cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Observer agreement paradoxes in 2x2 tables: comparison of agreement measures

Various measures of observer agreement have been proposed for 2x2 tables. We examine the behavior of alternative measures of observer agreement for 2x2 tables. The alternative measures of observer agreement and the corresponding agreement chart were calculated under various scenarios of marginal distributions (symmetrical or not, balanced or not) and of degree of diagonal agreement, and their behaviors are compared. Specifically, two specific paradoxes previously identified for kappa were examined: (1) low kappa values despite high observed agreement under highly symmetrically imbalanced marginals, and (2) higher kappa values for asymmetrical imbalanced marginal distributions. Kappa and alpha behave similarly and are affected by the marginal distributions more so than the B-statistic, AC1-index and delta measures. Delta and kappa provide values that are similar when the marginal totals are asymmetrically imbalanced or symmetrical but not excessively imbalanced. The AC1-index and B-statistics provide closer results when the marginal distributions are symmetrically imbalanced and the observed agreement is greater than 50%. Also, the B-statistic and the AC1-index provide values closer to the observed agreement when the subjects are classified mostly in one of the diagonal cells. Finally, the B-statistic is seen to be consistent and more stable than kappa under both types of paradoxes studied. The B-statistic behaved better under all scenarios studied as well as with varying prevalences, sensitivities and specificities than the other measures, we recommend using B-statistic along with its corresponding agreement chart as an alternative to kappa when assessing agreement in 2x2 tables.
Factors affecting the excretion of porphyrin precursors by patients with acute intermittent porphyria I. The effect of diet

Abstract Daily fluctuation of porphyrin-precursor excretion by asymptomatic patients with acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) was markedly diminished by a regimen which included a balanced constant diet adequate in content of protein, fat and carbohydrate to maintain weight. Acute reduction in daily food intake, such that caloric intakes decreased by 60 to 80 per cent, was associated with a rise in the excretion of both δ-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and porphobilinogen (PBG). Return to the adequate diet reversed this effect. A rise in porphyrin-precursor excretion followed the isocaloric substitution of fat for protein alone or for protein together with carbohydrate. ALA and PBG excretion decreased following the addition of carbohydrate to the diet. Elevation of porphyrin-precursor excretion was accompanied by negative nitrogen balance in the studies where this was measured. With 1 exception the patients remained asymptomatic. It is concluded that the effect of diet in causing changes in porphyrin-precursor excretion by patients with AIP is related to protein and carbohydrate content rather than total caloric content per se.
bis-Isatoic anhydrides I. The preparation of bis-isatoic anhydrides

bis-Isatoic anhydrides have been prepared in 20-40% yield by the treatment of sodio-isatoic anhydride with alkane dibromides and ditosylates.
Oxygen-18 stratigraphy in deep-sea sediments: additional evidence for the deglacial meltwater effect

Abstract Worthington (1968, Meteorological Monographs , 8 , 63–67) hypothesized that the salinity of the upper waters of the ocean was markedly lowered during deglaciation by the influx of meltwater. This hypothesis receives support by a critical evaluation of published δ 18 O data on planktonic foraminifera from deep-sea cores. At least one such core, from the equatorial Atlantic, has a signal that is entirely comparable to the Gulf of Mexico results of Kennett and Shackleton (1975, Science , 188 , 147–150). This similarity becomes apparent after an “unmixing” procedure is applied to the deep-sea core. There are important oceanographic and climatological consequences if a Worthington-type meltwater lid did indeed develop.
Changing trends in radiation therapy technologies in the last year of life for patients diagnosed with metastatic cancer in the United States.

BACKGROUND: Our goal was to investigate utilization trends for advanced radiation therapy (RT) technologies, such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), in the last year of life among patients diagnosed with metastatic cancer. METHODS: We used the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked databases to analyze claims data in the last 12 months of life for 64,525 patients diagnosed with metastatic breast, colorectal, lung, pancreas, and prostate cancers from 2000 to 2007. Logistic regression modeling was conducted to analyze potential demographic, health services, and treatment-related variables' influences on receipt of advanced RT. RESULTS: Among the 19,161 (29.7%) patients who received radiation therapy, there was a significant decrease in the proportion of patients who received the simplest radiation technique (ie, 2D-radiation therapy) (P < .0001), and significant increases in the proportions of patients receiving more advanced radiation techniques (ie, IMRT, and SRS; P < .0001 for all curves); although the rates for use of IMRT and SRS in 2007 remained under 5%. On multivariate analyses, receipt of RT varied significantly by non-clinical characteristics such as race, marital status, neighborhood income, and SEER region. Patients who received hospice care in the last year of life were more likely to receive radiation therapy (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.30-1.40) but less likely to be treated with IMRT (OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.62-0.92). CONCLUSIONS: Although the proportion of patients receiving RT in the last year of life for metastatic cancer did not change for most of the past decade, we observed significant trends toward more advanced radiation techniques. Cancer 2013. © 2012 American Cancer Society.
Fostering a safe atmosphere: A first step in discussing gender in family therapy training programs

Several important aspects of raising gender issues in family therapy training programs have been identified in the last few years. However, an important first step has often not been made explicit: the need to establish an open and safe environment in which these issues can be discussed. Such a safe environment can be developed by using theoretical perspectives with which family therapy students and faculty are already familiar. This paper offers three theoretical perspectives as examples and makes suggestions for facilitating an atmosphere that is conducive to discussing gender issues.
Method of isolated ex vivo lung perfusion in a rat model: lessons learned from developing a rat EVLP program.

The number of acceptable donor lungs available for lung transplantation is severely limited due to poor quality. Ex-Vivo Lung Perfusion (EVLP) has allowed lung transplantation in humans to become more readily available by enabling the ability to assess organs and expand the donor pool. As this technology expands and improves, the ability to potentially evaluate and improve the quality of substandard lungs prior to transplant is a critical need. In order to more rigorously evaluate these approaches, a reproducible animal model needs to be established that would allow for testing of improved techniques and management of the donated lungs as well as to the lung-transplant recipient. In addition, an EVLP animal model of associated pathologies, e.g., ventilation induced lung injury (VILI), would provide a novel method to evaluate treatments for these pathologies. Here, we describe the development of a rat EVLP lung program and refinements to this method that allow for a reproducible model for future expansion. We also describe the application of this EVLP system to model VILI in rat lungs. The goal is to provide the research community with key information and “pearls of wisdom”/techniques that arose from trial and error and are critical to establishing an EVLP system that is robust and reproducible.
Maximizing number of satisfiable routing requests in static ad hoc networks

We study an energy-efficient routing problem in static ad hoc networks. The problem, referred to as maxR, is to maximize the number of routing requests that can be satisfied in the network, under the constraint that each node has finite battery power. The online version of the problem, where the sequence of messages that has to be routed over the network is not known ahead of time, has been studied extensively. In this paper, we study the offline version of the problem where the sequence of requests is pre-known. As far as we know, the offline maxR problem, its hardness and approximability have not been well studied. We show that after appropriate transformation, offline maxR is equivalent to the well-known maximum disjoint path problem, which is NP-hard. We propose a greedy algorithm called GDP that has a constant approximation ratio to the optimal algorithm. GDP can be used as a benchmark to evaluate the performance of online algorithms as it is known that the best offline algorithm performs better than any online algorithm. We then put forward a new online algorithm called MECBE to solve the online maxR problem. Simulation results show that GDP outperforms MECBE, which outperforms the state-of-the-art online algorithm OML, in terms of the number of satisfiable requests, the average energy consumption per request, and the number of energy-depleted nodes.
Analyzing the variability of wind power output through the power spectral density

The variability of wind power output is analyzed using the power spectral density (PSD) that is estimated through the modified covariance method, one of the parametric PSD estimation techniques. This method can estimate the PSD accurately under the assumption that the wind power follows the Autoregressive process. The seasonal trends are removed using the Multiple signal classification to satisfy this assumption before estimating the PSD. Phase angles of the wind power are analyzed and classified into deterministic and stochastic terms. The estimated PSD is modeled through piecewise affine functions, and trends of affine functions are encapsulated in multiple linear regression models. As the variability of wind power decreases, the slope of the third affine function also decreases. Furthermore, the changes of the third slope are a function of total capacity, number of wind farms, standard deviation, and mean. Therefore, the PSD of future wind power can be estimated from multiple linear regression models, and the variability of wind power can be quantified through the estimated PSD.
Bulk charge neutrality in (111) semiconductor slabs

We previously proved that the bulk valence bands of an intrinsic semiconductor slab $N$ unit cells thick are electrically neutral to order ${N}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ providing reflection symmetry exists through the central plane. Here we extend that proof to the physically most-interesting case of (111) diamond structure slabs which lack the reflection plane.
On Homogeneous Prime Spectra of Certain Rees Rings

Let I be a regular proper ideal in a Noetherian ring R, and let P(I) be the set of all integrally closed ideals J of R that are projectively equivalent to I. It is known that there is naturally associated to I a positive integer d and an additive subsemigroup {c i |i ∈ ℕ+} of ℕ+ such that , where is the integrally closed ideal {x ∈ R|x d is in the integral closure (I c i ) a of I c i }. It is shown here that the sequences of ideals and are filtrations on R, and that we have subfiltrations {(I i ) a } i≥0 = f ⊆ f* ⊆ e. Associated with these filtrations, we have graded rings , and these inclusion maps induce isomorphisms on the homogeneous prime spectra of these graded rings. This raises the question of when the homogeneous prime spectrum HSpec(R[u,tf*]) of R[u,tf*] is isomorphic to either HSpec(R[u,tf]) or HSpec(R[u,te]). It is shown that HSpec(R[u,tf*]) ≅ HSpec(R[u,tf]) if and only if c 1 = 1 if and only if P(I) is projectively full.
Reactor Pressure Vessel Nozzle Inner-Radius Examination

Reactor pressure vessel nozzle inner radius (NIR) areas are identified as a specific target for ultrasound examination (UT) by many regulatory codes. This region represents a particularly challenging geometry to examine. Typically the examination is performed from inside the vessel with at least the upper internals removed. Normally the inspection is on the critical path so minimizing the schedule and vessel occupation time is important to the utilities outage planning and ultimate financial performance.Although some inspection vendors have traditional qualifications for this NIR examination under various codes, this paper addresses several advanced techniques have been developed to minimize the critical path inspection time. Technology advancements include:• Stereo-vision with laser reference for precise VT sizing of any observed indication• A Small 5 degree-of-freedom arm to precisely track a transducer set along the inner-radius surface for immersion ultrasonic examination• A simple nozzle-only tool with a passive mechanism to track the nozzle inner-radius surface for contact ultrasonic examination• Advanced software (3-D iMaV) coupled with a 5-axis robot to analyze and control transducer placements and coverage from the nozzle and shell outside (OD)The net result is a more efficient examination with shorter schedules and lower overall outage costs.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Proteomic approaches to dissect platelet function: half the story

Platelets play critical roles in diverse hemostatic and pathologic disorders and are broadly implicated in various biological processes that include inflammation, wound healing, and thrombosis. Recent progress in high-throughput mRNA and protein profiling techniques has advanced our understanding of the biological functions of platelets. Platelet proteomics has been adopted to decode the complex processes that underlie platelet function by identifying novel platelet-expressed proteins, dissecting mechanisms of signal or metabolic pathways, and analyzing functional changes of the platelet proteome in normal and pathologic states. The integration of transcriptomics and proteomics, coupled with progress in bioinformatics, provides novel tools for dissecting platelet biology. In this review, we focus on current advances in platelet proteomic studies, with emphasis on the importance of parallel transcriptomic studies to optimally dissect platelet function. Applications of these global profiling approaches to investigate platelet genetic diseases and platelet-related disorders are also addressed.
Ultralow percolation threshold of single walled carbon nanotube-epoxy composites synthesized via an ionic liquid dispersant/initiator

Uniform dispersion of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in an epoxy was achieved by a streamlined mechano-chemical processing method. SWNT-epoxy composites were synthesized using a room temperature ionic liquid (IL) with an imidazolium cation and dicyanamide anion. The novel approach of using ionic liquid that behaves as a dispersant for SWNTs and initiator for epoxy polymerization greatly simplifies nanocomposite synthesis. The material was processed using simple and scalable three roll milling. The SWNT dispersion of the resultant composite was evaluated by electron microscopy and electrical conductivity measurements in conjunction with percolation theory. Processing conditions were optimized to achieve the lowest possible percolation threshold, 4.29 × 10−5 volume fraction SWNTs. This percolation threshold is among the best reported in literature yet it was obtained using a streamlined method that greatly simplifies processing.
Accuracy of self-reported height measurements in parents and its effect on mid-parental target height calculation

Clinical determination of mid-parental height is an important part of the assessment of a child's growth, however our clinical impression has been that parents cannot be relied upon to accurately report their own heights. Therefore, we conducted this study to assess the accuracy of parental height self-reporting and its effect on calculated mid-parental target height for children presenting to a pediatric endocrinology office. All parents bringing their children for an initial evaluation to a pediatric endocrinology clinic over a period of nine months were questioned and then measured by a pediatric endocrinologist. Parents were blinded to the study. Mid-parental target heights, based on reported and actual height were compared. There were 241 families: 98 fathers and 217 mothers in our study. Mean measured paternal height was 173.2 cm, self reported 174.9 cm (p < 0.0001), partner reported 177 cm (p = 0.0004). Only 50% of fathers and 58% of mothers reported their height within ± 2 cm of their measured height, while 15% of fathers and 12% of mothers were inaccurate by more than 4 cm. Mean measured maternal height was 160.6 cm, self-reported 161.1 cm (NS), partner reported 161.7 cm (NS). Inaccuracy of height self-report had a small but significant effect on the mean MPTH (0.4 cm, p = 0.045). Analysis showed that only 70% of MPTH calculated by reported heights fell within ± 2 cm of MPTH calculated using measured heights, 24% being in ± 2–4 cm range, and 6% were inaccurate by more than 4 cm. There is a significant difference in paternal measured versus reported heights with an overall trend for fathers to overestimate their own height. A large subset of parents makes a substantial error in their height self-report, which leads to erroneous MPTH. Inaccuracy is even greater when one parent reports the other parent's height. When a child's growth is in question, measured rather than reported parental heights should be obtained.
Chlamydia trachomatis Infection Control Programs: Lessons Learned and Implications for Vaccine Development

Chlamydia trachomatis control efforts that enhance detection and treatment of infected women may paradoxically increase susceptibility of the population to infection. Conversely, these surveillance programs lower incidences of adverse sequelae elicited by genital tract infection (e.g., pelvic inflammatory disease and ectopic pregnancy), suggesting enhanced identification and eradication of C. trachomatis simultaneously reduces pathogen-induced upper genital tract damage and abrogates formation of protective immune responses. In this paper, we detail findings from C. trachomatis infection control programs that increase our understanding of chlamydial immunoepidemiology and discuss their implications for prophylactic vaccine design.
Existential Claims and Platonism

This paper responds to Colin Cheyne's new anti-platonist argument according to which knowledge of existential claims—claims of the form such- und-so exist—requires a causal connection with the given such-and-so. If his arguments succeed then nobody can know, or even justifiably believe, that acausal entities exist, in which case (standard) platonism is untenable. I argue that Cheyne's anti-platonist argument fails. 12 Cheyne relies entirely on Hart's argument quoted above, and Cheyne comments no further than his remarks which are quoted above. 13 For discussion or useful comments I am grateful to Mark Colyvan, Colin Cheyne, Ed Mares, Greg Restall, Fred Kroon, Chris Mortensen, two referees, and the late George Molnar. For support (and coffee) I'm grateful to Katrina Higgins.
Collagen network topology is influenced by collagen concentration, but not by co-gelation with fibrin

Extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins (e.g. collagen, elastin) play an important role in biological tissues. In addition to conferring mechanical strength to a tissue, the ECM provides a biochemical environment essential for modulation of cellular responses such as growth and migration. Collagens are the dominant protein of the ECM, with collagen type I being most abundant. Our group and others have shown that the mechanical properties of a collagen I matrix change with collagen concentration, and when formed in the presence of a secondary fibril network such as fibrin [1]. We are interested in collagen-fibrin systems because our group uses fibrin as the starting scaffold material for cardiovascular tissue engineering, which produces interpenetrating collagen-fibrin matrices during the remodeling process as the fibrin network is degraded and replaced with cell-deposited collagen [2]. Fibrin and collagen networks are also present together around the thrombus during the wound healing process. Research has shown that ECM mechanical properties are correlated with their overall network structure characteristics such as fibril diameter [3]. Currently we have a modeling framework that generates an ECM microstructural network which can be used to predict the overall properties of a bioengineered tissue [4]. This framework allows exploration of the structure-function relation, but how the structure depends on composition remains poorly understood, especially in multi-component gels. Thus, the objective of this work was to quantify the collagen network architecture in pure collagen gels of different concentrations and in collagen-fibrin co-gels.© 2011 ASME
Rights of Self-delimiting Peoples: Protecting Those Who Want No Part of Us

While in recent years new charters and government actions have boosted the collective and individual rights enjoyed by “Fourth-World” indigenous peoples such as the Inuit, another set of indigenous peoples has not experienced such protection: “self-delimiting” peoples. Their rights go largely unprotected because of deliberate ambiguities in the word “indigenous”; because these peoples generally avoid all contact with the larger society, and so are unknown by it and have no voice in it; and because charters and institutions generally require validation of an indigenous people as bona fide—such as a history of contact and of evident land occupation—in order for the group to enjoy full rights protections. Both practice and theory may militate against the extension of full protection. This paper argues that theory, institutions building upon it, and practice realizable from theory and institutions must be reconsidered in terms of the particular circumstances and needs of these peoples if their rights are to be fully respected and maintained. Clear, special protection for these peoples’ rights to their culture must be established.
Strategies for Prevention Research in Service Environments

Despite a growing literature on evaluation methods suitable for applied settings, few investigators address the separation of research and service. This article recognizes obstacles to field studies. The authors specify practical strategies for entering service environments and for designing, implementing, and measuring an experimental interven tion. Documentation for the strategies comes from an evaluation of primary prevention in the public schools.
Factors Impacting Marketplace Success of Community Forest Enterprises: The Case of TIP Muebles, Oaxaca, México

In most developing countries where local community ownership is common, successful forest conservation initiatives must be adapted to engage and train rural communities. Decentralization of decision-making and stewardship by the State is required to maintain forests as a common good with extended benefits to society. Despite a tendency to operate in isolation, three Oaxacan community forest enterprises (CFEs), Textitlan, Ixtlan and Pueblos Mancomunados, have vertically integrated from forest management to retailing furniture through a company: TIP Muebles. This exploratory study aims to provide insight and outline the factors impacting the ability of CFEs to succeed in the marketplace given the fact that each deals with the same regulation structure of public forest policy. The results of this research suggest that the main challenges are related to human capital, regulatory challenges and centralized forest policy for forest product production, the taxation system for timber production, and endogenous factors such as the forest quality and the decisions based on tradition rather than efficiency. In this context, the integration of chains of production is a fact in only a few cases and financial success continues to be slow. The studied CFEs are resilient and slightly surpassing the profitability threshold despite the challenges identified. Adaptation of their decision-making structure allows them to face the changing dynamics of the market. More democratic approaches to decentralization of Mexican forest policy, trust development between social and private enterprises, and an improvement in internal CFEs systems could offer opportunities for improved competitiveness for CFEs. CFE strategies need to be understood as part of a complex rural livelihood where diversification of income generating activities often conflicts with competitive and specialized production.
An operational calculus in miniature

An operational calculus is developed that is based on convolution of polynomials in the complex plane. The final objects of study, called operators, are shown to be just formal Laurent series. This work is based on ideas of Mikusinski's operational calculus, but is much simpler, especially because no recourse is needed to the Titchmarsh convolution theorem. Neverthelse this operational calculus is rich in applications, and seems to encompas operators that are not included in other theories
Surface reconstruction and the nucleation of palladium silicide on Si(111).

Scanning tunneling microscopy has been used for real-space imaging of the initial interaction of palladium with the Si(111)-(7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}7) surface at room temperature. The nucleation of silicide is spatially localized and occurs only in the faulted half of the (7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}7) unit cell. Large-scan-area images have been statistically analyzed to determine the subsurface extension of the silicide nuclei and the nature of growth as a function of coverage and island size. Steps are found to have no influence on the nucleation at this temperature.
Interest Rates Fluctuations and the Advantage of Long‐Term Debt Financing: A Note on the Effect of the Tax‐Timing Option

When interest rates fluctuate, issuing long-term debt may implicitly generate a valuable tax-timing option. The holder of long-term debt has an optimal-trading taxtiming option to immediately realize capital losses if an increase in interest rates lowers the price of the bond below the original issue price. In contrast, if interest rates decrease and the bond price is greater than the original issue price, the holder would prefer to defer the realization of capital gains. This tax-timing option confers an advantage for issuing long-term debt. Our formal presentation also highlights how the tax-timing options of long-term debt may increase the debt capacity of the firm.
Detection by electron microscopy of photo-induced denaturation in λ DNA

We have used an electron microscope to study localized denatured regions in ultraviolet-irradiated DNA. DNA from bacteriophage lambda was UV-irradiated and then prepared for electron microscopy after fixing in buffered (pH 9.5) formaldehyde solutions at 25 degrees C. The denatured regions observed corresponded to those described by Inman and Schnos (1) who used alkaline denaturation to preferentially destroy thymine-adenine base pairing. In UV-irradiated DNA, pairs of neighboring thymine residues are converted into photodimers; hence, loss of hydrogen bonding most likely occurs in thymine-rich regions and denaturation results. Conceivably, photo-induced denaturation may under some circumstances represent a more convenient method than alkaline denaturation for mapping thymine-rich regions in DNA.
Feedback techniques for continuity and synchronization in multimedia information retrieval

Future advances in storage and networking technologies will make it feasible to build multimedia on-demand information servers capable of providing services similar to those of a neighborhood videotape rental store over metropolitan area networks. Such multimedia information servers must not only support retrieval of continuous media units (such as video frames and audio samples), but also preserve synchrony among playback of the different media components constituting a multimedia object. We develop techniques for supporting continuous and synchronous retrieval from multimedia servers. We present feedback techniques by which, during retrieval of multimedia objects from a multimedia server to mediaphones, the multimedia server uses lightweight messages called feedback units transmitted periodically back to it (by mediaphones) to detect impending discontinuities as well as asynchronies at mediaphones. The multimedia server then preventively readjusts media transmission so as to avoid either anomaly, and steers the mediaphones back to synchrony. Given the available buffer sizes at mediaphones and the maximum tolerable asynchrony, we present methods to determine the minimum rate at which feedback units must be transmitted so as to maintain both continuity and synchronization. These feedback techniques remain robust even in the presence of playback rate mismatches and network delay jitter, and their initial simulation for video-audio playback yields a feedback rate of one per 1,000 media units to keep the asynchrony within 250ms, showing that the overhead due to feedback transmission is very small. The constant rate feedback techniques developed in this article form the basis of a prototype on-demand information server being developed at the UCSD Multimedia Laboratory.
Correspondence of sea fan orientations with measured currents on hard bottom habitats of the Mississippi/Alabama continental shelf

The orientations of 368 gorgonian and antipatharian sea fans were measured using video taken with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) within five study areas on the Mississippi/Alabama continental shelf. Sea fans were oriented nonrandomly and exhibited a strongly preferred direction of orientation at each of the five study sites. Orientations corresponded closely to the mean direction of the time-averaged current flow measured synoptically from 11 current meters in the vicinity of the study sites.
An exploration of generic aspects of contemporary American campaign orations

This study addresses the question: To what extent and in what ways is the composition of contemporary American political campaign orations generically distinctive. Fifteen campaign orations were compared to two sets of control speeches on numerous measures concerning the methods of presentation of the speeches. The results indicate that to meet the dual responsibilities of appearing to speak out decisively and intelligently on issues, while also focusing their speeches around images to which voters will respond favorably, campaigners write speeches ambiguous in content, yet containing rhetorical correlates of specificity and decisiveness. In addition, to gain consubstantiality with their auditors, campaigners employ rhetorical techniques which project images of activity, competence, friendliness, and independence.
Mill and the Value of Moral Distress

People are sometimes distressed by the bare knowledge that lifestyles are being practised or opinions held which they take to be immoral. Is this distress to be regarded as harm for the purposes of Mill's Harm Principle? I argue, first, that this is an issue that is to be resolved not by analysis of the concept of harm but by reference to the arguments in On Liberty with which the Harm Principle is supported. Secondly, I argue that reference to those arguments makes it clear beyond doubt that, since Mill valued moral confrontation and the shattering of moral complacency as means to social progress, he must have regarded moral distress as a positive good rather than as a harm that society ought to intervene to prevent. Thirdly, I relate this interpretation to Mill's points about temperance, decency and good manners. I argue, finally, that my interpretation is inconsistent with Mill's underlying utilitarianism only if the latter is understood in a crudely hedonistic way.
Shell software for smart subsystems with front-end capabilities

Abstract During the last few years there has been a trend towards incorporating smart subsystems into the ACNET control system. These smart subsystems are capable of doing direct I/O and communicating with the rest of the control system by means of standardized networking protocols. Creating custom software for each type of smart subsystems is not cost effective. Consequently, it was decided to create the standardized software shell for smart subsystems. The shell consists of an Object-Oriented kernel, OOC++, and standard ACNET communication support. OOC++ is implemented similarly to C++ late binding and memory management techniques and is based upon OIDs (object identificators), defining each particular object. ACNET communication support is built upon OOC++. The shell software is presently available on 680x0 and 80386 processors under MTOS and 680x0 processors under VxWorks. This paper gives the shell's description along with examples of smart subsystems utilizing the shell. It also shows that the described shell software allows significant reduction in system creation and debugging time and increased flexibility and robustness of the produced systems.
Correlation of the rates of solvolysis of 2-phenyl-2-ketoethyl bromide and tosylate.

The extended Grunwald−Winstein equation has been applied to the specific rates of solvolysis of 2-phenyl-2-ketoethyl bromide and tosylate and the correlation parameters are consistent with an SN2 mechanism over the full range of solvents. The kOTs/kBr ratios are close to unity, consistent with this assignment. Comparisons with the specific rates of solvolysis of 2-phenylethyl bromide and methyl tosylate show only a modest influence upon introduction of the carbonyl group.
PERITONEAL EXUDATE MONONUCLEAR PHAGOCYTE COLONY-FORMING CELLS: THEIR PROLIFERATIVE STATE IN VIVO AND SENSITIVITY TO CYTOTOXIC AGENTS

We investigated the proliferative state of peritoneal exudate macrophage colony-forming cells (PE-CFC) by exposing them to [3H]thymidine with a high specific activity in vitro and by administering cytosine arabinoside and methotrexate in vivo. Since [3H]TdR had no appreciable killing effect on PE-CFC and since the drug treatment caused no reduction in the appearance of PE-CFC, we concluded that the majority of PE-CFC, if not all, are not in active cell cycle. The production of PE-CFC was, however, suppressed by the administration of nitrogen mustard, cyclophosphamide, BCNU and vinblastine.
Assessment of conventional methodologies for joint roughness coefficient determination

A numerical description of rock joint toughness is necessary to model the pseudostatic and dynamic rock joint behavior. The commonly used measure of joint roughness in rock engineering practice is the joint roughness coefficient (JRC), proposed by Barton and adopted by the International Society for Rock Mechanics. Barton and Choubey proposed an estimation method for determining JRC by visually matching joint surface profiles with ten "standard" profiles whose JRC ranges from 0 to 20. This approach is highly subjective and may introduce large estimation errors for the shear strength of rock joints, especially when the normal stress is low. To minimize this subjectivity, three alternate methods have been proposed for the estimation of JRC. One involves the use of an average deviation from the centerline about which roughness is measured, another uses the theory of fractal geometry, and the third uses the tilt test on rock joints as proposed by Barton and Choubey. In this paper, several methods are evaluated to determine their appropriateness for use in the assessment of the behavior of Apache Leap tuff joints by comparing the JRC values estimated using these methods to the JRC values back-calculated from laboratory direct shear test results. (A) This paper was presented at the 34th U.S. Symposium on rock mechanics, 27-30 June 1993, University of Wisconsin-Madison. For the covering abstract see IRRD 863389.
Magnetospherically reflected, specularly reflected, and backscattered whistler mode radio-sounder echoes observed on the IMAGE satellite: 2. Sounding of electron density, ion effective mass (meff), ion composition (H+, He+, O+), and density irregularities along the geomagnetic field line

[1] A companion paper by Sonwalkar et al. (2011) provided new details of whistler mode radio sounding of the altitude range below ∼5000 km by the Radio Plasma Imager (RPI) instrument on the IMAGE satellite. That paper presented frequency-vs- group time delay records of echoes whose raypaths either 1) reversed direction through refraction at altitudes above the ionosphere where the wave frequency was approximately equal to the local lower hybrid resonance frequency flh (magnetospherically reflected or MR echoes), or 2) returned to IMAGE from reflection points along the sharp lower boundary of the ionosphere at ∼90 km (obliquely incident (OI) or normally incident (NI) specularly reflected (SR) echoes). The MR and OI echo paths were shown to form narrow loops, while the NI echo followed the same raypath down and back. Furthermore, the echoes were found to be discrete or broadened in time delay either by multipath propagation or by scattering from field aligned irregularities (FAIs). We begin with a direct interpretive approach, employing a combination of refractive index diagrams, ray tracings, and a plasma density model to predict the detailed frequency-vs-time properties of echoes detected when the sounder is operated over a wide range of whistler mode frequencies (typically 6 kHz to 63 kHz) and the satellite is either above or below the altitude of the maximum flh along the geomagnetic field line B0 in the upper ionosphere. We then consider the inverse problem, estimation of the parameters of the prevailing plasma density model from the observed echo properties. Thanks to variations in the sensitivity of the various echo forms to the altitude profiles of electron density and ion effective mass meff, we use the observed frequency-vs- group time delay (tg − f) details of simultaneously received MR and SR echoes to infer the properties of a diffusive equilibrium model of the plasma, including estimates of the ion composition in the important transition region from the O+-dominated ionosphere to the light ion regime above. Our results on electron density and ion composition measurements are in general agreement with those obtained from in situ measurements on the IMAGE and DMSP-F15 satellites, with bottomside sounding results from nearby Ionosondes, and with values obtained from the IRI-2007 model. We also demonstrate a method of estimating the scale sizes and locations of FAIs located along or near WM echo paths.
Principals’ informal methods for appraising poor-performing teachers

Teacher appraisal is never an easy task, especially of teachers experiencing difficulties and failures. Nevertheless it is a requirement for good management, in our schools no less than our corporations. Forty elementary school principals in Israel described the informal methods they use to appraise teachers who are performing poorly. Most considered traits such as sensitivity to children and their needs as well as motivation, rather than professional standards or pupil achievement, as the main criteria in judging poor or outstanding teaching. Due to the sensitive nature of the issue, and the desire to avoid misjudgment and painful conflict, the principals took several precautions: they used several different formal and informal methods of appraisal; they relied on various information sources and sometimes they preferred to delay drawing final conclusions until a crisis or external complaint occurred. The discussion situates the current findings with other research on the obstacles to identifying, evaluating and providing feed back to poor-performing teachers.
The oxidation of NO2 to nitrateday and night

In a recent article Richards (1983) has suggested a chemical reaction mechanism, given in Table 1, for night-time NO_2 oxidation. Richards makes several qualitative statements concerning the ability of this mechanism to represent measured night-time NO_x, concentrations but does not present simulated results based on this mechanism. In order to assess the validity of Richards' suggested mechanism, we have integrated the rate equations corresponding to the reactions in Table 1 under the following conditions: (1) There is a constant source of NO, S_(NO) (ppm min^(-1)) during the night, (2) At t = 0 (1800 PDT) the initial concentrations are those reported by Platt et al. (1980) from the Los Angeles area.
Development of Sarcomas in Marsh-Albino Mice Following Injection of Desoxycorticosterone Acetate in Sesame Oil.

SummaryTwenty-four mice of the Marsh-Albino strain were injected daily for a period of 3 months with desoxycorticosterone acetate (0.2 mg/0.1 cc) in sesame oil. Of these, 1 was killed 3 months after termination of treatment but showed no evidence of tumor, while 9 others, killed 6 months after termination of treatments had subcutaneous tumors of two histological types, fibrosarcoma and myosarcoma. The remaining 10 mice are still alive; all show gross evidence of tumor formation, which became evident 6 months after completion of treatment.
Health Utility Assessment Using EQ-5D among Caregivers of Children with Autism

ABSTRACT Objectives Health utility of caregivers of children with autism was assessed by using the EuroQol five-dimensional (EQ-5D) questionnaire. Utility scores of autism caregivers were compared with norms for the general adult US population. Predictors of health utility were identified. Methods A cross-sectional online survey design was used. Caregivers registered with the Interactive Autism Network were approached for participation in the online survey. Three hundred and sixteen usable responses were received. Health utility among caregivers was calculated and compared with the US population norms by using Student's t test. Problems in EQ-5D questionnaire domains and utility scores were analyzed by study characteristics by using Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance. Factors predicting health utility were identified by using ordinary least square regression. Results Roughly 94% of the caregivers who participated in the study were females. As compared to their counterparts in the general US population, caregivers who were aged 18 to 44 years and were females had lower utility scores ( P R 2 ~57%). Conclusions Autism caregivers had lower health utility than did the general adult US population. There is an immediate need to address health concerns among this growing population.
Controls Who Experienced Hypothetical Causal Intermediates Should Not Be Excluded from Case-Control Studies

It has been suggested that controls with adenomatous polyps of the colon and rectum should be excluded from case-control studies of cigarette smoking and colorectal cancer. A claim has been made that the presence of such controls creates a bias toward the null. The polyps are an intermediate step in a hypothetical causal pathway between the exposure and the disease. Thus, the recommendation logically extends to the exclusion of all controls who experienced hypothetical causal intermediates from all case-control studies. It is shown, in the simple case of an exposure that acts solely through the pathway involving the intermediate, that such exclusions create a bias away from the null. The rationale for recommending the detrimental exclusions appears to stem from a variant of the "trohoc fallacy": the mistaken view of case-control studies as comparisons between diseased and healthy groups and not as comparisons between groups that differ by exposure.
Impact of Carrier Heating on SOA Transmission Dynamics for Wavelength Conversion

Complex-valued time-resolved transmission characteristics of a semiconductor optical amplifier are measured using a spectrogram technique. A relatively simple traveling-wave density matrix model is implemented that accurately captures the evolution of complex index due to stimulated emission and carrier heating. The model shows good agreement with experimental spectrogram data.
Integrating sphere designs with isotropic throughput

An ideal diffuse reflectometer can be defined as a reflectometer with a throughput which is independent of the angle of reflected radiation, as measured at the sample. For integrating spheres, effects related to the detector’s field of view (FOV), the beam port, and internal baffles can result in a throughput which is nonisotropic. This paper analyzes these three sources of nonideal behavior and suggests three sphere designs using nonimaging concentrators which minimize FOV related errors. A technique for measuring the error due to the beam port is also discussed as well as ways of minimizing perturbations caused by baffles.
Dynamic spatial variations of the 'unconverted' exit beam in the magnetostatic wave-optical interaction

The authors have observed in YIG (yttrium-iron-garnet) an effect apart from the anisotropic MSW (magnetostatic wave) optical collinear interaction which has a much wider bandwidth than the latter: about 500 MHz vs 10 MHz at MSW frequencies between 6 and 7 GHz. A slit placed in front of the detector profiles the film parallel to its width. It is found that the beam has a non-Gaussian component synchronous with the MSW modulation. The shape of this component depends on k/sub MSW/, but there is usually one negative and one positive peak, as if light were being deflected from one part of the beam to another. When the whole beam is focused on the detector, these wideband features cancel, leaving the expected narrow peak associated with the anisotropic interaction. Changes in the profile shape are small as the input MSW power is varied between 2 and 20 dBm. This wideband effect may be due to isotropic MSW-optical interactions, but this is in doubt because the peak spreading does not appear to change with k/sub MSW/ in the unconverted exit beam. >
Cooperative management and its effects on shade tree diversity, soil properties and ecosystem services of coffee plantations in western El Salvador

We compared how management approaches affected shade tree diversity, soil properties, and provisioning and carbon sequestration ecosystem services in three shade coffee cooperatives. Collectively managed cooperatives utilized less diverse shade, and pruned coffee and shade trees more intensively, than individual farms. Soil properties showed significant differences among the cooperatives, with the following properties contributing to differentiation: N, pH, P, K, and Ca. Higher tree richness was associated with higher soil pH, CEC, Ca, and Mg, and lower K. Higher tree densities were associated with lower N, K, and organic matter. Although we found differences in the incidence of provisioning services (e.g., fruit), all plantations generated products other than coffee. No differences were observed between C-stocks. The history and institutional arrangements of cooperatives can influence management approaches, which affect ecosystem properties and services. Our study corroborates that interdisciplinary investigations are essential to understand the socio-ecological context of tropical shade coffee landscapes.
Scheffe-Marascuilo comparisons among independent binomial samples

A large-sample technique attributable to Leonard Marascuilo, which is based on Henry Scheffe's well-known multiple comparison procedure, was programmed with the SAS System. The focus was on comparisons among independent binomial samples. As in Scheffe's "data snooping" analytic method, the comparisons can be planned or post hoc, they can be simple or complex, and they need not be orthogonal, but none of them will be statistically significant unless the omnibus statistic, which in this case is chi-square rather than F, is statistically significant. This SAS program can be applied when thedesign is not balanced.