cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preventing AIDS: Self-Interest and Public Spirit

Human behavior is typically described in the language of self-interest and incentives drawn from economic models of the marketplace. Public education programs have assumed that people will change their behavior if they have the right incentives and information. Insurance underwriters encourage people to think in terms of their own interests, by setting premiums on actuarial risk. Government, too, encourages self-interested behavior by promoting HIV testing, one outcome of which may be the labeling of HIV­ infected persons, while opposing legislation that would protect infected people from discrimination. But there are serious limitations to encouraging self-interested behavior as a means of preventing HIV transmission. An AIDS prevention strategy based on the promotion of self-interested behavior will be only partially effective because sexual behavior is not governed by self-interest alone. Prevention policy should include a place for public spirit and recognize that people sometimes do for others what they will not do for themselves. However, public spirit is sensitive to the surrounding environment. It must be nourished and encouraged. The public should evaluate government AIDS policy not only on the basis of its short-run financial cost or efficiency, but also in terms of how good an example of public-spirited behavior it sets.
Ethionine-induced depression of plasma antihemophilic globulin in the rat.

Summary and ConclusionsParenteral administration of ethionine markedly depressed the AHF content of the blood in rats. This effect probably represents interference with synthesis of the protein rather than increased destruction. Although other coagulation factors were affected, the ethionine action did not involve all serum proteins, as shown by paper electrophoresis. Extensive tissue damage in ethionine-treated animals was confined to the pancreas, liver and bone marrow. Neither total pancreatectomy in dogs, nor carbon tetrachloride-induced liver damage in rats had any effect on plasma AHF levels. Studies are in progress to determine a possible role of the reticulo-endothelial system.
Relationship of Time of Feeding and Strain to Egg Shell Quality and Hatchability in Broiler Breeders

Abstract The relationship of feeding time to egg production, egg weight, egg shell quality, fertility, and hatchability was examined in two trials. Slow and fast-feathering strain Hubbard females were used in Trial 1 and slow-feathering strain Arbor Acres females were used in Trial 2. Feeding times of 0800 or 1300 h throughout the laying periods were compared. Slow feathering females in Trial 1 exhibited significantly increased egg weight and significantly decreased percentage shell when compared with fast-feathering females. Feeding at 1300 h increased significantly egg specific gravity, egg shell weight, and percentage shell in Trials 1 and 2. Significant interactions of feeding time and strain occurred in Trial 1 with respect to fertility and hatch of all eggs set. Feeding at 1300 h increased fertility and hatch of all eggs set in fast-feathering hens but the opposite occurred in slow-feathering hens in Trials 1 and 2. Within slow-feathering hens, hatch of fertile eggs was decreased by 1.7% (Trial 1) and 1.5% (Trial 2). The results show that afternoon feeding that provides calcium intake near the time of egg shell calcification decreased significantly hatchability in eggs from two slow-feathering strains of females but not in eggs from a fast-feathering strain. These results suggest that altering time of feed intake can decrease hatchability.
Structure of rodent community in Lingshan Mountain area of Mentougou in Beijing

Objective To study the structure of rodent community in Lingshan Mountain area of Mentougou,Beijing.Methods Trap-at-night method was used to estimate the size of rodent community,and its structure was analyzed with statistical method.Results Totally,286 rodents of 12 species were captured,81 of five species(Rattus niviventer and Apodemus peninsulae community)at the bottom shrubs,74 of 11 species(Apodemus peninsulae and Rattus niviventer and Eutamias sibiricus community)at the middle secondary forest,and 131 of seven species(Clethrionomys rufocamus and Apodemus peninsulae and Cricetulus tricton community)at the top subalpine meadow.Conclusion Biological diversity index of rodent community at the area was highest at the middle of Lingshan Mountain,and its comparability index was highest(0.7243)at the middle and bottom and the lowest(0.4541)at the top and bottom.
Research Progresses on the Dwarfness and Its Related Genes in Rice

Breeding of dwarf rice varieties and their wide use in production is one of the greatest achievements in rice breeding in the 20th century.The authors reviewed the progresses in the research on the inheritance,localization,cloning and functions of dwarf genes and the mechanism of dwarfness in rice.The existing problems and developing prospects in breeding of dwarf rice varieties were also discussed in the paper.
A change in practice: current urologic practice in response to reports concerning vasectomy and prostate cancer

Objective To examine the practice patterns of urologists performing vasectomy in response to studies reporting an increased risk of prostate cancer in vasectomized men. Design A mailed survey. Setting A university medical institution. Participants One thousand five hundred randomly selected United States urologists under the age of 65 years. Main Outcome Measure Urologists reported practice patterns of vasectomy in response to studies showing possible link between vasectomy and prostate cancer. Results A response rate of 51% (759/1,500) was obtained. Although >90% state that these studies have had little or no effect upon their practice of vasectomy, 27% screen vasectomized men earlier for prostate cancer, and 20% would be reluctant to recommend a vasectomy to a man with a strong family history of prostate cancer. Conclusions Over one fourth of urologists who screen for prostate cancer have altered their screening patterns even though they responded that the studies have not affected their practice patterns.
Radiology of hepatic transplantation.

Abstract Hepatic transplantation is now a relatively commonplace procedure, performed at many institutions around the world. Assessment of transplant candidacy and posttransplantation complications relies heavily on radiologic studies. After transplantation, radiographic evaluation is especially important as the clinical presentation and laboratory findings of many complications are nonspecific. Additionally, therapeutic radiologic intervention is often beneficial in the management of posttransplantation complications. This article reviews the role of imaging in hepatic transplantation. It focuses on the capabilities of noninvasive and invasive imaging modalities in the evaluation of potential hepatic transplant candidates and in hepatic recipients, and it also reviews the application of interventional radiologic procedures to posttransplantation complications.
Editorial: Advances in Genomics and Epigenomics of Social Insects.

The adaptive advantage of the eusocial lifestyle is evident from the fact that social insects represent more than half of the world's arthropod biomass. This topic explores how the recent advances in genomics and epigenomics are helping researchers to ask and answer questions concerning the evolution of social behavior and the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms behind phenotypic plasticity, i.e., how environmental signals can morph the same genome in a reproductive or non-reproductive individual resulting in dramatically different phenotypes. The articles in this research topic deal broadly with the evolution of reproductive and sterile castes (workers), mechanisms of caste determination, and the role of epigenetic processes for division of labor. The termites were the first group of insects to evolve eusociality and a thorough review describes what is known about the development of subcastes from a mechanistic perspective (nymphs, workers, soldiers) and the genomic contributions of gut symbionts and their hosts in digestion of wood, and the role of symbionts in host fitness (Scharf). Korb et al. compares the genomes of two termites with contrasting social complexities and symbioses. One of the interesting findings was that gene families involved in chemical communication in other social insects are not expanded in termites with more complex social organization. But transposable elements are, suggesting a role for transposition in social evolution but perhaps also pointing toward other mechanisms.
Comparative Analysis of Perioperative Outcomes and Costs Between Laparoscopic and Open Antireflux Surgery

Background Laparoscopic antireflux surgery (LARS) has proven to be as effective as open antireflux surgery (OARS), but it is associated with a shorter hospital stay and a faster recover. The aims of this study were to assess the national use of LARS in the US and to compare the perioperative outcomes between laparoscopic and open antireflux procedures in a national cohort. Study design A retrospective population-based analysis was performed using the National Inpatient Sample for the period 2000 to 2013. The study included adult patients (18 years and older) diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), who underwent either laparoscopic or open fundoplication. Multivariable linear and logistic regression, adjusted for patient demographics, comorbidities, and hospital characteristics were used to assess the effect of the laparoscopic approach on patient outcomes. Results A total of 75,544 patients were included, with 44,089 having LARS (58.4%) and 31,455 having OARS (41.6%). The rate of laparoscopic procedures increased from 24.8 LARS per 100 procedures in 2000, to 84.3 LARS per 100 procedures in 2013 (p Conclusions The use of the laparoscopic approach for the surgical treatment of GERD has increased significantly in the last decade in the US. This approach is associated with lower morbidity and mortality, shorter hospital stay, and lower costs for the health care system.
Effect of Hospitalization on Percent Median Body Mass Index at One Year, in Underweight Youth With Restrictive Eating Disorders.

Abstract Purpose Data from low-weight patients with restrictive eating disorders (EDs) treated in outpatient adolescent medicine-based ED treatment programs were analyzed to determine whether there was an association between hospitalization and gain to at least 90% median body mass index (mBMI) at 1-year follow-up. Methods Data were retrospectively collected for 322 low-weight ( Results For patients presenting at Conclusion In this national cohort of patients with restrictive EDs presenting to adolescent medicine-based ED programs at
Applications of OCR Dating

Several case studies are presented in Chapter 6 demonstrating the use of the OCR procedure in the physiological assessment of soils resultingand the explanatory approach afforded to these soils. A soil’s history is composed of numerous punctuated disruptions that may be defined as moderate or second-order perturbations. Moderate perturbations affect the structure (pattern of relationships between constituent attributes) of the soil system but not its organization. These structural changes are often invisible as the soil body adapts to the perturbations, conserving its unique organization. The effects of these perturbations, however, do remain evident in the soil as detectable structural changes and are demarcated as event horizons or soil packages. The selected case studies highlight the importance of distinguishing and sequencing the perturbational history of soil. From this perturbational history we can gain an understanding of when and under what conditions the soil’s physiological processes affected the trajectory of pedogenic development.
The Future of Data Management

Fifty years from today, we will live in a data-immersive world, doing things we have never done before.
Online Teacher Education: Transforming Teachers’ Knowledge for Teaching with Digital Technologies

This case study focuses teacher education toward the design of online learning educational environments to guide in-service teachers’ development of technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK), the knowledge for effectively integrating technologies in their classroom instruction. This study describes a researcher-designed learning trajectory instructional approach that highlights key online instructional features that guide teachers in improving and refining their TPACK. In an online Masters’ degree program, the research-based learning trajectory transforms teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics with technologies by focusing on the development of their knowledge-of-practice through “systematic inquiry about teaching” with technology that considers “learners and learning, subject matter and curriculum, and schools and schooling” [6]. The multiple case, descriptive study provides a rich description of how the features of the learning trajectory influence nine K-12 teacher participants’ thinking about their own thinking with the technology for learning mathematics and their thinking about their students’ thinking and understanding when learning with multiple technologies. The study concludes by proposing that teacher educators consider incorporating such a researcher-designed learning trajectory instructional approach to interweave descriptive tasks with specific pedagogical strategies in order to enhance teachers’ knowledge for teaching their content with technology – their TPACK.
A toolkit for DNA assembly, genome engineering and multicolor imaging for C. elegans .

Abstract One way scientists can observe and quantify processes in living cells is to engineer the genomes of animals to express multiple fluorescent proteins and then quantify those signals by various imaging techniques. To allow our laboratories to confidently quantify mixed (overlapping) fluorescent signals for our studies in the basic biology of gene expression and aging in C. elegans , we developed a comprehensive toolkit for C. elegans that we describe here. The Toolkit consists of two components: 1) a series of vectors for DNA assembly by homologous recombination (HR) in the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and 2) a set of ten worm strains that each express a single, spectrally distinct fluorescent protein, under control of either the daf-21 or eft-3 promoters. We measured the in vivo emission spectrum (3 nm resolution) for each fluorescent protein in live C. elegans and showed that we can use those pure spectra to unmix overlapping fluorescent signals in spectral images of intestine cells. Seven of ten fluorescent proteins had signals that appeared to be localized in vesicular/elliptical foci or tubules in the hypodermis. We conducted fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) experiments and showed that these structures have recovery kinetics more consistent with freely diffusing protein than aggregates (Q35:YFP). This toolkit will allow researchers to quickly and efficiently generate mutlti-fragment DNA assemblies for genome editing in C. elegans. Additionally, the transgenic C. elegans and the measured emission spectra should serve as a resource for scientists seeking to perform, or test their ability to perform, multidimensional (multi-color) imaging experiments.
¿Comprenderán Mis Amigos y La Familia? Analyzing Spanish Translations of Admission Materials for Latina/o Students Applying to 4-Year Institutions in the United States:

This study examines first-year undergraduate admissions materials from 325 bachelor-degree granting U.S. institutions, closely analyzing the English-language readability and Spanish-language readab...
Life cycle assessment of residual lignocellulosic biomass-based jet fuel with activated carbon and lignosulfonate as co-products.

Bio-jet fuels are emerging as a valuable alternative to petroleum-based fuels for their potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel dependence. In this study, residual woody biomass from slash piles in the U.S. Pacific Northwest is used as a feedstock to produce iso-paraffinic kerosene, through the production of sugar and subsequent patented proprietary fermentation and upgrading. To enhance the economic viability and reduce the environmental impacts of iso-paraffinic kerosene, two co-products, activated carbon and lignosulfonate, are simultaneously produced within the same bio-refinery. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) is performed for the residual woody biomass-based bio-jet fuel and compared against the cradle-to-grave LCA of petroleum-based jet fuel. This paper also discusses the differences in the environmental impacts of the residual biomass-based bio-jet fuel using two different approaches, mass allocation and system expansion, to partition the impacts between the bio-fuel and the co-products, which are produced in the bio-refinery. The environmental assessment of biomass-based bio-jet fuel reveals an improvement along most critical environmental criteria, as compared to its petroleum-based counterpart. However, the results present significant differences in the environmental impact of biomass-based bio-jet fuel, based on the partitioning method adopted. The mass allocation approach shows a greater improvement along most of the environmental criteria, as compared to the system expansion approach. However, independent of the partitioning approach, the results of this study reveal that more than the EISA mandated 60% reduction in the global warming potential could be achieved by substituting petroleum-based jet fuel with residual woody biomass-based jet fuel. Converting residual woody biomass from slash piles into bio-jet fuel presents the additional benefit of avoiding the impacts of slash pile burning in the forest, which results in a net negative impact on ‘Carcinogenics’ and ‘Respiratory effects’, and substantial reduction in the ‘Smog’ and ‘Ecotoxicity’ impacts. The production of woody biomass-based bio-jet fuel, however, did not show any significant improvement in the ‘Acidification’ and ‘Eutrophication’ impact categories. The study reveals that residual woody biomass recovered from slash piles represents a more sustainable alternative to petroleum for the production of jet fuel with a lower impact on global warming and local pollution. Future research should focus on the optimization of chemical processes of the bio-refinery to reduce the impacts on the ‘Acidification’ and ‘Eutrophication’ impact categories.
A fuzzy taxonomic approach for classifying and identifying system attacks and automating attack response

Initial identification of attacks on computer systems is crucial to defending against them. A detailed classification system gives system administrators a tool for combating these attacks in the most effective fashion by providing them with a specific path of action. There exists a tremendously wide range of attacks and defending against these requires an almost encyclopedic knowledge of their attributes and signatures. By relying on taxonomies that place entities in ever smaller and more precise groups, the user can rapidly identify common features and properties. However, different attacks can have similar attributes that can confuse classification. Therefore, we propose to use fuzzy logic both in the classification of attacks and an automated attack response system based on the selection of action rules.
Basic Management of the Pediatric Airway

The primary goal of basic airway management is to provide support and stabilization of the airway in a timely manner. Acute airway obstruction is common in critically ill children. Early recognition and management of acute airway obstruction represents one of the basic foundations of critical care medicine. Anatomical differences between pediatric and adult patients render children more susceptible to acute airway compromise. It is therefore important to recognize and understand these differences as they may have an impact on the success of airway management.
Using an Adversary Hearing to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Military Program.

This study describes the design and implementation of an adversary hearing used to evaluate professional development initiatives in a military environment. The adversary hearing model used in the evaluation was developed to meet the requirements of an environment that differs from other environments in which adversary hearings have been used. The evaluation was conducted to determine whether a professional development program of the U. S. Army, Europe, actually enhanced soldier development and demonstrated consideration by leaders for their followers. Several key issues related to program effectiveness were discovered in the process of the adversary hearing that were not evident in a survey evaluation of the program. Key Words: Adversary Hearing, Program Evaluation, Judicial Evaluation Model, and Participatory Research A primary purpose of any program evaluation is to provide information for decision-making in planning, implementing, and determining the intended and unintended effects of a project. Two critical factors in determining the value of that information is the extent to which a systematic process is used to evaluate the project and whether there is inquiry into all aspects of potential program alternatives. Without consideration of these two factors, decision-making is frequently based on partial information that may not be representative of the key issues that determine the effectiveness of the program. In the past, the process for conducting evaluation research followed the experimental research model, a mostly quantitative approach that provides a systematic process, but one that cannot consider numerous program alternatives (Guttentag, 1971; Patton, 2002). In experimental research, the researcher chooses a design to maximize the effect of the independent variables, minimize systematic sources of variance, and control error variance. In evaluation research the evaluator exerts control over only a small number of variables. With the decrease in control, there is an increase in the number of contingent factors that can impact program effectiveness (Tyler, 1991). The challenge of conducting evaluation research, unlike an experimental study, is that the researcher evaluates the merit and worth of a program based on a set of standards, generally agreed on by the parties involved, not the effects of a variable on an outcome (Scriven, 2003/2004). Another important difference is that an evaluator does not formulate the hypothesis. Program goals provide the evaluator with what is to be investigated. Finally, as Riecken (1952) noted in his classic study, evaluation research involves a value judgment of the worthiness of some activity, based on pre-determined criteria. This is quite different from the value-free position of experimental research. In fact, some
Poster Abstract: Vehicle Dispatching for Sensing Coverage Optimization in Mobile Crowdsensing Systems

Mobile crowd sensing (MCS) collects city-scale sensing data with low cost and high efficiency. One important goal of MCS is to ensure high quality of sensing coverage to provide sufficient information to data analysis end. However, the goal of the MCS may be inconsistent with the goal of vehicles. This inconsistency between goals results in a bad sensing coverage and decreases the quality of the collected information. Key challenges to resolve this inconsistency include the heterogeneous target desired spatio-temporal distributions, limited budget constraining the ability to incentivize more taxis, and high computational complexity. This work shows a vehicle dispatching system to optimize the sensing coverage of the sampled data with a limited budget and taxis. Our system models the objective function using the similarity between the collected data distribution and target distribution, and introduces an algorithm combining vehicle mobility prediction and ride request prediction to obtain an approximate-optimal vehicle dispatching strategy in an efficient way. The preliminary experiment based on the real-world data shows a significant improvement of the sensing coverage.
GPU Instruction Hotspots Detection Based on Binary Instrumentation Approach

The problem of profiling a compute kernel running on the CPU is mostly solved with the help of technologies that explore a code behavior in detail. But with a last decade trend when computation spreads to other devices, more power and performance efficient, we face a high need for fine-grain code profiling on such devices. Traditional methods are not always sufficient: program counter sampling requires special hardware support, and performance simulation works slowly. In this paper, we introduce a novel method for instruction hotspots detection based on the binary instrumentation approach and demonstrate it on Intel® Graphics. This method relies on three key principles: measurement with instruction block granularity, conscious placement of probes, and combination of static and runtime information. We demonstrate its ability to highlight the hottest instructions and lines of code, and its relatively low runtime overhead comparable to a native run. The method is applicable to GPUs and accelerators with in-order architecture, and could be used in a rapidly growing segment of accelerator solutions for computer vision and artificial intelligence.
Quantum-enhanced sensing of a single-ion mechanical oscillator

Special quantum states are used in metrology to achieve sensitivities below the limits established by classically behaving states1,2. In bosonic interferometers, squeezed states3, number states4,5 and ‘Schrodinger cat’ states5 have been implemented on various platforms and have demonstrated improved measurement precision over interferometers using coherent states6,7. Another metrologically useful state is an equal superposition of two eigenstates with maximally different energies; this state ideally reaches the full interferometric sensitivity allowed by quantum mechanics8,9. Here we demonstrate the enhanced sensitivity of these quantum states in the case of a harmonic oscillator. We extend an existing experimental technique10 to create number states of order up to n = 100 and to generate superpositions of a harmonic oscillator ground state and a number state of the form $$\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}\left(\left|0\right\rangle +\left|n\right\rangle \right)$$ with n up to 18 in the motion of a single trapped ion. Although experimental imperfections prevent us from reaching the ideal Heisenberg limit, we observe enhanced sensitivity to changes in the frequency of the mechanical oscillator. This sensitivity initially increases linearly with n and reaches a maximum at n = 12, where we observe a metrological enhancement of 6.4(4) decibels (the uncertainty is one standard deviation of the mean) compared to an ideal measurement on a coherent state with the same average occupation number. Such measurements should provide improved characterization of motional decoherence, which is an important source of error in quantum information processing with trapped ions11,12. It should also be possible to use the quantum advantage from number-state superpositions to achieve precision measurements in other harmonic oscillator systems. Number-state superpositions of the harmonic motion of a trapped beryllium ion are used to measure the oscillation frequency with quantum-enhanced sensitivity, achieving a mode-frequency uncertainty of about 10−6.
THE ROLE OF OSTEOMACS IN REGULATING STEM CELL FUNCTION AND THE HEMATOPOIETIC NICHE

Networking between hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and cells of the hematopoietic niche is not only critical for the maintenance of stem cell function, but also for the competence of the hematopoietic niche. Among the key cellular components of the niche are a group of specialized bone-resident macrophages known as osteomacs (OM). We previously documented that close interactions between OM, osteoblasts (OB) and megakaryocytes (MK) are critical for sustaining in vitro and in vivo stem and progenitor cell function. To understand the importance of OM-OB-MK interactions within the niche, we performed 3D tissue cytometry on fixed and stained unperturbed bone marrow sections. This approach identified the spatial relationships between OM, OB, MK and HSC within the niche and defined parameters, under which these cell types coexist in undamaged bone marrow. Next, we performed single cell mRNAseq and CyTOF to assess genetic and proteomic expression changes in OM following their interaction with MK. These studies revealed the upregulation of CD166 and embigin on OM via MK interactions. We then examined how these molecules impact hematopoietic function in clonogenic assays. When these assays were initiated with CD166 KO OM or treated with anti-embigin blocking antibodies, we established that loss of these surface molecules on OM caused a decline in the normal OM-mediated hematopoietic enhancing activity. Conversely, recombinant CD166 and embigin partially substituted for OM activity thus identifying potential mediators through which OM maintain hematopoietic function. Our data, for the first time, reveal intimate spatial interactions between OM, OB, MK and HSC in the hematopoietic niche. They also illustrate the importance of crosstalk between OM, OB and MK and reveal novel mediators such as CD166 and embigin that cooperate with other elements of the niche to support HSC function.
A Collaborative Team-Based Approach to Computational Configuration Design: Initial Results

This paper investigates the role and potential of team collaboration in computational design algorithms. Organizational studies have shown that effectively structuring available resources and knowledge can significantly improve a system’s collective computational capacity, flexibility, and efficiency, and thereby improve problem-solving capacity. Nevertheless, studies in computational distributed problem solving rarely take organizational effects into account. Based on findings in the Organizational Behavior (OB) literature, a computational model of collaborative team-based design is created. This model is tested on a bulk manufacturing process-planning problem previously examined in the literature. The performance of the new team method showed significant improvement: solution quality improved 65% and successful solution identification per unit time increased an entire order of magnitude. A statistical examination of critical algorithm components confirms that agent interdependencies associated with collaboration are the strongest and most consistent performance effects that lead to the observed improvements. This study illustrates that team collaboration can be a highly effective method of improving computation design performance.Copyright © 2003 by ASME
Observation of the Relativistic Reversal of the Ponderomotive Potential.

The secular dynamics of a nonrelativistic charged particle in an electromagnetic wave can be described by the ponderomotive potential. Although ponderomotive electron-laser interactions at relativistic velocities are important for emerging technologies from laser-based particle accelerators to laser-enhanced electron microscopy, the effects of special relativity on the interaction have only been studied theoretically. Here, we use a transmission electron microscope to measure the position-dependent phase shift imparted to a relativistic electron wave function when it traverses a standing laser wave. The kinetic energy of the electrons is varied between 80 and 300 keV, and the laser standing wave has a continuous-wave intensity of $175\text{ }\text{ }{\mathrm{GW}/\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. In contrast to the nonrelativistic case, we demonstrate that the phase shift depends on both the electron velocity and the wave polarization, confirming the predictions of a quasiclassical theory of the interaction. Remarkably, if the electron's speed is greater than $1/\sqrt{2}$ of the speed of light, the phase shift at the electric field nodes of the wave can exceed that at the antinodes. In this case there exists a polarization such that the phase shifts at the nodes and antinodes are equal, and the electron does not experience Kapitza-Dirac diffraction. Our results thus provide new capabilities for coherent electron beam manipulation.
Closed Form Solutions For The Quantum LRS Bianchi IX and VIII Wheeler DeWitt Equations For An Arbitrary Hartle-Hawking Ordering Parameter

In this paper we present the quantum LRS Bianchi IX models or, as they may be better known, the Taub-NUT models in addition to the quantum LRS Bianchi VIII models, both coupled to a stiff matter source. We solve their Wheeler DeWitt equations for an arbitrary Hartle-Hawking ordering parameter using separation of variables. Afterwards we construct a superposition of their respective wave functions and discuss some of the interesting qualitative properties they possess.
2 – First-Order Ordinary Differential Equations

We will devote a considerable amount of time in this text to developing explicit, implicit, numerical, and graphical solutions of differential equations. In this chapter we introduce frequently encountered forms of first-order ordinary differential equations and methods to construct explicit, numerical, and graphical solutions of them. Several of the equations along with the methods of solution discussed here will be used in subsequent chapters of the text.
Methods to mitigate railway premium fastening system spike fatigue failures using finite element analysis

Abstract Railroad track fasteners work as a system, in conjunction with the sleeper, to maintain gauge, transmit loads, and resist lateral and longitudinal rail movement. Timber sleeper elastic fastening systems have shown benefits by preventing rail rollover derailments and reducing spike killing. However, these systems have experienced broken spike failures leading to at least 10 derailments over the past 20 years. Recent studies focusing on the cause of the failures have indicated that the spikes fail in fatigue and these fatigue failures are driven by the addition of longitudinal loads the spikes carry. Further, due to the nature of the elastic fastener, the wave-action of the rail separates the plate from the sleeper, as opposed to the rail from the plate, thus eliminating the load transferred by friction. This study quantifies the effect of fastening system design changes on spike stress and the load required to exceed the spike endurance limit. Specific design changes investigated in this study include increasing spike cross-sectional area, comparing spike type (cut vs screw), varying the spike load location, controlling the development of friction between the sleeper and plate, varying spike engagement and finally, adjusting the quantity of spikes at a given rail seat. Finite element analysis (FEA) was used to quantify these effects and multiple 3D models were developed and used. Results indicate that the two most effective methods to reduce spike stress and increase the required load to exceed the spike’s endurance limit, and thus mitigate spike fatigue failures, would be to ensure spike engagement between the plate and spikes and develop friction between the plate and sleeper (e.g. add spring washers, etc.). Future fastening system designs can incorporate these, and other findings, to mitigate spike fastener failures to ensure the full value of timber sleeper elastic track fastening systems is realized.
International trends in grant and fellowship funding awarded to women in neurosurgery.

Objective Metric tracking of grant funding over time for academic neurosurgeons sorted by gender informs the current climate of career development internationally for women in neurosurgery. Methods Multivariate linear trend analysis of grant funding awarded to neurosurgeons in the NIH and World Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results (RePORTER) was performed. Traveling fellowships for international neurosurgery residents sponsored by the AANS and Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) were also analyzed. Results Within the US, funding awarded to female neurosurgeons has remained static from 2009 to 2019 after adjusting for inflation and overall trends in NIH funding (β = -$0.3 million per year, p = 0.16). Internationally, female neurosurgeons represented 21.7% (n = 5) of project leads for World RePORTER grants. Traveling fellowships are also an important building block for young international female neurosurgeons, of which 7.4% (n = 2) of AANS international traveling fellowships and 19.4% (n = 7) of AANS/CNS pediatrics international traveling fellowships are women. Conclusions Over the past decade, funding has increased in neurosurgery without a concordant increase in funding awarded to women. Recognition of this trend is essential to focus efforts on research and career development opportunities for women in neurosurgery. Worldwide, female neurosurgeons head one-fifth of the funded project leads and constitute a minority of international traveling fellowships awarded by organized neurosurgery.
The Aging Surgeon: Evidence and Experience.

Background With doctors in short supply and a strong demand for surgeon services in all areas of the country, urban and rural, there are pressures to remain in active practice for longer. Even with an older workforce, there are currently no requirements for when a surgeon must retire in the United States. Objectives This article brings to light the importance of the aging surgeon to the medical community while providing an evidence-based overview of age-related cognitive and physical issues that develop during the later stages of one's career. Methods A search of the PubMed/MEDLINE database was performed using the phrase "aging surgeon." Inclusion criteria were applied to include only those articles related to surgeon age or retirement. Additional reports were handpicked from citations as to substantiate claims with statistical evidence. Results The aging surgeon contributes extensive experience to patient care, but is also prone to age-related changes in cognition, vision, movement, and stress as it relates to new techniques, surgical performance, and safety measures. Studies show that, while surgeons are capable of operating well into their senior years, there is the potential of decline. Nevertheless, there are proven recommendations on how to prepare an older surgeon for retirement. Conclusions Age-related trends in cognitive and physical decline must be counterbalanced with wisdom gained through decades of surgical experience.
Do people follow neighbors? An immersive virtual reality experimental study of social influence on individual risky decisions during evacuations

Abstract This study examined social influence on individual risk-taking decisions during evacuations through an immersive virtual reality (VR)-based experiment. Participants were asked to evacuate in the case of a virtual building fire. The results suggested that participants' route choices during evacuations were affected by their neighbors' behaviors. In particular, if a risky route was less preferred due to dense smoke, the effect of neighbor behavior was strongest when enticing participants to take the risky route. Nonetheless, the number of virtual neighbors did not significantly change the degree of social influence on participants' route choices. Moreover, an increase in smoke density significantly reduced the number of participants making risky decisions. The results also indicated that individuals had a tendency to follow others when making risky decisions, but they were not blindly following others. Individuals made their evacuation route decisions by engaging in comprehensive consideration of various types of environmental information.
Rapid and automated separation of uranium ore concentrates for trace element analysis by inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectroscopy/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

Abstract The present study documents an automated approach to performing elemental analysis on a large group uranium ore concentrate (UOC) samples. Here, 17 UOC samples, 2 quality control samples, and 26 process blanks were purified sequentially through a single 500 μL Uranium and TEtra Valent Actinides (UTEVA®) column. For each sample, the trace elemental impurities were separated from its dissolved uranium matrix on the UTEVA column and collected for analysis by inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectroscopy / triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-OES/TQMS). The UTEVA column was subsequently regenerated prior to separation of the following sample. The column was efficiently regenerated, for each UOC, even after processing ~50 mg of uranium, cumulatively. The validity of the method was established by determining the trace impurities of two quality control uranium reference samples (CRM 124–1 and CUP-2). The current trace element measurements from the 17 UOC samples were compared to previously reported values from an interlaboratory comparison exercise, when available. The methodology employed here produces trace elemental analysis with excellent correlation to the previously reported data for many of the elements / samples, particularly when viewed through the context of existing geochemical comparisons tools (e.g. chondrite normalized variation plots).
Toward the Development of an Anti-Sperm Contraceptive Vaccine

Development of a vaccine based on sperm antigens represents a promising approach to contraception. The feasibility of this approach is based upon two evidences. The first type of evidence comes from the studies of involuntary immunoinfertility in humans. Presence of antisperm antibodies have been reported to be one of the major causes of immunoinfertility in both men and women.1 Second type of evidence is provided by the experimental immunization studies. Immunization of male and female animals of various species with extracts of sperm or mature testis results in a significant reduction in fertility by causing either fertilization failure or preimplantation embryo mortality or both. 2–5 The whole sperm cannot be used as an immunogen for the development of an antisperm vaccine due to the presence of numerous antigens on germ cells which could be shared with other somatic tissues. The utility of an antigen as an immunocontraceptive vaccine is contingent upon its tissue-specificity, its homogeneity, strong immunogenicity and its involvement in fertilization and fertility.
DNA Methylation and Mismatch Repair

Sucrose gradient sedimentation of F-lac is used to demonstrate physical transfer of the element from donor to recipient at the non-permissive temperature. Little was known about DNA methylation at that time (1971) other than that 6-methyladenine (6-meA) and 5-methylcytosine (5-meC) were present in E. coli DNA. Pseudomonas cells were mutagenized with ethyl methanesulfonate and incorporated in a soft agar layer on minimal agar lacking isoleucine and valine but containing a high level of ampicillin. The best approach to isolate mutants deficient in methylation was decided. The procedure used was based on two prior observations. First, it was known that DNA isolated from E. coli grown in the presence of ethionine, a methionine analog, was deficient in methylation because it was a substrate for the transfer of methyl groups from S-adenosyl-methionine (SAM) to DNA in crude extracts. Second, Herb Boyer’s lab had located the gene (near his) for cytosine methylation on the E. coli K-12 map by using this assay on recombinants obtained from crosses between K-12 and B, which does not have methylated cytosine in its DNA. The 14 DNA methylation mutants were grown with tritiated methionine and the amount of 6-meA and 5-meC was quantified. This led to the identification of three mutants lacking 6-meA and 11 lacking 5-meC. The isolation of mut suppressor strains was the author's entry into the DNA mismatch repair field. In the DNA repair world, N-methyl-N'- nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) is associated with base excision repair (BER) and cisplatin with nucleotide excision repair (NER).
Gender role orientation and the role of empathy in interventions promoting the development of interpersonal forgiveness.

Research over the past quarter-century has revealed a host of benefits associated with forgiving someone for a past hurt, such as reductions in anxiety and depression and increased satisfaction with life and subjective well-being. Despite these potential benefits, forgiving is difficult. As such, researchers and clinicians have examined the efficacy of therapeutic interventions that assist clients in developing forgiveness. Ultimately, such interventions are evaluated by their efficacy in successfully cultivating forgiveness and promoting well-being (e.g., reducing psychological symptoms). The present experiment was conducted to understand the potential value of two group counseling interventions for individuals suffering the effects of a past hurt. In particular, this study sought to determine (a) whether some interventions are more effective than others at cultivating forgiveness; (b) whether individuals with masculine versus feminine gender role orientations will respond differently to these interventions; and (c) whether individuals with masculine gender role orientations in particular have unique needs when it comes to forgiving. The investigation was informed by the growing body of literature indicating that males and females often respond better to particular psychotherapy approaches (Ogrodniczuk, Piper, & Joyce, 2004; Ogrodniczuk, Piper, Joyce, & McCallum, 2001) and often demonstrate different forgiving styles (Wade & Goldman, 2006; Worthington & Lerner, 2006), as well as by speculation as to whether biological sex or gender roles account for more of the variance in individual differences commonly reported between males and females (Hunt, Lewars, Emslie, & Batty, 2007; Karniol, Gabay, Ochion, & Harari, 1998; Milovchevich, Howells, Drew, & Day, 2001).
Precise dynamic analysis for slack elasticity: adding buffering without adding bugs

Increasing the amount of buffering for MPI sends is an effective way to improve the performance of MPI programs. However, for programs containing non-deterministic operations, this can result in new deadlocks or other safety assertion violations. Previous work did not provide any characterization of the space of slack elastic programs: those for which buffering can be safely added. In this paper, we offer a precise characterization of slack elasticity based on our formulation of MPI's happens before relation. We show how to efficiently locate potential culprit sends in such programs: MPI sends for which adding buffering can increase overall program non-determinism and cause new bugs. We present a procedure to minimally enumerate potential culprit sends and efficiently check for slack elasticity. Our results demonstrate that our new algorithm called POEMSE which is incorporated into our dynamic verifier ISP can efficiently run this new analysis on large MPI programs.