compared to chickens vaccinated with 10(5) EID50/chicken of the commercial ArkDPI-derived vaccine from which the CEK-adapted virus originated. All vaccinated chicken groups showed a significant reduction of respiratory signs and viral load 5 days after Ark virulent challenge compared to unvaccinated challenged controls. No viral subpopulations different from the challenge virus were detected in chickens vaccinated with CEK-Ark after challenge. In contrast, IBV S1 sequences differing from the predominant population in the challenge virus were detected in several chickens vaccinated with the commercial Ark attenuated vaccine. From an applied perspective, the CEK-adapted IBV ArkDPI-derived vaccine is an improved and effective vaccine candidate with which to protect chickens against virulent Ark-type strains.
Abnormal Situation Detection for Mobile Devices: Feasible Implementation of a Mobile Framework to Detect Abnormal Situations

Most mobile threats are associated not to a normal usage in a standard environment, but to small variations in context, usage or configuration that make the device more vulnerable. Connecting to an untrusted network or an unusual activity on bluetooth can be predecessors of an attack. Awareness of abnormal situations is key to help users prevent potential security and privacy issues in a mobile environment. This paper presents a feasible implementation of a framework to detect abnormal situations for mobile devices, used to determine at any moment, if a situation is suspicious or unsafe.
Toward a monophyletic Notholaena (Pteridaceae) : resolving patterns of evolutionary convergence in xeric-adapted ferns

Cheilanthoid ferns (Pteridaceae) are a diverse and ecologically important clade, unusual among ferns for their ability to colonize and diversify within xeric habitats. These extreme habitats are thought to drive the extensive evolutionary convergence, and thus morphological homoplasy, that has long thwarted a natural classification of cheilanthoid ferns. Here we present the first multigene phylogeny to focus on taxa traditionally assigned to the large genus Notholaena. New World taxa (Notholaena sensu Tryon) are only distantly related to species occurring in the Old World (Notholaena sensu Pichi Sermolli). The circumscription of Notholaena adopted in recent American floras is shown to be paraphyletic, with species usually assigned to Cheilanthes and Cheiloplecton nested within it. The position of Cheiloplecton is particularly surprising-given its well-developed false indusium and non-farinose blade, it is morphologically anomalous within the "notholaenoids". In addition to clarifying natural relationships, the phylogenetic hypothesis presented here helps to resolve outstanding nomenclatural issues and provides a basis for examining character evolution within this diverse, desert-adapted clade.
Design Models for Continuous Crystallizers with Double Drawoff

Models for the performance of continuous crystallizers have been proposed and examined by Saeman (6), Randolph and Larson (5), Murray and Larson (3), Randolph (4), and Sherwin, Shinnar, and Katz (7) and have been set in the context of the general population balance treatment by Hulburt and Katz (2). Let f(r, x; t) be the number of crystals of size r per unit volume of crystallizer per unit size at a given position x and moment t. The balance equation for f then reads $$\frac{{\partial f}} {{\partial t}} + \frac{\partial } {{\partial x}}\left( {\dot xf} \right) + \frac{\partial } {{\partial r}}\left( {\dot rf} \right) = h\left( {r;x;t} \right)$$ (1)
Energy efficiency outlook in China’s urban buildings sector through 2030

Abstract This study uses bottom-up modeling framework in order to quantify potential energy savings and emission reduction impacts from the implementation of energy efficiency programs in the building sector in China. Policies considered include (1) accelerated building codes in residential and commercial buildings, (2) increased penetration of district heat metering and controls, (3) district heating efficiency improvement, (4) building energy efficiency labeling programs and (5) retrofits of existing commercial buildings. Among these programs, we found that the implementation of building codes provide by far the largest savings opportunity, leading to an overall 17% reduction in overall space heating and cooling demand relative to the baseline. Second are energy efficiency labels with 6%, followed by reductions of losses associated with district heating representing 4% reduction and finally, retrofits representing only about a 1% savings.
Variety-of-evidence reasoning about the distant past

The epistemology of studies addressing questions about historical and prehistorical phenomena is a subject of increasing discussion among philosophers of science. A related field of inquiry that has yet to be connected to this topic is the epistemology of climate science. Branching these areas of research, I show how variety-of-evidence reasoning accounts for scientific inferences about the past by detailing a case study in paleoclimate reconstruction. This analysis aims to clarify the logic of historical inquiry in general and, by focusing on a case study about climate change, it offers an epistemic account of a particular discipline that is of environmental and social importance.
An Impossibility Theorem in Repeated Games

We prove a negative result in repeated games which shows that a sizable part of the set of feasible individually rational payoffs can never be supported by strategies that are at all robust to players’ discount factors. We find the cutoff defining this region and interpret it as a limit on the ability to punish deviations when future rewards for randomization cannot be finely calibrated. Furthermore, we present a robust folk theorem to support payoffs in the complementary region with “Blackwell-Nash” strategies that remain SPNE at all greater discount factors.
Semi-Autonomous Vehicles: Examining Driver Performance during the Take-Over

Human factors elements are critical to the success of autonomous vehicle technology. These human factors elements can include understanding how drivers adopt and interact with this technology, iden...