cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
On the Impact of DNS Over HTTPS Paradigm on Cyber Systems

The Domain Name System (DNS) protocol has been in use for over thirty years. As the primary method of resolving domain names to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, it is a fundamental component of the Internet. Despite its position of importance, the protocol lacks built-in security mechanisms to address confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Malware can use DNS to fulfill attacker objectives, such as establishing command and control (C2) or exfiltrating data. Various enhancements have been implemented in an attempt to address security after-the-fact. The latest such enhancement is DNS over HTTPS. Methods have also been developed to detect malware's use of DNS. In this paper, we review the weaknesses of the DNS protocol and how malware has abused those weaknesses, enhancements to DNS security, and how malware uses DNS and how that use is detected, with a special emphasis on the effects that DNS over HTTPS may have on an organization's security.
Reducing Data Complexity

Marketing data sets often have many variables—many dimensions—and it is advantageous to reduce these to smaller sets of variables to consider. For instance, we might have many items on a consumer survey that reflect a smaller number of underlying concepts such as customer satisfaction with a service, category leadership for a brand, or luxury for a product. If we can reduce the data to its underlying dimensions, we can more clearly identify the relationships among concepts.
Stability analysis of a fractional online social network model

Abstract By drawing an analogy to the spreading dynamics of an infectious disease, the authors derive a fractional-order susceptible-infected-removed (SIR) model to examine the user adoption and abandonment of online social networks, where adoption is analogous to infection, and abandonment is analogous to recovery. They modify the traditional SIR model with demography, so that both infectious and noninfectious abandonment dynamics are incorporated into the model. More precisely, they consider two types of abandonment: (i) infectious abandonment resulting from interactions between an abandoned and an adopted member, and (ii) noninfectious abandonment which is not influenced by an abandoned member. In addition, they study the existence and uniqueness of nonnegative solutions of the model, as well as the existence and stability of its equilibria. They establish a nonnegative threshold quantity R 0 α for the model and show that if R 0 α 1 , the user-free equilibrium E 0 is locally asymptotically stable. In addition, they find a region of attraction for E 0 . If R 0 α > 1 , they prove that the model has a unique user-prevailing equilibrium E ∗ that is globally asymptotically stable. Their stability results also show that the infectious abandonment dynamics do not contribute to the stability of the user-free and user-prevailing equilibria, and that it only affects the location of the user-prevailing equilibrium. The Jacobian matrix technique and the Lyapunov function method are used to show the stability of the equilibria. They perform numerical simulations to verify these theoretical results. Finally, they conduct a case study of fitting their model to some historical Instagram user data to show the effectiveness of the model.
Association between maternal height and mode of delivery in nulliparous Japanese women

AIM The primary aim of this study was to examine the association between maternal height and mode of delivery in nulliparous Japanese women. The secondary aim was to examine the association between maternal height and maternal and neonatal morbidities. METHODS This retrospective cohort study included women who gave birth at Osaka Women's and Children's Hospital, a tertiary perinatal center in Japan, from January 2015 to December 2017. Nulliparous Japanese women with singleton gestation, who went into labor at term were included in the study. The primary outcome was mode of delivery, and the secondary outcomes were maternal and neonatal morbidities. The relationships between maternal height and the outcomes were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression analysis adjusted for potential confounders. Maternal height was categorized into five groups with 5-cm increments for the analysis. RESULTS A total of 1593 women were analyzed in this study. Shorter women had higher rate of cesarean delivery (CD) than taller women. There were no significant differences in the rates of operative vaginal delivery, maternal morbidity and neonatal morbidity among the maternal-height groups. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidential interval) of maternal heights of <150 cm, 150-154 cm, 160-164 cm and ≥165 cm for CD, compared with a maternal height of 155-159 cm, were 3.56 (1.79-7.09), 1.68 (1.06-2.64), 0.63 (0.40-1.00) and 0.57 (0.30-1.01), respectively. CONCLUSION Shorter nulliparous Japanese women were more likely to undergo intrapartum CD. However, the rates of maternal and neonatal morbidities in shorter women were similar to those in taller women.
Comparison of the Physical Activity Measured by a Consumer Wearable Activity Tracker and That Measured by Self-Report: Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Health eHeart Study

Background: Commercially acquired wearable activity trackers such as the Fitbit provide objective, accurate measurements of physically active time and step counts, but it is unclear whether these measurements are more clinically meaningful than self-reported physical activity. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare self-reported physical activity to Fitbit-measured step counts and then determine which is a stronger predictor of BMI by using data collected over the same period reflecting comparable physical activities. Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis of data collected by the Health eHeart Study, a large mobile health study of cardiovascular health and disease. Adults who linked commercially acquired Fitbits used in free-living conditions with the Health eHeart Study and completed an International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) between 2013 and 2019 were enrolled (N=1498). Fitbit step counts were used to quantify time by activity intensity in a manner comparable to the IPAQ classifications of total active time and time spent being sedentary, walking, or doing moderate activities or vigorous activities. Fitbit steps per day were computed as a measure of the overall activity for exploratory comparisons with IPAQ-measured overall activity (metabolic equivalent of task [MET]-h/wk). Measurements of physical activity were directly compared by Spearman rank correlation. Strengths of associations with BMI for Fitbit versus IPAQ measurements were compared using multivariable robust regression in the subset of participants with BMI and covariates measured. Results: Correlations between synchronous paired measurements from Fitbits and the IPAQ ranged in strength from weak to moderate (0.09-0.48). In the subset with BMI and covariates measured (n=586), Fitbit-derived predictors were generally stronger predictors of BMI than self-reported predictors. For example, an additional hour of Fitbit-measured vigorous activity per week was associated with nearly a full point reduction in BMI (–0.84 kg/m2, 95% CI –1.35 to –0.32) in adjusted analyses, whereas the association between self-reported vigorous activity measured by IPAQ and BMI was substantially smaller in magnitude (–0.17 kg/m2, 95% CI –0.34 to –0.00; P<.001 versus Fitbit) and was dominated by the Fitbit-derived predictor when compared head-to-head in a single adjusted multivariable model. Similar patterns of associations with BMI, with Fitbit dominating self-report, were seen for moderate activity and total active time and in comparisons between overall Fitbit steps per day and IPAQ MET-h/wk on standardized scales. Conclusions: Fitbit-measured physical activity was more strongly associated with BMI than self-reported physical activity, particularly for moderate activity, vigorous activity, and summary measures of total activity. Consumer-marketed wearable activity trackers such as the Fitbit may be useful for measuring health-relevant physical activity in clinical practice and research.
A 79-Year-Old Female with Altered Mental Status and Anemia.

The authors declare that there are no disclosures or conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this manuscript. We did not receive any financial support and have no financial interests which could create a potential conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest with regard to the work.
Promoting Ethical Payments in Human Challenge Studies Conducted in LMICs: Are We Asking the Right Questions?

The paper by Lynch et al. (2021) raises interesting ethical questions regarding whether and how much SARS-CoV-2 Human Challenge Studies (HCS) participants should be paid. We appreciate the timely e...
Profiles: A Pilgrim’s Progress: Decherd Turner, 1922-2002

A biographical profile of Decherd Turner, director of the Bridwell Library at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX from 1950-80, and director of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas in Austin from 1980-88. This profile focuses on Turner's remarkable personality and his accomplishments in building the special collections of these institutions.
Crystal Structure of Human Class mu Glutathione Transferase GSTM2-2: Effects of Lattice Packing on Conformational Heterogeneity

The structures of three crystal forms of the class mu human glutathione transferase GSTM2-2 have been determined. X-ray phase information was obtained independently from molecular replacement and from anomalous scattering by a single isomorphous derivative. One crystal form contains a single monomer in the asymmetric unit and has been refined to 1.85 A with an overall R factor of 22.6%. The second form contains a single dimer in the asymmetric unit and has been refined to 3.5 A with an R factor of 20.7%. The third form contains two dimers in the asymmetric unit and has been refined to 3.0 A with an R factor of 25.0%. Although all three crystal forms were grown from solutions that contained glutathione-dinitrobenzene, electron density can only be seen for the glutathione portion of the ligand. The first 202 residues in the seven crystallographically independent monomers of GSTM2-2 are essentially identical in structure. However, heterogeneity in the conformation of the side-chain of Tyr115 is observed in the different monomers. The tertiary structure of residues 1-202 is similar to that of the corresponding region in the class mu isoform of glutathione transferase from rat, GST3-3 (Ji et al. (1992), Biochemistry, 31, 10169-10184). However, significant differences in the conformation of the two enzymes have been observed in the region of the active site that binds hydrophobic substrates. These differences include a 2 A shift in the carboxy terminus of a helix, and significant heterogeneity in the conformation of the last 15 residues of the carboxy terminus. The conformation and degree of disorder of the last 15 residues correlates with the extent of protein-protein contacts within the unit cell.
A Microfabricated Rotary Pump

Because microfluidic devices operate at low Reynolds number, many fluidic operations are limited by diffusion. We have developed a microfabricated rotary pump and demonstrated that active mixing can be used to overcome the slow diffusion process in two applications. First, we showed that mixing of reagents could be efficiently accomplished for objects of a wide range of diffusion constants. Second, we showed how reaction kinetics of a surface-binding assay can be enhanced by nearly two orders of magnitude.
Cyanide Metabolism in Higher Plants IV. PURIFICATION AND PROPERTIES OF THE β-CYANOALANINE SYNTHASE OF BLUE LUPINE

Abstract β-Cyanoalanine synthase, an enzyme which catalyzes the formation of β-cyanoalanine from l-cysteine and cyanide, has been isolated from the mitochondria of 10-day-old etiolated blue lupine seedlings. The enzyme can be assayed by measuring colorimetrically the sulfide that is also formed during the reaction. A partially purified fraction has been obtained with a specific activity that is 1700 times higher than that of an extract of whole seedling acetone powders. The purification procedure started with an extract of a mitochondrial acetone powder and involved the following steps: MnCl2 treatment, 0 to 80% (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, 38 to 52% (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, 50 to 75% acetone precipitation, Sephadex G-100 column chromatography, and preparative gel electrophoresis. An over-all yield of about 10% was achieved with an 140-fold increase in the specific activity over that of the initial extract of the mitochondrial acetone powder. β-Cyanoalanine synthase has a pH optimum of about 9.5 and a molecular weight of about 53,000 calculated from its elution volume on Sephadex G-100. The enzyme is stable and requires no added cofactors in the reaction mixture. The Km values for l-cysteine and cyanide are 2.5 mm and 0.55 mm, respectively, in the reaction forming β-cyanoalanine. The reverse reaction between β-cyanoalanine and sulfide does not occur under the conditions of the forward reaction. The enzyme is highly specific for l-cysteine with O-acetyl-l-serine being the only other substrate that will react with cyanide. However, the rate of β-cyanoalanine formation with O-acetyl-l-serine is only 5.4% of the rate observed with cysteine. The enzyme will also catalyze an exchange of sulfide into cysteine at one-half the rate of β-cyanoalanine formation. In addition, the purified enzyme will form cysteine from O-acetyl-l-serine and sulfide, but at only one-twenty-fifth of the rate of β-cyanoalanine formation. Methanethiol can replace cyanide as a substrate for the enzyme and in this case S-methylcysteine is formed. However the reaction rate is about one-sixth the rate of β-cyanoalanine formation with all substrates at 2.5 mm. During the purification it was also shown that O-acetylserine sulfhydrase, the enzyme that apparently synthesizes cysteine from O-acetylserine and sulfide in the blue lupine, is a soluble enzyme. This protein has an approximate molecular weight of 41,000 as judged from its elution volume on Sephadex G-100. O-Acetylserine sulfhydrase can also form β-cyanoalanine from O-acetylserine and cyanide; the rate for this reaction, however, is only one-tenth the rate of cysteine formation.
Boolean Algebra, Exponent, Logarithm

The traditional notation for the implication a →b is not convenient enough for our purposes. In this chapter, a new representation of implicational structures is described. While the current notation and the usual one are equally adequate for doing Boolean algebra, the new notation lends itself usefully to a semantic interpretation underlying the models described in this book.
SIFT Based Graphical SLAM on a Packbot

We present an implementation of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) that uses infrared (IR) camera images collected at 10 Hz from a Packbot robot. The Packbot has a number of challenging characteristics with regard to vision based SLAM. The robot travels on tracks which causes the odometry to be poor especially while turning. The IMU is of relatively low quality as well making the drift in the motion prediction greater than on conventional robots. In addition, the very low placement of the camera and its fixed orientation looking forward is not ideal for estimating motion from the images. Several novel ideas are tested here. Harris corners are extracted from every 5 th frame and used as image features for our SLAM. Scale Invariant Feature Transform, SIFT, descriptors are formed from each of these. These are used to match image features over these 5 frame intervals. Lucas-Kanade tracking is done to find corresponding pixels in the frames between the SIFT frames. This allows a substantial computational savings over doing SIFT matching every frame. The epipolar constraints between all these matches that are implied by the dead-reckoning are used to further test the matches and eliminate poor features. Finally, the features are initialized on the map at once using an inverse depth parameterization which eliminates the delay in initialization of the 3D point features.
Law and Institutions

The rule of law means absence of arbitrary power on the part of the ruling group; subjection of all citizens to the same laws; stable and credible rules; and democratic elections. The absence of discretionary power means that no rule is to be enacted with the intent of helping or harming particular individuals. Equality before the law means that all citizens, including members of the ruling group, are subject to the same laws administered by independent courts. Stable and credible rules enhance social stability. Democratic elections mean that the ruling elite can be replaced by a simple majority at regularly scheduled elections. An implication is that the political elite has incentives to satisfy preferences of the median voter on key issues.
Knowledge Management Practices at Goethe institute libraries Worldwide

This paper presents a case study of the present Knowledge Management practices at the Goethe Institute (GI) Libraries or Information centres. GI Libraries are serving as Public Libraries and because of their dynamic features, they invite everyone from all over the world to get information and knowledge about German culture, politics, society, and education. In this paper, I have studied explicit and tacit knowledge practices in GI Libraries. This paper mainly focuses on the concept of KM at GI Libraries in managing the knowledge and information in the digital environment. Research methodology obtained in this paper about theoretical and technical KM with the implementations of WEB 2.0 as a KM tool used by the GI Libraries are totally through the Email Questionnaire from GI libraries and GI websites. This paper also shows and explains how tacit and explicit knowledge are managed and distributed under the umbrella of social networking tools, WEB 2.0 Technology, and other networking tracks by Goethe- Institute Libraries. The implementation of KM concept and practices at GI has the potential of improving customer services by quickly providing new authentic information to communities of different nations. GI Libraries and their librarians convert the intellectual assets of workers and staff members in the organization into higher productive forces.
I Thought What

Z thought the gun was unloaded." "I didn't think the ice had thawed." "I didn't think he'd play with the gun." These are statements recurring in newspaper headlines across the country. We continue to read these death horror stories and wonder why. The puzzling thing about such stories is the implication that thinking and reasoning played a part in the tragedies. Did the child think before pulling the trigger and putting a bullet through his sister's throat? Did the father think before he sent his son sliding across the lake, resulting in a drowning because the ice had thawed? Did the mother of the eighteen-month-old infant really think that he wouldn't bother a gun as he quickly pulled the trigger, killing his grandmother? The "critical thinking" movement in the educational arena provides an excellent vehicle for eradicating these nonthinking "I thought" processes. However, improving the "I thoughts" will be effective only if the following happen:
Insect Cell Culture, Protein Expression

Introduction Baculoviruses Classification Replication The Culture System Choosing a Cell Line Choosing a Medium Preparing a Recombinant Baculovirus Production Protocols Choosing a Bioreactor Establishing Culture Conditions Acknowledgments Bibliography Keywords: baculoviruses; expression vectors; glycosylation; insect cell lines; insect glycoproteins; nutrient requirements; oxygen requirements; protein processing; rDNA; recombinant proteins
Case Studies to Connect Disciplines for Water Management Education

AbstractThe discipline of water management offers important tools for solving important human and environmental problems, but its many diverse scenarios defy classification and lead to abstract treatment of problem types by different disciplines. The resulting generalized approaches to education may seem detached from reality or to lack academic rigor. Case studies offer a bridge between abstraction and specific approaches by providing context to the discussion of management principles. Changes in the use of case studies for water management education over the last two decades are reviewed to show how they address multiple scales and issues. Although cases are proliferating, their diversity and lack of standards inhibit their use for instruction in water management, which is itself a scattered discipline without consensus standards. Many cases are simply descriptions of dilemmas, situations, and ongoing projects of interest to the case writers. Most sources are not impartial but advocate specific agendas....
The Physiological Significance of the Creatine Phosphate Shuttle

The creatine phosphate shuttle1 is a mechanism found in highly developed cells which carries out an intercommunication process to signal the demand for energy and to transport the energy produced in response to the signal to those sites where energy is being utilized.
Persistent Infections and Immunity in Ruminants to Arthropod-Borne Bacteria in the Family Anaplasmataceae

Tick-transmitted gram-negative bacteria in the family Anaplasmataceae in the order Rickettsiales cause persistent infection and morbidity and mortality in ruminants. Whereas Anaplasma marginale infection is restricted to ruminants, Anaplasma phagocytophilum is promiscuous and, in addition to causing disease in sheep and cattle, notably causes disease in humans, horses, and dogs. Although the two pathogens invade and replicate in distinct blood cells (erythrocytes and neutrophils, respectively), they have evolved similar mechanisms of antigenic variation in immunodominant major surface protein 2 (MSP2) and MSP2(P44) that result in immune evasion and persistent infection. Furthermore, these bacteria have evolved distinct strategies to cause immune dysfunction, characterized as an antigen-specific CD4 T-cell exhaustion for A. marginale and a generalized immune suppression for A. phagocytophilum, that also facilitate persistence. This indicates highly adapted strategies of Anaplasma spp. to both suppress protective immune responses and evade those that do develop. However, conserved subdominant antigens are potential targets for immunization.
Aerial photography: A diversified tool

Abstract An aerial photograph is a vital and useful tool and may contain more than 8 × 109 bits of information. In the past 100 years aerial photography has advanced to a highly sophisticated state. Although regarded as the most conventional and standard of the remote sensors, optimum use and application of aerial photography has yet to be fully reached. The deductive process of photo-interpretation is a multidisciplinary “tool science” that demands the viewer look at all aspects of the terrain and extract data for his particular needs and applications. An aerial photograph's overall view provides the interpreter with a perception of space and areal comparisons rarely available by other means. With continuing research and application of photographic and interpretation techniques, use of aerial photography in the visible and near visible ranges (approximately 350 to 1200 millimicrons) is bound to increase as more individuals realize the benefits. The only limitation is man's imagination and his ability to obtain and exploit imagery.
SIZE AND ENVIRONMENTAL PREDICTABILITY FOR SALAMANDERS.

As empirical studies of life-history increase in number, relatively simple models of life-history patterns are being modified to incorporate more dimensions. For example, life-history features associated with rand K-strategists (cf. Pianka, 1970) were originally postulated to be a result of the relative saturation of the environment by competing organisms (MacArthur and Wilson, 1967). But other factors such as the age specificity of mortality induced by environmental fluctuations or predation (Murphy, 1968; Schaffer, 1974), the body size of the animal relative to environmental stability (Southwood et al., 1974; Maiorana, 1974, 1976) and phylogenetic or behavioral constraints such as parental care (Maiorana, 1974, 1976) can select for a life-history pattern opposite to that expected from the degree of saturation of the environment with competing species. Also, several environmental factors may either interact to produce intermediate patterns or act together to produce the same pattern. Different groups of animals with similar life-history patterns, living in the same habitat, may have had quite different selective pressures acting during their evolution. Defining the selective pressures that have been important in the evolution of a particular life-history pattern may thus be difficult. Examining life-history from a phylogenetic perspective may clarify its evolution when both the ancestral and derived life-histories and environments are
Talin controls integrin activation.

Tight, dynamic control of the affinity of integrin adhesion receptors for their extracellular ligands (integrin activation) is essential for the development and functioning of multicellular organisms. Integrin activation is controlled by intracellular signals that, through their action on integrin cytoplasmic domains, induce conformational changes in integrin extracellular domains, resulting in increased affinity for the ligand. Recent results indicate that the binding of talin, a major actin-binding protein, to integrin β tails represents a final common step in integrin activation pathways. The major integrin-binding site lies within the talin FERM (four-point-one, ezrin, radixin, moesin) domain, and binding occurs via a variant of the classical PTB domain (phosphotyrosine-binding domain)–NPxY interaction. Formation of this talin–integrin complex plays a critical role in integrin activation, since mutations, in either talin or integrin β tails, which disrupt complex formation, inhibit integrin activation. Furthermore, use of RNA interference to knockdown talin expression selectively reveals that talin is essential for integrin activation in response to physiological agonists. Thus the association of the cytoskeletal protein talin with integrin β cytoplasmic domains is a critical step during integrin activation, and regulation of this step may be a final common element in the signalling pathways that control integrin activation.
A new isoform of steroid receptor coactivator-1 is crucial for pathogenic progression of endometriosis

Endometriosis is considered to be an estrogen-dependent inflammatory disease, but its etiology is unclear. Thus far, a mechanistic role for steroid receptor coactivators (SRCs) in the progression of endometriosis has not been elucidated. An SRC-1-null mouse model reveals that the mouse SRC-1 gene has an essential role in endometriosis progression. Notably, a previously unidentified 70-kDa SRC-1 proteolytic isoform is highly elevated both in the endometriotic tissue of mice with surgically induced endometriosis and in endometriotic stromal cells biopsied from patients with endometriosis compared to normal endometrium. Tnf⁻/⁻ and Mmp9⁻/⁻ mice with surgically induced endometriosis showed that activation of tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-α)-induced matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP9) activity mediates formation of the 70-kDa SRC-1 C-terminal isoform in endometriotic mouse tissue. In contrast to full-length SRC-1, the endometriotic 70-kDa SRC-1 C-terminal fragment prevents TNF-α-mediated apoptosis in human endometrial epithelial cells and causes the epithelial-mesenchymal transition and the invasion of human endometrial cells that are hallmarks of progressive endometriosis. Collectively, the newly identified TNF-α-MMP9-SRC-1 isoform functional axis promotes pathogenic progression of endometriosis.
THE FOCUSING OF VACUUM FLUCTUATIONS

The quantization of the scalar and electromagnetic fields in the presence of a parabolic mirror is developed in the context of a geometric optics approximation. We calculate the mean squared scalar and electric fields near the focal line of a parabolic cylindrical mirror. These quantities are found to grow as inverse powers of the distance from the focus. We give a combination of analytic and numerical results for the mean squared fields. In particular, we find that the mean squared electric field can be either negative or positive, depending upon the choice of parameters. The case of a negative mean squared electric field corresponds to a repulsive Van der Waals force on an atom near the focus, and to a region of negative energy density. Similarly, a positive value corresponds to an attractive force and a possibility of atom trapping in the vicinity of the focus.
An adaptive concurrent multiscale method for microstructured elastic solids

Abstract The present paper introduces a concurrent adaptive multiscale methodology for elasticity problems in which macroscopic deformation strongly interact with microscopic deformation fields at the scale of the microstructure. This situation occurs in a variety of important situations such as ductile fracture, shear banding and when sharp discontinuities are present in the material domain. Our analysis starts from the idea that numerical simulations must ensures that numerical accuracy is maximum while the error from homogenization is minimum. While the first usually implies that element size must be refined, the second implies that elements may not be smaller than the representative volume elements (RVEs) of the microstructure. To accommodate these two conditions, a finite element method is introduced such that continuum elements can be replaced by explicit RVEs through properly defined kinetic conditions reminiscent to those used in classical homogenization. When combined with adaptive refinement, the methodology provides a flexible numerical method in which both continuum and microstructural descriptions can naturally coexist within a single simulation. We show, through various examples that the proposed framework addresses the important issue of reaching the optimal modeling accuracy for a minimal computational cost.
Imaging the migration pathways for O2, CO, NO, and Xe inside myoglobin

Myoglobin (Mb) is perhaps the most studied protein, experimentally and theoretically. Despite the wealth of known details regarding the gas migration processes inside Mb, there exists no fully conclusive picture of these pathways. We address this deficiency by presenting a complete map of all the gas migration pathways inside Mb for small gas ligands (O2, NO, CO, and Xe). To accomplish this, we introduce a computational approach for studying gas migration, which we call implicit ligand sampling. Rather than simulating actual gas migration events, we infer the location of gas migration pathways based on a free-energy perturbation approach applied to simulations of Mb's dynamical fluctuations at equilibrium in the absence of ligand. The method provides complete three-dimensional maps of the potential of mean force of gas ligand placement anywhere inside a protein-solvent system. From such free-energy maps we identify each gas docking site, the pathways between these sites, to the heme and to the external solution. Our maps match previously known features of these pathways in Mb, but also point to the existence of additional exits from the protein matrix in regions that are not easily probed by experiment. We also compare the pathway maps of Mb for different gas ligands and for different animal species.
Is There a Problem With Enhancement

This article examines arguments concerning enhancement of human persons recently presented by Michael Sandel (2004). In the first section, I briefly describe some of his arguments. In section two, I consider whether, as Sandel claims, the desire for mastery motivates enhancement and whether such a desire could be grounds for its impermissibility. Section three considers how Sandel draws the distinction between treatment and enhancement, and the relation to nature that he thinks each expresses. The fourth section examines Sandel's views about parent/child relations and also how enhancement would affect distributive justice and the duty to aid. In conclusion, I briefly offer an alternative suggestion as to why enhancement may be troubling and consider what we could safely enhance.
Modernity, Postmodernism, and Pragmatist Inquiry: An Introduction

Postmodernism has been around for decades now, but it was not until the 1980s that social scientists in the United States started paying this intellectual current serious attention. Reasons for such a tardy and decidedly half-hearted reception are several. Postmodernists do not look kindly at the social sciences, accusing the latter of aiding the extant powers and furthering domination in society. They also question the philosophical foundations on which social scientists built their edifice-the very possibility of sound communication, objective reporting, valid generalizations, and theoretical knowledge. Characteristically, symbolic interactionists were among the first in the social science community to join issue with postmodernism (e.g., Farberman 1980,1991,1992; Denzin l986,1989,1990a, 1990b, 1990c, 1991,1992; Clough l989,1992a, 1992b; Krug and Laurel 1989; Katovich and MacMurray 1991; Kotarba 1991; Manning 1991, 1993; Fontana and Preston 1 990; Fontana 1 991 ; Shalin 1 991 ; Young 1991 ; Fee 1992). Their somewhat marginal position in academia might have something to do with this. The issues that symbolic interactionism has highlighted since its inception and that assured its maverick status in American sociology bear some uncanny resemblance to the themes championed by postmodernist thinkers. Thus, interactionists have rejected the subject-object dualism, spectator's theory of knowledge, and correspondence theory of truth, opting instead for the subject-object relativity, participant observation, and perspectival approach to truth. The postmodernist critique of formal logic, positivism, and scientism also strikes a responsive cord with interactionist sociologists, as does
The JLab high power ERL light source

Abstract A new THz/IR/UV photon source at Jefferson Lab is the first of a new generation of light sources based on an Energy-Recovered, (superconducting) Linac (ERL). The machine has a 160 MeV electron beam and an average current of 10 mA in 75 MHz repetition rate hundred femtosecond bunches. These electron bunches pass through a magnetic chicane and therefore emit synchrotron radiation. For wavelengths longer than the electron bunch the electrons radiate coherently a broadband THz ∼ half cycle pulse whose average brightness is >5 orders of magnitude higher than synchrotron IR sources. Previous measurements showed 20 W of average power extracted [Carr, et al., Nature 420 (2002) 153]. The new facility offers simultaneous synchrotron light from the visible through the FIR along with broadband THz production of 100 fs pulses with >200 W of average power. The FELs also provide record-breaking laser power [Neil, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 84 (2000) 662]: up to 10 kW of average power in the IR from 1 to 14 μm in 400 fs pulses at up to 74.85 MHz repetition rates and soon will produce similar pulses of 300–1000 nm light at up to 3 kW of average power from the UV FEL. These ultrashort pulses are ideal for maximizing the interaction with material surfaces. The optical beams are Gaussian with nearly perfect beam quality. See www.jlab.org/FEL for details of the operating characteristics; a wide variety of pulse train configurations are feasible from 10 ms long at high repetition rates to continuous operation. The THz and IR system has been commissioned. The UV system is to follow in 2005. The light is transported to user laboratories for basic and applied research. Additional lasers synchronized to the FEL are also available. Past activities have included production of carbon nanotubes, studies of vibrational relaxation of interstitial hydrogen in silicon, pulsed laser deposition and ablation, nitriding of metals, and energy flow in proteins. This paper will present the status of the system and discuss some of the discoveries we have made concerning the physics performance, design optimization, and operational limitations of such a first generation high power ERL light source.
Travel Medicine: Preventing Injuries to Children

Injuries to children while traveling is an important topic in travel medicine. Traffic injuries and drowning are the first and second leading causes of death in children who travel, and are a far greater risk than infectious and chronic diseases. Effective prevention strategies are available, particularly for travelers who find themselves in unfamiliar environments and who may be unaware of the potential risks to their family. Despite greater understanding and increased research efforts in this field, data on the magnitude and severity of injuries are still incomplete or unreliable in many countries, but some general advice to parents, children, and adolescents can help keep them safe while traveling. Language: en
Two-sided matching with spatially differentiated agents ☆

Abstract We consider the problem of assigning sellers and buyers into stable matches. The agents are located along a line and the match surplus function is decreasing in the distance between partners. We investigate the structure of stable assignments under both non-transferable utility (NTU) and transferable utility (TU). If the surplus function is sufficiently convex, the TU-stable assignments are a subset of the NTU-stable assignments. Furthermore, if trade is restricted to uni-directional flows the unique TU-stable assignment coincides with the unique NTU-stable assignment for every convex surplus function. We also examine the graph-theoretic representation of stable assignments and show that the graph structure can be exploited to compute surplus shares in TU-stable assignments.
Disulfide-Reduced ALS Variants of Cu, Zn Superoxide Dismutase Exhibit Increased Populations of Unfolded Species.

Abstract Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) is a dimeric metal-binding enzyme responsible for the dismutation of toxic superoxide to hydrogen peroxide and oxygen in cells. Mutations at dozens of sites in SOD1 induce amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal gain-of-function neurodegenerative disease whose molecular basis is unknown. To obtain insights into effects of the mutations on the folded and unfolded populations of immature monomeric forms whose aggregation or self-association may be responsible for ALS, the thermodynamic and kinetic folding properties of a set of disulfide-reduced and disulfide-oxidized Zn-free and Zn-bound stable monomeric SOD1 variants were compared to properties of the wild-type (WT) protein. The most striking effect of the mutations on the monomer stability was observed for the disulfide-reduced metal-free variants. Whereas the WT and S134N monomers are > 95% folded at neutral pH and 37 °C, A4V, L38V, G93A, and L106V ranged from 50% to ∼ 90% unfolded. The reduction of the disulfide bond was also found to reduce the apparent Zn affinity of the WT monomer by 750-fold, into the nanomolar range, where it may be unable to compete for free Zn in the cell. With the exception of the S134N metal-binding variant, the Zn affinity of disulfide-oxidized SOD1 monomers showed little sensitivity to amino acid replacements. These results suggest a model for SOD1 aggregation where the constant synthesis of ALS variants of SOD1 on ribosomes provides a pool of species in which the increased population of the unfolded state may favor aggregation over productive folding to the native dimeric state.
Boundary-spanning and information transfer: The influence of external change

Abstract This paper explores the extent to which environmental change influences the ability of the individual to transfer information internal and external to the organizational setting. Data from professionals within 19 US governmental agencies were examined to investigate the impacts of job satisfaction, environmental turbulence, interorganizational conflict and resource acquisition as factors independently influencing boundary-spanning. Results indicate that perceptions of external politics and programme growth are positively associated with boundary-spanning activities while perceptions of work climate and interorganizational conflict have a negligible influence.
Query-by-Gaming

Spatio-temporal querying and retrieval is a challenging task due to the lack of simple user interfaces for building queries despite the availability of powerful indexing structures and querying languages. In this paper, we propose Query-by-Gaming scheme for spatio-temporal querying that can benefit from gaming controller for building queries. By using Query-by-Gaming, we introduce our spatio-temporal querying and retrieval system named as GStar to interactively build subsequent spatio-temporal queries to determine if a state is directly reachable from current state and eventual spatio-temporal queries to know whether a spatial state is reachable from a current state. Queries are built using features of gaming controller by displaying the original video frames rather than on a graphical interface using a mouse or a keyboard. GStar has three main components: building the query, searching and retrieval of clips, and displaying query results. The queries are applied to an indexing structure called semantic sequence state graph (S3G) and results of the query are displayed dynamically to provide timely feedback to the user. Experimental results and user interface are provided for a tennis video database. Users define desired game state (player and ball position) using an interactive interface at multiple points in time and GStar automatically retrieves all rallies that contain both states. Finally, the user interface evaluation comparing gamepad-based interface and mouse interface for spatio-temporal querying has been studied. Spatio-temporal querying is accomplished using Query-by-Gaming.Spatio-temporal queries are built as if playing a game.Queries are built interactively and incrementally by presenting actual video objects.Next and eventually operators in linear temporal logic are supported for querying.
Energy Spectrum of Atomic Electrons Ejected in Electron-Capture Decay of Fe 55

The shape of the energy spectrum of orbital electrons ejected from ${\mathrm{Fe}}^{55}$ during nuclear decay by electron capture has been measured from 28 to 190 keV (the theoretical end point is at 218 keV). The electrons were detected in a proportional counter or in a semiconductor particle detector, in coincidence with Mn $K$ x rays. The electron ejection probability decreases by a factor of ${10}^{3}$ over the investigated energy range. The shape of the measured spectrum differs somewhat from theoretical predictions, in that the ejection probability falls off more slowly with energy. The discrepancy becomes more pronounced with decreasing energy. The contributions of $L$-electron ejection are considered.
Crystallographic texture, anisotropic yield surfaces and forming limits of sheet metals

A concise review of different proposed phenomenological equations that describe the behavior of sheet metals and their influence on theoretical forming limits is presented. Also, geometrical features of yield surface shapes necessary to achieve high formability are discussed. An existing predictive model (the model of Marciniak and coworkers) of localized plastic flow in sheet material was redeveloped to take into account any anisotropic yield function together with isotropic work hardening. The main parameter of this new model is the yield surface shape. Forming limit diagrams (FLDs) were computed using yield surfaces described either by a phenomenological equation or by the procedure of Taylor/Bishop and Hill for polycrystalline aggregates. In the last case, three-dimensional yield surfaces (σxx, σyy, σxy) were generated in order to calculate the entire FLD. Some examples are given, including the case of an aluminum alloy, where the crystallite orientation distribution function is the basic input to the model.
Skin effect of on-chip copper interconnects on electromigration

Abstract A simple model is derived to evaluate skin effect of on-chip copper interconnects on electromigration. The result gives the range of frequency in which skin effect on electromigration need to be taken into consideration.
Age-related differences in reproductive behaviour of male Mandarin Ducks

Dabbling ducks which breed in their first summer (second calendar year) show reduced productivity compared with older conspecifics. Can this be related to the drake's inexperience of courtship and fertilisation?
A Maximum Entropy Approach to Recovering Information from Multinomial Response Data

Abstract The classical maximum entropy (ME) approach to estimating the unknown parameters of a multinomial discrete choice problem, which is equivalent to the maximum likelihood multinomial logit (ML) estimator, is generalized. The generalized maximum entropy (GME) model includes noise terms in the multinomial information constraints. Each noise term is modeled as the mean of a finite set of a priori known points in the interval [−1,1] with unknown probabilities where no parametric assumptions about the error distribution are made. A GME model for the multinomial probabilities and for the distributions associated with the noise terms is derived by maximizing the joint entropy of multinomial and noise distributions, under the assumption of independence. The GME formulation reduces to the ME in the limit as the sample grows large or when no noise is included in the entropy maximization. Further, even though the GME and the logit estimators are conceptually different, the dual GME model is related to a gener...
Development of Self-regulation Abilities as Predictors of Psychological Adjustment Across the First Year of College

The first year of college can be a difficult developmental transition for many students, although it is also a time of personal growth and maturation. Little is known about how self-regulation abilities mature across this transition, nor whether maturation predicts better adjustment across the first year. We investigated the development of three self-regulation abilities (constructive thinking, emotional regulation, and mastery) and relations of this development to adjustment (depression, anxiety, and stress) in a sample of 162 first-year students. Data were gathered at two time points: just prior to their attendance at a large public northeastern university and then again at the end of the first year. Results indicated that, on average, students did not increase in their constructive thinking or emotion regulation abilities and actually decreased in their sense of mastery. In bivariate analyses, increases in all three self-regulation abilities were related to better adjustment across the year, effects that remained when examined simultaneously in multiple regression analyses. Further, analyses showed that change in self-regulation abilities, rather than mean levels per se, predicted changes in adjustment over the first year. Implications for interventions to assist students in the development of these self-regulation skills in regard to adjustment are discussed.
Mouseless: a computer mouse as small as invisible

Mouseless is a novel input device that provides the familiarity of interaction of a physical computer mouse without requiring a real hardware mouse. It consists of an IR laser beam and an IR camera, both of which are embedded in a computer. Mouseless proposes a number of novel additional gestural interactions while supporting all the conventional computer mouse interactions. In this short paper, we present the design and implementation of various Mouseless prototype systems.