cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development and Validation of the Coaching Athlete Purpose Scale (CAPS)

Abstract The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Coaching Athlete Purpose Scale (CAPS), designed to measure alignment between coaching purpose and the athlete-centered outcomes of competence, confidence, connection, and character (the 4Cs). Following literature review, a pool of items was developed and submitted for content validation to a panel of experts. These items were tested in four independent studies with intercollegiate coaches in the United States (N = 1347). In Study 1, initial factor structure was examined through exploratory factor analysis. In Study 2, the factorial structure was confirmed and the scale was further optimized for length. Confirmatory factor analyses were used in Studies 2, 3, and 4 to further assess psychometric properties and to test measurement invariance across sex, NCAA Division, employment status, and position. The final items of the scale were tested using a correlated-factor model, a bifactor model, and a second-order model within both the confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling (i.e., Full-ESEM and Set-ESEM) frameworks. Overall, results provided strong evidence of construct validity and reliability, suggesting the 15-item CAPS as a practical research and formative assessment tool for checking alignment between coaching purpose and athlete-centered outcomes.
Assessing Correlation Power Analysis (CPA) Attack Resilience of Transistor-Level Logic Locking

Logic locking has demonstrated its potential to protect the intellectual property of integrated circuits (ICs). The security strength of logic locking is typically evaluated through functional and structural analysis-based attacks. There is limited work analyzing logic locking techniques' resilience against power-based side-channel attacks. To fill this gap, we propose an attack flow for the correlation power analysis (CPA) attack on the circuits encrypted with transistor-level logic locking. Our case studies indicate that CPA attacks outperform DPA attacks in terms of key recovery rate (KRR). To improve the CPA attack resilience of an existing transistor-level logic locking technique, we propose a logic-cone conjunction (LCC) method to enlarge the key space and reduce the correlation between the locking key and the power consumption of locked circuits. The experimental results show that the LCC method successfully reduces the KRR from 100% to 0% by using cyclic logic structures. The FPGA emulation indicates that the proposed method incurs 2.6% more delay and 1.5% more power consumption than the baseline.
BEWARE ASIAN SERVERS: RACIALIZED PERCEPTIONS OF CHEATING AND SKILL AMONG VIDEO GAME PLAYERS

The resurgent interest in cyberpunk in video game cultures centers the genre's historical and racially problematic themes. Moreover, competitive/online play and the attending toxicity, along with recent Covid-19 based anti-Asian sentiments center the need to theorize the discursive patterns in which these phenomena appear. Taking the recurring talk on various video game forums of isolating Asian servers because "Asians cheat" as a site of inquiry, this project argues that the sentiment of isolating Asian players to region locked servers relies on three entangled discourses: the on-again, off-again collapsing of various Asian identities to a monolithic Pan-Asia (Duara, 2001), Korean and Japanese "expertise" through acquired skill viz. their assumed video game "obsessiveness" (Groen, 2013), and the cheating technological Other seeking to supplant Whiteness at the privileged center of video games (see Nakamura, 2002, 2009). By highlighting these discourses and how they function, this project hopes to lend theoretical nuance to understanding racism in contemporary video game cultures.
Repeat Offenders: ESG Incident Recidivism and Investor Underreaction

This paper captures poor environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices based on a firm’s history of negative ESG incidents. I find that firms’ past ESG incident rates predict more future incidents, weaker profitability, and lower risk-adjusted stock returns. These abnormal returns are consistent with markets underreacting to incidents, as past incident rates also predict larger analyst forecast errors, more negative stock price reactions when firms announce their quarterly earnings or have subsequent incidents, and more pronounced abnormal returns in firms with weaker investor attention. I further document that ESG-aware mutual funds profit from this underreaction. Overall, these findings suggest that the negative long-term value implications of poor ESG practices are not fully reflected in stock prices.
When is Offspring Viability Fitness a Measure of Paternal Fitness and When is it not

We use population genetics to model the evolution of a gene with an indirect effect owing to paternal care and with a second pleiotropic, direct effect on offspring viability. We use the model to illustrate how the common empirical practice of considering offspring viability as a component of parent fitness can confound a gene's direct and indirect fitness effects. We investigate when this confounding results in a distorted picture of overall evolution and when it does not. We find that the practice has no effect on mean fitness, W, but it does have an effect on the dynamics of gene frequency change, ∆q. We also find that, for some regions of parameter space associated with fitness trade-offs, the distortion is not only quantitative but also qualitative, obscuring the direction of gene frequency change. Because it affects the evolutionary dynamics, it also affects the expected amount of genetic variation at mutation-selection balance, an important consideration in molecular evolution. We discuss empirical techniques for separating direct from indirect effects and how field studies measuring the value of male paternal care might be improved by using them.
Sister Mary Joseph Nodule and the Mystery behind its Nomenclature.

Physicians, nurses, medical students, and nursing students from around the world are familiar with the Sister Mary Joseph nodule. It can appear in the subcutis of the umbilicus in persons who have malignancies of the stomach, pancreas, gynecological organs or urinary tract, or sometimes the respiratory tract. The mystery is how the term traveled overseas from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where Sister Joseph worked, to England, where it first appeared in publication in a textbook by a British surgeon, Hamilton Bailey. There is no record of Bailey ever meeting Sister Joseph or the Mayo brothers, or of his traveling to the Mayo Clinic. This article explores the life of Sister Joseph, her influence on Dr William J. Mayo, and the life of Bailey. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Unusual productions in phonology : universals and language-specific considerations

* Sonority Principles Meet Probabilistic Phonotactics in Lexical Development, Judith Gierut, Michele Morrisette & Katherine Brown * Phonological Patterns in the Lexical Development of French, Tania Zamuner, Elizabeth Morin-Lessard & Natacha Bouchat-Laird * Development of Word-initial Consonant Clusters in Valley Zapotec: Universal vs. Language-Specific Effects of Sonority, Joseph Paul Stemberger & Mario E. Chavez-PeoA n * Markedness in First Language Acquisition, Paula Reimers * A Comparison of Fricative Production in German and Canadian English-speaking Children with Protracted Phonological Development, B.M. Bernhardt, R. Romonath, & J.P. Stemberger * Pre- and Post-Treatment Production of Syllable-Initial /o/ clusters by Children Speaking Quebec-French, Susan Rvachew & FranC oise Brosseau-LapreE * Children's Incipient Conspiracies, Daniel A. Dinnsen, Judith Gierut & Michele Morrisette * When Place does not Fall into Place: A Case Study of a Child with Diverse Linguistic Input, Margaret Kehoe * The Production of /sC/ Onsets in a Markedness Relationship: Investigating the Ontogeny and Phylogeny Model with Longitudinal Data, Robert S. Carlisle & Juan Antonio Cutillas Espinosa * The Role of Input Frequency, Universals, and L1 Transfer in the Acquisition of English L2 Onsets by Native Speakers of Cantonese, Mandarin Chinese, and Vietnamese, Jette G. Hansen Edwards * Stop VOT Productions by Young Bilingual Spanish-English Children and Their Monolingual Peers, Amanda L. Procter, Ferench Bunta & Rachel Aghara * Production of Long Lag Stops in Early Sequential Spanish-English Bilinguals, Mehmet Yavas & Emily Byers
Bending Stresses in Shells of Revolution

When dealing with the bending stresses of shells of revolution, we use the same coordinates as in Chapter 2 where the direct stresses in the same kind of shells were treated: The angle θ between the meridian and an arbitrary datum meridian, and the colatitude o (figs. II-1 and II-2). For the derivatives with respect to these coordinates we shall use the dash-and-dot notation explained on p. 88.
High-level neuronal expression of abeta 1-42 in wild-type human amyloid protein precursor transgenic mice: synaptotoxicity without plaque formation.

Amyloid plaques are a neuropathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD), but their relationship to neurodegeneration and dementia remains controversial. In contrast, there is a good correlation in AD between cognitive decline and loss of synaptophysin-immunoreactive (SYN-IR) presynaptic terminals in specific brain regions. We used expression-matched transgenic mouse lines to compare the effects of different human amyloid protein precursors (hAPP) and their products on plaque formation and SYN-IR presynaptic terminals. Four distinct minigenes were generated encoding wild-type hAPP or hAPP carrying mutations that alter the production of amyloidogenic Aβ peptides. The platelet-derived growth factor β chain promoter was used to express these constructs in neurons. hAPP mutations associated with familial AD (FAD) increased cerebral Aβ1–42 levels, whereas an experimental mutation of the β-secretase cleavage site (671M→I) eliminated production of human Aβ. High levels of Aβ1–42 resulted in age-dependent formation of amyloid plaques in FAD-mutant hAPP mice but not in expression-matched wild-type hAPP mice. Yet, significant decreases in the density of SYN-IR presynaptic terminals were found in both groups of mice. Across mice from different transgenic lines, the density of SYN-IR presynaptic terminals correlated inversely with Aβ levels but not with hAPP levels or plaque load. We conclude that Aβ is synaptotoxic even in the absence of plaques and that high levels of Aβ1–42are insufficient to induce plaque formation in mice expressing wild-type hAPP. Our results support the emerging view that plaque-independent Aβ toxicity plays an important role in the development of synaptic deficits in AD and related conditions.
Effects of metformin on body mass index, menstrual cyclicity, and ovulation induction in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Abstract Objective Metformin has been used as a treatment in many studies of the infertility associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We will review the literature on this topic as it specifically relates to changes in body mass index (BMI), improvement in menstrual cyclicity, and effects on ovulation and pregnancy rates. Design Review of studies addressing biochemical and clinical changes in women with PCOS on metformin. Main outcome measure(s) Changes in BMI, menstrual cyclicity, ovulation rate, and pregnancy rate. Result(s) Metformin has been shown to produce small but significant reductions in BMI. Multiple observational studies have confirmed an improvement in menstrual cyclicity with metformin therapy. The studies addressing the concomitant use of metformin with clomiphene citrate initially predicted great success, but these have been followed by more modest results. There is little data in the literature concerning the use of metformin and hMGs. Conclusion(s) Some (but not all) women with PCOS have improvements in their menstrual cycles while on metformin. The data supporting the use of metformin in ovulation induction with clomiphene citrate and hMG remain to be confirmed by large, randomized, prospective studies.
Towards 0.1-mm spatial resolution in neutron diffractometry

A design goal for VULCAN, the SNS engineering neutron diffractometer, is to enable spatial mapping with 0.1-mm resolution. Because the targeted applications often involve the use of large samples or special environments, slits cannot be used for this purpose. In this paper, methods to achieve 0.1-mm spatial resolution are outlined. For the incident beam, a new compact focusing device is proposed. The device is made of a stack of bent silicon wafers, each having a reflective multilayer (supermirror) deposited on one side and a neutron-absorbing layer on the other side. The optimal design to minimize the optical spatial aberrations is discussed and Monte Carlo simulation results are presented. For the diffracted beam, imaging devices made from thick packets of diffracting bent silicon wafers (known as Bragg mirrors) could be used. The requirements to achieve sharp imaging together with a large phase-space acceptance window are discussed and preliminary testing results are presented.
Self-reported differences between cardiologists and heart failure specialists in the management of chronic heart failure

Abstract Background Heart failure (HF) is responsible for considerable mortality morbidity rates and resource utilization. Recently, several studies have reported improved outcomes when patients are managed by special HF clinics, but it is uncertain whether this improvement reflects differences in physician practices or other aspects of the operation of these clinics. Objectives This study was designed to identify differences in HF management practices between general cardiologists and cardiologists specializing in the treatment of patients with HF. Methods A survey examining diagnostic and treatment practices in patients with HF was sent to a sample of cardiologists derived from the American Medical Association Masterfile and to HF specialists who were members of the Society of Transplant Cardiologists or principal investigators in HF trials. Responses were examined in relation to guidelines issued by the Agency for Health care Policy and Research released 9 months previously. Results In general both groups practice in conformity with published guidelines. However, there were important differences between the practice patterns of general cardiologists and HF specialists. For instance, in patients being evaluated for the first time, cardiologists reported using a chest radiograph to assist in the diagnosis more than did HF specialists (47% vs 12%), whereas HF specialists were more likely to use an echocardiogram (73% vs 48%). Both groups were likely to evaluate their patients for ischemia and possible revascularization, even in patients not having angina. However, HF specialists tended to use coronary angiography as the initial diagnostic test, whereas cardiologists were more likely to use stress testing. HF specialists more often used angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors as part of their initial therapy in patients with mild to moderate HF (94% vs 86%) and during maintenance therapy (91% vs 80%). Also, HF specialists were more likely than cardiologists to titrate angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors to higher doses (75% vs 35%), even in the presence of renal dysfunction. Conclusion Cardiologists and HF specialists generally manage their patients in conformity with guidelines. However, in many areas, such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use, HF specialists do so more aggressively. These approaches may, in part, explain the success of the HF clinic model and raise the possibility that some portion of the HF population may be more optimally managed by cardiologists with a special interest in and additional training or experience with this condition. (Am Heart J 1999;138:100-7.)
Determinants of circulants of prime power order

Let p be a prime > 3. It is shown that no integral circulant of order pk exists with determinant pk+1 . It is also shown that m is the determinant of an integral 9×9 circulant if and only if (m, 3)=l, or m = 0 mod 27. The proof makes use of a criterion which must be satisfied by the difference of two units in the cyclotomic field of level pk .
Pulmonary vascular amyloid causing pulmonary hypertension: Report of a case and review of literature

Abstract Although amyloid may deposit in the lungs, it is rare for pulmonary vascular involvement to cause appreciable luminal obstruction. To our knowledge, only three well-documented cases of pulmonary hypertension caused by amyloidosis have been reported. We describe pulmonary hypertension in a 54-year-old woman with primary (amyloid light chain; AL) amyloidosis. Although myocardial deposition of amyloid had produced restrictive hemodynamics, the diffuse and severely obstructive nature of pulmonary vascular involvement was considered to be of greater importance in the production of pulmonary hypertension in this patient. Amyloid-associated pulmonary hypertension may be associated with an insidious clinical presentation and contribute to morbidity and mortality.
Does relocating information in text depend on verbal or visuospatial abilities? An individual-differences analysis.

In this individual-differences study, we evaluated the prevalent view that relocating information in a previously read text depends primarily on visuospatial abilities. Participants read a text, answered fillin-the-blank test questions, and identified which page and line in the original text contained the sentence in each question. They also completed a battery of verbal and visuospatial tasks. Performance on verbal tasks was highly predictive of the accuracy of both page and line identifications, and this correlation remained significant even after we controlled for performance on visuospatial tasks. In contrast, performance on visuospatial tasks was not predictive of either page or line identification accuracy, once verbal abilities were controlled for. These results suggest an important role for verbal abilities in relocation of text information and a lesser role for visuospatial abilities than has previously been assumed.
Intergenerational change in sex behavior: a belated look at Kinsey's males

This article replicates for Kinsey's male sample the decade-of-birth analyses provided in the Kinsey "female volume." Five generations of male respondents are compared in terms of total frequency of sexual activity, and frequency and incidence of nine specific categories of sexual behavior. Inj general, unmarried males born after 1900 experienced more frequent sexual outlet than did nineteenth-century males. Additionally, the proportion of total outlet devoted to various specific activities varied by birth decade. Solitary masturbation rose somewhat spectacularly in significance with the passing decades, while nocturnal emissions and animal contacts declined. Orgasms provided by heterosexual activities increased slightly for the early twentieth-century generations, but then declined to a point below their nineteenth-century levels. Although homosexual contacts accounted for a constant percentage of total outlet for unmarried males over the five generations, more males in each succeeding generation were actively engaging in homosexual activity, at least on a casual basis. Similarly, although heterosexual contacts accounted for a smaller percentage of all activity among the unmarried in later generations, more of the later-born males had engaged in such activity at least once. For married males, on the other hand, frequency of total outlet was unaffected by generation. A large and stable proportion of this outlet was provided by marital coitus. Although more males in later generations had experienced extramarital contacts, such activities accounted for a small and resonably stable proportion of total outlet, when frquency of occurrence was considered. Masturbation gained in significance, while nocturnal emissions and homosexual contacts declined, and animal contacts among the married were almost nonexistent in all generations.
Metabolic profiling in validation of plasma biomarkers for green tea polyphenols

Green tea polyphenols (GTP) effectively protect against chronic diseases in various animal models but human studies have been inconclusive. GTP components and metabolites in body fluids have been suggested as potential biomarkers, but validation of these biomarkers has rarely been done in human populations. A randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled phase IIa chemoprevention study with GTP was conducted in 120 human subjects for 3 months. To validate GTP biomarker profiles, plasma samples were collected at baseline, 1-month, and 3-month and were analyzed by HPLC-Coularray electrochemical detection (ECD) for specific GTP components as well as for non-targeted metabolites. The levels of 2 GTP components, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG), were homogenous at baseline (p > 0.45) but were significantly elevated (p < 0.01) by GTP treatment. Metabolic profiling identified 106 metabolites, and 56 of them were chosen to construct discriminant functions (DFs) based on the data at 3 months. The DFs clearly separated the placebo, 500 mg GTP, and 1000 mg GTP groups with an accuracy rate of 97.3%. When the DFs were applied to the combined baseline and 1-month data, the accuracy rate was 62.9% in classifying subjects into the 3 intervention groups. DFs derived from 1-month data showed similar results. Overall, this study validated plasma EGCG and ECG as reliable biomarkers for GTP consumption, and found metabolic profiles effective in discriminating different GTP dosages.
Performance of a Constrained Microscale Film Bubble Absorber Under System Operating Conditions

Absorption of ammonia vapor bubbles into a constrained thin film of ammonia-water solution is presented in the context of potential reduction in size of a heat-actuated heat pump component. A large-aspect-ratio channel with a depth of 600 μm restricts the thickness of the weak solution film, while ammonia vapor bubbles are injected from a porous wall. Experiments are performed at a nominal system pressure of 6.2 bar absolute and at an inlet weak solution temperature of 75 °C. A counter flowing coolant at a fixed inlet temperature of 58 °C removes the generated heat of absorption. The mass flow rate of the weak solution, vapor flow rate, and mass flow rate of the coolant solution are varied. Results indicate that a desirable operating condition for the absorber considering both heat and mass transfer attributes is obtained for a flow rate of 1.5 g/min of vapor and 35 g/min of weak solution. Variation of the coolant flow rate does not significantly affect the overall heat transfer coefficient at a low vapor flow rate of 1 g/min. Under these operating conditions, preliminary geometric scaling estimates indicate that a 11.3 kW heat load absorber would require a heat exchange surface area of 0.88 m2 . The excess pressure drop penalty on the vapor side across the porous plate for this absorber needs to be considered in terms of the overall absorption cycle performance.© 2008 ASME
Ischemia-Reperfusion Attenuates Endothelin ET B Receptors on the Newborn Gut Vascular Endothelium

Ischemia-Reperfusion Attenuates Endothelin ET B Receptors on the Newborn Gut Vascular Endothelium
Measures of ideal execution architectures

This paper is a study in ideal computer architectures or program representations. We define measures of “ideal” architectures that are related to the higher-level representation used to describe a program at the source language level. Traditional machine architectures name operations and objects which are presumed to be present in the host machine: a memory space of certain size, ALU operations, etc. An ideal language-based architecture is based on a specific higher-level (source) language, and uses the operations in that language to describe transformations over objects in that language. The notion of ideal is necessarily constrained. The object program representation must be easily decompilable (i.e., the source is readily reconstructable). It is assumed that the source itself is a good representation for the original problem; thus any nonassignment operation present in the source program statement appears as a single instruction (operation) in the ideal representation. All named objects are defined with respect to the scope of definition of the source program. For simplicity of discussion, statistical behavior of the program and language is assumed to be unknown; Huffman codes are not used. From the above, canonic interpretive (CI) measures are developed. CI measures apply to both the space needed to represent a program and the time needed to interpret it. Example-based CI measures are evaluated for a variety of contemporary architectures, both host-and language-oriented, as well as a CI-derived language-oriented architecture.
Studies on Immunity to Measles.

In 1925, Tunnicliff,1 working with the diplococcus she had isolated from cases of measles, found that almost invariably a skin reaction was produced in persons who had not had measles, whereas in individuals who had had the disease. 96 per cent gave no reaction. Her antigen was a culture of organisms grown anaerobically in 1 per cent dextrose broth to which was added ascitic fluid, killed with 0.5 per cent phenol. Ferry and Fisher,2 with an organism probably the same as Tunnicliff's, tested 35 individuals with negative measles history, and found 14 gave positive skin reactions. Thirty children who had had measles gave a negative reaction.In the present studies, the 24-hour bouillon culture filtrate for organisms isolated by blood culture and prepared by Duval was used. Two-tenths of a cubic centimeter of a dilution of 1 to 10 was injected intracutaneously with the following results. In a home for children, with 18 children without record of having had measles, 17 gave positive reaction varying in size fro...
An Investigation of Auditor and Client Tenure

The purpose of this study is to examine the duration of the auditor’s relationship with a client and factors that affect audit firm tenure. The duration of the auditor and client relationship has been cited as possibly affecting the risk of a loss of auditor independence. Also, audit firm tenure has been used as an independent variable in several studies with variations on the characterization of a “long auditor‐client association.” However, little is known about the duration of the auditor’s relationship with a client. Generally, no empirical justification is provided for the treatment of the variable and no consideration is included for auditor or client factors that may affect the relationship. This study evaluates the duration of the auditor relationship with a client and determines which factors contribute to changes in that relationship. In an examination of 16,976 COMPUSTAT companies over a twentyyear period, the mean duration of audit tenure is found to be more than six years. However, audit tenure is affected by client size, client growth rate, and type of audit firm involved in the change of auditor. Audit tenure is not affected by audit firm size, client risk, or audit opinion.
Dielectric properties and Raman spectra of ZnO from a first principles finite-differences/finite-fields approach

Using first principles calculations based on density functional theory and a coupled finite-fields/finite-differences approach, we study the dielectric properties, phonon dispersions and Raman spectra of ZnO, a material whose internal polarization fields require special treatment to correctly reproduce the ground state electronic structure and the coupling with external fields. Our results are in excellent agreement with existing experimental measurements and provide an essential reference for the characterization of crystallinity, composition, piezo- and thermo-electricity of the plethora of ZnO-derived nanostructured materials used in optoelectronics and sensor devices.
Farmer Participation in U.S. Farm Bill Conservation Programs

Conservation policy in agricultural systems in the United States relies primarily on voluntary action by farmers. Federal conservation programs, including the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, offer incentives, both financial and technical, to farmers in exchange for adoption of conservation practices. Understanding motivations for (as well as barriers to) participation in voluntary programs is important for the design of future policy and effective outreach. While a significant literature has explored motivations and barriers to conservation practice adoption and participation in single programs, few studies in the U.S. context have explored general participation by farmers in one place and time. A mixed-methods research approach was utilized to explore farmer participation in all U.S. Farm Bill programs in Indiana. Current and past program engagement was high, with nearly half of survey respondents reporting participation in at least one program. Most participants had experience with the Conservation Reserve Program, with much lower participation rates in other programs. Most interview participants who had experience in programs were motivated by the environmental benefits of practices, with incentives primarily serving to reduce the financial and technical barriers to practice adoption. The current policy arrangement, which offers multiple policy approaches to conservation, offers farmers with different needs and motivations a menu of options. However, evidence suggests that the complexity of the system may be a barrier that prevents participation by farmers with scarce time or resources. Outreach efforts should focus on increasing awareness of program options, while future policy must balance flexibility of programs with complexity.
Fuzzy logic resource manager: multi-agent techniques, fuzzy rules, strategies, and fuzzy decision tree structure

Modern naval battleforces generally include many different platforms each with onboard sensors such as radar, ESM, and communications. The sharing of information measured by local sensors via communication links across the battlegroup should allow for optimal or near optimal decisions. A fuzzy logic algorithm has been developed that automatically allocates electronic attack (EA) resources in real-time. The fuzzy logic approach allows the direct incorporation of expertise allowing decisions to be made based on these rules. Genetic algorithm based optimization is conducted to determine the form of the membership functions for the fuzzy root concepts. The resource manager is made up of five parts, the isolated platform model, the multi-platform model, the communication model, the fuzzy parameter selection tree and the fuzzy strategy tree. Automatic determination of fuzzy decision tree structure using a genetic program, an algorithm that creates other computer programs is discussed. A comparison to a tree obtained using a genetic program and one constructed based on expertise is made. The automatic discovery through genetic algorithms of multi-platform techniques, rules and strategies is discussed. Two new multi-platform power allocation algorithms based on fuzzy number theory and linear and nonlinear programming are introduced. Methods of validating the algorithms are examined.
Molecular character of sharkskin phenomenon in metallocene linear low density polyethylenes

The effect of molecular weight on sharkskin dynamics is systematically studied using three metallocene-catalyzed linear low density polyethylenes (mLLDPE) of different molecular weights. A new experimental method is developed to enable in-situ characterization of the time scale r on which sharkskin forms on the extrudate. This laser scattering technique directly measures the periodic variation of the refracted light of the rough sharkskin-like extrudate surface. It is found that r increases with molecular weight as strongly as the overall molecular chain relaxation time, τ * , determined from oscillatory shear measurements. The observed molecular weight dependence provides additional support for the recently proposed interfacial stress growth/relaxation mechanism for sharkskin formation.
Achievement of essentially full spatial coherence in a high-average-power soft-x-ray laser

We report an observation of essentially full spatial coherence in a high average power soft-x-ray laser. Rapid coherence buildup due to strong refractive antiguiding in a long plasma column is experimentally demonstrated. This allows the generation of fully coherent, milliwatt-level average power soft-x-ray radiation by a tabletop device. The peak brightness of this laser reaches $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{25}{\mathrm{photons}\mathrm{}\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}{\mathrm{mm}}^{\ensuremath{-}2}{\mathrm{mrad}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2}$ within 0.01% spectral bandwidth, making it one of the brightest soft-x-ray sources available.
Annual variation of the global precipitable water and its maintenance: observation and climate-simulation

The annual variation of the global-mean precipitable water 〈W〉and the associated hydrological cycle were analyzed with the upper-air data generated by the Global Data Assimilation System of the National Meteorological Center for 1981–1991 and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts from 1983–1991. It was found that the annual variation of 〈W〉 coincides with that of the Northern Hemisphere precipitable water [W]NH. The hemispheric-mean ([ ]) water budget analysis shows that water vapor is transported from the winter to the summer hemisphere across the equator by the Hadley circulation, and that the annual variations in the water vapor sink [P – E] for both hemispheres also follow the same seasonal march. The amplitudes of the annual variations in these two hydrological processes are comparable in both hemispheres. Thus, the annual variations of [W]NH and [W]SH are the result of slight imbalances between the cross-equator water vapor transport and the water vapor sink, particularly in the spring and fall. The climatological hemispheric-mean water budgets reveal that the Southern Hemisphere is a water vapor source and the Northern Hemisphere is a water vapor sink. The cross-equator water vapor transport constitutes a major source acting to maintain [W]NH, and in turn 〈W〉. The hydrological mechanism maintaining the observed 〈W〉 annual variation is consistent with that obtained from the hydrological cycle in a 10-year (1979–1988) climate simulation done at the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres as part of their participation in the Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP). DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0870.1996.00001.x
1H NMR metabonomic study of rat response to tri-phenyl phosphate and tri-butyl phosphate exposure

The industrial application of organophosphates provides the opportunity for environmental exposure. While the toxicity of organophosphate compounds has been the target of significant work, studies directed towards the identification of metabolite markers to assess phosphate exposure are more limited. In this study the urine metabolite profiles for rats following single dose exposure to either tributyl phosphate (TBP, 15 mg/kg body weight) or triphenyl phosphate (TPP, 2 and 20 mg/kg body weight) were characterized using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) and orthogonal-partial least squares discriminate analysis (O-PLSDA). Using the developed O-PLSDA models it was possible to clearly identify TBP or TPP exposed animals. The performance of these models was validated using cross validation and permutation testing. Utilizing the variable importance in projection (VIP) coefficients from the O-PLSDA the metabolites that were most responsible for the classification of TBP or TPP exposure were determined. This initial study demonstrates the potential for NMR metabonomic studies for the identification and separation of environmental exposure to organophosphates.
Nonlinear Force Analysis of Atomic Force Microscopy

The objective of this work is to highlight and discuss some critical conditions in which the imprecision of atomic force microscopy (AFM) system will be intensified. To precisely address these issues, we developed a complete close form solution for a non-linear motion of AFM system subjected to non-linear contact and van der Waals forces. Galerkin method and multiple time scale approach are used to solve the governing non-linear differential equation of the AFM system. A nonlinear frequency-response equation is then obtained as a function of displacement excitation, resonance frequency and associated response amplitude. By simulation of the AFM response under different tip-sample interaction force and distance, it is shown that jump phenomenon takes place due to the non-linear motion of microcantilever at certain operating frequencies. This case can be avoided via operating the AFM in a right frequency region; however the error associated with it must be compensated by a post-processing of collected data.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Redox and photoactive dendrimers in solution and on surfaces.

These branching, tree-like molecules may have applications in catalysis, light harvesting, molecular devices, and information storage systems.
Effects of interelectrode distance on the robustness of myoelectric pattern recognition systems

Myoelectric pattern recognition control can potentially provide upper limb amputees with intuitive control of multiple prosthetic functions. However, the lack of robustness of myoelectric pattern recognition algorithms is a barrier for clinical implementation. One issue that can contribute to poor system performance is electrode shift, which is a change in the location of the electrodes with respect to the underlying muscles that occurs during donning and doffing and daily use. We investigated the effects of interelectrode distance and feature choice on system performance in the presence of electrode shift. Increasing the interelectrode distance from 2 cm to 4 cm significantly (p<0.01) improved classification accuracy in the presence of electrode shifts of up to 2 cm. In a controllability test, increasing the interelectrode distance from 2 cm to 4 cm improved the user's ability to control a virtual prosthesis in the presence of electrode shift. Use of an autoregressive feature set significantly (p<0.01) reduced sensitivity to electrode shift when compared to use of a traditional time-domain feature set.
Some low temperature transport properties and superconductivity of NbSe2 grown by direct vapor transport

Abstract A procedure for the preparation of 2HNbSe2 single crystals by a direct vapor transport method is reported. Crystals grown by this method and the iodine vapor transport method have been studied in a comparative fashion. The effect of iodine and other impurities on some of the low temperature transport properties including superconductive parameters is discussed.
On Programming Languages for VLSI Array Processors

A formal algorithmic notation and programming language will be critical in developing VLSI systems. Due to the difficulty of keeping, track of several simultaneously occuring events, parallel programming is significantly more complicated than sequential programming. Therefore, it is desirable to consider new notations or languages which fit better to the array processors, instead of always sticking to conventional languages. The advent of algorithm-oriented VLSI. architectures also necessitate new programming language theory to precisely describe concurrency imbedded in computational algorithms. For example, it is of great interest and importance to develop a complete set of programming techniques and software packages for wavefront/systolic type arrays. Some guidelines for algorithmic notations for such VLSI arrays will be addressed in this paper. We shall also discuss in great details several illustrative programming examples based on a wavefront language and Occam language.
Impact of routine cavity shave margins on breast cancer re-excision rates.

Purpose Breast-conserving therapy (BCT) is an accepted method of treating early breast cancer. We hypothesized that routine excision of additional cavity shave margins (CSM) at time of initial partial mastectomy reduces the need for additional surgery.
Mitigation of susceptibility‐induced signal loss in neuroimaging using localized shim coils

Correction of magnetic field distortions is essential for obtaining accurate brain blood-oxygen-level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation maps. The present work introduces an active shimming method that utilizes the magnetic field generated by resistive shim coils placed in the mouth to locally homogenize the magnetic field in the inferior portion of the frontal lobe, where the field is most seriously distorted. The shimming field can be optimized in situ patient by patient for the region of interest of the scanner operator's choice. The method at 1.5 T is shown to be effective in reducing field inhomogeneity and in recovery of fMRI signal. For example, in a region of interest approximately of 149 cm3, a coil of simple geometry can reduce the root mean square of the magnetic field by more than 50% and the recovered signal increases the extent of activation detected in a breath-holding fMRI experiment. Magn Reson Med 53:243–248, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Haemophilus influenzae meningitis in school-aged children.

The relative frequency of meningitis caused by Haemophilus influenzae in school-aged children was determined by reviewing etiologic diagnoses in children 6 to 15 years old admitted to four hospitals from 1974 to 1978. Sixty-five (45%) of 145 patients had aseptic meningitis and 29 (20%) had bacterial meningitis. Thirty-two (22%) of the patients had received antibiotic therapy before diagnosis, and 19 (13%) could not be classified. Six (21%) of the 29 patients with bacterial meningitis had H influenzae meningitis. Although aseptic disease was the most common type of meningitis, initial antibiotic therapy for presumed bacterial meningitis in school-aged children should include adequate coverage for H influenzae . ( JAMA 1982;247:1162-1163)
Linguistic mimicry and trust in text-based CMC

This study examines the relationship between linguistic mimicry and trust establishment in a text-chat environment. Twenty-six participant pairs engaged in a social dilemma investment game and chatted via Instant Messenger (IM) after every five rounds of investment. Results revealed that, within chat sessions, lexical mimicry (repetition of words or word phrases by both partners) was significantly higher for high-trusting pairs than for low-trusting pairs, but that lexical mimicry across chat sessions was significantly higher for low-trusting pairs than for high-trusting pairs. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.
Effects of biopsy-induced wound healing on residual basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas: rate of tumor regression in excisional specimens

Background Wound healing following a partial biopsy of basal cell (BCC) and squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) may induce tumor regression. Methods Nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) biopsy and re-excision specimens from 1994 to 2001 were reviewed for histologic evidence of scar vs. presence of residual tumor in excision specimens. Regressed and non-regressed tumors were analyzed to assess the influence of anatomic location, biopsy technique (punch vs. shave), histologic subtype of BCC or SCC, time interval between biopsy and excision, and patient age. Results Nine hundred and ten excisions were performed for transected BCC or SCC, 217 (24%) of which showed scar with no residual tumor. Logistic regression analysis revealed significant differences in the regressed vs. non-regressed subsets. SCCs were more likely to regress than BCCs (40% vs. 20%, respectively, p Conclusions In our series, 24% of NMSCs transected on the initial biopsy showed no residual tumor in the excision specimens, implying that some event in the interval between biopsy and excision may lead to the eradication of residual tumor. The exact mechanism is unclear, but wound healing likely plays an important role.
Broadband homonuclear cross-polarization using a heteronuclear decoupling sequence

This condition is quite sharp under usual experimental conditions. While the sharpness can be turned to advantage in some cases (5) Bax and Davis wished to accomplish CP in a broadband or nonselective way. They did so by choosing GYfi to be a pulse sequence which is known to accomplish broadband heteronuclear decoupling of spins I (e.g., ‘H) from a distinct species S (e.g., 13C). Such a sequence works because it effectively suppresses terms linear in Z,, or Zz2 in the heteronuclear spin Hamiltonian. One is tempted to guess that in the homonuclear case it might do the same thing, collapsing Eq. [l] to a pure coupling Hamiltonian. Indeed, Bax and Davis (I) state “If the Zeeman part of the Hamiltonian is eliminated, the spin system will evolve solely under the influence of scalar coupling.” Barker et al. (6) assert “However, if the decoupling sequence can be regarded as removing the X’i and zts terms, then the I spins evolve purely under the average Hamiltonian % ’ = zjck 27rJjk(I,. I&” Braunschweiler and Ernst (7) in their general treatment of such problems, say “Many pulse sequences can be conceived to create the required mixing Hamiltonian consisting exclusively of the isotropic coupling terms. . . .” The purpose of the present Communication is to show that this reasoning is greatly oversimplified: While homonuclear coherence transfer can indeed be accomplished by such means, its behavior is considerably more complicated than might have been anticipated. The reason, in brief, is that the history of the scalar coupling operatorwhich can be ignored in the theory of heteronuclear decoupling (@-must be consid-
Nitric oxide synthase inhibitors enhance plasma levels of corticosterone and ACTH.

The role of nitric oxide in the regulation of adrenal steroidogenesis was examined in BALB/c mice by employing the nitric oxide synthase inhibitors N G -nitro L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and N G -nitro L-arginine (L-NNA). The administration of a single dose of nitric oxide inhibitors (50 mg kg -1 body wt, i.p.) induced a fourfold increase in plasma corticosterone. Treatment with L-arginine (750 mg kg -1 body wt, s.c.), but not D-arginine, completely prevented corticosterone increases induced by L-NAME. To analyse whether the activation of adrenal steroidogenesis induced by nitric oxide synthase inhibitors involved the stimulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis, ACTH levels were assessed. It was found that L-NAME significantly enhanced plasma ACTH concentrations. Genetic variations in this regulatory pathway are suggested by the fact that L-NAME increased corticosterone levels in BALB/c, C3H/He and DBA-2 mice, but not in C57Bl/c mice. a strain characterized by a low steroid response to stress.
Inhibitory effect of gossypol on human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)-induced progresterone secretion in cultures bovine luteal cells

Abstract Inhibitory effects of gossypol on the female reproductive system have been recently reported. This study investigated a possible site of gossypol action on progesterone synthesis. Bovine luteal cells were cultured with hCG and forskolin in the presence or absence of gossypol. At 10 μg/ml, gossypol significantly inhibited hCG- and forskolin-stimulated progesterone secretion and intracellular cAMP formation; at 20 μg/ml, gossypol completely abolished the stimulative effect of hCG and forskolin. The results suggest that adenylate cyclase may be a site of gossypol action on steroidogenesis of bovine luteal cells.