cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The impact of endogenous demand on push–pull production systems

Though often analyzed separately, supply chain instability and customer demand interact through product availability. We investigate the feedback between supply chain performance and demand variability in a model grounded in a first-hand study of the hybrid push–pull production system used by a major semiconductor manufacturer. While customers’ response to variable service levels represents an important concern in industry, with sizeable impacts on company profitability, previous models exploring supply chain instability do not account for it. This research incorporates two effects of customer responses to availability. The sales effect captures the negative feedback whereby product shortages cause customers to seek alternative sources of supply, reducing demand and easing the shortage. The production effect captures the delayed impact of changes in demand on the manufacturer’s production decisions: lower demand leads to reduced production, prolonging shortages that depress demand, a destabilizing positive feedback. We show how the sales and production effects interact to destabilize the supply chain and lower average performance. Supply chain models that assume exogenous demand may therefore underestimate the amplification in the chain and the value of inventory buffers. In addition, incorporating the customer response leads to different inventory and utilization policies from those in use by the company. The model yields insights into the costs of lean inventory and responsive utilization policies in the context of hybrid production systems and endogenous demand. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Syst. Dyn. Rev. 21, 187–216, (2005)
Dynamical friction and galaxy merging time-scales

The time-scale for galaxies within merging dark matter haloes to merge with each other is an important ingredient in galaxy formation models. Accurate estimates of merging time-scales are required for predictions of astrophysical quantities such as black hole binary merger rates, the build-up of stellar mass in central galaxies and the statistical properties of satellite galaxies within dark matter haloes. In this paper, we study the merging time-scales of extended dark matter haloes using N-body simulations. We compare these results to standard estimates based on the Chandrasekhar theory of dynamical friction. We find that these standard predictions for merging time-scales, which are often used in semi-analytic galaxy formation models, are systematically shorter than those found in simulations. The discrepancy is approximately a factor of 1.7 for M sat /M host ≈ 0.1 and becomes larger for more disparate satellite-to-host mass ratios, reaching a factor of ∼3.3 for M sat /M host ≈ 0.01. Based on our simulations, we propose a new, easily implementable fitting formula that accurately predicts the time-scale for an extended satellite to sink from the virial radius of a host halo down to the halo's centre for a wide range of M sat /M host and orbits. Including a central bulge in each galaxy changes the merging time-scale by ≤10 per cent. To highlight one concrete application of our results, we show that merging time-scales often used in the literature overestimate the growth of stellar mass by satellite accretion by ≈40 per cent, with the extra mass gained in low mass ratio mergers.
Longitudinal fecal hormone analysis for monitoring reproductive activity in the female polar bear (Ursus maritimus)

The objective was to identify suitable enzyme immunoassays to monitor gonadal and placental function in the female polar bear. Immunoreactive progesterone, progesterone metabolite (PdG), estrogen, and androgen metabolite (T) concentrations were measured in fecal samples collected over 24 mo from captive female bears (N = 20). Whereas fecal extracts produced displacement curves parallel to the standard curve for each respective steroid, T and PdG more accurately reflected reproductive events. Concentrations of fecal T increased (P < 0.05) during the breeding season, and brief spikes were associated with estrus and mating. A postovulatory increase in PdG was not always detected, but sustained baseline T after mating appeared consistent with ovulation. Parturient bears excreted higher PdG concentrations (P < 0.05) during expected time of embryo implantation in Fall, and a late gestational rise in fecal T occurred 30 days prepartum. Many nonparturient bears also had a PdG rise in the Fall, suggesting they experienced either pregnancy loss or a pseudopregnancy. Differentiating pregnant and pseudopregnant states was not achieved using fecal PdG alone, but when combined with fecal T, comprehensive diagnoses could be made. Nonparturient bears demonstrated elevated (P < 0.05) fecal T during summer months, whereas parturient bears did not. In summary, noninvasive hormone monitoring techniques were established for the female polar bear. Although this study was directed at facilitating management and breeding efforts of captive polar bears, the methods could be applied to studies of reproductive function in wild populations.
GABA and Glutamate Overflow in the VTA and Ventral Pallidum of Alcohol-Preferring AA and Alcohol-Avoiding ANA Rats after Ethanol

Aims : Earlier findings suggest that dopaminergic neurons are probably not critically involved in ethanol self-administration behavior and in the differential intake of ethanol by the alcohol-preferring AA (Alko Alcohol) and non-preferring ANA (Alko Non-Alcohol) rat lines selected for differential ethanol intake. The purpose of the present study was, therefore, to clarify the role of GABAergic and glutamatergic afferents and efferents with the mesolimbic dopamine system in the control of ethanol intake as well as in differential intake of ethanol by AA and ANA rats. Methods : The effects of an acute dose of ethanol (1 or 2 g/kg i.p.) on the levels of GABA and glutamate in the ventral pallidum and the ventral tegmental area of AA and ANA rats were monitored with in vivo microdialysis. The concentrations of GABA and glutamate in the dialysates were determined with a high performance liquid chromatography system using fluorescent detection. Results : Ethanol significantly decreased the extracellular levels of GABA in the ventral pallidum but not in the ventral tegmental area. The ANA rats were more sensitive than the AA rats to the suppressive effect of ethanol on pallidal GABA levels. Ethanol did not have any effect on the concentrations of glutamate in either rat line. Conclusions : The suppressive effect of ethanol on the extracellular levels of GABA in the ventral pallidum suggests a role for pallidal GABAergic transmission in the control of ethanol consumption.
Classification of Mosquitoes in Tribe Aedini (Diptera: Culicidae): Paraphylyphobia, and Classification Versus Cladistic Analysis

Many mosquito species are important vectors of human and animal diseases, and others are important nuisance species. To facilitate communication and information exchange among professional groups interested in vector-borne diseases, it is essential that a stable nomenclature be maintained. For the Culicidae, easily identifiable genera based on morphology are an asset. Major changes in generic concept, the elevation of 32 subgenera within Aedes to generic status, and changes in hundreds of species names proposed in a recent article demand consideration by all parties interested in mosquito-borne diseases. The entire approach to Aedini systematics of these authors was flawed by an inordinate fear of paraphyletic taxa or Paraphylyphobia, and their inability to distinguish between classification and cladistic analysis. Taxonomists should refrain from making taxonomic changes based on preliminary data, and they should be very selective in assigning generic names to only the most important and well-defined groups of species.
Halofenate: a potent inhibitor of normal and hypersensitive platelets.

Abstract Platelet hypersensitivity has been documented in diabetes and angina pectoris and can be partially reversed in hyperbetalipoproteinemia by clofibrate. We therefore examined the effects of incubating another lipid-lowering agent, halofenate, with both normal platelets and platelets made hypersensitive in vitro by incorporation of 55 per cent excess cholesterol into their membranes. At therapeutic concentrations, halofenate caused a time- and dose-dependent inhibition of the aggregation of normal platelets by epinephrine. After 30 minutes' incubation at 37 ° C., halofenate significantly inhibited the extent of aggregation by 88 per cent (p
Effects of Agitation and Storage Temperature on Measurements of Hydration Status.

Background: Hypohydration can have significant implications on normal physiological functions of the body. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the impact of agitation, storage temperature, and storage time on urine osmolality compared to the criterion control. Patients and Methods: We used a descriptive diagnostic validity test design. To investigate agitation, we recruited 75 healthy individuals (males = 41, females = 34; mean age = 22 ± 5 years; mean self-reported height = 172 ± 23 cm and mass = 77 ± 17 kg) who provided one or more samples (total = 81). The independent variables were agitation (vortex, hand shaken, no agitation) and temperature (room temperature, freezer, and refrigerator) type. Participants completed informed consent, a health questionnaire and were asked to provide a urine sample, which was split and labeled according to agitation type or storage temperature. Urine osmolality was used to determine hydration status at two time points (within 2 hours [control], 48 hours). We used t-tests to determine the difference between each condition and the control and calculated percent error for each condition. Results: No significant differences for no agitation (t 79 = -0.079, P = 0.937), hand shaken (t 79 = 1.395, P = 0.167) or vortex mixed (t 79 = -0.753, P = 0.453) were identified when compared to the criterion control. No significant differences for room temperature (t 82 = -0.720, P = 0.474), refrigerator (t 82 = -2.697, P = 0.008) or freezer (t 82 = 2.576, P = 0.012) were identified when compared to the criterion control. Conclusions: Our findings suggest agitation of urine specimen is not necessary and samples do not require refrigeration or freezing if assessed within 48 hours. Analysis within two hours of collection is not necessary and samples can be stored for up to 48 hours without impacting the hydration status of the sample.
Pseudosubluxation and other normal variations in the cervical spine in children. A study of one hundred and sixty children.

There are several diagnostic pitfalls in the interpretation of roentgenograms of the cervical spine in children with suspected neck injuries. Incomplete ossification, epiphyscal variations, unique bone architecture, and relative hypermobility may all contribute to possible diagnostic errors. In this study of 160 normal children's cervical spines, the following suspect normal variations were observed: 1. Variations due to displacement of vertebrae that may resemble subluxation: Marked anterior displacement of the second on the third cervical vertebra, resembling a true subluxation, was observed in 19 per cent of the children studied who were one to seven year old. A similar finding was present less frequently between the third and fourth cervical vertebrae. Overriding of the atlas on the odontoid process, seen on lateral roentgenograms made with the neck in extension, and apparrent wedening of the space between these two structures, visible on flexion views, occurred in 20 per cent of the normal children between one and seven years of age. Both were suggestive of ligamentous injury. 2. Variations of curvature of cervical spine that may resemble spasm and ligamentous injury: Absence of uniform angulation between adjacent vertebrae, absence of the normal lordotic curve in neutral position, and absence of a flexion curvature of the spine between the second and the seventh cervical vertebrae, seen on lateral roentgenograms made with the cervical spine in flexion, were seen at all ages between one and sixteen years, the incidence of each variation ranging between 14 and 16 per cent. 3. Variations related to skeletal growth centers resembling fractures: The presence of the basilar odontoid cartilaginous plate frequently persists in vestigial form until the age of five years or longer and may resemble an undisplaced fracture. The apical odontoid epiphysis is rarely seen on lateral roentgenograms, but should not be mistaken for a fracture. A secondary ossification center of a cervical spinous process was seen only once in this study; there was no resemblance to an avulsion fracture. A center of ossification in the first thoracic spinous process, however, did have some resemblance to a fracture. This variation would not appear to be a pitfall in the diagnosis of neck injury in children and adolescents. Physicians responsible for the care of children with neck injuries should be conversant with the normal roentgenographic variations.
The Anatomical Perspective: Epistemology and Ethics in a Colonial Missionary Clinic

For Dutch Calvinist missionaries in Central Java, two events bookended the radically transformative decade of the 1890s. The first, at the start of the decade, was the severing of relations with a charismatic Javanese leader named Sadrach, a decision that marked a redoubled commitment to suppress local Christian syncretism and to promote Calvinist orthodoxy in its stead. The second, at the decade's end, was the establishment of a modern clinic to serve as the flagship institution of a reformulated and reinvigorated missionary project. This article considers how these two seemingly disparate events are related. It suggests that much of what was troubling to missionaries about Sadrach and his indigenous Christian movement involved their understandings and uses of the body. I then consider how the mission attempted to use modern clinical experience and the anatomical perspective to address a range of ethical and epistemological problems posed by Sadrach and his followers' understandings of the body. The modern clinic would serve as a key pedagogical and disciplinary tool for the reordering of a vocabulary and syntax of bodies and souls, a grammar of religious and social expression.
Nitric Oxide Formation in Laminar Diffusion Flames

A vertical coaxial burner has been used to study nitric oxide formation in diffusion flames. Localized combustion gas samples extracted from the diffusion flame by means of a quartz microprobe have been analyzed for NO as well as for the species CO, CO2 N2, O2 and CH4, the fuel employed. In this manner it has been possible to establish detailed radial profiles for each of the above species. Concomitant temperature profiles have been established through use of a 0.001 inch diameter Pt/Pt-10%Rh thermocouple.
Sparse matrices in CS education

Most college undergraduate computer science and mathematics textbooks on algorithms, matrix algebra, linear algebra, discrete math, or data structures do not provide even introductory material on the subject of sparse matrices. However in real world practice, most large and important applications of matrix algebra involve sparse matrices. Thus the computer science or CIS/IT student is ill prepared for real world applications in this field. This paper defines and illustrates sparse matrices, discusses the types of sparse matrices, and provides examples of general data structures and algorithms for efficient solution of sparse matrix problems.
Adaptive Persuasion in Cyberspace: The 'Fifty Cents Army' in China

Studies on public expression in authoritarian regimes tend to focus on the cat-and-mouse censorship game in which the state and internet users (netizens) struggle over the limits of what can be discussed and what cannot. Few have systematically traced the process of online discourse competition within the state-imposed boundaries. how do authoritarian regimes adapt themselves to the new environment of online expression? In particular, how do authoritarian regimes manage public opinion beyond direct censorship or coercion? This project explores these questions by examining the Chinese case. Based on twelve months of fieldwork and over two years of in-depth online ethnography, this project finds that besides resorting to censorship, the Chinese state has adapted to the challenge of online expression by manufacturing pro-regime voices in the cyberspace. To do so, the propaganda state has mobilized an army of state-paid online commentators, popularly known as the fifty cents army, to engage in online discussion anonymously to produce pro-regime commentary. The seemingly smart adaptation has produced mixed results: though fifty cents may have managed to increase the state’s PR effectiveness on specific issues through astroturfing, it often backfires by increasing netizens’ distrust in the state and suppresses regime-supporters’ voices.
Virtual environment-based assessments of science content and inquiry: the SAVE science project

Research Goals and Theoretical Framework. The SAVE Science project is focused on creating, implementing, and evaluating assessment modules designed to capture evolving patterns of scientific understanding among middle-school students based on data collected from their interactions in a virtual environment. In this presentation, we report on findings from implementations of our first assessment module. In particular, we focus on how the module can reveal misconceptions held by students about scientific phenomena, and describe student perceptions of virtual environment-based activities designed primarily as assessments rather than as learning environments.
System-based Introductory Photonics Engineering Course - II

A system-based introductory photonics engineering course which is structured around an operational optical communication system provides just-in-time, inquiry-based learning that maintains academic performance and material comprehension while substantially improving student motivation and intellectual curiosity.
Landscape characterization: a framework for ecological assessment at regional and local scales.

A landscape characterization procedure is described as a first step in ecosystem management. Five attributes were used to characterize patterns at different scales of ecological organization from the plot to the region: climatic regions, ecoregions, biophysical environments, floristics, and vegetation. Examples of the characterization of selected attributes are presented for three western U.S. study areas. Other aspects of the characterization process are illustrated with examples from the Northern Region of the Forest Service and from forested locations in the southwestern U.S. Location of a study area within a climatic region provided an understanding of broad-scale climatic constraints operating on the biota. Assessment at the ecoregion level was used to examine finer scale environmental constraints due to landform effects. The ecoregion also provided a context for further analysis of biotic and environment variability in a study area. Biophysical environments (combinations of environmental factors) we...
Constraints on Foreign Policy Decision MakingStability and Flexibility in Three Crises

Since the usual theoretical approaches to explain foreign policy decision-making—that is, to isolate a single explanatory factor—have proven less than satisfying, a different perspective is proposed here. Normally the explanation is framed in a “this factor causes that behavior” statement. The perspective offered is that decision makers are constrained by certain factors to a limited range of choice. The factors of stability and flexibility are used as the causes of constraints and applied to three illustrative crisis situations—World War I, the Korean War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The results of the application indicate that stability influences the range of options considered and that flexibility gives the location of the range on the behavior taxonomy. The intensity of flexibility appears to indicate the probable location within the range of the behavior to be selected. These results give support to the proposition of constrained decision-making.
A Projected Hessian Matrix For Full Waveform Inversion

A Hessian matrix in full waveform inversion (FWI) is difficult to compute directly because of high computational cost and an especially large memory requirement. Therefore, Newton-like methods are rarely feasible in realistic large-size FWI problems. We modify the quasi-Newton BFGS method to use a projected Hessian matrix that reduces both the computational cost and memory required, thereby making a quasi-Newton solution to FWI feasible.
Toward an Understanding of Ethnic Consumers’ Conservation Behavior: The Case of Hispanics

The U.S. population growth has been driven mainly by immigration and the American-born offspring of immigrants (Ortman and Guarneri 2009). The Hispanic population is the ethnic group that is and will continue to contribute to most of this growth and will account for 29 % of the U.S. population by 2050 (Pew Research 2008). Thus, the role of Hispanics in shaping civic life in the U.S. will become more significant in the future than it is today. The growing public concern about the environment has raised questions whether or not immigrants consider the environment in their daily practices. Perspectives range from the post-materialist approach that views immigrants’ concern for the environment as secondary to achieving material goals such as physical and economic security (e.g., Inglehart 1995) to the approach that holds that immigrants have higher levels of environmental concern because the poor environmental conditions in their countries of origin have sensitized them to be more aware of environmental problems (Martinez-Alier and Hershberg 1992). The literature provides mixed findings about environmentalism among Hispanics compared to native-born individuals (e.g., Johnson et al. 2004; Lynch 1993; Noe and Snow 1990; Pfeffer and Stycos 2002). While these studies provide important insights into Hispanics’ environmental attitudes and concerns, little is known about whether these perceptions are translated into pro-environmental behaviors. This study attempts to bridge this gap by proposing a model that explores how core values (i.e., collectivism and long term orientation), environmental cognition (i.e. environmentalism and environmental concern), and feelings about the state of the environment (i.e., environmental affect) are related and influence conservation behavior (i.e., recycling, water conservation, electricity conversation, and energy conservation) among young Hispanic consumers.
With Malice Toward Some: Tolerance Judgments and Contemporary Information – The Basic Studies

People react with their guts instead of their head and then justify intellectually what their gut reactions are. Guts have nothing to do with this.… If guts decided what kind of Bill of Rights we were going to have,… we'd have a very different country. We'd probably have something closer to a dictatorship. David Goldberger, “Skokie: Rights or Wrong” We have thus far laid out the basic arguments that constitute the foundation for our model of tolerance judgments. First, as Chapter 2 revealed, previous research has clearly established the strong influence of antecedent considerations, such as personality, education, and commitment to democratic principles, on people's current tolerance judgments. Such predispositions and standing decisions presumably set boundaries on people's willingness to be tolerant or intolerant at any given time. But this past research also identifies another potential influence on tolerance: perceptions of threat. While people may have a predisposition to see threat as pervasive, or a standing decision to perceive a disliked group as threatening, threatening stimuli in the environment can also be especially relevant pieces of contemporary information. As we discussed in Chapter 3, Gray argues that the BIS monitors the environment for threatening stimuli that violate norms of proper, orderly behavior. Therefore, the type and degree of threat a group poses provide people with information that may affect their current tolerance judgment. State of mind, that is, whether people pay attention to their thoughts or feelings, may also affect their contemporary tolerance judgments.
Strategic Reasoning and Adaptation in an Information Economy

One of our goals when building the University of Michigan Digital Library (UMDL) has been to prototype an architecture that can continually reconfigure itself as users, contents, and services come and go. We have worked toward this goal by developing a multi-agent information economy, where agents buy and sell information goods and services from each other using our commerce and communication protocols. We refer to the services and protocols offered by this economic infrastructure as the Service Market Society (SMS). Within the SMS, agents are able to find, work with, and even try to outsmart each other, as each agent attempts to accomplish the tasks for which it was created. When we open the door to decentralized decision-making among self-interested agents, there is a risk that the system will degenerate into chaos. In this chapter, we describe the protocols, services, and agent abilities embedded in the SMS infrastructure that combat such chaos while permitting flexibility, extensibility, and scalability of the system.
"To Be Less than You Are": Self-Suspension, Potentiality, and Study.

Abstract:This article outlines three possible ethical injunctions underlying three different educational projects related to the self: “become what you are” (self-actualization), “be what you are” (self-acceptance), and “be what you become” (self-creation). While differing on many levels, these three injunctions all assume connections between self, education, and some form of determinism and/or developmentalism. Although relatively autonomous, determinism and developmentalism are often linked together in the sense that they both presuppose that function precedes form, determining in advance how something ought to develop, mature, or change. As an alternative, the essay concludes with a parodic fourth injunction which suspends the relationship between self, education, and determinism and/or developmentalism: an injunction to be “less than you are.”
The dependence of the phasic response of the taste nerves on stimulus flow rate arises in the diffusion boundary layer region at the lingual surface: A convective-diffusion analysis

Abstract The dynamics of the taste neural response are highly dependent on the velocity of the stimulus solution delivered to the taste receptor cells. In anesthetized rats, stimulus solution delivered at high stimulus flow rate (1 m1/s) to the taste receptor cells on the dorsal lingual surface by axisymmetric stagnation flow yields a neural response with a rapid transient increase above baseline to peak response. At flow cessation (after about 3 s) the neural response then rapidly declines exponentially to steady state or tonic response. This rapid transient or phasic response is not observed at low stimulus flow rate (e.g. 7.5 ml/min). In the latter case the neural response rises with a slow exponential decline ultimately attaining the same steady state value observed in the high flow rate case. Although the taste quality may be nominally the same in each case, the dynamics of the afferent response differ markedly. Therefore, the input to the brain, where a variety of sensory inputs related to food ingestion are combined to yield a food’s flavor value, is not the same for each flow rate. Thus physical variables at work in the oral cavity, such as flow velocity and viscosity, play a role in determining the palatability of a meal through their effects on both taste and tactile receptors. I show here that stimulus flow rate controls the appearance of a phasic transient neural response by its effect on the thickness of the diffusion boundary layer in contact with the dorsal lingual surface. This is accomplished by solving the convective-diffusion equation with the normal component of the stimulus flow velocity determined by stagnation flow fluid dynamics. In so doing I derive useful approximate closed form solutions for both planar and axisymmetric stagnation flow. I propose a mathematical model of taste receptor function that depends on the surface concentration of the taste stimulus. I show that the surface stimulus concentration (and therefore the neural response) increases with fluid velocity and that the thickness of the diffusion boundary layer is inversely proportional to the square-root of stimulus fluid velocity. A phasic transient neural response emerges at high flow rates because the surface stimulus concentration initially rises rapidly and then subsequently declines as the system evolves through a succession of steady states of diminishing fluid velocity. The model also accounts for diminished taste responses observed with increased stimulus solution viscosity.
Use of targeted next generation sequencing (NGS) to assess mutational load in glioblastoma (GBM).

2027Background: Trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors in GBM are ongoing. Evidence from other tumors suggests that high mutational load predicts response to these agents. We estimated mutational l...
Insulin action and resistance in obesity and type 2 diabetes

Nutritional excess is a major forerunner of type 2 diabetes. It enhances the secretion of insulin, but attenuates insulin's metabolic actions in the liver, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. However, conflicting evidence indicates a lack of knowledge of the timing of these events during the development of obesity and diabetes, pointing to a key gap in our understanding of metabolic disease. This Perspective reviews alternate viewpoints and recent results on the temporal and mechanistic connections between hyperinsulinemia, obesity and insulin resistance. Although much attention has addressed early steps in the insulin signaling cascade, insulin resistance in obesity seems to be largely elicited downstream of these steps. New findings also connect insulin resistance to extensive metabolic cross-talk between the liver, adipose tissue, pancreas and skeletal muscle. These and other advances over the past 5 years offer exciting opportunities and daunting challenges for the development of new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
The Cytoplasm and its Organelles During Meiosis

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the continuity of organelles through microsporogenesis and changes in the cytoplasm perhaps connected with the sporophyte–gametophyte transition. The haploid nuclei produced by meiosis in the anther normally express the part of the total genome that is appropriate to the male gametophyte, sporophytic functions remaining latent until after gamete formation and fusion. Ribosome counts from the cytoplasm of Lilium meiocytes show that the reduction in cytoplasmic RNA is because of a decline in the ribosome population. The ribosome elimination does not appear to be complete, at least to the extent that this can be judged from electron micrographs. Nucleolus-like bodies appear again at the time of the meiotic mitoses; however, in both formation and fate, they differ strikingly from those of somatic cells. The aposporous development of the female gametophyte is well known as it is for the bisexual gametophyte of ferns.
Evaluation of Total Nitrite Pattern Visualization as an Improved Method for Gunshot Residue Detection and its Application to Casework Samples

Visualization of nitrite residues is essential in gunshot distance determination. Current protocols for the detection of nitrites include, among other tests, the Modified Griess Test (MGT). This method is limited as nitrite residues are unstable in the environment and lim- ited to partially burned gunpowder. Previous research demonstrated the ability of alkaline hydrolysis to convert nitrates to nitrites, allowing visualization of unburned gunpowder particles using the MGT. This is referred to as Total Nitrite Pattern Visualization (TNV). TNV techniques were modified and a study conducted to streamline the procedure outlined in the literature to maximize the efficacy of the TNV in casework, while reducing the required time from 1 h to 5 min, and enhancing effectiveness on blood-soiled samples. The TNV method was found to provide significant improvement in the ability to detect significant nitrite residues, without sacrificing efficiency, that would allow for the determi-nation of the muzzle-to-target distance.
Rigid Rotators: Molecular Rotational Spectra

For a rotating molecule the angular momentum, associated with the rotation of this “nearly rigid” body can be expressed in terms of Euler angles and their partial derivatives. Hence, this may be a good first example. Consider the simplest case: a diatomic molecule, e.g., the HCl molecule with one hydrogen and one Chlorine nucleus and 1 + 17 electrons. The full 20-body problem is extremely complicated, but at very low energies no excitations associated with the electron degrees of freedom will come into play. The electron cloud binds the two atomic nuclei into a nearly rigid structure. The position of the diatomic molecule in 3-D space can be described by a radial coordinate, r, giving the distance between the H and Cl nuclei, and two angles, θ, and φ, giving the orientation in space of the molecule axis, or H-Cl line. The wave function can be written as Ψ(r, θ, φ) = R(r)Y lm (θ, φ). The electron cloud gives rise to a potential, V(r), with a deep (nearly parabolic) well with a minimum ar r = r e , where this is the equilibrium distance between the two atomic nuclei. The radial problem is associated with the vibrational motion of the molecule, a nearly harmonic oscillator motion to good first approximation. The energy associated with this vibration, ħω0is approximately 30 times that associated with the lower rotational excitations.
Genius, Scientific Method, and the Stability of Synthetic A Priori Principles

It is no secret that history has been a source of trouble for Kant. Not only have the favored theories which his critical philosophy in some sense aimed to support been superseded by others less congenial to his system, but also the historical perspective deemed necessary for appreciating the import of such developments has been denied to him. Marjorie Grene tells us these two points are related: the latter failing, an inability to recognize “the historicity of knowledge,” is the source of Kant’s attachment to certain scientific theories of his day as permanent achievements, to be added to but never replaced. “Human reason is, for him, essentially unhistorical. Once it finds its way, the road, as Kant says, can never more be missed. That is what we must deny. Science is no more exempted from historical development, from historical change — from temporality — than is any other human activity.”1 There can be no doubt that Kant saw his transcendental inquiries as in some way grounding the physical theory of his day; the consequences of his failure to appreciate the tentative status of that theory are less clear. Some modern writers, among them Professor Grene herself, have suggested that to appreciate that status is to recognize that “synthetic a prioris change.”2
Clarithromycin, tetracycline, and bismuth: a new non-metronidazole therapy for Helicobacter pylori infection.

Objective: Metronidazole resistance has become an increasing problem that has limited the usefulness of the original triple therapy. Our objective was to evaluate clarithromycin, a new macrolide compound active against helicobacter pylori. Methods: We evaluated a new clarithromycin triple therapy for H. pylori infection consisting of the combination of clarithromycin (500 mg t.i.d.), tetracycline (500 mg q.i.d.), and bismuth subsalicylate tablets (2 q.i.d.) for 14 days. Patients with ulcer also received concomitant ranitidine, 300 mg after the evening meal, for 6 wk. Results: Thirty men with documented E. pylori infection were studied; 29 had peptic ulcer disease
Effects of Experience-based Work Patterns in a GSS Environment

Existing group support system (GSS) research has focused on the impacts of GSSs on conventional group-work patterns. Few studies have examined the effects of different group-work patterns in a GSS environment. Specifically, we are interested in group-work patterns that vary in terms of group members' experience or ability levels. In this paper, we report on an exploratory experiment designed to compare the effects of three distinct experience-based work patterns on group decision quality, efficiency, and participant satisfaction in the case of GSS usage. There is the conventional work pattern in which persons of differing experience levels work simultaneously in a meeting. An alternative pattern consists of experienced participants working on a problem first and then passing their results on to less experienced participants. Yet another pattern reverses this sequence. Our results show that while groups in the conventional work pattern are more efficient in considering alternative solutions, groups organized in the other two experience-based work patterns can produce higher quality solutions. We observed no significant differences in participant satisfaction among the three group-work patterns. These findings suggest that a GSS can be as effective (or even more effective) with alternative group-work patterns as it is with the conventional pattern.
Arachne: core-aware thread management

Arachne is a new user-level implementation of threads that provides both low latency and high throughput for applications with extremely short-lived threads (only a few microseconds). Arachne is core-aware: each application determines how many cores it needs, based on its load; it always knows exactly which cores it has been allocated, and it controls the placement of its threads on those cores. A central core arbiter allocates cores between applications. Adding Arachne to memcached improved SLO-compliant throughput by 37%, reduced tail latency by more than 10x, and allowed memcached to coexist with background applications with almost no performance impact. Adding Arachne to the RAMCloud storage system increased its write throughput by more than 2.5x. The Arachne threading library is optimized to minimize cache misses; it can initiate a new user thread on a different core (with load balancing) in 320 ns. Arachne is implemented entirely at user level on Linux; no kernel modifications are needed.
Patient-defined outcomes for pain, fatigue, emotional distress, and interference with activities did not differ by age for individuals with musculoskeletal pain.

Introduction Age impacts the prevalence and experience of musculoskeletal pain; however, it is unknown whether this factor impacts patient's anticipated outcomes after treatment. Objective Using the Patient-Centered Outcomes Questionnaire (PCOQ), the primary purpose was to determine whether there are age-related differences in desired, successful, expected levels, and importance of improvement in pain, fatigue, emotional distress, and interference with daily activities. As a secondary purpose, anatomical location and sex were then included in the model to examine for interaction effects. Methods A secondary analysis of the Optimal Screening for Prediction of Referral and Outcome cross-sectional and longitudinal cohorts was conducted. Included in this analysis were 572 individuals seeking physical therapy for nonsurgical neck, low back, shoulder, and knee pain who completed the PCOQ at the initial evaluation. A three-way analysis of variance examined PCOQ domains by age categories, sex, and anatomical location. Results Interaction effects were not observed for any of the domains of interest (P > 0.01). Significant main effects were also not observed for age, sex, and anatomical location (P > 0.01). Conclusion Musculoskeletal pain prevalence may differ across age categories but, in this cohort, neither age, nor sex, nor anatomical location impacted patient-defined outcomes for intensity, fatigue, emotional distress, and interference with daily activities.
An experimental investigation of residual stress in quenched flat plates: Paper constitutes a summary of investigation conducted by the authors and encompasses the experimental-apparatus design, the heating and quenching of test specimens, the recording of the time-temperature history of the plate during cooling, and the experimental measuring of the residual stresses which have been induced in the plate by the quenching

The residual stresses induced in a quenched flat plate are measured experimentally. A flat plate approximating the theoretical infinite flat plate, after being heated to a uniform temperature, is quenched uniformly from both sides in order to cause a residualstress distribution. The residual stresses are obtained by successively grinding the plate on one side and measuring the resulting strains on the opposite side. Experiments are performed on plates experiencing no phase transformation—316 stainless steel. Comparison of results is made with the predicted stress distributions from the analysis of Landau and Weiner, which is derived from the time-temperature history of the plate during its quench.
Moral character evaluation: Testing another’s moral-cognitive machinery

Abstract People evaluate the moral character of others not only based on what they do, but also on what leads them to do it. Because an agent's state of mind is not directly observable, people typically engage in mindreading—attempts at inferring mental states—when forming moral evaluations. The present paper identifies a general target of such mental state inference, mental occurrents—a catchall term for the thoughts, beliefs, principles, feelings, concerns, and rules accessible in an agent's mind when confronting a morally relevant decision. Moral mental occurrents are those that can provide a moral justification for a particular course of action. Whereas previous mindreading research has examined how people reason back to make sense of an agent's behavior, we instead ask how inferred moral mental occurrents (MOs) constrain moral evaluations for an agent's subsequent actions. Our studies distinguish three accounts of how inferred MOs influence moral evaluations, show that people rely on inferred MOs spontaneously (instead of merely when experimental measures draw attention to them), and identify non-moral contextual cues (e.g., whether the situation demands a quick decision) that guide inferences about MOs. Implications for theory of mind, moral psychology, and social cognition are discussed.
Chapter 8 – Stochastic Models

This chapter covers the basic models of stochastic processes, including Markov chains, Markov processes, and linear regression. The chapter serves as an introduction to multivariate regression models with more than one predictor. It also shows how to recognize correlated variables and include the dependence structure in a time series model. When random effects are taken into account, the resulting model is called a stochastic model. The discussion is focused on autoregressive models, since these are the most generally useful time series models. In this chapter we will introduce the most important and commonly used stochastic models such as Markov chains, Markov processes, linear regression, time series, etc. the proper application and interpretation of advanced methods including autocorrelation plots and sequential sums of squares is briefly illustrated. A basic implementation of regression allows multiple predictors and outputs the two basic measures: R2 and the residual standard deviations.
Microencapsulation of amorphous solid dispersions of fenretinide enhances drug solubility and release from PLGA in vitro and in vivo.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to develop solid dispersions of fenretinide(4HPR), incorporate them into poly(lactic-co-glycolic)(PLGA) millicylindrical implants, and evaluate the resulting implants in vitro and in vivo for future applications in oral cancer chemoprevention. Due to the extreme hydrophobicity of 4HPR, 4HPR-polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) amorphous solid dispersions(ASDs) were prepared for solubility enhancement. The optimal PVP-4HPR ratio of 9/1(w/w) provided a 50-fold solubility enhancement in aqueous media, which was sustained over 1 week. PVP-4HPR ASD particles were loaded into PLGA millicylinders and drug release was evaluated in vitro in PBST and in vivo by recovery from subcutaneous injection in rats. While initial formulations of PLGA PVP-4HPR millicylinders only released 10% 4HPR in vitro after 28 days, addition of the plasticizer triethyl-o-acetyl-citrate(TEAC) into PVP-4HPR ASDs resulted in a 5.6-fold total increase in drug release. Remarkably, the TEAC-PVP-4HPR PLGA implants demonstrated slow, continuous, and nearly complete release over 1 month in vivo compared to a 25% release for our previously reported formulation incorporating solubilizers and pore-forming agents. Hence, a combination of PLGA plasticizer and ASD formation provides an avenue for long-term controlled release in vivo for the exceptionally difficult drug to formulate, 4HPR, and a suitable formulation for future evaluation in rodent models of oral cancer.
Pattern borrowing, linguistic similarity, and new categories: Numeral classifiers in Mayan

Linguistic similarity can play a significant role in language contact. Many Mayan languages evince both pattern and matter borrowing (Matras and Sakel 2007) from other Mayan languages. Here, I focus on Mayan pattern borrowing with respect to an extensive system of obligatory numeral classifiers. Numeral classification, an innovative feature of nearly half of the Mayan languages, was shared among these languages through contact. While some specific numeral classifiers were borrowed in at least some Mayan languages, the areal spread of numeral classifiers among Mayan languages is primarily a case of pattern borrowing, involving the innovation and spread of a new lexical category. Cognate morphological matter shared through common inheritance, including a suffix for numerals greater than one and a whole lexical class of positional roots with related derivational morphology, shaped the forms of numeral classifiers in recipient languages. In addition, inherited grammatical categories related to quantification provided important preconditions for the development of similar systems of numeral classification across the family. Arguably, then, inherited linguistic ‘matter’ facilitated the transfer of linguistic patterns, even as the forms themselves, already shared through common inheritance, were not borrowed. The study of pattern borrowing in Mayan languages highlights the important role of interlingual identifications (Weinreich 1953) in pattern borrowing, especially among related languages. As a case study of different pathways to structural convergence, it also highlights the entanglements between matter and pattern in contact-induced change and reveals the potentially complex structural ramifications of both pattern and matter borrowing.
Segmentation-Dependent Dielectrophoretic Assembly of Multisegment Metal/Dielectric Particles

Experimental results and models for dielectrophoretic assembly of segmented metal-dielectric particles are reported. Multicomponent particles were fabricated by templated electrodeposition, silica ...