cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Academic productivity in the field of ecology

Although the broad field of ecology and its role in understanding the distribution and diversity of life on earth is a central part of the natural sciences, there is currently no comprehensive ranking of academic institutions for this discipline, which has quadrupled in research volume and visibility over the past three decades. We assessed scholarly productivity in the field of ecology for 316 North American academic institutions between the years 2000 and 2014. We present institutional rankings of productivity in terms of number of publications, number of citations, and Hirsch's h index, a measure that integrates productivity and impact. For the top-ranked institutions, we also calculated hm, an h-based metric used to compare productivity across institutions of different sizes. In addition, we analyzed the effect of institution size on h index, publication rate, and number of citations. We found that scholarship in ecology is not significantly different between public and private universities, and from institutions ranging in size from extremely large to relatively small. Many of the institutions in the “ecology top 20” are widely considered as being among North America's elite schools. However, there are several smaller institutions that have very high research productivity and impact in ecology with an apparently very strong ecology faculty. Administrators, faculty, prospective faculty, and students use institutional rankings, along with other data, to make decisions about programs in which to invest or participate. Relative institutional strength in the field of ecology, however, has not been previously measured, perhaps because faculty with expertise in ecology are often dispersed through multiple academic units of a university. Thus, our findings fill an important gap for ecology as a discipline.
Fabrication of ionic liquid gel beads via sequential deposition

Abstract In this paper, we demonstrate the fabrication of gel beads composed of ionic liquid (IL) and polymer. The IL droplets are kept spherical during the deposition process by placement onto chromatography paper coated with fluoropolymer. The deposition process then occurs in two steps. In the first step, the monomer is absorbed into the IL droplet. In the second step, the initiator radicals are introduced. This sequential deposition process allows polymerization to primarily occur within the liquid droplet and therefore the beads are not attached to the underlying substrate and can be easily removed.
Strategies to Minimize Risk of Acute Kidney Injury During Complex Endovascular Aortic Repair

Acute kidney injury can occur after endovascular interventions and is one of the most important determinants of early and late morbidity and mortality. Potential causes are multifactorial and include underlying chronic kidney disease, aortic debris, embolization, renal ischemia, nephrotoxicity, and catheter-related complications. This chapter focuses on strategies to minimize kidney injury throughout the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative period in patients undergoing endovascular interventions.
Automated detection of major thoracic structures with a novel online learning method

This paper presents a novel on-line learning method for automatically detecting anatomic structures in medical images. Conventional off-line learning requires collecting all representative samples before the commencement of training. Our presented approach eliminates the need for storing historical training samples and is capable of continuously enhancing its performance with new samples. We evaluate our approach with three distinct thoracic structures, demonstrating that our approach yields competing performance to the off-line approach. This demonstrated performance is attributed to our novel on-line learning structure coupled with histogram as weaker learner.
On how ideas have consequences: Alison Fisher Bodkin and Chris Collins’s Fractured

ABSTRACTThis short response to Alison Bodkin and Chris Collins's performance, Fractured, argues that their work does what good performance work does: It puts on display how ideas have consequences for human lives. The piece identifies several strategies that Collins and Bodkin use in the production to capture attention and to facilitate social change.
Space Based Monitoring of Archaeological Looting: An Overview in Peruvian Archaeological Areas

Illegal excavations represent one of the main risks which affect archaeological heritage throughout the world. Actions oriented to prevent looting can be supported by satellite technologies which can provide reliable information to: (i) detect and quantify looting phenomenon even over large and inaccessible areas, (ii) set up tools to undertake monitoring also for sites not accessible due to war, armed conflicts or other limiting factors. This article is focused on an overview on the methodology developed for the identification of clandestine excavations in Peruvian archaeological areas mainly focusing on two archaeological areas: one near Nasca (Southern Peru) and the second one in Ventarron (Lambayeque, Northern Peru)).
Prescription-level factors associated with primary nonadherence to dermatologic medications

Purpose: To analyze factors associated with primary nonadherence to dermatologic medications and study whether prescription-level factors are associated with primary nonadherence.Materials and meth...
The intersection between masculinity and health among rural immigrant Latino men

Latino men experience health disparities in STI/HIV, diabetes, hypertension, and cancer. Gender roles likely play a role in risk behaviors and outcomes; however, there has been little focus on masculinity in Latino men. We conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with Latino men living in North Carolina. The interviews, conducted by a trained bilingual/bicultural Latino male, prompted discussion around work, family, and stress. Four themes were identified: masculine roles of being a family provider and protector, sources of stress, family responsibility and interconnectedness to health, and coping mechanism. For Latino men, masculinity may have both positive and negative influences on health. For example, the role of family provider may contribute to coping and be a stressor simultaneously. Future research should examine masculinity as a positive and a negative health influence and the additional impacts of gender roles on mens' health.
Genetic deletion of the circadian clock transcription factor BMAL1 and chronic alcohol consumption differentially alter hepatic glycogen in mice

We report that circadian clock disruption exacerbates alcohol-mediated alterations in hepatic glycogen. We observed differential responsiveness in diurnal rhythms of glycogen and glycogen metabolis...
RAIN: a tool for reliability assessment of interconnect networks---physics to software

In this paper, we study the main interconnect aging processes: electromigration, thermomigration and stress migration and propose comprehensive yet compact models for transient and steady states based on hydrostatic stress evolution. Our model can be expressed in terms of voltages only which abstracts away the hydrostatic stress. The model also explains some experimental observations, introduces temperature-dependent Blech’s length criterion and a new time-to-failure formula replacing Black’s empirical model. A tool is developed based on the proposed model which assesses reliability of multi-segment complex interconnect networks. Experimental results obtained on IBM benchmarks validate the model.
Calcium Phosphate Nanoparticles as Intrinsic Inorganic Antimicrobials: The Antibacterial Effect.

Cheap and simple to make, calcium phosphate (CP), thanks to its unusual functional pleiotropy, belongs to the new wave of abundant and naturally accessible nanomaterials applicable as a means to va...
Spread and potential impact of the recently introduced European green crab, Carcinus maenas, in central California

Our study examines the potential impact of the European green crab Carcinus maenas on communities of coastal embayments of western North America. We document the current distribution and range expansion of this species beyond San Francisco Bay, where C. maenas first became established along this coast in 1989–1990, and we test the effect of C. maenas predation on different species and sizes of infaunal invertebrates in field and laboratory experiments. In our samples from eight coastal locations in central California collected between June 1993 and May 1994, we found no green crabs at the two closest embayments south of San Francisco Bay and found the crabs in all four embayments sampled within 120 km north of San Francisco Bay, up to and including Bodega Harbor. C. maenas was not present in samples from sites farther north. This northward range expansion is apparently the result of larval recruitment by a single cohort, corresponding to the predominant northern transport of surface waters and the approximate distance water moves during larval green crab development. At Bodega Harbor, the current northern range limit, the C. maenas population is now well established and reproducing. Females and males became sexually mature within their first year at ≃40 mm carapace width, molting approximately monthly from summer through fall, and females were ovigerous in late fall of their first year at ≃50 mm. We expect larvae from this population to recruit locally and to the north, promoting episodic range extensions as new populations are established and reproduce. Enclosure experiments conducted during the summer of 1993 at the intertidal sandflats of Bodega Harbor showed that C. maenas significantly reduced densities of the most abundant taxa, including the bivalves Transennella confusa and T. tantilla, the cumacean Cumella vulgaris, and the amphipod Corophium sp. Furthermore, Carcinus maenas selectively removed larger (>3 mm) rather than smaller (<1 mm) Transennella spp. in both field and laboratory experiments. Based on the available data from this and other studies of green crabs, and our 10 yr study of community dynamics at Bodega Harbor, we predict C. maenas will significantly alter community structure, ecological interactions, and evolutionary processes in embayments of western North America.
The Neurobiology of Borderline Personality Disorder

This article reviews the most salient neurobiological information available about borderline personality disorder (BPD) and presents a theoretic model for what lies at the heart of BPD that is grounded in those findings. It reviews the heritability, genetics, and the biological models of BPD, including the neurobiology of affective instability, impaired interoception, oxytocin and opiate models of poor attachment or interpersonal dysfunction, and structural brain imaging over the course of development in BPD; and posits that the core characteristic of BPD may be an impairment in emotional interoception or alexithymia.
Effects of Calorie Restriction and Voluntary Exercise on Doxorubicin-Induced Cardiotoxicity.

Introduction: Doxorubicin (DOX) is a widely used chemotherapeutic agent with known cardiotoxic properties, while calorie restriction (CR) and exercise have well-documented cardioprotective effects....
Deep learning at scale for the construction of galaxy catalogs in the Dark Energy Survey

Abstract The scale of ongoing and future electromagnetic surveys pose formidable challenges to classify astronomical objects. Pioneering efforts on this front include citizen science campaigns adopted by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). SDSS datasets have been recently used to train neural network models to classify galaxies in the Dark Energy Survey (DES) that overlap the footprint of both surveys. Herein, we demonstrate that knowledge from deep learning algorithms, pre-trained with real-object images, can be transferred to classify galaxies that overlap both SDSS and DES surveys, achieving state-of-the-art accuracy ≳ 99.6 % . We demonstrate that this process can be completed within just eight minutes using distributed training. While this represents a significant step towards the classification of DES galaxies that overlap previous surveys, we need to initiate the characterization of unlabelled DES galaxies in new regions of parameter space. To accelerate this program, we use our neural network classifier to label over ten thousand unlabelled DES galaxies, which do not overlap previous surveys. Furthermore, we use our neural network model as a feature extractor for unsupervised clustering and find that unlabelled DES images can be grouped together in two distinct galaxy classes based on their morphology, which provides a heuristic check that the learning is successfully transferred to the classification of unlabelled DES images. We conclude by showing that these newly labelled datasets can be combined with unsupervised recursive training to create large-scale DES galaxy catalogs in preparation for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope era.
Periplatform Ooze in a mixed Siliciclastic-Carbonate System - Vaca Muerta Formation, Argentina

Abstract Thick carbonate mud successions and marl/limestone alternations are often found in periplatform environments. The sources of these fine-grained sediments and the processes that govern their accumulation and distribution in the basin are frequently a matter of debate. This case study from a mixed siliciclastic-carbonate succession in the Neuquen Basin, Argentina, relates the origin of the carbonate-dominated intervals to shelfal carbonate production. The Tithonian-early Valanginian basinal strata (Vaca Muerta Formation) contains several carbonate-rich intervals at different stratigraphic levels. The thickest of these intervals is the mid-late Tithonian Los Catutos Member in Sierra de la Vaca Muerta. This wedge-shaped package of micritic limestones and intercalated marls thins basinwards. Proximal-distal variations and cyclic partitioning in facies and geochemical proxies indicate highstand shedding and a periplatform origin for the Los Catutos Member. The proposed source is a coeval 20 m-thick pure carbonate interval located 50 km south of the Sierra de la Vaca Muerta within the mixed siliciclastic-carbonate shelf facies of the Picun Leufu Formation. Younger carbonate-rich intervals in the center of the basin (Puerta Curaco area) show similar characteristics to the distal portion of the Los Catutos Member and are also interpreted as periplatform deposits but sourced from carbonate shelves farther east. The high sedimentation rates of the Los Catutos Member require an efficient mechanism, other than tides and winds, to deliver significant amounts of fine-grained carbonate sediment to the basin. This mechanism is envisioned to be sediment-charged hyperpycnal flows cascading from the platform to the basin, analogous to what is observed in modern carbonate systems. The occurrence of periplatform ooze in different stratigraphic levels of the siliciclastic-dominated Vaca Muerta Formation demonstrates that off-shelf transport and distribution of carbonate mud in the basin are also common processes in mixed clastic-carbonate environments.
Combined deep inferior epigastric artery perforator flap with vascularized groin lymph node transplant for treatment of breast cancer-related lymphedema

For survivors of breast cancer lymphedema is their greatest survivorship burden. Modern surgical techniques to treat lymphedema are effective at reducing limb volume, symptoms of lymphedema, episodes of cellulitis, and improving patient quality of life. Physiologic procedures, including lymphovenous bypass (LVB) and vascularized lymph node transplant (VLNT), restore physiological lymphatic function within the affected extremity. In patients with post-mastectomy breast cancer-related upper extremity lymphedema that desire breast reconstruction, microvascular abdominal flap breast reconstruction can be combined with superficial inguinal (groin) VLNT to provide breast reconstruction and treatment of lymphedema in a single operation. This article reviews the indications, preoperative assessment, surgical technique, outcomes, and tips and pearls for performing this procedure.
Predictors of urinary toxicity with MRI-assisted radiosurgery for low-dose-rate prostate brachytherapy

Abstract Purpose MRI-assisted radiosurgery (MARS) is a modern technique for prostate brachytherapy that provides superior soft tissue contrast. The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate treatment planning factors associated with urinary toxicity, particularly damage to the membranous urethra (MUL) and external urethral sphincter (EUS), after MARS. Material and Methods We retrospectively reviewed 227 patients treated with MARS. Comparisons were made between several factors including preimplantation length of the MUL and EUS dosimetric characteristics after implantation with longitudinal changes in American Urological Association (AUA) urinary symptom score. Results Rates of grade 3 urinary incontinence and obstructive urinary symptoms were 4% and 2%. A piecewise mixed univariate model revealed that MUL and V200, V150, V125, and D5 to the EUS were all associated with increased rates of urinary toxicity over time. On univariate logistic regression, MUL >14.2 mm (odds ratio [OR] 2.03 per cm3, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10–3.77, p = 0.025), V125 to the EUS (OR 3.21 cm3, 95% CI 1.18–8.71, p = 0.022), and use of the I-125 isotope (OR 3.45, 95% CI 1.55–7.70, p = 0.001) were associated with subacute urinary toxicity (i.e., that occurring at 4–8 months). Optimal dose-constraint limits to the EUS were determined to be V200 Conclusions MARS brachytherapy provides detailed anatomic information for treatment planning, implantation, and quality assurance. Overall rates of urinary toxicity are low; however, several dosimetric variables associated with the EUS were found to correlate with urinary toxicity.
Impacts of COVID-related capacity constraints on theme park attendance_ evidence from Magic Kingdom wait times

This paper examines the impacts of COVID-related capacity constraints on attendance at the Magic Kingdom theme park. Results – based on analysis of about 325,000 attraction wait times recorded betw...
A Bayesian solution to Hallsson’s puzzle

Politics is rife with motivated cognition. People do not dispassionately engage with the evidence when they form political beliefs; they interpret it selectively, generating justifications for thei...
Drug Interactions with Antihypertensives.

Hypertension is remarkably prevalent, affecting an estimated 1.13 billion people worldwide. It often requires the use of multi-drug regimens and is commonly associated with a myriad of other comorbidities which increase medication use. The pervasive use of antihypertensive medications combined with the presence of polypharmacy in many hypertensive patients results in significant risk of drug interactions. This review will summarize the relevant literature to assist clinicians in mitigating drug interaction risks when prescribing antihypertensives. Pharmacokinetic interactions affect drug disposition in the body and can occur at the steps of absorption, distribution, metabolism, or elimination of involved medications. Data has established the calcium channel blockers, namely, diltiazem and verapamil, as potent inhibitors of CYP3A4, and the majority of significant drug interactions involving antihypertensives are attributable to these two agents. Although less common, pharmacokinetic drug interactions with other antihypertensive classes have also been identified. Pharmacodynamic drug interactions with antihypertensives lead to synergy or antagonism of blood pressure lowering effects and can increase or mitigate adverse effects depending on the agents involved. Knowledge is emerging about drug-induced phenoconversion, a phenomenon whereby a drug interaction results in a drug metabolizing phenotype that is different than that predicted by an individual’s genotype. Antihypertensive use in patients with comorbidities and polypharmacy increases the likelihood of encountering important drug-drug interactions. Dedicated efforts to better understand the relationship between pharmacokinetic drug interactions and pharmacogenomic information is important to advance efforts related to personalized medicine.
Fabrication of 3D Cardiac Microtissue Arrays using Human iPSC-Derived Cardiomyocytes, Cardiac Fibroblasts, and Endothelial Cells

Generation of human cardiomyocytes (CMs), cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), and endothelial cells (ECs) from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has provided a unique opportunity to study the complex interplay among different cardiovascular cell types that drives tissue development and disease. In the area of cardiac tissue models, several sophisticated three-dimensional (3D) approaches use induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) to mimic physiological relevance and native tissue environment with a combination of extracellular matrices and crosslinkers. However, these systems are complex to fabricate without microfabrication expertise and require several weeks to self-assemble. Most importantly, many of these systems lack vascular cells and cardiac fibroblasts that make up over 60% of the nonmyocytes in the human heart. Here we describe the derivation of all three cardiac cell types from iPSCs to fabricate cardiac microtissues. This facile replica molding technique allows cardiac microtissue culture in standard multi-well cell culture plates for several weeks. The platform allows user-defined control over microtissue sizes based on initial seeding density and requires less than 3 days for self-assembly to achieve observable cardiac microtissue contractions. Furthermore, the cardiac microtissues can be easily digested while maintaining high cell viability for single-cell interrogation with the use of flow cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). We envision that this in vitro model of cardiac microtissues will help accelerate validation studies in drug discovery and disease modeling.
Research on Intelligent Judgment Technology of Monitoring Alarm Based on Power Grid Topology Division

In order to effectively solve the problems of discrete and complex alarm information and single display means in power dispatching automation system, this paper proposes an intelligent research and judgment technology of power grid monitoring alarm based on power grid topology analysis. According to the topology search of adjacent devices and the topology search of power supply path, this method divides the devices with electrical relationship, integrates the alarm data regularly according to the electrical associated path of the equipment, and forms different alarm data sets; through the alarm data set, keyword extraction and knowledge evaluation network are established to study and judge the alarm information. This method can assist the dispatcher to locate the key equipment of operation monitoring in time. It can quickly and effectively screen and extract important information from the massive operation data, and improve the speed and reliability of power grid monitoring alarm.
Computer optimization planning

The purpose of this presentation is to discuss some recent developments in automating the analytical process and improving the decision making process in ranch operations. In this paper I will discuss some aspects of the computer based analytical model "COPLAN," describe how it is applied specifically to cow-calf operations and conclude with a discussion about how several computer programs including "CO PLAN" can be used in an integrated ranch information system for the cow-calf operation. Ranch management planning has normally been accomplished through traditional planning procedures. First the planning problem is identified, then the available resources are inventorized. Second, the resources are evaluated in relation to the present operation. Third, alternative management strategies are developed depending on the goals of the manager. Fourth, the strategies are compared and the most acceptable management strategy is finally selected. Fifth and finally, the selected strategy is implemented.
Firearm Injury Prevention in the Emergency Department

Firearm injury is a significant public health problem in the United States. Almost 40,000 people died and 134,000 were injured in the United States in 2017. Two-thirds of U.S. firearm deaths in 2017 were suicides, just as in every year in the last decade. Although the majority of firearm deaths are White men, the epidemic disproportionately affects young (age 15–34) minority men, for whom firearm injury is the leading cause of death. Due to limitations in federal funding for firearm injury prevention research, the evidence-base is limited. What evidence does exist points clearly to the need for ED-based awareness of and intervention to reduce common patterns of firearm injury, such as suicide, community violence, and domestic violence. In this chapter, we present an overview of key activities that emergency providers can take to address this issue.
Opening the gates: defining a model of intersectional journalism

Over the past decade, an emerging number of blogs, podcasts, websites, and social media channels report on news from an intersectional perspective, actively considering the intersecting impact of r...
Border Challenges and Ethnic Struggles for Social Justice in Arizona: Hispanic Communities Under Siege

This chapter focuses on border challenges, ethnic struggles, and the responses of Latino communities in Arizona. The Arizona’s immigration reform, SB 1070, and the anti-ethnic studies law, HB 2281, attempt to streamline undocumented migration and the erasure of Raza and Mexican-American Studies at the Tucson Unified School District. The dissemination of political hateful discourses guides the militarization of the border as an important social location and the creation of communities under siege. These laws dehumanize Mexican and Latina/o communities, specifically those situated on the US-Mexico border. Mexican and Latina/o communities in Arizona, at a state and local levels, daily experience a misguided and blatant, extremist, and unconstitutional climate of xenophobia and racial hostility. This chapter concludes with a brief examination of the repercussions of Republican political vitriol, a dissemination of an “ecology of fear,” and the assassination attempt launched at Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords which brutally ended the lives of six individuals and left 14 others wounded in Tucson, Arizona.
Of Two Minds: The Revolutionary Science of Dual-Brain Psychology

Most people experience themselves as two-sided: one side seems mature and stable, the other emotional and impulsive. But have you ever wondered if there really are two minds in each of us? If so, do traumatic as well as ordinary experiences affect the way our minds grow and interact? According to Fredric Schiffer, a leading Harvard psychiatrist and researcher, advances in science prove what many of us have always intuited is true: We are of two minds, each one with a different degree of maturity, and each one associated with the left or the right brain. This brilliant, provocative book illustrates how the interaction of these two minds-- whether they sabotage each other or work in harmony-- actually determines our psychological nature and ultimately the emotional problems or progress we may experience in life. Drawing on his own twenty-five years of research on the brain and behavior, Schiffer gives us overwhelming evidence that each side of our brain possesses an autonomous, distinct personality-- with its own set of memories, motivations, and behaviors. In working with his patients, Schiffer discovered that strategically altering someone's visual field can positively or negatively affect that person's sense of well-being. He shows how using this technique of visual stimulation can activate the specific regions of the brain that harbor both traumatic and joyful memories. This dramatic breakthrough demonstrates how it is possible to access, isolate, and work with the memories encoded on one side of the brain. Dr. Schiffer's dual-brain approach has yielded remarkable results with a wide range of emotional disorders, from anxiety and depression to addiction and stress-induced heart disease-- offering an exciting new perspective on therapy. Just as earlier investigations of the brain and its cognitive functions revolutionized our understanding of how we think, "Of Two Minds" transforms our understanding of how and why we experience emotional distress and conflicts, and suggests a path to a more harmonious, balanced relationship between our two selves.
Incretin Therapy – Present and Future

Although newer treatments for type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients have produced continual improvements in outcome, a large and growing population with prediabetes remains under-treated. In the last few years, incretin-based therapies have become an important treatment option for patients with T2D. There are two classes of incretin agents: the dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors and the glucagon like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists. The ultimate goal of agents within both of these classes is to increase GLP-1 signaling, which results in augmented glucose-induced insulin secretion, inhibition of glucagon secretion, and decreased appetite. This should result in improved regulation of glucose homeostasis. GLP-1 receptor agonists enable patients to achieve significant weight loss. In contrast, DPP-4 inhibitors result in a less dramatic increase in GLP-1 levels; therefore, they are weight neutral. Incretin therapies are currently recommended for use early in the treatment algorithm for T2D patients whose disease is not manageable by diet and exercise alone, but the potential for these agents may be farther reaching. Current studies are evaluating the potential benefits of combining incretin therapies with basal insulin to provide continuous glucose control before and after meals. In addition, these agents may be promising for patients with prediabetes since they effectively reduce glycosylated hemoglobin levels and fasting plasma glucose levels, enable weight control, and have the potential to preserve β-cell function. Clearly, all of these properties are desirable for patients with prediabetes.
Nonlinear oscillations of suspended cables containing a two-to-one internal resonance

The near-resonant response of suspended, elastic cables driven by planar excitation is investigated using a two degree-of-fredom model. The model captures the interaction of a symmetric in-plane mode and an out-of-plane mode with near commensurable natural frequencies in a 2:1 ratio. The modes are coupled through quadratic and cubic nonlinearities arising from nonlinear cable stretching. The existence and stability of periodic solutions are investigated using a second order perturbation analysis. The first order analysis shows that suspended cables may exhibit saturation and jump phenomena. The second order analysis, however, reveals that the cubic nonlinearities and higher order corrections disrupt saturation. The stable, steady state solutions for the second order analysis compare favorably with results obtained by numerically integrating the equations of motion.
Testing the Biden Hypotheses: Leader Tenure, Age, and International Conflict

Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. predicted that Barack Obama would face an international challenge in his early term by foreign enemies who want to test a young leader's resolve as a chief executive just like John F. Kennedy did in the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. We test this argument using the directed-leader-dyad-period data for both world leaders and the US presidents between 1875 and 2001. We find that old leaders are more likely to be a target of militarized disputes, and even more so during the early term as opposed to Biden's prediction. The impact of tenure on the likelihood of being targeted largely depends on age. We also find that old Republican US presidents are especially vulnerable to foreign challenges early in their term.
Postnatal Contracture Of Young Horses: A Theoretical Study

Summary A theoretical analysis of the pathogenesis of so-called superficial flexor and deep flexor conlracture of the forelegs or growing horses has been presented. The analysis raises a number of questions which could be addressed by observation and experiment. Given that the theoretical analysis is in some measure correct, so-called flexion contracture is, in fact, shortening of immature tendons in response to excessive or abnormal loading and consequent deformation of the immature hoof wall. The deep flexor tendon is of first importance in the pathogenesis of both syndromes as a result of the mechanical situation arising from its insertion distal to the coffin joint.
Asteroid compositional rings: Clues to the compositions of primordial planetesimals in the middle solar system

The distribution of asteroid taxonomic types at distances between 2.1 and 5.3 AU is discussed. There are four major, overlapping but compositionally distinct rings of asteroids present within this range of heliocentric distance. The rings, within which 80% of each of 4 major taxonomic types (S, C, P, and D) fall, are centered at 2.6 (0.7), 2.9 (0.8), 3.4 (0.7), and 4.6 (1.5) AU respectively, where the numbers in parentheses are the ring widths in AU. The overall physical resemblence between the asteroid rings and planetary rings is poor; physically the asteroid belt more closely resembles a debris strewn satellite system. Once the mineralogy of these taxonomic types is established, and complications arising from postaccretionary metamorphism are dealt with, they may be used as probes of physical conditions in the early solar system. The identification of primordial planetesimals can be used in studying the siblings of the planetesimals responsible for the final stage of planetary accretion.
Positioning new patterns of privilege in learning: A response to ware

This special series represents collective courage because what is willing to be risked may be profound. At center is a willingness to reach out and cultivate new conversations on disability. Indeed, the artists who contribute to Ware’s article are key co-authors; their art ushers us into a new disability literacy that extends and challenges current cultural scripts. We examine four central themes informed by Ware’s text and art-based educational research (ABER) linked to the larger series conversation on interdisciplinary research methodology.
RESPONSE TO VISUAL AND TACTUAL CUES BY MONKEYS

Strmmary.--4 sophisticated monkeys were tested on tacrually and visually presented problems, with 1 or 3 training trials. Test trials measured how much Ss attended to form and texture components and compounds. Tactual performance was generally poor. Visual performance was a function of the kinds and numbers of relevant cues. It is well known that tactual discrimination learning is generally much more difficult for monkeys than is visual discrimination learning, but it is not clear why this should be so. If an organism must learn to pay attention to the relevant dimensions of a problem before instrumental learning of the correct response can occur (Zeaman & House, 1963), one possible explanation for the difficulty of tactual learning is that attentional processes are limited in the tactual mode. It is also possible that monkeys can attend to the same kinds and numbers of cues tactually as visually but cannot encode the stimulus-reward outcomes as well. The present study was designed to assess the relative importance of form and texture cues, singly and together, and to compare performance in the tactual and visual modes as a function of available cues. One, two, and three dimensions were made available, using a variety of stim~~lus values. In this way, attention to various dimensions could be evaluated independently of the psychophysical difficulty of any particular set of stimuli. It could be assumed from previous testing chat the stimuli used were discriminated on some basis and that Ss were capable of one-trial instrumental learning.
Replication of a community-based multicomponent teen pregnancy prevention model: realities and challenges.

Health education curricula and the delivery of specific health services have been evaluated as to their replicability in other settings. Formal studies to evaluate replication of multicomponent community-based program models are scarce. Moreover the literature does not address the challenges in implementing complex program models and documenting replication. This article describes an initiative to transport and replicate the School/Community Sexual Risk Reduction Model created in South Carolina in three Kansas communities over a 4-year period. Objective and subjective assessments of achieving fidelity to the model core components were determined as was a description of factors that enhance or inhibit replication efforts. Assessing replication will be improved when detailed monitoring and process evaluation is in place in the development of the original program and in the replication effort. (authors)
Buy it now: Lessons from eBay

The virtual world is increasingly becoming a site of interest among researchers trying to understand contemporary Western culture. Since communications in virtual worlds contain text and images, it...
Sterilization of 4–5-day-old pupae of the Indian meal moth with gamma radiation and its effect on mating competitiveness☆

Abstract Females of the Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella (Hubner), irradiated as 4–5-day-old pupae with an obserbed dose of 35 krad of gamma radiation and confined with unirradiated (U) males were sterile. Male moths treated similarly and confined with U females were only partially sterile. Irradiated (I) males confined with U males and females at a ratio of 1:1:1 caused 18.2% of the eggs produced to be infertile; increasing the ratio to 5:1:1, 10:1:1, 15:1:1 and 25:1:1 caused 48.7, 46.6, 47.7 and 58.9%, respectively, infertile eggs. The calculated competitiveness values (CV) for the 5 ratios were 0.39, 0.70, 0.63, 0.62 and 0.75, respectively. When I females were confined with U males and females in the same 5 ratios: 1:1:1, 5:1:1, etc., 15.6, 66.2, 74.3, 100.0 and 100.0%, respectively, of the eggs were infertile. The CVs calculated for these ratios were 0.73, 1.52, 1.28, 1.50 and 1.30. Thus, I females were more effective in reducing egg fertility than were I males.
Testing 40 Predictions From the Transtheoretical Model Again, With Confidence

Testing Theory-based Quantitative Predictions (TTQP) represents an alternative to traditional Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) procedures and is more appropriate for theory testing. The theory generates explicit effect size predictions and these effect size estimates, with related confidence intervals, are used to test the predictions. The focus of a study is shifted to a quantitative approach in contrast to the NHST dyadic decision centered on testing a prediction not based on the theory. This article describes the TTQP as an alternative approach by replicating and extending a test of 40 a priori predictions based on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM). Specific quantitative predictions were made about the magnitude of the effect size (ω(2)). The predictions involved movement from 1 of 3 initial stages (Precontemplation, Contemplation, and Preparation) to stage membership 12 months later. In the initial study, 36 of the 40 predictions were confirmed. The same 40 predictions are evaluated on a sample (N = 3,923) of smokers recruited from a large New England HMO for a smoking cessation study. The predictions were recalibrated based on the first study and 99% confidence intervals were employed to test the predictions. Thirty-two of the 40 predictions were confirmed. Of the 8 failures, 4 were judged to reflect a need for further recalibration, 1 was attributed to sampling fluctuation, and 3 suggested revisions of the theory are needed. The results provide overall support for the TTM. The study also illustrates some of the challenges of testing quantitative predictions.
Cytological changes during progression of neoplasia in selected fish species

Abstract Cytological changes during progression of experimentally induced hepatic neoplasia in fishes were reviewed with emphasis on recent findings in Cyprinodon variegatus and Oryzias latipes. Hepatocytes are particularly sensitive to toxic changes during early phases of response to carcinogens reflecting both lethal and sublethal alterations. In these degenerative lesions, enzyme histochemical studies reveal marked deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, glucose-6-phosphatase and adenosine triphosphatase. Surviving hepatocytes are either enlarged, encircled by cells with small nucleus to cytoplasm ratios, and have altered nuclear morphology suggestive of an inability to divide, or are smaller, apparently rapidly dividing, and have basophilic cytoplasm. In both species, development of spongiosis hepatis occurred following cytotoxic phases. This lesion apparently provides abundant space for cellular remodeling during neoplastic progression leading to eventual multinodular change. Foci of altered hepatocytes included basophilic, eosinophilic (both species) and clear cell (Cyprinodon variegatus only). Enzyme alterations preceded other tinctorial, morphologic alterations and were seen in cells composing foci and tumors, suggesting lineage of phenotypic alteration. Cytologic changes within other resident cell populations during neoplastic progression were reviewed.
Identification of inherited protein variants in individual erythrocytes.

Inherited electrophoretic variants of hemoglobin, carbonic anhydrase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in individual erythrocytes were separated by electrophoresis in ultrathin agar gels. By staining the electropherograms with specific fluorescein-conjugated antibodies against hemoglobins, relative proportions of two hemoglobins within individual erythrocytes can be estimated. The findings suggested that the intracellular proportions of HbA and HbS in heterozygotes are heterogeneous within a given population of cells. By this method cells containing hemoglobin F (F cells) as well as a minor variant of hemoglobin F were identified. This tool potentially offers an approach to monitoring distribution of inherited variants in individual erythrocytes for a large number of proteins.
Allopatric Resistance: Searching for Sources of Insect Resistance for Use in Agriculture

An investigation of selected literature indicates that numerous sources of resistance to insect attack have been obtained from plants that evolved in the absence of the insect to which they are resistant. These instances of resistance are not the result of natural selection and this may be beneficially significant in the use of such resistance in agriculture. If agricultural scientists are to capitalize upon such resistance, care must be taken to sequester and preserve the potentially important sources of resistance as well as the important domesticated plants that are currently in jeopardy.
Young children’s memory encoding reflected in verbal discrimination learning and recognition memory performance

In Experiment 1 4- and 5-year-old Ss were presented four verbal discrimination (VD) lists. For three of the lists, all correct items were either conceptually, acoustically, or affectively similar. The fourth was a control list. Only the conceptual list facilitated VDL, suggesting heavy use of the verbal associative attribute in memory encoding, with no evidence for the involvement of the acoustic or the affective attribute. Experiment 2 indicated that recognition memory (RM) for target items was better when those items had been preceded by associates than when they had not. Both the VD and the RM tasks appear promising for developmental research concerning memory encoding.
The identification of prolyl endopeptidase in bovine lenses: a preliminary report

A new neutral endopeptidase having the properties of prolyl endopeptidase was detected in bovine lenses. The enzyme hydrolyzed the prolyl bond in the newly-developed fluorogenic substrate, t-butyloxycarbonyl-Arg-Pro-2-NNap, optimally at pH 8 and 37°. The Km value was estimated to be 0.033mM. An approximately 4-fold purification was achieved. DFP completely inhibited the hydrolysis of Boc-Arg-Pro-2-NNap by the endopeptidase.
Defects and transport in the solid solution (Co,Fe)1 − ° O at 1200°C—II. Cation tracer diffusion and electrical conductivity

Abstract A systematic investigation of transport phenomena in the oxide solid solution (Co x Fe 1 − x ) 1 − Δ O at 1200°C has been performed. The diffusion of the radioactive tracers Co-60, Fe-59 and Mn-54 in solid solutions (Co x Fe 1 − x ) 1 − Δ O with x between 0.6 and 1.0 and varying oxygen activity has been experimentally studied. Additionally, the electrical conductivity of (Co x Fe 1 − x ) 1 − Δ O at 1200°C and 0.7 ⩾ x ⩾ 0.97 has been measured as a function of oxygen activity. The oxygen activity dependencies of the measured cation tracer diffusion coefficients and electrical conductivities are qualitatively analyzed.
Using the analytical hierarchy process to select a financing instrument for a foreign investment

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to apply the Analytical Heirarchy Process Model in selecting an instrument to finance a foreign direct investment. As with other finance decisions, risk and return are evaluated before the appropriate instrument is chosen. The model allows for several character sets to be evaluated. Included in this analysis are the nature of the investment, the financial instruments available and their characteristics. The set of elements needed to be financed are characterized by the amount and nature of the asset. Relevant factors in evaluating the instruments are: costs of borrowing and risks associated with the instrument. The set of financing instruments to be evaluated include a local institutional loan, international capital market loan, international capital market bond, and internally generated funds. This model, developed by Thomas Saaty (Saaty 1980), can be used to solve multicriteria problems by the use of a subjective scale to quantify decision factors.
Simvastatin Application to Augment Facial Jaw Bone in a Dog Model: Pilot Study

Background: Locally injected simvastatin (SIM) has been shown to induce bone growth in rat models. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of locally injected simvastatin in several human-like clinical situations in a beagle dog model.Methods: Four beagle dogs completed the study and were used in a split-mouth design. Dehiscence defects of 5 × 3 mm were created bilaterally on the lateral aspect of the mandibular second premolar (PM2) mesial roots including removal of root cementum. At the same surgery, porous hydroxyapatite–collagen grafts with resorbable membranes with or without 10-mg SIM were placed buccal to the mandibular first molars (M1). One week later, three weekly local injections of 10-mg SIM in ethanol and contralateral ethanol alone were initiated at three sites through the buccal mucosa: 1) 6 mm apical to the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) of the maxillary fourth premolar (PM4; thin bone over root); 2) 6 mm apical to the CEJ of PM2 (dehiscence defect); and 3) 10 mm distoapical to...
Flexibility of the father's brain.

Females are responsible for the direct rearing of offspring in more than 95% of mammalian species (1). Humans are an intriguing exception to this pattern of paternal investment, and shifts in society and culture have led to increases in men’s involvement in the care of infants. The modern-day family comes in a variety of structures, and more and more people are playing unconventional roles in childrearing. In PNAS, Abraham et al. (2) show that fathers’ brains are malleable and can adapt to different parental roles.