cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Corporate Paradox of Citizens United and Hobby Lobby

This paper discusses the irreconcilable visions of corporations embodied in the two recent Supreme Court decisions, Citizens United and Hobby Lobby. The former is based on a director and management-centered conception of corporations. Further, Citizens United assumes that all shareholders prioritize profits to the exclusion of other values. Hobby Lobby, in contrast, places the shareholders at the center of the corporation and assumes that a business might pursue goals other than maximizing the bottom line.Citizens United affirms a corporation’s right to engage in unlimited political spending as an act of free expression under the First Amendment. In that case, the court largely ignored the fact that its decision would allow shareholders to be associated with opinions and causes that they personally oppose. Hobby Lobby, on the other hand, concerns a right that is even more personal -- the free exercise of religion. Here, the Supreme Court held that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act prohibited enforcement of a provision of the Affordable Care Act because it burdened the religious rights of the shareholders of an affected corporation. The Court disregarded its earlier conception of a corporation and emphasized the effect that compliance with the law would have had on the religious rights of the shareholders themselves. This decision, then, constitutes a sharp departure from Citizens United by protecting the rights of shareholders over those of other stakeholders and by acknowledging that some corporations might pursue ends other than monetary gain. I argue that these different visions of the corporation arise from the very different rights at issue in the two cases.
Outcomes For High-Needs Patients: Practices With A Higher Proportion Of These Patients Have An Edge

High-value primary care for high-needs patients—those with multiple physical, mental, or behavioral health conditions—is critical to improving health system performance. However, little is known about what types of physician practices perform best for high-needs patients. We examined two scale-related characteristics that could predict how well physician practices delivered care to this population: the proportion of patients in the practice that were high-needs and practice size (number of physicians). Using four years of data on commercially insured, high-needs patients in Michigan primary care practices, we found lower spending and utilization among practices with a higher proportion of high-needs patients (more than 10 percent of the practice’s panel) compared to practices with smaller proportions. Small practices (those with one or two physicians) had lower overall spending, but not less utilization, compared to large practices. However, practices with a substantial proportion of high-needs patients, ...
Raman Microspectroscopic Mapping with Multivariate Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares (MCR-ALS) Applied to the High-Pressure Polymorph of Titanium Dioxide, TiO2-II.

The high-pressure, α-PbO2-structured polymorph of titanium dioxide (TiO2-II) was recently identified in micrometer-sized grains recovered from four Neoarchean spherule layers deposited between ∼2.6...
Extractables Screening of Polypropylene Resins used in Pharmaceutical Packaging for Safety Hazards

Pharmaceutical products are packaged in containers so that they can be manufactured, distributed, and used. Because extractables from such containers are precursors of leachable impurities in the product, extractables represent potential hazards to user safety. Polypropylene resins are frequently used as materials of construction for packaging of liquid parenteral drug products. Thus, extractables profiling of polypropylene resins may be an effective means of hazard identification associated with the resin9s safe use. Twenty-one polypropylene resins were extracted using aqueous and organic extraction solvents, and the resulting extracts were screened for extractables using appropriate general chemistry, chromatographic, and spectroscopic methodologies. The resulting extractables profiles were toxicologically reviewed by a defined process to identify potential hazards given a specified therapeutic application involving long-term use of a large-volume aqueous parenteral drug product. The organic extractables profiles of individual polypropylene resins were variable in terms of the individual extractable identified and their extracted levels, consistent with high variability in polypropylene resin formulations and pharmaceutical product manufacturing. However, the profiles were similar in terms of the groups of extractables measured. Thus, for example, all the resins had extractables associated with antioxidants, as all the resins contained antioxidants but the specific extractables for a given resin depended on the specific antioxidants present in that resin. Few of the targeted extractable elements were present in the extracts at measurable levels, although most resins had measurable levels of extracted aluminum, silicon, and alkali and alkaline earths. A worst-case extractables profile (all the extractables measured in individual resins at their highest levels) was toxicologically reviewed considering an aqueous large-volume parenteral drug product. This review established certain extractables as potential hazards whose actual toxicological safety risk assessment would require more rigorous data and a more rigorous process than those used for hazard identification. LAY ABSTRACT: Packages used to contain aqueous parenteral drug products may be made of polypropylene. During storage, extractables from the polypropylene may leach out of the container and accumulate in the drug product, where they could affect product quality and/or safety. In this study, 21 polypropylene resins were characterized with respect to their organic and elemental extractables profiles. A worst-case extractables profile (highest level of all the extractables identified) was toxicologically assessed to establish potentially hazardous extractables. Certain extractables were established as potential hazards whose actual toxicological safety risk assessment would require more rigorous data and a more rigorous process than those used for hazard identification.
Schematic Concept Formation as A Measure of Cognitive Aptitude

The study examined the performance in a Schematic Concept Formation task in a sample of 53 Anglo, sixth-grade children and related that performance to measures of intellectual ability. The task was of a 3-choice oddity problem with increasing levels of difficulty. Accuracy increased across trials within the first two levels of difficulty but decreased within the third level of difficulty. The effect of using I.Q. to classify performance across trials was present but not strong. A subset of the verbal descriptors was found to be more related to performance on the Schematic Concept Formation task than to the measures of intellectual ability. Implications of the results relevant to cognitive attitude are discussed.
Determining Consumer Needs and Preferences

(1970). Determining Consumer Needs and Preferences. Research Management: Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 149-162.
Modeling and Simulation of Hydropower Station Diversion System's characteristic line method by introducing water head to flow feedback

To solve the damping problem of water hammer wave in the modeling method of water diversion system of hydropower station, this paper introduces the feedback regulation technology from head to flow, that is: A fixed water head is taken out for flow feedback, and the following conclusions are obtained through modeling and simulation. Adjusting the feedback coefficient F of the water head to the flow rate can change the damping characteristic of the system, which can simulate the attenuation process of the water shock wave in the true water diversion pipeline. Even if a small feedback coefficient is introduced, the damping effect of the system is very obvious, but it has little effect on the amplitude of the first water shock wave after the transition process. Therefore, it is feasible and reasonable to introduce water head to flow rate feedback coefficient F in hydraulic turbine diversion system.
Translating Civil Law 'Objectivity' with an Adversarial Brain: An Ethnographic Perspective

The act of translation encompasses more than the transfer of linguistic meaning. It also involves the transfer of larger cultural and epistemological meanings (Wolf, 2011). When legal texts are the object of translation, the process includes the “mechanism of the law” (Sarcevic 2000:1). The role of a linguist and translation theory in this process is contested (Harvey 2002) as some scholars have argued that legal texts possess a unique communicative function often overlooked by linguists (Sarcevic 2012:189). While legal scholars have questioned linguists’ claims to participate the law related interpretation process, this chapter sidesteps that debate (Poirier 1995: 1034). Instead I address the problems of subjectivity and interpretation that legal scholars themselves face as they attempt to analyze the role that law plays on unfamiliar turf. I identify and detail two challenges embedded in comparative legal jurisprudence. One stems the pitfalls that legal scholars encounter when they rely on legal texts as a source of understanding rather than investigating how the law actually functions on the ground. The second stems from the comparative legal scholar’s subjectivity. In the field of comparative law, these "translation" errors as well as problems of subjectivity colored English-language scholarship regarding the objectivity of German prosecutors for several decades. I show how scholars' use of German codes as a proxy for German practice led scholars to claim that the German criminal justice system effectively controlled prosecutorial discretion. While new scholarship on German plea bargaining practices attempts to destroy the myth of limited discretion, it misses the role that organizational culture and training play in shaping decision-making processes. Drawing from my fieldwork in Germany, I use examples from my own experience to show the dangers of researcher subjectivity. The paper concludes with a call for further comparative research that goes beyond am examination of foreign texts and explores foreign legal practices.
A smart intraocular pressure risk assessment framework using frontal eye image analysis

Intraocular pressure (IOP) in general refers to the pressure in the eyes. Gradual increase of IOP and high IOP are conditions/symptoms that may lead to certain diseases such as glaucoma and therefore must be closely monitored. While the pressure in the eye increases, different parts of the eye may become affected until the eye parts are damaged. An effective way to prevent rise in eye pressure is by early detection. A new smart healthcare framework is presented to evaluate the intraocular pressure risk from frontal eye images. The framework monitors the status of IOP risk by analyzing frontal eye images using image processing and machine learning techniques. A database of images collected from Princess Basma Hospital in Jordan was used in this work. The database contains 400 eye images: 200 images with normal IOP and 200 high eye pressure case images. The framework extracts five features from the frontal eye image: the pupil and iris diameter ratio, mean redness level of the sclera, red area percentage of the sclera, and two other features measured from the extracted contour of the sclera (contour height and contour area). Once the features were extracted, a neural network is trained and tested to obtain the status of the patients in terms of eye pressure. The framework detects the status of IOP (normal or high IOP) and produces evidence of the relationship between the five extracted frontal eye image features and IOP, which has not been previously investigated through automated image processing and machine learning techniques using frontal eye images.
An empirical study of the effect of source-level loop transformations on compiler stability

Modern compiler optimization is a complex process that offers no guarantees to deliver the fastest, most efficient target code. For this reason, compilers struggle to produce a stable performance from versions of code that carry out the same computation and only differ in the order of operations. This instability makes compilers much less effective program optimization tools and often forces programmers to carry out a brute force search when tuning for performance. In this paper, we analyze the stability of the compilation process and the performance headroom of three widely used general purpose compilers: GCC, ICC, and Clang. For the study, we extracted over 1,000 for loop nests from well-known benchmarks, libraries, and real applications; then, we applied sequences of source-level loop transformations to these loop nests to create numerous semantically equivalent mutations; finally, we analyzed the impact of transformations on code quality in terms of locality, dynamic instruction count, and vectorization. Our results show that, by applying source-to-source transformations and searching for the best vectorization setting, the percentage of loops sped up by at least 1.15x is 46.7% for GCC, 35.7% for ICC, and 46.5% for Clang, and on average the potential for performance improvement is estimated to be at least 23.7% for GCC, 18.1% for ICC, and 26.4% for Clang. Our stability analysis shows that, under our experimental setup, the average coefficient of variation of the execution time across all mutations is 18.2% for GCC, 19.5% for ICC, and 16.9% for Clang, and the highest coefficient of variation for a single loop nest reaches 118.9% for GCC, 124.3% for ICC, and 110.5% for Clang. We conclude that the evaluated compilers need further improvements to claim they have stable behavior.
Injections Prior to Rotator Cuff Repair Are Associated With Increased Rotator Cuff Revision Rates.

Purpose To determine whether shoulder injections prior to rotator cuff repair (RCR) are associated with deleterious surgical outcomes. Methods Two large national insurance databases were used to identify a total of 22,156 patients who received ipsilateral shoulder injections prior to RCR. They were age, sex, obesity, smoking status, and comorbidity matched to a control group of patients who underwent RCR without prior injections. The 2 groups were compared regarding RCR revision rates. Results Patients who received injections prior to RCR were more likely to undergo RCR revision than matched controls (odds ratio [OR], 1.52; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.38-1.68; P Conclusions This study strongly suggests a correlation between preoperative shoulder injections and revision RCR. There is also a frequency dependence and time dependence to this finding, with more frequent injections and with administration of injections closer to the time of surgery both independently associated with higher revision RCR rates. Presently, on the basis of this retrospective database study, orthopaedic surgeons should exercise due caution regarding shoulder injections in patients whom they are considering to be surgical candidates for RCR. Level of Evidence Level III, therapeutic study.
THE EFFECTS OF FABRIC BACKCOATINGS ON AUTOMOTIVE INTERIOR MANUFACTURING PROCESSES

While fabric backcoatings comprise a relatively small part of the cost of a fabric, it is believed they have a profound affect on interior trim manufacturing processes. This study used the results of tests done on 105 fabrics's processing characteristics. Five tests were used to determine the processing characteristics of the fabric. The results showed that backcoatings do indeed have an effect on a fabric's processing capabilities. The results also suggest that the intercation between fabric construction and backcoating needs to be explored in greater detail. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 875189.
A. V. Dicey

The first serious explication of the concept of the ‘rule of law’ is in A. V. Dicey’s The Law of the Constitution. Dicey explained how the ‘rule of law’ arose from judicial decisions within private law, and this was a fundamental difference from the Continental legal tradition. As noted in his later publication, Lectures on the Relation Between Law and Public Opinion in England During the Nineteenth Century, the explanation and defense of the ‘rule of law’ was motivated by the growing danger from Benthamism (Enlightenment Project) and subsequent administrative or public law. This is followed by a defense of Dicey on the part of both Leoni and Hayek and concludes with the identification and rebuttal of Dicey’s critics, Loughlin, and Allison.
Recurrent-neural-network-based Predictive Control of Piezo Actuators for Precision Trajectory Tracking

Precise real-time trajectory tracking of piezo actuators (PEAs) is essential to high-precision systems and applications. However, most current real-time control techniques for PEAs are based on linear models and suffer significantly from modeling uncertainty. In this paper, we propose a network (RNN)-based predictive control technique for real-time PEA trajectory tracking. Specifically, a RNN is trained to model the nonlinear dynamics of the PEA system. Considering the length of the RNN training set is limited, a second order linear model embedded with an error term (LME) is proposed to model the PEA low frequency dynamics. Moreover, an unscented Kalman filter is designed to estimate the states of the nonlinear model. Then the nonlinear model consisting of the RNN and the LME are used for nonlinear predictive control based on gradient descent algorithm. To solve the optimization problem in the nonlinear predictive control, a method for analytically calculating the gradient of the cost function is developed as well. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach, experiments were conducted on a nano piezo actuator. The results demonstrated that the proposed method can achieve high precision output tracking of PEAs in real time.
Epithelial-adipocyte interactions are required for mammary gland development, but not for milk production or fertility

To investigate the role of adipose tissue in reproductive function and mammary gland development and function, we have examined lipodystrophic (LD) mice. LD mice of both sexes are sterile, but fertility can be restored with leptin injections. Mammary glands from lipodystrophic mice were rudimentary and lacked terminal end buds. Leptin-injected LD mice were able to become pregnant, showed normal pregnancy-associated glandular proliferation despite a smaller glandular area, were able to produce a small amount of milk that had grossly normal content of milk proteins and neutral lipids, but could not sustain pups to weaning. In order to separate the individual requirements for 1) adipokines such as leptin, 2) estradiol, and 3) physical epithelial-adipocyte interactions, we performed a series of experiments with both lipodystrophic mice and ob (obese mice with a mutation in the lep gene encoding the adipokine leptin) mice that received either estradiol treatment or preadipocyte transplant. The resulting fat pad did not rescue the defect in mammary gland development in lipodystrophic mice. The defect also could not be rescued with estradiol pellets. Ob/ob mice, like LD mice, lack leptin and estradiol, but retain adipose tissue. Ob mice have defective mammary gland development. However, in striking contrast to what was observed in lipodystrophic mice, reconstitution of a WT fat pad in ob mice rescued the defect in mammary gland development. Estradiol treatment did not rescue mammary gland development in ob mice. Therefore direct interaction between mammary gland epithelia and adipocytes is a requirement for full invasion and expansion of the gland, but is not required for glandular proliferation during pregnancy and milk production.
On the use of Bayesian quantile regression method to explore the historical trends in extreme precipitation and their connections with large-scale climate patterns over the contiguous USA

The probability distribution function (PDF) of precipitation is expected to change under a warmer climate. The existing studies have not been able to detect trends in different thresholds of the PDF of extreme precipitation series for the contiguous USA. In this study, a fresh statistical approach (the Bayesian quantile regression method) was employed to analyze trends of annual daily maximum (ADM) and monthly maximum (MM) precipitation indices at different quantile levels and their teleconnections with large-scale climate patterns over the contiguous USA. Historic precipitation time series over the period of 65 years (1950–2014) for 1108 sites was used for the analysis. To investigate the relations between precipitation and large-scale climate patterns, two major oscillations [the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)] were used as covariates in the Bayesian quantile regression model. Our results show that changes in upper quantiles of the distributions of the extreme precipitation (for both ADM and MM) have occurred at a much higher rate than previously believed as compared to the lower quantiles mainly in the coastal regions in the eastern half of the country. Variability in the spatial distribution of significant trends was observed when either ENSO or NAO index was used as a covariate in the Bayesian quantile regression model. However, for many regions of the USA, a stronger teleconnection between climate indices and precipitation indices for upper quantile level was observed as compared to lower quantile levels for both ADM and MM. The trends detected using the Bayesian quantile regression method were undetected or overlooked by other previously used approaches for trend detection. Such results are particularly useful for water managers who are more concerned with extreme values rather than the averaged one.
Case 3: A Rare Cause of Syncope in an Adolescent Boy

1. Yalile Perez, MD* 2. Ruchi Gupta, MD† 3. Richard Mazzaccaro, MD* 1. *Department of Pediatrics, Lehigh Valley Health Network, Allentown, PA 2. †Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Cardiac Center Allentown, Allentown, PA A 17-year-old Hispanic boy is admitted to the PICU for evaluation after a syncopal episode. He was walking at the mall when he suddenly collapsed and was unresponsive for approximately 30 seconds. The boy has no history of syncope, chest pain, or palpitations but reports occasional dizziness during exertion. He quit smoking cigarettes about 5 months ago but admits to using cannabis. There is no family history of sudden cardiac death or early coronary artery disease. His pulse rate is 72 beats/min, respiratory rate is 12 breaths/min, right arm blood pressure is 137/56 mm Hg, pulse oximetry reading is 99% on room air, and body mass index is 24.8. Physical examination reveals an alert adolescent in no acute distress. He has a small laceration on his lower lip and chin, and both upper central incisors are fractured. His cardiovascular examination yields a grade 2/6 systolic ejection murmur heard best at the left lower sternal border. On palpation, the point of maximal impulse is displaced laterally. The remainder of his examination findings are normal. His comprehensive metabolic panel is notable for a creatinine level of 1.08 mg/dL (95.47 μ mol/L) and normal electrolyte levels. A complete blood cell count is normal. Urine toxicology screen is positive for cannabinoids. His initial troponin is elevated …
Economic Substance and the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court grants certiorari in a wide variety of fascinating cases. Occasionally, it agrees to decide tax cases, too.Perhaps because of the perceived dryness of tax law, the Court has been hesitant to address the validity of the so-called economic substance doctrine. Although there are too many formulations of the doctrine to count, the lower courts often hold that even when a taxpayer has met a statute's requirements, he cannot enjoy any of its benefits unless his conduct reveals a business purpose and a reasonable expectation of profit. This article argues that the lower courts' application of an extrastatutory economic substance doctrine cannot be reconciled with the Supreme Court cases that purportedly gave birth to that doctrine.
Mandatory disclosure of plant emissions into the environment and worker chemical exposure inside plants

Abstract Our study is the first to test if mandatory pollution disclosure programs, exemplified by the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) program, reduce worker chemical exposure. We examine newly available measurements of personal exposure to air contaminants at 1333 plants in the US chemical manufacturing sector between 1984 and 2009. The maximum ratio of exposure to the legal limits per inspection declined substantially, by 11%, in the post-program period. This result provides the first evidence of a reduction in measured risks coinciding with the inception of the TRI program. We find suggestive, not conclusive, evidence to attribute this reduction in part to the TRI program. Our preferred specifications find that plants that are more responsive to the TRI program, as indicated by larger industry-level TRI emission reduction, had 6.5% to 8% lower exposure. However, not all models find statistically significant larger exposure reductions in plants that are more responsive to the TRI program.
Para el texto del "Vejamen de la luna": tradición crítica, versiones y análisis de variantes

The Vejamen de luna by Anastasio Pantaleon de Ribera is an eminent example of the textual production from Golden Age literary academies, as well as a testimony of Baroque comic prose and the vejamen as a literary genre. There are two versions of the Vejamen de la luna : the one included in the manuscript Cuaderno de versos (composed by 1626) and the one from the printed works (the Obras , published between 1631-1634) edited by Josef de Pellicer. During the twentieth century it was customary to publish the printed version of the vejamen, until Kenneth Brown (1980) published the Cuaderno de versos . Since then, critics usually work with the manuscript version, since it is considered closer to the author’s purposes. This article analyses the variants from the two versions to assess the literary value of the printed version, which is, after all, the version that consolidated Pantaleon’s artistic prestige during seventeenth century and the following centuries.
Machine Learning Based Methodology to Predict Point Defect Energies in Multi-Principal Element Alloys

Multi-principal element alloys (MPEAs) are a new class of alloys that consist of many principal elements randomly distributed on a crystal lattice. The random presence of many elements lends large variations in the point defect formation and migration energies even within a given alloy composition. Compounded by the fact that there could be exponentially large number of MPEA compositions, there is a major computational challenge to capture complete point-defect energy phase-space in MPEAs. In this work, we present a machine learning based framework in which the point defect energies in MPEAs are predicted from a database of their constituent binary alloys. We demonstrate predictions of vacancy migration and formation energies in face centered cubic ternary, quaternary and quinary alloys in Ni-Fe-Cr-Co-Cu system. A key benefit of building this framework based on the database of binary alloys is that it enables defect-energy predictions in alloy compositions that may be unearthed in future. Furthermore, the methodology enables identifying the impact of a given alloying element on the defect energies thereby enabling design of alloys with tailored defect properties.
Association of socioeconomic status with 30- and 90-day readmission following open and laparoscopic hernia repair: a nationwide readmissions database analysis.

Background Socioeconomic disparities have been associated with outcomes in many medical conditions. The association of socioeconomic status (SES) with readmissions after ventral and inguinal hernia repair has not been well studied on a national level. This study aims to evaluate the association of SES with readmission as a significant outcome in patients undergoing ventral and inguinal hernia repair. Methods A retrospective cohort study was performed evaluating patients undergoing ventral hernia and inguinal hernia repair with 1:1 propensity score matching using the Nationwide Readmissions Database (2016-2017). Both 30- and 90-day readmissions were examined. After matching, a multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed using confounding variables including hospital setting, comorbidities, urgency of repair, sociodemographic status, and payer. Likelihood of readmission was reported in odds ratio form. Results Readmission rates were 11.56% (24,323 out of 210,381) and 17.94% (30,893 out of 172,210) for 30- and 90-day readmissions, respectively. Patients with Medicaid and in the lower income quartile were more likely to present in an emergent fashion for hernia repair. After matching, a multivariate logistic regression analysis showed socioeconomic status (OR 1.250 and 1.229) was a statistically significant independent predictor of readmission at 30 and 90 days, respectively. Inversely, factors associated with the least likely chance of readmission were a laparoscopic approach (OR 0.646 and 0.641), elective admission (OR 0.824 and 0.779), and care in a teaching hospital (OR 0.784 and 0.798). Conclusion SES is an independent predictor of readmission at 30 and 90 days following open and laparoscopic ventral and inguinal hernia repair. Patients with a lower socioeconomic status were more likely to undergo hernia repair in the emergent setting. Efforts toward mitigating SES disparities by potentially promoting MIS techniques, enhancing access to elective cases, and systematic approaches to perioperative care for this disadvantaged population can potentially enhance overall hernia outcomes.
Wavelength Conversion by Stimulated Raman Scattering

In considering a broad subject area such as the physics of new laser sources, one must necessarily review recent progress in the particular area of wavelength conversion via nonlinear optical processes. From a fundamental perspective, the field of nonlinear optics offers researchers a unique opportunity to study basic optical properties of materials in the presence of intense electromagnetic radiation in which the electric field strength might be comparable to that of the field binding the valence electrons to an atom. From an applications perspective, nonlinear optical devices offer a practical method to generate coherent radiation at wavelengths significantly removed from those of existing laser sources, thereby obviating the necessity for developing a fundamentally new laser source in every wavelength range that might be of interest. This article reviews the physics and applications of the specific nonlinear process of stimulated Raman scattering. Recent research shows that Raman devices offer great promise for producing multiple wavelengths from a single suitable pump laser, with projected average output powers well in excess of 10 watts. With a realistic energy conversion efficiency z50 percent, Raman devices are becoming established as a major factor in the physics of new laser sources.
Generalization and fault tolerance in rule-based neural networks

How to obtain maximum generalization and fault-tolerance has been an important issue in designing a feedforward network. Research on rule-based neural networks suggests that generalization of a neural network is related to the directions of the pattern vectors encoded by hidden units, while fault-tolerance depends on the magnitudes of the weights. In this paper, a rule-based neural network is shown better than a standard neural network both in generalization and fault tolerance. In addition, a formal measure for evaluating network fault tolerance is introduced. >
The thiamine pyrophosphatase technique as an indicator of the morphology of the Golgi apparatus in the neurons: III. Studies on the olfactory bulb

Abstract The morphology of the Golgi apparatus has been demonstrated using the thiamine pyrophosphatase technique as a marker in various cellular components of the olfactory bulbs. Nerve fibers and the glomerular tufts in the bulb were negative; the granule cells showed separate vesicular and granular types of Golgi apparatus found at one pole of the cell cytoplasm; the neuroglial cells showed a vesicular type of TPPase-positive Golgi apparatus; and the various types of neurons in the mitral cell layer and the tufted cells showed a thick and thin, deeply staining, highly complex TPPase-positive Golgi network. In the neurons of the mitral cell layer, the TPPase-positive strands of Golgi material also extended into the dendrite for some distance starting from a deeply staining basal body at the dendrite pole of the cytoplasm. The pia-arachnoid mater also showed positive activity similar to the perineural epithelium. The significance of these findings are briefly discussed in view of previous TPPase-positive Golgi apparatus studies made on the dorsal root ganglion cells, cells of the cerebral cortex, cerebellar cortex, Ammon's horn, thalamus, and the eye using the same technique.
15 Method development for biomolecules

Abstract Various modes of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are often applied to the separation of large biomolecules, including reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC), hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC), ion-exchange chromatography (IEC), and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC). Sample complexity not only makes these separations difficult but also renders HPLC method development an arduous task. At best, the bioanalyst must first use knowledge of the sample to decide the separation goals, and then a separation mode can be selected. Once the separation mode is chosen, specific method development steps are often little more than trial and error. While general HPLC method development guidelines are a useful starting place, additional characteristics that must be considered are presented. We discuss the varying nature of biomolecule sample properties and the role of solute hydrophobicity in achieving adequate liquid chromatography (LC) resolution in each of the common modes of LC. Emphasis is placed on the separation of peptides and proteins for purely analytical (rather than preparative) purposes.
Studies on the Maturation of Immune Responsiveness in the Mouse

The ability of early post-natal mice to respond to sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) by formation of plaque-forming cells (PFC) was studied. When 1–2 day old BDF, mice were injected with SRBC, no PFC could be detected in their spleens five days after immunization. However, if animals were given a second injection of antigen two days after the initial immunization, PFC could be detected within five days of the initial injection. Experiments with other heterologous erythrocytes attest to the specificity of the two-injection schedule, and examination of a variety of strains of mice indicate that our findings may be generally applicable to the emerging immune system of the mouse.
The influence of female body size and shape on the trade‐off between offspring number and offspring size in two viviparous snakes

Although the trade-off between offspring size and the number of offspring is a critical component of life-history theory, many empirical tests fail to show that such trade-off exists. Although this may be due to statistical issues (i.e. failure to control for maternal body size), other complications such as female body shape may play a role as well. Here, we examined reproductive traits in two species of viviparous garter snakes with very different body morphologies (Thamnophis marcianus and T. proximus) to see how female body shape affects this trade-off. In the more slender species (T. proximus), we found a strong, negative relationship between brood size and offspring size, with the effect most notable in smaller females. However, in the more robust snake (T. marcianus), there was no significant trade-off seen in either the sample as a whole or for either larger or smaller females. Our data support earlier work on ectotherms, which indicates that body shape can act to constrain how offspring size and clutch or litter size are related.
Conformational transitions in factor VIIa: can we stabilize the inactive form of the enzyme?

Conformational Transitions in Factor VIIa: Can We Stabilize the Inactive Form of the Enzyme? -
Root-associated fungal community response to drought-associated changes in vegetation community

Recent droughts in southwestern USA have led to large-scale mortality of pinon (Pinus edulis) in pinon-juniper woodlands. Pinon mortality alters soil moisture, nutrient and carbon availability, which could affect the root-associated fungal (RAF) communities and therefore the fitness of the remaining plants. We collected fine root samples at a pinon-juniper woodland and a juniper savannah site in central New Mexico. Roots were collected from pinon and juniper (Juniperus monosperma) trees whose nearest neighbors were live pinon, live juniper or dead pinon. RAF communities were analyzed by 454 pyrosequencing of the universal fungal ITS region. The most common taxa were Hypocreales and Chaetothyriales. More than 10% of ITS sequences could not be assigned taxonomy at the phylum level. Two of the unclassified OTUs significantly differed between savanna and woodland, had few like sequences in GenBank and formed new fungal clades with other unclassified RAF from arid plants, highlighting how little study has been done on the RAF of arid ecosystems. Plant host or neighbor did not affect RAF community composition. However, there was a significant difference between RAF communities from woodland vs. savanna, indicating that abiotic factors such as temperature and aridity might be more important in structuring these RAF communities than biotic factors such as plant host or neighbor identity. Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EM) were present in juniper as well as pinon in the woodland site, in contrast with previous research, but did not occur in juniper savanna, suggesting a potential shared EM network with juniper. RAF richness was lower in hosts that were neighbors of the opposite host. This may indicate competitive exclusion between fungi from different hosts. Characterizing these communities and their responses to environment and plant neighborhood is a step toward understanding the effects of drought on a biome that spans 19,000,000 ha of southwestern USA.
Data discretization for novel relationship discovery in information retrieval

This article describes an information retrieval, visualization, and manipulation model. After term or phrases have been input for a query, the system designed on this model offers the user multiple ways to exploit the retrieval set via an interactive interface. The retrieved data are clustered into thematic concepts related to the query, represented on screen as a grid of nodes. Users of the system may manipulate the retrieval set to explore document-document, document-concept, concept-concept relationships in the retrieval set that might otherwise be masked by altering (a) the discrete grid size of the display, (b) the influence, or weight, of various document terms and properties, and (c) mixed levels of granularity. As these factors are reweighed, the display is updated in real-time to expose unanticipated document relationships, and shifts in cluster membership. The article outlines the mathematical model and then describes an information-retrieval application built on the model to search structured and full-text files. The application, written in Java, uses a small test collection of Dialog and Swiss-Prot documents.
The drowned survivor: The fiction of J. R. Salamanca

(1977). The Drowned Survivor. Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction: Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 75-86.
Effect of cephapirin on formation of D-alanine carboxypeptidase in growing Bacillus subtilis cells.

Abstract Cephapirin was utilized to examine the interaction of β-lactam antibiotics with growing Bacillus subtilis cells and the biological effects simultaneously produced. Saturation binding and quantitative cell death were observed at the cephapirin concentration of 0.1 μg/ml. Cephapirin bound to all penicillin-binding proteins except the d-alanine carboxypeptidase. A specific [14C]benzylpenicillin-binding assay was developed for the d-alanine carboxypeptidase. At the lowest saturating concentration of antibiotic (0.1 μg/ml), cephapirin inhibited formation of the d-alanine carboxypeptidase. Upon incubation with cephapirin, 18% of the membranous d-alanine carboxypeptidase was released into the media. The data suggest that β-lactam antibiotics may affect the formation of bacterial cytoplasmic membranes in addition to their effect on cell wall synthesis.
Outdoor site-lighting performance: A comprehensive and quantitative framework for assessing light pollution:

Outdoor Site-Lighting Performance (OSP) is a comprehensive method for predicting and measuring three different aspects of light pollution: glow, trespass and glare. OSP is based upon the philosophy...
An approximated method for the solution of elliptic problems in thin domains: Application to nonlinear internal waves

Abstract Realistic numerical simulations of nonlinear internal waves (NLIWs) have been hampered by the need to use computationally expensive nonhydrostatic models. In this paper, we show that the solution to the elliptic problem arising from the incompressibility condition can be successfully approximated by a few terms (three at most) of an expansion in powers of the ratio (horizontal grid spacing)/(total depth). For an n dimensional problem, each term in the expansion is the sum of a function that satisfies a one-dimensional second-order ODE in the vertical direction plus, depending on the surface boundary condition, the solution to an n - 1 dimension elliptic problem, an evident saving over having to solve the original n -dimensional elliptic problem. This approximation provides the physically correct amount of dispersion necessary to counteract the nonlinear steepening tendency of NLIWs. Experiments with different types of NLIWs validate the approach. Unlike other methods, no ad hoc artificial dispersion needs to be introduced.
Feather Meal and Poultry Meat Scrap in Chick Starting Rations

Abstract INTEREST has grown in the use of feathers and poultry offal (blood, viscera, heads and feet) as components of poultry rations. Disposal problems associated with an accumulation of these waste materials at poultry processing plants have led many to inquire into possible uses for such wastes. While untreated offal and feathers have been applied directly to the soil as fertilizer, this method of disposal is generally unsatisfactory. The keratin proteins have generally been considered to be of little nutritive value because of their structure, insolubility and consequent indigestibility. Mangold and Dubiski (1930) conducted balance studies which failed to show any digestion of quills of white goose feathers when these were fed to owls, cats, dogs and rats. Routh (1942) found that powdered feathers were capable of supporting moderate growth in the young rat when supplemented with tryptophan, methionine, histidine and lysine. Wagner and Elvehjem (1942 Wagner and Elvehjem (1943) showed that rats and …
Are common factors involved in the pathogenesis of primary liver cancers? A meta-analysis of risk factors for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Background & Aims Well established risk factors for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma such as biliary tract inflammation and liver flukes are not present in most Western countries patients. Although cirrhosis and other causes of chronic liver disease have been implicated, their contribution as risk factors for cholangiocarcinoma is unclear and our aims were to analyze these emerging potential risk factors by systematic examination of case–control series from geographically diverse regions. Methods We performed a literature review and meta-analysis of case–control studies on intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma and cirrhosis and related risk factors. Tests of heterogeneity, publication bias and sensitivity analyses were performed and an overall odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals calculated. Results Eleven studies from both high and low prevalence regions were identified. All studies except those evaluating cirrhosis, diabetes, and obesity exhibited significant heterogeneity. Cirrhosis was associated with a combined OR of 22.92 (95% CI=18.24–28.79). Meta-analysis estimated the overall odds ratio (with 95% confidence intervals) for defined risk factors such as hepatitis B: 5.10 (2.91–8.95), hepatitis C: 4.84 (2.41–9.71), obesity: 1.56 (1.26–1.94), diabetes mellitus type II: 1.89 (1.74–2.07), smoking: 1.31 (0.95–1.82), and alcohol use: 2.81 (1.52–5.21). Sensitivity analysis did not alter the odds ratio for any risk factors except smoking and there was no evidence of publication bias. Conclusions Cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis B and C, alcohol use, diabetes, and obesity are major risk factors for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. These data suggest a common pathogenesis of primary intrahepatic epithelial cancers.
Thermography — An NDI Method for Damage Detection

Video-thermography, the time-resolved observation of infrared radiation, is a nondestructive inspection technique which offers many potential applications in the study of material behavior. The present work emphasizes detection of damage in both homogeneous and composite materials. This work differs from most others because the materials are subjected to some steady-state mechanical energy, such as fatigue loads or low-amplitude vibrations, that activates heat sources near the damaged regions. Experimental observations are discussed for a variety of materials, including boron/aluminum, boron/epoxy, graphite/epoxy, aluminum, and plastics. Thermography has been used to investigate initiation and progression of subsurface damage caused by fatigue; vibrothermography has been used to locate delaminations and similar damaged regions. Discussed are several analytical studies of the relation between evolution of heat and the stress field in the region of the damaged zone, and the expected surface heat pattern from a subsurface heat source in an anisotropic material.
DERMOID CYST OF THE RETROUTERINE POUCH OF DOUGLAS

Summary Objective Benign cystic teratomas are one of the most common ovarian tumors. Teratomas of the retrouterine pouch of Douglas are extremely rare. We report a case of benign cystic teratoma of the Douglas pouch in a woman who underwent laparoscopic surgery. Case Report A 61-year-old woman presented with lower abdominal pain. On pelvic examination, a pelvic mass was palpated in the right adnexa. Transvaginal ultrasound demonstrated two cyst-like masses in the right adnexa. One was homogeneous and measured 4.0 × 3.5 cm, while the other was heterogeneous and measured 3.5 × 3.0 cm. The concentration of the CA125 tumor marker was 8.88 U/mL. On laparoscopy, a cyst 5 × 4 cm in diameter located in the right adnexa, and a 4 × 3 cm well-circumscribed tumor in the cul-de-sac were found. Pathology revealed a right ovarian simple cyst and a benign cystic teratoma in the pouch of Douglas. Conclusion The etiology of benign cystic teratomas of the Douglas pouch is poorly understood. We report a rare site of a benign cystic teratoma that may provide insights into the differential diagnosis of a pelvic mass in the retrouterine pouch of Douglas.