cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Isozyme studies on the association of the herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase gene with human chromosomes in somatic cell hybrids

To investigate chromosomal site(s) of integration of the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) thymidine kinase (TK) gene in biochemically transformed [HeLa(BU25)/KOS 8-1] cells, these human cells which had been transformed by ultraviolet light-irradiated HSV-1 were fused with TK-negative mouse LM(TK-) cells, human-mouse somatic cell hybrid clones (LH81 clones 1-20) were isolated by HATG-ouabain selection and their chromosomes and isozymes were analyzed. Electrophoretic and serological analyses showed that all 20 clones expressed type-specific HSV-1 TK. Isozyme analyses on 29 gene-enzyme systems representing 22 human chromosomes revealed that all of the HSV-1 TK-positive clones expressed human aminoacylase-1 (ACY-1) and esterase D (ESD), which have been mapped to human chromosomes 3 and 13, respectively. Other human isozymes were detected in only one to four clones or in none of the clones. Chromosome analyses showed that: (1) the hybrid clones retained only a few human chromosomes; (2) a marker chromosome, designated M7, consisting of a chromosome 17 translocated to the short arm of chromosome 3, occurred in 36 out of the 41 metaphases examined of LH81-4 clones 1 to 4 and in 31 out of the 33 metaphases examined of LH81-12 clone 10; (3) a modified M7 chromosome, (M7/m), in which the distal 2/3 of the long arm of M7 was translocated to a small acrocentric mouse chromosome, was the only human chromosome found in metaphases of LH81-13 clone 17; and (4) an intact human chromosome 13 was not present in LH81-12 clone 10 or LH81-13 clone 17 cells. Counterselection with BrdUrd resulted in the isolation of subclones lacking HSV-1 TK, human ACY-1 and ESD, and the human marker M7 chromosomes. The experiments indicate that the HSV-1 TK gene is probably associated in HeLa (BU25)/KOS 8-1 cells with marker chromosome M7, but the possibility is not excluded that the segment of human chromosome 13 which codes for ESD is involved.
Alternative Therapies for Osteoporosis

A variety of common complementary and alternative medicine therapies are now being examined for effectiveness in the management of osteoporosis. Short-term studies in postmenopausal women show beneficial effects of soy isoflavone supplementation on bone density, but its long-term effects require clarification. Prospective controlled trials have shown that physical training can increase bone density to varying degrees. Other therapies that have been examined include herbal formulae, essential fatty acids and vitamins A, C, and K, but few data regarding their effectiveness, mechanisms and safety have been published. Further randomized controlled trials are needed.
Evaluation of the Quality of Life in Adult Cancer Survivors (QLACS) scale for early post-treatment breast cancer survivors.

Purpose The end of primary treatment for cancer patients is increasingly recognized as an important time of adjustment that may impact quality of life (QoL). A psychometrically sound QoL instrument that assesses the mix of acute and longer-term concerns present during this unique time has not yet been identified. This article evaluates the Quality of Life in Adult Cancer Survivors (QLACS) scale, originally developed for long-term (>5 years) cancer survivors, as an appropriate QoL measure for this transition period.
Academic network analysis: a joint topic modeling approach

We propose a novel probabilistic topic model that jointly models authors, documents, cited authors, and venues simultaneously in one integrated framework, as compared to previous work which embeds fewer components. This model is designed for three typical applications in academic network analysis: the problems of expert ranking, cited author prediction and venue prediction. Experiments based on two real world data sets demonstrate the model to be effective, and it outperforms several state-of-the-art algorithms in all three applications.
Cool Subdwarf Investigations. I. New Thoughts on the Spectral Types of K and M Subdwarfs

Using new spectra of 88 K- and M-type subdwarfs, we consider novel methods for assigning their spectral types and take steps toward developing a comprehensive spectral sequence for subdwarf types K3.0 to M6.0. The types are assigned based on the overall morphology of spectra covering 6000-9000 A. The types and sequence presented link the spectral types of cool subdwarfs to their main-sequence counterparts, with emphasis on the relatively opacity-free region from 8200-9000 A. When available, supporting abundance, kinematic, and trigonometric parallax information is used to provide more complete portraits of the observed subdwarfs. We find that the CaHn (n = 1-3) and TiO5 indices often used for subdwarf spectral typing are affected in complicated ways by combinations of the subdwarfs' temperatures, metallicities, and gravities, and we use model grids to evaluate the trends in all three parameters. Because of the complex interplay of these three characteristics, it is not possible to identify a star as an "extreme" subdwarf simply based on very low metallicity, and we suggest that the modifiers "extreme" or "ultra" only outline locations on spectroscopic indices plots, and should not be used to imply low or very low metallicity stars. In addition, we propose that "VI" be used to identify a star as a subdwarf, rather than the confusing "sd" prefix, which is also used for hot O and B subdwarfs that are unrelated to the cool subdwarfs discussed in this paper.
A brief history and recent developments in day‐of‐the‐week effect literature

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief review of pre‐2003 work on the weekend effect and then discuss how recent selected work has extended our knowledge of the subject.Design/methodology/approach – Results of recently published studies are organized and summarized by research question and outcomes.Findings – While early literature found a fairly consistent weekend effect, with positive returns on Fridays and negative returns on Mondays, more recent research shows the effect moving to other days, reversing or vanishing.Research limitations/implications – While it is difficult to compare studies made across different time periods, the direction of present research gives insight into how markets are adjusting to the weekend effect anomaly.Practical implications – Investors may find it very hard to adequately identify a trading strategy based on current research.Originality/value – This work conveniently synthesizes and presents current research findings from a variety of published sources.
Inheritance, intracellular localization, and genetic variation of phosphoglucomutase isozymes in maize ( Zea mays L.)

Phosphoglucomutase (PGM; EC 2.7.5.1) isozyme variants were studied in a large number of inbred lines, crosses, and races of maize (Zea mays L.). Patterns of Mendelian inheritance demonstrated for PGM isozyme variants indicated that they are encoded by nuclear genes. Two unlinked loci, Pgm1 and Pgm2, located on the long arm of chromosome 1 and the short arm of chromosome 5, respectively, specify the observed electrophoretic variation on starch gels. No intra- or interlocus hybrid bands were found, suggesting that each isozyme band consists of a single polypeptide. PGM isozymes were present in all plant parts studied and the activity specified by both loci appears to reside in the cytoplasm. In studies of 520 racial collections of maize from Latin America, a single allele at each locus predominated in most collections. Likewise, the same alleles predominated in a set of 406 inbred lines of maize from the United States and Canada.
Resource-constrained high-level datapath optimization in ASIP design

In this work, we study the problem of optimizing the data-path under resource constraint in the high-level synthesis of Application-Specific Instruction Processor (ASIP). We propose a two-level dynamic programming (DP) based heuristic algorithm. At the inner level of the proposed algorithm, the instructions are sorted in topological order, and then a DP algorithm is applied to optimize the topological order of the datapath. At the outer level, the space of the topological order of each instruction is explored to iteratively improve the solution. Compared with an optimal brutal-force algorithm, the proposed algorithm achieves near-optimal solution, with only 3% more performance overhead on average but significant reduction in runtime. Compared with a greedy algorithm which replaces the DP inner level with a greedy heuristic approach, the proposed algorithm achieves 48% reduction in performance overhead.
Validity of the MCMI drug abuse scale with drug abusing and psychiatric samples

The validity of the Drug Abuse Scale (T) from the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) was studied by administering the MCMI to 75 White male veterans who were seeking treatment for opioid or cocaine dependence and 60 White male veterans without diagnoses of drug dependence who were receiving psychiatric care. Only (39.4%) of the drug-abusing sample was classified correctly by obtaining base rate (BR) scores above the clinical relevant cut-off of 74, whereas, only 12% of the psychiatric sample was misclassified by having obtained a BR above 74. The results suggest that the MCMI T Scale is limited in its ability to identify drug users, but is also unlikely to misclassify psychiatric patients as drug abusers when they are not. The authors urge caution in using the Drug Abuse Scale for the purpose of identifying drug abusers.
Methotrexate uptake by psoriatic epidermis.

SUMMARY Psoriatic epidermis has been shown to be more sensitive to the effects of methotrexate than normal epidermis. One possible explanation for this observation is more rapid active transport of methotrexate into psoriatic cells. This study compares the uptake of methotrexate by normal and psoriatic epidermis and demonstrates the influence of extracellular pH on this process. Methotrexate uptake was not found to be greater in psoriatic epidermis than normal. A possible explanation for this unexpected finding is discussed.
Sustainability analysis of earthmoving operations

Emissions from construction equipment are the main contributor of environmental impacts from construction processes, and mitigating these impacts is an important aspect of operations design and planning. To this end, emission estimation models play an important role in environmental management of construction operations. This paper presents an emission model that integrates with discrete-event simulation (DES) for more accurate emission estimates from construction operations compared to existing models. The paper also presents a case study which analyzes sustainability of an earthmoving operation, to demonstrate the application of DES for estimating emissions.
Millions of Years of Evolution Preserved: A Comprehensive Catalog of the Processed Pseudogenes in the Human Genome

Processed pseudogenes were created by reverse-transcription of mRNAs; they provide snapshots of ancient genes existing millions of years ago in the genome. To find them in the present-day human, we developed a pipeline using features such as intron-absence, frame-disruption, polyadenylation, and truncation. This has enabled us to identify in recent genome drafts approximately 8000 processed pseudogenes (distributed from http://pseudogene.org). Overall, processed pseudogenes are very similar to their closest corresponding human gene, being 94% complete in coding regions, with sequence similarity of 75% for amino acids and 86% for nucleotides. Their chromosomal distribution appears random and dispersed, with the numbers on chromosomes proportional to length, suggesting sustained "bombardment" over evolution. However, it does vary with GC-content: Processed pseudogenes occur mostly in intermediate GC-content regions. This is similar to Alus but contrasts with functional genes and L1-repeats. Pseudogenes, moreover, have age profiles similar to Alus. The number of pseudogenes associated with a given gene follows a power-law relationship, with a few genes giving rise to many pseudogenes and most giving rise to few. The prevalence of processed pseudogenes agrees well with germ-line gene expression. Highly expressed ribosomal proteins account for approximately 20% of the total. Other notables include cyclophilin-A, keratin, GAPDH, and cytochrome c.
Techtronics: hands-on exploration of technology in everyday life

Techtronics is an after-school science enrichment program partnering the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and Rogers-Herr Middle School in Durham, North Carolina. This program, funded through a three-year grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, introduces students in grades 6-8 to four branches of engineering: civil, electrical and computer, biomedical, and mechanical through hands-on project building. Students design and build bridges, robots, heart monitors, and solar energy systems. A group of 20 middle school students is divided into five teams of four students. An engineering undergraduate crew leader is paired with each team as a project facilitator. An engineering graduate student coordinator leads the entire group. This paper presents a detailed description of the Techtronics program including student background, coordinator and crew leaders, project content, and the outcomes and assessment process.
Information transfer rate of nonspiking afferent neurons in the crab.

The thoracic-coxal muscle receptor organ (TCMRO) is the only proprioceptor at the thoracic-coxal joint in the crab leg. The S and T afferent neurons of the TCMRO convey signals to the CNS solely by...
A micromachined self-resonant frequency-modulated passive pressure transensor

In this paper, we report on the design, fabrication and testing of a passive pressure transensor. The sensor uses the self-resonant frequency modulation of an integrated coil to detect the pressure variations. This modulation is generated by the displacement of a ferrite core attached to a silicone rubber membrane relative to the coil. This scheme simplifies the packaging of the passive transensor by removing the requirement for a separate capacitor to form the resonator. A 1.37 /spl mu/H coil having a dimension of 3 mm /spl times/ 3 mm and 30 turns is used in a prototype design yielding a sensitivity of 34.7 kHz/kPa with a cylindrical ferrite core of 9.5 mm diameter and 0.5 mm height.
Audience Beliefs and International Organization Legitimacy

Recent work suggests that multilateral security institutions, such as the UN Security Council, can influence foreign policy through public opinion. According to this view, authorization can increase public support for foreign policy, freeing domestic constraints. Governments that feel constrained by public opinion may thus alter their foreign policies to garner external authorization. These claims challenge traditional realist views about the role of international organizations in security affairs, which tend to focus on direct enforcement mechanisms and neglect indirect channels of influence. To examine these claims, this article investigates the first link in this causal chain—the effect of institutional statements on public opinion. Strategic information arguments, as opposed to arguments about the symbolic legitimacy of specific organizations or the procedural importance of consultation, posit that the effect of institutional statements on public opinion is conditional on public perceptions of member states' interests. This article tests this conditional relationship in the context of changes in presidential approval surrounding military disputes, using a measure of preference distance between the United States and veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council. Findings indicate that short-term changes in presidential approval surrounding the onset of military disputes in the United States between 1946 and 2001 have been significantly larger when accompanied by a positive resolution for a Security Council that is more distant in terms of foreign policy preferences. The article also discusses polling data during the 1990s and 2000s that support the strategic information perspective.
Discriminative Learning of Sum-Product Networks

Sum-product networks are a new deep architecture that can perform fast, exact inference on high-treewidth models. Only generative methods for training SPNs have been proposed to date. In this paper, we present the first discriminative training algorithms for SPNs, combining the high accuracy of the former with the representational power and tractability of the latter. We show that the class of tractable discriminative SPNs is broader than the class of tractable generative ones, and propose an efficient backpropagation-style algorithm for computing the gradient of the conditional log likelihood. Standard gradient descent suffers from the diffusion problem, but networks with many layers can be learned reliably using "hard" gradient descent, where marginal inference is replaced by MPE inference (i.e., inferring the most probable state of the non-evidence variables). The resulting updates have a simple and intuitive form. We test discriminative SPNs on standard image classification tasks. We obtain the best results to date on the CIFAR-10 dataset, using fewer features than prior methods with an SPN architecture that learns local image structure discriminatively. We also report the highest published test accuracy on STL-10 even though we only use the labeled portion of the dataset.
Stability analysis of adaptively controlled flexible joint manipulators

The composite slow/fast control strategy, consisting of a slow adaptive controller designed for a rigid robot together with a fast control to damp the elastic oscillations of the joints, was previously derived by the authors. In this paper, mathematical details of the algorithm are presented. By using the composite Lyapunov theory for singularly perturbed systems, sufficient conditions are obtained for adaptive trajectory tracking. For point-to-point motion it is shown that there is always a range of joint stiffness for which convergence is achieved, and the region of convergence is quantified. For tracking (smooth and bounded) reference trajectories, sufficient conditions for closed-loop stability and uniform boundedness of the tracking error are given. A residual set to which the tracking error converges is quantified. It is also shown that for special classes of trajectories, which include step responses generated from reference models and certain joint interpolated trajectories, asymptotic tracking can be achieved. >
Demonstration of a 67 kA vapor-cooled current lead with improved thermal efficiency

Conventionally designed vapor-cooled leads used in superconducting magnetic energy storage device (SMES) must be optimized at the maximum current. The standard optimization practice, which minimizes the sum of the Joule and conduction heat inputs, incurs a penalty for a diurnal SMES device because of its variable current duty cycle. A new design has been tested that uses an array of parallel current leads with independent liquid helium (LHe) level control which significantly reduces the cryogen heat load in a superconducting magnet that operates at variable currents. At reduced magnet currents, one or more parallel leads in the array is "shunted out" by lowering the LHe levels. The increased electrical and thermal resistance of those leads reduces the total LHe boil-off of the array. Test results on a 67 kA lead are presented, showing an 80% reduction in LHe consumption at zero current when compared to a conventional lead. >
Weight Suppression as a Predictor of Weight Gain and Response to Intensive Behavioral Treatment in Patients with Anorexia Nervosa

Previous studies have documented that weight suppression (a person’s highest adult weight minus current weight) predicts weight gain and disordered eating symptoms during treatment of bulimia spectrum disorders, but no research has examined weight suppression in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN). Thus, this study sought to characterize weight suppression in a large sample of patients with AN (N = 185), and to evaluate whether weight suppression at admission for intensive behavioral treatment predicts weight gain and clinical outcomes at discharge. Weight suppression varied from 0 kg to78 kg (M [SD] = 17.1 [10.8] kg) in AN patients. Higher levels of weight suppression predicted greater total weight gain, a faster rate of weight gain, and bulimic symptoms during intensive treatment even after controlling for body mass index on admission, length and type of intensive treatment received, restricting versus binge-eating/purging AN subtype, and other predictors of study outcomes. These findings converge with previous research documenting the clinical significance of weight suppression in the treatment of eating disorders. Future work is needed to replicate the current findings, and examine whether weight suppression predicts the course of AN following discharge from intensive treatment.
A non-homogeneous Markov software reliability model with imperfect repair

This paper reviews existing non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) software reliability models and their limitations, and proposes a more powerful non-homogeneous Markov model for the fault detection/removal problem. In addition, this non-homogeneous Markov model allows for the possibility of a finite time to repair a fault and for imperfections in the repair process. The proposed scheme provides the basis for decision making both during the testing and the operational phase of the software product. Software behavior in the operational phase and the development test phase are related and the release time formulae are derived. Illustrations of the proposed model are provided.
Some implications of satellite spin effects in cylindrical probe measurements.

In-situ measurements of ambient electron densities with satellite-borne cylindrical probes exhibit periodic variations synchronous with the satellite's spin cycle. Representing these fluctuations as a superposition of effects attributable to both the presence of the satellite wake and the geomagnetic field leads to a model of the modulations of accelerated electron current to cylindrical probes in which one modulation component displays current variations dependent upon the probe-velocity angle (psi) and the other displays variations dependent upon the angle between the probe axis and the geomagnetic field lines (beta). The modulations produce an electron current decrease whenever the probe axis rotates into the satellite wake or whenever the probe axis rotates toward alignment with the geomagnetic field lines. With increasing altitude, the modulation dependent upon psi decreases whereas the modulation dependent upon beta increases. The analysis results imply that the most accurate of atmospheric electron densities by satellite-borne cylindrical probes come from measurements taken out of the satellite's wake and when the probe axis is within 20 degrees of being perpendicular to the geomagnetic field lines.
Direct computation of a minimum-variance distortionless-response beamformer

A QR-decomposition constrained least-squares (QRD-CLS) algorithm is presented to solve directly for a minimum-variance distortionless-response adaptive beamformer without explicit computation of its weights. Generally, the QRD-CLS algorithm is capable of solving deterministic least-squares optimization problems subject to an equality constraint in an iterative adaptive manner by imposing a 'soft' constraint via the quadratic penalty function optimization method. The proposed algorithm is able to perform both linearly constrained and unconstrained least-squares minimizations; in addition, it is implemented with a unique triangular systolic array architecture where an orthogonal triangularization process is performed on the input data by means of new 'three-dimensional' Givens rotations. >
TREEFALL GAPS AND THE MAINTENANCE OF SPECIES DIVERSITY IN A TROPICAL FOREST

The maintenance of species diversity by treefall gaps is a long-standing paradigm in forest ecology. Gaps are presumed to provide an environment in which tree species of differing competitive abilities partition heterogeneous resources. The empirical evidence to support this paradigm, however, remains scarce, and some recent studies even suggest that gaps do not maintain the diversity of shade-tolerant species. Although there is evidence that gaps maintain the diversity of pioneer trees, most of this evidence comes from studies that did not make comparisons between gaps and intact forest sites (controls). Further, nearly all studies on the maintenance of diversity by gaps have ignored lianas, an important component of both old-world and neotropical forests. We tested the hypothesis that treefall gaps maintain shade-tolerant tree, pioneer tree, and liana species diversity in an old-growth forest on Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama. We compared the density and species richness of these guilds between paired gap and non-gap sites on both a per- area and a per-individual (per capita) basis. We found no difference in shade-tolerant tree density and species richness between the gap and non-gap sites. Both pioneer tree and liana density and species richness, however, were significantly higher in the gap than in the non- gap sites on both a per-area and a per-individual basis. These results suggest that gaps maintain liana species diversity and that this effect is not merely a consequence of increased density. Furthermore, our data confirm the long-held belief that gaps maintain pioneer tree species diversity. Because lianas and pioneer trees combined account for ;43% of the woody plant species on BCI, and in other forests, our results are likely to be broadly applicable and suggest that gaps play a strong role in the maintenance of woody species diversity.
Advances in bioartificial liver devices.

Liver failure is the cause of death for over 30,000 patients each year in the United States alone.When this process occurs in healthy individuals with normal livers, it is termed acute liver failure (ALF). Loss of liver function that complicates chronic liver disease is termed acute-on-chronic liver failure. Liver transplantation is curative for ALF and acute-onchronic liver failure.1-6 Over the years, survival after transplantation has improved with advances in both patient management and surgical techniques, but the procedure is not always available in a timely fashion,7-9 prompting new surgical approaches such as split-liver transplantation, procurement from living donors, and auxiliary liver transplantation.10 The problem of organ shortage is compounded by difficulty in predicting the outcome of liver failure. The King’s College prognostic criteria have been adopted by most centers,11 although they fail to identify patients at low risk of dying.12 Alternatives to whole organ transplantation for liver dysfunction are under active investigation. Figure 1 schematically depicts the 4main cellular approaches that are currently being investigated: isolated cell transplantation,13-17 tissue engineering of implantable constructs,18-27 transgenic xenotransplantation,28-31 and extracorporeal bioartificial liver devices (BAL). Extracorporeal support for patients suffering from liver failure has been attempted for over 40 years. Temporary systems have been developed to attempt to expedite recovery from acute decompensation, facilitate regeneration in ALF, or serve as a bridge to liver transplantation. Various nonbiological approaches have met with limited success, presumably because of the role of the synthetic and metabolic functions of the liver that are inadequately replaced in these systems. Hemodialysis, hemoperfusion over charcoal or resins or immobilized enzymes, plasmapheresis, and plasma exchange have all been explored. Conversely, purely biological approaches have shown encouraging results in some cases but have been difficult to implement in the clinical setting. In addition to orthotopic liver transplantation, these include whole organ perfusion, perfusion of liver slices, and cross hemodialysis.32 Bioartificial devices typically incorporate isolated cells into bioreactors to simultaneously promote cell survival and function as well as provide for a level of transport seen in vivo. Several previous reviews have addressed the field of BAL development.33,34 We will highlight recent advances in liver biology and bioengineering that have impacted the field. The important issues include choice of cellular components, stabilization of hepatocyte phenotype, bioreactor design, regulation and safety, and clinical trials.
The swelling interface number as a criterion for prediction of diffusional solute release mechanisms in swellable polymers

When a glassy polymer containing a uniformly dispersed solute is brought in contact with a penetrant, solute diffusion will be associated with the transport mechanism and penetration velocity of the penetrant in the polymer. Analysis and prediction of mechanisms of diffusional solute release may be obtained through a new dimensionless number, the swelling interface number, Sw, which compares the relative mobilities of the penetrant and the solute in the presence of macromolecular relaxations in the polymer. It is shown that a sufficient and necessary criterion for time-independent diffusional solute release rates from these swellable systems is that the Sw be smaller than 10−2. The swelling interface number Sw may be related to easily determined structural and thermodynamic parameters of the solute/polymer/penetrant system. Preliminary experimental results of dynamic water swelling of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-methyl methacrylate) and diffusional release of theophylline from initially glassy copolymers show that decreasing values of Sw are related to increased pseudo-case-II transport kinetics of the solute.
Large‐vocabulary spontaneous speech recognition using a corpus of lectures

Now that dictation systems have become a reality, research on large-vocabulary voice recognition is shifting from “read speech” to “spontaneous speech.” The features of this kind of spontaneous speech have been investigated from various perspectives using a corpus of dialog speech. However, in particular for the Japanese language, creating a voice recognition system which has massive amounts of data and is based on statistical methods is not necessarily sufficient. There have been few reports on the performance of a large-vocabulary voice recognition system whose purpose is tagging spontaneous speech. The authors have prepared a spontaneous speech corpus using as materials lecture speeches from the University of the Air for the purpose of improving the recognition precision for spontaneous speech. They report here on the recognition performance of their large-vocabulary spontaneous speech recognition system created using this corpus. The results of experiments showed that the word error rate for lecture speeches, which was 51.5% under conventional systems that use reading, was reduced to 16.4%. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 3, 86(8): 52–60, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www. interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecjc.10105
Contingent Valuation: A View of the Conference and Associated Research

The research presented at this conference will almost certainly set the stage for contingent valuation (CV) research for the next several years. The topic is one that must be taken seriously. The issues are deep and challenging. The broad focus of the conference ranges from survey methodologies and the interpretations of survey data, to the behavioral foundations of economics and the relevance of welfare economics to matters of environmental policy and regulation. The researchers are some of the most prominent in the world, with credentials that read like a "Who's Who" of economics, law, and psychology. The conclusions drawn by the researchers are strong and critical of CV methodology. Researchers such as these do not put their scientific credentials on the line without substantial study and are, no doubt, prepared to defend and elaborate on their results. In the pages that follow, I speculate about the nature of the issues the conference has raised.
The Dark Side of European Integration: Franco-German Dominance and the Structural Reproduction of Informal Empire

Ever since Immanuel Kant’s Toward Perpetual Peace, many democratic peace theorists have posited that the means to overcome a war-torn state of nature is to spread democracy and promote unity through a supranational federal structure. In this vein, the European Union is often hailed as model for regional and even global integration. However, for all the accolades that have been bestowed upon the EU, there exists an equally noteworthy dark side to the process of European integration. Drawing particularly upon the work of James Tully, I argue that European integration has also been leveraged as a tool to impose Franco-German interests both within and outside the EU, thereby reproducing the structure of dependence and subordination characteristic of informal empire. I support this thesis through an analysis of two contemporary case studies: France’s influence over the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and Germany’s involvement in addressing the Greek sovereign debt crisis. I conclude with some suggestions for how the EU can become a normatively acceptable model for global governance, namely by democratizing, and hence de-imperializing, its integrative process.
Theft by Coercion: Extortion, Blackmail, and Hard Bargaining

Under what circumstances should it be a crime for X to threaten to do some unwanted act to V unless V pays X money to forgo it? When the threatened act is itself unlawful (e.g., "pay me $10,000 or I'll break your knees"), criminalization is uncontroversial. But when the act threatened is putatively lawful (e.g., "pay me $10,000 or I'll . . . expose embarrassing information about you, file a lawsuit against you, order my union to strike your factory, not hire you for this job," etc.), the problem is more complicated. There are many circumstances in which X's threat to do some unwanted but nevertheless lawful act to V unless V pays up will be viewed as nothing more than "hard bargaining." After a brief review of the literature on the blackmail paradox, the article contends that no conceptually adequate test has been developed for distinguishing between those threats to do what is putatively lawful that should be treated as a crime and those that should not. It then pursues a theoretically more modest, but doctrinally significant, project. Even if it is not possible to say which threats to do what is putatively lawful should be treated as a crime generally, it should still be possible to say which, if any, such threats should be treated specifically as extortion. To that end, the article offers a two-step analysis. The first is to conceptualize extortion as theft by coercion: when X "wrongfully" threatens to commit some act unless V pays X's demand, X "steals" from V by charging him money for something for which he has no right to charge him. The second step is to say that a threat to engage in putatively lawful conduct should be regarded as "wrongful" for purposes of extortion law if and only if such conduct turns out - on further analysis of the relevant governing law, such as the law concerning what constitutes an illegal lawsuit, strike, or employment decision - in fact to be unlawful.
Fast and QoS-Aware Heterogeneous Data Center Scheduling Using Locality Sensitive Hashing

As cloud becomes a cost effective computing platform, improving its utilization becomes a critical issue. Determining an incoming application's sensitivity toward various resources is one of the major challenges to obtain higher utilization. To this end, previous research attempts to characterize an incoming application's sensitivity toward interference on various resources (Source of Interference or SoI, for short) of a cloud system. Due to time constraints, the application's sensitivity is profiled in detail for only a small number of SoI, and the sensitivities for the remaining SoI are approximated by capitalizing on knowledge about some of the applications (i.e. training set) currently running in the system. A key drawback of previous approaches is that they have attempted to minimize the total error of the estimated sensitivities, however, various SoI do not behave the same as each other. For example, a 10% error in the estimate of SoI A may dramatically effect the QoS of an application whereas a 10% error in the estimate of SoI B may have a marginal effect. In this paper, we present a new method for workload characterization and scheduling that considers these important issues. First, we compute an acceptable error for each SoI based on its effect on QoS, and our goal is to characterize an application so as to maximize the number of SoI that satisfy this acceptable error. Then we present a new technique for workload characterization and scheduling based on Locality Sensitive Hashing (LSH). Given a set of n points in a d-dimensional Euclidean space, LSH is a hashing technique such that points nearby are hashed to the same "bucket" and points that are far apart are hashed to different buckets. This data structure allows approximate nearest neighbor queries to be executed with nearly asymptotically optimal running time. This allows us to perform workload profiling quickly with high accuracy and scheduling in heterogeneous data centers with high quality of service (QoS) and utilization.
Signal transduction mechanism for the stimulation of the sarcolemmal Na(+)-Ca2+ exchanger by insulin.

The signal transduction pathway for insulin-mediated activation of sarcolemmal Na+−Ca2+ exchange was examined. Insulin stimulated Na+−Ca2+ exchanger activity in a dose-dependent manner, with the EC50 being about 0.7 U/l. The insulin effect was blocked by the protein kinase inhibitor, staurosporine, indicating possible involvement of a protein kinase in insulin action. Also, the relationship between the insulin effect and activation of a G protein, was examined by testing the effects of 5′ guanylyl imidodiphosphate (Gpp(NH))p) on Na+−Ca2+ exchange in, the presence and absence of insulin. When exchanger activity was assayed at a calcium concentration of 40 μM, insulin alone had no effect whereas ATP and Gpp(NH)p increased exchanger activity. However, insulin responsiveness was restored in vesicles preloaded with either ATP or Gpp(NH)p, suggesting that insulin may act through a combination of G protein coupling and protein phosphorylation to enhance Na+−Ca2+ exchanger activity. We conclude that calcium overload in the diabetic heart may involve a defect in acute activation of the exchanger by insulin.
Pseudo-Macarius and the Messalians: The Use of time for the Common Good

In the year AD 431 the Council of Ephesus anathematized the ‘Messalians’ (Syriac) or ‘Euchites’ (Greek) – both terms meaning ‘those who pray’ – referring to them as ‘impious’ and ‘contaminating’. A defining characteristic of this group was their emphasis on constant prayer. The Messalian phenomenon, which originated in Syria and Mesopotamia, spread to Armenia and Asia Minor during the late fourth century, causing concern amongst the ecclesiastical hierarchy of many areas. In condemning the movement in AD 431 the Council of Ephesus confirmed the judgement of the synods of Antioch (c. 380) and Side (c. 390) that the Messalians, who were also known as ‘enthusiasts’, were a dangerous and divisive group who rejected work and discipline for the sake of prayer and individual advancement. The Messalians could be considered negligent and wasteful in their use of time.
Compartment syndromes of the foot: current concepts.

The foot has been mentioned as a site for the development of a compartment syndrome for approximately 9 years. Despite this, very little information exists in the literature containing specifics on the nature of the disorder.Very recent work has shown that crush injuries, forefoot and midfoot fractures and dislocations, and calcaneal fractures are prone to the development of foot compartment syndromes (FCS). The classical clinical signs of pain with passive stretch of the involved muscles, and dysfunction of the nerves that pass through the involved compartments are less helpful in the diagnosis of the syndrome in the foot than elsewhere. Tense swelling of the foot may be of some help in arousing suspicion that a FCS has developed, but the diagnosis is best made by invasive catherization of the foot compartments. Since recent work has discovered that at least nine foot compartments exist, multi-stick catherization is recommended. Fasciotomy should be performed when the pressures are significantly elevated...
Incubation of Avian Eggs in an Inverted Position

Abstract INTRODUCTION Egg position during incubation has been considered an important factor in satisfactory hatchability and one which influences the incidence of certain embryo malpositions (Landauer, 1967). In particular, incubation of eggs in an inverted position, i.e., with the small end up (S.E.U.) has been reported to drastically reduce hatchability and to result in about a 60% incidence of embryos in Malposition 2 (head in small end of the egg) and 5 (feet over head) (Byerly and Olsen, 1931, 1933). Reports in the literature indicate hatchabilities as low as 36.4% (Byerly and Olsen, 1933) although recently El-Ibiary et al. (1966) reported a much less drastic reduction in hatch, using mostly eggs from S.C. White Leghorn pullets. Homma and Shumiya (1964), however, reported that in Japanese quail hatchability was sharply reduced in eggs incubated in an inverted position. We have compared the effects of incubating in the SEU position eggs from three…
Contemporary Philosophies of Religion

In the present essay I propose to compare certain typical religious philosophies, with a view to discovering what degree of religious hope they justify; or what, in view of the nature of reality, they make of religious ideals. Philosophy, viewing experience roundly, taking into account both the uttermost that man wants and the evidence of reality, has reached different conclusions as to the relation between the two, or as to the consequent status of religious values in the light of critical reflection. There seem to me to be four typical philosophical verdicts of this sort: first , that the ideals of religion are illusory and vain; second , that its ideals are self-sufficient, and independent of reality; third , that its ideals define, or coincide with, reality; fourth , that its ideals are progressively efficacious, or may be realized . These four philosophies of religion may conveniently be termed: disillusionism, symbolism, idealism , and progressivism .
Design of Forward DC/DC Converter Based on Isolated Feedback Generator

The principle and characteristics of optical coupler and isolated feedback generator UC1901 are introduced. The design of the single forward switch power supply based on UC1901 is presented. The scheme is demostrated with experiment.
Resource Control Architecture in Heterogeneous Networks

TISPAN from a fixed access perspective proposes Resource Admission Control Subsystem (RACS) as a solution to Quality of Service (QoS) for NGN bearing network. In contrast, 3GPP has an approach to this via mobile access. In the latest 3GPP R7 draft, integration of Policy Control Function (PCF) with traffic based billing function of the R6 version brought forward policy control and billing. With the development of fixed mobile convergence, the inconsistence between architecture and interface of resource admission control will have a huge impact on manufacture and network implementation of NGN related equipment. To solve this problem, both 3GPP and TISPAN have been working on convergence of Gq'/RX reference points. Harmonized Policy Control and Charging (PCC) proposed by Next Generation Mobile Network (NGMN) forum, i.e. cooperative resource control architecture for heterogeneous networks represents an evolutional sign post for resource control technology for heterogeneous networks architecture.
Report of the event-related potential P300 detection in children with epilepsy

Objective:To explore the value of P300 of event-related potentials(ERPs) on the cognitive function in epileptic children. Methods: P300 was measured in 32 epileptic children and 28 normal children respectively. The cognitive function was evaluated by ERP P300 and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. Result: About 28% epileptic children presented cognitive deficits. The latency of ERP P300 showed significantly prolonged than that of the control group(P0. 01). Conclusion: Cognitive deficits easily occur in epileptic children. It can be evaluated objectively and accurately by P300 in early epileptic children.
Spectroscopic Study of Graphene Oxide Membranes Exposed to Ultraviolet Light

Hierarchically stacked graphene oxide (GO) membranes have been observed to undergo physical and chemical changes under ambient conditions. In this study, the slow degradation of GO membranes is mimicked and accelerated by UV light (254 nm) exposure. Spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction analyses confirm that the observed changes, including macroscopic as well as atomic-scale alterations, cannot be attributed to loss of intercalated water molecules between the GO sheets, but UV light exposure triggers a partial reduction of the GO membrane to a more graphene-like material.
Radiographic and Serologic Correlates of Azotemia in Patients with Posterior Urethral Valves

AbstractA retrospective statistical analysis with a minimum followup of 10 years was done on 102 patients who presented in early childhood with posterior urethral valves. All patients were treated with initial bladder drainage. Factors correlating with the development of renal failure were evaluated. No patient with a normal kidney on 1 side had renal failure. Calculated glomerular filtration rate was significantly higher in patients who retained adequate renal function (80.7 ± 17.8ml. per minute per 1.73m.2), as compared with those who had renal failure (18.6 ± 9.6ml. per minute per 1.73m.2). Patients with renal failure also had a significantly higher serum creatinine level at stabilization (2.0 ± 0.8mg./dl.) than those who had adequate renal function (0.5 ± 0.2mg./dl.). The presence of bilateral high grade vesicoureteral reflux, hydronephrosis and nonfunction was significantly higher in patients with renal failure. Patient age at presentation was not a significant factor. These data represent a guidelin...
Determination of the Beta Granule Mass in Pancreatic Islets Using Linear Scanning Methods

Linear scanning technics were used to quantitate islets of normal, alloxan subdiabetic and alloxan diabetic animals. At low magnification (light microscope), the islet volume was determined on aldehyde-fuchsin stained sections. With oil immersion objectives, the volumes of the cellular components of the islets were obtained. In addition, by scanning electron micrographs, the volume of beta granules quantitated was expressed as per cent of beta cell cytoplasm. Using the successive values, beta granule “mass” (% beta granules x % beta cells x % islet volume) are expressed as per cent of pancreatic volume. These data are correlated with estimates of insulin expressed as units per gram of pancreas.