cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Clinical Implications of Non–Contrast-Enhanced Computed Tomography for Follow-Up After Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair

Background There is growing concern over the long-term radiation exposure from serial computed tomographic (CT) scan follow-up after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs). Screening for endoleaks with non–contrast-enhanced volumetric CT has been shown to significantly reduce radiation doses. We evaluated the use of NCT as the primary method of follow-up after EVAR of AAAs. Methods Our institutional post-EVAR CT protocol consisted of contrast-enhanced CT angiography (CTA) 1 month after repair, followed by NCT at 3 or 6 and 12 months, and annually thereafter. At each follow-up scan, immediate 3-dimensional volume analysis was performed. If the volume change was Results Over a 7-year period, 126 patients were followed. Serial CTA was performed in 59 patients, while 67 patients were followed with the NCT protocol. The mean follow-up was 2.07 years. There were no differences in age, sex, or initial aneurysm volume or size. There were 35 total endoleaks identified. Twenty of these were early endoleaks ( Conclusions Serial NCT appears to be safe and effective as the sole means of follow-up after EVAR for AAAs. AAA volume increases of ≥2% should prompt further contrast-enhanced CT imaging. Changes of
Development of a National HRD Strategy Model: Cases of India and China

National human resource development (NHRD) literature describes the importance of developing human resources at the national level and presents several models. These models are primarily concerned with the national contexts of developing and underdeveloped countries. In contrast, the NHRD models in the non-HRD literature focus primarily on developed countries. Both types of models describe NHRD strategies with little analytical attention to the larger societal context, which the authors argue has a deep influence on the trajectory of NHRD practices in developing countries. The authors traced the evolution of NHRD strategies through an in-depth analysis of two emerging economies—India and China. Through comparative analysis, this study identifies similarities and differences in the emergence of NHRD strategy and develops a model that provides an enriched perspective on the dynamic process of NHRD strategy development.
Assessing the validity of directed self-placement at a large university

Abstract Following Messick's definition of validity as a multi-faceted construct that includes contextual, substantive, structural, generalizable, external, and consequential dimensions, this study examined an established directed self-placement (DSP) system that had been functioning for ten years at a large university. The goal was to determine the extent to which this manifestation of DSP could be described as a valid assessment system for students choosing between a developmental and a first-year writing course. Analysis of data, including details of students’ academic records, course materials, DSP questions, surveys, and interviews, led to the conclusion that DSP at this university does not have strong validity. Because validity is always embedded in a local context, the profession needs further investigations of the validity of DSP in a variety of other college and university settings, and this study includes an analytical framework that can be used in such work.
Mexican Immigrant Families' Beliefs and Goals for Their Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit:

This article presents a study of Mexican immigrant families' beliefs and goals about caregiving and development for their infants with prematurity, low birth weight, and/or intensive health care needs, as well as their experiences with neonatal intensive care services. Interviews with six families were conducted primarily in Spanish, transcribed, and analyzed in a structured procedure following one major tradition of qualitative research. The study revealed that the Mexican immigrant families had distinct caregiving beliefs for their infants, and certain hospital practices were different from their beliefs and customs. Communication and cultural barriers were identified stressors for families in the neonatal intensive care unit. Extended family members were described as a valuable source of support and information about health and infant caregiving practices. Implications for neonatal intensive care service delivery and suggestions for further research are discussed.
Technical considerations in quantitative blood oxygenation measurement using photoacoustic microscopy in vivo

Using peak amplitude spectral PA measurements in the range of 570 - 600 nm, we found it possible to quantify blood oxygenation levels. Visible light illumination minimizes the inversion error of the PA measurements. Owing to high blood absorption in this optical regime, there is also an improved signal-to-noise ratio and less influence from optical scattering. To arrive at correct, and vessel size independent, SO2 measurements, the central frequency of the ultrasonic transducer must be high enough to satisfy the relation, that is above 25 MHz for a chosen optical wavelength region, although lower frequency transducers may produce correct results after correction of the optical absorption spectra. However, additional efforts are needed to achieve accurate SO2 values for in vivo measurements.
Drinking water intake and source patterns within a US–Mexico border population

This study was undertaken to identify water intake and source patterns among a population that resides in a hot, arid region on the US–Mexico border. A cross-sectional community-based survey was conducted among households in the neighbouring cities of El Paso, TX, USA and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico to obtain data on the quantity and source of water consumed. The study was also designed to identify factors that impact water consumption patterns, including gender, demographics, socio-economic status, cultural characteristics, health status, types of occupations and residences, available water sources and outdoor temperature, among many others. Of all factors studied, outdoor air temperature was found to have the strongest impact upon water intake quantity. Specifically, among the survey participants, when the outdoor air temperature exceeded 90 °F, water consumption increased by 28 %. Additionally, it was found that participants in this region consumed approximately 50 % more water than the values rep...
Predicting Scoliosis Progression from Skeletal Maturity: A Simplified Classification During Adolescence

Background: Both the Tanner-Whitehouse-III RUS score, which is based on the radiographic appearance of the epiphyses of the distal part of the radius, the distal part of the ulna, and small bones of the hand, and the digital skeletal age skeletal maturity scoring system, which is based on just the metacarpals and phalanges, correlate highly with the curve acceleration phase in girls with idiopathic scoliosis. However, these systems require an atlas and access to the scoring system, making their use impractical in a busy clinical setting. We sought to develop a simplified system that would correlate highly with scoliosis behavior but that would also be rapid and reliable for clinical practice. Methods: A simplified staging system involving the use of the Tanner-Whitehouse-III descriptors was developed. It was tested for intraobserver and interobserver reliability by six individuals on thirty skeletal age radiographs. The system was compared with the timing of the curve acceleration phase in a cohort of twenty-two girls with idiopathic scoliosis. Results: The average intraobserver unweighted kappa value was 0.88, and the average weighted kappa value was 0.96. The percentage of exact matches between readings for each rater was 89%, and 100% of the differences were within one unit. The average interobserver unweighted kappa value was 0.71, and the average weighted kappa value was 0.89. The percentage of exact matches between two reviewers was 71%, and 97% of the interobserver differences were within one stage or matched. The agreement was highest between the most experienced raters. Interobserver reliability was not improved by the use of a classification-specific atlas. The correlation of the staging system with the curve acceleration phase was 0.91. Conclusions: The simplified skeletal maturity scoring system is reliable and correlates more strongly with the behavior of idiopathic scoliosis than the Risser sign or Greulich and Pyle skeletal ages do. The system has a modest learning curve but is easily used in a clinical setting and, in conjunction with curve type and magnitude, appears to be strongly prognostic of future scoliosis curve behavior. Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level I. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
A New Gate-Charging Protection Strategy for Transistors in Integrated-Circuit Test Chips and Products

This paper presents a new gate-charging protection strategy for transistors in integrated-circuit (IC) test chips and products. The strategy, using a low-threshold-voltage protection device (PD) of the highest voltage class (i.e., with the thickest available gate oxide) in any given process technology, is capable of providing full charging protection for transistors of all voltage classes during back-end plasma-involved manufacturing process. In conjunction with a method that globally turns off the PDs, the strategy also minimizes the protection-device-induced leakages during electrical tests or circuit operation. This new gate-charging protection strategy can benefit the design and manufacturing for the next-generation IC test chips and products, in particular for circuit products emphasized on low voltage and current and low power consumption.
Growth Response and Physiology of Tree Seedlings as Affected by Weed Control

Tree growth is dependent on the availability of light, water, nutrients, CO2 and O2. Unless trees are overtopped by vegetation, CO2, O2 and sunlight are usually not limiting factors. However, intraspecific competition often results in a limited supply of water and nutrients to crop trees. Such competition can result in lower survival in new plantings and reduced growth in surviving stock.
Parallel network simulation under distributed Genesis

We describe two major developments in the general network simulation integration system (Genesis): the support for BGP protocol in large network simulations and distribution of the simulation memory among Genesis component simulations. Genesis uses a high granularity synchronization mechanism between parallel simulations simulating parts of a network. This mechanism uses checkpointed simulation state to iterate over the same time interval until convergence. It also replaces individual packet data for flows crossing the network partitions with statistical characterization of such flows over the synchronization time interval. We had achieved significant performance improvement over the sequential simulation for simulations with TCP and UDP traffic. However, this approach cannot be used directly to simulate dynamic routing protocols that use underlying network for exchanging protocol information, as no packets are exchanged in Genesis between simulated network parts. We have developed a new mechanism to exchange and synchronize BGP routing data among distributed Genesis simulators. The extended Genesis allows simulations of more realistic network scenarios, including routing flows, in addition to TCP or UDP data traffic. Large memory size required by simulation software hinders the simulation of large-scale networks. Based on our new support of distributed BGP simulation, we developed an approach to construct and simulate networks on distributed memory using Genesis simulators in such a way that each participating processor possesses only data related to the part of the network it simulates. This solution supports simulations of large-scale networks on machines with modest memory size.
Bottomonium spectrum at order v 6 from domain-wall lattice QCD: Precise results for hyperfine splittings

The bottomonium spectrum is computed in dynamical $2+1$ flavor lattice QCD, using nonrelativistic QCD for the $b$ quarks. The main calculations in this work are based on gauge field ensembles generated by the RBC and UKQCD Collaborations with the Iwasaki action for the gluons and a domain-wall action for the sea quarks. Lattice spacing values of approximately 0.08 fm and 0.11 fm are used, and simultaneous chiral extrapolations to the physical pion mass are performed. As a test for gluon-discretization errors, the calculations are repeated on two ensembles generated by the MILC Collaboration with the L\"uscher-Weisz gauge action. Gluon-discretization errors are also studied in a lattice potential model using perturbation theory for four different gauge actions. The nonperturbative lattice QCD results for the radial and orbital bottomonium energy splittings obtained from the RBC/UKQCD ensembles are found to be in excellent agreement with experiment. To get accurate results for spin splittings, the spin-dependent order-${v}^{6}$ terms are included in the nonrelativistic QCD action, and suitable ratios are calculated such that most of the unknown radiative corrections cancel. The cancellation of radiative corrections is verified explicitly by repeating the calculations with different values of the couplings in the nonrelativistic QCD action. Using the lattice ratios of the $S$-wave hyperfine and the $1P$ tensor splitting, and the experimental result for the $1P$ tensor splitting, the $1S$ hyperfine splitting is found to be $60.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{5.5}_{\mathrm{stat}}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{5.0}_{\mathrm{syst}}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{2.1}_{\mathrm{exp}﻿}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$, and the $2S$ hyperfine splitting is predicted to be $23.5\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{4.1}_{\mathrm{stat}}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{2.1}_{\mathrm{syst}}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{0.8}_{\mathrm{exp}﻿}\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}$.
Heat transfer enhancement in thermoelectric power generation

Heat transfer plays a critical role in thermoelectric (TE) power generation because the higher the heattransfer rate from the hot to the cold side of the TE material, the higher is the generation of electric power. However, high heat-transfer rate is difficult to achieve compactly when the hot and/or the cold sources are maintained by a flow of gas such as waste heat from the gas exhaust of an engine or a power plant. Also, when the temperature of the hot and the cold sources differs considerably, thermal stress can create damage and thereby affect reliability and service life. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses were performed to evaluate two compact gasphase heat-exchanger (HX) designs on their ability to enable high heat-transfer rates from the hot to the cold sides of the TE material with minimal thermal stress. One HX utilizes the leading portion of developing momentum and thermal boundary layers, and the other HX involves jet impingement. The CFD analyses take into account the convection heat transfer of the hot gas in the HX flow passages and the conduction heat transfer in the HX walls, the TE materials, the electrical conducting plates, and the insulation material that fills the space between the TE material, the conducting plates, and the HX walls. Both laminar and turbulent flows in the HX flow passages were investigated. When the flow is turbulent, the analysis of the gas phase is based on the ensemble-averaged continuity, Navier-Stokes, and energy equations, closed by the realizable k-e turbulence model that are integrated to the wall (i.e., wall functions were not used). The analysis of the solid phase is based on the Fourier law. Results obtained showed that the new design is useful in increasing heat-transfer rate through the TE material with minimal thermal stresses. For the HX that utilizes the leading part of the boundary-layer flow, a heat-transfer rate of 1 W/cm 2 can be achieved with reasonable pressure loss. For the HX with jet impingement, a heat-transfer rate of about 3 W/cm 2 can be achieved but the pressure loss is considerably higher.
The Mutual Constitution of Persons and Organizations: An Ontological Perspective on Organizational Change

I introduce an ontological perspective, which examines the mutual constitution of persons and organizations, to explain continuous versus episodic organizational change. Informed by a cognitive tradition, prior research on organizational change examines individuals’ epistemology, such as knowledge and skills, and their interaction with organizations. From this perspective, organizations change either continuously or episodically because of the conscious cognitive concepts that decision makers use. Informed by a sociocultural tradition, I examine employees’ ontology and the mutual constitution of person and context within organizations. I use the habitus concept to describe how organizational practices structure and are structured by employees’ taken-for-granted experience of reality’s basic dimensions. Based on a two-year ethnography, I investigate how two Wall Street banks’ distinct work practices caused bankers to experience persons, time, causality, and language (“ontology”) in contrasting ways, reprod...
Child delinquency and the prophylaxis of crime in early 20th-century Latin America

A fin de ahondar en la vision que predominaba a principios del siglo XX sobre el maltrato infantil, sus efectos sobre el comportamiento de los jovenes y las estrategias para prevenir la delincuencia juvenil se ofrece una sintesis en ingles de la conferencia " La delincuencia infantil y la profilaxis del crimen" , presentada en 1929 por el pediatra e higienista social colombiano Jorge Bejarano Martinez y se resaltan sus teorias sobre el abuso y la desatencion infantil, y la prevencion del crimen. Mediante citas del texto original de 88 paginas, esta sintesis presenta los puntos de vista de Bejarano sobre las condiciones sociales que el consideraba cruciales en la etiologia de la delincuencia infantil en Colombia (la falta de mecanismos sociales de proteccion y de oportunidades educacionales para los ninos, la pobreza en el hogar, el trabajo infantil, el abandono, y el abuso y la desatencion de los ninos). Aunque en Colombia aun subsisten problemas de fondo similares, se han logrado avances en la proteccion de los ninos contra el abuso y la desatencion para prevenir la delincuencia en etapas posteriores de su vida. Esta conferencia demuestra que Bejarano fue un precursor de estos esfuerzos en America Latina y ofrece elementos sobre los origenes de las estrategias actuales para reducir la violencia juvenil.
Hand-mouth transfer and potential for exposure to E. coli and F + coliphage in beach sand, Chicago, Illinois

Beach sand contains fecal indicator bacteria, often in densities greatly exceeding the adjacent swimming waters. We examined the transferability of Escherichia coli and F+ coliphage (MS2) from beach sand to hands in order to estimate the potential subsequent health risk. Sand with high initial E. coli concentrations was collected from a Chicago beach. Individuals manipulated the sand for 60 seconds, and rinse water was analysed for E. coli and coliphage. E. coli densities transferred were correlated with density in sand rather than surface area of an individual's hand, and the amount of coliphage transferred from seeded sand was different among individuals. In sequential rinsing, percentage reduction was 92% for E. coli and 98% for coliphage. Using dose-response estimates developed for swimming water, it was determined that the number of individuals per thousand that would develop gastrointestinal symptoms would be 11 if all E. coli on the fingertip were ingested or 33 if all E. coli on the hand were ingested. These results suggest that beach sand may be an important medium for microbial exposure; bacteria transfer is related to initial concentration in the sand; and rinsing may be effective in limiting oral exposure to sand-borne microbes of human concern.
The application of bayesian networks to approximate the probability distribution of returns of equities

This project examines an alternative technique for calculating the probability distribution of returns of equities and assets consisting of equities, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and equity indexes. In particular, Bayesian Networks are used, which allow conditioning upon prior information and are capable of evolving and adapting to current market trends through learning processes. Posterior probability return distributions from Bayesian Networks are then used to make inferences about the future price movement of a security. This includes foremost the direction of predicted movement, and secondly, the magnitude of the predicted movement. This project explores the application of these return distributions to develop a trading strategy. This strategy will be used to test whether the perceived benefits of Bayesian Methods in finance are realized in producing more accurate and insightful return distributions that can indicate, with significance, an asset's return.
Programming micro-aerial vehicle swarms with karma

Research in micro-aerial vehicle (MAV) construction, control, and high-density power sources is enabling swarms of MAVs as a new class of mobile sensing systems. For efficient operation, such systems must adapt to dynamic environments, cope with uncertainty in sensing and control, and operate with limited resources. We propose a novel system architecture based on a hive-drone model that simplifies the functionality of an individual MAV to a sequence of sensing and actuation commands with no in-field communication. This decision simplifies the hardware and software complexity of individual MAVs and moves the complexity of coordination entirely to a central hive computer. We present Karma, a system for programming and managing MAV swarms. Through simulation and testbed experiments we demonstrate how applications in Karma can run on limited resources, are robust to individual MAV failure, and adapt to changes in the environment.
A MULTI-SERVER QUEUEING MODEL WITH MARKOVIAN ARRIVALS AND MULTIPLE THRESHOLDS

We consider a multi-server queueing model in which arrivals occur according to a Markovian arrival process (MAP). There is a single-server and additional (backup) servers are added or removed depending on sets of thresholds. The service times are assumed to be exponential and the servers are assumed to be homogeneous. A comparison of this model to the classical MAP/M/c queueing model through an optimization problem yields some interesting results that are useful in practical applications. For example, we notice that positively correlated arrival process appears to benefit with the threshold type queueing model. We also give the minimum delay costs and the associated maximum setup costs so that the threshold type queueing model is to be preferred over the classical MAP/M/c model.
Measuring Impulsivity and Modeling Its Association With Cigarette Smoking

Two types of behavioral measure are primarily used to examine impulsivity in humans and animals: Go/No-go tasks to assess inhibition and relative preference tasks to assess delay aversion. Several examples of each type of task are described so that common cognitive processes and variables affecting performance can be identified. Data suggest that smokers are more impulsive on each of these impulsivity measures than nonsmokers. Several models can be proposed to account for this group difference: (a) the differences predate and, possibly, are causally related to the initiation of cigarette smoking; (b) higher levels of impulsivity are associated with continued smoking, either through an association with heightened positive subjective effects of nicotine or heightened negative effects of nicotine abstinence (withdrawal); (c) nicotine causes neuroadaptations that result in elevated impulsivity in smokers. Studies relating to each of these models are reviewed, and it is concluded that all three models may contribute to the observed higher levels of impulsivity in smokers. However, pertinent studies are limited and additional systematic research is needed.
Experience with the muSIMP/muMATH-80 symbolic mathematics system

The following is a revision of a review of muSIMP/muMATH-79 which originally appeared in SIGPC NOTES V. 4 #1/2.
Memory Processes Governing Amphetamine-induced Psychomotor Sensitization

We investigated how, under certain circumstances, the expression of psychomotor sensitization comes to be context-specific. Rats that had previously sustained 6-hydroxydopamine-induced unilateral dopamine depletion received repeated injections of d-amphetamine (AMPH) or saline in group-specific environments, and rotational behavior was measured as an index of psychomotor activation. Following these treatments some groups were given electroconvulsive shock (ECS), when memories of the drug experience were reactivated (and therefore vulnerable to disruption), in order to produce retrograde amnesia. Animals given an AMPH challenge in the environment in which they received drug treatments (Paired) expressed robust sensitization. Animals given an AMPH challenge in a context that was never paired with drug administration (Unpaired) did not express sensitization. A saline challenge in the AMPH paired context produced a conditioned rotational response (CR). ECS had no effect in Control animals, no effect on the expression of sensitization in Paired animals, and no effect on the expression of the CR in Paired animals. However, ECS did affect Unpaired groups: unlike Unpaired animals given sham ECS, Unpaired animals given ECS expressed robust sensitization. Thus, without ECS, the expression of sensitization must have been suppressed in the Unpaired animals (who had the same drug history as Paired animals), and ECS released this otherwise suppressed sensitization. Based on these and other findings, we propose that three memory mechanisms regulate context-specificity of AMPH sensitization: (1) Repeated drug administration induces sensitization of the neural substrate that mediates the unconditional response (UR) to the drug, a form of non-associative learning; (2) An inhibitory process can block the expression of neural sensitization in contexts where the drug is not expected, a process we speculate may involve a form of inhibitory occasion-setting; (3) An excitatory conditioned response (CR) can amplify the sensitized response in a context where the drug is expected. It is suggested that the ability of drug-associated contexts to modulate the expression of neural sensitization via occasion-setting may combine with the ability of a drug-associated context to produce conditioned responses, together providing powerful associative control over not only behavioral sensitization, but in addicts, over craving and relapse.
Nuclear Ribosome Biogenesis Mediated by the DIM1A rRNA Dimethylase Is Required for Organized Root Growth and Epidermal Patterning in Arabidopsis

Position-dependent patterning of hair and non-hair cells in the Arabidopsis thaliana root epidermis is a powerful system to study the molecular basis of cell fate specification. Here, we report an epidermal patterning mutant affecting the ADENOSINE DIMETHYL TRANSFERASE 1A (DIM1A) rRNA dimethylase gene, predicted to participate in rRNA posttranscriptional processing and base modification. Consistent with a role in ribosome biogenesis, DIM1A is preferentially expressed in regions of rapid growth, and its product is nuclear localized with nucleolus enrichment. Furthermore, DIM1A preferentially accumulates in the developing hair cells, and the dim1A point mutant alters the cell-specific expression of the transcriptional regulators GLABRA2, CAPRICE, and WEREWOLF. Together, these findings suggest that establishment of cell-specific gene expression during root epidermis development is dependent upon proper ribosome biogenesis, possibly due to the sensitivity of the cell fate decision to relatively small differences in gene regulatory activities. Consistent with its effect on the predicted S-adenosyl-l-Met binding site, dim1A plants lack the two 18S rRNA base modifications but exhibit normal pre-rRNA processing. In addition to root epidermal defects, the dim1A mutant exhibits abnormal root meristem division, leaf development, and trichome branching. Together, these findings provide new insights into the importance of rRNA base modifications and translation regulation for plant growth and development.
Microwave-accelerated Suzuki cross-coupling reaction in polyethylene glycol (PEG)

Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is found to be an inexpensive and non-toxic reaction medium for the microwave-assisted Suzuki cross-coupling of arylboronic acids with aryl halides. This environmentally friendly microwave protocol offers ease of operation and enables recyclability of catalyst and synthesis of a variety of substituted biaryls employing palladium chloride as catalyst and potassium fluoride as the base.
Asymmetries of brain glucose metabolism and memory in the healthy elderly

The relation of discrepancies between visual and verbal memory to right‐left asymmetries of resting state brain glucose metabolism was studied in 11 healthy elderly subjects. Short‐ and long‐term memory were measured with experimental continuous recognition tests. Regional cerebral metabolic rates for glucose were determined with positron emission tomography (PET) using 18F‐fluoro‐2‐deoxy‐D‐glucose. Long‐term memory discrepancy was related to parietal and hemispheric metabolic asymmetries, such that subjects with better visual than verbal memory had higher right than left brain glucose metabolic rates, whereas others showed the opposite pattern. These results show that specific visual and verbal memory abilities in the healthy elderly are related to regional differences in cerebral cortical metabolism.
Phylogeny of a genomically diverse group of Elymus (Poaceae) allopolyploids reveals multiple levels of reticulation

The grass tribe Triticeae (=Hordeeae) comprises only about 300 species, but it is well known for the economically important crop plants wheat, barley, and rye. The group is also recognized as a fascinating example of evolutionary complexity, with a history shaped by numerous events of auto- and allopolyploidy and apparent introgression involving diploids and polyploids. The genus Elymus comprises a heterogeneous collection of allopolyploid genome combinations, all of which include at least one set of homoeologs, designated St, derived from Pseudoroegneria. The current analysis includes a geographically and genomically diverse collection of 21 tetraploid Elymus species, and a single hexaploid species. Diploid and polyploid relationships were estimated using four molecular data sets, including one that combines two regions of the chloroplast genome, and three from unlinked nuclear genes: phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, β-amylase, and granule-bound starch synthase I. Four gene trees were generated using maximum likelihood, and the phylogenetic placement of the polyploid sequences reveals extensive reticulation beyond allopolyploidy alone. The trees were interpreted with reference to numerous phenomena known to complicate allopolyploid phylogenies, and introgression was identified as a major factor in their history. The work illustrates the interpretation of complicated phylogenetic results through the sequential consideration of numerous possible explanations, and the results highlight the value of careful inspection of multiple independent molecular phylogenetic estimates, with particular focus on the differences among them.
Stress reactivity in tennis players.

Abstract College male tennis players (N = 6) served as subjects for this study. Stress reactivity was determined for each individual through catecholamine excretion analyses in four levels of activity. These levels consisted of basal, practice, competition anticipation, and competition situations. These situations were selected because they represent conditions during which the physical and psychic components should vary. The results indicated significant measurable differences in stress reactivity existed between the four levels in the following directional comparison: competition > basal, competition > practice, and competition > precompetition anticipation. An analysis of the role played by the different components of the sport stressor is presented in a discussion of the results.
Efficiency of utilization of indispensable amino acids for growth by the rat.

Rats fed an amino acid diet containing HC-labeled algal hydrol- ysate or individual amino acids, were used to estimate the efficiency of utilization of amino acids for growth. When algal protein hydrolysate was used 35.8% of the absorbed dose was recovered in CO2in 24 hours while 2.9 and 61.2% were recovered, respectively, in the urine and carcass. Approximately 75% of the 14C in the carcass at 24 hours was recovered there on day 14. When the same diet was labeled so that the 10 indispensable amino acids had the same specific ac tivity, 22.0% of the absorbed dose was recovered in CO2in 24 hours, while 3.7% and 75.0% were recovered in the urine and carcass, respectively. At 7 and 14 days, 84.5 and 76.6% of the activity that was in the carcass at 24 hours was recovered. Calculation of tâ€5 for "C retention in the carcass gave 28 days for these two experiments. Widely different proportions of the absorbed dose were recovered in COz and urine, respectively, over a 24-hour period when the diet was labeled with only one of the essential amino acids (His 12.0, 11.7; Trp 14.0, 4.1; Leu 16.5, 2.7; Thr 18.2, 1.3; Lys 20.3, 9.9; Val 23.5, 1.9; Phe 24.2, 2.8; Ile 24.5, 2.6; Arg 27.8, 10.5; Met 41.6, 1.5). Varying the methionine level above and below its requirement revealed that it is oxidized more extensively than the other indispensable amino acids, suggesting that the requirement of methionine as a methyl and sulfur source may be responsible for its high rate of oxidation. J. Nutr. 102: 1199-1208, 1972.
Effect of a Single Injection of Estradiol Benzoate (EB) on Ovulation and Reproductive Function in 4-day Cyclic Rats

SummaryOvulation was advanced 24 hr by a single injection sc of estradiol benzoate (EB) at 10:00 am on the first day of diestrus in 4-day cyclic rats. Phenobarbital prevented this EB-induced ovulation if given at 1:30 pm on the second day of diestrus, but not when given at 5:30 pm. However, pseu-dopregnancy occurred in all animals receiving EB. When animals treated with EB were exposed to fertile males on the second day of diestrus, over 80% mated but normal pregnancy did not ensue. Normal pregnancy of EB-treated rats occurred only after the termination of pseudopregnancy subsequent to EB-induced ovulation. These results suggest that EB injection initiates the ovulating hormone release and results in the advancement of ovulation.
Forewarning, meaning, and semantic decision latency

Twelve Ss were asked to decide if pairs of nonsense syllables were identical or different. A second group of 12 Ss was asked to decide if pairs of words were synonymous or not. Prior to each pair all Ss were given either one member of the pair, an unrelated item of the same type, or the word “set.”Decisions about nonsense syllables were made faster than ones for words, and type of forewarning was also significant. In a second experiment 16 Ss were asked to judge the synonymity of 16 pairs of words where one was rare and one common. Ss had true and false forewarning. Forewarning was significant, but did not differentially effect judgments on rare and common words.
Biotransformation capacity of carboxylesterase in skin and keratinocytes for the penta-ethyl ester prodrug of DTPA

The penta-ethyl ester prodrug of the chelating agent diethylene triamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA), referred to as C2E5, effectively accelerated clearance of americium after transdermal delivery. Carboxylesterases (CESs) play important roles in facilitating C2E5 hydrolysis. However, whether CESs in human skin hydrolyze C2E5 remains unknown. We evaluated the gene and protein expression of CESs in distinctive human epidermal cell lines: HEKa, HEKn, HaCaT, and A431. The substrates p-nitrophenyl acetate (pNPA) and 4-nitrophenyl valerate (4-NPV) were used to access esterase and CES activity. C2E5 hydrolysis was measured by radiometric high-performance liquid chromatography after incubation of [(14)C]C2E5 with supernatant fractions after centrifugation at 9000g (S9) prepared from skin cell lines. CES-specific inhibitors were used to access metabolism in human skin S9 fractions with analysis by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. We identified the human carboxylesterase 1 and 2 (CES1 and CES2) bands in a Western blot. The gene expression of these enzymes was supported by a real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). pNPA and 4-NPV assays demonstrated esterase and CES activity in all the cell lines that were comparable to human skin S9 fractions. The prodrug C2E5 was hydrolyzed by skin S9 fractions, resulting in a primary metabolite, C2E4. In human skin S9 fractions, inhibition of C2E5 hydrolysis was greatest with a pan-CES inhibitor (benzil). CES1 inhibition (troglitazone) was greater than CES2 (loperamide), suggesting a primary metabolic role for CES1. These results indicate that human keratinocyte cell lines are useful for the evaluation of human cutaneous metabolism and absorption of ester-based prodrugs. However, keratinocytes from skin provide a small contribution to the overall metabolism of C2E5.
Pay mix policies as (dis)incentives in motivated job choice decisions.

Effective employee recruitment strategies are critical to organizational success. When faced with recruitment challenges, a common response by firms is to increase pay level, an incentive that is somewhat easily competed away as other firms follow suit. The following instead examines the incentive e
Evaluating and modeling the effects of surface sampling factors on the recovery of organic chemical attribution signatures using the accelerated diffusion sampler and solvent extraction

Abstract In this study, an experimental design matrix was created and executed to test the effects of various real-world factors on the ability of (1) the accelerated diffusion sampler with solid phase micro-extraction (ADS-SPME) and (2) solvent extraction to capture organic chemical attribution signatures (CAS) from dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) spiked onto painted wall board (PWB) surfaces. The DMMP CAS organic impurities sampled by ADS-SPME and solvent extraction were analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The number of detected DMMP CAS impurities and their respective GC/MS peak areas were determined as a function of DMMP stock, DMMP spiked volume, exposure time, SPME sampling time, and ADS headspace pressure. Based on the statistical analysis of experimental results, several general conclusions are made: (1) the amount of CAS impurity detected using ADS-SPME and GC/MS was most influenced by spiked volume, stock, and ADS headspace pressure, (2) reduced ADS headspace pressure increased the amount of detected CAS impurity, as measured by GC/MS peak area, by up to a factor of 1.7–1.9 compared to ADS at ambient headspace pressure, (3) the ADS had no measurable effect on the number of detected DMMP impurities, that is, ADS (with and without reduced pressure) had no practical effect on the DMMP impurity profile collected from spiked PWB, and (4) solvent extraction out performed ADS-SPME in terms of consistently capturing all or most of the targeted DMMP impurities from spiked PWB.
Suggesting and supporting examples for novice programmers

Computer science education has recently begun expanding in middle and high schools, but many students still do not have access to computer science education in a classroom [1]. As a result, many children learn programming outside of formal education using novice programming environments and games such as Scratch [2] and Code.org [3].
Immersed boundary modal analysis and forced vibration simulation using step boundary method

Analysis using Cartesian background mesh with the geometry embedded or immersed in the mesh is gaining popularity. The primary advantage of this approach is that a traditional mesh, which conforms to the geometry, is not needed. Instead a background mesh that is independent of the geometry and has regular shaped undistorted elements is used because it is easy to generate automatically. Many methods for imposing Dirichlet boundary conditions on immerse boundaries have been studied. In this work step boundary method, where the trial and test functions are weighted using approximate step functions, has been used for imposing Dirichlet boundary conditions on boundaries that do not have nodes on them. This method has been shown to be effective for static problems in the past but has not been studied for dynamics. Step boundary method is extended to modal analysis and modal superposition as well as problems involving base excitation where the Dirichlet boundary conditions are functions of time. Several test examples are used to verify and validate the method. Step boundary method is studied for applying Dirichlet boundary conditions for linear dynamics.The geometry is immersed in a uniform mesh background to enable immersed boundary analysis.Step boundary method is extended to elastodynamics for modal analysis and modal superposition.Validation examples show that the natural frequencies and mode shapes computed are accurate.Implicit boundary method is extended to base excitation where boundary conditions are functions of time.
The Bid-rent Land Use Model of the simple, efficient, elegant, and effective model of land use and transportation

ABSTRACTIntegrated land use/transportation forecasting models add significant policy and infrastructure alternatives analysis capabilities to the urban planning process. The financial, time, and staff requirements to develop these models has put them beyond the reach of most small to medium sized urban areas. This paper presents the land use allocation submodel of the Simple, Efficient, Elegant, and Effective model of land use and transportation (SE3M), an integrated land use and transportation forecasting model founded upon Economic Base Theory and Bid-rent Theory. The Bid-rent Land Use Model (BLUM) is an agent based, spatial competition model utilizing unique utility curves for willingness to pay and incomes for budget constrained abilities to pay for each agent. The model structure, estimation, calibration, implementation, and validation are presented. With a single year of land use data available, the validation approach used the Kappa Index of Agreement to spatially check model outputs against base y...
Addition of Blood Pressure and Weight Transmissions to Standard Remote Monitoring of Implantable Defibrillators and its Association with Mortality and Rehospitalization.

Background—Among patients with implantable defibrillators (ICD), use of remote patient monitoring (RPM) is associated with lower risk of death and rehospitalization. Standard ICD RPM can be supplem...
Autonomic Nervous System, Aging and

As humans age, many body functions begin to deteriorate, including the function of various neuronal systems. The peripheral nervous system in the body is divided into those nerves that affect voluntary movement (the voluntary system) and those that regulate the function of internal organs such as the heart and gastrointestinal tract (the autonomic system). Significant alterations in the function of the autonomic nervous system appear to occur with aging.
GOVERNOR: Smoother Stream Processing Through Smarter Backpressure

Distributed micro-batch streaming systems, such as Spark Streaming, employ backpressure mechanisms to maintain a stable, high throughput stream of results that is robust to runtime dynamics. Checkpointing in stream processing systems is a process that creates periodic snapshots of the data flow for fault tolerance. These checkpoints can be expensive to produce and add significant delay to the data processing. The checkpointing latencies are also variable at runtime, which in turn compounds the challenges for the backpressure mechanism to maintain stable performance. Consequently, the interferences caused by the checkpointing may degrade system performance significantly, even leading to exhaustion of resources or system crash.This paper describes GOVERNOR, a controller that factors the checkpointing costs into the backpressure mechanism. It not only guarantees a smooth execution of the stream processing but also reduces the throughput loss caused by interferences of the checkpointing. Our experimental results on four stateful streaming operators with real-world data sources demonstrate that Governor implemented in Spark Streaming can achieve 26% throughput improvement, and lower the risk of system crash, with negligible overhead.
DNA melting and energetics of the double helix

Studying melting and energetics of the DNA double helix has been one of the major topics of molecular biophysics over the past six decades. The main objective of this article is to overview the current state of the field and to emphasize that there are still serious gaps in our understanding of the issue. We start with a concise description of the commonly accepted theoretical model of the DNA melting. We then concentrate on studies devoted to the comparison with experiment of theoretically predicted melting profiles of DNAs with known sequences. For long DNA molecules, such comparison is significant from the basic-science viewpoint while an accurate theoretical description of melting of short duplexes is necessary for various very important applications in biotechnology. Several sets of DNA melting parameters, proposed within the framework of the nearest neighbor model, are compared and analyzed. The analysis leads to a conclusion that in case of long DNA molecules the consensus set of nearest neighbor parameters describes well the experimental melting profiles. Unexpectedly, for short DNA duplexes the same set of parameters hardly yields any improvement as compared to the simplest model, which completely ignores the effect of heterogeneous stacking. Possible causes of this striking observation are discussed. We then overview the issue of separation of base-pairing and base-stacking contributions into the double helix stability. The recent experimental attempts to solve the problem are extensively analyzed. It is concluded that the double helix is essentially stabilized by stacking interaction between adjacent base pairs. Base pairing between complementary pairs does not appreciably contribute into the duplex stability. In the final section of the article, kinetic aspects of the DNA melting phenomenon are discussed. The main emphasis is made on the hysteresis effects often observed in melting of long DNA molecules. It is argued that the phenomenon can be well described via an accurate theoretical treatment of the random-walk model of melting kinetics of an isolated helical segment in DNA.