cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
"Participation, satisfaction, perceived benefits, and maintenance of behavioral self-management strategies in a self-directed exercise program for adults with arthritis".

Abstract A process evaluation was conducted in conjunction with a controlled trial of a self-directed exercise program among people with arthritis to describe the program’s reach; self-management behaviors, exposure to materials, program perceptions, satisfaction, and perceived benefits; compatibility with targeted participants’ needs; and maintenance. Participants (n = 197) were predominantly white, middle-aged, college-educated women. At 12 weeks, 73.2% had read ≥90% of the program materials (at nine months >70% had “occasionally” or “often” looked back over each of the five parts of the materials); 63.3% had set goals (52.5% at nine months), and 83.9% had “some” or “a lot” of success following their plan (64.2% at nine months), while 90.4% rated the program “good” or “excellent” (87.5% at nine months). At 12 weeks, the majority (89.3%) used written logs to self-monitor (mean = 9.3 logs); by nine months, >70% never kept logs. Most (>80%) rated twelve of thirteen program components as helpful, and 98.6% would recommend the program. From 38% to 62.4% endorsed each of eight program benefits, with small declines of ≤9% at nine months. Qualitative response identified ways the program met and did not meet expectations. The main program compatibility issue was targeting all adults with arthritis, while featuring older adults in materials.
Should the Definition of Health Include a Measure of Tolerance

In 1948 the World Health Organization officially defined health as a “state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”1 The definition has remained unchanged for more than 60 years. When it was adopted, tools to measure health did not exist.2 Indeed, it was decades before a comprehensive set of tools to measure physical, mental, and social well-being were developed.
On the resolution of diversely polarized arrays

A self-calibration algorithm is presented for direction finding in the presence of unknown complex sensor gains for diversely polarized arrays. The method jointly estimates the directions of arrival and polarizations of all the sources as well as the unknown gains. Existing self-calibration techniques require sufficiently good initial direction estimates in order to converge to a correct solution. These techniques are ineffective in the presence of large calibration errors which make it difficult to reliably initialize the algorithm. In particular, they fail if the sources are initially unresolvable. The method presented here has the advantage of not requiring initial direction estimates.
Advances in Microdebrider Technology: Improving Functionality and Expanding Utility

Since its application in nasal surgery, the microdebrider has revolutionized the practice of endoscopic sinus surgery. As the demands and breadth of procedures performed endoscopically have increased, so has the need for improvement in the microdebrider and related technologies. This article addresses how use of the microdebrider has impacted endonasal surgery and discusses current advances, which include creation of specialty hand pieces and blades, increases in instrument rotational speed, incorporation of navigation and energy, adaptation for intracranial use, and disposable instrumentation designed for in office use. Advances in microdebrider technology have improved functionality and expanded the utility of these devices.
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors for deep space optical communication (Conference Presentation)

The Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory aims to perform a bidirectional laser communication technology demonstration from deep space, at ranges from 0.1 - 3 AU. To support high data rates over such distances while keeping the mass and power on the spacecraft comparable to radio-frequency communication systems, extremely high-performance single photon detectors are required at the ground receiver. To this end, JPL has been developing 64-pixel tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire single photon detector (WSi SNSPD) arrays suitable for use in the DSOC ground terminal. To efficiently couple to a 5-meter telescope aperture in the presence of atmospheric seeing, the arrays are free-space coupled and have a combined 320-micron diameter active area. The development is targeting 70% system detection efficiency at an operating wavelength of 1550 nm, 150 ps time resolution, a maximum count rate approaching 109 counts per second, a numerical aperture capable of supporting an f/1.2 beam, a background-limited dark count rate, and an operating temperature of 1 Kelvin. In this paper, we will present our progress toward these goals, both in terms of focal plane array development and cryogenic readout technology.
Effects of ammonium nitrate encapsulated with coal combustion byproducts on nutrient accumulation by corn and rye

ABSTRACTAmmonium nitrate is a fertilizer and an explosive. Encapsulation of ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) with coal combustion byproducts (fly ash or flue gas desulfurization gypsum) reduces the explosiveness of NH4NO3. A field study was conducted to determine the effects of encapsulated NH4NO3 on corn (Zea mays L.) and rye (Secale cereal L.) yield and accumulation of nitrogen (N), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), iron (Pb), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn). Nitrogen rates were 56 and 112 kg ha−1. Yields and concentrations of N and metals in corn grain, ear-leaf, and stover and in rye shoots were not affected by N source. Increased N rate resulted in increased corn ear-leaf, grain, and stover N, ear-leaf Cu, Mn, and Zn, and rye shoot yield, Cu, and Zn. For both species, metal levels did not exceed normal ranges. Coal byproduct-encapsulated NH4NO3 is as effective as non-encapsulated NH4NO3 for corn or rye production, without increasing plant metal concentrations above normal levels.
Danger zone: Land use and the geography of neighborhood crime

Abstract This paper examines the impact of residential density and mixed land use on crime using a high-resolution dataset from Chicago over the period 2008–2013. I employ a novel instrumental variable strategy based on the city’s 1923 zoning code. I find that commercial uses lead to more street crime in their immediate vicinity, particularly in more walkable neighborhoods. However, this effect is strongly offset by population density; dense mixed-use areas are safer than typical residential areas. Additionally, much of the commercial effect is driven by liquor stores and late-hour bars. I discuss the implications for zoning policy.
Simultaneous treatment of unspecified heteroskedastic model error distribution and mismeasured covariates for restricted moment models

Abstract We develop consistent and efficient estimation of parameters in general regression models with mismeasured covariates. We assume the model error and covariate distributions are unspecified, and the measurement error distribution is a general parametric distribution with unknown variance–covariance. We construct root- n consistent, asymptotically normal and locally efficient estimators using the semiparametric efficient score. We do not estimate any unknown distribution or model error heteroskedasticity. Instead, we form the estimator under possibly incorrect working distribution models for the model error, error-prone covariate, or both. Empirical results demonstrate robustness to different incorrect working models in homoscedastic and heteroskedastic models with error-prone covariates.
A SiC-based power electronics interface for integrating a battery energy storage into the medium (13.8 kV) distribution system

This paper describes the study of a topology of modular multilevel converters for integrating battery energy storage into a medium (13.8 kV) distribution system. The main benefit of this topology is to remove the need for a bulk 60 Hz transformer that is normally used to step up the output of a voltage source inverter to the medium voltage level. A SiC-based power electronics interface presented in this paper provides an efficient solution without the large and costly transformer. Using medium voltage SiC devices (≥ 10 kV SiC MOSFETs), with their high breakdown voltage, enables the system to meet and withstand medium voltage application, using a minimized number of cascaded modules. This SiC-based power electronics interface significantly reduces the complexity usually faced when Si devices are used directly in medium voltage applications. The voltage and state of charge balancing control for battery modules is also simplified and performs well. The simulation and experimental results, performed on a low-voltage prototype, verify the proposed topology that is presented in this paper.
Action of Weyl group on zero-weight space

Abstract For any simple complex Lie group, we classify irreducible finite-dimensional representations ρ for which the longest element w 0 of the Weyl group acts non-trivially on the zero-weight space. Among irreducible representations that have zero among their weights, w 0 acts by ±Id if and only if the highest weight of ρ is a multiple of a fundamental weight, with a coefficient less than a bound that depends on the group and on the fundamental weight.
Structure of the oxygen-annealed chalcogenide superconductor Fe 1.08 Te 0.55 Se 0.45 O x

The as-grown single crystal Fe${}_{1.08}$Te${}_{0.55}$Se${}_{0.45}$ with the tetragonal PbO-type structure is nonsuperconducting owing to the excess Fe. Superconductivity is induced after oxygen annealing with an onset and zero resistance transition temperature around 14.5 K and 11.5 K, respectively. The oxygen doping is evidenced by electron energy loss spectroscopy and accompanied by improved homogeneity in the remaining PbO-type phase, as well as an increase in the L${}_{3}$/L${}_{2}$ intensity ratio of the Fe-L${}_{2,3}$ edge, indicating an increase in Fe valence. Local phase transformation from the tetragonal PbO-type phase to the hexagonal NiAs-type phase is also observed after oxygen annealing.
Introducing multicultural issues to the computer science classroom: tutorial presentation

Compared to other disciplines, the computer sciences have been traditionally considered to be an "unnatural" ground for introducing multicultural topics, and raise awareness on crucial global and local societal issues. Despite the general attitude, however, infusion of such topics happens in our classrooms on daily basis. It is that many of us just do not label it as such. It is true that we cannot afford to have as many multiculturally-oriented courses in the computer sciences, as in, say, the humanities. However, via small interventions, reworking of the examples, projects, assignments etc., we can and we are nevertheless achieving the same goals.
Anthracite and Concentrations of Alkaline Feldspar (Microcline) in Flat-Lying Undeformed Paleozoic Strata: A Key to Large-Scale Vertical Crustal Uplift

On visits to the United States Professor German Muller visited localities in which the presence of anthracite and concentrations of microcline (alkaline feldspar) in flat-lying undeformed strata created problems. These occurrences were puzzling because these strata are exposed at the present Earth’s surface and the modern geothermal gradient in the area is low. These occurrences resulted from some combination of pressure and temperature that is not easily explained by the accepted geologic history of the region.
Knowledge Authoring and Question Answering via Controlled Natural Language.

Knowledge acquisition from text is the process of automatically acquiring, organizing and structuring knowledge from text which can be used to perform question answering or complex reasoning. However, current state-of-the-art systems are limited by the fact that they are not able to construct the knowledge base with high quality as knowledge representation and reasoning (KRR) has a keen requirement for the accuracy of data. Controlled Natural Languages (CNLs) emerged as a technology to author knowledge using a restricted subset of English. However, they still fail to do so as sentences that express the same information may be represented by different forms. Current CNL systems have limited power to standardize sentences that express the same meaning into the same logical form. We solved this problem by building the Knowledge Authoring Logic Machine (KALM), which is a technology for domain experts who are not familiar with logic to author knowledge using CNL. The system performs semantic analysis of English sentences and achieves superior accuracy of standardizing sentences that express the same meaning to the same logical representation. Besides, we developed the query part of KALM to perform question answering, which also achieves very high accuracy in query understanding.
Empirical Doppler and Temporal Models of the S-Band Backscattering from Forest

This paper presents an analysis of the temporal characteristics of the electromagnetic wave backscattered from wind-influenced forest at low grazing angles. The data were collected at the US Air Force Stockbridge Test Site in Stockbridge, New York during the last week of August 2017 using portable, high-power S-band radar. We show that the data are in good agreement with the Narayanan, Lacaze, and Billingsley temporal and Doppler models.
Seed bank community and soil texture relationships in a cold desert

Abstract Sustainable dryland management depends on understanding environmental factors driving the composition of current and future ecological communities. While there has been extensive research on aboveground plant communities, less is known about belowground soil seed bank communities. In the Colorado Plateau of the western United States, we simultaneously explored aboveground and belowground plant communities and how they varied across sites with similar climate but contrasting soil textures. We found that aboveground vegetation and belowground seed bank community composition each varied significantly among sites. We also observed marked aboveground-belowground compositional dissimilarity across sites, suggesting that the two spatially-associated communities may respond differently to the same environmental gradient. Lastly, we found that abundances of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) – one of the region's major exotic invasive plants – varied strongly with soil texture, a finding with implications for invasive species management. From our results, we highlight two general patterns for dryland managers. First, we show that aboveground and belowground plant communities can respond to the same environmental variation in a strongly divergent manner. Second, the data underscore a large potential role for soil texture and its associated factors in mediating plant community responses to a range of environmental conditions.
Design Strategies for Rugged SiC Power Devices

This paper focuses on the design strategies for achieving adequate ruggedness of silicon carbide (SiC) metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). Currently available 1200 V MOSFETs from various vendors show a big variance in short circuit time, threshold voltage shift, and gate leakage currents. The short circuit (SC) test of three commercial TO-247 packaged MOSFETs with voltage ratings of 1200 V at room temperature show that the SC times are much lower than silicon devices. Threshold shifts under rated DC positive gate bias up to 100 hrs vary from 0.1 V to 0.5 V for different vendors. Fowler-Nordheim (FN) tunneling currents were measured as a function of gate bias and junction temperature. The FN gate leakage currents and temperature dependence are markedly different for various vendors. One vendor (for devices E and E’) stands out for best performance in all three respects.
Using machine learning to predict organismal growth temperatures from protein primary sequences

The link between a protein9s primary sequence and its thermal stability and temperature dependent activity is central to an understanding of protein folding, stability, and evolution. However, the relationship between primary sequence and these biochemical properties can be difficult to quantify, due to the large sequence space and complexity of protein folding. Fortunately, evolution naturally explores both sequence space and temperature space through organismal adaptation to various thermal niches. Here, we use machine learning, in the form of multilayer perceptrons, to predict the originating species9 optimal growth temperatures from a protein family9s primary sequences. Trained machine learning models outperformed linear regressions in predicting the originating species growth temperature, achieving a root mean squared error of 3.34 °C. Notably, the models are protein family specific, and the predicted organismal growth temperatures are correlated with the proteins9 temperatures for melting and optimal activity. Therefore, this method provides a new tool for quickly predicting an organism9s optimal growth temperature in silico, which can serve as a convenient proxy for protein stability and temperature dependent activity.
Intrauterine Growth Restriction and Insulin Resistance

The link between an adverse intrauterine environment and the development of insulin resistance later in life has been observed in pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), but the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon have not been fully defined. In this chapter, we highlight population-based studies from which the link between IUGR and the development of insulin resistance in childhood and adulthood has been described in populations throughout the world. In addition, we summarize what is currently known about the molecular mechanisms contributing to the development of insulin resistance in offspring exposed to intrauterine growth restriction. This chapter describes several model systems that have been developed to study the effects of a disturbed intrauterine metabolic milieu on the offspring, as well as translational studies on human subjects focusing on epigenetic modifications that may predict changes in gene expression.
Estrogen Receptor Positive and Progesterone Receptor Negative Breast Cancer: the Role of Hormone Therapy.

ER+/PR− (estrogen receptor positive and progesterone receptor negative) tumors constitute only a small portion of the breast cancer population. Patients with ER+/PR− tumors, however, are characterized by worse survival compared to patients with ER+/PR+ (estrogen receptor positive and progesterone receptor positive) tumors. Controversy exists regarding the efficacy of hormone blocking therapy for patients with ER+/PR− tumors. The NCDB was queried between 2004 and 2015, and patients with invasive ER+/PR− tumors were identified. We employed univariate Cox proportional hazards to compare outcomes among patients that did or did not receive hormone blocking therapy. We identified 138,398 patients with invasive ER+/PR− tumors, 32,044 (23%) of whom did not receive hormone blocking therapy. The reasons for not receiving hormone blocking therapy included contraindications to treatment, death, patient refusal, and unknown. There were no significant differences in race, income quartile, or education quartile between patients who did and did not receive hormone blocking therapy. Patients who did not receive hormone blocking therapy underwent surgical assessment of the axilla more frequently than those who did receive hormone therapy. Our analysis demonstrated that hormone blocking therapy administration was associated with increased overall survival for up to 10 years of follow up (HR: 0.58; 95% CI: 0.56–0.59, p < 0.001). Hormone blocking therapy may be associated with increased survival for breast cancer patients with ER+/PR− tumors. Although this benefit may last for years after completion of the course, up to 25% of patients do not receive this treatment. Strategies to increase the utilization and adherence to hormone blocking therapy regimens may improve patient survival outcomes.
Implementation and validation of an in-house geometry optimization software for SRS VMAT planning of multiple cranial metastases.

PURPOSE The implementation and evaluation of an in-house developed geometry optimization (GO) software are described. The GO script provides optimal lesion clustering, isocenter placement, and collimator angle of each arc for cranial multi-lesion stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) planning. MATERIALS AND METHODS An Eclipse-plugin program was developed to facilitate automatic plan geometry generation for multiple metastases SRS VMAT plans. A mixed, semi-supervised exhaustive and k-means clustering method is used to group lesions and place isocenters. The sum of squared euclidean distance (SSED) and the boundaries of lesions' projection from beams' eye view are used as supervised parameters to determine the optimal isocenter numbers. The collimator angle is optimized by minimizing the sum of the MLC opening area from all gantry angles for each arc. In all, 10 clinical cases treated during 2016-2017 were compared to plan quality of GO script generated plans. Paddick gradient index (GI), conformity index (CI), and local brain volume receiving 12 Gy (local V12 Gy) around each lesion were compared. RESULT For four cases, the number of isocenters was reduced in the GO plans. For four other cases, the GO plans had the same number of isocenters as their corresponding clinical plans but with different lesion grouping. The GO plans had significantly lower GI (4.1 ± 1.0 vs 4.4 ± 0.9, P < 0.0001) and local V12 Gy (5.1 ± 4.2 vs 5.5 ± 4.3 in cm3 , P < 0.0001), but not significantly different mean normal brain dose or CI. The volume of normal brain receiving ≥6 Gy was significantly lower in the GO plans. The total time to run the GO script for each case was <2 min. CONCLUSION The GO software automates lesion grouping, isocenter placement, and the collimator angles for SRS VMAT planning. When tested on 10 cases, the GO script resulted in improved plan quality and shorter planning time when compared to the clinical SRS VMAT plans.
Association of pre-existing mental illness with all-cause and cancer-specific mortality among Medicare beneficiaries with pancreatic cancer

Abstract Background Among patients with pancreatic cancer, the association of pre-existing mental illness with long-term outcomes remains unknown. Methods Individuals diagnosed with pancreatic adenocarcinoma were identified in the SEER-Medicare database. Patients were classified as having mental illness if an ICD9/10CM code for anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or other psychotic disorder was recorded. Results Among the 54,234 Medicare beneficiaries with pancreatic cancer, roughly 1 in 12 (n = 4793, 8.83%) individuals had a diagnosis of a mental illness. The majority (n = 4029, 84.1%) had anxiety or depression, while 16% (n = 764) had bipolar/schizophrenic disorders. On multivariable analysis, among patients with early stage cancer, individuals with pre-existing anxiety/depression and bipolar/schizophrenic disorders had 22% (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.69–0.86) and 46% (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.42–0.70) reduced odds, respectively, to undergo cancer-directed surgery. Furthermore, patients with a pre-existing history of bipolar/schizophrenic disorders had a 20% (HR 1.20, 95% CI 1.21–1.40) higher risk of all-cause mortality and 27% (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.17–1.37) higher risk of pancreatic cancer-specific mortality compared to individuals without a history of mental illness. Conclusion One in twelve patients with pancreatic cancer had a pre-existing mental illness. Individuals with mental illness were more likely to have worse overall and cancer-specific long-term outcomes.
Wait! I Need to Take Care of School Safety: A Novice Principal’s Experience With Elopement and Novice Special Education Teachers’ Support:

This case focuses on one novice school principal’s experience with an elopement incident. School elopement sets the background for this case, and in this situation, the principal sees the need to t...
Non-endocrine Neoplasms of the Hypothalamus

Non-endocrine neoplasms of the hypothalamus include intrinsic CNS lesions such as gliomas, craniopharyngioma, primary CNS lymphoma, choristoma, meningioma, solitary fibrous tumors, pituicytoma, and choroid plexus papillomas. Hematologic malignancies involving the hypothalamus include Langerhans cell histiocytosis and leukemic infiltration. Extrinsic tumors of the hypothalamus include metastatic disease, germinomas, lipomas, and vascular lesions such as hemangiomas and hemangiopericytomas. In general, these neoplasms present with similar symptoms and require treatment, whether surgical or medical.
Vaccination and three non-pharmaceutical interventions determine the end of COVID-19 at 381 metropolitan statistical areas in the US

The rapid rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine global raises the question of whether and when the ongoing pandemic could be eliminated with vaccination and non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). Despite advances in the impact of NPIs and the conceptual belief that NPIs and vaccination control COVID-19 infections, we lack evidence to employ control theory in real-world social human dynamics in the context of disease spreading. We bridge the gap by developing a new analytical framework that treats COVID-19 as a feedback control system with the NPIs and vaccination as the controllers and a computational and mathematical model that maps human social behaviors to input signals. This approach enables us to effectively predict the epidemic spreading in 381 Metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in the US by learning our model parameters utilizing the time series NPIs (i.e., the stay-at-home order, face-mask wearing, and testing) data. This model allows us to optimally identify three NPIs to predict infections actually in 381 MSAs and avoid overfitting. Our numerical results universally demonstrate our approachs excellent predictive power with R2 > 0.9 of all the MSAs regardless of their sizes, locations, and demographic status. Our methodology allows us to estimate the needed vaccine coverage and NPIs for achieving Re to the manageable level and the required days for disease elimination at each location. Our analytical results provide insights into the debates on the aims for eliminating COVID-19. NPIs, if tailored to the MSAs, can drive the pandemic to an easily containable level and suppress future recurrences of epidemic cycles.
Labor’s Antitrust Problem: A Case for Worker Welfare

The common-law definition of “employee” has been subject to increased scrutiny after accusations that hirers, notably Uber and Lyft, deprive workers of benefits by classifying them as independent contractors. States have responded by broadening the definition of “employee” in the benefits context, but these workers remain subject to antitrust liability for organizing. This Note demonstrates that such worker liability is economically suboptimal and inconsistent with legislative history, and that antitrust law must preserve worker welfare. Returning to the liability currently faced by independent contractors, this Note proposes a two-pronged approach, based in federal agency guidance and state legislation, for importing a broader definition of “employee” into the antitrust context.
The effect of acute alcohol intoxication on alcohol cue salience: An event-related brain potential study.

OBJECTIVE Alcohol cue salience is considered core to the broader understanding of drinking behaviors. In the present research, we sought to build the knowledge of alcohol cue salience by exploring P3 responses to alcohol images among social drinkers within a large-scale alcohol-administration study. METHOD Participants (N = 246) were randomly assigned to receive either a moderate dose of alcohol (target BAC = .08%) or a nonalcoholic control beverage. Following beverage administration, participants engaged in image-viewing tasks while EEG was recorded. We examined the impact of alcohol on the amplitude of P3 responses to pictures of alcoholic versus nonalcoholic beverages, exploring both beverage-manipulation and individual-difference moderators of these effects. RESULTS Results revealed a significant effect of acute alcohol intoxication on P3 responses across stimulus types, with the overall amplitude of P3 being significantly smaller among participants consuming alcohol versus a nonalcoholic beverage. In addition, results revealed a significant main effect of image type, such that P3 amplitude was larger for alcohol images compared to nonalcohol images. No interactions emerged between stimulus type and beverage condition or stimulus type and AUD risk level. CONCLUSIONS With the aim of better understanding the potential influence of the broader context on responses to individual cues, the present study examined the perceived salience of alcohol cues within a drinking setting. Findings provide evidence for alcohol cue salience that is both robust and also widespread across drinkers. More generally, the present study's findings may offer new directions for understanding neurocognitive processes of alcohol cue salience across contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
Method for Analyzing Bit Error Rates (BERs) of Nonlinear Circuits and Systems for High-Performance Signaling

Bit error rate (BER) is an important figure of merit to evaluate the performance of a communication system. Analyzing the BER of a linear-time-invariant system has been extensively studied. However, analyzing the BER of nonlinear circuits and systems is challenging because it cannot rely on linear time invariant (LTI) principles, while an exhaustive nonlinear simulation is computationally prohibitive. To find BER, an exhaustive approach requires nonlinear simulations of $2^m$ bit patterns for a channel of m-bit memory, where m can be larger than 100 in today's high-speed and high-performance design. In this work, we develop a fast and accurate method to analyze the BER of large-scale nonlinear circuits. Only O(k) nonlinear simulations are required, with k much less than 2^m and independent of $2^m$ . While performing O(k) nonlinear simulations only, we find a method to determine the probability density function of the nonlinear responses, from which accurate BER results can be obtained. An error assessment method is also developed to evaluate the true error of the nonlinear signaling analysis without the need for knowing the entire nonlinear responses of the channel. Simulations of large-scale real-world nonlinear circuits have demonstrated the accuracy, efficiency, and capacity of the proposed method. A BER as low as $10^{-56}$ is accurately predicted.
Inter-Election Vote Swings for the Turkish Ruling Party: The Impact of Economic Performance and Other Factors

Inter-election vote swings for the AKP, the incumbent party inTurkey, during 2002, 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2011 elections are decomposed into parts attributable to economic conditions, strategic voting, cost of ruling, incumbency advantage, political realignment and other factors. For this purpose a vote equation, fitted to data covering twenty-seven National Assembly, Senate, and Provincial Council elections, held between 1950 and 2011 is used. The results show the pivotal role played by the economy on the political fortunes of incumbent parties.
The SSC Superconducting Air Core Toroid Design Development

Superconducting air core toroids show great promise for use in a muon spectrometer for the SSC 1,2. Early studies by SUNY at Stony Brook funded by SSC Laboratory, have established the feasibility of building magnets of the required size3. The toroid spectrometer consists of a central toroid with two end cap toroids. The configuration under development provides for muon trajectory measurement outside the magnetic volume. System level studies on support structure, assembly, cryogenic material selection, and power are performed. Resulting selected optimal design and assembly is described.
Green Pedagogy in the Campus Ecovillage: Strategies for Impact on the Campus and in the Community

The University of South Carolina's “Green Quad” aspires to be a living-learning community which integrates sustainability into all aspects of its operations and serves as a model and advocate for sustainability on campus and in the larger community. This article outlines the general approach and specific strategies pursued by the Green Quad staff and students to fulfill its ambitions to become a catalyst for change for students, faculty, staff, and community members.
Ultrastructural Study of Crossbands Occurring in the Stalks of Caulobacter crescentus

An ultrastructural study of crossbands isolated from Caulobacter crescentus Sk1 418 stalks permitted a view of these structures in a plane other than the perpendicular view normally presented in the electron microscope. These crossbands were composed of concentrically arranged, alternating light and dark bands when stained with phosphotungstic acid. Evidence supports the hypothesis that crossbands appear to compose a structural barrier extending the width of the stalk and may function to support unit membrane extending the length of the stalk.
Lessons learned in the development of an information technology concentration

During the 1997-1999 academic years, the Computer and Information Sciences Department at East Tennessee State University developed a new concentration in Information Technology. This concentration was developed in an attempt to fill a need indicated by articles in the national press, students enrolled in our other two concentrations, and our departmental advisory board. Two existing concentrations, computer science and information science, focus heavily on general programming skills, including a four semester programming sequence followed by a two semester software engineering sequence. The newest concentration includes coverage of web design and development, networking, system administration and database design and development. Since the implementation of this program starting with the Fall 1999 freshman class, the faculty have had many discussions aimed at improving this new concentration. Included in these discussions are a failure to plan for course overlap, a lack of faculty expertise in certain areas, and a better appreciation for the skills required for the types of graduates we envisioned. Due to these discussions, a major revision of this concentration was undertaken during the 2000-2001 academic year in an attempt to overcome the numerous problems that occurred along the way. The presentation of this paper will include an in depth look at these three concentrations, the problems that arose with the development of the newest of these, and the solutions implement to address these problems.
Ideological Realignment in the American Electorate: A Comparison of Northern and Southern White Voters in the Pre‐Reagan, Reagan, and Post‐Reagan Eras

This article builds on the work of Abramowitz and Saunders (1998) by exploring the ideological realignment theory among northern and southern whites in the pre-Reagan, Reagan, and post-Reagan eras. Our findings indicate that among conservative southern whites there has been a steady movement toward the Republican Party during the last three decades. For other groups, Republican gains have been largely limited to the Reagan era. Overall, these results suggest that voters in the North and South are responding to the increasing southern influence on the Republican Party and the decreasing southern influence on the Democratic Party.
Major lectin of alligator liver is specific for mannose/L-fucose.

We surveyed the calcium-requiring (C-type) lectins in alligator liver. The major lectin purified by affinity chromatography was termed alligator hepatic lectin (AHL) and was found to be specific for mannose/L-fucose. AHL contained approximately equal amounts of 21- and 23-kDa bands upon sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Binding characteristics of AHL were similar to those of hepatic lectins of other classes in that 1) only terminal monosaccharide was recognized, and 2) the affinity increased exponentially when neoglycoproteins containing increasing numbers of mannose or L-fucose were used as ligand. However, unlike mammalian and chicken hepatic lectins, which exist as hexamers in Triton-containing solutions, AHL was present mainly as monomers, although small amounts of dimer and higher oligomers were present in equilibrium. Mannose-binding proteins and mannose-specific lectins of macrophages bind N-acetylmannosamine, glucose, and N-acetylglucosamine in addition to mannose, indicating that the nature and orientation of the C-2 substituent are not important to these lectins. In contrast, AHL shows a strict requirement for the presence of an axial hydroxyl group at the C-2 position (i.e. mannose).
Cognitive Development: An Information Processing Approach

What is cognitive development? perceptual development in infancy the origins of representations concepts and words memory development reasoning about quantity and number the development of grammar basic reading skills the process of cognitive development.
The advanced high-temperature reactor: High-temperature fuel, liquid salt coolant, liquid-metal-reactor plant

The Advanced High-Temperature Reactor is a new reactor concept that combines four existing technologies in a new way: (1) coated-particle graphite-matrix nuclear fuels (traditionally used for helium-cooled reactors), (2) Brayton power cycles, (3) passive safety systems and plant designs from liquid-metal-cooled fast reactors, and (4) low-pressure liquid-salt coolants with boiling points far above the maximum coolant temperature. The new combination of technologies enables the design of a large [2400- to 4000-MW(t)] high-temperature reactor, with reactor-coolant exit temperatures between 700 and 1000°C (depending upon goals) and passive safety systems for economic production of electricity or hydrogen. The AHTR [2400-MW(t)] capital costs have been estimated to be 49 to 61% per kilowatt (electric) relative to modular gas-cooled [600-MW(t)] and modular liquid-metal-cooled reactors [1000-MW(t)], assuming a single AHTR and multiple modular units with the same total electrical output. Because of the similar fuel, core design, and power cycles, about 70% of the required research is shared with that for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.
Use of white mice experimentally infested with larvae of a rodent bot fly for screening systemic insecticides.

A procedure is described for detecting the systemic activity of insecticides against 1st-stage larvae of Cuterebra sp. in laboratory white mice. Exposure of male mice to larvae on Day 0, oral treatment with insecticides on Day 2, and examination on Day 7 for larvae that formed breathing holes in the skin was the most sensitive technique for determining the activity of famphur, crufomate, trichlorfon, and ronnel (LD50values for larvae were 1.46, 19.59, 20.91, and 29.92 mg/kg body weight of host, respectively). The acute oral LD50 of coumaphos for male host mice was so near the LD50 for the larvae that systemic activity of coumaphos could not be conclusively tested. These findings agree with the relative effectiveness of the same insecticides against larvae of the common cattle grub, Hypoderma linealum (de Villers), in cattle. The mouse-cuterebrid host-parasite system for screening systemic insecticides against oestrid larvae has the potential of providing more definitive toxicological data at lower costs than other existing systems.
Evaluation of bladder diverticulum using fiberoptic bronchoscope

Abstract We describe the technique for evaluation of a bladder diverticulum using a fiberoptic bronchoscope. One of the advantages is more complete visualization of the interior of the diverticulum.
Time series forecasting of quarterly railroad grain carloadings

Abstract The participants in the grain logistics system need forecasts of railroad grain carloads. Although forecasting studies have been conducted for virtually every mode, no forecasting studies of quarterly railroad grain transportation have been published. The objectives of the paper are (1) specify a US quarterly railroad grain transportation forecasting model, and (2) empirically estimate the model. The selection of explanatory variables requires that they have a theoretical relationship to railroad grain transportation supply and/or demand, and that the data for the explanatory variables are published in quarterly frequency. However, there are relatively few potential explanatory variables that are published quarterly and those that are available appear to have weak correlation with quarterly railroad grain carloadings. The economic process generating quarterly railroad grain carloadings is quite complex and very difficult to model with regression techniques. Given this problem and the focus on short run forecasting, a time series model was employed to forecast quarterly railroad grain carloadings. An AR(4) model was estimated using the Maximum Likelihood estimation procedure for the 1987:4–1997:4 period. The actual railroad grain carloadings for this period were compared to the forecast carloadings generated by the time series model. For 92% of the 37 quarters the percentage difference between the actual and forecast values was 10% or less. Of the 9 annual observations, the per cent difference between the actual and forecast value was less than 2.6% for 8 of the 9 years. ©
Pattern changes associated with the decline of a species in a desert habitat

Estimates were obtained of the patterns exhibited by living and dead stems of Opuntia Bigelovii in a deteriorating desert habitat. The data were interpreted in terms of selective action of a lethal factor, the effect being to reduce the differences in density between high and low density patches of an initially aggregate population, and to result in a trend toward a random distribution of survivors.
Thalamic plasticity induced by early whisker removal in rats.

Abstract Neurophysiological mapping was used to study the effects of early postnatal removal of mystacial whiskers on the organization of cutaneous receptive fields (RFs) within the ventral posterior thalamus (VP) of rats. This sensory deprivation induced an extensive reorganization of the thalamus, as reflected in larger facial or continuous overlapping face-body RFs and a higher proportion of slowly-adapting responses. Mapping of the VP of young rats (2–3 weeks old) demonstrated that the functional organization of the immature VP thalamus resembles that of the sensory-deprived VP, suggesting that an early postnatal sensory deprivation may interfere with the normal process of thalamic development.
Plastics Disassembly versus Bulk Recycling: Engineering Design for End-of-Life Electronics Resource Recovery

Annual plastic flows through the business and consumer electronics manufacturing supply chain include nearly 3 billion lb of high-value engineering plastics derived from petroleum. The recovery of resource value from this stream presents critical challenges in areas of materials identification and recycling process design that demand new green engineering technologies applied together with life cycle assessment and ecological supply chain analysis to create viable plastics-to-plastics supply cycles. The sustainable recovery of potentially high-value engineering plastics streams requires that recyclers either avoid mixing plastic parts or purify later by separating smaller plastic pieces created in volume reduction (shredding) steps. Identification and separation constitute significant barriers in the plastics-to-plastics recycling value proposition. In the present work, we develop a model that accepts randomly arriving electronic products to study scenarios by which a recycler might identify and separate high-value engineering plastics as well as metals. Using discrete eventsimulation,we compare current mixed plastics recovery with spectrochemical plastic resin identification and subsequent sorting. Our results show that limited disassembly with whole-part identification can produce substantial yields in separated streams of recovered engineering thermoplastics. We find that disassembly with identification does not constitute a bottleneck, but rather, with relatively few workers, can be configured to pull the process and thus decrease maximum staging space requirements.
Electrospun Fibrous Scaffolds with Multiscale and Photopatterned Porosity

The structural and mechanical properties of tissue engineered environments are crucial for successful cellular growth and tissue repair. Electrospinning is gaining wide attention for the fabrication of tissue engineered scaffolds, but the small pore sizes of these scaffolds limit cell infiltration and construct vascularization. To address this problem, we have combined electrospinning with photopatterning to create multiscale porous scaffolds. This process retains the fibrous nature of the scaffolds and permits enhanced cellular infiltration and vascularization when compared to unpatterned scaffolds. This is the first time that photopatterning has been utilized with electrospun scaffolds and is only now possible with the electrospinning of reactive macromers.
Paradoxical effect of hypothermia on survival of lesioned and uninjured mammalian spinal neurons

Abstract Survival of cultured spinal neurons 2 h after dendrotomy increased significantly when the temperature was reduced 17 °C or 17 °C. Survival of lesioned neurons maintained at 17 °C for 2 h and then at 37 °C for 22 h was still significantly higher than survival of neurons maintained at 37 °C for 24 h. Below 17 °C both lesioned and uninjured neurons swelled. Upon rewarming to 37 °C, many swollen neurons died. Ketamine prevented hypothermic swelling and neuronal death.
Further thoughts on where we stand on the autoimmunity hypothesis of Chagas disease.

The notion that Chagas disease could be autoimmune in nature has stirred controversy since it was proposed in the mid-1970s. In his recent Trends in Parasitology article [1], Kierszenbaum eloquently describes and critiques key experimental results supporting and refuting an autoimmune mechanism of pathogenesis, as he has done in several other reviews of a similar nature [2–4]. Several points merit further discussion.
A Model of the Imitation Process

A simple model is developed to help explain differences among process innovations in the rate of imitation. The major hypothesis around which the model is built is the following: The probability that a firm will adopt a new technique is an increasing function of the proportion of firms already using it and the profitability of adopting it. The probability of adoption is also hypothesized to be a decreasing function of the size of the investment required. The model is tested with twelve innovations from three industries. Interindustry differences show up. An equation of the form predicted by the model can explain most of the variation among the rates of imitation.
The CS-US interval function in rabbit nictitating membrane response conditioning: Single vs multiple trials per conditioning session ☆

Abstract The effect of varying trials per day conditions on the CS-US interval or interstimulus interval (ISI) function in rabbit nictitating membrane response conditioning was studied in two experiments. Experiment 1 showed that a 1250-msec ISI was more effective than a 250-msec ISI when there was 1 trial/day. Experiment 2 showed that as the number of trials per day decreased from 20 to 1, the superiority of the 250-msec ISI group over the 1250-msec ISI group declined, with a reversal at 1 trial/day. Results are interpreted in terms of the role of a hypothesized CS-elicited short-duration orienting response in CR performance.