cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
In Situ Identification of Reaction Intermediates and Mechanistic Understandings of Methane Oxidation over Hematite: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Study.

Effective methane utilization for either clean power generation or value-added chemical production has been a subject of growing attention worldwide for decades, yet challenges persist mostly in re...
A Theory of Classification and Evolution of Technologies Within a Generalized Darwinism

This paper here proposes a classification of technologies based on taxonomic characteristic of interaction between technologies that is an under-studied field of research in economics of technical change and management of technology. The proposed classification of technologies, in a broad analogy with evolutionary ecology of parasites, within a theoretical framework of Generalized Darwinism, is: 1) parasitic technologies, 2) commensal technologies, 3) mutualistic technologies, 4) symbiotic technologies. This theory here suggests the property of mutual benefaction from interaction between different technologies and the theorem of not independence of any technology to explain and predict characteristics and evolutionary pathways of technologies over time. Overall, then, this study may be useful for bringing a new perspective in economics of innovation to categorize and analyse the dynamic interaction between technologies that can be a ground work for development of more sophisticated concepts to explain evolution of technology and aspects of technological change in human society.
A hybrid service selection optimization algorithm in internet of things

With the scale of Internet of Things (IoT) continues to increase, it brings big challenges for service selection in a large-scale IoT. For solving this problem, a service selection method based on the enhanced genetic algorithm is proposed in this paper. To decrease the scale of service selection, this paper uses the lexicographic optimization approach and quality of service (QoS) constraint relaxation technique to find the candidate service with height QoS. Then, the IoT service selection problem is transformed into a single-objective optimization problem adopting a simple weighting method, and the final composite service meeting the user's QoS needs are obtained from the candidate service. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can efficiently and quickly achieve a composite service satisfying user's QoS needs, and is more suitable for solving the service composite problem in large-scale IoT services.
Double electron-attachment equation-of-motion coupled-cluster methods with up to 4-particle–2-hole excitations: improved implementation and application to singlet–triplet gaps in ortho-, meta-, and para-benzyne isomers

Efficient new codes enabling double electron-attachment equation-of-motion coupled-cluster (DEA-EOMCC) calculations with up to 4-particle–2-hole (4p-2h) excitations, treated with active orbitals, h...
Influence of Lumbar Lordosis on Posterior Rod Strain in Long-Segment Construct During Biomechanical Loading: A Cadaveric Study.

OBJECTIVE The lordotic shape of the lumbar spine differs substantially between individuals. Measuring and recording strain during spinal biomechanical tests is an effective method to infer stresses on spinal implants and predict failure mechanisms. The geometry of the spine may have a significant effect on the resultant force distribution, thereby directly affecting rod strain. METHODS Seven fresh-frozen cadaveric specimens (T12-sacrum) underwent standard (7.5 Nm) nondestructive sagittal plane tests: flexion and extension. The conditions tested were intact and pedicle screws and rods (PSR) at L1-sacrum. The posterior right rod was instrumented with strain gauges between L3-4 (index level) and the L5-S1 pedicle screw. All specimens underwent lateral radiographs before testing. Lordotic angles encompassing different levels (L5-S1, L4-S1, L3-S1, L2-S1, and L1-S1) were measured and compared with rod strain. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation analyses. RESULTS Strong positive correlations were observed between lordosis and posterior rod strain across different conditions. The L3-S1 lordotic angle in the unloaded intact condition correlated with peak rod strain at L3-4 with PSR during flexion (R = 0.76, p = 0.04). The same angle in the unloaded PSR condition correlated with peak strain in the PSR condition during extension (R = -0.79, p = 0.04). The unloaded intact L2-S1 lordotic angle was significantly correlated with rod strain at L3-4 in the PSR condition during flexion (R = 0.85, p = 0.02) and extension (R = -0.85, p = 0.02) and with rod strain at L5-S1 in the PSR condition during flexion (R = 0.84, p = 0.04). CONCLUSION Lordosis measured on intact and instrumented conditions has strong positive correlations with posterior rod strain in cadaveric testing.
Exploring the Requirements of Abuse Reporting for Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Incidents of abuse committed against persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) are woefully under-reported. One way of helping change this situation is to empower persons with I/DD with tools to self-report abuse. During abuse reporting the reporter is requested to provide a variety of information about the abuse and its context. In this paper wanted to understand which pieces of information are typically needed to successfully report abuse and whether persons with I/DD can provide them. Consequently, we conducted an exploratory survey of the staff at an adult protective services agency in our region and asked them about their experiences with receiving abuse self-reports by persons with I/DD. Overall, we found that persons with I/DD are typically able to provide enough information to successfully self-report abuse.
Measuring Battle Command Performance in a Simulations Environment

Let’s take a few moments to talk about what we’re doing in modeling and simulation at Fort Sill. I work for the Army Research Laboratory at the US army Field Artillery School. I support both the Field Artillery School and the Depth and Simultaneous Attack Battle Lab. The Battle Lab was established at Fort Sill in 1992. Simulations are being used by the Battle Lab to conduct experimentation. A lot of effort has gone into the development of advanced simulation tools to support that experimentation. I am very involved in the use of simulations for both experimentation and training. I manage the Janus Battle Simulation Center for the Battle Lab. Our primary mission is training. Training students in both the Officer Advanced Course and the Officer Basic Course. I will talk in depth about our training activities. I am also involved heavily in the use of distributed interactive simulations. I will talk about that work also.
"It's All One Big Circle": Welfare Discourse and the Everyday Lives of Urban Adolescents

Welfare reform succeeded, in part, because of discourse that characterized the poverty problem as one of long-term dependency and personal irresponsibility. Adolescent pregnancy was targeted as both cause and manifestation of a welfare crisis. This study examined how welfare reform was perceived and experienced by low-income, urban adolescents. Findings from interviews revealed that adolescents agreed with many of the basic tenets of welfare reform, largely because they had appropriated much of the discourse prevalent in wider society. However, their complex life stories contained a powerful subtext concerning structural determinants of poverty that ran counter to prevailing notions of "personal responsibility".
Characteristics of hydride precipitation and reorientation in spent-fuel cladding.

The morphology, number density, orientation, distribution, and crystallographic aspects of Zr hydrides in Zircaloy fuel cladding play important roles in fuel performance during all phases before and after discharge from the reactor, i.e., during normal operation, transient and accident situations in the reactor, temporary storage in a dry cask, and permanent storage in a waste repository. In the past, partly because of experimental difficulties, hydriding behavior in irradiated fuel cladding has been investigated mostly by optical microscopy (OM). In the present study, fundamental metallurgical and crystallographic characteristics of hydride precipitation and reorientation were investigated on the microscopic level by combined techniques of OM and transmission electron and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) of spent-fuel claddings discharged from several boiling and pressurized water reactors (BWRs and PWRs). Defueled sections of standard and Zr-lined Zircaloy-2 fuel claddings, irradiated to fluences of {approx}3.3 x 10{sup 21} n cm{sup {minus}2} and {approx}9.2 x 10{sup 21} n cm{sup {minus}2} (E > 1 MeV), respectively, were obtained from spent fuel rods discharged from two BWRs. Sections of standard and low-tin Zircaloy-4 claddings, irradiated to fluences of {approx}4.4 x 10{sup 21} n cm{sup {minus}2}, {approx}5.9 x 10{sup 21} n cm{sup {minus}2}, and {approx}9.6 x 10{sup 21} n cm{sup {minus}2} (E > 1 MeV) in three PWRs, were also obtained. Microstructural characteristics of hydrides were analyzed in as-irradiated condition and after gas-pressurization-burst or expanding-mandrel tests at 292-325 C in Ar for some of the spent-fuel claddings. Analyses were also conducted of hydride habit plane, morphology, and reorientation characteristics on unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding that contained dense radial hydrides. Reoriented hydrides in the slowly cooled unirradiated cladding were produced by expanding-mandrel loading.
Modern Big Data Analytics for "Old-fashioned" Semiconductor Industry Applications

Big data analytics is the latest spotlight with all the glare of fame ranging from media coverage to booming start-up companies to eye-catching merges and acquisitions. On the contrary, the $336 billion industry of semiconductor was seen as an "old-fashioned" business, with fading interests from the best and brightest among young graduates and engineers. How will modern big data analytics help the semiconductor industry walk through this transition? This paper answers this question via a number of practical but challenging problems arising from semiconductor manufacturing process. We show that many existing machine learning algorithms are not well positioned to solve these problems, and novel techniques involving temporal, structural and hierarchical properties need to be developed to solve these problems.
Lattice regularization of quantum partition functions

The generating functional for thermal Green's functions is defined as the continuum limit of a path integral on a finite lattice. The path-integral measure arises naturally, and the correct limiting procedure is discussed. The generating functional is evaluated explicitly for noninteracting scalar and spinor fields, with particular attention to the measure and the overall normalization. The resulting expression contains a familiar piece, which involves the external sources and thermal propagators, multiplied by a normalization factor that is precisely the quantum partition function. The lattice dependence disappears in the final answer, and the partition function agrees with the canonical result multiplied by a term involving the zero-point energy. copyright 1988 Academic Press, Inc.
Is RNA interference a physiologically relevant innate antiviral immune response in mammals

While RNA interference (RNAi) functions as an antiviral response in plants, nematodes, and arthropods, a similar antiviral role in mammals has remained controversial. Three recent papers provide evidence that either favors or challenges this hypothesis. Here, we discuss these new findings in the context of previous research.
Restricted geometry, adaptive acoustic arrays for directional interference nulling

Abstract We examine the design and performance of a restricted geometry, adaptive 2-element (termed “small”) acoustic array used for directional hearing enhancement. These arrays are designed to be portable and lightweight. They may be used in noisy environments to block out unwanted sounds. The directionality of multi-element arrays, and thus the capability for interference rejection, is greatly superior to that possible with a 1-element device. Enhanced directionality comes from information gained when acoustic signals are spatially sampled. Human ears are designed in a similar arrangement, and we do not have the “extra” one merely for redundancy. This information comes at the expense of increased requirements for hardware, real-time computing and communications. We explore the balance between directional improvement and hardware requirements. Making the array adaptive is shown to enhance the array output SNR above that achievable by a fixed array.
Dilution polymerization of linseed oil

An inert diluent, molecularly distilled mineral oil, when present in 90% concentration, permitted, in linseed oil, the polymerization of acyl groups in the absence of inter-glyceride reaction. Comparison of the data for the polymerization of linseed oil in 10, 20, and 100% concentrations showed a marked concentration dependence for the following: polymerization of acyl groups and glyceride molecules; change in specific refraction and the ratio of percentages by weight polymeric acyl groups to polymeric glyceride molecules.
Effects of prior amphetamine exposure on approach strategy in appetitive Pavlovian conditioning in rats

Pavlovian conditioning with a discrete reward-predictive visual cue can elicit two classes of behaviors: “sign-tracking” (approach toward and contact with the cue) and “goal-tracking” (approach toward the site of reward delivery). Sign-tracking has been proposed to be linked to behavioral disorders involving compulsive reward-seeking, such as addiction. Prior exposure to psychostimulant drugs of abuse can facilitate reward-seeking behaviors through enhancements in incentive salience attribution. Thus, it was predicted that a sensitizing regimen of amphetamine exposure would increase sign-tracking behavior. The purpose of these experiments was to determine how a regimen of exposure to amphetamine affects subsequent sign-tracking behavior. Male Long–Evans rats were given daily injections of d-amphetamine (2.0 mg/kg) or saline for 5 days, then given a 7-day drug-free period followed by testing in a Pavlovian conditioning task. In experiment 1, rats were presented with a visual cue (simultaneous illumination of a light and extension of a lever) located either to the left or right of a centrally located food trough. One cue (CS+) was always followed by food delivery, whereas the other (CS−) was not. In experiment 2, rats were tested in a nondiscriminative (CS+ only) version of the task. In both experiments, amphetamine-exposed rats showed less sign-tracking and more goal-tracking compared to saline controls. Contrary to predictions, prior amphetamine exposure decreased sign-tracking and increased goal-tracking behavior. However, these results do support the hypothesis that psychostimulant exposure and incentive sensitization enhance behavior directed toward reward-proximal cues at the expense of reward-distal cues.
Effect of rotation on resonant modes of deformed dielectric microcavities

We showed numerically rotation causes much larger changes of quality factor and emission pattern of resonant modes than frequency shift in open dielectric microcavities, providing possible alternative schemes of rotation sensing than using Sagnac effect.
Regulation of corneal epithelial intracellular pH.

Intracellular pH (pHi) can affect many cell functions including metabolic activity, protein synthesis, and cell growth rates. For the corneal epithelium these processes are important for maintenance of its barrier function and ion transport properties. This brief report reviews some of the recent findings from my laboratory, which describe basic ion transport mechanisms, e.g., Na+/H+ exchange and lactate-H+ cotransport, useful for regulating pHi in rabbit corneal epithelium. The effects of acid challenges, 5% CO2 (simulated eye closure), and hypoxia (simulated contact lens wear) on pHi are also examined. The 5% CO2 drops pHi by approximately 0.2 units with little or no recovery, indicating that steady-state pHi in vivo is reduced during eye closure. By contrast, hypoxia in vitro slowly raises pHi, approximately 0.1 units, partially due to the stimulation of lactate-H+ efflux.
Dynamic power allocation for multicast/broadcast services with cooperative distributed antenna systems

When the total transmit power for a distributed antenna system (DAS) is constrained, downlink power allocation among remote radio heads (RHHs) should be judiciously configured for multicast/broadcast services (MBS), in order to optimize the performance. The paper derives power allocation criteria for max-min fairness in single-antenna and multi-antennas cases, which can be served as power allocation metrics when the BS has perfect large-scale fading knowledge of all users. We also propose an alternative method that is appropriate for scenarios where only limited feedback is allowed. Both methods provide better outage performance as compared to uniform power allocation.
When the Nation Was in Need: Blacks in the Women's Army Corps During World War II

Part 1 Preface Chapter 2 Blacks at Women's Army Corps Training Centers Chapter 3 Recruitment Chapter 4 Segregation Chapter 5 Black Units and Field Assignments Chapter 6 Notes and Reflections Chapter 7 Epilogue
Multiscale chemico-thermo-hydro-mechanical modeling of early-stage hydration and shrinkage of cement compounds

AbstractThe early-stage cement hydration is critical to the strength and durability of cement-based materials. Due to the complex processes involved, holistic multiphysics and multiscale simulation is challenging. This paper introduces the concept of a water characteristic curve (WCC) used in unsaturated soils to cement-based materials. The WCC characterizes the internal structure of cement and essentially relates the pore morphology and physical chemistry of solid-liquid interface in microscale to the concepts of suction and water content in macroscale. A thermo-hydro-mechanical model was developed based on this multiscale technique. A modified Fourier’s heat equation for the thermal field, a modified Richard’s equation for the hydraulic field, and an extended Navier’s equation for the mechanical field were employed for developing the theoretical multiphysics framework. Auxiliary relationships, e.g., temperature-induced flow and chemical-reaction information of cement components, were adopted for the com...
Application of hydroxyapatite chromatography to alkaline myosin solutions.

Abstract The light components present in alkali-dissociated myosin were separable from the major fraction by alkaline hydroxyapatite chromatography at pH 10.5 with a minimum yield of 9%. On alkaline hydroxyapatite columns in the pH range of io -12.5, as the pH was increased, the large myosin fraction eluted at progressively lower P1 concentrations in accord with the behavior of proteins in general on hydroxyapatite. Chromatography on pH 6.8 columns separated alkali-dissociated and then neutralized myosin into two fractions. The first contained “free” light components. The second contained the major fraction (generally believed to consist of two identical heavy subunits) combined with light components. When this second fraction was split into three parts and individually rechromatographed, each sample eluted with a fairly narrow and symmetrical peak. The sample from the peak part exhibited decreased binding to the hydroxyapatite; that in the trailing edge eluted at a similar P1 molarity as did native myosin. Polyacrylamide electrophoresis indicated that there were more light components eluted with the heavy subunits in the material in the trailing edge than that in the peak.
Anthropocentric Distance in National Geographic's Environmental Aesthetic

Tourism is the way we understand the world: tourists travel in an increasingly mediated environment in which ubiquitous promotional material and other popular artifacts employ stunning images and romantic travel narratives to describe local environments. Tourist texts “sell” local landscapes to entice visitors, employing an environmental aesthetic that urges travel. With its mission to “explore the planet,” the National Geographic Society contributes to this tourist aesthetic. This essay examines three special issues on Africa simultaneously published by the National Geographic Society: its official journal, National Geographic, and its sister magazines, National Geographic Traveler, and National Geographic Adventure. The photographic images and travel narratives in these tourist texts produce an environmental aesthetic that positions the traveler at the center of these environments. This essay first analyzes how National Geographic constructs Africa's environmental landscapes. These magazines depict Afri...
Yorkshire Lasses and Their Lads: Sexuality, Sexual Customs, and Gender Antagonisms in Anglo-American Working-Class Culture

Fiction and historical tests carefully positioned in Anglo-American historiography provide new perspectives on the elusive world of female working-class sexuality. Working women are portrayed, not as victims or objects, but as active players in gender and class conflicts. Yorkshire lasses and older women used their sexuality to define their female adulthood through sexual experimentation during courtship, to discipline male aggressiveness and patriarchy, and to advance their status as working women. These antagonisms included sexually charged customs and behaviors, such as the ritual of "sunning": the sexual humiliation of young men by working women, and new meanings for female agency in premarital sexual activities. The behaviors and customs of Yorkshire working-class women reveal their uses of individual and collective activities to confront on their own terms both gender and class conflicts in the family, the workplace, and the trade union. The threatening power of female sexuality exercised collectively, openly, and dramatically was a reminder to all that the private world of sexuality and the workplace were deeply intertwined but not always at the expense of women.
Losing Control? A Comparison of Majority–Minority Relations in Israel and Turkey

This article addresses the question of how multiethnic states can manage the relationship between the ethnic majority and the minority. It identifies a series of alternative strategies and methods and applies this classification to two states, Israel and Turkey. The article compares the approaches the two states have taken in dealing with their largest national minorities, and explains how and why these approaches have differed. The article demonstrates how Israel and Turkey adopted two fundamentally different regimes—a civic regime in the case of Turkey and an ethnic regime in the case of Israel—and two different policies towards the largest minority in their midst, assimilation in the case of the former and marginalization in the case of the latter. In both cases, however, the outcome of these policies has been confrontation between the national minority and the state and its ethnic majority. The article concludes by arguing that this similar outcome is due to both states’ failure to adopt a genuinely a...
Inflammatory Regulation of ATP Binding Cassette Efflux Transporter Expression and Function in Microglia

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) efflux transporters, including multidrug resistance protein 1 (Mdr1), breast cancer resistance protein (Bcrp), and multidrug resistance-associated proteins (Mrps) extrude chemicals from the brain. Although ABC transporters are critical for blood-brain barrier integrity, less attention has been placed on the regulation of these proteins in brain parenchymal cells such as microglia. Prior studies demonstrate that inflammation after lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment alters transporter expression in the livers of mice. Here, we sought to determine the effects of inflammation on the expression and function of transporters in microglia. To test this, the expression and function of ABC efflux transport proteins were quantified in mouse BV-2 microglial cells in response to activation with LPS. Intracellular retention of fluorescent rhodamine 123, Hoechst 33342, and calcein acetoxymethyl ester was increased in LPS-treated microglia, suggesting that the functions of Mdr1, Bcrp, and Mrps were decreased, respectively. LPS reduced Mdr1, Bcrp, and Mrp4 mRNA and protein expression between 40 and 70%. Conversely, LPS increased expression of Mrp1 and Mrp5 mRNA and protein. Immunofluorescent staining confirmed reduced Bcrp and Mrp4 and elevated Mrp1 and Mrp5 protein in activated microglia. Pharmacological inhibition of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) transcriptional signaling attenuated down-regulation of Mdr1a mRNA and potentiated up-regulation of Mrp5 mRNA in LPS-treated cells. Together, these data suggest that LPS stimulates microglia and impairs efflux of prototypical ABC transporter substrates by altering mRNA and protein expression, in part through NF-κB signaling. Decreased transporter efflux function in microglia may lead to the retention of toxic chemicals and aberrant cell-cell communication during neuroinflammation.
Children's perceptions of their peer experiences: Attributions, loneliness, social anxiety, and social avoidance.

In this study, 338 3rd and 5th graders completed a sociometric questionnaire and 3 instruments designed to assess their feelings of loneliness, social anxiety, social avoidance, and their attributions for social outcomes. Results showed that children's feelings and attributions varied as a function of peer status, gender, and grade. For example, compared with peers, rejected children reported higher levels of loneliness and were more likely to attribute relationship failures to external causes. Children's feelings were also significantly related to their attributions about social events. Popular, average, and controversial status children who were socially distressed exhibited a non-self-serving attributional style, whereas distressed rejected children exhibited a self-serving attributionaal pattern
Synergism between temperature and estradiol: A common pathway in turtle sex determination?

In many reptiles, the temperature at which the eggs are incubated determines the sex of the hatchlings. Administration of estradiol will counteract the masculinizing effects of a male-producing temperature, resulting in female hatchlings. To address whether temperature and estrogen are biologically equivalent, two experiments were conducted with the red-eared slider turtle, Trachemys scripta. In the first experiment, varying dosages of estrogen were administered at Stage 17 (the middle of the temperature-sensitive window) to eggs maintained at two tempera- tures, 26°C (which normally produces all males) and 28.2"C (which produces mostly males but lies at the threshold of the transition from male- to female-producing temperatures). Results indicate that estrogen and temperature exert a synergistic effect on sex determination. In the second experi- ment, estrogen was administered at different stages of embryonic development. The results indi- cate an estrogen-sensitive period ranging from Stage 14 through Stage 21, a period similar to the temperature-sensitive period for this species. The results of these experiments are consistent with the hypothesis that temperature and estradiol act in a common pathway in temperature-dependent sex determination. A variety and abundance of reptiles exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) in which the incubation temperature of the em- bryo determines whether it hatches as male or female (Bull, '80; Raynaud and Pieau, '85; Ewert and Nelson, '91). Application of the steroid hor- mone estradiol causes the embryos of many rep- tiles to develop as female (Pieau, '74; Gutzke and Bull, '86; Bull et al., '88; Crews et al., '89, '91); some estradiol-sensitive species have TSD, but some have genotypic sex determination (GSD). As yet, there is virtually no evidence as to whether endogenous estradiol might be involved in the natural process of sex determination. Although any demonstration that endogenous estradiol is indeed involved awaits the elucidation of molecu- lar details of the sex determination pathway, one might attempt to demonstrate that estradiol is not involved in the natural process by revealing that estradiol-induced female determination has different characteristics than does normal female determination. The present study explores two avenues for comparing the effects of temperature and estra- diol on female determination in a turtle with temperature-dependent sex determination. One set of experiments investigates whether tempera-
THE LOCATION OF ENERGY.

A calculation of the mass of an electron, based upon the modification of electromagnetic theory proposed in a recent paper, has led to the surprising result that the mass inside an electron in uniform motion, when calculated from the momentum, is equal but opposite in sign to the mass outside.
Endogenous inhibitors of InsP3-induced Ca2+ release in neuroblastoma cells

Cerebellar Purkinje neurons and neuroblastoma N1E-115 cells require 10-50 times more InsP3 to induce Ca2+ release than do a variety of non-neuronal cells (including astrocytes, hepatocytes, endothelial cells, or smooth muscle cells). Given the importance of InsP3-induced Ca2+ release for the development of synaptic plasticity in Purkinje neurons, a low InsP3 sensitivity may facilitate the integration of numerous synaptic inputs before initiating a change in synaptic strength. In the present study, attention is directed at the mechanism underlying this low InsP3 sensitivity of Ca2+ release. We show that permeabilization of neuroblastoma cells with saponin increased InsP3 sensitivity of Ca2+ release, indicating the presence of a diffusible, cytosolic inhibitor(s) of Ca2+ release. Consistent with this hypothesis, gel filtration of the neuroblastoma cytosol yielded three peaks that inhibited InsP3-induced Ca2+ release from permeabilized cells. The prominent inhibitory peak decreased the InsP3 sensitivity of Ca2+ release from permeabilized cells, did not bind 3H-InsP3, and was present in sufficient levels to account for the low InsP3 sensitivity of Ca2+ release in intact neuroblastoma cells. Purification of this prominent inhibitory fraction yielded a protein band that was identified by mass spectrometry as stress-induced phosphoprotein 1 (mSTI1). Furthermore, immunoprecipitation of mSTI1 decreased the inhibitory activity of N1E-115 cytosol, indicating that mSTI1 contributes to the inhibition of InsP3-induced Ca2+ release. Thus, the low InsP3 sensitivity of Ca2+ release in neuroblastoma cells can be explained by the presence of cytosolic inhibitors of Ca2+ release and include stress-induced phosphoprotein 1.
Addendum: Effect of capture on throughput of variable length packet Aloha systems

The effect of the capture phenomenon on the throughput of a radio communications system using the Aloha random access protocol with variable length packets is examined. In a packet radio communications system, the base station typically receives stronger signals from near users than from far users, leading to the so-called 'near/far effect'. The packet capture phenomenon, in which a packet captures the base station receiver when its signal-to-interface ratio exceeds some threshold, is a consequence of the near/far effect. System throughput with capture is obtained analytically in terms of a tagged packet's conditional capture probability using the most general packet length distribution, i.e. packet length is taken to be exponentially distributed. The maximum throughput and the channel traffic rate corresponding to the maximum throughput of a variable packet Aloha system with capture are both considerably higher than that of a comparable system without capture. Depending on the threshold, the maximum throughput and the channel traffic rate corresponding to maximum throughput of a variable packet Aloha system with capture can be as much as 67% and 120% higher (resp.) than that of a comparable system without capture. Consequently, not only throughput but also the stability of the system is enhanced by the capture effect.
A general framework for predicting returns from multiple currency investments

Abstract This paper examines the ability of several popular forecasting models to predict future returns on financial assets denominated in the five major reserve currencies. The paper generalizes the AutoRegressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) model by relaxing some of the underlying restrictive assumptions, forming what we call extended-ARCH models. The paper uses this generalization, as well as general versions of the Random Coefficient (RC) model, in order to predict the rates of return. Out-of-sample predictions based on these models are generated and compared with those of a random walk process and a univariate ARCH model. The main implication of the results is that while direct ARCH estimation can improve on forecasts made on the basis of a random walk model, even better forecasts can be made by generalizing the ARCH process by allowing the coefficients to be time-varying. Thus, the paper provides an empirical implementation of recent work that suggests a method for computing optimal multiple currency mean-variance portfolios.
Adequacy of two ambulatory care surveillance systems for tracking childhood obesity practice patterns

Summary Background The National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys (NAMCS) and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys (NHAMCS) are surveillance systems in the USA that track provider practice patterns at ambulatory care visits. This study investigated the adequacy of the NAMCS/NHAMCS for surveillance of childhood obesity practice patterns. Methods The frequency of obesity visits in the 1997–2000 NAMCS/NHAMCS (outpatient component) was compared with obesity prevalence among children who reported a physician visit in the preceding 12 months in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999–2000. Obesity was identified using the International Classification of Diseases 9th revision clinical modification code ICD-9-278.0 in the NAMCS/NHAMCS. For the NHANES, age- and gender-specific body mass index >95th percentile was used. Results Between 1997 and 2000, obesity was identified in 4.1 million (0.8%) of 516 million ambulatory care visits. With an obesity prevalence of 14.2% from the NHANES survey, NAMCS/NHAMCS only identified 5.6% of all children aged 2–17 years >95th percentile. Of those identified, the rate of obesity visits in the NAMCS/NHAMCS was lowest for non-Hispanic Whites (3.9%) compared with non-Hispanic Blacks (6.9%) and Hispanics (10.2%). Conclusion The very infrequent reporting of obesity in the NAMCS/NHAMCS suggests that these surveillance systems do not reflect how healthcare providers identify and care for overweight children. Collecting weight and height measures would improve their utility in tracking identification and management of overweight children.
ESMAOC AS POUR POINT DEPRESSANT FOR CRUDE OIL AND HEAVY OIL PRODUCTS

ABSTRACT The synthesis of esterified copolymer of maleic anhydride/olefines mixture and its effect as pour point depressant for crude oil and heavy oil products were studied. The optimum ratio of the maleic anhydride/mixed a-olefines for the synthesis of EsMAOC is 1:6.29. On Daqing crude oil, the adequate addition amount of EsMAOC is 0·5–1.0 wt% when the decrease of pour point can reach to 8–10°C. To Anshan heavy diesel oil No. 20, the data are 1·0 wt%, 13°C respectively.
Protein kinases: a diverse family of related proteins.

Homologies in amino-acid sequence indicate that all known protein kinases share a conserved catalytic core, and, thus, belong to a related family of proteins that have evolved in part from a common ancestoral origin. This family includes cellular kinases, oncogenic viral kinases and their protooncogene counterparts, and growth factor receptors. One of the simplest and certainly the best characterized of the protein kinases at the biochemical level is the kinase that is activated in response to cAMP. The properties of this cAMP-dependent protein kinase are reviewed with particular emphasis on the features of nucleotide binding and catalytic mechanism that are likely to be shared by all protein kinases. In spite of this conserved catalytic core, these kinases vary widely in overall structure and in the mechanisms by which each is regulated, and these differences also are compared.
Accurate numerical derivatives in MATLAB

Complex step differentiation (CSD) is a technique for computing very accurate numerical derivatives in languages that support complex arithmetic. We describe here the development of a CSD package in MATLAB called PMAD. We have extended work done in other languages for scalars to the arrays that are fundamental to MATLAB. This extension raises questions that we have been able to resolve in a satisfactory way. Our goal has been to make it as easy as possible to compute approximate Jacobians in MATLAB that are all but exact. Although PMAD has a fast option for the expert that implements CSD as in previous work, the default is an object-oriented implementation that asks very little of the user.
Coastal Ocean Last Glacial Maximum to 2100 CO2-Carbonic Acid-Carbonate System: A Modeling Approach

Using coupled terrestrial and coastal zone models, we investigated the impacts of deglaciation and anthropogenic inputs on the CO2–H2O–CaCO3 system in global coastal ocean waters from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM: 18,000 year BP) to the year 2100. With rising sea level and atmospheric CO2, the carbonate system of coastal ocean water changed significantly. We find that 6 × 1012 metric tons of carbon were emitted from the coastal ocean, growing due to the sea level rise, from the LGM to late preindustrial time (1700 AD) because of net heterotrophy and calcification processes. This carbon came to reside in the atmosphere and in the growing vegetation on land and in uptake of atmospheric CO2 through the weathering of rocks on land. It appears that carbonate accumulation, mainly, but not exclusively, in coral reefs from the LGM to late preindustrial time could account for about 24 ppmv of the 100 ppmv rise in atmospheric CO2, lending some support to the “coral reef hypothesis”. In addition, the global coastal ocean is now, or soon will be, a sink of atmospheric CO2. The temperature rise of 4–5°C since the LGM led to increased weathering rates of inorganic and organic materials on land and enhanced riverine fluxes of total C, N, and P to the coastal ocean of 68%, 108%, and 97%, respectively, from the LGM to late preindustrial time. During the Anthropocene, these trends have been exacerbated owing to rising atmospheric CO2, due to fossil fuel combustion and land-use practices, other human activities, and rising global temperatures. River fluxes of total reactive C, N, and P are projected to increase from late preindustrial time to the year 2100 by 150%, 380%, and 257%, respectively, modifying significantly the behavior of these element cycles in the coastal ocean, particularly in proximal environments. Despite the fact that the global shoal water carbonate mass has grown extensively since the LGM, the pHT (pH values on the total proton scale) of global coastal waters has decreased from ~8.35 to ~8.18 and the carbonate ion concentration declined by ~19% from the LGM to late preindustrial time. The latter represents a rate of decline of about 0.028 μmol CO3 2− per decade. In comparison, the decrease in coastal water pHT from the year 1900 to 2000 was about 8.18–8.08 and is projected to decrease further from about 8.08 to 7.85 between 2000 and 2100, according to the IS92a business-as-usual scenario of CO2 emissions. Over these 200 years, the carbonate ion concentration will fall by ~120 μmol kg−1 or 6 μmol kg−1 per decade. This decadal rate of decline of the carbonate ion concentration in the Anthropocene is 214 times the average rate of decline for the entire Holocene. Hence, when viewed against the millennial to several millennial timescale of geologic change in the coastal ocean marine carbon system, one can easily appreciate why ocean acidification is the “other CO2 problem”.
Computational study of steric effects on the optical properties of oligomers

Abstract The optical properties of a variety of copolymer structures and their derivatives are determined from semi-empirical quantum chemical calculations. Possible candidates are found for organic light emitting diode and thin photovoltaic film applications. The largest blue shifts in the absorption spectrum are seen for derivatives that cause the oligomers under consideration to deviate from their unsubstituted planar configurations. This is primarily predicted to occur in systems with large steric interactions. Optical emissions are also predicted based on time dependent density functional calculations of excited states of these materials optimized with configuration interaction Hartree–Fock methods.
When False Recognition Meets Metacognition: The Distinctiveness Heuristic

Abstract We investigated the contribution of a distinctiveness heuristic to rejecting false memories. Individuals studied words, pictures, or both types of items and then completed a recognition test on which the studied items appeared once, whereas the new words appeared twice. Participants who had studied pictures were less likely to falsely recognize repeated new words than were participants who had studied words. We argue that studying pictures provides a basis for using a distinctiveness heuristic during the recognition test; participants infer from the absence of memory for expected picture information that a test item is “new.” These experiments also investigated the influence of two variables—diagnosticity and metacognitive control—on the use of the distinctiveness heuristic. We examined the role of diagnostic information in eliciting the heuristic by varying the proportion of studied items that appeared as pictures. Compared to a word encoding condition, participants successfully rejected repeated new words after studying 50, 25, and 33% of the items as pictures in Experiments 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Thus, the distinctive information need not be completely diagnostic (i.e., perfectly predictive of an item's oldness) for participants to use the heuristic. We also show that the distinctiveness heuristic is under metacognitive control such that it can be turned on or off depending on participants' expectations about its usefulness for reducing memory errors.
Cannabinoid signaling in inhibitory autaptic hippocampal neurons.

Abstract Depolarization-induced suppression of excitation and inhibition (DSE/DSI) appears to be an important form of short-term retrograde neuronal plasticity involving endocannabinoids (eCBs), the activation of presynaptic cannabinoid CB1 receptors, and the suppression of neurotransmitter release. Using murine autaptic hippocampal cultures, we have distinguished five populations of autaptic inhibitory neurons that exhibit differential cannabinoid responses, including three temporally distinct forms of DSI. One remaining population responded to cannabinoids but did not have DSI while a fifth had neither DSI nor cannabinoid responses. Of the two chief candidate eCBs, 2-AG reversibly inhibited inhibitory post synaptic currents (IPSCs) while anandamide did so irreversibly, the latter's action inconsistent with a role as a bona fide eCB mediator of DSI. The duration of depolarization necessary to elicit the two most prominent forms of DSI (effective dose (ED-50) ∼210, ∼280 ms) was far less than for autaptic DSE. However the nearly identical concentration response for 2-AG to inhibit excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs) and IPSCs indicates that this difference is not due to differential cannabinoid receptor sensitivity. Interestingly, of the two populations exhibiting prominent DSI, one had a substantially faster recovery time course both after DSI and 2-AG, this despite being cultured under identical conditions. Several enzymes have been proposed to play a role in 2-AG breakdown, presumably determining the time course of DSI: fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), monoacyl glycerol lipase (MGL), and α/β-hydrolase domains 6 and 12 (ABHD6 and ABHD12). We tested the impact on DSI duration by blockers of FAAH, COX-2, MGL and ABHD6. Notably, the population with slow DSI was regulated only by MGL, whereas the fast DSI population was regulated by both MGL and COX-2. This suggests that the faster DSI time course may occur as a result of the concerted action of multiple enzymes, which may represent a more general mechanism for regulation of the duration of different forms of DSI and DSE.
Fractal Trees with Side Branching

This paper considers fractal trees with self-similar side branching. The Tokunaga classification system for side branching is introduced, along with the Tokunaga self-similarity condition. Area filling (D = 2) and volume filling (D = 3) deterministic fractal tree constructions are introduced both with and without side branching. Applications to diffusion limited aggregation (DLA), actual drainage networks, as well as biology are considered. It is suggested that the Tokunaga taxonomy may have wide applicability in nature.
Early season cuticular conductance and gas exchange in two oaks near the western edge of their range

Seasonal changes in minimum leaf conductance to water vapor (gmin), an estimate of cuticular conductance, and photosynthetic gas exchange in two co-occurring oak species in north-east Kansas (USA) were examined to determine if leaf gas exchange characteristics correlated with differences in tree distribution. Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa Michx.) is more abundant in mesic gallery forest sites, whereas chinquapin oak (Quercus muehlenbergii Englm.) is more abundant in xeric sites. Early, during leaf expansion, gmin was significantly lower in chinquapin oak than in bur oak, though midday water potentials were similar. After leaves had fully expanded, gmin decreased to seasonal minimum values of 4.57 (±0.274) mmol m-2 s-1 in bur oak, and 2.66 (±0.156) mmol m-2 s-1 in chinquapin oak. Water potentials at these times were significantly higher in chinquapin oak. As leaves were expanding, photosynthesis (Anet) was significantly higher in chinquapin oak than in bur oak. Later in the growing season, Anet and gleaf increased dramatically in both species, and were significantly higher in bur oak relative to chinquapin oak. We concluded that bur and chinquapin oak have a number of leaf gas exchange characteristics that minimize seasonal water loss. These characteristics are distinct from trees from more mesic sites, and are consistent with the distribution patterns of these trees in tall-grass prairie gallery forests.
A classification and phylogeny of post-Palaeozoic sea stars (Asteroidea: Echinodermata)

A revised classification and phylogeny at the family level and above are presented for post-Palaeozoic sea stars. Monophyly of the group is established by a character suite taken from the ambulacral column that thus far has been recognized in only one Palaeozoic genus. Compared to earlier studies, character selection here placed relatively greater emphasis on morphology and arrangement of ossicles and ossicular systems. Functional implications of many features are surveyed. Thirty-four families, three extinct, are recognized and a number of older familial concepts are suppressed; the extinct Trichasteropsidae is proposed. Superfamilies are recognized for the Valvatida. Eight orders, including the new, extinct Trichasteropsida, and three superorders are recognized. No living sea star is primitive in the sense of being close to ancestral sea stars and other echinoderm groups; the Paxillosida, which commonly has been considered primitive, is here considered specialized.