cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Shades of Silver: Applying the Strategic Diversity Manifesto to Tennessee’s Knox County Office on Aging

This article applies the Strategic Diversity Manifesto—originally designed for evaluating inclusion of diversity among the information resources of public libraries—to aging services. Aging services is the collection of organizations and resources that serve the fastest growing population in the world—older adults. This application is accomplished through the methods of website evaluation and participatory assessment. The result of this case study is a specific adaptation of the Strategic Diversity Manifesto to the Office on Aging in Knox County, Tennessee, U.S., indicating how aging services organizations can build on their existing services and outreach to diverse elder populations through their organizational information resources. For this study, diversity among older adults is represented specifically through the “members of ethnic and racial minority groups,” “people with disabilities,” “LGBTQ people,” “immigrants/refugees,” and “low-income people” categories.
Optimizing the Impact of Public-Academic Partnerships in Fostering Policymakers' Use of Research Evidence: Proposal to Test a Conceptual Framework.

Background: Previous research has reported that public-academic partnerships (PAPs) can effectively promote PAP leaders’ use of research evidence in improving youth outcomes. However, the existing literature has not yet clarified whether and how PAP leaders’ use of research evidence evolves along the PAP life cycle and whether PAP partners’ concordant perceptions of usefulness of their PAP has an impact on PAP leaders’ use of research evidence. Developing a conceptual framework that recognizes the PAP life cycle and empirically identifying contexts and mechanisms of PAPs that promote PAP leaders’ use of research evidence from the PAP life cycle perspective are imperative to guide researchers and policymakers to successfully lead PAPs and foster policymakers’ use of research evidence for improving youth outcomes. Objective: Utilizing an integrated framework of organizational life cycle perspective, a social partnership perspective, and a realist evaluation, this study examines the extent to which PAP development and PAP leaders’ use of research evidence can be characterized into life cycle stages and identifies PAP contexts and mechanisms that explain the progress of PAPs and PAP leaders’ use of research evidence through life cycle stages. Methods: Recruiting PAPs across the United States that aim to improve mental health and promote well-being of youth aged 12-25 years, the study conducts a document analysis and an online survey of PAPs to inform policymakers and academic researchers on the contexts and mechanisms to increase PAP sustainability and promote policymakers’ use of research evidence in improving youth outcomes. Results: Fifty-three PAPs that meet the recruitment criteria have been identified, and document review of PAPs and participant recruitment for the online survey of PAP experience have been conducted. Conclusions: This paper will help policymakers and researchers gain a deeper knowledge of the contexts and mechanisms for each PAP life cycle stage in order to optimize PAP leaders’ use of research evidence in achieving positive youth outcomes. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/14382
Unified spatial framework and precise time synchronization for digital mine and mine intelligent perception-control

Unified spatial framework(USF)and precise time synchronization(PTS)are the premises of mine collaborative monitoring(MCM),and the spatio-temporal foundations of digital mine and mine intelligent perception-control(MIPC).By analyzing to current issues and future demands on digital mine,the spatial objects,data types,spatial coordination systems and application systems were discussed,and the demands on USF were presented.The mine USF should satisfy two principles,be compatible for various coordination systems and be integrative for raster and vector data structures.The basic idea for constructing mine USF based on earth system spatial grid at mine scale was introduced preliminary.By analyzing to the spatial objects,monitoring parameters and time synchronization issues on MIPC,the demands on PTS were pointed out.The current situations and technological bottlenecks of PTS for mine internet of things were analyzed.It is pointed out that it is necessary to apply comprehensively the satellite,hardware and software synchronization technol-ogies,referring to the features of mine sensors,sensor-web and feedback controlling system,so as to develop innovative mine PTS mechanisms and applicable technological modes.
Optimal Filter Assignment Policy Against Distributed Denial-of-Service Attack

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a cyber-attack in which the attackers from different locations send out a huge number of requests to exhaust the capacity of a server. Current DDoS attack protection services filter out the DDoS attack packets in the middle of the path from the attacker to the servers. Some of the DDoS protection systems filter out them at the victim server. As a result, unnecessary attack traffic congests the network and wastes bandwidth which can be minimized if we block them as early as possible. In this paper, we propose a DDoS attack protection system by using the filter router. The victim needs to wisely select and send filters to a subset of filter routers to minimize attack traffic and blockage of legitimate users (LUs). Many filters can minimize the attack traffic and blockage of LUs easily, but it is costly to the victim. So, we formulate two problems with different settings for selecting filter routers given a constraint on the number of filters. We propose a dynamic programming solution for both problems. Both problems consider the blockage of all attack traffic before it reaches the victim. We conduct extensive simulation to support our solutions.
Swampland conjectures and slow-roll thawing quintessence

We examine the swampland conjectures in the context of generic slow-roll thawing quintessence models. Defining $\ensuremath{\lambda}\ensuremath{\equiv}|{V}^{\ensuremath{'}}({\ensuremath{\phi}}_{i})/V({\ensuremath{\phi}}_{i})|$ and $K\ensuremath{\equiv}\sqrt{1\ensuremath{-}4{V}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}}({\ensuremath{\phi}}_{i})/3V({\ensuremath{\phi}}_{i})}$, where ${\ensuremath{\phi}}_{i}$ is the initial value of $\ensuremath{\phi}$, we find regions of parameter space consistent with both observational data and with the refined de Sitter conjecture, and we show that all such models satisfy the distance conjecture. We quantify the degree of fine-tuning on $\ensuremath{\lambda}$ needed to achieve these results.
Health care-related time costs in patients with metastatic breast cancer.

Background Burdens related to time spent receiving cancer care may be substantial for patients with incurable, life-limiting cancers such as metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Estimates of time spent on health care are needed to inform treatment-related decision-making. Methods Estimates of time spent receiving cancer-related health care in the initial 3 months of treatment for patients with MBC were calculated using the following data sources: (a) direct observations from a time-in-motion quality improvement evaluation (process mapping); (b) cross-sectional patient surveys; and (c) administrative claims. Average ambulatory, inpatient, and total health care time were calculated for specific treatments which differed by antineoplastic type and administration method, including fulvestrant (injection, hormonal), letrozole (oral, hormonal), capecitabine (oral, chemotherapy), and paclitaxel (infusion, chemotherapy). Results Average total time spent on health care ranged from 7% to 10% of all days included within the initial 3 months of treatment, depending on treatment. The greatest time contributions were time spent traveling for care and on inpatient services. Time with providers contributed modestly to total care time. Patients receiving infusion/injection treatments, compared with those receiving oral therapy, spent more time in ambulatory care. Health care time was higher for patients receiving chemotherapeutic agents compared to those receiving hormonal agents. Conclusion Time spent traveling and receiving inpatient care represented a substantial burden to patients with MBC, with variation in time by treatment type and administration method.
Neonatal abstinence syndrome practice variations across pediatric subspecialty

Navigating NAS American Academy of Pediatrics. https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/campaigns/navigating-nas/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed 28 July 2020. Lembeck AL, Tuttle D, Locke R, Lawler L, Jimenez P, Mackely A, et al. Outcome differences in neonates exposed in-utero to opioids managed in the NICU versus pediatric floor. J Addict Med. 2019;13:75–8. CAS Article Google Scholar Hall ES, McAllister JM, Wexelblatt SL. Developmental disorders and medical complications among infants with subclinical intrauterine opioid exposure. Popul Health Manag. 2019;22:19–24. Article Google Scholar Oei JL, Melhuish E, Uebel H, Azzam N, Breen C, Burns L, et al. Neonatal abstinence syndrome and high school performance. Pediatrics. 2017;139:e20162651. Article Google Scholar Download references Department of Pediatrics, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA Elizabeth Yen Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA Heidi J. Murphy Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA Hayley Friedman Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, Austin, TX, USA Ashley M. Lucke Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA Angie Mae Rodday You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar Correspondence to Elizabeth Yen. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Reprints and Permissions Yen, E., Murphy, H.J., Friedman, H. et al. Neonatal abstinence syndrome practice variations across pediatric subspecialty. J Perinatol (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-020-00831-8 Download citation Received: 06 August 2020 Revised: 22 August 2020 Accepted: 14 September 2020 Published: 23 September 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-020-00831-8
High-resolution movies of molecular rotational dynamics captured with ultrafast electron diffraction

This work uses ultrafast electron diffraction to capture a movie of a rotational wavepacket in nitrogen molecules that were impulsively aligned by a femtosecond laser pulse.
The age of surveillance capitalism: the fight for a human future at the new frontier of power: authored by Shoshana Zuboff, PublicAffairs, New York: 2019, 704 pp., $26.91 (Hardcover), $16.99 (Kindle Edition), ISBN 978-1610395694

Just a moment ago, it still seemed reasonable to focus our concerns on the challenges of an information workplace or an information society. Now the oldest questions must be addressed to the widest...
Automated Intracellular Pharmacological Electrophysiology for Ligand-Gated Ionotropic Receptor and Pharmacology Screening.

Communication between neuronal cells, which is central to brain function, is performed by several classes of ligand-gated ionotropic receptors. The gold-standard technique for measuring rapid receptor response to agonist is manual patch-clamp electrophysiology, capable of the highest temporal resolution of any current electrophysiology technique. We report an automated high-precision patch-clamp system that substantially improves the throughput of these time-consuming pharmacological experiments. The patcherBotPharma enables recording from cells expressing receptors of interest and manipulation of them to enable millisecond solution exchange to activate ligand-gated ionotropic receptors. The solution-handling control allows for autonomous pharmacological concentration-response experimentation on adherent cells, lifted cells, or excised outside-out patches. The system can perform typical ligand-gated ionotropic receptor experimentation protocols autonomously, possessing a high success rate in completing experiments and up to a 10-fold reduction in research effort over the duration of the experiment. Using it, we could rapidly replicate previous data sets, reducing the time it took to produce an eight-point concentration-response curve of the effect of propofol on GABA type A receptor deactivation from likely weeks of recording to ∼13 hours of recording. On average, the rate of data collection of the patcherBotPharma was a data point every 2.1 minutes that the operator spent interacting with the patcherBotPharma. The patcherBotPharma provides the ability to conduct complex and comprehensive experimentation that yields data sets not normally within reach of conventional systems that rely on constant human control. This technical advance can contribute to accelerating the examination of the complex function of ion channels and the pharmacological agents that act on them. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT This work presents an automated intracellular pharmacological electrophysiology robot, patcherBotPharma, that substantially improves throughput and reduces human time requirement in pharmacological patch-clamp experiments. The robotic system includes millisecond fluid exchange handling and can perform highly efficient ligand-gated ionotropic receptor experiments. The patcherBotPharma is built using a conventional patch-clamp rig, and the technical advances shown in this work greatly accelerate the ability to conduct high-fidelity pharmacological electrophysiology.
Recent Advances in Single-Cell Profiling and Multispecific Therapeutics: Paving the Way for a New Era of Precision Medicine Targeting Cardiac Fibroblasts.

Cardiac fibroblast activation contributes to fibrosis, maladaptive remodeling and heart failure progression. This review summarizes the latest findings on cardiac fibroblast activation dynamics derived from single-cell transcriptomic analyses and discusses how this information may aid the development of new multispecific medicines. Advances in single-cell gene expression technologies have led to the discovery of distinct fibroblast subsets, some of which are more prevalent in diseased tissue and exhibit temporal changes in response to injury. In parallel to the rapid development of single-cell platforms, the advent of multispecific therapeutics is beginning to transform the biopharmaceutical landscape, paving the way for the selective targeting of diseased fibroblast subpopulations. Insights gained from single-cell technologies reveal critical cardiac fibroblast subsets that play a pathogenic role in the progression of heart failure. Combined with the development of multispecific therapeutic agents that have enabled access to previously “undruggable” targets, we are entering a new era of precision medicine.
Detecting Bias in Transfer Learning Approaches for Text Classification.

Classification is an essential and fundamental task in machine learning, playing a cardinal role in the field of natural language processing (NLP) and computer vision (CV). In a supervised learning setting, labels are always needed for the classification task. Especially for deep neural models, a large amount of high-quality labeled data are required for training. However, when a new domain comes out, it is usually hard or expensive to acquire the labels. Transfer learning could be an option to transfer the knowledge from a source domain to a target domain. A challenge is that these two domains can be different, either on the feature distribution, or the class distribution for the nature of the samples. In this work, we evaluate some existing transfer learning approaches on detecting the bias of imbalanced classes including traditional and deep models. Besides, we propose an approach to bridge the gap of the domain class imbalance issue.
Rethinking the routine: Preoperative laboratory testing among American Society of Anesthesiologists class 1 and 2 patients before low-risk ambulatory surgery in the 2017 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program cohort.

Abstract Background Routine preoperative laboratory testing is not recommended for American Society of Anesthesiologists classification 1 or 2 patients before low-risk ambulatory surgery. Methods The 2017 National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data set was retrospectively queried for American Society of Anesthesiologists class 1 and 2 patients who underwent low-risk, elective outpatient anorectal, breast, endocrine, gynecologic, hernia, otolaryngology, oral-maxillofacial, orthopedic, plastic/reconstructive, urologic, and vascular operations. Preoperative laboratory testing was defined as any chemistry, hematology, coagulation, or liver function studies obtained ≤30 days preoperatively. Demographics, comorbidities, and outcomes were compared between those with and without testing. The numbers needed to test to prevent serious morbidity or any complication were calculated. Laboratory testing costs were estimated using Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services data. Results Of 111,589 patients studied, 57,590 (51.6%) received preoperative laboratory testing; 26,709 (46.4%) had at least 1 abnormal result. Factors associated with receiving preoperative laboratory testing included increasing age, female sex, non-White race/ethnicity, American Society of Anesthesiologists class 2, diabetes, dyspnea, hypertension, obesity, and steroid use. Mortality did not differ between patients with and without testing. The complication rate was 2.5% among tested patients and 1.7% among patients without tests (P Conclusion Despite American Society of Anesthesiologists guidelines, a majority of American Society of Anesthesiologists class 1 and 2 patients undergo preoperative laboratory testing before elective low-risk outpatient surgery. The differences in the rates of complications between patients with and without testing is low. Preoperative testing should be used more judiciously in this population, which may lead to cost savings.
The kainate receptor subunit GluR6 mediates metabotropic regulation of the slow and medium AHP currents in mouse hippocampal neurones.

Kainate receptors (KARs) play an important role in synaptic physiology, plasticity and pathological phenomena such as epilepsy. However, the physiological implications for single cells and neuronal networks of the distinct expression patterns of KAR subunits are unknown. One intriguing effect of KAR activation is a long-term change to intrinsic neuronal excitability and neuronal firing patterns, such as single-spike and spike-burst firing. In this study, we describe the role of kainate receptor subunits in the metabotropic regulation of the slow and medium afterhyperpolarization (AHP) currents (IsAHP, ImAHP). Using whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from CA3 pyramidal cells of wild-type (WT) and KAR knockout mice, we show that the kainate-induced decrease of IsAHP and ImAHP amplitude is protein-kinase-C-dependent and absent in GluR6−/− but not GluR5−/− pyramidal neurones. Our findings suggest that activation of GluR6-containing KARs modulates AHP amplitude, and influences the firing frequency of pyramidal neurones.
Trends in intakes and sources of solid fats and added sugars among U.S. children and adolescents: 1994-2010

SummaryWhat is already known about this subject Despite recent declines in added sugars (from 1999–2000 to 2007–2008), consumption of added sugars and solid fats among United States children and adolescent from 1999–2000 to 2007–2008 exceeds recommended levels. What this study adds These results suggest that the decreases in solid fat and added sugars intakes among United States children and adolescents observed from 1999–2000 through 2007–2008 have levelled-off. Decreases in solid fat and added sugars intakes have primarily been due to reductions in added sugar intakes. Although the consumption of solid fats and added sugars among children and adolescents in the United States decreased between 1994–1998 and 2009–2010, mean intakes continue to exceed recommended limits by 18–28% of total energy intake. Background There are increasing global concerns about improving the dietary intakes of children and adolescents. In the United States (U.S.), the focus is on reducing energy from foods and beverages that provide empty calories from solid fats and added sugars (SoFAS). Objective We examine trends in intakes and sources of solid fat and added sugars among U.S. 2–18 year olds from 1994 to 2010. Methods Data from five nationally representative surveys, the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals Surveys (1994–1996) and the What We Eat In America, National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (2003–2004, 2005–2006, 2007–2008 and 2009–2010) were used to examine key food sources and energy from solid fats and added sugars. Sample sizes ranged from 2594 to 8259 per survey period, for a total of 17 268 observations across the five surveys. Food files were linked over time to create comparable food groups and nutrient values. Differences were examined by age, race/ethnicity and family income. Results Daily intake of energy from SoFAS among U.S. 2–18 year olds decreased from 1994 to 2010, with declines primarily detected in the recent time periods. Solid fats accounted for a greater proportion of total energy intake than did added sugars. Conclusions Although the consumption of solid fats and added sugars among children and adolescents in the U.S. decreased between 1994–1998 and 2009–2010, mean intakes continue to exceed recommended limits.
Applying Human-Centered Design to Technology Integration

AbstractApplying Donald Norman’s (1998) human-centered design philosophy, three alternative technology perspectives (assertive technology, adaptive technology, and compelling technology) are proposed for educators. These perspectives are intended to support teachers’ integration of current technologies into their classrooms and enable educators to confront the seemingly mesmerizing host of new technologies with confidence. Adoption of these perspectives could facilitate more positive beliefs among teachers toward technology integration into the classroom. As a result of these perspectives, a new set of technology guidelines and a future research agenda are proposed.
Interposition of uterine ligaments following vaginal hysterectomy in 100 patients with urinary stress incontinence.

Abstract Urinary stress incontinence as an added complaint in 100 subjects with other indications for vaginal hysterectomy was treated by a vaginal surgical procedure. The uterine ligaments were used for interposition to support the urethra and bladder. Evaluation 6 months after operation showed good urinary stress continence in 96 per cent of the cases. Complications were few, and there were no deaths. The surgical procedure is described. This procedure is recommended for the repair of urinary stress incontinence when vaginal hysterectomy is also indicated.
Predicting testability of program modules using a neural network

J.M. Voas (1992) defines testability as the probability that a test case will fail if the program has a fault. It is defined in the context of an oracle for the test, and a distribution of test cases, usually emulating operations. Because testability is a dynamic attribute of software, it is very computation-intensive to measure directly. The paper presents a case study of real time avionics software to predict the testability of each module from static measurements of source code. The static software metrics take much less computation than direct measurement of testability. Thus, a model based on inexpensive measurements could be an economical way to take advantage of testability attributes during software development. We found that neural networks are a promising technique for building such predictive models, because they are able to model nonlinearities in relationships. Our goal is to predict a quantity between zero and one whose distribution is highly skewed toward zero. This is very difficult for standard statistical techniques. In other words, high testability modules present a challenging prediction problem that is appropriate for neural networks.
Flow Measurement by Piezoelectric Accelerometers: Application in the Oil Industry

The objective was to analyze a recently developed flow measurement technique based on the vibration captured by an accelerometer attached to the pipeline surface for use in the oil industry. The applied methodology consists of performing an experimental study to obtain data in an accredited laboratory for calibration of flowmeters, estimating a flow rate for each vibration measured, followed by an uncertainty analysis. The results of water flow rates showed a measurement uncertainty between 2.5% and 5.0% of reading (95% confidence). While these results do not meet to Brazilian regulations for the measurement of crude oil of 0.3% of reading, they are acceptable under the regulations for produced, injected, captured, or discarded water, which occur the processing of oil.
Molecular approaches to cancer therapy.

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the proposed molecular approaches to cancer therapy. Cancer arises as a series of molecular alterations that converge to give the cell malignant properties. The genes closely associated with the development of cancer encode products whose activities are easily reconciled with the malignant phenotype of cancer cells. The ability to characterize tumors at the molecular level and to use modern biological and chemical technologies to identify and develop novel molecules of therapeutic potential has opened several possible avenues for the development of new therapeutic modalities. The molecular approaches used are novel antineoplastic agents, modern immunotherapy, and the therapeutic repair of oncogenic genetic lesions. Most antineoplastic agents interact with DNA in a manner that inhibits the replication of the tumor cell genome. Modern immunotherapy for cancer or biologic therapy has both active and passive approaches. Drugs that target specific molecules and gene therapy are divergent approaches to the treatment of cancer. Gene therapy involves the introduction of new genetic information into cells. Gene therapy offers the possibility for novel approaches to the development of tumor vaccines.
Effects of rural status on health outcomes in pediatric liver transplantation: a single center analysis of 388 patients.

Park KT, Nanda P, Bensen R, Strichartz D, Esquivel C, Cox K. Effects of rural status on health outcomes in pediatric liver transplantation: A single center analysis of 388 patients. Pediatr Transplantation 2011: 15: 300–305. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Abstract: Rural status of patients may impact health before and after pediatric LT. We used UI codes published by the USDA to stratify patients as urban or rural depending county residence. A total of 388 patients who had LT and who met criteria were included. Rejection, PTLD, and survival were used as primary outcome measures of post-LT health. UNOS Status 1 and PELD/MELD scores >20 were used as secondary outcome measures of poorer pre-LT health. Logistic regression models were run to determine associations. We did not find any statistically significant differences in pre- or post-LT outcomes with respect to rurality. Among rural patients, there was a general trend for decreased incidence of rejection (25.0% vs. 33.4%; OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.29–1.44), increased risk of PTLD (5.6% vs. 3.4%; OR 1.86, 95% CI 0.36–3.31), and decreased survival (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.34–2.13) after LT. Rural patients also tended to be sicker at the time of LT than patients from urban areas, with increased proportion of Status 1 (OR 1.17, 95% CI 0.51–2.70) and PELD/MELD scores >20 (OR 1.20, 95% CI 0.59–2.45). From a single center experience, we conclude that rurality did not significantly affect health outcomes after LT, although a larger study may validate the general trends that rural patients may have decreased rejection, increased PTLD, and mortality, and be in poorer health at the time of LT.
Valuing and Caring

What is it to "value" something, in the semi-technical sense of the term that Gary Watson establishes? I argue that valuing something consists in caring about it. Caring involves not only emotional dispositions of the sort that Agnieszka Jaworska has elaborated, but also a distinctive cognitive disposition - namely, a (defeasible) disposition to believe the object cared about to be a source of agent-relative reasons for action and for emotion. Understood in this way, an agent's carings have a stronger claim to "speak for" her as her values than do other attitudes that have been proposed for this role. In particular, an agent's carings establish more robust psychological continuities and cross-temporal connections than do self-governing policies of the sort that Michael Bratman has described; and they forge diachronic coherence not just in her deliberation and action, as self-governing policies do, but also in her cognitive and emotional life. An agent's carings thus help to constitute her identity as a temporally persisting subject. Self-governing policies are at best ersatz-values, which an agent may choose to adopt when she finds that her proper values - her cares - leave her course underdetermined.
T>0 thermal properties of the generalized three-state potts model

Abstract A generalized three-state Potts model is proposed, the decimation renormalization-group method (DRG) is applied to the hamiltonian version of this three-state generalized Potts model, and T >0 thermal properties have been calculated. We find a nontrivial unstable fixed line in the finite temperature case, when T approaches zero it agrees with the result by using the T = 0 block renormalization-group method (BRG). The possibility of extending both the reliability of range of the DRG method is also mentioned.
Microstructural analysis of rapidly solidified TiAlX powders

Abstract Microstructural evolution in Ti-48at.%Al powders with additions of tantalum and carbon is analyzed with the aid of levitation melting-solidification experiments on Ti-48at.%Al and Ti-45at.%Al alloys with and without additions of carbon, where the supercooling can be quantified and related to the observed microstructures. Supercoolings up to 258 K were achieved in the binary alloys; in all cases the primary solidification phase was β, and the relative amount of γ segregate decresed with increasing ΔT. Analysis of powders prepared by the plasma-rotating-electrode process (PREP) and XSR of nominally identical compositions revealed major differences in the primary phase selection. The PREP powders showed evidence of β formation at all particle sizes, while the XSR powders were overwhelmingly α in the coarser powder sizes, with the proportion of primary β increasing with decreasing particle size. This effect was ascribed primarily to the carbon contamination introduced in the XSR process. Carbon appears to shift the phase equilibria so that α is the stable primary phase in the ternary alloys. There is evidence of Ti 2 AlC formation if the carbon content is larger than about 1 at.% (0.3 wt.%), but the carbide appears to have a marginal role in the phase selection process. Even at the higher carbon contents, the phase selection reverts to primary β at high supercoolings, presumably owing to a kinetic preference for the latter phase. The decomposition of the α 2 phase—resulting from solid state transformations of the primary dendrites—into the α 2 + γ lath microconstituent, appears to be suppressed by tantalum additions and the increased cooling rate associated with reduction in powder particle size. It was also observed that martensite forms in segregate-free powders, presumably because the particles solidify completely as single-phase β. When martensite is formed, the room temperature microstructure is disordered α, rather than the α 2 or α 2 + γ commonly observed in the dendritic powders.
The maximum entropy method for analyzing retrieval measures

We present a model, based on the maximum entropy method, for analyzing various measures of retrieval performance such as average precision, R-precision, and precision-at-cutoffs. Our methodology treats the value of such a measure as a constraint on the distribution of relevant documents in an unknown list, and the maximum entropy distribution can be determined subject to these constraints. For good measures of overall performance (such as average precision), the resulting maximum entropy distributions are highly correlated with actual distributions of relevant documents in lists as demonstrated through TREC data; for poor measures of overall performance, the correlation is weaker. As such, the maximum entropy method can be used to quantify the overall quality of a retrieval measure. Furthermore, for good measures of overall performance (such as average precision), we show that the corresponding maximum entropy distributions can be used to accurately infer precision-recall curves and the values of other measures of performance, and we demonstrate that the quality of these inferences far exceeds that predicted by simple retrieval measure correlation, as demonstrated through TREC data.
Juvenile Hormone: Effect on Bimolecular Lipid Membranes

INSECT juvenile hormones and their synthetic analogues may function by increasing the permeability of cell and nuclear membranes1,2. Recently it has been shown that some synthetic hormone analogues increase the conductance of the salivary gland cell membrane of the wax moth Galleria mellonella3. Because of this, I checked a number of compounds for their effect on the conductance of experimental bimolecular lipid membranes in an aqueous medium4. No significant conductance changes appeared on addition of the hormones to non-modified membranes. The membranes were therefore modified by gating ion translocators, such as EIM (excitability inducing material, extracted from Aerobacter cloacae ATCC 961), monazomycin5 or alamethicin6. These translocators induce ion permeability in lipid bilayers and this permeability can be regulated by the membrane potential although it is not known if the translocators act as ion carriers or form channels. In appropriate conditions they generate action potential and other excitability phenomena characteristic of cell membranes.
Overextensions in early language comprehension: evidence from a signal detection approach.

Two studies of children's early language comprehension were performed using the signal detection paradigm introduced by Thomas et al. (1981). Experiment 1 replicated the original findings of Thomas et al., demonstrating that 13-month-olds understand a word that a parent reported they would understand and did not understand a word that a parent reported they would not. In Experiment 2, the procedure was modified to test for overextensions in early language comprehension. On half of the trials, children saw an array of objects including a referent for a ‘known word’. On the other half, the array included an object perceptually similar to the referent of the known word, but which itself was not an appropriate referent (e.g. an apple instead of an orange). Though the children demonstrated an understanding of the known word, they also overextended that word to the inappropriate referent. Mechanisms for such overextensions are discussed, as is the general relationship between comprehension and production.
Susceptibility of immunodeficient mice to challenge infection with Histoplasma capsulatum.

Groups of mice were neonatally thymectomized and treated with antithymocyte serum (ATS) prior to challenge infection with viable yeast phase (YP)Histoplasma capsulatum G-17M. Moderate leucocytosis and moderate lymphopenia were seen in immunodeficient animals after infection. Surviving immunodeficient mice exhibited low levels of migration, inhibition activity, while peritoneal exudate cells and spleen cells harvested from surviving infected and untreated normal mice showed significant migration inhibition in the presence of histoplasmin antigen.
Engrailed-1 as a target of the Wnt-1 signalling pathway in vertebrate midbrain development.

A SECRETED signalling molecule encoded by the Wnt-1 gene is required for development of the central nervous system. In mouse embryos homozygous for a Wnt-1-null allele, the midbrain and anterior hindbrain fail to develop1,2. This corresponds to the region where two transcription factors encoded by the mouse engrailed genes (En-1 and En-2) are normally expressed3,4. Studies of the Drosophila orthologue of Wnt-1, wingless, indicate that Wingless signal is required to maintain engrailed expression in neighbouring cells of the developing epidermis5–7. Here we report that expression of En-1 in the developing midbrain of Wnt-1-null embryos is sufficient to rescue early midbrain and anterior hindbrain development. This suggests that a key role of Wnt-1 signalling is to maintain En expression and that this aspect of the Wnt-1/engrailed interaction has been conserved from flies to mice.
Sketching reaction-diffusion texture

In this work, we present an interactive interface for sketching synthesized textures. Reaction-Diffusion (RD) is used as the basis for texture synthesis. RD allows an unlimited amount of non-repeating texture and offers great flexibility for mapping textures to arbitrary surfaces. However, it can be difficult to find starting values of parameters that will produce interesting patterns. We use machine learning to resolve the difficulty of determining appropriate initial values of the RD system. The system described here allows a user to sketch a pattern of spots or stripes with arbitrary orientations, and then automatically generates a pattern with the same attributes as the sketch. It also allows the user to interactively create more complex textures by adding another layer of pattern, as well as manipulate the color of the resulting texture. We also show that this procedure can be applied to realistic 3D surfaces.
Sinusitis in the Aged Optimal Management Strategies

Sinusitis is a common medical condition in the elderly; however, the clinical presentation is often subtle and the condition may not be readily diagnosed. The most important clinical clue to the diagnosis of acute sinusitis is the continuation of symptoms after a typical cold has subsided. In chronic sinusitis there is often a distinct lack of symptoms, although most patients will have nasal obstruction and purulent post-nasal drip. On physical examination, the patient with sinusitis will have thick, purulent, green or deep yellow secretions in the nasal passages. The use of radiographic imaging, such as sinus roentgenograms or CT scans, will help confirm the diagnosis. The goal of treatment of sinusitis is eradication of infection with clearance of the infected material from the sinuses. While the use of an appropriate antibiotic is necessary, the use of ancillary therapy is also of utmost importance. Steam and nasal saline, decongestants, topical corticosteroids and mucoevacuants are given in an attempt to reduce nasal obstruction, increase sinus ostia size, promote improved mucociliary function, decrease mucosal inflammation and thin secretions. In selected patients who fail to respond to aggressive medical therapy, functional endoscopic surgery can often provide relief. In patients with poorly controlled asthma, treatment of underlying sinusitis has been shown to dramatically improve the asthmatic state.
A Three-Stage Mechanistic Model for Ammonia Borane Dehydrogenation by Shvo’s Catalyst

We propose a mechanistic model for three-stage dehydrogenation of ammonia–borane (AB) catalyzed by Shvo’s cyclopentadienone-ligated ruthenium complex. We provide evidence for a plausible mechanism for catalyst deactivation and the transition from fast catalysis to slow catalysis and relate those findings to the invention of a second-generation catalyst that does not suffer from the same deactivation chemistry. The primary mechanism of catalyst deactivation is borazine-mediated hydroboration of the ruthenium species that is the active oxidant in the fast catalysis case. This transition is characterized by a change in the rate law for the reaction and changes in the apparent resting state of the catalyst. Also, in this slow catalysis situation, we see an additional intermediate in the sequence of boron, nitrogen species, aminodiborane. This occurs with concurrent generation of NH3, which itself does not strongly affect the rate of AB dehydrogenation.
Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in the rat: lessons in T‐cell immunology and autoreactivity

Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in the rat is an acute paralytic disease from which most animals spontaneously recover. The disease can be induced in susceptible inbred Lewis and DA rats with myelin basic protein (MBP), or encephalitogenic MBP peptides administered in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). The disease can be adoptively transferred to syngeneic recipients with primed T cells that have been reactivated in vitro with antigen. EAE is mediated by CD4+ Th1 cells that secrete proinflammatory cytokines, and spontaneous remission is associated with CD4+ T cells that secrete transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta). Studies of EAE in susceptible rats have provided many important insights into the interactions of T cells and accessory cells that culminate in the induction of the autoimmune response.
Hermeneutics and moral development: Interpreting narrative representations of moral experience

Abstract This paper sketches the preliminary outlines of a hermeneutic approach to the study of moral development that focuses on interpreting narrative representations of real-life moral experience. This approach assumes that lived moral experience entails three fundamentally interdependent and indissociable psychological dimensions: cognitive, affective, and conative. It also assumes that individuals' representations of their lived moral experiences, in the narratives they tell in open-ended, semiclinical interviews, can be interpreted in ways that highlight the complex interplay between these three dimensions. This paper explores some of the methodological and theoretical implications of this approach, and provides a brief example of an interpretive analysis of an interview narrative.
Sensitivity improvements in uncooled microbolometer FPAs

Raytheon IRCOE has developed a family of uncooled, microbolometer FPAs. These FPAs have been designed to address commercial and high-performance military applications. The SB-151 is a high-sensitivity 320 X 240 FPA with 50 micrometers pixels. The SB-151 FPA has been fabricated with several microbolometer pixel designs that allow optimization of either sensitivity or response time. Noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) values as low as 8.6 mK have been measured for the SB-151 FPAs with f/1 optics. NETD values less than 25 mK have been measured for FPAs with thermal time constants of approximately 18 msec.
Effect of oxygen absorption on lattice parameter and specimen dilation in a tantalum- base alloy containing 8 Pct tungsten and 2 Pct hafnium

Sheet and tube specimens of a tantalum-base alloy containing 8 Pct tungsten and 2 Pct hafnium (T-111) were exposed to low pressure oxygen at 1000° for the purpose of study-ing the effect of oxygen absorption on lattice parameter and specimen dilation. Oxygen absorption produced an increase in weight and dilation which was proportional to ex-posure time at 1000°. In the as-doped condition, dilation is roughly equal to the lattice expansion, suggesting that the absorbed oxygen is retained mainly in the bec base solu-tion. After isothermal aging at 1400°, the lattice parameter of the as-doped specimen decreases sharply due to the precipitation of HO2 particles; however, the dilation is not affected. The solubility of oxygen in T-lll is calculated to be 64 ppm at 1400°, based on some thermodynamic considerations and lattice parameter measurements. The T-lll specimen dilated 1 Pct after only an 80 h exposure at 1000° at an oxygen pressure of 1.3 x 10-3 Pa (1 × 10-5 Torr). Comparison of creep rates in high vacuum with the dilation rate indicates that specimen dilation due to oxygen absorption is the main reason that causes a higher “creep rate” of refractory alloys in contaminated environ-ments, especially under the conditions of high test temperature and low applied stress.
Asset Management Fees and the Growth of Finance

From 1980 to 2006, the financial services sector of the United States economy grew from 4.9 percent to 8.3 percent of GDP . A substantial share of that increase was comprised of increases in the fees paid for asset management. This paper examines the significant increase in asset management fees charged to both individual and institutional investors. Despite the economies of scale that should be realizable in the asset management business, the asset-weighted expense ratios charged to both individual and institutional investors have actually risen over time. If we exclude index funds (an innovation that has made market returns available even to small investors at close to zero expense), fees have risen substantially as a percentage of assets managed. One could argue that the increase in fees charged by actively managed funds could prove to be socially useful, if it reflected increasing returns for investors from active management or if it was necessary to improve the efficiency of the market for investors who availed themselves of low-cost passive (index) funds. But neither of these arguments can be supported by the data. Actively managed funds of publicly traded securities have consistently underperformed index funds, and the amount of the underperformance is well approximated by the difference in the fees charged by the two types of funds. Moreover, it appears that there was no change in the efficiency of the market from 1980 to 2011. Arbitrage opportunities to obtain excess risk-adjusted returns do not appear to have been available at any time during the early part of the period. Passive portfolios that bought and held all the stocks in a broad-based market index substantially outperformed the average active manager
Li–Al layered double hydroxides as catalysts for the synthesis of flavanone

Abstract Flavanone was synthesized via a series reaction scheme involving the Claisen–Schmidt condensation between 2′-hydroxyacetophenone and benzaldehyde to form 2′-hydroxychalcone and the subsequent isomerization of 2′-hydroxychalcone to flavanone. Reactions were carried out in the presence of Li–Al layered double hydroxide solid catalyst. The results showed that surface basicity varies with calcination temperature and rehydration. These variations in basicity correlate with the observed catalytic behavior. It is believed that Li+–O2− groups contribute to the surface basicity and are instrumental in the abstraction of a proton from the 2′-hydroxyacetophenone in what is believed to be the first step in the reaction mechanism.
Dynamical Basis for η -Baryon Interactions

The recent experimental evidence for a rapid rise in $\ensuremath{\eta}$ production near threshold in the reactions ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{\ensuremath{-}}+p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\eta}}^{0}+n$ and ${K}^{\ensuremath{-}}+p\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\eta}}^{0}+\ensuremath{\Lambda}$ is analyzed on the basis of a constant-$K$-matrix formalism. Representative scattering lengths for the $\ensuremath{\eta}$-baryon systems are introduced to illustrate pertinent features of the presently known experimental data. A dynamical basis for the physical situation is discussed in terms of possible new baryon states due to virtual or bound states of the $\ensuremath{\eta}$-baryon systems. Comparison of the results with expectations from a conjectured $\ensuremath{\eta}$ octet of baryon (\textonehalf{}-) states for $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ symmetry is briefly referred to.