cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Naturalistic decision framing in computer mediated scientific exploration

Motivation - This study was conducted to determine how people frame decisions naturally. Research Approach - Decision framing was analyzed in the computer mediated Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission planning process. Outcomes of proposed actions were coded as positively or negatively framed, with rates of framing compared relative to action specificity and expertise. Findings - It was found that positive framing was preferred in general, and that increased expertise led to more balanced consideration of positive and negative outcomes. Research Limitations/Implications - This study was exploratory and experimentation is necessary to formalize the observed patterns further. Originality/Value - The findings suggest that providing decision-makers additional information about the costs of using technology may more rapidly lead to better mental representations in technology-supported decisionmaking. Take away message - Different kinds of expert behavior promote different patterns of decision framing relative to how technology is used for decision-making.
Design and Modeling of Silicon Photonic Ring-Based Linearized RF-to-Optical Modulator

In this article, a Ring-Assisted-Mach-Zehnder-Interferometer (RAMZI) based RF-to-Optical Modulator with excellent spurious-free-dynamic-range (SFDR) performance has been presented. The performance of this silicon-based RAMZI device has been analyzed and verified with a commercial Photonic Circuit simulation tool. A compact Verilog-A model of RAMZI is also developed for hybrid CMOS circuit in Cadence environment. An SFDR of $129.97 \mathrm {d}\mathrm {B}/\mathrm {H}\mathrm {z}^{2/3}$ has been obtained for this type of modulator.
Repeated cathodal transspinal pulse and direct current stimulation modulate cortical and corticospinal excitability differently in healthy humans.

Noninvasive transspinal stimulation of the thoracolumbar region, where leg motor circuits reside, produces prominent plasticity of brain and spinal cord circuits. However, reorganization of cortical and corticospinal excitability after multiple sessions (i.e. repeated) remains elusive. In this study, we investigated changes in intracortical inhibition, intracortical facilitation, and corticospinal excitability after 10 sessions of cathodal transcutaneous delivery of pulse or direct current stimulation, termed here transspinal (tsPCS, tsDCS), in resting healthy humans. tsPCS was delivered at sub- and supra-threshold intensities, while intensity for tsDCS ranged from 2.24 to 2.34 mA within a session. Intracortical inhibition and facilitation were assessed based on the tibialis anterior (TA) motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude following subthreshold transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) at the conditioning-test (C-T) intervals of 1, 2, 3, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 ms. The TA MEP recruitment input–output curves were also assembled to establish changes in corticospinal excitability. For both transspinal stimulation protocols, the active cathodal electrode was placed over the T10 spinal process. Results indicated that repeated tsPCS did not alter intracortical inhibition or intracortical facilitation but decreased corticospinal excitability for the right M1 and increased corticospinal excitability for the left M1. tsDCS decreased intracortical inhibition, increased intracortical facilitation, did not affect the maximal MEP amplitude but increased the slope of the right TA MEP input–output curve. Neurophysiological changes may be attributed to neural mechanisms involved in learning and memory. These results support that noninvasive transspinal stimulation alters both cortical and corticospinal neural excitability in resting healthy humans.
Scour depth prediction at the base of longitudinal walls: a combined experimental, numerical, and field study

A series of small- and large-scale experiments and numerical simulations were carried out to produce datasets for maximum scour depth at the base of longitudinal structures. The small-scale experimental datasets were employed to develop an empirical relationship for predicting maximum local scour depth. The measured datasets for scour patterns and depths were used to validate the accuracy of our morphodynamics model, the Virtual Flow Simulator (VFS-Geophysics). The large-scale experimental measurements and numerical simulations lead to the development of another empirical relationship to estimate the maximum general scour depth near the longitudinal structures in large-scale meandering streams/rivers. The premise of this study is that the maximum scour depths obtained from the two equations can be used independently to represent local and general scour at the base of longitudinal walls in meandering rivers. However, for a more conservative prediction, the two can be linearly summed up to obtain a total maximum scour depth. The presented correlations illustrate regression goodness of r2 = 0.63 and 0.82 for the maximum local and general scour depth equations, respectively. Nonetheless, the developed equations are valid within a specific range of parameter for the sediment material, flow field, and waterway characteristics.
Clutter-compensating Adaptive Waveforms with Cognitive Radar for Target Classification Using EM-simulated Ground-based RCS Responses

We investigate the ground-based classification performance of a cognitive radar (CRr) using high-fidelity target models with their RCS responses in the presence of transmit waveform-dependent clutter. Moreover, we consider a proper grazing angle for clutter scenarios. The CRr utilizes real-time adaptive waveform technique called probability-weighted energy (PWE) technique. In this work, the radar tries to classify any of the four ground-based vehicles at a look angle of 30◦ where clutter can definitely be a major interference. As such, we design clutter-compensating adaptive waveforms for CRr to improve classification in the presence of both narrowband and wideband clutter.
The Association of Lymphotoxin-Beta Receptor With the Subsequent Diagnosis of Incident Gastrointestinal Cancer: Results From the Dallas Heart Study

Background Lymphotoxin-beta receptor (LTβR) is an immunological protein associated with inflammation, and from preclinical studies is implicated in tumorigenesis. The epidemiological relationships with cancer are unknown, hence this study investigated their associations. Methods From a multiethnic population-based cohort, 3,032 participants without a prevalent cancer (a diagnosis prior to or within one year of enrollment) at baseline underwent measurement of plasma LTβR. These participants were followed for incident cancer using the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR). Results Over a median follow-up of 12.1 years, 178 participants developed incident cancer, of which 30 participants developed incident gastrointestinal (GI) cancer. Median plasma LTβR (1.10 vs. 1.00 ng/mL, P<0.02) levels were higher in individuals with overall incident cancer compared to those without cancer. After adjustments for age, sex, and race/ethnicity, these relationships were no longer significant. When analyses were stratified by cancer type, LTβR was positively associated with GI cancer after adjustments: HR, 95% CI per 1-standard deviation increase in concentration 2.64 (1.23-5.68), P=0.013. LTβR stratified by quartiles was significantly associated temporally with the risk of incident GI cancer, log-rank: P=0.011. The median interval to incident GI cancer diagnosis was 5.9 years. Conclusions Increased plasma levels of LTβR are associated with the development of GI cancer. The antecedent findings years prior to a subsequent diagnosis of incident GI cancer suggest a role for LTβR in the pathogenesis of GI cancer. Further studies are needed to determine if LTβR can serve as an immune biomarker for GI cancer, in particular hepatocellular and colorectal cancers.
Ghosts of the Past and Hopes for the Future: Article 466 and Societal Expectations

This paper traces the history of the law governing component parts Louisiana Civil Code article 466 and its predecessor articles. It notes that civilian methods of interpretation do little to solve the ambiguity inherent in component parts and that stare decisis and jurisprudence constante only confuse the situation. The societal expectations test has been designed to account for these problems and has successfully resolved the ambiguities when it is correctly applied.
Fabrication and Performance of a Multidischarge Cold-Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Array

Cold atmospheric-pressure plasma (CAP) has been shown to kill bacteria and remove biofilms. Here, we report the development of a unique CAP array device consisting of a parallel stack of eight linear-discharge plasma elements that create a $\sim 5$ -cm $^{\mathbf {2}}$ (2.4 cm $\times 2$ cm) treatment area. The CAP device is fabricated from low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) layers to create 24-mm-long linear-discharge channels (500- $\mu \text{m}$ gap) with embedded opposing silver metal electrodes. A 20-kHz ac voltage (0.5–5 kV) applied to the electrodes generates an Ar/ $\text{O}_{\mathbf {2}}$ plasma between the plates, with the gas flow directing the reactive species toward the biological sample (biofilms and so on) to affect the antimicrobial treatment. External ballast resistors were used to study discharge uniformity in the stacked array elements, and internal thick film ballast resistors ( $\approx 150~\text{k}\Omega $ ) were developed to create a fully integrated device. Typical element discharge currents were 1–2.5 mA with the total array current tested at 20 mA to provide optimal device uniformity. The plasma discharge was further shown to produce reactive hydrogen peroxide and exert antimicrobial effects on Pseudomonas biofilms and Salmonella contaminated eggshell samples, with >99% of the bacterial cells killed with less than 60 s of plasma exposure.
Pursuing Gender Equality through the Courts: The Role of South Africa’s Women Judges

The appointment of female judges in South Africa is part of the transformative constitutional project. This chapter examines the question of gender equality and specifically the contribution of female judges to the transformation of the judiciary in. It explores whether women judges have, in their judgements, conscripted and interpreted the Constitution to highlight and guarantee its transformative potential and possibilities. The chapter attempts to answer two questions: What difference has the cohort of women judges made since their appointment in significant numbers post-1994? What is the impact of women judges on constitutional jurisprudence with respect to gender equality? I conclude that despite some overlap between the opinions of the female and male judges, the opinions of the female judges differ in some significant ways from their male counterparts. This difference is located in the distinct way that female judges have framed the legal issues. The chapter has pointed out that considerable institutional obstacles continue to impede women’s appointment to the judiciary, but once on the bench, they really make a difference.
Pulmonary Artery Aneurysm Associated With Severe Pulmonary Hypertension in a Patient Presenting for Double Lung Transplant: Review of a Rare Disorder and Role of Transesophageal Echocardiography.

Pulmonary artery aneurysm (PAA) is a rare disorder that may be classified as congenital, acquired, or idiopathic, in the case of unclear etiology. When associated with severe idiopathic pulmonary a...
Understanding frazil ice: The contribution of laboratory studies

Abstract Frazil ice tends to form in a water column that is both supercooled and turbulent. Since the 1950's, there has been a considerable number of laboratory studies focusing on frazil ice and related phenomena. Three requirements for generating that ice in a laboratory are a water containment, a means to bring down the water temperature and a source of turbulence. The water containments in which frazil ice was generated by investigators are divided into: flow in a loop, absorbed flow, Lagrangian flow, vertical flow and no flow. For supercooling the water column, most work was conducted inside a cold room, or with a test set-up incorporating a chilling system. To induce turbulence in the water column, the various equipment used to deliver that energy included: wave makers, propellers, oscillating grids, water thrusters, ventilators and river bed roughness. Frazil-monitoring instruments were based on different principles, including photo detection, water conduction, calorimetry, imaging systems, flow rate and acoustic devices. Frazil ice dynamics involve a complex amalgamation of thermomechanical and hydraulic processes. For instance, secondary (as opposed to primary) nucleation is the mechanism generally alluded to explaining the sudden and massive generation of frazil ice. It accounts for the reduction in supercooling of the water column, and is influenced by cooling rate. Higher salinities promote frazil generation but that ice is less cohesive and adhesive than frazil ice grown from low salinity or freshwater. Rising velocity of frazil particles in the water column has been shown to increase with particle and floc sizes. The ability of frazil ice to capture foreign particles suspended in the water column. referred to as sediment entrainment, has also been investigated – coarser particles are preferentially captured, with implications on glacigenic sedimentation patterns. Anchor ice is known for its ability to transport material and its tendency to clog submerged structures (such as trash racks). Release conditions, shape and growth rate of that ice was related to the Froude and Reynolds numbers. Interestingly, anchor ice has been shown to grow more readily in freshwater than in saline water. Wave damping of frazil ice, after it has built an ice layer at the water surface, has also been studied – for instance, wave patterns were shown to vary with travel distance and ice layer thickness. Finally, a series of investigations, addressing frazil adhesion as well as particular scenarios of structures exposed to clogging by frazil, are described – these include cables, trash racks, ice booms and water intakes. Doing so, investigators explored methods to collect or characterize frazil ice and to evaluate the performance of mitigating measures.
Ischemic heart injury leads to HIF1-dependent differential splicing of CaMK2γ.

Ischemic heart disease is a leading cause of heart failure and hypoxia inducible factor 1 (HIF1) is a key transcription factor in the response to hypoxic injury. Our lab has developed a mouse model in which a mutated, oxygen-stable form of HIF1α (HIF-PPN) can be inducibly expressed in cardiomyocytes. We observed rapid cardiac dilation and loss of contractility in these mice due to lower expression of excitation–contraction coupling genes and reduced calcium flux. As alternative splicing plays an underappreciated role in transcriptional regulation, we used RNA sequencing to search for splicing changes in calcium-handling genes of HIF-PPN hearts and compared them to previous sequencing data from a model of myocardial infarction (MI) to select for transcripts that are modified in a pathological setting. We found overlap between genes differentially expressed in HIF-PPN and post-MI mice (54/131 genes upregulated in HIF-PPN hearts at 1 day and/or 3 days post-MI, and 45/78 downregulated), as well as changes in alternative splicing. Interestingly, calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II, gamma (CAMK2G) was alternatively spliced in both settings, with variant 1 (v1) substantially decreased compared to variants 2 (v2) and 3 (v3). These findings were also replicated in vitro when cells were transfected with HIF-PPN or exposed to hypoxia. Further analysis of CAMK2γ protein abundance revealed only v1 was detectable and substantially decreased up to 7 days post-MI. Rbfox1, a splicing factor of CAMK2G, was also decreased in HIF-PPN and post-MI hearts. Subcellular fractionation showed CAMK2γ v1 was found in the nuclear and cytoplasmic fractions, and abundance decreased in both fractions post-MI. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis of HIF1 in post-MI hearts also demonstrated direct HIF1 binding to CAMK2G. CaMK2 is a key transducer of calcium signals in both physiological and pathological settings. The predominantly expressed isoform in the heart, CaMK2δ, has been extensively studied in cardiac injury, but the specific role of CaMK2γ is not well defined. Our data suggest that loss of CaMK2γ after MI is HIF1-dependent and may play an important role in the heart’s calcium signaling and transcriptional response to hypoxia.
In adults and children in the ED with COVID-19 symptoms or a confirmed contact, a rapid POC antigen test had ≥72% sensitivity and ≥99% specificity vs. RT-PCR.

Mockel M, Corman VM, Stegemann MS, et al. SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid immunoassay for diagnosis of COVID-19 in the emergency department. Biomarkers. 2021;26:213-20. 33455451.
A powerful image synthesis and semi-supervised learning pipeline for site-specific weed detection

Abstract Precise and efficient weed detection in agricultural fields is the key for robotic weed control. Recent developments in convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have achieved significant success in this regard. CNNs that simultaneously localize and classify objects in images are the predominant forms that have been widely used to detect crops and weeds. However, the use of CNNs in agriculture, particularly for weed detection, has been impeded by a lack of large training dataset with ground truth annotations. Cut-and-paste image synthesis approach and semi-supervised learning are popular methods to alleviate the training data deficiency problem. In this paper, we propose a novel image synthesis and semi-supervised learning pipeline to train site-specific weed detection models without the need for manually labeled images. The CNN models trained by this pipeline achieve performance levels close to that of the supervised models. We investigated the behavior of the proposed pipeline by varying several key components and showed that color match between the training and testing images, training-time color augmentation, and iterative semi-supervised learning largely improve the model performance. These promising results can be used to guide the construction of a weed image database applicable to different weed detection scenarios.
Religion, language and power

Preface and Acknowledgments Religion, Language and Power: An Introductory Essay - Nile Green & Mary Searle-Chatterjee Part I: Exporting 'Religion' 1. Dialogues on Religion and Violence at the Parliament of the World's Religions - John Zavos 2. The Making of 'Religion' in Modern China - Francesca Tarocco 3. Reclaiming Mysticism: Anti-Orientalism and the Construction of 'Islamic Sufism' in Postcolonial Egypt - Andreas Christmann Part II: Execrating and Excluding the Other 4. Insider/Outsider Labelling and the Struggle for Power in Early Judaism - Philip S. Alexander 5. Who are the Others? Three Moments in Sanskrit-Based Practice - Jacqueline Suthren Hirst 6. The Continuum of 'Sacred Language' from High to Low Speech in the Middle Iranian (Pahlavi) Zoroastrian Tradition - Alan Williams 7. Articulating Anglicanism: The Church of England and the Language of the 'Other' in the Eighteenth Century - Jeremy Gregory Part III: Struggling for the Self 8. Christianos: Defining the Self in the Acts of the Apostles - Todd Klutz 9. Attributing and Rejecting the Label 'Hindu' in North India - Mary Searle-Chatterjee 10. Idiom, Genre and the Politics of Self-Description on the Peripheries of Persian - Nile Green Contributors Index
Application of Automatic Test Equipment to Bus Maintenance

A system for built-in instrumentation, applied to a fleet of bus vehicles, is evaluated as one element of a continuing program to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of bus maintenance operations. This paper describes the peculiarities of bus maintenance, the evaluation process, tradeoffs related to test system requirements versus benefits derived, and how the instrumentation system design was tailored from a military to a commercial application. The results of the evaluation are presented along with a review of other consideration factors including fuel shortage, fleet capital investment spiral, and cost and availability of maintenance personnel. /GMRL/
Controlled Gradual Disclosure Schemes for Random Bits and Their Applications

We construct a protocol that enables a secret bit to be revealed gradually in a very controlled manner. In particular, if Alice possesses a bit S that was generated randomly according to the uniform distribution and 1/2 < p1 < ... < pm = 1 then, using our protocol with Bob, Alice can achieve the following. The protocol consists of m stages and, after the i-th stage, Bob's best prediction of S, based on all his interactions with Alice, is correct with probability exactly pi (and a reasonable condition is satisfied in the case where S is not initially uniform). Furthermore, under an intractability assumption, our protocol can be made "oblivious" to Alice and "secure" against an Alice or Bob that might try to cheat in various ways. Previously proposed gradual disclosure schemes for single bits release information in a less controlled manner: the probabilities that represent Bob's confidence of his knowledge of S follow a random walk that eventually drifts towards 1, rather than a predetermined sequence of values.Using controlled gradual disclosure schemes, we show how to construct an improved version of the protocol proposed by Luby, Micali and Hackoff for two-party secret bit exchanging ("How to Simultaneously Exchange a Secret Bit by Flipping a Symmetrically-Biased Coin", Proc. 22nd Ann. IEEE Symp. on Foundations of Computer Science, 1983, pp. 11-21) that is secure against additional kinds of attacks that the previous protocol is not secure against. Also, our protocol is more efficient in the number of rounds that it requires to attain a given level of security, and is proven to be asymptotically optimal in this respect.We also show how to use controlled gradual disclosure schemes to improve existing protocols for other cryptographic problems, such as multi-party function evaluation.
Fire Tests and Criteria for Mass Transportation Seats

The role of polyurethane seats in fire growth is briefly reviewed. The paper first discusses the fire characteristics and hazards of the original polyurethane BART seats and then evaluates replacement seating materials. Fire test procedures are described and test results are given for both the polyurethane and the LS-200 "Low-Smoke" seats.
Underwater mosaic creation using video sequences from different altitudes

This paper presents a method for the automatic creation of 2D mosaics of the sea floor, using video sequences acquired at different altitudes above the sea floor. The benefit of using different altitude sequences comes from the fact that higher altitude sequences can be used to guide the motion estimation of the lower ones, thus increasing the robustness and efficiency of the mosaicing process. When compared to the case of single sequence mosaic creation, we show that by combining geometric information from different sequences, we are able to successfully estimate the registration topology of much lower altitude sequences. This results in higher resolution mapping of the sea floor. Illustrative results are presented using sequences of the same coral reef patch, captured with a single video camera. The sequences present some of the common difficulties of underwater 2D mosaicing, namely non-flat, moving environment and changing lighting conditions. The importance of this work is emphasized by fact that the presented methods require inexpensive image acquisition and processing equipment, thus potentially benefiting a very large group of marine scientists
Heme iron polypeptide for the management of anaemia of chronic kidney disease.

Summary What is Known and Objective Anaemia is a common clinical finding among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and is associated with significant morbidity and healthcare costs. Iron deficiency is an important contributing factor, and adequate iron supplementation is essential to optimize the management of anaemia of CKD. Oral iron is convenient and inexpensive but is poorly absorbed and associated with gastrointestinal distress. Intravenous iron overcomes these limitations but is more expensive, requires additional clinical visits for administration and is associated with serious adverse events. Oral heme iron polypeptide (HIP) is a newer dosage form that has been reported to have higher bioavailability and fewer side effects when compared with non-heme iron in healthy subjects, but data in patients with CKD are limited. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of HIP for the management of CKD. Methods Searches for PubMed (1947–2015) and International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1970–2015) were conducted using the following terms: heme iron, heme iron polypeptide, oral iron, anaemia and chronic kidney disease. The bibliography of each relevant article was evaluated for additional studies. Articles were selected for review if they were published in the English language and were randomized controlled trials evaluating the bioavailability, tolerability or efficacy of oral HIP in human subjects with CKD. Results and Discussion This search yielded three clinical studies. The safety and efficacy of HIP was evaluated in a total of 161 subjects with anaemia and various stages of CKD. HIP was consistently associated with lower ferritin values when compared with traditional iron supplementation. With few exceptions, the effect of HIP on haemoglobin, haematocrit, transferrin saturation and recombinant human erythropoietin dose, and adverse effects appeared similar to intravenous and oral non-heme iron supplementation. The cost of HIP is substantially more than non-heme iron and comparable to intravenous iron. What is New and Conclusion Heme iron polypeptide does not appear to confer benefit over traditional iron supplementation among patients with anaemia of CKD and is more expensive.
The softphy abstraction: from packets to symbols in wireless network design

At ever-increasing rates, we are using wireless systems to communicate with others and retrieve content of interest to us. Current wireless technologies such as WiFi or Zigbee use forward error correction to drive bit error rates down when there are few interfering transmissions. However, as more of us use wireless networks to retrieve increasingly rich content, interference increases in unpredictable ways. This results in errored bits, degraded throughput, and eventually, an unusable network. We observe that this is the result of higher layers working at the packet granularity, whereas they would benefit from a shift in perspective from whole packets to individual symbols. From real-world experiments on a 31-node testbed of Zigbee and software-defined radios, we find that often, not all of the bits in corrupted packets share fate. Thus, today's wireless protocols retransmit packets where only a small number of the constituent bits in a packet are in error, wasting network resources. In this dissertation, we will describe a physical layer that passes information about its confidence in each decoded symbol up to higher layers. These SoftPHY hints have many applications, one of which, more efficient link-layer retransmissions, we will describe in detail. PP-ARQ is a link-layer reliable retransmission protocol that allows a receiver to compactly encode a request for retransmission of only the bits in a packet that are likely in error. Our experimental results show that PP-ARQ increases aggregate network throughput by a factor of approximately 2× under various conditions. Finally, we will place our contributions in the context of related work and discuss other uses of SoftPHY throughout the wireless networking stack. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Trade Unionism Under Globalization: the Demise of Voluntarism?

We are now beginning to see a qualitative change in labor’s relationship to the state: trade unionism as a supplement to politics. Labor’s economic objectives have not changed; the means are undergoing change. The thesis of this paper is that largely in response to the deepening of competitive forces in private markets in the U.S. - from deregulation, changing technology and the opening up of global labor and product markets (due to decreasing transportation and communication costs and the lowering of trade barriers) - organized labor increasingly will function predominantly as a political organization. Collective bargaining will continue to provide an institutional raison d’etre and critical funding source for unions but only one (and a diminishing one) of several means for advancing the interests of its members and other constituencies. This is not to suggest the emergence of a labor party on the European model; it is an American variant: the fortunes of the labor movement will become ever more tightly tied to the fortunes of the Democratic Party and economic goals increasingly will be achieved not at the bargaining table but through the provision of public resources.
Using backtracking to solve theScramble squares puzzle

Constructing computer programs that solve problems (and puzzles) is central to the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). In this paper we present an interesting puzzle and show how it can be solved using depth first search with backtracking. We feel this problem is well suited for undergraduate student projects, as it clearly demonstrates the power of backtracking when working with very large search trees. We conclude with several extensions to the original puzzle that would provide excellent research opportunities for undergraduate students.
Economic Analysis of International Law: An Invitation and a Caveat

The law and economics revolution has, with few exceptions, bypassed international law, perhaps for some of the same reasons that realist political scientists ignore international law, or perhaps because of a concern that economic analysis is somehow less useful in the international context than in the domestic context. First, we identify three reasons why international lawyers have not, to date, extensively used economic analysis, and explain why none of these reasons is persuasive. Second, we provide a reason to believe that economic analysis will enrich our understanding of international law by outlining the analogy between the market of international relations and traditional markets for goods. Subsequent sections explore the applicability of economic analysis to three important international law topics: the allocation of prescriptive jurisdiction, the law of treaties, and the competences of international organizations. We identify certain methodologies of the new institutional economics and the public choice branch of economics, such as game theory and transaction cost economics, as having much greater promise than other economic approaches, including price theory used without reference to transaction costs and strategic considerations. Finally, we outline some of the problems associated with economic analysis of international law and set forth some ideas for a research program.
Automatic determination of fault current breakpoint locations for personnel protective grounding of distribution and transmission lines

Personnel protective grounding of overhead distribution and transmission lines is a required safety practice involving field personnel using grounding wires to de-energize lines prior to working on the lines. The purpose of this investigation is to create an automatic process that determines the possible fault currents at all locations of transmission lines to help guide field personnel through selection of grounding wires that are appropriate for the level of the fault currents at corresponding locations. When the power system topology changes, the fault currents at different locations of the lines change. The automation updates the information and contributes to safer environment for field personnel. ASPEN OneLiner, a short-circuit analysis program, was used to perform sliding fault analysis - a series of short circuits placed at incremental distances between the two endpoints of a transmission line resulting in a current profile that shows the fault current level as a function of distance along the line. The paper includes a case study that demonstrates practicality of the method for simulation and analysis of power systems.
Evidence that the rab5 effector APPL1 mediates APP-βCTF-induced dysfunction of endosomes in Down syndrome and Alzheimer's disease

β-Amyloid precursor protein (APP) and its cleaved products are strongly implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Endosomes are highly active APP processing sites, and endosome anomalies associated with upregulated expression of early endosomal regulator, rab5, are the earliest known disease-specific neuronal response in AD. Here, we show that the rab5 effector APPL1 (adaptor protein containing pleckstrin homology domain, phosphotyrosine binding domain and leucine zipper motif) mediates rab5 overactivation in Down syndrome (DS) and AD, which is caused by elevated levels of the β-cleaved carboxy-terminal fragment of APP (βCTF). βCTF recruits APPL1 to rab5 endosomes, where it stabilizes active GTP-rab5, leading to pathologically accelerated endocytosis, endosome swelling and selectively impaired axonal transport of rab5 endosomes. In DS fibroblasts, APPL1 knockdown corrects these endosomal anomalies. βCTF levels are also elevated in AD brain, which is accompanied by abnormally high recruitment of APPL1 to rab5 endosomes as seen in DS fibroblasts. These studies indicate that persistent rab5 overactivation through βCTF-APPL1 interactions constitutes a novel APP-dependent pathogenic pathway in AD.
A Review of: “The Fundamentals of Brain Development: Integrating Nature and Nurture. By Joan Stiles.”

Reviews the book The Fundamentals of Brain Development: Integrating Nature and Nurture by Joan Stiles. This volume examines the complex interactions between inheritance and experience by detailing the hows and whys of brain development from conception through adolescence. Weaving together evidence from neuroscience, embryology, genetics, physiology, and psychology, Stiles presents a tour-de-force guide of the metamorphoses that take place in the creation of the mammalian brain—metamorphoses that are often overlooked or misunderstood by an analysis of behavior alone. Throughout, many surprising and counterintuitive findings are set forth. The volume provides a stunning, in-depth, biologically based way of thinking about innateness, learning, and experience for a broader psychology audience.
Simultaneous statistical bias correction of multiple PM2.5 species from a regional photochemical grid model

In recent years environmental epidemiologists have begun utilizing regional-scale air quality computer models to predict ambient air pollution concentrations in health studies instead of or in addition to data from fixed-site ambient monitors. The advantages of using such models include better spatio-temporal coverage and the capability to predict concentrations of unmonitored pollutants. However, there are also drawbacks, chief among them being that these models can exhibit systematic spatial and temporal biases. In order to use these models in epidemiological investigations it is very important to bias-correct the model surfaces. We present a novel statistical method of spatio-temporal bias correction for the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model that allows simultaneous bias adjustment of PM2.5 mass and its major constituent species using publically available speciated data from ambient monitors. The method uses mass conservation and the more widespread unspeciated PM2.5 mass observations to constrain the sum of the PM2.5 species' concentrations in locations without speciated monitors. We develop the model in the context of an epidemiological study investigating the association between PM2.5 species’ ambient concentrations and birth outcomes throughout the state of New Jersey. Since our exposures of interest are multi-month averages we focus specifically on modeling seasonal bias trends rather than daily biases. Using a cross-validation study we find that our bias-corrected CMAQ results are more accurate than either the original CMAQ output or a spline fit without CMAQ. More interestingly, we find that our model clearly performs better when mass conservation is enforced, and furthermore that our model is competitive with Kriging in a comparison in which the latter has the advantage.
Leisure corrupted: an artist's portrait of leisure in a changing society

Theoretical arguments that leisure is the basis of any culture are available. Yet, scarcity in the literature of serious consideration of leisure in non-Western societies demonstrates that the topic has been neglected. One possible explanation for the failure to achieve progress in cultural comparisons of leisure is the lack of data. At least three approaches permit this type of comparison. This paper focuses on a literary approach by investigating how East Africa's most prominent creative writer, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, treats leisure in his most important English language novels. This analysis centers on two of his novels, A Grain of Wheat and Petals of Blood . The two novels are complex, intricate stories drawing heavily on Western philosophy and literature as well as African folklore. Although Ngugi suggests that leisure is the foundation of civilization, the fibre that makes the cloth of society, he portrays leisure distinctively in social terms likely to surprise those familiar with Western traditions of leisure.
Subthermocline Eddies in the Western Equatorial Pacific as Shown by an Eddy-Resolving OGCM*

AbstractSporadic in situ observations have shown evidence that subthermocline eddies exist off the Mindanao coast. These subthermocline eddies are believed to play an important role in the heat, freshwater, and other ocean property transports of the region, but their characteristics and in particular their pathway and source of energy are poorly explored because of the lack of long-term observations. Analysis of results from an eddy-resolving general ocean circulation model has revealed that most subthermocline eddies off the Mindanao coast originate from the equatorial South Pacific Ocean to the west of the Ninigo Group. These eddies propagate northward along the New Guinea coast, cross the equator in the far western Pacific, and reach the Mindanao coast at a typical propagation speed of ~0.12 m s−1. The dominant time scales of these eddies range between 50 and 60 days.
Preliminary investigations of hydrogen peroxide treatment of selected ornamental fishes and efficacy against external bacteria and parasites in green swordtails.

Abstract The objectives of these preliminary studies were to evaluate the use of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for the treatment of selected species of ornamental fishes and its efficacy in treating external bacteria and parasites. In the first part of the study, fish of five species (serpae tetra Hyphessobrycon eques (also known as Serpa tetra H. serpae), tiger barb Puntius tetrazona, blue gourami Trichogaster trichopterus, suckermouth catfish Hypostomus plecostomus, and green swordtail Xiphophorus hellerii) were exposed to H2O2 for 1 h at concentrations between 6 and 34 mg/L or for 24 h at concentrations between 1 and 6 mg/L. The results were species specific: green swordtails tolerated all of the treatments, serpae tetras and tiger barbs were sensitive only to the highest concentration, and mortalities of suckermouth catfish and blue gourami were recorded in every treatment. In the second part of the study, clinically healthy green swordtails and fish infested with external motile rod-shaped bacteria (i.e.,...
Flumazenil: a new benzodiazepine antagonist.

Summary Flumazenil is a recently discovered pharmacologic antagonist of the CNS effects of benzodiazepines. It acts by binding CNS benzodiazepine receptors and competitively blocking benzodiazepine activation of inhibitory GABAergic synapses. Animal studies and some human studies appear to demonstrate that flumazenil has weak intrinsic agonist activity; on the other hand, studies are inconclusive in demonstrating any inverse agonist effects of this agent. Evidence available suggests that flumazenil is well tolerated in human beings over a broad range of doses when given either orally or parenterally and does not produce serious adverse effects. In the setting of isolated benzodiazepine overdose, flumazenil is capable of completely reversing coma within one to two minutes, with this effect lasting between one and five hours. Repeat doses can be given safely to reverse recurrent effects of longer-acting benzodiazepines. Flumazenil is undergoing further evaluation by the Food and Drug Administration; should this drug receive approval, it is likely to be used in emergency departments as well as in a variety of other clinical settings. First, it could be used to effect rapid reversal of benzodiazepine-induced sedation that has been administered to facilitate medical, orthopedic, and surgical procedures, particularly in the event of inadvertent respiratory depression. Second, flumazenil might have a therapeutic role in the management of patients who have taken benzodiazepine overdoses. Although most of these patients can be managed successfully with supportive therapy alone, it is possible that the use of flumazenil may obviate the need for intubation and respiratory support in such patients and eliminate the possible adverse effects of even short-term endotracheal intubation. Finally, flumazenil could have both diagnostic and therapeutic value in patients with acute alterations of mental status of unknown etiology, particularly when possible drug overdose is a consideration. Because flumazenil appears to be specific in its antagonism of benzodiazepine-induced respiratory and CNS depression, it could be used empirically to confirm or exclude a role of benzodiazepines in the generation of mental status changes in the setting of overdose or coma of unknown origin. This in turn might obviate the need for further expensive (eg, computed tomography) and sometimes invasive (eg, lumbar puncture) diagnostic modalities. This might be particularly useful because there is nothing about benzodiazepine-induced coma that clearly distinguishes it from other causes of coma; thus, there are no signs or symptoms that may reasonably allow benzodiazepine overdose to be confirmed or eliminated on clinical grounds. Further studies will continue to define the ultimate use of this new agent.
Type a Aortic Dissection Presenting with Acute Lower Extremity Vascular Insufficiency in the Absence of Chest Pain

We report a case of a 53 year-old man with a history of hypertension presenting with acute left lower extremity parasthesias and pulselessness initially presumed to be secondary to arterial thrombosis or embolism. Work-up included a transthoracic echocardiogram which revealed an aortic dissection at the level of the aortic root extending to the visualized portions of the descending aorta. Type A aortic dissections are relatively rare, with the vast majority of patients presenting with chest pain. Timely diagnosis of Type A aortic dissections are critical as to facilitate rapid surgical repair. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a painless Type A aortic dissection presenting with isolated lower extremity vascular insufficiency and demonstrates the potential role of transthoracic echocardiography as a rapid, non-invasive bedside modality in visualizing Type A aortic dissections.
Nanotopography effects on astrocyte attachment to nanoporous gold surfaces

Nanoporous gold, synthesized by a self-assembly process, is a new biomaterial with desirable attributes, including tunable nanotopography, drug delivery potential, electrical conductivity, and compatibility with conventional microfabrication techniques. This study reports on the effect of nanotopography in guiding cellular attachment on nanoporous gold surfaces. While the changes in topography do not affect adherent cell density, average cell area displays a non-monotonic dependence on nanotopography.
Investigation of the mechanism of alkane reductive elimination and skeletal isomerization in Tp'Rh(CNneopentyl)(R)H complexes: the role of alkane complexes.

Experiments are described that provide indirect evidence for the involvement of alkane σ-complexes in oxidative addition/reductive elimination reactions of Tp‘Rh(L)(R)H complexes (Tp‘ = tris-3,5-dimethylpyrazolylborate, L = CNCH2CMe3). Reductive elimination rates in benzene-d6 were determined for loss of alkane from Tp‘Rh(L)(R)H, where R = methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, pentyl, and hexyl, to generate RH and Tp‘Rh(L)(C6D5)D. The isopropyl hydride complex Tp‘Rh(L)(CHMe2)H was found to rearrange to the n-propyl hydride complex Tp‘Rh(L)(CH2CH2CH3)H in an intramolecular reaction. The sec-butyl complex behaves similarly. These same reactions were studied by preparing the corresponding metal deuteride complexes, Tp‘Rh(L)(R)D, and the scrambling of the deuterium label into the α- and ω-positions of the alkyl group monitored by 2H NMR spectroscopy. Inverse isotope effects observed in reductive elimination are shown to be the result of an inverse equilibrium isotope effect between the alkyl hydride(deuteride) comple...
Jitter characterization of fully-micromechanical thermal-piezoresistive oscillators

This work presents the first comprehensive report on jitter measurement of self-sustained fully electromechanical thermal-piezoresistive oscillators. Previously it was demonstrated that thermal-piezoresistive resonators can act as fully micromechanical oscillators without the need for sustaining electronic amplifier. However, the stability and jitter characteristics of such oscillators have not been studied before. It is demonstrated in this work that by gradually increasing the bias current of such oscillators, as the AC oscillation voltage amplitude increases, jitter characteristic improves. Three different thermal-piezoresistive oscillators were utilized for jitter characterization. Period jitter as low as 65ps (standard deviation) has been demonstrated for a 1.03MHz oscillator.
Gonorrhea and chlamydia screening in sexually active young women: the processes of change.

Abstract Abstract A pilot study conducted with young women in an urban clinic examined a Transtheoretical Model processes of change measure to better understand strategies and behavioral mechanics that facilitate seeking gonorrhea and chlamydia screening. This information may be useful in developing interventions to improve sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening. Consistent with other studies, greater use of experiential and behavioral processes was associated with the action/maintenance stages for seeking gonorrhea and chlamydia screening.
The behavior of TiB2 thin film electrodes in polycrystalline silicon thin film solar cells

Abstract Stoichiometric TiB 2 films 1–2 μm thick on Al 2 O 3 substrates were examined as base electrodes in vacuum-deposited silicon photovoltaic cells. The TiB 2 films were formed by sequential vacuum deposition of titanium and boron, and this was followed by a diffusion reaction at high temperature (950 °C). Silicon layers were deposited on top of the TiB 2 layers at substrate temperatures up to 1250 °C. The interactions between the layers were examined by secondary ion mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry. A TiB 2 Si interaction resulting in the formation of TiSi 2 was identified. The TiSi 2 at the SiTiB 2 interface stimulates the growth of large silicon crystallites. Evidence of a reaction between the TiB 2 and the Al 2 O 3 substrate was observed, but the reaction products could not be identified.