cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chemical looping technology and its applications in fossil fuel conversion and CO 2 capture

Chemical looping is a reaction scheme to decompose one reaction into multiple subreactions via chemical intermediates. The concept of chemical looping has been applied to the generation of hydrogen through the steam iron reaction, as well as the production of carbon dioxide since the 20th Century. However, there are currently no chemical looping processes in commercial operation. Under the circumstances of growing global warming and energy crisis, chemical looping processes have attracted extensive interests for the unique ability to convert carbonaceous fuel to energy or chemicals with affordable CO2 control. Recent developments in chemical looping technology have overcome some of the earlier shortcomings. New research on direct conversion of solid feedstock, such as coal has also been conducted. Through the current sub-pilot/pilot scale tests and process analysis, it has been demonstrated that chemical looping process can effectively reduce the energy cost for CO2 separation with enhanced energy efficiency. This paper presents the status of existing research activities on chemical looping development for fossil fuel conversion, with emphasis on large scale demonstration of chemical looping combustion (CLC) and chemical looping gasification (CLG). The opportunities as well as the challenges on the way to commercialize chemical looping processes have also been briefly discussed.
Predominance of Alternate Diffusion Mechanisms for the Interstitial-Substitutional Impurity Gold in Silicon

It is well known that Au indiffusion in Si is dominated by the Kick-Out mechanism governed by Si self-interstitials, with negligible contribution from the Frank-Turnbull mechanism governed by vacancies. In this paper we present modeling and simulation results to show that the Frank-Turnbull mechanism actually dominates Au outdiffusion in Si.
Semiquantitative Analysis of Urinary Purines Designed to Search for Metabolic Disorders

The large amount of uric acid in the urine of human subjects has overshadowed several other purines which are present in trace quantities. The latter have been studied (Weissman et al., 1957a, b) by selectively adsorbing them on to a cation exchange resin (which does not adsorb uric acid), eluting and precipitating as silver complexes (to free them from other cations), regenerating the free bases with hydrochloric acid and finally separating them by two dimensional paper chromatography. In this way 10 purine spots were recognised in normal urine, namely xanthine, hypoxanthine, adenine, guanine, N2-methyl guanine, 8-hydroxy 7-methyl guanine, l-methyl xanthine, 7-methyl xanthine, 1 :7-dimethyl xanthine and a composite spot containing both l­ and 7-methyl guanine. The procedure was used to study urine from schizophrenic subjects by Bollard et al. (1960) and by Booth and Smith (1964) but no positive findings were reported. Because of its complexity this technique cannot be used to examine large numbers of urine samples. The present report describes a more suitable procedure in which a simpler method of concentrating the purines prior to chromatography is used and in addition, a method of semi-quantiative determination of each purine present has been developed.
Ultrasound Assessment of the Rectus Femoris Cross-Sectional Area: Subject Position Implications

Ultrasonic measurement of the rectus femoris (RF) is a novel, proxy measure for muscle strength. The impact of hip flexion/head of bed positioning on RF cross-sectional area (CSA) has not been fully explored. This study describes and compares differences in RF CSA across four degrees of hip flexion. This repeated-measures, comparative study enrolled healthy, pre-menopausal women (n = 20). RF CSA of the dominant leg was measured using the SonoSite M-Turbo ultrasound system with the head of bed at 0°, 20°, 30°, and 60°. One-way repeated measures indicated significant differences in RF CSA, F(3, 17) = 14.18, p < .001, with variation in hip flexion/head of bed elevation and significant RF CSA differences between: (a) 0° and 20°, (b) 0° and 30°, (c) 0° and 60°, and (d) 20° and 60°. Standardizing patient positioning when conducting ultrasonic measurement of RF CSA is vital for researchers who assess muscle mass.
CO-EXISTENT SYMPTOMATIC LARGE RETROSTERNAL NONTOXIC MULTINODULAR GOITER WITH MEDIASTINAL LIPOMA

ABSTRACT Objective: To present a rare case of a co-existing large retrosternal nontoxic multinodular goiter (MNG) and a large mediastinal lipoma in a woman with compressive symptoms. Methods: The clinical presentation and diagnostic utilization of computed tomography (CT) in the management of this case are presented. Results: A 66-year-old woman was evaluated for slowly progressive, intermittent dysphagia and neck pressure over a period of 4 years. The nodular thyroid gland had been biopsied in the past and noted to be benign. Examination of the thyroid showed a large nodular goiter with an estimated weight in excess of 100 g. Thyroid function tests were within normal limits. A chest radiograph showed a large soft tissue mass in the upper right anterior mediastinum and lower neck with displacement of the trachea to the left. A CT scan with intravenous contrast of the neck and chest showed that the mass was comprised of both a large MNG and a large adjacent fat density mass in the right anterior mediastinu...
Abstract 90: The Atheroprotective Effects of Id3 Are Linked to B-1a Cell Proliferation and Plasma Levels of E06

Background: The HLH transcription factor, Id3, is essential for B cell-mediated atheroprotection in mice and a functionally significant single nucleotide polymorphism in the human ID3 gene at rs11574 is associated with carotid intimal medial thickness in humans. Yet, the mechanisms mediating Id3 atheroprotection are poorly understood. Recent studies provide clear evidence that B cell effects on atherosclerosis are subset dependent; with B2 cells promoting and B-1a cells attenuating atherosclerosis in a sIgM-dependent manner. Innate, natural IgM antibodies, such as E06, recognize oxidized phospholipids, are produced by B-1a cells, and inhibit atherogenesis. Therefore, we hypothesized that Id3 would regulate plasma levels of E06 IgM and atheroprotective B-1a cells. Methods & Results: Id3 -/- ApoE -/- mice (n = 9) at 8 weeks old had lower plasma levels of E06 compared to control Id3 +/+ ApoE -/- mice (n = 9) (1500 vs. 2750 RLU, p Id3 -/- ApoE -/- (n = 5) compared to Id3 +/+ ApoE -/- mice (n = 4) (0.8 x10 5 vs 3.0 x10 5 , p in situ CFSE dilution, of B-1a cells in Id3 -/- ApoE -/- mice (n = 5) compared to control mice (n = 5) (30.1% vs. 50.0%, p = 0.001). Additionally, humans with the functionally significant polymorphism in ID3 had lower plasma levels of IgM to MDA-LDL (n = 97, trend with p = 0.08) and no difference in IgG as measured by ELISA. Conclusion: Taken together, these data suggest a novel role for Id3 in regulating B-1a cell proliferation, resulting in reduced plasma levels of the atheroprotective natural antibody, E06. Moreover, the data suggest that the ID3 polymorphism in humans at rs11574 may link protective IgM to modified lipids with vascular disease.
Planning of parking enforcement patrol considering drivers’ parking payment behavior

Abstract This paper focuses on improving the effectiveness of parking enforcement patrol by optimizing the schedule of visit at each parking lot and the routing plan of patrol vehicles. Meanwhile, individual parking driver makes his/her parking payment decision based on knowledge of the patrol visit frequencies. Game-theoretic models are proposed to capture the interactions among the parking enforcement agency and parking drivers. We first develop a discrete formulation of the problem in the form of a mixed-integer program and propose a Lagrangian relaxation based solution approach. For large-scale instances, we also develop a continuum approximation model that can be reduced to a simpler non-linear optimization problem. A series of numerical experiments are conducted to show that, for small problem instances, both modeling approaches can yield reasonable solutions, although the continuum approximation approach is able to produce a solution within a much shorter time. For large-scale instances, the discrete model incurs prohibitive computational burdens, while the continuum approximation approach still provides a near-optimum solution effectively. We also discuss impacts of various system parameters, as well as the performance of different policy options (e.g., whether to allow multiple parking tickets to be issued to a vehicle with a long time of parking violation).
Tensile properties of zone refined iron in the temperature range from 298° to 4.2°K

The tensile properties of zone refined iron have been evaluated in the temperature range from 298° to 4.2°K. It has been found that the higher the purity, the lower the flow stresses and the better the low temperature ductility. Yield stresses as low as 3,800 psi have been observed at room temperature and elongations of 10 pct have been observed at 4.2°K. The major portion of the ductility at 4.2°K arises from twinning. Deformation by twinning at 4.2°K is not suppressed by prestraining at room temperature and the twins occur all through the test. Slip traces were observed to initiate at the ends of previously formed twin traces.
Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Assay Using Fluorescent MANT-GDP

GTPases are molecular switches that cycle between the inactive GDP-bound state and the active GTP-bound state. GTPases exchange nucleotides either by its intrinsic nucleotide exchange or by interaction with guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). Monitoring the nucleotide exchange in vitro, together with reconstitution of direct interactions with regulatory proteins, provides key insights into how a GTPase is activated. In this protocol, we describe core methods to monitor nucleotide exchange using fluorescent N-Methylanthraniloyl (MANT)-guanine nucleotide.
Vitamin D and the Central Nervous System: Development, Protection, and Disease

Vitamin D is a secosteroid that plays an important role in the central nervous system (CNS). Through binding to the vitamin D receptor (VDR), which is found throughout the CNS, 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D3 regulates gene transcription to exert neurotrophic and immunomodulatory effects. As a result of various downstream responses, vitamin D signaling provides neuroprotection, decreasing damage and accelerating recovery from a variety of CNS insults. As a result, a growing body of scientific literature addresses a possible relationship between this steroid, or lack thereof, and a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. In the first sections of this chapter, we will summarize the current understanding of the role vitamin D plays in CNS protection and development. In the latter section, we will examine existing evidence that vitamin D plays a role in neurodegenerative diseases, specifically evaluating if vitamin D availability may modify the risk, prognosis, and treatment outcomes for patients with Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis.
All-atom molecular dynamics of the HBV capsid reveals insights into biological function and cryo-EM resolution limits

The hepatitis B virus capsid represents a promising therapeutic target. Experiments suggest the capsid must be flexible to function; however, capsid structure and dynamics have not been thoroughly characterized in the absence of icosahedral symmetry constraints. Here, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations are leveraged to investigate the capsid without symmetry bias, enabling study of capsid flexibility and its implications for biological function and cryo-EM resolution limits. Simulation results confirm flexibility and reveal a propensity for asymmetric distortion. The capsid's influence on ionic species suggests a mechanism for modulating the display of cellular signals and implicates the capsid's triangular pores as the location of signal exposure. A theoretical image reconstruction performed using simulated conformations indicates how capsid flexibility may limit the resolution of cryo-EM. Overall, the present work provides functional insight beyond what is accessible to experimental methods and raises important considerations regarding asymmetry in structural studies of icosahedral virus capsids.
Divorce among Elderly Women: A Growing Social Phenomenon:

This exploratory study highlights key psychosocial dimensions of late-life divorce among elderly women. The author discusses three variables — the mourning process, the aging process, and generatio...
Receptor pharmacology of neuroleptics: Relation to clinical effects.

This article reviews the receptor pharmacology of neuroleptics, with a focus on newer drugs (e.g., risperidone, olanzapine, sertindole, quetiapine, and ziprasidone) in contrast to older compounds. All these newer compounds are considered to be atypical neuroleptics based upon certain criteria, which are reviewed. Several hypotheses about the molecular mechanisms that explain atypicality are considered. Finally, the in vitro receptor binding data presented for these compounds are related to the therapeutic and adverse effects of these drugs.
Cost-effectiveness analysis of efforts to reduce risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease in southwestern Pennsylvania, 2005-2007.

Introduction We assessed the cost-effectiveness of a community-based, modified Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) designed to reduce risk factors for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Diffusion markers in thin-film VAl3, Co2Al9, CrAl7, MoAl12, and Ni3Al formation

The dominant diffusing species in VA13, Co2Al9, CrAl7, and MoAl12 formation was determined. These are the initial phases to form in metal-Al reactions and the most Al-rich phases on the phase diagrams (except for VA13). It was found for the growth of VA13, Co2Al9, CrAl7, and MoAl12 that Al is the dominant moving species. This is very different from results with metal-Si marker experiments where either the metal or Si can be the dominant moving species in the initial phase. In aluminides the dominant moving species is related to the initial phase formed. For the growth of the Ni-rich phase, Ni3Al, Ni was the dominant moving species.
The Nature of Risk

“Risk” may be defined as a compound measure of the probability and magnitude of adverse effect. Important distinctions can be made among six major classes of hazard (infectious and degenerative diseases; natural catastrophes; failure of large technological systems; discrete, small-scale accidents; low-level, delayed-effect hazards; and sociopolitical disruptions). Decisions about risks meet with four kinds of limitations: of empirical analysis of “the facts”, of social value appraisal, of “risk management”, and of the assignment of rights and responsibilities.
A Method for Large-Scale Resource Allocation in Smart Cities

Optimal resource allocation is one of the dominant features of smart cities. In this paper, we propose a two-step method for modeling and solving a large-scale Maximal Covering Location Problem (MCLP) in which demands can be located everywhere on the road network. First, we present a model that reduces the search space to the highest degree by excluding ineligible sites for placing resources. Second, we present two algorithms, exact and heuristic, to solve the optimization problem of maximizing spatial coverage. As a proof of concept, we tested the model and the two algorithms for optimal deployment of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) in the metropolitan area of Pittsburgh. Experimental results show that the model is suitable for addressing large-scale un-capacitated MCLP and our heuristic algorithm can provide good, near to optimal, solutions within a reasonable response time.
How does avian seed dispersal shape the structure of early successional tropical forests

A.G‐C. also acknowledges his current contract financed by Cabildo Insular de Tenerife throughout the identification mark 'Tenerife 2030' under the program 'TF INNOVA 2016‐2021', with MEDI and FDCAN FUNDS.
Contesting the Secular West: Religio-cultural Identity Politics in Western Liberal Democracies

The interplay of secularism, religion and cultural identity in the contemporary politics of Western liberal democracies must be considered where these important features have been otherwise neglected. As religion has gained salience in both media and popular discourse, so has its influence in both national and global politics. What has been overlooked is that the United States and European countries alike, in confronting growing diversity and multiculturalism, are entangled with contemporaneous debates over culture, nation, and national identity. Secularism and the religio-cultural histories in these societies are thus critical to any discussion surrounding the emergent political trends in these states, given professed secular claims to equality under law, fairness, and neutrality on religious, non-religious, and other grounds. This paper explores the theoretical discourse to draw attention to the relationship between religion, politics, and national identity in the present era.
Microwave-Induced Thermoacoustic Imaging for Embedded Explosives Detection in High-Water Content Medium

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have always been a major threat to personnel safety with continuous evolutions and new variants. Traditional methods for detecting IEDs, such as X-ray, have some drawbacks, so safe and efficient new detection techniques are highly desired. Microwave-induced thermoacoustic imaging (MITAI), being widely investigated for biomedical applications, is a promising candidate for detecting explosives embedded in high-water content materials due to its intrinsic advantages of nonionizing radiation, high contrast, and easy imaging procedure. Proof-of-concept demonstration is theoretically and experimentally carried out by successful detection of an explosive surrogate sample immersed in water. Good accordance between the experimental and simulation results validates the effectiveness of this approach. A parametric study of some key parameters is then performed to investigate their impact on detection efficiency and to evaluate the performance of a practical MITAI system for explosive detection.
Carbohydrate metabolic systems present on genomic islands are lost and gained in Vibrio parahaemolyticus.

Utilizing unique carbohydrates or utilizing them more efficiently help bacteria expand and colonize new niches. Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) of catabolic systems is a powerful mechanism by which bacteria can acquire new phenotypic traits that can increase survival and fitness in different niches. In this work, we examined carbon catabolism diversity among Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a marine species that is also an important human and fish pathogen. Phenotypic differences in carbon utilization between Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains lead us to examine genotypic differences in this species and the family Vibrionaceae in general. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the ability to utilize d-galactose was present in all V. parahaemolyticus but at least two distinct transporters were present; a major facilitator superfamily (MFS) transporter and a sodium/galactose transporter (SGLT). Growth and genetic analyses demonstrated that SGLT was a more efficient transporter of d-galactose and was the predominant type among strains. Phylogenetic analysis showed that d-galactose gene galM was acquired multiples times within the family Vibrionaceae and was transferred between distantly related species. The ability to utilize d-gluconate was universal within the species. Deletion of eda (VP0065), which encodes aldolase, a key enzyme in the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway, reached a similar biomass to wild type when grown on d-gluconate as a sole carbon source. Two additional eda genes were identified, VPA1708 (eda2) associated with a d-glucuronate cluster and VPA0083 (eda3) that clustered with an oligogalacturonide (OGA) metabolism cluster. EDA2 and EDA3 were variably distributed among the species. A metabolic island was identified that contained citrate fermentation, l-rhamnose and OGA metabolism clusters as well as a CRISPR-Cas system. Phylogenetic analysis showed that CitF and RhaA had a limited distribution among V. parahaemolyticus, and RhaA was acquired at least three times. Within V. parahaemolyticus, two different regions contained the gene for L-arabinose catabolism and most strains had the ability to catabolism this sugar. Our data suggest that horizontal transfer of metabolic systems among Vibrionaceae is an important source of metabolic diversity. This work identified four EDA homologues suggesting that the ED pathway plays a significant role in metabolism. We describe previously uncharacterized metabolism islands that were hotspots for the gain and loss of functional modules likely mediated by transposons.
Depth of cure of high-viscosity bulk-fill and conventional resin composites using varying irradiance exposures with a light-emitting diode curing unit

The purpose of this study was to determine the depth of cure (DOC) of three resin-based composites (RBCs) using varying irradiance exposures with a corded light-emitting diode curing unit. DOCs for Filtek Z250, TPH Spectra, and Tetric EvoCeram Bulk Fill were determined using the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Standard 4049. The RBCs were light-polymerized using three different power modes and manufacturer-recommended curing times. Irradiance was determined using a spectrometer sensor and the total energy density was calculated for each power mode and concomitant polymerization time. The DOC data were analyzed with a two-way analysis of variance and Tukey's post hoc test. Tetric EvoCeram Bulk Fill produced significantly greater DOCs than TPH and Z250 (P 0.05).
Effects of Alcohol and Acetate on Cerebral Blood Flow: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND Acute alcohol produces effects on cerebral metabolism and blood flow. Alcohol is converted to acetate, which serves as a source of energy for the brain and is an agonist at G protein-coupled receptors distributed in different cell types in the body including neurons. Acetate has been hypothesized to play a role in the cerebral blood flow (CBF) response after alcohol ingestion. We tested whether administration of acetate would alter CBF in a pattern similar to or different from that of alcohol ingestion in healthy individuals. METHODS Twenty-four healthy participants were assigned by convenience to receive either 0.6 g/kg alcohol orally (n = 12) or acetate intravenously (n = 12). For each participant, CBF maps were acquired using an arterial spin labeling sequence on a 3T magnetic resonance scanner after placebo and after drug administration. Whole-brain CBF maps were compared between placebo and drug using a paired t-test, and set at a threshold of p < 0.05 corrected for multiple comparisons (k ≥ 142 voxels, ≥3.78 cm3 ), voxel-level p < 0.005. Intoxication was measured after placebo and drug administration with a Subjective High Assessment Scale (SHAS-7). RESULTS Compared to placebo, alcohol and acetate were associated with increased CBF in the medial thalamus. Alcohol, but not acetate, was associated with increased CBF in the right orbitofrontal, medial prefrontal and cingulate cortex, and hippocampus. Plasma acetate levels increased following administration of alcohol and acetate and did not differ between the 2 arms. Alcohol, but not acetate, was associated with an increase in SHAS-7 scores (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS Increased thalamic CBF associated with either alcohol or acetate administration suggests that the thalamic CBF response after alcohol could be mediated by acetate. Compared to other brain regions, thalamus may differ in its ability to metabolize acetate or expression of receptors responsive to acetate. Increased prefrontal and limbic CBF associated with alcohol may be linked to alcohol's behavioral effects.
The effects of catecholamines on protein metabolism in pigs and sheep

Whole-body leucine and a-ketoisocaproate (KIC) metabolism was estimated' in young pigs during infusions of stress levels of epinephrine (EPI, 0.1 jig*kg ^*min ) , norepinephrine (NOR, -1 -1 2.0 ^tg*kg *min ) or the saline-vehicle. A constant infusion of 14 3 [1C]leucine and [4,5H]KIC was employed to estimate the rates of whole-body protein degradation, protein synthesis, KIC oxidation and interconversion of leucine and KIC. EPI infusion resulted in decreases in proteolysis and protein synthesis of 15 and 18%, respectively. NOR infusion resulted in decreases in proteolysis, protein synthesis and oxidation of 25, 25 and 24%, respectively. Leucine and KIC interconversion also decreased during the NOR infusion. Free fatty acid concentrations increased threefold and glucose concentrations increased twofold during the NOR infusion. Glucose was also elevated by 30% during the EPI infusion. Insulin concentrations did not change during any treatment, but glucagon and Cortisol concentrations were increased by NOR. These data suggest that the liberation of energy-producing substrates from glycogen and adipose tissue was sufficient to reduce the need for amino acid oxidation during the NOR infusion, but was insufficient to decrease oxidation during the EPI infusion. Therefore, in stress situations, decreases in protein turnover will conserve energy and thus, augment the desired increase in readily available energy.
Classification of Intrusion Detection System Based on Machine Learning

In order to detect abnormal network behaviors early, it is common to build an intrusion detection system (IDS) by recording logs and analyzing active processes on the host. In this way, mining host behavior patterns from massive logs plays an important role in identifying anomalies in order to provide corresponding courses of action, such as blocking or tracking threats. Because of the ever-changing nature of cyber-attacks, it is critical to identify previously unknown threats. In this paper, we propose the hierarchical multi-class classifier (HMC) approach to intrusion detection, which combines multiple binary classifiers into a hierarchy architecture. In addition, we extract the characteristics of data distribution using a k-means algorithm to append new features to the original NSL-KDD public dataset to use as our experimental dataset. The experimental results show that our HMC approach outperforms other classifiers to reach 78% of F1-measure. This paper provides a preliminary research direction for detecting unseen and new types of abnormal activities in IDS. For future work, we will consider the feature representation by deep learning algorithms to improve their performance in practical applications.
Exposure to uranium and co-occurring metals among pregnant Navajo women

Abstract Navajo Nation residents are at risk for exposure to uranium and other co-occurring metals found in abandoned mine waste. The Navajo Birth Cohort Study (NBCS) was initiated in 2010 to address community concerns regarding the impact of chronic environmental exposure to metals on pregnancy and birth outcomes. The objectives of this paper were to 1) evaluate maternal urine concentrations of key metals at enrollment and delivery from a pregnancy cohort; and 2) compare the NBCS to the US general population by comparing representative summary statistical values. Pregnant Navajo women (N = 783, age range 14–45 years) were recruited from hospital facilities on the Navajo Nation during prenatal visits and urine samples were collected by trained staff in pre-screened containers. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Environmental Health's (NCEH) Division of Laboratory Sciences (DLS) analyzed urine samples for metals. Creatinine-corrected urine concentrations of cadmium decreased between enrollment (1st or 2nd trimester) and delivery (3rd trimester) while urine uranium concentrations were not observed to change. Median and 95th percentile values of maternal NBCS urine concentrations of uranium, manganese, cadmium, and lead exceeded respective percentiles for National Health and Nutrition Evaluation Survey (NHANES) percentiles for women (ages 14–45 either pregnant or not pregnant.) Median NBCS maternal urine uranium concentrations were 2.67 (enrollment) and 2.8 (delivery) times greater than the NHANES median concentration, indicating that pregnant Navajo women are exposed to metal mixtures and have higher uranium exposure compared to NHANES data for women. This demonstrates support for community concerns about uranium exposure and suggests a need for additional analyses to evaluate the impact of maternal metal mixtures exposure on birth outcomes.
Statistical Learning using Sparse Deep Neural Networks in Empirical Risk Minimization

We consider a sparse deep ReLU network (SDRN) estimator obtained from empirical risk minimization with a Lipschitz loss function in the presence of a large number of features. Our framework can be applied to a variety of regression and classification problems. The unknown target function to estimate is assumed to be in a Korobov space. Functions in this space only need to satisfy a smoothness condition rather than having a compositional structure. We develop non-asymptotic excess risk bounds for our SDRN estimator. We further derive that the SDRN estimator can achieve the same minimax rate of estimation (up to logarithmic factors) as one-dimensional nonparametric regression when the dimension of the features is fixed, and the estimator has a suboptimal rate when the dimension grows with the sample size. We show that the depth and the total number of nodes and weights of the ReLU network need to grow as the sample size increases to ensure a good performance, and also investigate how fast they should increase with the sample size. These results provide an important theoretical guidance and basis for empirical studies by deep neural networks.
Interpreting Research Findings

After returning from an extended trip for which you had high expectations, it is not unusual to compare your experiences to the expectations that you had prior to travel. Ideally, your travel experience not only met but exceeded your expectations, and was a worthwhile journey that you would recommend to others.
Scalabel & Modular Circular Polarized Antenna Array for Digital Beamforming Applications

Range telemetry applications are evolving over time from single target tracking to multiple simultaneous target tracking applications. In such scenarios, having a single antenna array to form simultaneous multiple beams provides great advantages in terms of extremely reduced cost of installation, saving time on calibration procedure and quick turnaround time for deployment. This paper outlines the simulation studies and development of an advanced scalabel S-band array antenna designed for digital multi beam forming over a wide scan angle (+/- 60°) for digital beamforming applications. The simulated results show that the antenna achieves a realized bandwidth of ~6% of the centre frequency across the entire scan region with a circular polarization (CP) axial ratio of < 2.5dB, a scan loss of ~ 3dB and cross-pol of better than 27dB upto +/-45° scan and better than 20dB upto +/-60° scan over the band of operation. Measured radiation patterns showing simultaneous digital beam formation of two beams at two different scan angles is also presented.
A survey of nuisance telephone calls received by males and females.

A survey on the receipt of nuisance telephone calls was conducted, using 483 undergraduates, 223 males and 260 females. Of the 483 S’s, 83%, 73% of the males and 90% of the females, indicated that they had received such calls. The calls could be categorized into four major types: obscene, anonymous, humorous or witty, and miscellaneous. Of these four types, the first three were reported more often. The results substantiate an earlier study reported by Murray.
Amazonia: The Historical Ecology of a Domesticated Landscape

When one thinks of Amazonia, images of large towering trees, dark and humid forests, brightly colored frogs, and smiling native people decorated in paint and feathers come to mind. In addition to engaging public awareness, these popular images are used to raise funds for conservation, to advance green politics, and to promote cultural and ecotourism. They are updated versions of nineteenth century imagery common in travel books and explorers’ accounts of Amazonia as a Green Hell or as the Garden of Eden. Surprisingly, many colleagues in the natural sciences and conservation still hold similar notions about Amazonia. These romantic views of nature are contrasted to the reality of contemporary humans destroying the ecosystems of Amazonia through modern development. Loss of biodiversity, extinction of species, deforestation, erosion, pollution, and global warming are attributed to humans and their activities. Recent studies argue that humans have been involved in environmental degradation, ecological catastrophe, and global change throughout their existence. Traditional historical, geographical, anthropological, and archaeological perspectives on native Amazonia share these negative views. In the classic literature, past and present Amazonian cultures are considered to have been determined largely by the environment to which they adapted. What appears to be a lush, bountiful setting for human development is actually a counterfeit paradise according to some scholars (e.g., Meggers 1971). Environmental limitations, such as poor soils and a lack of protein, combined with a limited technology, few domestic animals, and abundant unoccupied land restricted social development. The simple societies of Amazonia did not evolve into what we recognize as civilization. In this traditional view, the environment is an immutable given or a fixed entity to which human societies adapt (or do not, and thus, fail, and disappear). The basic assumption is that poor environments produce simple societies (band societies of hunters, gatherers, and fishers or
Nontraditional public enterprise as local economic development policy : dimensions, prospects, and constraints.

Recently, many local governments have explored or implemented economic development policies involving “local public enterprise,” i.e., local-level public ownership of economic enterprises and other profitmaking productive assets. This policy activity tends to involve enterprises and productive assets not traditionally owned by the local public sector, such as hotels, retail establishments, manufacturing facilities, and sports teams. This emerging but still experimental policy phenomenon is explored systematically below.
EXPRESSION PATTERNS OF THREE PUTATIVE SEXUAL-SPECIFIC GENES IN THE CENTRIC DIATOM THALASSIOSIRA WEISSFLOGII

An intriguing feature of the diatom life cycle is that sexual reproduction not only generates genetic diversity but also controls cell size. Very little is known, however, about either the frequency or the potential ramifications of sexual events in field populations, due in large part to the difficulties associated with recognizing sexual stages. Our approach has been to identify genes involved in the diatom sexual cycle, with the goal of developing molecular probes to determine when and where sexual reproduction occurs. We are investigating the expression pattern of three genes identified in a sexual reproduction screen. The Sig1, Sig2 and Sig3 genes comprise a gene family, and encode proteins with strong sequence homology to extracellular matrix proteins. We have hypothesized that the Sig proteins are necessary for sperm/egg recognition. Using RT-PCR, we have shown that transcription of the Sig genes is highly upregulated during the early stages of the sexual cycle, before any morphological changes are apparent. The three genes show significant differences in the exact timing and levels of expression, suggesting different roles for each member of the gene family. We are now employing quantitative RT-PCR to study their relative transcription levels in more detail. We are also using antibodies made against a recombinant version of the Sig2 protein to look at protein expression levels before and after sexual induction, and to determine where the Sig2 protein localizes in the cell.
Stereospecificity of hydrogen transfer reactions of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa pyridine nucleotide transhydrogenase.

Abstract The stereochemistry and mechanisms of hydrogen-transfer reactions catalyzed by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa pyridine nucleotide transhydrogenase have been investigated. In the presence of specific tritium-labeled pyridine nucleotides, the Pseudomonas transhydrogenase is able to catalyse a direct hydrogen transfer between the reduced and the oxidized pyridine nucleotides. The reduction of DPN+ involved the 4B atom of the TPNH; the 2'-AMP-activated reduction of TPN+ results in the removal of the 4B atom of the pyridine ring of DPNH. The reduced products of the respective reactions all have tritium in the 4B position. The mechanism of transfer involves no exchange of hydrogen with the medium, and this phenomenon is not altered by changes of temperature. The Pseudomonas transhydrogenase catalyzes the reduction of the thionicotinamide nucleotide analogue of DPN with stereospecificity exhibited equivalent to that of the reaction with the natural pyridine nucleotides. Indirect evidence indicates that FAD participates in the hydrogen transfer reaction. Exchange of the hydrogen with the medium can be induced in a 1 m urea medium. Available spectral evidence suggests the possibility that conformational changes of the transhydrogenase occurs in 1 m urea.
A Framework for Temporal Object Databases

The 3 Dimensional Information Space (3DIS) is a rich, extensible, object database model for information management. Here, we concentrate on extending the 3DIS to incorporate the semantics of time, and to support temporal data and the temporal evolution of data. We present a unique approach towards the synthesis of an integrated 3DIS model that supports the temporal aspects of data modeling in addition to the structural and dynamic ones, while preserving its original three dimensional geometric space features. This research presents a step towards defining the concepts and techniques for incorporating time in object databases, and provides a concrete experimental framework for demonstration thereof.
Slavoj Žižek, Rex Libris, and the Traumatic Real: Representations of the library and the librarian in a modern comic book series

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use the work of philosopher Slavoj Žižek to gain insights into representations of the librarian and the library in contemporary popular culture. Design/methodology/approach – A psycho-analytic reading of the comic book series Rex Libris using Slavoj Žižek’s treatment of Jacques Lacan. Findings – Žižek’s approach can provide novel and previously unconsidered insights into the understanding of librarian stereotypes in particular and representations of the library in general. Research limitations/implications – This paper is limited to the representations of the librarian and the library in one comic book series. Its findings need to be generalized to representations in other forms of popular culture. Originality/value – As far as the authors know, this is the only paper that has applied the work of Žižek in the library and information science (LIS) literature. As such, not only are the insights into the representations of librarians and libraries important, this pap...
A composable data management architecture for scientific applications

With ever increasing computational power, data management has become crucial for scientific applications today. Most on-going research efforts are dedicated to generalizing universal requirements and schemas for building generic data management systems. By closely studying a broad range of scientific applications including X-ray crystallography, radiation therapy, automated photometry and comparative genomics, a composable data management architecture for scientific applications is presented, which instead aims at providing a set of orthogonal components for each scientific application to quickly and easily construct its customized data management system. The prototype architecture is described in detail, and the component interfaces are defined in SIDL (Scientific Interface Definition Language). Results of building customized data management systems for a variety of scientific applications are also discussed.
Equity Returns at the Turn of the Month: Trading Strategies and Implications for Investors and Managers

We propose to extend and complete the attached study of the "turn-of-the-month" effect in equity returns in two ways. First, we propose to study whether the effect is more pronounced among certain industries where industries are determined by SIC codes and/or the Fama-French industry classifications and/or whether the effect is more pronounced in certain time periods especially periods of 'high' investor sentiment. Second, we propose to investigate whether the effect can be used to generate a profitable trading strategy after trading costs. This latter investigation will examine three low cost strategies: 1. a strategy of switching between an equity fund and a bond fund of the same mutual fund family; 2. a strategy of buying and selling exchange traded funds (ETFs), either specific styles of ETFs or market-based ETFs; and 3. a strategy of buying and selling equity index futures. We propose to consider the implications of these for fund managers especially funds that might be exposed to being "picked off" by a turn-of-the-month trading strategy. The turn-of-the-month effect in U.S. equity returns was initially identified by Ariel (1987), who studies CRSP market returns over the period 1963-1982, and Lakonishok and Smidt (LS whereas over the other 16 trading days, it is -0.001%. When our results are combined with those of LS it is not concentrated at calendar year-ends or quarter-ends; and it is not confined to the US: of the 34 countries we study, the effect occurs in 30 of them. Further the effect is not due to risk as measured by standard deviation of returns. Finally, we find that the effect is not due to increased buying pressure measured by trading volume and net flows to mutual funds. We propose to extend and complete this study as described above.
MGC: a metagenomic gene caller

Computational gene finding algorithms have proven their robustness in identifying genes in complete genomes. However, metagenomic sequencing has presented new challenges due to the incomplete and fragmented nature of the data. During the last few years, attempts have been made to extract complete and incomplete open reading frames (ORFs) directly from short reads and identify the coding ORFs, bypassing other challenging tasks such as the assembly of the metagenome. In this paper we introduce a metagenomics gene caller (MGC) which is an improvement over the state-of-the-art prediction algorithm Orphelia. Orphelia uses a two-stage machine learning approach and computes a model that classifies extracted ORFs from fragmented sequences. We hypothesise and demonstrate evidence that sequences need separate models based on their local GC-content in order to avoid the noise introduced to a single model computed with sequences from the entire GC spectrum. We have also added two amino-acid features based on the benefit of amino-acid usage shown in our previous research. Our algorithm is able to predict genes and translation initiation sites (TIS) more accurately than Orphelia which uses a single model. Learning separate models for several pre-defined GC-content regions as opposed to a single model approach improves the performance of the neural network as demonstrated by the experimental results presented in this paper. The inclusion of amino-acid usage features also helps improve the overall accuracy of our algorithm. MGC's improvement sets the ground for further investigation into the use of GC-content to separate data for training models in machine learning based gene finders.
Empirical Equations for Water/Oil Relative Permeability in Saudi Sandstone Reservoirs

Relative permeability data are essential for almost all calculations of fluid flow in petroleum engineering. Water/oil relative permeability curves play important roles in characterizing the simultaneous two-phase flow in porous rocks and predicting the performance of immiscible displacement processes in oil reservoirs. This paper presents new empirical equations for calculating water/oil imbibition relative permeability curves. The models of relative permeability were developed using experimental data from 46 displacement core tests from sandstone reservoirs of Saudi fields. Three empirical equations are presented to calculate oil relative permeability, water relative permeability, and the endpoint of the water relative permeability curve. The relative permeability models were derived as a function of rock and fluid properties using stepwise linear and nonlinear regression analyses. The new empirical equations were both evaluated using the data utilized in the development and validated using published data, which were not used in the development stage, against previously published equations. Statistical results show that the new empirical equations developed in this study are in better agreement with experimental data than previous empirical equations, for both the data used in the development and validation stages. The new empirical equations can be used to determine water/oil relative permeability curves for other fields provided the reservoir data fall within the range of this study.
Plague Vector Studies Part III. The rate deparasitized ground squirrels are reinfested with fleas under field conditions

A total of 48,996 fleas was collected from 143 ground squirrels. The fleas were in 3 species, Echidnophaga gallinacea, Hoplopsyllus anomalus and Diamanus montanus. When returned to their habitat, most deparasitized animals recovered their normal complement of fleas on or before the third day; and, in most instances, the flea population on the formerly deparasitized squirrels exceeded the normal complement of fleas from the third to the seventh day. Electrical fences were used to confine the ground squirrels.
Deflagration-to-detonation transition via the distributed photo ignition of carbon nanotubes suspended in fuel/oxidizer mixtures

Here the promotion of flame acceleration and deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT) using the distributed photo ignition of photo-sensitive nanomaterials suspended in fuel/oxidizer mixtures is demonstrated for the first time. Distributed photo ignition was carried out by suspending single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with Fe impurity in quiescent C2H4/O2/N2 mixtures and flashing them with an ordinary Xe camera flash. Following the flash, the distributed SWCNTs photo ignite and subsequently provide a quasi-distributed ignition of the C2H4/O2/N2 mixture. In a closed detonation tube the quasi-distributed photo ignition at one end of the tube leads to the promotion of flame acceleration and DDT and, for sensitive C2H4/O2 mixtures, appears to lead to direct detonation initiation or multiple combustion fronts. The DDT run-up distance, the distance required for the transition to detonation, was measured using ionization sensors and was found to be approximately a factor of 1.5× to 2× shorter for the distributed photo ignition process than for traditional single-point spark ignition. It is hypothesized that the increased volumetric energy release rate resulting from distributed photo-ignition enhances DDT due to the decreased ignition delay and greater early-time flame area and turbulence levels, which in turn result in accelerated formation and amplification of the leading shock and accelerated DDT.