cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Charisma and conservation: charismatic megafauna's influence on safari and zoo tourists' pro-conservation behaviors.

Annually, millions of tourists go on safari and visit zoos primarily to view large charismatic wildlife. These venues rely on the inherent appeal of these animals to increase visitation and anchor conservation efforts. In conservation campaigns, flagship species are used to stimulate a connection to a species and promote pro-conservation behaviors. However, empirical support for behavioral outcomes associated with flagships is lacking. Nor is it known how a connection to a species influences behaviors. This study explored (a) how tourists connect to wildlife, how this relationship is influenced by the on-site experience, and how these factors interact to influence behavior, and (b) how the experiences between safari and zoo venues differed. A model was developed using interactional theory and analyzed with structural equation modeling. Data were obtained from 416 tourists to Tanzanian parks and protected areas and 452 tourists to two U.S. zoos and one aquarium. An existing connection to wildlife and experiential factors directly influenced tourists’ connection to a species, but not behaviors. Tourists’ connection to a species had a significant positive influence on pro-conservation behaviors for individual species and general biodiversity. The influence of the experience was equivalent across safari and zoo venues. Results support the ability of safari and zoo wildlife tourism to produce conservation outcomes.
A customizable hybrid approach to data clustering

Most current data clustering algorithms in data mining are based on a distance calculation in certain metric space. For Spatial Database Systems (SDBS), the Euclidean distance between two data points is often used to represent the relationship between data points. However, in some spatial settings and many other applications, distance alone is not enough to represent all the attributes of the relation between data points. We need a more powerful model to record more relational information between data objects. This paper adopts a graph model by which a database is regarded as a graph: each vertex of the graph represents a data point, and each edge, weighted or unweighted, is used to record the relation between two data points connected by the edge. Based on the graph model, this paper presents a set of cluster analysis criteria to guide data clustering. The criteria can be used to measure clustering results and help improving the quality of clustering. Further, a customizable algorithm using the criteria is proposed and implemented. This algorithm can produce clusters according to users' specifications. Preliminary experiments show encouraging results.
Recognition methods for 3D textured surfaces

Texture as a surface representation is the subject of a wide body of computer vision and computer graphics literature. While texture is always associated with a form of repetition in the image, the repeating quantity may vary. The texture may be a color or albedo variation as in a checkerboard, a paisley print or zebra stripes. Very often in real-world scenes, texture is instead due to a surface height variation, e.g. pebbles, gravel, foliage and any rough surface. Such surfaces are referred to here as 3D textured surfaces. Standard texture recognition algorithms are not appropriate for 3D textured surfaces because the appearance of these surfaces changes in a complex manner with viewing direction and illumination direction. Recent methods have been developed for recognition of 3D textured surfaces using a database of surfaces observed under varied imaging parameters. One of these methods is based on 3D textons obtained using K-means clustering of multiscale feature vectors. Another method uses eigen-analysis originally developed for appearance-based object recognition. In this work we develop a hybrid approach that employs both feature grouping and dimensionality reduction. The method is tested using the Columbia-Utrecht texture database and provides excellent recognition rates. The method is compared with existing recognition methods for 3D textured surfaces. A direct comparison is facilitated by empirical recognition rates from the same texture data set. The current method has key advantages over existing methods including requiring less prior information on both the training and novel images.
Teaching Spanish by Radio

THE principal aim of the radio course in Spanish, as taught over WOSU, the Ohio State University station, under the direction of Professor W. S. Hendrix, has been to offer to the listening public an elementary course in the Spanish language, and at the same time to present general information about Spanish and Spanish-American civilization and culture. Those who have done the broadcasting have always borne in mind that while verbs and adjectives may be forgotten by the pupil, there is a certain amount of information regarding the Spanish-speaking world which is of decided cultural value, and which, if attractively presented, will never be forgotten. Thus we have hoped to achieve in this course the ultimate aim of all college education. For this reason, we have not hesitated to introduce certain materials which, while having a direct bearing on the subject, have nevertheless deviated somewhat from conventional lines in modern foreign language teaching. Sometimes a radio professor forgets that educational stations do not thrive on well-conducted and technically correct courses alone, but that they must take into account the number of listeners attracted as well. While there is no need of turning a radio class into a humorous program, experience shows that variety of appeal must make up for certain characteristic limitations of radio teaching, and that by inserting entertaining features we attract occasional listeners, a factor of considerable importance from the point of view of the program director. So, in the Spanish course given over WOSU in the winter and spring of 1934 and during the academic year 1935-36 at 10:30 each schoolday morning, we tried to appeal to as large an audience as possible by talking about everything Spanish, without neglecting the text, which was the real subject-matter of the course.
Thinning and prescribed fire effects on dwarf mistletoe severity in an eastern Cascade Range dry forest, Washington

Abstract Forest thinning and prescribed fire practices are widely used, either separately or in combination, to address tree stocking, species composition, and wildland fire concerns in western US mixed conifer forests. We examined the effects of these fuel treatments alone and combined on dwarf mistletoe infection severity immediately after treatment and for the following 100 years. Thinning, burning, thin + burn, and control treatments were applied to 10 ha units; each treatment was replicated three times. Dwarf mistletoe was found in ponderosa pine and/or Douglas-fir in all units prior to treatment. Stand infection severity was low to moderate, and severely infected trees were the largest in the overstory. Thinning produced the greatest reductions in tree stocking and mistletoe severity. Burning reduced stocking somewhat less because spring burns were relatively cool with spotty fuel consumption and mortality. Burning effects on vegetation were enhanced when combined with thinning; thin + burn treatments also reduced mistletoe severity in all size classes. Stand growth simulations using the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) showed a trend of reduced mistletoe spread and intensification over time for all active treatments. When thinned and unthinned treatments were compared, thinning reduced infected basal area and treatment effects were obvious, beginning in the second decade. The same was true with burned and unburned treatments. Treatment effects on infected tree density were similar to infected basal area; however, treatment effects diminished after 20 years, suggesting a re-treatment interval for dwarf mistletoe.
Viscoelastic Analysis of Composite Cylinders Subjected to Rotation

A viscoelastic analysis has been developed to investigate stress relaxation and creep in a multi-layered composite cylinder subjected to rotation. The analysis accounts for ply-by-ply variation of material properties, fiber orientations, and density gradients through the thickness of cylinders. A closed form solution based on the corresponding elastic problem is derived for a generalized plane strain state in a thick-walled multi-layered cylinder. Laplace transform is then applied to obtain the numerical solution of the viscoelastic problem. The paper illustrates the derivation of the analytical model and solution procedure. A numerical simulation shows substantial creep and stress relaxation in thick-walled cylinders at an elevated temperature. Viscoelastic effects of composite can result in a drastic change of stress and strain profiles in a cylinder over a period of time, which is critical in terms of structural durability for application suchas energy storage flywheels.
Structured Group Work for the Management of Chronic Pain: An Experimental Investigation:

This study evaluated the efficacy of an 8-week structured group treatment for the management of chronic pain by randomly assigning 39 clients to the group treatment or wait list. The primarily female clients ranged in age from 22 to 90 and had suffered chronic pain for an average of 14 years. Chronic pain complaints were varied, including low-back pain, headaches, degenerative arthritis, and peripheral neuropathy. Clients in treatment improved significantly in the areas of physical and psychosocial dysfunction and negative mood states. Severity of pain was not significantly reduced by treatment. Treatment gains were maintained at 6-month follow-up. An interesting finding was that older adults did as well, and at times even better, than younger subjects. This treatment provides a way for individuals to improve and maintain their coping skills in spite of medical disability and pain.
Does pigmentation affect the trabecular meshwork

• Pigment has been associated with glaucoma in pigment dispersion syndrome and in intraocular lens-associated pigment dispersion. Human eyes with segmental pigmentation of the trabecular meshwork may provide a controlled model to study the effects of pigment on the meshwork. Nine normal human eye bank eyes with segmental pigmentation of the trabecular meshwork were examined for pigment-associated differences in trabecular cellularity or morphology. Cellularity was examined with four methods: cells per histologic section, cells per length of tissue, cells per overall area, and cells per solid tissue. The simplest method, cells per histologic section, gave results equivalent to the other methods. No differences in cellularity or morphology were found between pigmented and nonpigmented areas.
Bladder hernia simulating osseous metastatic lesion on radionuclide bone scan.

A case of herniation of the urinary bladder is presented that simulated a metastatic lesion to the public bone on a radionuclide bone scan.
Exporting to China: possibilities and challenges for US dairy industry

Opportunities as well as challenges for US dairy industry to export to China have been explored. China dairy import is predicted to grow significantly toward the year 2000 even though it could be restricted by its available foreign currency and lower priority of dairy products in the government importing list. The share of this market to be taken by the United States however will depend on the United States competitiveness in world markets as well as its own export promotion efforts.
Phosphorylation of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 8 (MAPK8) Is Associated With Germ Cell Apoptosis and Redistribution of the Bcl2-Modifying Factor (BMF)

Successful spermatogenesis requires that germ cells remain in physical contact with Sertoli cells until spermiation. Previous studies have shown that the Bcl2-modifying factor (BMF) is a proapoptotic protein found in many epithelial cells which, when phosphorylated by the active form of mitogen-activated protein kinase 8 (p-MAPK8), initiates apoptosis in response to loss of adhesion of the cells to their basal lamina. Based on this, we hypothesized that p-MAPK8 and BMF may play important roles in the apoptotic death of testicular germ cells in response to their detachment from Sertoli cells. Immunohistochemical analysis of the normal rat testis revealed p-MAPK8 expression in spermatocytes and elongated spermatids but not in round spermatids. This localization was opposite to that of BMF, which is expressed in round spermatids but not in spermatocytes or elongated spermatids. When freshly isolated germ cells were cultured in the absence of Sertoli cells, a condition in which there was widespread germ cell apoptosis, an increase in p-MAPK8 relative to overall MAPK8 protein, was seen by Western blot analysis. Additionally, immunocytochemical analysis showed an increase in immunoreactive p-MAPK8 in round spermatids and spermatocytes in association with BMF expression. From these correlative data, we propose that the activation of MAPK8 and redistribution of BMF may be integrally involved in the mechanism by which specific germ cells undergo programmed cell death in response to their detachment from Sertoli cells.
An Assessment of Social Diffusion in the Respecting Choices Advance Care Planning Program

This study examines the potential social diffusion effects of the Respecting Choices advance care planning program administered in La Crosse, Wisconsin, since 1991. The program produces educational materials for patients, trains facilitators to help patients prepare for end of life, and ensures that advance directives are connected to patients' medical records. Using data from a survey of more than 5,000 White Wisconsin high school graduates in their mid-60s, we found that participants who were living in the La Crosse area were significantly less likely than their peers living elsewhere to have executed a living will or appointed a health care power of attorney. This pattern may reflect psychological reactance, where individuals reject a message or lesson when they perceive compliance as a threat to their autonomy. There was no evidence of social diffusion effects; participants who lived in the La Crosse region themselves or who had social network members residing in the area were no more likely than those with no known ties to the region to have engaged in advance care planning. Future studies should explore the processes through which individuals learn and share with others their knowledge of advance care planning.
Characterizing steady-state and transient properties of reaction-diffusion systems

In the past, the study of reaction-diffusion systems has greatly contributed to our understanding of the behavior of many-body systems far from equilibrium. In this paper, we aim at characterizing the properties of diffusion-limited reactions both in their steady states and out of stationarity. Many reaction-diffusion systems have the peculiarity that microscopic reversibility is broken such that their transient behavior cannot be investigated through the study of most of the observables discussed in the literature. For this reason, we analyze the transient properties of reaction-diffusion systems through a specific work observable that remains well defined even in the absence of microscopic reversibility and that obeys an exact detailed fluctuation relation in cases where detailed balance is fulfilled. We thereby drive the systems out of their nonequilibrium steady states through time-dependent reaction rates. Using a numerical exact method and computer simulations, we analyze fluctuation ratios of the probability distributions obtained during the forward and reversed processes. We show that the underlying microscopic dynamics gives rise to peculiarities in the configuration-space trajectories, thereby, yielding prominent features in the fluctuation ratios.
Rheology of joint fluid in total knee arthroplasty patients

While the properties of joint fluid may affect the tribology of joint replacement prostheses, the flow parameters of joint fluid have not yet been examined in the context of total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The objective of this study was to evaluate the flow properties of joint fluids in patients undergoing index TKA or revision TKA. We hypothesized that an alteration of the properties of joint fluid would result from TKA. The steady-shear viscosity and storage and loss moduli were evaluated in joint fluid from 35 arthritis patients undergoing TKA, 14 patients undergoing revision of a previous TKA, and two patients presenting with joint effusion after TKA. The same properties were also evaluated in two commercially available sodium hyaluronate preparations and bovine serum, which is used as a lubricant in joint simulators. The steady-shear viscosity varied over three orders of magnitude among samples obtained from patients undergoing TKA, spanning previously established "normal" and "diseased" ranges. Fluid obtained at index TKA was more likely to exhibit normal viscous properties than fluid obtained at revision TKA (p = 0.01). Other viscous parameters distinguished the two groups, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Both groups exhibited degenerate flow properties when compared to synovial fluid from healthy individuals. Further examination of the connection between flow properties and the tribology of joint replacement prostheses is warranted.
Friction Theory Coupled with Statistical Associating Fluid Theory for Estimating the Viscosity of n-Alkane Mixtures

Friction theory is coupled with statistical associating fluid theory, SAFT1 and PC-SAFT, to predict the viscosity of mixtures. The universal friction theory parameters working with SAFT1 and PC-SAFT for pure n-alkanes, which were previously found to scale linearly with molecular weight, are used without any readjustment to predict the viscosity of symmetric and asymmetric mixtures of n-alkanes with accuracy that is adequate for engineering purposes.
Stochastic pulse switching in a degenerate resonant optical medium

Using the idealized integrable Maxwell-Bloch model, we describe random optical-pulse polarization switching along an active optical medium in the $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ configuration with disordered occupation numbers of its lower-energy sublevel pair. The description combines complete integrability and stochastic dynamics. For the single-soliton pulse, we derive the statistics of the electric-field polarization ellipse at a given point along the medium in closed form. If the average initial population difference of the two lower sublevels vanishes, we show that the pulse polarization will switch intermittently between the two circular polarizations as it travels along the medium. If this difference does not vanish, the pulse will eventually forever remain in the circular polarization determined by which sublevel is more occupied on average. We also derive the exact expressions for the statistics of the polarization-switching dynamics, such as the probability distribution of the distance between two consecutive switches and the percentage of the distance along the medium the pulse spends in the elliptical polarization of a given orientation in the case of vanishing average initial population difference. We find that the latter distribution is given in terms of the well-known arc sine law.
QUANTITATIVE MICRO-ESTIMATION OF ANTIBODIES IN THE SERA OF MAN AND OTHER ANIMALS.

A micro-method is described by which as little as 10γ of specific precipitate nitrogen may be determined with a fair degree of accuracy. The error in repeated determinations is about ± 2γ.
Fuel Drop Spreading on a Flat Smooth Surface: Numerical Simulations With a VOF Method

With the current interest in bio-derived and blended transportation fuels, the impact of the variable viscosity in these fuels on spray and splash properties has become an area of concern. In this work, the dynamics of a liquid drop impacting and spreading on a flat, smooth surface was computationally investigated by employing the volume of fluid (VOF) approach with the commercial solver Fluent 12.0.16, and the results were base-lined with experimental measurements. Of particular interest was the degree of fidelity required of the contact angle model, with the present work proposing and testing a combined static contact angle-dynamic contact angle (SCA-DCA) model to describe drop spreading. This model was shown to reduce the behavior information required as compared with full dynamic contact angle (DCA) models while significantly improving over the accuracy of a pure static contact angle (SCA) model. Two different computational domains were tested and compared for the proposed SCA-DCA model, a quarter-drop versus a full-drop domain, with the results showing that the error was reduced when the full domain was employed.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Single-channel currents activated by light in Limulus ventral photoreceptors.

Sensory stimuli alter the membrane conductance of receptor cells. Noise analysis studies in several types of receptors1–4 suggest that ionic channels mediate this change in conductance, but no direct evidence for such channels has been obtained. We have now investigated the mechanism of ion permeation underlying the light-induced conductance in the ventral photoreceptors of Limulus polyphemus by means of the patch-clamp technique5 and have resolved single-channel currents that are activated by light.
Impulsivity and threatened suicide

Abstract A study of prior suicidal behavior in a nonclinical population indicated that impulsivity was associated only with a history of threatening suicide, not with a history of considering suicide or attempting suicide.
Software intensive systems safety analysis

Two important elements in the avionics suite of modern aircraft are: the flight control system (FCS) and the flight management system (FMS). The FCS provides the capability to stabilize and control the aircraft, while the FMS is responsible for flight planning and navigation. A clear trend in the aerospace industry is to place greater reliance on software systems, and many FCS and FMS subsystems are implemented primarily in software. For example, within the FCS is the flight guidance system (FGS) that generates roll and pitch guidance commands. Similarly, within the FMS is the vertical navigation (VNAV) function that acts like a third crew member in the cockpit, ordering mode change requests and resetting target altitude values to enable the aircraft to track the vertical flight plan. We have developed formal, executable models of the requirements for the mode logic of a FGS and for portions of the VNAV functionality. We have also conducted a comprehensive software safety analysis on the FGS mode logic model, and are completing the analysis of the VNAV model. This analysis uses as its starting point several "traditional" safety analysis techniques such as a functional hazard assessment (FHA), a fault tree analysis (FTA), and a failure mode effects analysis (FMEA). However, we are also using formal methods techniques known as model checking and theorem proving to verify the presence of safety properties in the model. This paper summarizes the (now completed) safety analysis that was performed on the FGS model, and highlights the similarities and differences with the (still on-going) safety analysis of the FMS model. In particular, we summarize progress made to date in the use of formal methods to verify the presence of the required safety properties in the models themselves.
Understanding Factors Leading to Participation in Supplemental Instruction Programs in Introductory Accounting Courses

AbstractAlthough studies have shown that supplemental instruction (SI) programs can have positive effects in introductory accounting courses, these programs experience low participation rates. Thus, our study is the first to examine the factors leading to student participation in SI programs. We do this through a survey instrument based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. Our study shows that students' attitudes toward the sessions affect their intent to participate in them. This attitude is influenced by students' perceptions that the sessions can help them in various ways. Results also show that influential others can influence student intent to participate in SI sessions. We also note that students' perceptions of the amount of personal control that they have over going to SI sessions have no effect on their participation in the sessions. We discuss how these findings can be leveraged to increase SI participation rates.
Age and Experience Effects in Spatial Visualization

Three studies were conducted to investigate effects related to age and experience on measures of spatial visualization ability. All research participants were college-educated men; those in the experienced group were practicing or recently retired architects. The major results of the studies were (a) that increased age was found to be associated with lower levels of performance on several tests of spatial visualization and (b) that this was true both for unselected adults and for adults with extensive spatial visualization experience. These findings seem to suggest that age-related effects in some aspects of cognitive functioning may be independent of experiential influences. An important hypothesis concerning the effects of adult age on cognitive functioning attributes the poorer performance of older adults to their lack of recent experience with relevant cognitive abilities. Perhaps the clearest statements of this disuse perspective were by early researchers (e.g., Sorenson, 1933, 1938; Thorndike, Bregman, Tilton, & Woodyard, 1928), but some version of the disuse hypothesis is implicit in the writings of many contemporary researchers (e.g., Ratner, Schell, Crimmins, Mittelman, & Baldinelli, 1987; Willis, 1987). As an illustration of the commitment to this perspective, Kirasic and Allen (1985), in a recent review of research on age and spatial ability, stated as an assertion rather than an hypothesis, that A substantial difference. . . [exists! between elderly adults' proficiency outside the psychological laboratory and their proficiency in performing tasks bearing an apparent relationship to their lives outside that setting. . . [and that] age-related performance decrements are more likely to appear on novel tasks or those involving unfamiliar stimuli or settings than on familiar tasks or those involving well-known stimuli or settings, (p. 199) Despite considerable intuitive appeal and apparent widespread implicit acceptance, there is still very little evidence directly relevant to the disuse hypothesis of age-related cognitive decline. The studies in the current article were designed to investigate this hypothesis by examining the effects of age, experience, and the interrelations of age and experience on spatial visualization ability. Spatial visualization, as the term is used here, refers to the mental manipulation of spatial information to determine how a given spatial configuration would appear if portions of that configuration were to be rotated, folded, repositioned, or otherwise transformed. This construct has been identified in a number of factor-analytic studies (e.g., see Lohman, 1988, for a review), and has been found to have predictive validity for success in courses in geometry, drafting, and design (e.g.,
Melting of Bimetallic Cu−Ni Nanoclusters

The thermal evolution of bimetallic Cu−Ni 343- and 1000-atom nanoclusters of compositions (Cu0.25Ni0.75) and (Cu0.5Ni0.5) is examined with molecular dynamics simulations using the Sutton-Chen many-body potential function. A heating curve is constructed starting from 0 K up to 1400 K, and the melting characteristics are determined on the basis of the variations of the potential energy and heat capacity with temperature. The shape evolution of the nanoclusters is analyzed in terms of deformation parameters. It is found that the bimetallic clusters melt in two stages. The first transition, corresponding to surface melting of the external Cu layers whereas the Ni core remains solid, is located at 400−500 K depending on the overall composition and cluster size. The second transition corresponds to homogeneous melting and takes place in the range of 700 to 900 K depending on the nanocluster size and composition. Thus, the melting temperature is much lower than those of bulk Cu and Ni, and the heat capacity show...
Gate-Oxide grown on the sidewalls and base of a U-shaped Si trench: effects of the Oxide and Oxide/Si interface condition on the properties of vertical MOS devices

We report on the SiO2/Si interface condition and on its high electric field stress reliability in U-shaped trench gated metal-oxide-silicon (MOS) structures. The interface state density measured is ∼1011 eV-1 cm-2, and using deep level transient spectroscopy the Pb center is found to be the dominant interface defect. The degradation induced by electrical stressing is examined using changes in the charge pumping current in a U-trench-gated transistor. It is shown that the SiO2/Si interface at the bottom corners of the trench is the weakest region in the MOS structure.
Criteria for the selection of patients for treatment with tolbutamide

Abstract Sixteen children with proven chemical diabetes have been entered into a blind study of the effect of tolbutamide on the disease. For selection, children must not be obese and must have abnormal oral glucose tolerance tests as well as normal or above normal insulin secretion during the IVGTT and i.v. tolbutamide tolerance tests. Dietary supervision is maintained before and during therapy. Matched pairs are treated with tolbutamide or a placebo and tested with glucose tolerance tests every 3 mo. Analysis of mean oral glucose tolerance values by computer at the end of 1 yr of study reveals that by chance the OGTT values were higher on the treated vs. the placebo group. At the end of 1 yr of treatment the mean values between the two groups were not different. There has then been a significant reduction in the mean glucose values of the tolbutamide treated group. Tolbutamide may be an effective treatment of chemical diabetes in children but only through very carefully controlled studies, which take into consideration the many variables of carbohydrate intolerance, can we determine the values of the drugs in the treatment of this problem.
The economy of social resources and its influence on spatial perceptions.

Survival for any organism, including people, is a matter if resource management. To ensure survival, people necessarily budget their resources. Our spatial perceptions contribute to resource budgeting by scaling the environment to our available resources. Effective budgeting requires setting a balance of income and expenditures around some baseline value. For social resources, this baseline assumes that the individual is embedded in their social network. A review of the literature supports the proposal that our visual perceptions vary based on the implicit budgeting of physical and social resources, where social resources, as they fluctuate relative to a baseline, can directly alter our visual perceptions.
FTIR transmission spectrometry for the nondestructive determination of ammonium and sulfate in ambient aerosols collected on teflon filters

Abstract Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) transmission spectrometry has been used to determine ammonium and sulfate in ambient aerosol particles collected on Teflon filters. Integrated absorbance as well as maximum absorbance values for ammonium and sulfate are linearly related to X-ray fluorescence measurements of total sulfur. Apparent detection limits of 1.4 μg m −3 for sulfate and 0.5 μg m −3 for ammonium (for sample volumes of 21.6 m 3 ) were estimated for samples from Topeka, Kansas; Portage, Wisconsin; Steubenville, Ohio; and Charlottesville, Virginia. The apparent detection limits were essentially independent of sample loading over the range of 0–20 μg m −3 of total sulfur. The FTIR transmission measurements of these samples are very precise e.g. repetitive measurements vary ± 0.2% and blank variability is 0.13 μg m −3 and 0.20 μg m −3 in terms of sulfate and ammonium, respectively. Contributions to analytical uncertainty include 5–8% uncertainties in X-ray fluorescence measurements for total sulfur and the influence of unspecified site-dependent sample characteristics. The method offers the significant advantages of nondestructive analysis, no sample preparation, molecular speciation and rapid analysis.
Cheating History: The Rhetorics of Art Forgery

Art forgery is a curious crime. If aesthetic appreciation is based only upon the beauty of the work itself, forgery should not be considered a crime. However, art appreciation may be defined to include more than the form and content of the work itself. Appreciation can be connected to historical, biographical, legal, and economic issues which create the context of the work of art. I examine how art forgery is viewed by various participants in the art world and by the general public. Typically, forgers emphasize the beauty of the symbol abstracted from its circumstance, claiming that the value of the art work is not a function of its history. The establishment art critic insists on seeing the art symbol in its social and historical context, and defines a forgery as a work which cheats history. In order to examine the sociological nature of art appreciation and deviant art creation, I examine three case studies of forgers: 1) Han van Meegeren, the Dutch forger of Vermeer and De Hooch, 2) Elmyr de Hory, the ...
Genetically modified human epidermis overexpressing PDGF-A directs the development of a cellular and vascular connective tissue stroma when transplanted to athymic mice--implications for the use of genetically modified keratinocytes to modulate dermal regeneration.

We investigated the hypothesis that keratinocyte-produced platelet-derived growth factor-AA (PDGF-AA) is involved in epidermal-dermal interactions and that PDGF-AA is an important mediator of the terporal and spatial events of tissue repair. Retroviral-mediated gene transfer was used to introduce the gene encoding human PDGF-A into cultures of human diploid keratinocytes. Genetic modification boosted the endogenous in vitro level of PDGF-AA secretion by over 300 fold. When PDGF-secreting cells were transplanted as epithelial sheets to athymic mice, modified keratinocytes underwent terminal differentiation and generated a stratified epithelium comparable to unmodified cells. Seven days after grafting the newly synthesized connective tissue layer subjacent to the PDGF-A-modified grafts was significantly thicker, was rich in mononuclear cells and fibroblasts, and had increased numbers of blood vessels when compared to control grafts of unmodified cells. These results suggest that PDGF-AA secreted by the epidermis is an important and help to promote growth and vascularization of the underlying dermal tissue. Further, these data demonstrate the feasibility of using genetically modified cells to modulate tissue regeneration.
Role of the kidney in erythropoiesis.

RECENT observations in our laboratory indicate that the dynamic equilibrium of the erythron is controlled by the relationship of oxygen supply in the tissue to the demand for oxygen rather than by either alone. Conditions that reduce the demand for oxygen while the supply remains normal (acute starvation and the condition following hypophysectomy) and ones that increase the supply of oxygen while the demand remains normal (transfusion-induced polycythaemia and hyperoxia) all produce a profound decrease in erythropoiesis in rats. These animals give an exaggerated erythropoietic response to the injection of plasma rich in erythropoietin (anaemic plasma)1.
The Importance of Boundary-Spanners in Global Supply Chains and Logistics Management in the 21st Century

Abstract The important and required evolution of the logistics boundary-spanner due to changes in the marketplace (i.e., automation and a hypercompetitive global marketplace forging strategic alliances and lean logistical value chains) has often been overlooked by many firms and consequently, these firms have lost a competitive venue. A Market Orientation approach is used in discussing the importance of strategic alliances and the maintenance of these relationships along the supply chain. The paper explores the need for firms to recognize that logistic boundary-spanners must be relationship-focused to acquire market/firm-specific knowledge from the strategic alliance partners; a far cry from the traditional role. IOIS/Internet migration in relation to lean logistics and boundary-spanners is analyzed.
Step-wise DNA relaxation and decatenation by NaeI-43K

Nae I protein was originally isolated for its restriction endonuclease properties. Nae I was later discovered to either relax or cleave supercoiled DNA, depending upon whether Nae I position 43 contains a lysine (43K) or leucine (43L) respectively. Nae I-43K DNA relaxation activity appears to be the product of coupling separate endonuclease and ligase domains within the same polypeptide. Whereas Nae I relaxes supercoiled DNA like a topoisomerase, even forming a transient covalent intermediate with the substrate DNA, Nae I shows no obvious sequence similarity to the topoisomerases. To further characterize the topoisomerase activity of Nae I, we report here that Nae I-43K changes the linking number of a single negatively supercoiled topoisomer of pBR322 by units of one and therefore is a type I topoisomerase. Positively supercoiled pBR322 was resistant to Nae I-43K. At low salt concentration Nae I-43K was processive; non-saturating amounts of enzyme relaxed a fraction of the DNA. At high salt concentration the same non-saturating amounts of Nae I-43K partially relaxed all the DNA in a step-wise fashion to give a Gaussian distribution of topoisomers, demonstrating a switch from a processive to a distributive mode of action. Nae I-43K decatenated kinetoplast DNA containing nicked circles, implying that Nae I-43K can cleave opposite a nick. The products of the reaction are decatenated nicked circles under both processive and distributive conditions. The behavior of Nae I-43K is consistent with that of a prokaryotic type I topoisomerase.
Biological Diversity: Species: would any of them be missed?

Contrary to the view taken by some, individual species matter: they are valuable for their contribution to the stability of the ecosystems they inhabit.
Mean-field phase transitions and correlation functions for Gibbs random fields

The use of Gibbs random fields (GRF) to model images poses the important problem of the dependence of the patterns sampled from the Gibbs distribution on its parameters. Sudden changes in these patterns as the parameters are varied are known asphase transitions. In this paper we concentrate on developing a general deterministic theory for the study of phase transitions when a single parameter, namely, the temperature, is varied. This deterministic framework is based on a technique known as themean-field approximation, which is widely used in statistical physics. Our mean-field theory is general in that it is valid for any number of gray levels, any pairwise interaction potential, any neighborhood structure or size, and any set of constraints imposed on the desired images. The mean-field approximation is used to compute closed-form estimates of the critical temperatures at which phase transitions occur for two texture models widely used in the image modeling literature: the Potts model and the autobinomial model. The mean-field model allows us to gain insight into the Gibbs model behavior in the neighborhood of these temperatures. These analytical results are verified by computer simulations that use a novel mean-field descent algorithm. An important spinoff of our mean-field theory is that it allows us to compute approximations for the correlation functions of GRF models, thus bridging the gap between neighborhood-based and correlation-baseda priori image models.
Elective postoperative radiation therapy following supraglottic laryngectomy: A simple new technique

Preventing relapse in the neck is a major contemporary priority in cancers of the supraglottic larynx treated surgically. Previous studies have demonstrated that observing the clinically NO neck, or performing unilateral elective neck dissection, results in unacceptably high mortality. However, neither bilateral elective neck dissections nor postoperative bilateral elective neck irradiation have been uniformly embraced by head and neck oncologists because of fears that they would produce complications and damage the residual larynx. We undertook this study to evaluate the safety of postoperative neck radiotherapy, with the larynx shielded, after supraglottic laryngectomy. We treated 15 patients with T1–2, N0–3 disease by supraglottic laryngectomy followed by elective neck irradiation to a median dose of 56 Gy over 6 weeks. We shielded the residual larynx from irradiation because the primary margins were satisfactory in all of these patients. With follow-up periods ranging from 1.5 to 8.5 years (median 4.5 years), the incidence of complications was 0/15 (0%). The actuarial proportion of the patients who after 5 years remained free of relapse in the larynx was 100%, in the neck was 90%, and at distant sites was 80%. The cause-specific survival of the patients who initially presented with clinically N0–N1 necks was 100%, but with N2–N3 necks was only 20%. In conclusions, fears that postoperative irradiation would damage the residual larynx after supraglottic laryngectomy are quite unfounded when the larynx itself does not need to be irradiated and is shielded. Combining supraglottic laryngectomy with postoperative radiotherapy in this manner proved safe, with a cause-specific survival rate of 100% after 5 years in the patients without advanced neck disease. Better systemic therapy is necessary to help the patients with clinically advanced neck disease. Radiat. Oncol. Invest. 4:239–242, 1996. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
COMPLEX REGGE POLES IN THE CUT j PLANE: PION--NUCLEON CHARGE-EXCHANGE SCATTERING.

The structure of the pole-cut combination in πN charge-exchange scattering for t<~0 is represented by a pair of complex poles. Excellent fits to the πN charge-exchange differential cross section, polarization, and total cross-section difference σt(π-p)-σt(π+p) are obtained for the two examples considered, Imα=gsqrt[-t] and Imα=g. The phases of the residues are allowed to vary and a zero in ImA′(-) (the "crossover" zero) is obtained.
Complexity in the genetic architecture of leukoaraiosis in hypertensive sibships from the GENOA Study.

Background Subcortical white matter hyperintensity on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, referred to as leukoaraiosis, is associated with increased risk of stroke and dementia. Hypertension may contribute to leukoaraiosis by accelerating the process of arteriosclerosis involving penetrating small arteries and arterioles in the brain. Leukoaraiosis volume is highly heritable but shows significant inter-individual variability that is not predicted well by any clinical covariates (except for age) or by single SNPs.
Blocking as a function of added cue intensity.

Twelve rats were initially trained to leverpress for water in the presence of a tone. Responses in the absence of the tone were never reinforced. Following this pretraining, a novel light cue was simultaneously compounded with all presentations of the tone as a relevant but redundant predictor of reinforcement. For three different groups of subjects, the light cue was of either bright, moderate, or dim intensity. After compound training, all subjects experienced nonreinforced presentations of each of the two components of the compound. Results indicated that the relative degree of control exerted by the light over behavior increased with increases in light (added cue) intensity.
Ability of Toxorhynchites amboinensis (Doleschall) (Diptera: Culicidae) to Locate and Oviposit in Artificial Containers in an Urban Environment

An evaluation of the ability of the predaceous species Toxorhynchites amboinensis (Doleschall) to locate and oviposit in artificial containers in an urban environment was conducted in New Orleans, La. Liberations of laboratory-reared males and gravid females resulted in oviposition in virtually every type of container found in such a habitat; casual observation indicated that oviposition was largely independent of the color and the location of the container with respect to vegetation and buildings. Between May and October, an index of the fecundity, the duration of oviposition after a release, and the proportion of containers that were positive for prey larvae that were also found by predator females declined with decreasing number of females released and with the date of release. Evidence is presented that indicates that the predator females oviposit in response to cues correlated with the presence of prey immatures and that ephemeral habitats such as containers that tend to dry out are less attractive as oviposition sites.
Using systems theory to conceptualize the implementation of undergraduate online education in a university setting

As participants in the process of exploring how to formalize and develop undergraduate online education at the University of Connecticut, the authors share their experiences relative to the challenges of identifying and addressing the diverse factors involved in such an endeavor. Recognizing the importance of multi-level organizational change in building, integrating, and sustaining an online learning environment, they utilize systems theory as a unifying framework to better analyze the nature and impact of the changes required to create an environment to support online education within a university.
Indicators of firm technological capability: validity and performance implications

Academic researchers and practicing managers in the area of management of technology are faced with a difficult challenge in attempting to measure technological capability at the firm level. A number of different indicators of firm technological capability (FTC) have been proposed and used, however, they have not been systematically evaluated across different industry settings. These indicators include R&D expenditures, patent statistics, and statistics on new product introductions. In this study, the authors discuss some of the relative advantages and disadvantages of these indicators and they assess their validity in the chemical, electronics and pharmaceutical industries. They find that measures of the scale of FTC are relatively consistent across industries, but that measures of the quality of FTC are somewhat less consistent. Finally, they find limited evidence that aspects of FTC quality are related to firm performance.