cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Objectified Selves: An Analysis of Medicines in Andean Sacrificial Healing

This analysis of medicines used in a Quechua soul-calling ritual in the southern Peruvian Andes demonstrates that the items in sacrificial bundles (despachos) embody the identity of patients. The manipulation of these medicinal objects gives insight into the meaning of the concept of embodiment in the Andean cultural context and expands Western conceptions of embodiment. An examination of the material representation of the body, the sacrificial object, illuminates the components of embodied identity in this particular cultural context. Analysis of the manipulation of medicines further illuminates the potency and efficacy of symbolic healing to transform the phenomenological world of the patient. [ethnomedicine, Andes, embodiment, symbolic healing]
Comments on "The Growth of and Recovery from TTS in Human Subjects Exposed to Impact Noise" [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 85, 1681-1690 (1989)].

This letter disputes the contention that the growth of temporary threshold shift (TTS) with time can be adequately described by Gompertz functions. The similarity between TTS growth functions in high levels of impact and of continuous noise is stressed, a similarity that leads to the proposition that some sort of peak‐limiting action that occurs at the stapes serves to protect the cochlea in the 120‐dBA region.
Gauge theories in the many-gluon limit

Abstract We argue that the idea that the dynamics of a gauge theory simplifies in the limit N → ∞, where N is the number of colors, can be invoked even if the gauge group is an exceptional Lie group, rather than one of the classical groups. We also point out that quantum tunneling phenomena can in some cases survive in the N → ∞ limit, contrary to the usual claim that the N → ∞ limit is “classical.”
Crystal growth and structure determination of the new silicate K3ScSi2O7

Single crystals of the new three-dimensional silicate K3ScSi2O7 were obtained via a high temperature flux method and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction. K3ScSi2O7 crystallizes in the space group P63/mmc with a = 5.60650(10) A, c = 13.6420(4) A. The structure contains sheets of ScO6 octahedra that are connected via Si2O7 bridging groups.
The peptic activation of acetyltrypsinogen.

Abstract Acetyltrypsinogen could not be activated by trypsin or chymotrypsin at pH 7 in the presence or absence of 3.0 M urea. Although trypsinogen itself could not be activated by pepsin at pH 3.4, the acetylated derivative became enzymically active under the same conditions. Maximum activity was attained when 40% of the protein (based on absorbance at 280 mμ) had become solubilized in 3.6% trichloroacetic acid (TCA). This activity was maintained in spite of the subsequent solubilization of 80–90% on the protein in TCA. The activity could be quantitatively recovered by precipitation with 0.3-saturated (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 yielding a preparation which was about 7 times more active than the unfractionated peptic digest.
Highly efficient non-covalent energy transfer in all-organic macrocycles

The use of aromatic organic macrocycles as supramolecular hosts for non-covalent energy transfer is reported herein. These macrocycles lead to stronger binding and more efficient energy transfer compared to commercially available γ-cyclodextrin. This energy transfer was particularly efficient for the highly toxic benzo[a]pyrene with a fluorescent BODIPY acceptor, with up to a 5-fold increase in the fluorophore emission observed.
Isotope separation and enrichment by ultrafast laser ablation

Spatial separation of isotopes in ultrafast laser ablation plumes is observed for a variety of elements in the periodic table. Observations are made with a charge-state discriminating mass analyzer as a function of angle relative to the center of the ablation plume. Data is presented for femtosecond and picosecond laser pulses showing enrichments by factors of 2 to 20 depending on element, charge state, and laser pulse duration. Thin films are deposited from the plasma plumes, as a function of distance from the ablation source, and used to record the spatial distribution of isotopes. This information is utilized to construct a model for the isotopic separation process and to infer characteristics of the electromagnetic fields in the ablation plasmas.
TOOMS: in pursuit of designing an organizational memory system for category managers

Capturing, encoding, storing and retrieving relevant historical knowledge and data for use in decision situations is a difficult problem. This project contributes to the understanding of organizational memory information systems through the development of a conceptual model for a task-oriented organizational memory system. In particular, this study builds on the notion of addressing organizational memory "in the small" by developing an information system that actualizes organizational memory for a specific task. A laboratory experiment was conducted to test the effects of knowledge type, task complexity and presentation mode on the actual and perceived effectiveness of completing a defined task. Results from the study indicate decision makers can benefit from a task-oriented organizational memory system.
Floppy SOX: Mutual Induced Fit in HMG (High-Mobility Group) Box-DNA Recognition

The high-mobility group (HMG) box defines a DNA-bending motif of broad interest in relation to human development and disease. Major and minor wings of an L-shaped structure provide a template for DNA bending. As in the TATA-binding protein and a diverse family of factors, insertion of one or more side chains between base pairs induces a DNA kink. The HMG box binds in the DNA minor groove and may be specific for DNA sequence or distorted DNA architecture. Whereas the angular structures of non-sequence-specific domains are well ordered, free SRY and related autosomal SOX domains are in part disordered. Observations suggesting that the minor wing lacks a fixed tertiary structure motivate the hypothesis that DNA bending and stabilization of protein structure define a coupled process. We further propose that mutual induced fit in SOX-DNA recognition underlies the sequence dependence of DNA bending and enables the induction of promoter-specific architectures.
The actions of several psychoactive agents upon the muscarinic mechanisms in the superior cervical ganglion of the cat

Abstract In the chloralose-urethane anesthetized cat, the actions of several psychoactive agents upon the muscarinic mechanisms in the superior cervical ganglion were tested. Responses of the nictitating membrane to electrical stimulation of the preganglionic nerve and to ganglionic stimulants delivered to the ganglion via intra-arterial injection were measured before and after several psychoactive agents were delivered to the ganglion in the same way. Methylphenidate (60 μg), pheniprazine (60 μg) and desipramine (50 μg) specifically antagonized the response of McN-A-343, a muscarinic stimulant, but not the response of DMPP. a nicotinic stimulant. In addition, the above antidepressants or psychostimulant antagonized muscarinic transmission but not nicotinic transmission in a sympathetic ganglion at the doses indicated. These results suggest a possible mode of action of antidepressants and psychostimulants in the brain to produce atropine-like autonomie effects observed in man during clinical use of these drugs.
Investing in the Asset Growth Anomaly Across the Globe

We document the existence of an anomalous asset growth effect globally and find that it comprises some combination of a market mispricing and some pervasive global systematic risk. To support our findings, we explore a battery of tests to include how country-level governance and market characteristics explain the cross-country differences in the effect. We also find evidence that any profits to a trading strategy based on the asset growth effect globally are somewhat diminished by high arbitrage costs.
Stream ecosystem response to small dam removal: Lessons from the Heartland

In this paper, we synthesize a series of small dam removal studies to examine how changes in channel form can affect riparian vegetation, fish, macroinvertebrates, mussels, and nutrient dynamics. Each of the ecosystem attributes responded to the disturbance of dam removal in different ways and recovered at very different rates, ranging from months to decades. Riparian vegetation appeared to require the greatest time for recovery, while macroinvertebrates had the least. Mussel communities were the most adversely affected group of species and showed no signs of recovery during the time period of the study. Based on these and other studies, we suggest that ecosystems may follow two trajectories of recovery following dam removal. First, ecosystems may fully recover to pre-dam conditions, although this may be unlikely in many cases. Even if full recovery occurs, the timescales over which different attributes recover will vary greatly and may be perceived by the public or management agencies as not recovering at all. Second, ecosystems may only partially recover to pre-dam conditions as the legacy of environmental damage of long-term dam presence may not be reversible or because other watershed changes inhibit full recovery. The potential for full or partial recovery is likely driven by the sensitivity of particular organisms, the characteristics of the dam removed, and the local geomorphic conditions of the watershed. Scientists and management agencies should assess the potential for full or partial recovery prior to dam removal and, in particular, should identify those species or groups of species that are likely to not recover to pre-dam conditions. Such information is critical in the decision of whether, or how, to remove a dam.
3,3′-Diindolylmethane and Paclitaxel Act Synergistically to Promote Apoptosis in HER2/Neu Human Breast Cancer Cells

Background HER2/neu positive breast tumors are difficult to treat. About 25 to 30% of invasive breast tumors overexpress the HER2/neu oncogene. These tumors are aggressive and become resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs. 3′3′-diindolylmethane (DIM), the active metabolite of indole-3-carbinol, a naturally occurring compound found in cruciferous vegetables, has been found to have anti-cancer properties in both humans and animals. DIM has been shown to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in animal breast cancer models. Because HER2/neu overexpression confers resistance to paclitaxel, and DIM has anti-tumor effects, we hypothesized that DIM will enhance the cytotoxic effects of paclitaxel, a common taxane drug, on human Her2/neu breast cancer cells by potentiating its effect on cell cycle and stimulating apoptosis. Methods The MDA-MB-435eB1 human Her2/neu breast cancer cells were treated with varying concentrations of DIM and paclitaxel. The cells were analyzed at different time points (24, 48, and 72 h). Proliferation was measured by a commercial cell proliferation assay (Promega Procheck Assay). Cell-cycle analysis and apoptosis were determined by flow cytometry. Western blot analysis was performed on to determine the effect of DIM and/or paclitaxel on the proteins involved in apoptosis, and epidermal growth factor-induced activation of HER2/neu and ERK1/2 signaling proteins. Results Both DIM and paclitaxel exhibited time and concentration dependent inhibition of cell proliferation. TUNEL assay indicated that the combination also increased the number of apoptotic cells more than either agent alone. The presence of cleaved poly (ADP-Ribose) polymerase (PARP) significantly increased in the combination treatment, whereas Bcl-2 is decreased. DIM alone decreased the activation of the Her2/neu receptor; the combination decreased the activation of ERK1/ERK2. Conclusions DIM in combination with paclitaxel synergistically inhibits growth of Her2/neu human breast cancer cells through G2M phase cell-cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis/necrosis. The Her2/neu receptor and its downstream signaling protein ERK1/2 appear to be involved in DIM’s affect on cell growth and differentiation, whereas apoptosis appears to be mediated through the mitochondrial pathway (Bcl-2/PARP). It appears DIM, a naturally occurring, nontoxic compound, may be a beneficial addition to a traditional (taxane-based) chemotherapy regimen.
Next Generation Sequence Analysis Using Genetic Algorithms on Multi-core Technology

Advent of recent high-throughput next generation sequencing technologies has fostered the demand of high performance sequence data analysis. Next generation sequence analysis is a very important but very challenging task in bioinformatics due to extremely large-scale datasets. A variety of searching methods have been proposed. Recent emerging multi-core computing technology makes it possible to speed up sequence analysis. In this paper, we discuss the problem of parallelizing next generation sequence analysis queries on multi-core technology. We develop a systematic method to solve this problem by using genetic algorithms. The proposed method provides us a globally optimal solution of this parallelization problem. The resulting efficiency and accuracy is superior to the ones obtained by using those approaches in which this problem is divided into the two parts: location and allocation, respectively.
Antiphase boundaries and rotation domains in In2O3(001) films grown on yttria-stabilized zirconia (001)

In2O3 is important because it has been widely used as a transparent contact material and an active gas sensor material. To understand and utilize its intrinsic physics as a semiconductor, it is necessary to have In2O3 with a high material quality. In this article, single-crystalline (001)-oriented In2O3 thin films were grown on yttria-stabilized zirconia (001) substrate, and a group theory analysis and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments were conducted to investigate the defects within the In2O3 film. Owing to the reduced symmetry of the bixbyite structure (space group Ia{\overline 3}) in comparison with the fluorite template (space group Fm {\overline 3}m), the formation of antiphase domains and 90° rotation domains in the In2O3 thin films is anticipated. This prediction is confirmed experimentally by TEM and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy images. The size of the enclosed domains ranges from 50 to 300 nm, and the major domain boundaries are along the (110), (1{\overline 1}0), (010) and (100) planes. The rotation domains are related by a fourfold rotation operation along the 〈001〉 directions, which will cause the permutation of the axes of the bixbyite structure.
The decomposition of nitrous oxide on chromia-alumina catalysts

The successive slug, microcatalytic technique has been used to study the decomposition of N2O on chromia-alumina catalysts in the region 300° to 600°C. The results are interpreted to indicate that the reaction sites are oxygen anion vacancies in the chromia clusters on the catalyst surface.
Maintenance of wind turbine systems under continuous monitoring

By utilizing condition monitoring information collected from wind turbine components, condition based maintenance (CBM) can be used to reduce the operation and maintenance costs of wind power generation systems. The existing CBM methods for wind power generation systems deal with wind turbine components separately. In other words, maintenance decisions are made on individual components, rather than the whole system. However, a wind farm consists of multiple wind turbines, and each wind turbine has multiple components including main bearing, gearbox, generator, etc. There are economic dependencies among wind turbines and their components. That is, once a maintenance team is sent to the wind farm, it may be more economical to take the opportunity to maintain multiple turbines, and when a turbine is stopped for maintenance, it may be more cost-effective to simultaneously maintain multiple components which show relatively high risks. In this paper, we develop an optimal CBM solution to address the above-mentioned issues. A simulation method is developed to evaluate the cost of the CBM policy. A numerical example is provided to illustrate the proposed CBM approach.
Tunneling-Based Cellular Nonlinear Network Architectures for Image Processing

The resonant tunneling diode (RTD) has found numerous applications in high-speed digital and analog circuits due to the key advantages associated with its folded back negative differential resistance (NDR) current-voltage (I-V) characteristics as well as its extremely small switching capacitance. Recently, the RTD has also been employed to implement high-speed and compact cellular neural/nonlinear networks (CNNs) by exploiting its quantum tunneling induced nonlinearity and symmetrical I-V characteristics for both positive and negative voltages applied across the anode and cathode terminals of the RTD. This paper proposes an RTD-based CNN architecture and investigates its operation through driving-point-plot analysis, stability and settling time study, and circuit simulation. Full-array simulation of a 128 times 128 RTD-based CNN for several image processing functions is performed using the Quantum Spice simulator designed at the University of Michigan, where the RTD is represented in SPICE simulator by a physics based model derived by solving Schrodinger's and Poisson's equations self-consistently. A comparative study between different CNN implementations reveals that the RTD-based CNN can be designed superior to conventional CMOS technologies in terms of integration density, operating speed, and functionality.
Coding in tuberous and ampullary organs of a gymnotid electric fish

The coding mechanisms of the tuberous and ampullary organs of Gymnotus carapo were studied. The tuberous fibers had no or irregular spontaneous discharges and showed phasic on and/or off responses to 50 msec electric pulses, while the ampullary fibers had regular spontaneous discharges and showed tonic responses to the pulses. The threshold measured with the electric pulses was 1.5 mV/cm on the average for the tuberous fibers and 0.26 mV/cm for the ampullary fibers. For the tuberous fibers, a 0.5–1.0 msec electric pulse was sufficiently long to evoke the maximum response when the intensity of the pulse was 3–10 times higher than the threshold of a given fiber. However, responses of the ampullary fibers were more dependent on duration. To repetitive stimuli of 0.5 msec electric pulses, the tuberous fibers discharged several impulses per stimulus; while the ampullary fibers responded by changingpontaneous discharges from an unlocked to a locked state only in a certain range of intensity and repetition rate of stimulus pulses. The number of impulses per stimulus in the locked state was not modified by change in stimulus intensity. More than half the tuberous fibers and all amullary fibers were mechanically excitable. However, these organs are not considered to act as mechanoreceptors in natural conditions, but to act as electroreceptors.
An integrated high availability computing platform

Purpose – To recommend an integrated server platform and demonstrate a real‐world example that provides high availability (HA) and better data management to meet various systems' computing needs.Design/methodology/approach – The paper overviews theoretical background and real‐world implementations for HA and Storage Area Networks (SANs). A systems analysis process is described and a platform was built to integrate the HA and the SAN for an academic library's critical web server and its content management system. Recommendations for selection and implementation are suggested for people adapting this approach.Findings – The integrated platform is a generic approach to provide the HA and better data management for servers, consisting of Linux/Windows clustering technologies and SANs. Its theoretical background and real‐world implementations proved its ability to meet library's various computing needs.Practical implications – The integrated platform provides HA for various computing services such as web serve...
Collective Memories and Collective Identities: Maintaining Unity in Native American Educational Social Movements

This ethnographic study of two Native American social movement organizations challenging educational practices examines the collective memory processes that occur simultaneously and in conjunction with the process of collective identity to help maintain movement unity. Links between collective memory and collective identity are theoretically traced, and the concept of narrative commemoration is proposed to help explore two distinct processes which emerged in the analysis. The first process, collective memory creation, makes collective memories of recent events held by only a small portion of a movement's membership available to be shared by the whole movement. The second process, collective memory maintenance, ensures that memories from the movement's past are carried forward to be shared by current members. Each process is important as movement members develop a unity around ends, means, fields of action, networks of relations, and recollections of these elements from the movement's past.
Handling hot spot data in DB-sharing systems

Abstract On-line transaction systems with high performance demands need a variety of concurrency control methods used for synchronizing data access of even a single transaction. Simple protocols based on strict two-phase locking would not meet their performance goals. This is particularly true for usage patterns of special data elements known as “hot spots”. In this paper, we review various solutions for concurrency control on aggregate data, where the operations to be synchronized commute—at least for certain value ranges. In particular, the escrow mechanism introduced for centralized DBMS is discussed and extended. Our investigations focus on the escrow mechanism for a data sharing environment where transactions running on multiple, independent processors must be efficiently synchronized without sacrificing their serializability. First of all, we propose the use of global escrow services, which may be called asynchronously. Such an optimistic attitude seems to be appropriate, since rejections of escrow operations typically are rare events. The performance of the proposed scheme may be further improved be refining it to a hierarchical escrow scheme with a global escrow and distributed local escrows. Both approaches may be favorably integrated either in a centralized locking scheme or in a primary copy authority scheme for DB-sharing.
Taxonomic clustering of web service for efficient discovery

The World Wide Web (WWW) has become a major platform for hosting, discovering, and composing web services. Web service clustering is a technique for efficiently facilitating web service discovery. Most web service clustering approaches are based on suitable semantic similarity distance measure and a threshold. Threshold selection is essentially difficult and often leads to unsatisfactory accuracy. In this paper we propose a taxonomic clustering algorithm for grouping functionally similar web services. We have tested the algorithm on both simulation based randomly generated test data and the standard OWL-S TC test data set. We have observed promising results both in terms of accuracy and performance.
The Association Between Operative Repair of Bladder Injury and Improved Survival: Results From the National Trauma Data Bank

Purpose: The bladder is the most commonly injured genitourinary organ from blunt pelvic trauma. In this study we describe traumatic bladder injuries in the United States, their management and association with mortality.Materials and Methods: We queried the 2002 to 2006 National Trauma Data Bank for all subjects with bladder injury. Demographics, mechanism of injury, coexisting injuries, type of bladder injury, and operative interventions for bladder and other abdominal trauma are described. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between bladder injury and in-hospital mortality.Results: Of 8,565 subjects with bladder trauma 46% had pelvic fracture and 15% had 2 or more intra-abdominal injuries. Of these subjects 54% underwent bladder surgery, including 76% with intraperitoneal injury and 51% with surgical repair of other abdominal organs. On multivariate analysis operative bladder repair reduced the likelihood of in-hospital mortality by 59%. Greater likelihood of de...
NED: An Efficient Noise-Tolerant Event and Event Boundary Detection Algorithm in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks provide an advanced platform to observe the physical world. Different users may be interested in different events derived from a same spatial phenomenon. The constrained and noisy environment of sensor networks, however, challenges successful in-network solutions to monitor and detect events and event boundaries. This paper presents an efficient algorithm, named NED, to support event and event boundary detection in wireless sensor networks. NED encodes partial event estimation results into variable length messages exchanged locally among neighboring nodes. Sensor nodes estimate events and event boundaries based on moving averages to eliminate noise effects. Thus, NED is resource-friendly to constrained sensor networks, and scales well to very large networks. Our experiment results illustrate that NEDs communication cost is flexible and moderate to different noise levels, and NED provides high quality estimation results of event and event boundary detection.
Tunnel-Diode-Loaded-Dipole Antenna

This paper presents a study of some properties of a tunnel-diode-loaded-dipole antenna. These include gain, noise performance, stability, and reradiation characteristics. In essence the analysis is made by applying ordinary network theory to an equivalent network of the loaded dipole antenna; however, the treatment stresses the difference between the combined antenna and amplifier (antennafier) and the usual amplifier. Graphical determinations of stability and reradiation are shown.
Effects of Hydrology, Herbivory and Sediment Disturbance on Plant Recruitment in a Lake Erie Coastal Wetland

Abstract Coastal wetlands of the Laurentian Great Lakes provide many valuable ecological functions and, currently, there are extensive efforts to preserve and manage remaining habitats. We examined plant recruitment in a Lake Erie coastal marsh on bare mudflats exposed during 2 y of below average water levels. In 2000 mudflat vegetation was sampled in shallow, medium and deep water transects and compared to germinable seeds found in sediments from 0–15 cm below the surface. Effects of sediment disturbance and herbivory on plant recruitment were tested in 1 m2 quadrats in 2000 and vegetation was sampled in 2001 to assess how well the disturbance/herbivory experiment predicted plant communities that became established on the mudflats. In 2000, 18 species were found on mudflats and 19 species were reared from the seedbanks. Seed densities (∼3000 seedlings/m2) were comparable to other freshwater wetlands and did not differ by sediment depth. Taxa richness was highest in sediments 0–5 cm below the surface. Mos...
Uncertainty and sensitivity in a bank stability model: implications for estimating phosphorus loading

Eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems is one of the most pressing water quality concerns in the United States and around the world. Bank erosion has been largely overlooked as a source of nutrient loading, despite field studies demonstrating that this source can account for the majority of the total phosphorus load in a watershed. Substantial effort has been made to develop mechanistic models to predict bank erosion and instability in stream systems; however, these models do not account for inherent natural variability in input values. To quantify the impacts of this omission, uncertainty and sensitivity analyses were performed on the Bank Stability and Toe Erosion Model (BSTEM), a mechanistic model developed by the US Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) that simulates both mass wasting and fluvial erosion of streambanks. Generally, bank height, soil cohesion, and plant species were found to be most influential in determining stability of clay (cohesive) banks. In addition to these three inputs, groundwater elevation, stream stage, and bank angle were also identified as important in sand (non-cohesive) banks. Slope and bank height are the dominant variables in fluvial erosion modeling, while erodibility and critical shear stress had low sensitivity indices; however, these indices do not reflect the importance of critical shear stress in determining the timing of erosion events. These results identify important variables that should be the focus of data collection efforts while also indicating which less influential variables may be set to assumed values. In addition, a probabilistic Monte-Carlo modeling approach was applied to data from a watershed-scale sediment and phosphorus loading study on the Missisquoi River, Vermont to quantify uncertainty associated with these published results. While our estimates aligned well with previous deterministic modeling results, the uncertainty associated with these predictions suggests that they should be considered order of magnitude estimates only. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Racial Disparities in Kidney Transplant and Living Donation

In the US, racial–ethnic minorities experience disproportionately high rates of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) but are far less likely than their majority counterparts to receive kidney transplants, the optimal therapy for many patients with ESRD. Despite long-standing recognition of the need to reduce racial–ethnic disparities in transplantation, relatively little progress in identifying effective mechanisms to narrow disparities has been made. In this chapter, we describe the nature of disparities in the need for and access to kidney transplantation. We also describe barriers that contribute to disparate rates of transplantation among racial–ethnic minorities in the US. We conclude with a discussion of promising interventions to eliminate racial–ethnic disparities in transplantation and the potential roles living kidney donation and living donor advocacy could play in helping to eliminate disparities.
BRCA mutation status and risk of secondary malignancy following chemotherapy for breast cancer

11017 Background: Since the BRCA gene is responsible for excisional DNA repair, we hypothesized that breast cancer patients with BRCA mutation would be more susceptible to the induction of second m...
Is there a Trade-off Between Trade Liberalisation and Pollution Abatement in Costa Rica? A Computable General Equilibrium Assessment

NOTE: The following is a description of the paper, and not the actual abstract. Trade and environment linkages are under increasing scrutiny, and a vast literature has emerged on the subject. Important linkages have been identified and major conclusions have been drawn in terms of economic policy. However, many questions still remain. Most countries are now engaged in a trade liberalisation process, while being aware of environmental problems, and the coherence between environmental and trade policies is a major concern. This paper aims at offering a quantitative analysis of the linkages between economic activity and the environment in Costa Rica, and specifically at evaluating the joint impact of environmental and commercial policies. Three main aspects of the CGE model presented in this paper account for its specificity with respect to previous analysis. First, it embodies a high level of disaggregation for pollutants, products, sectors and types of households. Second, this model explicitly includes dynamic features so that growth interdependencies of environmental and commercial policies can be studied. Third, most economy-wide studies on growth and environment linkages rely on effluent intensities associated with output, and do not allow for substitution between non-polluting and polluting factors. By contrast, in our model pollution emissions are linked to polluting input use, rather than output. Technical adjustment by substituting non-polluting factors to polluting factors may therefore be assessed.
The Institutional Mobility of Minorities in Congress

This article examines the extent to which race and ethnicity affect mobility to leadership positions within Congress. The authors utilize survival analysis to examine the rate at which legislators attained committee leadership positions between the 101st and 108th Congresses. The results show that black legislators attain leadership positions faster than white legislators. This may be because of the tendency for black members of Congress (MCs) to sit on less prestigious committees than white MCs, which creates greater opportunity for institutional promotion. Ethnicity, on the other hand, does not matter to mobility as Latinos acquire leadership positions at the same rate as non-Latino legislators.
Spontaneous and Reflex Emotional Responses Differentiated by Lesions in the Diencephalon

The diencephalic areas have been invoked as important subcortical centers having to do with the emotions.1,2,3 The emotional reactions of animals with hypothalamic lesions have not been differentiated as spontaneous and reflex phenomena. The former appear without provocation and vary somewhat between different subjects. The reflex emotions occur only after stimulation of one or another sensory modality. The monkey is an excellent animal for study of spontaneous emotionality. He threatens, grimaces, wiggles his ears, undergoes pilo-erection, and vocalizes either in anger or in fear. When approached he may attempt to run away or permits his anger to carry him into definite aggressions. Occasionally, in blind rage, he dashes himself against the mesh of the cage as if he meant to rend it apart. Cats show a good deal less of spontaneous emotional display than do monkeys.Material and Method. Monkeys and cats were used in this study. In all instances, the diencephalic lesions were placed under more or less direc...
A Reactive Linkage Model of the U.S. Defense Expenditure Policymaking Process

Several alternative explanations of U.S. defense expenditure policy-making behavior have been heralded as theoretically sound and empirically supported representations of U.S. defense expenditure policy making. This has created an atmosphere in which almost as much effort is directed towards criticizing and/or defending existing explanations as is given to improving them through continued theoretical and empirical investigations. To overcome this impasse, I have developed in this article a working synthesis of three current approaches –Arms Race, Organizational Politics, Bureaucratic Politics– based on the insights and observations of Samuel Huntington (1961), Warner Schilling (1962), Colin Gray (1971), and James Rosenau (1971). The resulting formulation, which is labeled the Reactive Linkage Model, characterizes the pattern of U.S. defense spending in terms of an initial response by the armed services to the anticipated USSR expenditure level which is subsequently filtered through the president, Congress, and the Departmen t of Defense to determine the magnitude, scale, and timing of the reaction . On the basis of the theoretical and empirical analyses here presented, I have reached the following conclusions. First, the Reactive Linkage Model successfully synthesizes the three existing explanations of U.S. defense expenditure policy making into a coherent and plausible whole. Second, the estimated version of the model provides an accurate representation of the pattern of U.S. defense expenditure policy making from 1954 to 1973. Specifically, the individual equations account for a large portion of the variance with parameter estimates that are both sharp and plausible and the model as a whole generates extremely accurate historical forecasts. Finally, I investigate the impact of war, presidential party, and negative public opinion on individual decisions, basing my inquiry on the assumption that the model accurately represents U.S. defense expenditure policy making. The results show that different events have an impact on only some of the steps in the policy-making process and the steps which are so affected vary from event to event. As a consequence of these results, I argue that the Reactive Linkage Model, and hence the idea of combining the key elements from competing explanations, represents a positive step forward in the study of U.S. defense expenditure policy making .
Evaluating aquaponic crops in a freshwater flow-through fish culture system

Abstract This study examined the establishment and growth performance of 34 food crops grown in a cool, low nutrient aquaponic system. Process water from a spring-fed flow-through trout raceway, with an average fish biomass of 3630 kg, was used as the water and nutrient source for the plant growing operation. Process water temperature entering the plant growing channels was 13 °C with average concentrations of 0.35, 0.34 and 0.19 mg·L− 1 for ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate, respectively. Crop types included lettuce, Asian greens, mustards, other greens, vegetables and herbs. Stand establishment (percent filled cells) and harvest and individual biomass were evaluated under three treatments; low flow (18.9 L/min), high flow (75.7 L/min), and an amended high flow treatment. The amended high flow treatment consisted of vermiculite planting media amended with composted fish waste and was placed in a channel receiving high flow. These treatments represented a gradient of nutrient availability with low flow receiving the fewest and the amended high flow treatment receiving the most nutrients. Due to space constraints cultivars were sown in two sets. Cultivars in set two were sown as space was made available when cultivars from set one were harvested. Stand establishment was greater than 80% for most cultivars under all treatments. However, the herbs sage, garlic chives, and lovage had poor stand establishment as did the vegetables Swiss chard and beets, which were sown late in the study. For most cultivars, stand establishment was not significantly different among treatments. The majority of cultivars attained the lowest biomass on the low flow treatment. Notable exceptions were cilantro, parsley, and minutina. Eight cultivars, including kohlrabi and the bibb lettuce ‘Rex’, grew best on the high flow treatment. The remaining 21 cultivars realized the greatest biomass on the amended treatment although in many cases the increase in biomass was minor. Additionally, for some cultivars, significant increases in stand establishment offset decreases in growth. Minimal improvements in water quality were observed, probably as a result of nutrient mobilization from accumulated solids within the aquaponic channels. Statement of relevance Many producers want to produce aquaponic crops but little basic information such as provided in this study is available about stand establishment, expected harvest biomass, or time to harvest making this study extremely relevant to commercial aquaculture.
Comparing qPCR and Nested PCR Diagnostic Methods for Aster Yellows Phytoplasma in Aster Leafhoppers

The aster yellows phytoplasma (AYp) is a wall-less bacterium that causes damage in multiple crops. They are spread primarily by the aster leafhopper, Macrosteles quadrilineatus (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). A total of 3,156 aster leafhoppers were collected during the 2014 and 2015 growing seasons in Michigan celery and carrot fields using sweep nets. The objective of this study was to test previously developed 16S rDNA phytoplasma gene primers to find the most reliable and least time-consuming method for AYp detection in leafhoppers. Nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed with universal primers P1/P7 and R16F2n/R16R2, and then, restriction enzymes AluI, MseI, and HhaI identified the phytoplasma to subgroup. Over the two years, 2.2% of samples were phytoplasma positive with nested PCR, classified in subgroups 16SrI-A or 16SrI-B. All samples were also tested with a TaqMan quantitative qPCR assay with universal phytoplasma primers and probe and 4.6% tested positive. A subset of samples were also t...
Prospects for II-VI Heterojunction Light Emitting Diodes

The difficulty of making pn junctions by conventional processing in the wider band-gap II–VIs has been attacked over the years in several ways. One way, which is the subject of this paper, is to join a p-type II–VI to an n-type II–VI to form a heterojunction (HJ). The HJ approach has been tried for over 20 years and has been quite successful in making pn junctions in these materials.
Behavioral Emulation for Scalable Design-Space Exploration of Algorithms and Architectures

This paper presents a simulation methodology called Behavioral Emulation (BE) for scalable design-space exploration of algorithms and architectures. By design, BE is independent of simulation vehicle (e.g., simulation in software or emulation in hardware) and addresses system-simulation complexity with a coarse-grained, multi-scale approach. We describe the BE methodology, component models, and simulation workflow from calibration to validation of applications simulated on existing architectures and present a device-level case study with roughly 10 % relative error. Finally, we discuss the extension of validated models to predict application performance on notional architectures.
Analysis of mission computer utilization of the GPS navigation solution during a simulated fighter/attack scenario

The authors show the benefits of combining the GPS (Global Positioning System) solution with the INS (inertial navigation system) solution to extend navigation through the jammed environment. A simulated scenario containing the dynamics and jamming of various mission phases (takeoff, en route navigation, target area entry, etc.) are defined and used to obtain performance data. A variety of real-time methods for determining how to use the GPS navigation solution in the mission computer are demonstrated, and an INS error filter is modeled and analyzed to show the improvement in navigation capability possible when using state-3 (jammed) GPS data. >
In Vivo Plantar Pressures in Adult-Acquired Flatfoot Compared to Control Using an Intraoperative Pedobarographic Device:

Intraoperative pedobarography has the potential to aid surgical decisions, but no parameters exist to guide its use. This study compared supine plantar pressures between flatfoot patients and controls using a previously validated intraoperative pedobarographic device and examined associations between supine, walking, and standing plantar pressures. Ten preoperative patients with stage II adult-acquired flatfoot deformity (AAFD) were compared to ten healthy controls. Supine plantar pressures were assessed using the pedobarographic device. Standing and walking plantar pressures were assessed with an EMED-XT sensor array (Novel). Maximum force (MF) and peak pressure (PP) were calculated for nine anatomical foot regions adjusting for age and BMI. No differences in plantar pressures were found between flatfoot patients and controls in the supine or standing positions. During walking, flatfoot patients had greater MF of the first, second, and third metatarsals (p ≤ 0.018) and greater PP of the first and second metatarsals than controls (p ≤ 0.010). Supine MF and PP were both strongly positively correlated with their respective pressure measurements for both standing and walking in multiple foot regions (p ≤ 0.05, all analyses). Correlations in the first metatarsal region were generally weak and not statistically significant. This device did not show differences in supine plantar pressures of flatfoot patients and healthy subjects, highlighting the limitations of intraoperative devices in guiding flatfoot correction. The differences between flatfoot and controls during walking and the correlations between supine and walking conditions suggest that dynamic plantar pressures are a more useful parameter in guiding flatfoot reconstruction.
Primero Madres: love and mothering in the educational lives of Latina/os

This article examines the historical and contemporary role of Latina madres in the educational lives of their children and communities. Latinas, in their work as mother-activists, have played criti...
Real-time yield estimation based on deep learning

Crop yield estimation is an important task in product management and marketing. Accurate yield prediction helps farmers to make better decision on cultivation practices, plant disease prevention, and the size of harvest labor force. The current practice of yield estimation based on the manual counting of fruits is very time consuming and expensive process and it is not practical for big fields. Robotic systems including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV), provide an efficient, cost-effective, flexible, and scalable solution for product management and yield prediction. Recently huge data has been gathered from agricultural field, however efficient analysis of those data is still a challenging task. Computer vision approaches currently face diffident challenges in automatic counting of fruits or flowers including occlusion caused by leaves, branches or other fruits, variance in natural illumination, and scale. In this paper a novel deep convolutional network algorithm was developed to facilitate the accurate yield prediction and automatic counting of fruits and vegetables on the images. Our method is robust to occlusion, shadow, uneven illumination and scale. Experimental results in comparison to the state-of-the art show the effectiveness of our algorithm.
High light extraction efficiency into glass substrate in organic light-emitting diodes by patterning the cathode in graded superlattice with dual periodicity and dual basis

The newly discovered graded, superlattice photonic crystals with dual periodicity and dual basis present great opportunity for electromagnetic wave control in photonic devices. These graded superlattices can be holographically fabricated by eight beam interference lithography. We have computed, through electrodynamic simulation, the light extraction efficiency of planar, white organic light-emitting diodes where the Al cathode is patterned with the graded superlattice with dual basis. Two graded super-lattices with four-fold and two-fold symmetries are used to pattern the Al cathode. The decrease in power losses to surface plasmon and waveguide modes is explained by the varying plasmon path length and grating cycle, respectively, in the graded pattern. To the authors' best knowledge, the highest light extraction efficiency of 73.1% into the glass substrate in organic light-emitting diodes has been predicted through simulations.
Comparisons of measurements of pO2 in tissue in vivo by EPR oximetry and microelectrodes.

Polarographic micro-electrode measurements are very useful for measuring pO2 in vivo, especially for measurements of the variation of pO2 within a tumor (1,2,8). This method has several advantages, including: it is the only direct method currently in extended use in the clinical setting; it can provide data on microscopic heterogeneity; and it is fairly widely available. While the micro-electrode method has become a type of “gold standard” for measurement of pO2 in tissues, it has some limitations and disadvantages: it can be technically difficult; it has limited resolution at the very low levels of pO2 that are important for many clinically relevant processes; and it can perturb the tissues significantly, especially when used in repeated studies to monitor pO2 in tissues over time. Repeated measurements are especially desirable to follow the effect on tissue pO2 after treatment with some drugs (e.g. anti-cancer drugs and anesthetics) and radiation, the effects of acute and chronic ischemia, and changes in respiratory factors. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) oximetry appears to offer some complimentary advantages for such studies: it can monitor pO2 continuously and/or repeatedly at the exactly the same localized area in tissue in vivo without the need for anesthesia; it can resolve small differences in pO2 even at the very low levels that occur pathophysiologically; and it can be used in a variety of settings.