cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Some properties of copolymers containing phosphoryl groups

Copolymers were prepared from tertiary phosphine oxides containing a vinyl group, on the one hand, and esters of vinyl- and p-vinylphenylphosphonic acids, the hydrolysis of which afforded a series of copolymers containing a polyvinyl chain with side chains of R2P(O) and (HO)2P(O) types. The interaction between these afforded considerable variability of viscosity of solutions of such substances in media with various pH values.
Helical membrane proteins: diversity of functions in the context of simple architecture.

Abstract During the past year, research on helical membrane proteins has brought insights into the use of deviations from canonical α-helical conformation to support function and the further investigation of the sequestration of protein regions from the lipid bilayer to enhance these structural alternatives. Also, the structural roles of polar sidechains, the identification of motifs in helix interactions and the significance of certain topologies on a genome-wide scale have been further explored.
Iterative built-in testing and tuning of mixed-signal/RF systems

Design and test of high-speed mixed-signal/RF circuits and systems is undergoing a transformation due to the effects of process variations stemming from the use of scaled CMOS technologies that result in significant yield loss. To this effect, postmanufacture tuning for yield recovery is now a necessity for many high-speed electronic circuits and systems and is typically driven by iterative test-and-tune procedures. Such procedures create new challenges for manufacturing test and built-in self-test of advanced mixed-signal/RF systems. In this paper, key test challenges are discussed and promising solutions are presented in the hope that it will be possible to design, manufacture and test “truly self-healing” systems in the near future.
Cellular mechanisms causing loss of muscle mass in kidney disease

In stable adults or patients with kidney disease, the daily turnover of cellular proteins is very large, amounting to the quantity of protein in 1 to 1.5 kg of muscle. Consequently, even a small but persistent increase in protein degradation or decrease in protein synthesis leads to a substantial loss of muscle mass. In chronic kidney disease, the pathway that degrades muscle protein is the ubiquitin-proteasome system. We tested whether either of two complications of chronic kidney disease, metabolic acidosis or insulin resistance accelerates the loss of muscle protein. Metabolic acidosis activates the ubiquitin-proteasome system and this can explain an large number of clinical conditions in which metabolic acidosis also causes loss of muscle protein. Insulin deficiency as a model of insulin resistance also activates the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Both complications also activate caspase-3 and we found that this protease performs a critical initial step in breaking down the complex structure of muscle to provide actin, myosin and fragments of these proteins as substrates for the ubiquitin-proteasome system. Defects in insulin signalling processes can activate both caspase-3 and the ubiquitin-proteasome system to degrade muscle protein. Understanding mechanisms that activate protein breakdown will lead to therapies that successfully prevent the loss of muscle mass in patients with kidney disease.
Group morphology with convolution algebras

Group morphology is an extension of mathematical morphology with classical Minkowski sum and difference operations generalized respectively to Minkowski product and quotient operations over arbitrary groups. We show that group morphology is a proper setting for unifying, formulating and solving a number of important problems, including translational and rotational configuration space problems, mechanism workspace computation, and symmetry detection. The proposed computational approach is based on group convolution algebras, which extend classical convolutions and the Fourier transform to non-commutative groups. In particular, we show that all Minkowski product and quotient operations may be represented implicitly as sublevel sets of the same real-valued convolution function.
Use of a Simulated MCAT to Predict Real MCAT Scores

A Mock MCA Twas developed and administered to 39 premedical students two weeks prior to the April 1977 administration of the New MCAT. Mock MCAT results were provided to these studentsfor each of the six areas of the actual MCA T. Twenty-seven examinees also took the real MCAT. Correlation coefficients between real and Mock MCA T scores were obtained and stepwise regression analysis was used to determine the extent to which the Mock MCA T could predict real MCA T scores. Correlations of .85, .76, .74, .81, .82, and .81 were obtained for biology, chemistry, physics, science problems, reading, and quantitative areas, respectively.
Concepts of Creative Risk-Taking: Issues-Based Instructional Strategies for Preservice Educators

While teaching preservice elementary teachers, how can an art educator facilitate instructional strategies in order to help students create artwork with meaning and intention? What curricular insig...
An overview of immune hemolytic anemias

Often patients with immune hemolytic anemias present with symptoms that are common in anemia of any cause. In the different types of immune hemolytic anemia, red blood cells are destroyed by processes mediated by antibodies. This article reviews the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment of this group of diseases.
Network Recovery from Uniaxial Extension: II. The Origin of the Mullins Effect

Abstract The Mullins effect refers to the dissipation in crosslinked rubber of mechanical energy beyond that due to linear relaxation processes or irreversible structural changes. Physically, Mulli...
Passive adaptive imaging through turbulence

Standard methods for improved imaging system performance under degrading optical turbulence conditions typically involve active adaptive techniques or post-capture image processing. Here, passive adaptive methods are considered where active sources are disallowed, a priori. Theoretical analyses of short-exposure turbulence impacts indicate that varying aperture sizes experience different degrees of turbulence impacts. Smaller apertures often outperform larger aperture systems as turbulence strength increases. This suggests a controllable aperture system is advantageous. In addition, sub-aperture sampling of a set of training images permits the system to sense tilts in different sub-aperture regions through image acquisition and image cross-correlation calculations. A four sub-aperture pattern supports corrections involving five realizable operating modes (beyond tip and tilt) for removing aberrations over an annular pattern. Progress to date will be discussed regarding development and field trials of a prototype system.
Dialect as a Marker of Political Orientation

The abstract revisits the issue of dialect as marker of political identity. It recounts the outcome of an experiment designed to check if the population of a largely conservative area will assume that speakers of the same dialect are more conservative as well. The results showed that respondents indeed identified the speakers of their own dialect as sharing their political affiliation as well.
The European Impulse Revived: European Defence Cooperation and the United States, 1968–73

As discussed in Chapters 1 and 2, the end result of the collapse of the proposed European defence and political communities in 1954 and of the political union talks in 1962 was that little progress was achieved through most of the 1960s toward creating a European pillar beyond the economic domain of the ec. The Western European Union was the only European organisation with a mandate to discuss defence issues. Yet the general US and European satisfaction with, or at least acceptance of, existing Alliance structural arrangements meant that during this period the WEU never took itself seriously as a body for the elaboration of distinctively European positions on defence. Indeed, given the prevalence of cold war bipolarity and the primacy of the Atlantic Alliance as the Western pole, the implicit view was that in the area of East—West relations there were no important distinctively European security concerns apart from the Alliance itself. The long-established ethos of indivisible Atlantic area security interests, however much subject to doubt, undermined the rationale for a defence initiative at the European level.
Incomplete Choleski Conjugate Gradient on the Cyber 203/205

We consider in this paper the Incomplete Cholesky Conjugate Gradient (ICCG) method on the CDC Cyber 203/205 vector computers for the solution of an NxN system of linear equations Ax=b. We assume that the matrix A is large, sparse, and symmetric positive definite with non-zero elements lying along a few diagonals of the matrix, such as arises in the solution of elliptic partial differential equations by finite difference or finite element discretizations. Results are given for two model problems, run on a Cyber 203 at NASA — Langley Research Center. In the sequel, we shall refer to the Cyber 203 and 205 as the Cyber 200 unless there is a reason to differentiate between them.
Tale of 2 Health-care Systems: Disparities in Demographic and Clinical Characteristics between 2 Ischemic Stroke Populations in Los Angeles County

Background Individuals who present to the emergency departments of safety-net systems often have poorly controlled risk factors due to lack of primary care. Little is known about potential differences in presenting characteristics, discharge medications, and discharge destinations of patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) who present to safety-net settings versus university medical centers (UMCs). Methods Demographic characteristics, medical history, premorbid medication use, stroke severity, discharge medications, and discharge destination were assessed among consecutive admissions for AIS over a 2-year period at a UMC (n = 385) versus 2 university-affiliated safety-net hospitals (SNHs) (n = 346) in Los Angeles County. Results Compared with patients presenting to the UMC, individuals admitted to the SNHs were younger, more frequently male, nonwhite, current smokers, hypertensive, and diabetic; they were less likely to take antithrombotics and statins before admission, and had worse serum lipid and glycemic markers (all P P P Conclusions Individuals with AIS admitted to SNHs in Los Angeles County are younger and have poorer vascular risk factor control than their counterparts at a UMC. Discharge treatment does not vary considerably between systems. Early and more vigorous efforts at primary vascular risk reduction among patients seen at SNHs may be warranted to reduce disparities.
Alliance Network Centrality, Board Composition, and Corporate Social Performance

What critical characteristics do firms have that determine the scale and scope of corporate social responsibility activities they undertake? This paper examines two disparate predictors of corporate social performance. First, using the lens of the resource-based view, we examine the role of alliance network centrality on corporate social performance. We find that centrality enhances corporate social performance. Second, we investigate how board composition affects corporate social performance. Specifically, drawing on stakeholder theory, we find that the percentage of female directors predicts greater corporate social performance. In addition, we look at the influence of outside directors on this relationship. Our findings show that the presence of more outside directors positively moderates the relationship between female directors and corporate social performance.
Genotypic Regulation of Aflatoxin Accumulation but Not Aspergillus Fungal Growth upon Post-Harvest Infection of Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Seeds

Aflatoxin contamination is a major economic and food safety concern for the peanut industry that largely could be mitigated by genetic resistance. To screen peanut for aflatoxin resistance, ten genotypes were infected with a green fluorescent protein (GFP)—expressing Aspergillus flavus strain. Percentages of fungal infected area and fungal GFP signal intensity were documented by visual ratings every 8 h for 72 h after inoculation. Significant genotypic differences in fungal growth rates were documented by repeated measures and area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) analyses. SICIA (Seed Infection Coverage and Intensity Analyzer), an image processing software, was developed to digitize fungal GFP signals. Data from SICIA image analysis confirmed visual rating results validating its utility for quantifying fungal growth. Among the tested peanut genotypes, NC 3033 and GT-C20 supported the lowest and highest fungal growth on the surface of peanut seeds, respectively. Although differential fungal growth was observed on the surface of peanut seeds, total fungal growth in the seeds was not significantly different across genotypes based on a fluorometric GFP assay. Significant differences in aflatoxin B levels were detected across peanut genotypes. ICG 1471 had the lowest aflatoxin level whereas Florida-07 had the highest. Two-year aflatoxin tests under simulated late-season drought also showed that ICG 1471 had reduced aflatoxin production under pre-harvest field conditions. These results suggest that all peanut genotypes support A. flavus fungal growth yet differentially influence aflatoxin production.
La Religion de ma Mère

On the surface, Karim Akouche's latest novel appears to be autobiographical, and it indeed is, though the author, when the question is put to him publicly, does not admit to it. Underneath the stor...
What Credit Risk Transfer Tells Us About G-Fees

The appropriate level of guarantee fees (G-fees) is an important issue to the housing finance policy community. With the significant amount of risk now being transferred to the private markets through single-family credit risk transfer (CRT), we have another tool with which to estimate the cost of the credit risk and calculate a market-implied G-fee. The market-implied G-fee provides information about what the private capital markets would charge for operating a credit guarantee business like Freddie Mac’s and offers a key benchmark for policy discussions. CRT tells us that Freddie Mac’s G-fees are in line with what the private market would charge for the mortgage credit risk we take, although to a lesser extent for higher-risk loans. Moreover, CRT also indicates that Freddie Mac’s G-fees are more stable than private sector pricing, thus validating conventional wisdom on the issue.
MODELING AND CONTROL OF 3D EYE MOVEMENT WITH MUSCULOTENDON DYNAMICS

Abstract Recent anatomical studies of extraocular muscles (EOM) demonstrate the stability of muscle paths. This is due to the fact that each rectus EOM passes through a pulley consisting of an encircling ring or sleeve of collagen. In this paper, the EOMs are modeled using the Hill type musculotendon complex and the effect of extraocular pulleys are studied. The model proposed by Martin and Schovanec in 1999, for horizontal eye movement has been used as a basic starting point. The extraocular pulleys are then introduced and analyzed mainly to study how Listing's law is enforced and how it implements an oculomotor plant which appears commutative to the brain.
Place-based Inquiry: Advancing Environmental Education in Science Teacher Preparation

Future generations face unprecedented environmental challenges such as global climate change, worldwide food crises, species extinctions, and increasing demands for energy. Teachers play a vital role in preparing students to address such complex and interconnected problems. The chapter describes a 3-year professional development project for inservice science teachers to provide the tools to implement place-based pedagogy and environmental education in science classrooms. This teacher education strategy emphasizes the authentic practice of science, develops deeper content knowledge in an interdisciplinary context, and focuses on questions of environmental importance. Three detailed case studies are presented where students engaged in place-based investigation for an extended period of time. These projects show a transition from teacher-led investigation to student-directed inquiry. Several other examples of place-based studies are briefly described to suggest the potential for such studies in a variety of school settings. A framework for planning successful place-based investigation is included. The chapter suggests how place-based pedagogy is critical for the preparation of science teachers and how such a strategy addresses a range of concepts through deeper inquiry.
The Special Relationship between β Retinal Ganglion Cells and Cat Primary Visual Cortex

Publisher Summary This chapter summarizes the characteristics of cat ganglion cells that are vulnerable and those that appear to be largely insensitive to the cortical lesion. It reviews the relevant features of retinal ganglion structure, function, contributions to vision, and connectivity and also describes the impact of primary visual cortex lesions on ganglion cells and visually guided behavior. The elimination of β (X) cells has a potentially profound impact on visual processing in addition to the absence of primary visual cortex. The three most significant factors linked to the survival, and death of cat retinal ganglion cells following lesions of primary visual cortex are maturational status, patterns of connectivity, and rate of degeneration of lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) neurons. β (X)-retinal ganglion cells in the cat and monkey, and by extension humans, have a unique and a signature array of morphological, physiological, and connectional characteristics that set them apart from all other ganglion cell types. They are also extremely fragile and depend for survival on primary visual cortex and its intermediate relay structure, the LGN, both some distance apart.
Mechanisms of action of anesthetics on inositol phospholipid hydrolysis in vascular endothelial cells and rat basophilic leukemia cells in tissue culture.

The different classes of anesthetics (i.e., barbiturates, local anesthetics, and volatile anesthetics) have been shown to exert separate patterns of effects on the vasculature.1–7 Theories as to the mechanism(s) of these effects suggest that anesthetics act either by the specific alteration of membrane proteins, or in a non-specific manner on membrane proteins, through the perturbation of membrane lipids.8–10 Although no suggestion as to the degree of specificity of the anesthetics on membrane proteins has been offered, they are thought to act on cellular biochemical processes by alteration of ion fluxes (in particular Ca2+)1,11–13 in the vascular smooth muscle cell.1 Our recent studies have shown that anesthetics can alter one Ca2+-mediated cellular pathway in vascular endothelial cells, the phosphatidylinositol pathway (inositol phospholipid hydrolysis).14
Cognitive defusion for reducing distressing thoughts in adults with autism

Abstract Background Cognitive fusion occurs when people over-identify with their thoughts, leading to a strong emotional response and a narrowed behavioral repertoire. Cognitive defusion (CD) is a technique used in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to teach people how to pay attention to the process of thinking, thereby reducing the negative effect of over-identification and allowing people to behave in more adaptive ways. CD has been widely studied in neurotypical (NT) samples, but there is little research on cognitive fusion and related interventions for people diagnosed with autism (AS). Method Sixty-eight adult participants (AS group n = 27; NT group n = 41) answered questionnaires measuring psychological distress and dispositional levels of cognitive fusion. In a lab setting, participants next identified a personal distressing thought, then were randomized into a brief (5-minute) cognitive defusion technique or an equally-brief active distraction technique. Before and after the intervention, participants completed measures assessing the believability of their distressing thought and how much discomfort the thought caused. Results The AS group reported higher overall trait levels of cognitive fusion than the NT group. Cognitive fusion was moderately- to strongly-related with psychological distress in both participant groups. The brief interventions worked equally well in immediately reducing thought believability and thought discomfort for AS and NT groups. Conclusions The current study provides support for cognitive fusion as a contributing factor to the psychological distress experienced by people with AS, and that a brief intervention technique can effectively reduce fusion at least in an immediate context. More work is needed to explore the specific short-term and long-term efficacy for interventions aimed to reduce cognitive fusion.
Postsecondary Education Impact on Intergenerational Income Mobility: Differences by Completion Status, Gender, Race/Ethnicity, and Type of Major

This study examined intergenerational mobility among former students of The University of Texas System (n = 98,199) by comparing parental household income while the students were in college to stud...
Thinking into the future: how a future time perspective improves self-control

Abstract The dual motive model posits that self-control is the prioritization of distal motives over proximal motives when the two compete. A logical extension of this view is that any factor that increases the incentive value of a distal motive or decreases the incentive value of a proximal motive will make self-control more likely. Here it is proposed that time perspective, or an individual's tendency to attend to thoughts of the past, present, or future, is one factor that influences the incentive value of competing motives. Three studies were conducted to show that time perspective influences the incentive value of competing motives, and thus influences self-control. Study 1 probes correlations and indirect effects between time perspective, incentive value, and self-control. Study 2 replicates and extends study 1 by examining additional dimensions of the future time perspective. Study 3 shows that manipulating time perspective produces changes in self-control, establishing causality. The results suggest that time perspective influences the incentive value of individuals' motives and thus self-control. The results also add support to the dual motive model of self-control, since only the dual motive model predicted these relationships.
Preliminary Analysis of Within-Sample Co-methylation Patterns in Normal and Cancerous Breast Samples:

DNA methylation plays a significant role in regulating the expression of certain genes in both cancerous and normal breast tissues. It is therefore important to study within-sample co-methylation, ...
Not Quite Child's Play: Using Beanbags to Teach Opioid Dosing and Rotation.

Pain management education is lacking in medical education, especially pediatrics. Using beanbags constructed to represent commonly used opioids with areas proportional to the drugs’ potencies, this hands-on approach is used in small-group sessions to introduce opioid dosing, potencies, and rotation through case-based exercises. Next steps will include analysis of impact using pre- and post-intervention surveys.
Topological Data Analysis to Engineer Features from Audio Signals for Depression Detection

Topological Data Analysis (TDA) can be used to extract features from raw signal data. These features, in the form of Betti curves, can be leveraged by machine learning models. Betti curves have been shown to mitigate bias from individual differences when classifying signals. One of the major challenges in detecting depression from audio clips is the variance of audio expression between participants. Thus, we hypothesize that Betti curves could help mitigate this audio expression variance. In this research, we are the first to construct Betti curves from audio signals. We then leverage these Betti curves to detect depression with audio clips from open-ended clinical interviews and scripted crowd-sourced recordings. For both datasets, machine learning models built on Betti curves achieve statistically significantly higher F1, AUC, and Accuracy scores than the same models built on only state-of-the-art audio engineered features. The AUC metric improvement was 0.054 for the clinical interviews and 0.066 for the crowd-sourced audio. Thus, we demonstrate TDA can be useful in screening for depression from audio signals.
Economic Shocks and Civil War

This article revisits the relationship between income per capita and civil conflict. We begin by documenting that the empirical literature identifies two different patterns. First, poor countries have a higher propensity to suffer from civil war. Second, civil war occurs when countries suffer negative income shocks. In a formal model we examine an explanation often suggested in the informal literature: civil wars occur in poor countries because the opportunity cost of fighting is small. We show that while this explanation fails to make sense of the first empirical pattern, it provides a coherent theoretical basis for the second. We then enrich the model to allow for private imperfect information about the state of the economy and show that mutual fears exacerbate the problem caused by negative income shocks.
On the Convergence Rates of KNN Density Estimation

We analyze the $\ell_{1}$ and $\ell_{\infty}$ convergence rates of $k$ nearest neighbor density estimation method. Our analysis includes two different cases depending on whether the support set is bounded or not. In the first case, the probability density function has a bounded support and is bounded away from zero. We show that kNN density estimation is minimax optimal under both $\ell_{1}$ and $\ell_{\infty}$ criteria, if the support set is known. If the support set is unknown, then the convergence rate of $\ell_{1}$ error is not affected, while $\ell_{\infty}$ error does not converge. In the second case, the probability density function can approach zero and is smooth everywhere. Moreover, the Hessian is assumed to decay with the density values. For this case, our result shows that the $\ell_{\infty}$ error of kNN density estimation is nearly minimax optimal.
Spatial Replenishment and Self-Focusing Dynamics of Ultrashort Laser Pulses

We investigate the collapse dynamics of an ultrashort pulse. Our results indicate that multiple collapse events can occur and that supercontinuum generation (SCG) is due to the formation of an “optical shock” wave at the point of collapse.
Hernia and Obesity

An increased risk of hernia in obese patients has been reported in many studies. We have found a 20% risk of incisional hernia following gastric bypass surgery compared with 4% in patients who underwent a total abdominal colectomy, proctectomy, and ileoanal pouch anastomosis for ulcerative colitis, involving a much larger incision. Of the latter group, 60% of these patients were taking an average of 32 mg prednisone a day, which is thought to decrease the rate of wound healing. In the colitis group, four of the seven incisional hernia patients had a body mass index of 30 kg/m2 or more. Additional risks for hernia in this study included a prior incisional hernia (41% vs. 19%), type 2 diabetes mellitus (28% vs. 15%), wound infection (35% vs. 18%), sleep apnea (33% vs. 14%), and obesity hypoventilation (35% vs. 17%). Others have found a similar rate of incisional hernia following obesity surgery. Furthermore, there appears to be an increased risk of recurrent incisional hernia following their repair in obese patients. Thus, obesity appears to be a much greater risk for hernia formation than the use of steroids.
Structural modulation of nanowire interfaces grown over selectively disrupted single crystal surfaces

Recent breakthroughs in deterministic approaches to the fabrication of nanowire arrays have demonstrated the possibility of fabricating such networks using low-cost scalable methods. In this regard, we have developed a scalable growth platform for lateral fabrication of nanocrystals with high precision utilizing lattice match and symmetry. Using this planar architecture, a number of homo- and heterostructures have been demonstrated including ZnO nanowires grown over GaN. The latter combination produces horizontal, epitaxially formed crystals aligned in the plane of the substrate containing a very low number of intrinsic defects. We use such ordered structures as model systems in the interests of gauging the interfacial structural dynamics in relation to external stimuli. Nanosecond pulses of focused ion beams are used to slightly modify the substrate surface and selectively form lattice disorders in the path of nanowire growth to examine the nanocrystal, namely: its directionality and lattice defects. High resolution electron microscopies are used to reveal some interesting structural effects; for instance, a minimum threshold of surface defects that can divert nanowires. We also discuss data indicating formation of surface strains and show their mitigation during the growth process.
Breaking an application specific instruction-set processor: the first step towards embedded software testing

In this paper methods to stop an Application Specific Instruction set Processor (ASIP) are proposed. Constructing the stop criteria for an ASIP on a combination of program counter - and data values is expensive,. and therefore a novel solution, in which the micro program is extended, is investigated. The cost of this extension is limited due to the relative small program size, and optimisations are proposed for even further reduction. Due to the flexible setup of the tool that generates the ASIP both the analysis data of the needed debug hardware and the generation of this hardware can be automated.
Exploring bacterial biofilms with NAMD, a highly scalable parallel code for complex molecular simulations

Bacterial biofilms are highly complex structures. We are more and more recognizing that bacterial biofilms are predominant forms of the bacterial existence against the planktonic one. Under certain circumstances, bacteria starts to build biofilm and forms 3D structure, so called extracellular matrix. Hulled within this matrix, bacteria becomes more prone to host defense mechanisms and most antibiotics, thus expressing considerably higher virulence and antibiotic resistance than its planktonic form. Because of their importance, numerous researchers investigated bacterial biofilms in the last decades, using numerous methods, like electron microscopy, mass spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance. However, neither of these methods is able to reveal an exact structure of extracellular matrix. Exploring dynamics of extracellular matrix is even more complex, and out of the reach for known analysis methods. For these reasons, there is a need for more effective method, and this could be computer driven simulation. In order to check if it could be a method of choice, we estimated the computational resources needed to simulate the bacterial biofilm. We found that possibility of performing this simulation in the reasonable time on fastest supercomputers today does not exists, and will not be available until at least 2028. For this reason, we explored possibilities of running NAMD based bacterial biofilms simulations on Cloud, and landed with the same conclusion. Besides, we found that for both approaches NAMD has to extend its scalability from about current 500.000 cores to many millions of cores in the future.
Towards a Unified Framework on Outsourcing: Integrating Multiple Theoretical Viewpoints

Existing research on outsourcing uses several different theoretical perspectives to study outsourcing, including the resource based view, transaction costs analysis, contingency theory and agency theory. While studying a phenomenon from different viewpoints increases our understanding on the subject, we need a consistent theoretical framework to consolidate the ideas generated in the field, compare and contrast previous results, and build on for future analysis. In this paper, we integrate the concepts of these four theoretical viewpoints into a unified sourcing framework that encompasses both the antecedents to outsourcing as well as the consequences of outsourcing. The antecedents to outsourcing include environmental perceptions and resource perceptions. The consequences of outsourcing include greater environmental fit, higher rents, lower production costs and higher agency costs.
The enigma of transmitter-selective receptor accumulation at developing inhibitory synapses

The control of synaptic inhibition is crucial for normal brain function. More than 20 years ago, glycine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) were shown to be the two major inhibitory neurotransmitters. They can be released independently from different terminals or co-released from the same terminal to activate postsynaptic glycine and GABAA receptors. The anchoring protein gephyrin is involved in the postsynaptic accumulation of both glycine and GABAA receptors. In lower brain regions, both receptors can be concentrated in synapses, whereas in higher brain regions, glycine receptors are mostly excluded from postsynaptic sites. The activation of glycine and/or GABAA receptors determines the strength and precise timing of inhibition. Therefore, tight regulation of postsynaptic glycine versus GABAA receptor localization is crucial for optimizing synaptic inhibition in neurons. This review focuses on recent findings and discusses questions concerning the specificity of postsynaptic inhibitory neurotransmitter receptor accumulation during inhibitory synapse formation and development.
The history of the discovery of the nerve growth factor.

The Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) is the progenitor of a family of growth factors which is still expanding. The history of its discovery is very colorful; it is a rare combination of scientific reasoning, intuition, fortuities, and good luck. In addition, I believe that the collaboration of three scientists with very different backgrounds contributed to the success: I had grown up in a laboratory of experimental embryology, Dr. Levi-Montalcini came from neurology, and Dr. Stanley Cohen was from biochemistry. The decision where to begin the history of a discovery is always arbitrary. I shall give my reasons why I begin this story with my wing bud extirpations on chick embryos and the analysis of the effects of the operation on the development of spinal nerve centers, published in 1934. Of course, I am aware of the fact that the analysis of neurogenesis had been pioneered by Dr. R. G. Harrison and his students at Yale University since the beginning of this century. It should be mentioned that their experiments had been done on amphibian embryos. My own interest in problems of neurogenesis dates back to my Ph.D. thesis in the Zoology Department of Professor H. Spemann at the University of Freiburg in (the Federal Republic of) Germany; it dealt with the influence of the nervous system on the development of limbs in frog embryos. After I had obtained some inconclusive results I did the crucial experiment of producing nerveless legs. I removed the lumbar part of the spinal cord and the spinal ganglia before the outgrowth of nerve fibers. The nerveless legs developed normally in every respect, but the muscles atrophied eventually.
An optimal path cover algorithm for cographs

Abstract The class of cographs, or complement-reducible graphs, arises naturally in many different areas of applied mathematics and computer science. In this paper, we present an optimal algorithm for determining a minimum path cover for a cograph G. In case G has a Hamiltonian path (cycle) our algorithm exhibits the path (cycle) as well.
Bis(penta­methyl­cyclo­penta­dien­yl)[(trimethyl­silyl)meth­yl]scandium(III)

The geometric features of the title compound, [Sc(C5Me5)2(C4H11Si)], are similar to those found in related monomeric organometallic scandium compounds. It is of inter­est with respect to related systems which have achieved catalytic metathesis of olefins with methane.
LGBT Student Leaders and Queer Activists: Identities of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Identified College Student Leaders and Activists

This qualitative study provided evidence of common patterns of involvement, leadership, and identity among 15 students leading lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) campus groups. Participants were 7 men, 5 women, and 3 female-to-male transgender students; one first-year, 4 sophomores, 4 juniors, and 6 seniors; and 8 White, 2 Black, one biracial, one international, 2 Latina/o, and one White Jewish students. Within the overall pattern of involvement, an involvement-identity cycle occurred in which increased leadership led to increased public LGBT identity and a merged gender/sexual orientation and leadership identity. Evidence also supported the classification of students into three distinct identities: LGBT Leader, LGBT Activist, and Queer Activist. I present implications for scholars and educators working with LGBT and other students leading in identity-based contexts.
Highly sensitive radioactive in situ hybridization using full length hydrolyzed riboprobes to detect α2 adrenoceptor subtype mRNAs in adult and developing rat brain

Abstract The mRNA expression of highly homologous α2 adrenoceptor subtypes was determined using a highly sensitive in situ hybridization protocol that allowed the detection of low abundance mRNA. Full-length 35 S -labeled riboprobes specific for α2A, α2B and α2C adrenoceptors were used for maximal sensitivity. The probes were hydrolyzed to an average length of 600 bp which, in combination with proteinase K digestion, resulted in optimal probe penetration in developmental and adult tissue. The expression intensity could be quantified and the ontogeny of receptor mRNA expression determined. At the same time receptor binding sites or functional proteins could be detected simultaneously in adjacent sections, because fresh frozen and post-fixed tissue was used. Themes: Neurotransmitters, Modulators, Transporters, and Receptors Topics: Regional localization of receptors and transmitters
A Consensus Model for Seasonal Hurricane Prediction

Abstract The authors apply a procedure called Bayesian model averaging (BMA) for examining the utility of a set of covariates for predicting the distribution of U.S. hurricane counts and demonstrating a consensus model for seasonal prediction. Hurricane counts are derived from near-coastal tropical cyclones over the period 1866–2008. The covariate set consists of the May–October monthly averages of the Atlantic SST, North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index, Southern Oscillation index (SOI), and sunspot number (SSN). BMA produces posterior probabilities indicating the likelihood of the model given the set of annual hurricane counts and covariates. The September SSN covariate appears most often in the higher-probability models. The sign of the September SSN parameter is negative indicating that the probability of a U.S. hurricane decreases with more sunspots. A consensus hindcast for the 2007 and 2008 season is made by averaging forecasts from a large subset of models weighted by their corresponding posterior...
Photochemically Controlled Cross-Linking in Polymerized Crystalline Colloidal Array Photonic Crystals

We developed photochemically controlled photonic crystals which may be useful in novel recordable and erasable memories and/or display devices. Information is recorded and erased by exciting the photonic crystal with 360 nm UV light or 480 nm visible light. The information recorded is read out by measuring the photonic crystal diffraction wavelength. The active element of the device is an azobenzene cross-linked hydrogel which contains an embedded crystalline colloidal array. UV excitation forms cis-azobenzene cross-links while visible excitation forms trans-azobenzene cross-links. The less favorable free energy of mixing of cis-azobenzene cross-linked species causes the hydrogel to shrink and blue-shift the photonic crystal diffraction. This is completely the opposite behavior as observed from pendant azobenzene groups we reported previously. We also observe fast nano-, micro-, and millisecond transient dynamics associated with fast heating lattice constant changes, refractive index changes, and thermal relaxations.
Integrative animal behaviour

Behavioral Mechanisms in Evolutionary Ecology. By Leslie A. Real University of Chicago Press: 1994. Pp. 469. $80, £63.95 (hbk); $29.95, £23.95 (Pbk).
Conservation of vernal pool plants in California. II: Population biology of a rare and unique grass genus Orcuttia

Abstract The grass genus Orcuttia is ecologically and systematically unique. All seven of its species in California are rare, endemic members of the vernal pond habitat and listed as endangered species or are under review in the Federal Register of the United States Department of the Interior. Conservation aspects are discussed in relation to the studies of genetic variation within and among taxa and of the demographic characteristics. Allozyme assays of variation suggest the presence of large intrapopulation variation as well as unique allelic differences among taxa. This information is useful in the choice of populations to be included in a conservation programme and for monitoring some ‘population engineering’ approaches on the reserves. Genetic structure in terms of variable outcrossing potential and certain mechanisms of the regulation of population numbers (or density) might be interdependent. Relative abundance of several Orcuttia spp. was observed over seven years; these data suggest wide variation in population sizes among different taxa and sites. Preliminary demographic data suggest the crucial importance of seed dormancy, early seedling survivorship, and average seed set per plant under limiting moisture which together determine the local population sizes. For example, seed storage in the soil would often serve as a key resilience factor against extinction in taxa living under more heterogeneous environments, or if reproductive parameters show less opportunism (plasticity). Conservation of as many different gene pools as possible is recommended in situ by setting aside reserves and ex situ by long-term seed storage in a gene bank which would provide seed stocks for the periodic reseeding of experimental colonies. Management of habitat designed to manipulate the moisture regimes which would in turn maximise certain features of survival and reproduction is suggested. Further research is particularly needed on verifying the usefulness of monitoring genetic variation and population numbers in designing a long-term conservation programme.
Learning with a probabilistic teacher

The Bayesian learning scheme is computationally infeasible for most of the unsupervised learning problems. This paper suggests a learning scheme, "learning with a probabilistic teacher," which works with unclassified samples and is computationally feasible for many practical problems. In this scheme a sample is probabilistically assigned with a class with appropriate probabilities computed using all the information available: Then the sample is used in learning the parameter values given this assignment of the class. The convergence of the scheme is established and a comparison with the best linear estimator is presented.
Seismic analysis of clinoform depositional sequences and shelf-margin trajectories in Lower Cretaceous (Albian) strata, Alaska North Slope

Lower Cretaceous strata beneath the Alaska North Slope include clinoform depositional sequences that filled the western Colville foreland basin and overstepped the Beaufort rift shoulder. Analysis of Albian clinoform sequences with two-dimensional (2D) seismic data resulted in the recognition of seismic facies inferred to represent lowstand, transgressive and highstand systems tracts. These are stacked to produce shelf-margin trajectories that appear in low-resolution seismic data to alternate between aggradational and progradational. Higher-resolution seismic data reveal shelf-margin trajectories that are more complex, particularly in net-aggradational areas, where three patterns commonly are observed: (1) a negative (downward) step across the sequence boundary followed by mostly aggradation in the lowstand systems tract (LST), (2) a positive (upward) step across the sequence boundary followed by mostly progradation in the LST and (3) an upward backstep across a mass-failure decollement. These different shelf-margin trajectories are interpreted as (1) fall of relative sea level below the shelf edge, (2) fall of relative sea level to above the shelf edge and (3) mass-failure removal of shelf-margin sediment. Lowstand shelf margins mapped using these criteria are oriented north–south in the foreland basin, indicating longitudinal filling from west to east. The shelf margins turn westward in the north, where the clinoform depositional system overstepped the rift shoulder, and turn eastward in the south, suggesting progradation of depositional systems from the ancestral Brooks Range into the foredeep. Lowstand shelf-margin orientations are consistently perpendicular to clinoform-foreset-dip directions. Although the Albian clinoform sequences of the Alaska North Slope are generally similar in stratal geometry to clinoform sequences elsewhere, they are significantly thicker. Clinoform-sequence thickness ranges from 600–1000 m in the north to 1700–2000 m in the south, reflecting increased accommodation from the rift shoulder into the foredeep. The unusually thick clinoform sequences suggest significant subsidence followed by rapid sediment influx.
Energy Transduction in Tonoplast Vesicles from Red Beet (Beta vulgaris L.) Storage Tissue: H+/Substrate Stoichiometries for the H+-ATPase and H+-PPase

Abstract The H + /substrate stoichiometries of the tonoplast H + -ATPase and H + -PPase were determined by a kinetic approach. Using red beet ( Beta vulgaris L.) tonoplast vesicles, rates of substrate-dependent H + transport were estimated by (I) a mathematical model describing the time course of ΔpH formation, (II) the rate of H + leakage following H + pump inhibition at a steady state ΔpH, and (III) the initial rate of alkalinization of the external medium. When compared with rates of substrate hydrolysis measured under identical conditions, all three methods yielded an H + /ATP stoichiometry of 2 while the H + / PP i stoichiometry was determined to be 1 using methods I and II. Experimental limitations did not permit an analysis of the H + / PP i , stoichiometry by method III. From these results and the estimated level of substrate and product typically found in the cytoplasm of plant cells, it is suggested that the H + -ATPase and H + -PPase as primary H + -pumps are poised toward net substrate hydrolysis under in vivo conditions thereby operating in parallel to generate a proton electrochemical gradient across the tonoplast.
Management of Neurosurgical Instruments and Patients Exposed to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Objective. To summarize the approaches used to manage exposure of patients to inadequately sterilized neurosurgical instruments contaminated as a result of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).Methods. Information on past CJD exposure incidents reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was aggregated and summarized. In addition, inactivation studies were reviewed, and data from selected publications were provided for reference.Results. Nineteen incidents of patient exposure to potentially CJD-contaminated instruments were reported to the CDC, including 17 that involved intracranial procedures and 2 that involved ophthalmologic procedures. In more than 50% of incidents, the neurosurgical procedures were performed for diagnostic work up of the index patients. At least 12 of the hospitals had multiple neurosurgical sets, and the CJD-contaminated instruments could not be identified in 11 of 19 hospitals. In 12 of 15 hospitals with neurosurgical incidents, a decision was made to notify patien...