cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An empirical sea clutter model for low grazing angles

The most fundamental characteristic of sea clutter, as used in radar performance evaluation, is its apparent reflectivity defined as σ° (m2/m2). The word apparent is used here as a reminder that any measurement of sea clutter reflectivity inevitably includes the effects of propagation close to the sea surface. Sea clutter reflectivity depends on many factors including sea state, wind velocity, grazing angle, polarization, and radar frequency. A comprehensive tabulation of measurements from around 60 sources were included in the 1991 edition of Nathanson's book [1] and this probably represents the most complete database of sea clutter reflectivity available. Also included in this book by Nathanson was a detailed description of an empirical sea clutter model proposed by Horst et. al. [2], the so-called Georgia Technical Institute (GTI) model. This model has found widespread acceptance in the radar community although its technical basis may be somewhat vague.
Investigating strong collaboration with the Annotated Egret Navigator

The Annotated Egret Navigator (AEN) is a system designed to support strong collaboration among a group as they cooperatively build, review, revise, and improve a structured hypertext document. AEN was used as the central instructional and research system for a graduate seminar on collaborative systems at the University of Hawaii during Fall, 1994. AEN was used for over 285 hours during the second half of the semester alone, and users generated over 800 nodes and 800 links. Lessons learned about strong collaboration include: (1) Users as well as artifacts should be visible; (2) Provide direct and indirect authoring mechanisms; (3) Provide context-sensitive change information; (4) Provide access to intermediate work products; (5) Maintain database integrity; (6) An agent-based architecture may be necessary for systems supporting strong collaboration; and (7) The WWW is not effective for strong collaboration.
A Taxonomic Revision of the Afrotropical Species of Zelotes (Arachnida: Araneae: Gnaphosidae)

Summary This revision of the genus Zelotes from the Afrotropical Region provides keys, diagnoses, descriptions, illustrations, locality records and distribution maps for 100 species, including 56 new species. The following new synonyms are established: Zelotes simoni (Purcell), Z. montanus (Purcell) and Z. fuliginoides (Hewitt)=Z. fuligineus (Purcell); Z. salensis Berland and Z. elolensis Caporiacco=Z. laetus (O. P.-Cambridge); Z. impexus (Simon), Z. oneili (Purcell), Z. demonaicus Lawrence, Z. sidama Caporiacco, Setaphis bechuanica Purcell and S. anchoralis Purcell=Z. scrutatus (O. P.-Cambridge); Z. hewitti Tucker and Z. montivagus Tucker=Z. humilis (Purcell); Z. vespertilionis Tucker=Z. bastardi (Simon); Z. aculeatus (Purcell)=Z. invidus (Purcell); Z. ornatus Tucker=Z. lightfooti (Purcell); Z. bimamillatus (Caporiacco)=Z. mediocris (Kulczyn´ ski); Z. tristellus (Tullgren)=Z. guineanus (Simon); Z. cronwrighti (Purcell)=Z. gooldi (Purcell); Z. ungulus Tucker=Z. natalensis Tucker; Z. solitarius Lawrence=Z....
Initial diagnostics commissioning results for the Advanced Photon Source (APS)

Principal diagnostics systems have been installed and nearly all have been commissioned on the subsystems of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) facility. Data have been obtained on beam position, beam profile, current, beam loss rate, and synchrotron radiation monitors on both injector rings and most recently the main 7-GeV storage ring. Results for the 150- to 450-MeV electron beams in the accumulator ring, up to 7 GeV in the injector synchrotron, and 4.5 to 7 GeV in the SR will be presented.
Requirement of protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 for NO-stimulated vascular smooth muscle cell motility.

We have previously reported that nitric oxide (NO) increases the motility of differentiated cultured primary aortic smooth muscle cells from adult rats. There is little information on the role of p...
Passive component inspection using machine vision

Passive electronic components now make up 50 to 90% of all components on circuit boards and represent more than one-fifth of the board cost. Many of these passive components have been 100% inspected by the manufacturers for electrical properties, but not for mechanical properties. Most manufacturers still measure small samples with micrometers and calipers to verify overall dimensions, although machine vision is beginning to be used for mechanical inspection. In this paper, we investigate machine vision as a technique to enable 100% inspection of such components including properties of size, edge straightness and smoothness, and surface defects for both the component body and terminations. In addition, machine vision is used to derive the component orientation and location. This may have application to the bulk feeding of such components, which is a subject of current research.
Comparative metabolism of benzo[a]pyrene by human keratinocytes infected with high-risk human papillomavirus types 16 and 18 as episomal or integrated genomes.

Background: Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) is a critical factor in the development of cervical cancer. Smoking is an additional risk factor. Tobacco smoke carcinogens, such as benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), and their cytochrome P450-related metabolites are present in significantly higher levels in the cervical mucus of women smokers than in nonsmokers. We determined the metabolism and P450 expression of B[a]P-treated human keratinocytes infected with HPV-16 or -18. Materials and Methods: Monolayer cultures of uninfected primary human foreskin keratinocytes, human vaginal and cervical keratinocytes carrying episomal genomes of HPV-16 and -18, respectively, and invasive cervical carcinoma cell lines carrying either HPV-16 or -18 genomes integrated into the host DNA, were incubated with 0.1 μM [3H]B[a]P. The resulting oxidative metabolites were analyzed and quantified by radioflow high-performance liquid chromatography. Additionally, all cell lines were incubated with unlabeled 0.1 μM B[a]P for Western blot analysis of cytochrome P450 1A1 and 1B1. Results: Significant enhancement in levels of both detoxification and activation metabolites was found in incubations with all types of HPV-infected cells compared with control incubations (P < 0.05). The highest capacity to metabolize B[a]P was observed with cells containing integrated HPV-18 genomes. Induction of cytochrome 1B1 was observed in HPV-16 and -18 integrated, and in HPV-16 episomal cell types. Conclusions: Both viral genotype and genomic status in the host cell affect B[a]P metabolism and cytochrome P450 1B1 expression. An increase of DNA-damaging metabolites might result from exposure of HPV-infected women to cigarette smoke carcinogens.
Dynamics of Encoding in Neuron Populations: Some General Mathematical Features

The use of a population dynamics approach promises efficient simulation of large assemblages of neurons. Depending on the issues addressed and the degree of realism incorporated in the simulated neurons, a wide range of different population dynamics formulations can be appropriate. Here we present a common mathematical structure that these various formulations share and that implies dynamical behaviors that they have in common. This underlying structure serves as a guide toward efficient means of simulation. As an example, we derive the general population firing-rate frequency-response and show how it may be used effectively to address a broad range of interacting-population response and stability problems. A few specific cases will be worked out. A summary of this work appears at the end, before the appendix.
Narrative Theory: A Career Counseling Approach for Adolescents of Divorce.

Adolescents whose parents divorce face academic and vocational impediments that challenge their career options. Although divorce does not affect all children uniformly, research confirms that, overall, divorce negatively influences academic performance and behavioral adjustment (Peris & Emery, 2004; Ruschena, Prior, Sanson, & Smart, 2005), access to vocationally enhancing resources and levels of educational attainment (Amato & Cheadle, 2005; Kelly & Emery, 2003), and future income (Hetherington & Stanley-Hagan, 1999). Career counseling using a narrative approach, which recognizes the life-altering influences of parental divorce, appears to have promise for fostering resilience in adolescents and improving their career prospects.
A diffusion limited sorption kinetics model with polydispersed particles of distinct sizes and shapes

We propose a numerical model to compute spatial and temporal variations of the dissolved and sorbed phase concentrations within porous particles of different sizes and shapes that undergo dynamic mass transfer with the surrounding bulk concentration. The model accommodates intra-particle reversible sorption kinetics, film resistance at particle surfaces, and first-order decays in both intra- and extra-particle aqueous volumes. The model allows consideration of mixtures of polydispersed particles of distinct sizes and shapes. A finite-difference formulation of the model provides quantification of novel uptake terms that determine magnitudes of mass transfer between extra-particle aqueous phase and the particles. The model also allows consideration of non-linear irreversible site-limited intra-particle surface reactions for identical particles of spherical, cylindrical, and rectangular geometries. Applications for several examples illustrate the general behavior. Experimental data of iodine concentrations from a wastewater sample were well represented by the pore-diffusion model with site-limited sorption.
SOCS3 promotor hypermethylation and STAT3-NF-κB interaction downregulate SOCS3 expression in human coronary artery smooth muscle cells

Suppressor of cytokine signaling-3 (SOCS3) is an intracellular negative regulator of cytokine signaling pathway. We recently found significant reduction in SOCS3 expression in coronary artery smooth muscle cells (CASMCs) of atherosclerotic swine and also in vitro cultured cells. Here, we investigated the underlying mechanisms of SOCS3 downregulation by IGF-1 and TNF-α in human CASMCs(hCASMCs). We propose that hypermethylation of CpG islands in the SOCS3 promoter is responsible for decrease in SOCS3 expression involving STAT3 and NFkB-p65 interaction. Western blot and qPCR data revealed significant upregulation of SOCS3 (6- to 10-fold) in hCASMC when treated individually with TNF-α (100 ng/ml) or IGF-1 (100 ng/ml). However, a significant decrease (5-fold) was observed by the combined treatment with TNF-α and IGF-1 compared with individual stimulation. IGF-1 phosphorylated STAT3 and TNF-α-activated NF-κB in hCASMCs. In the nuclear extract of hCASMCs stimulated with both TNF-α and IGF-1, there was an interaction between NF-κB-p65 and pSTAT3, as determined by co-immunoprecipitation. Knockdown of STAT3 by small interfering RNA abolished SOCS3 expression in response to IGF-1. Methylation-specific PCR confirmed hypermethylation of SOCS3 promoter in hCASMCs stimulated with both TNF-α and IGF-1, and this was positively associated with elevated levels of DNA methyltransferase-I (9- to 10-fold). Knockdown of DNMT1 increased SOCS3 expression in IGF-1+TNF-α-stimulated cells. Downregulation of SOCS3 in the presence of both TNF-α and IGF-1 in hCASMCs is due to SOCS3 promoter hypermethylation involving STAT3-NFkBp65 interaction. Because TNF-α and IGF-1 are released due to mechanical injury during coronary intervention, hypermethylation of SOCS3 gene could be an underlying mechanism of intimal hyperplasia and restenosis.
Visualization of single mRNAs reveals temporal association of proteins with microRNA-regulated mRNA

Although many proteins are known to function in microRNA (miRNA)-based translational repression, we lack a comprehensive understanding of temporal relationships between the mRNA, miRNA and their constituent proteins. To understand the dynamics of miRNA and protein interactions, we created a synthetic inducible miRNA system in mammalian cells. By visualizing single mRNAs and observing their co-localization with proteins over time, we produced a temporal association map of miRNA-associated factors. Argonaute2, Dcp1a, hedls and Rck co-localize with miRNA-regulated mRNA after 24 h of miRNA induction, and RNAi knockdown of any one of these proteins affected the co-localization of any of the other proteins with miRNA-regulated mRNA, demonstrating that these proteins could interact with each other in a complex. We identified Argonaute2 and hedls as proteins that co-localize and interact with miRNA-regulated mRNA, indicating that processing body components are involved in long-term storage of miRNA-regulated mRNA.
Computational and statistical tradeoffs via convex relaxation

Modern massive datasets create a fundamental problem at the intersection of the computational and statistical sciences: how to provide guarantees on the quality of statistical inference given bounds on computational resources, such as time or space. Our approach to this problem is to define a notion of “algorithmic weakening,” in which a hierarchy of algorithms is ordered by both computational efficiency and statistical efficiency, allowing the growing strength of the data at scale to be traded off against the need for sophisticated processing. We illustrate this approach in the setting of denoising problems, using convex relaxation as the core inferential tool. Hierarchies of convex relaxations have been widely used in theoretical computer science to yield tractable approximation algorithms to many computationally intractable tasks. In the current paper, we show how to endow such hierarchies with a statistical characterization and thereby obtain concrete tradeoffs relating algorithmic runtime to amount of data.
Whole-Book Recognition

Whole-book recognition is a document image analysis strategy that operates on the complete set of a book's page images using automatic adaptation to improve accuracy. We describe an algorithm which expects to be initialized with approximate iconic and linguistic models-derived from (generally errorful) OCR results and (generally imperfect) dictionaries-and then, guided entirely by evidence internal to the test set, corrects the models which, in turn, yields higher recognition accuracy. The iconic model describes image formation and determines the behavior of a character-image classifier, and the linguistic model describes word-occurrence probabilities. Our algorithm detects “disagreements” between these two models by measuring cross entropy between 1) the posterior probability distribution of character classes (the recognition results resulting from image classification alone) and 2) the posterior probability distribution of word classes (the recognition results from image classification combined with linguistic constraints). We show how disagreements can identify candidates for model corrections at both the character and word levels. Some model corrections will reduce the error rate over the whole book, and these can be identified by comparing model disagreements, summed across the whole book, before and after the correction is applied. Experiments on passages up to 180 pages long show that when a candidate model adaptation reduces whole-book disagreement, it is also likely to correct recognition errors. Also, the longer the passage operated on by the algorithm, the more reliable this adaptation policy becomes, and the lower the error rate achieved. The best results occur when both the iconic and linguistic models mutually correct one another. We have observed recognition error rates driven down by nearly an order of magnitude fully automatically without supervision (or indeed without any user intervention or interaction). Improvement is nearly monotonic, and asymptotic accuracy is stable, even over long runs. If implemented naively, the algorithm runs in time quadratic in the length of the book, but random subsampling and caching techniques speed it up by two orders of magnitude with negligible loss of accuracy. Whole-book recognition has potential applications in digital libraries as a safe unsupervised anytime algorithm.
The influence of males and females on the psychophysical judgments of females.

Summary A transfer paradigm was employed to test the hypothesis that females influenced by males on one task would show more carryover of the influence effect to other tasks than would females influenced by other females. Thirty female college students made judgments on three cross-modal matching tasks. Experimental subjects gave their judgments on one task along with two male or two female confederates, who appeared to give discrepant judgments. They then made another series of private judgments on the other two tasks. Comparison to a control group and to an original series of private judgments revealed a significant direct influence effect, but minimal transfer to the other two tasks. There was a nonsignificant tendency for the subjects to be more directly influenced by other females than by males, but this influence by the other females was accompanied by a decline in task confidence. Influence by males on females did not result in lowered confidence. This finding may be restricted to quantitative task...
Insulin-regulated glucagon-like peptide-1 release from L cells: actin' out.

Incidence of type 2 diabetes has now reached epidemic proportions, afflicting 8% of adults in the United States. More worrisome are predictions based upon current trends indicating incidence of 30%: one of every three children born in the year 2000 to develop diabetes in their lifetime (1). Type 2 diabetes is characterized by chronic hyperglycemia resultant from the combined dysfunction of insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells in the face of peripheral insulin resistance. Thus, type 2 diabetic patients require multifactorial treatment strategies to regain and maintain euglycemia, which can strain both patient compliance and patient’s pocketbooks. The answer to this dilemma is to devise a magic pill that could simultaneously coordinate increases in insulin secretion with peripheral glucose clearance. Moreover, because obesity trends pair with those of type 2 diabetes, wouldn’t it be nice if such a magic pill could induce weight loss, too?
Strabismus and Amblyopia in Bilateral Peters Anomaly

Background: Peters anomaly is a rare form of anterior segment dysgenesis in which abnormal cleavage of the anterior chamber occurs at the end of the third week of gestation. We examined the prevalence of strabismus and amblyopia and analyzed predictive factors for their development, as well as the visual outcome and associated anomalies in patients with bilateral Peters anomaly. Methods: Using a retrospective review, we identified 25 consecutive patients with bilateral Peters anomaly who were observed between August 1995 and February 2005. Ocular structural and systemic anomalies, amblyopia therapy, visual acuity, and binocular alignment at last visit were recorded. Fisher's exact test was used to identify any association between defined predictive factors and the development of strabismus. Results: Mean follow-up time was 5.1 year (range, 0.5–21 years). Median age at presentation was 2.5 months (range, 1 day to 13 years). Penetrating keratoplasties were performed on 34 eyes in 20 patients. Final best-corrected visual acuity ranged from 20/25 to no light perception. Thirteen of 18 patients with recorded motility (72%) developed strabismus: esotropia (n = 7), exotropia (n = 5), and variable (n = 1); one also had dissociated vertical deviation. Patients with equal vision were either orthophoric (n = 4) or had intermittent esotropia (n = 1), whereas strabismus occurred in 100% of patients whose vision was asymmetric by more than 1.5 octaves. Asymmetric vision was the only statistically significant predictive factor for the development of strabismus ( P = 0.002). Amblyopia treatment resulted in improved vision in 3 of 5 patients. Conclusion: Strabismus occurs frequently in bilateral Peters anomaly. Asymmetric vision, (because of ocular structural anomalies) postoperative complications, and amblyopia may predispose to strabismus. Despite ocular structural limitations, amblyopia therapy is recommended in the aggressive rehabilitation of these eyes.
It Pays to be Organized: Organizing Arithmetic Practice Around Equivalent Values Facilitates Understanding of Math Equivalence

This experiment tested the hypothesis that organizing arithmetic fact practice by equivalent values facilitates children’s understanding of math equivalence. Children (M age 8 years 6 months, N 104) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 practice conditions: (a) equivalent values, in which problems were grouped by equivalent sums (e.g., 3 4 7, 2 5 7, etc.), (b) iterative, in which problems were grouped iteratively by shared addend (e.g., 3 1 4, 3 2 5, etc.), or (c) no extra practice, in which children did not receive any practice over and above what they ordinarily receive at school and home. Children then completed measures to assess their understanding of math equivalence. Children who practiced facts organized by equivalent values demonstrated a better understanding of math equivalence than children in the other 2 conditions. Results suggest that organizing arithmetic facts into conceptually related groupings may help children improve their understanding of math equivalence.
Immunofluorescence Method for Detection of Ebola Virus Immunoglobulin G, Using HeLa Cells Which Express Recombinant Nucleoprotein

A novel recombinant baculovirus which expresses Ebola virus (EBO) nucleoprotein (NP) under the control of the cytomegalovirus immediate-early promoter was constructed. HeLa cells abortively infected with the baculovirus expressed EBO NP, and this was used as an immunofluorescent (IF) antigen to detect EBO immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody. This IF method has high efficacy in detecting EBO IgG antibody in clinical specimens, indicating its usefulness in the diagnosis of EBO infections and seroepidemiological studies.
Desiccation Tolerance of Spermatozoa Dried at Ambient Temperature: Production of Fetal Mice

Long-term preservation of mouse sperm by desiccation is economically and logistically attractive. The current investigation is a feasibility study of the preservation of mouse sperm by convective drying in an inert gas (nitrogen). Mouse sperm from the B6D2F1 strain isolated in an EGTA-supplemented Tris-HCl buffer were dried using three different drying rates and were stored for 18-24 h at 4 degrees C. The mean final moisture content was <5% for all the protocols. After intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), the mean blastocyst formation rates were 64%, 58%, and 35% using the rapid-, moderate-, and slow-drying protocols, respectively. The slow-drying protocol resulted in a rate of development significantly lower than that observed using rapid- and moderate-drying protocols and indicated that a slower drying rate may be detrimental to the DNA integrity of mouse sperm. The transfer of 85 two- or four-cell embryos that were produced using rapidly desiccated sperm resulted in 11 fetuses (13%) on Day 15 compared with the production of 34 fetuses (40%) produced using the transfer of 86 two- or four-cell embryos that were produced using fresh sperm (P < 0.05). The results demonstrate the feasibility of using a convective drying protocol for the successful desiccation of mouse sperm and identifies some of the important parameters required for optimization of the procedure.
Egg Shape I. Albumen Influence

Abstract AT THE conclusion of egg shape inheritance studies reported by Marble (1943) there were available Barred Plymouth Rock hens from selected family lines that laid eggs having a wide spread in egg shape index. This population was used for a study of the physical and physiological factors influencing egg shape. Consideration was first given to the possible effect of the character of the albumen on egg shape. Data collected for this study are presented in this paper. A second paper will include results of a study of the muscular structure of the oviduct and a detailed study of that portion of the oviduct involved in establishing egg shape. REVIEW OF LITERATURE Scott (1938) points out a straight line relationship existing between size of yolk and amount of white secreted in a given oviduct when yolks of smaller than mature size for the given hen were substituted. He also demonstrated that . . .
The Performance of Alternative Interest Rate Risk Measures and Immunization Strategies under a Heath-Jarrow-Morton Framework

Using a Monte Carlo simulation, this study addresses the question of how traditional risk measures and immunization strategies perform when the term structure evolves in a Heath Jarrow-Morton (1992) manner. The results suggest that, for immunization purposes, im munization strategies and portfolio formation strategies are more important than interest rate risk measures. The performance of immunization strategies depends more on the transaction costs and the holding period than on the risk measures. Moreover, the immu nization performance of bullet and barbell portfolios is not very sensitive to interest rate risk measures.
The impact of the Cyprus comprehensive smoking ban on air quality and economic business of hospitality venues

Background: Several countries, including Cyprus, have passed smoke-free legislations in recent years. The goal of this study was to assess the indoor levels of particulate matter in hospitality venues in Cyprus before and after the implementation of the law on 1/1/2010, evaluate the role of enforcement, and examine the legislation’s effect on revenue and employment. Methods: Several hospitality venues (n = 35) were sampled between April 2007 and January 2008, and 21 of those were re-sampled after the introduction of the smoking ban, between March and May 2010. Data on enforcement was provided by the Cyprus Police whereas data on revenue and employment within the hospitality industry of Cyprus were obtained from the Cyprus Statistical Service; comparisons were made between the corresponding figures before and after the implementation of the law. Results: The median level of PM2.5 associated with secondhand smoking was 161 μg/m 3 pre-ban and dropped to 3 μg/m 3 post-ban (98% decrease, p < 0.0001). Furthermore, in the year following the ban, the hotel turnover rate increased by 4.1% and the restaurant revenue by 6.4%; employment increased that same year by 7.2% and 1.0%, respectively. Conclusion: Smoke free legislations, when enforced, are highly effective in improving the air quality and reducing the levels of indoor PM2.5. Strict enforcement plays a key role in the successful implementation of smoking bans. Even in nations with high smoking prevalence comprehensive smoking laws can be effectively implemented and have no negative effect on accommodation, food, and beverage services.
Control of Underseepage Mississippi River Levees, St. Louis District, CE

Field investigation to ascertain need for underseepage control measures; laboratory studies including visual classification of samples, grain size determinations and permeability tests, and filter tests on gravel filter used around well screens; installation and construction of seepage control measures.
The Emergence of a Human Services Cooperative to Support Families and Young Adults with Disabilities: Implications for Disability Services and Supports.

This paper documents the experiences of a group of parents who came together to form a human service cooperative in their local community to address the needs of their adult children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Each parent felt that their child's needs were not (or could not be) met by existing providers. Parent leaders who formed the Board of Directors of the human service cooperative were interviewed, and key themes in the emergence and growth of the cooperative were identified. Issues in the development and implementation of innovative services and supports are summarized, and implications for policy, research, and practice are outlined.
Space–Time Adaptive Processing and Motion Parameter Estimation in Multistatic Passive Radar Using Sparse Bayesian Learning

Conventional space–time adaptive processing suffers from the requirement of a large number of secondary samples. In this paper, a novel method is proposed to accurately estimate the clutter covariance matrix based on a small number of secondary samples, by exploiting the common clutter support across nearby range cells in the angle–Doppler domain. By taking advantage of the intrinsic sparsity of the clutter in the angle–Doppler domain, the recently developed sparse Bayesian learning technique is employed for high-resolution clutter profile estimation. The proposed method does not require the independent and identically distributed secondary sample assumption, and the required number of secondary data samples can be significantly reduced. In addition, we propose a sparse reconstruction-based approach to acquire the 2-D motion parameters of moving targets, by exploiting their group sparsity in the velocity domain in the multistatic passive radar systems. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Regulation of intracellular free calcium in normal murine keratinocytes

Cultured normal murine keratinocytes maintain a basal cell phenotype in medium with a Ca2+ concentration of 0.05 mM and differentiate when exposed for 28-48 h to medium supplemented with extracellu...
Opening Computing Careers to Underrepresented Groups

This chapter describes the history of NSF programs to broaden participation in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines generally and in the computing discipline specifically. The reauthorization of the NSF in 1980 led to the creation of the Commission on Equal Opportunity in Science and Technology. Between 1980 and 1992, numerous small programs were established at NSF to address issues of broadening participation; but they did not lead to the changes in numbers of participants that the Commission had hoped for. Two new STEM programs, the Program on Women and Girls and the ADVANCE program, provided help to the computing directorate when it created its own broadening participation programs. The IT Workforce program built a community of scholars interested in this topic. The Broadening Participation in Computing Alliances became NSF’s most successful program with this purpose in the higher education domain. A successor program, Computing Education in the Twenty-First Century, expanded ties to the education directorate and initiated a successful precollege program.
Remediation of Dissolved Organic Pollutants in Water Using Organosilica-Based Materials that Rapidly and Reversibly Swell

A sol-gel derived organosilica material that energetically swells when exposed to organic molecules was tested as a means to extract dissolved organic species from water. Swellable organically modified silica (SOMS) was demonstrated to be effective at removing butanol, methyl t -butyl ether (MTBE), tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, ethanol, and toluene from lab grade water, salt water, and natural waters. Partition coefficients for the absorption of organic species from water by SOMS ranged from 2.8�10 5 – 1.0�10 2 , and vary depending on polarity of the contaminant, concentration, and the total mass of contaminant absorbed. Absorption of organic species to SOMS appears to be enhanced by matrix expansion of nanometer sized pores leading to non-selective capture of organics beyond what could be attributed to physisorption.
Two-Stage Hydrothermal Growth of Long ZnO Nanowires for Efficient TiO2 Nanotube-Based Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Vertically aligned TiO2 1-D nanostructures synthesized directly on transparent conducting oxide (TCO) have shown great promise to overcome the limitation of the random network of TiO2 nanoparticles...
Analysis on Microbiological Detection Results of Foods in Yongzhou from 2012 to 2014

OBJECTIVE To investigate the microbial contamination of foods in Yongzhou in order to provide the basis for preventing the food-borne diseases.METHODS The food samples were collected and detected according to the National food-borne disease surveillance handbook.RESULTS It detected 292 samples of 11 kinds of foods from 2012 to 2014 and the total qualified rate was62.67%.The total qualified rate were 63.04%,61.22%and 63.73%respectively from 2012 to 2014 and there was no significant difference(P=0.932).The qualified rates of the total number of colonies,coliform bacteria and pathogenic bacteria in food were 66.30%,83.70%and 97.83%respectively in 2012.The qualification rates of the total number of colonies,coliform bacteria,pathogenic bacteria and moulds were 62.24%,77.55%,95.92%and 94.90%respectively.The qualified rates of the total number of colonies,coliform bacteria and pathogenic bacteria were 65.69%,87.25%and 96.08%respectively.The percent of pass was the highest(85.67%) in food of infants and young children and the percent of pass was the lowest(53.33%) in dairy products.It checked out 10 strains pathogenic bacterias and 5 strains molds.There were 4 staphylococcus aureus,1 strains listeria,1 bacillus cereus,1 deputy hemolytic strains of vibrio and 3 strains of pseudomonas aeruginosa.CONCLUSIONS The total qualified rate of food microbe was low and there were unsafe foods for people' s health.So it should strengthen the supervision and monitoring of all kinds of food microbiological contamination and take certain precautions in order to prevent the occurrence of foodborne illness.
ICT Investment, Spillover Effect, and Productivity in Canada: Provincial and Industry Analysis

Research on the effect of ICT on productivity in OECD countries is already extensive, but the spillover and time-varying effects of ICT investment across economic activities have been only minimally explored. This paper investigates the impacts of ICT and its spillovers on productivity in Canada, focusing on heterogeneity across provinces and industries over time. The panel data estimation model includes 10 provinces with diverse economic activities for the period 1990-2008, and the two-digit level industries for the period 1981-2008. The findings show that ICT has a positive impact on labour productivity, but the effects vary significantly across provinces, industries, and time. Specifically, while provinces with higher shares of manufacturing and services in their GDP have reaped the benefits of ICT investment, other provinces primarily dependent on natural resources and agriculture are lagging behind. The industry level analysis also reveals that manufacturing and services industries have benefited from ICT investment much more than primary sector industries. The results further indicate that ICT investment in the United States, a major trading partner, has spilled over to some Canadian provinces and industries and that the overall ICT effects are stabilized in those ICT-intensive provinces and industries.
Use of fertility drugs in the United States, 1973 through 1991 *

There has been a 1.9-fold increase over nearly 20 years in the number of dispensed prescriptions for CC. Since its marketing in 1967, CC has been the major drug prescribed for infertility. In 1973, there were an estimated 390,000 prescriptions for this drug; by 1991, 731,000. From 1984 through 1991, chorionic gonadotropin, menotropins, and urofollitropin together accounted for no more than one third of the market share of the gonadotrophin class of drugs, whose primary indication is treatment of infertility. These drugs were primarily prescribed by obstetrician gynecologists to white females, 20 to 39 years of age, for treatment of infertility of unspecified origin.
The use of evoked electromyographic responses in diagnosing lesions of the cauda equina.

AbstractAn electrophysiologic technique to evaluate the anatomic integrity of the peripheral pathways to the bladder and sphincters is described. Evoked electromyographic responses of the anal sphincter are produced by stimulating the bladder wall and urethra. Impulses travel via the pelvic nerves and cauda equina to the conus medullaris, activating the pudendal nerve nucleus and resulting in contraction of the external anal sphincter. Lesions along this pathway produce either prolonged latencies and depressed responses or complete loss of response. Correlation of the results of this technique in 110 patients with clinical myelographic and operative findings indicates that the technique is a useful clinical tool.
Artificial Neural Networks Detect Subtle Differences Between Anesthetics

Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) have proven useful in a wide variety of pattern recognition tasks in anesthesia monitoring research. However, routine anesthesia monitoring during surgical procedures does not include sophisticated data analysis such as spectral content of electroencephalograms (EEG) or heart rate variability (HRV).
S02-3 Relationships between work organisation factors and carpal tunnel syndrome and epicondylitis

Based on analyses of prevalence data on a pooled cohort of 1834 subjects from three research groups, this study examined the relationships between four work organisation variables (job rotation, overtime work, having second job and work pacing) and the three musculoskeletal health outcome measures (prevalence of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), lateral epicondylitis (LEPI) and medial epicondylitis (MEPI)). There were 249 prevalence CTS cases out of a total 1799 eligible subjects, 65 LEPI out of 1807 eligible subjects, and 14 MEPI out of 1812 eligible subjects in this cohort. The relationships between the work organisation factors and the health outcome variables were assessed using logistic regression models fitted by the generalised estimating equations (GEE) method to account for non-independence of data collected by the same research group. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated for each work organisation variable separately, while always adjusting for age, gender, and body mass index (BMI). Varied degrees of associations between these work organisation variables and the health outcome variables were found. Job rotation had significant association with CTS cases (OR = 1.23, 95%CL: 1.00–1.50). No statistically significant associations were found between the other work organisation variables and CTS cases. Contradictory to common believe, overtime work was significantly associated with lower LEPI prevalence (OR = 0.48, 95% CI: 0.28–0.84). For the LEPI, job rotation was marginally associated with LEPI cases (OR = 1.69, 95% CI: 0.96–2.97). No associations were found between having second job or different types of work pacing and LEPI. No statistically significant associations were found between the four work organisation variables and MEPI. The results demonstrated that while clear associations between many biomechanical/psychosocial factors and the musculoskeletal health outcome variables, the work organisation variables have much more complicated impact on these health outcome variables.
Towards magnesium alloys for high-volume automotive applications

Abstract Reducing vehicle weight is an important approach for increasing fuel economy, addressing regulatory requirements, and meeting consumer needs. Magnesium alloys are among the lightest structural metals and offer tremendous weight saving potential; however, many technical and commercial barriers limit their use in today's cars and trucks. Following a brief review of historical trends in vehicle weight and automotive magnesium, we describe key barriers to wider adoption of magnesium in high-volume vehicle applications. A discussion of manufacturing and processing, in-service performance, and cost requirements identifies specific development needs and opportunities while framing promising paths forward.
Phenolic linked anti-hyperglycemic bioactives of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars as nutraceuticals targeting type 2 diabetes

Abstract Barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) is an important commercial and industrial crop rich in phenolic bioactives and dietary antioxidants and can be targeted for developing non-food nutraceuticals and functional ingredients to counteract diet-linked chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes (T2D). In this study 13 barley cultivars were screened for phenolic-linked functionalities targeting antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic properties using in vitro assay models. Total soluble phenolics (TSP) content, individual phenolic acid profile, and antioxidant activity of barley extracts (hot water, cold water, and 12% ethanol) were evaluated. The α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities of barley extracts were also evaluated using in vitro assays. The TSP content of barley varied between 0.44 and 0.63 mg/g gallic acid equivalent (GAE) on a dry weight basis across cultivars and extraction types, with hot water extracts having highest TSP content. Across barley cultivars, cv. Pinnacle had the highest antioxidant activity, while among extraction types ethanol extracts had highest antioxidant activity. Cold water and ethanol extracts of most barley cultivars had significantly high α-amylase inhibitory activity; however, significant differences were not observed among most cultivars. The black barley cultivar had the highest α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (34%) across all extraction types, and a dose-dependent pattern was observed in all barley cultivars. Therefore, barley cultivars with significant potential to modulate the activity of key enzymes that regulate carbohydrate metabolism were screened and identified in this in vitro study. Consequently, grains of such cultivars may be utilized for further clinical and animal studies to develop phenolic bioactive-rich non-food type nutraceuticals and bioactive functional ingredients that can be used to complement current drug design strategies to offset hyperglycemia and oxidative stress associated with early stages of T2D.
‘My Dog is My Home’: multispecies care and poverty politics in Los Angeles, California and Austin, Texas

AbstractMy Dog is My Home is an art activist project in Los Angeles dedicated to sharing testimonies about the redemptive bonds of care and love between homeless persons and their canine companions. These testimonies politicize the structural violence and oppressive norms about propertied citizenship and notions of home that operate to render homeless human and animal lives disposable and ungrievable. Informed by the experts’ testimonies on multispecies homelessness and an engagement with feminist care theory, we bring relational poverty studies into conversation with critical animal studies to reject this framing of homeless lives as disposable and to trouble the idea of property as the fundamental basis for value. We problematize these notions by highlighting the insights gained from witnessing the entangled empathetic relationships forged between homeless humans and dogs. These relationships are not only a window into the political economic material conditions and discourses that reproduce homelessness...
Measurement of 3H, gross α/β and 222Rn in drinking water using the new Quantulus GCT 6220.

Since the introduction of the European Council Directive 2013/51 Euratom in October 2013, the analysis of drinking water has increasingly become the focus of many laboratories in Europe. The activity of tritium, radon and the gross α/β-activity is determined routinely. In order to cope with the increased sample numbers and to reach the necessary detection limits, sensitive measuring devices are required. This work was done with the new Quantulus GCT 6220 to test the sensitivity of this system for drinking water analysis. The results indicate that this instrument is very well suited for this type of analysis and counting times are typically below the required counting times of established systems.
Morbidity and mortality outcomes after esophagectomy following chemoradiation using a standardized operative technique.

166Background: Esophagogastrectomy following neoadjuvant chemo-radiation therapy for the treatment of locally advanced esophageal cancer is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. We h...
The persistent homology mathematical framework provides enhanced genotype-to-phenotype associations for plant morphology

Efforts to understand the genetic and environmental conditioning of plant morphology are hindered by the lack of flexible and effective tools for quantifying morphology. Here, we demonstrate that persistent-homology-based topological methods can improve measurement of variation in leaf shape, serrations, and root architecture. We apply these methods to 2D images of leaves and root systems in field-grown plants of a domesticated introgression line population of tomato (Solanum pennellii). We find that compared with some commonly used conventional traits, (1) persistent-homology-based methods can more comprehensively capture morphological variation; (2) these techniques discriminate between genotypes with a larger normalized effect size and detect a greater number of unique quantitative trait loci (QTLs); (3) multivariate traits, whether statistically derived from univariate or persistent-homology-based traits, improve our ability to understand the genetic basis of phenotype; and (4) persistent-homology-based techniques detect unique QTLs compared to conventional traits or their multivariate derivatives, indicating that previously unmeasured aspects of morphology are now detectable. The QTL results further imply that genetic contributions to morphology can affect both the shoot and root, revealing a pleiotropic basis to natural variation in tomato. Persistent homology is a versatile framework to quantify plant morphology and developmental processes that complements and extends existing methods.
STRESS WAVE PROPAGATION IN A HALF PLANE DUE TO A TRANSIENT POINT LOAD

Stress wave propagation in a half plane, loaded at an interior point by a symmetric transient pressure pulse, was investigated by employing dynamic photoelasticity. A multiple spark gap camera was used to record the dynamic fringe patterns in the Columbia Resin (CR-39) model. The formation and development of the waves were analyzed before, during, and after their reflection from the free boundary. The dynamic fringe patterns were interpreted to provide data on the individual values of the principal stresses associated with the purely dilatational and purely distortional waves. Also a method was introduced to obtain dynamic displacements from dynamic fringe patterns.
Semiconducting Langmuir-Blodgett Films of Porphyrin Paddle-Wheel Frameworks for Photoelectric Conversion.

Understanding the photocurrent transportation within porphyrin-containing metal–organic frameworks (PMOFs) will be a critical step in applying these materials in light-harvesting molecular devices ...
Sound pressure distribution within human ear canals: II. Reverse mechanical stimulation.

This work is part of a study of the interactions of ear canal (EC) sound with tympanic membrane (TM) surface displacements. In human temporal bones, the ossicles were stimulated mechanically “in reverse” to mimic otoacoustic emissions (OAEs), and the sound field within the ear canal was sampled with 0.5–2 mm spacing near the TM surface and at more distal locations within the EC, including along the longitudinal EC axis. Sound fields were measured with the EC open or occluded. The reverse-driven sound field near the TM had larger and more irregular spatial variations below 10 kHz than with forward sound stimulation, consistent with a significant contribution of nonuniform sound modes. These variations generally did not propagate more than ∼4 mm laterally from the TM. Longitudinal sound field variations with the EC open or blocked were consistent with standing-wave patterns in tubes with open or closed ends. Relative contributions of the nonuniform components to the total sound pressure near the TM were lar...
The State of Statistics Education Research in Client Disciplines: Themes and Trends across the University.

The reform movement in statistics education has led to a revitalization of the undergraduate introductory statistics course. However, many students satisfy their degree requirements by taking stati...