cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Middle Holocene climate change and human population dispersal in western North America

Publisher Summary Linguistic diversity and the patchwork distribution of language groups in western North America reflect a complex history of early settlement, in situ development, and periodic population movement. Available climate records in western North America (7000–3800 cal yr BP) indicate a severe dry interval between 6300 and 4800 cal yr BP embedded within a generally warm and dry Middle Holocene. Dry conditions in western North America between 6300 and 4800 cal yr BP correlate with cold to moderate sea-surface temperatures (SST) and relatively high marine productivity along the Southern California Coast evident in Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Core 893A/B (Santa Barbara Basin). Marine climate data from the Santa Barbara Basin indicates that SSTs oscillated during the Middle Holocene between warm and cold states. Based on archeological, linguistic, and genetic data, this chapter argues for a movement of Uto-Aztecan people from western desert environments to the Southern California Coast, including the southern Channel Islands, and into portions of the Central Valley by at least 5500–4500 cal yr BP. It hypothesizes that population dispersal from the desert interior was primarily in response to severe and prolonged drought and that people moved selectively to coastal and aquatic habitats because of the ameliorated effects of drought and their overall productivity. Furthermore, it suggests that some Uto-Aztecan groups were displaced as conditions in the southern California desert became dryer and less productive. Finally, it demonstrates the linkages between environmental change and human adaptive response during the arid Middle Holocene in western North America.
Reducing Ethical Complaints Through Professional Counselor Competency in Court Testimony

Professional counselors experience increasing levels of ethical complaints when they provide opinions in child custody cases; the complaints question their competency levels. The purpose of the stu...
Are the favorable cardiovascular outcomes of empagliflozin treatment explained by its effects on multiple cardiometabolic risk factors? A simulation of the results of the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial.

Abstract Aims It is unclear whether the favorable impact of empagliflozin on cardiovascular outcomes (CVOs) is due to its effect on multiple cardiometabolic risk factors (CRFs). Methods We used the Michigan Model for Diabetes, a validated computer simulation model, and published data from the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial to estimate three-year CVOs in the placebo and pooled empagliflozin treatment groups to assess whether the observed benefits might be attributable to differences in CRFs. Results When we programmed the model to match the baseline characteristics of the trial population and the reported trajectories of five CRFs (weight, HbA1c, systolic blood pressure, low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), the simulated hazard ratio (HR) for the primary composite CVO did not differ from the reported result. The simulated HRs for fatal/nonfatal myocardial infarction and coronary revascularization procedure fell within the reported 95% confidence intervals (CIs), but those for fatal/nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, cardiovascular death, and all-cause mortality fell outside the reported 95% CIs. The effects of empagliflozin on CRFs accounted for approximately half of the observed benefit for the primary composite CVO, but explained smaller proportions of risk reductions for hospitalization for heart failure, cardiovascular death, and all-cause mortality. Conclusions The effects of empagliflozin on multiple CRFs account for some but not all of reduced risks of CVOs in the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial. More comparable control of established CRFs in type 2 diabetes CVO trials of antidiabetic agents with pleiotrophic effects would facilitate the interpretation of the observed outcomes.
Expression of Novel Gene Content Drives Adaptation to Low Iron in the Cyanobacterium Acaryochloris

Variation in genome content is a potent mechanism of microbial adaptation. The genomes of members of the cyanobacterial genus Acaryochloris vary greatly in gene content as a consequence of the idiosyncratic retention of both recent gene duplicates and plasmid-encoded genes acquired by horizontal transfer. For example, the genome of Acaryochloris strain MBIC11017, which was isolated from an iron-limited environment, is enriched in duplicated and novel genes involved in iron assimilation. Here, we took an integrative approach to characterize the adaptation of Acaryochloris MBIC11017 to low environmental iron availability and the relative contributions of the expression of duplicated versus novel genes. We observed that Acaryochloris MBIC11017 grew faster and to a higher yield in the presence of nanomolar concentrations of iron than did a closely related strain. These differences were associated with both a higher rate of iron assimilation and a greater abundance of iron assimilation transcripts. However, recently duplicated genes contributed little to increased transcript dosage; rather, the maintenance of these duplicates in the MBIC11017 genome is likely due to the sharing of ancestral dosage by expression reduction. Instead, novel, horizontally transferred genes are responsible for the differences in transcript abundance. The study provides insights on the mechanisms of adaptive genome evolution and gene expression in Acaryochloris.
Introduction and Examples

We present a unified study a class of positive operators called (generalized) transfer operators, and of their applications to the study of endomorphisms, measurable partitions, and Markov processes, as they arise in diverse settings. We begin with the setting of dynamics in standard Borel, and measure, spaces.
The directional derivative

In this chapter we shall be concerned with a function F(x, y) of two variables x and y. x is supposed to be a point of Euclidean space R n , x = (x1, ..., x n ), and y a point of some compact topological space y. While all the considerations of this chapter are carried out for a general y, the applications made in this book have y a closed bounded set in Euclidean space, and the reader may therefore if he wishes read “closed bounded Euclidean” when he sees “compact topological.”
DIFFICULTIES IN OBSERVING CORONAL STRUCTURE

There has developed in recent years a substantial body of evidence to indicate that the temperature and density structure of the corona are far more complicated than had previously been thought. We review some of the evidence and discuss some specific examples: observations of a limb flare, showing that the cool Hα material is cospatial with the hot X-ray emitting material; simultaneous NIXT and Yohkoh SXT observations of an active region, showing that loops seen in one instrument are not seen in the other, and that the effect works in both directions; comparisons of extrapolated magnetic field measurements to the observed coronal structure, indicating that neither potential nor constant-α force-free fits are adequate. We conclude with a description of two new instruments, the TRACE and the TXI, which will help to resolve some of these difficulties.
Reflections on Fred Lee’s “Contours of Asian American Political Theory: Introductions and Polemics”

Fred Lee’s “Contours of Asian American Political Theory: Introductions and Polemics” is a welcome engagement with the idea of Asian American political theory. In particular, it usefully illuminates...
High-capacity Dense Space Division Multiplexed Multicore Fiber Transmission

We present dense SDM transmission technology based on a single-mode multicore transmission line. Long-distance 1600-km transmission and 1-Pb/s high-capacity 205.6-km transmission over a crosstalk-managed heterogeneous 32-core fiber are reviewed.
Utility of Hounsfield unit and hematocrit values in the diagnosis of acute venous sinus thrombosis in unenhanced brain CTs in the pediatric population

Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) is a recognized cause of childhood and neonatal stroke with high morbidity and mortality and a challenging diagnosis in the pediatric population. We hypothesize that measuring Hounsfield units (HU) of blood in venous sinuses is a more reliable method to diagnose CVST and that normalizing the measured HU in relation to the patient’s hematocrit levels may further improve detection of CVST in the pediatric population. We performed a retrospective chart review of 15 pediatric patients with acute CVST and 31 control patients. Regions of interest (ROIs) were plotted to measure HU values within the venous sinuses of each patient. Hounsfield unit to hematocrit (HU:Hct) ratios were also calculated. In patients with CVST, HU values were determined in thrombosed and non-thrombosed venous sinuses. Statistical analysis was performed to calculate the differences between patient and control groups and to determine optimal cutoff values for HU and HU:Hct measurements in diagnosing CVST on non-contrast brain computed tomography (CT). A statistically significant difference in sinus attenuation and HU:Hct ratio was found between thrombosed (66.2±5.3 HU, 1.96±0.4) and non-thrombosed sinuses (47.2±4.5 HU, 1.38±0.25) in the patient group (P<0.0001), with the average attenuation difference being 19 HU. A statistically significant difference was also found between thrombosed sinuses in the patient group and sinuses (48.9±3.13 HU, 1.3±0.12) in the control group (P<0.0001). Optimal cutoff values of 58 HU and HU:Hct ratios of 1.4 lead to sensitivities of 100% in diagnosing CVST.
Association of Baseline Peptidylarginine Deiminase 4 Autoantibodies With Favorable Response to Treatment Escalation in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Objective To determine if the baseline presence of autoantibodies to peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4) predicts therapeutic response to biologic and conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in whom methotrexate (MTX) monotherapy was unsuccessful. Methods Baseline serum from 282 RA patients in whom MTX monotherapy was unsuccessful was screened for the presence of anti-PAD4 antibodies by immunoprecipitation. Clinical response to either triple DMARD (MTX, sulfasalazine, and hydroxychloroquine) or MTX/etanercept combination therapy was determined at 24 and 48 weeks post-treatment initiation. Disease activity was measured using the Disease Activity Score 28-joint assessment (DAS28), and erosive disease was quantified using the Sharp/van der Heijde scoring method. Generalized estimating equations (GEEs) were used to model the clinical responses to treatment in patients with and those without baseline anti-PAD4 antibodies. Results Anti-PAD4 antibody positivity was associated with male sex, a history of never smoking, and anti-citrullinated protein antibodies. At baseline, patients with anti-PAD4 antibodies had longer disease duration and significantly more radiographic joint damage than anti-PAD4-negative patients, but did not differ in disease activity according to the DAS28. In unadjusted analyses and multivariable GEE models, patients with anti-PAD4 antibodies exhibited greater improvements in DAS28 (adjusted P = 0.02 and P = 0.008, respectively) and less radiographic progression (adjusted P = 0.01 and P = 0.002, respectively) compared to anti-PAD antibody-negative patients, independent of treatment received. Conclusion Although anti-PAD4 antibodies were associated with worse baseline radiographic joint damage, suggesting a history of active or undiagnosed disease, treatment escalation therapy was more effective in reducing disease activity and slowing the progression of joint damage in this patient subset.
EDMAND: Edge-Based Multi-Level Anomaly Detection for SCADA Networks

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems play a critical role in the operation of large-scale distributed industrial systems. There are many vulnerabilities in SCADA systems and inadvertent events or malicious attacks from outside as well as inside could lead to catastrophic consequences. Network-based intrusion detection is a preferred approach to provide security analysis for SCADA systems due to its less intrusive nature. Data in SCADA network traffic can be generally divided into transport, operation, and content levels. Most existing solutions only focus on monitoring and event detection of one or two levels of data, which is not enough to detect and reason about attacks in all three levels. In this paper, we develop a novel edge-based multi-level anomaly detection framework for SCADA networks named EDMAND. EDMAND monitors all three levels of network traffic data and applies appropriate anomaly detection methods based on the distinct characteristics of data. Alerts are generated, aggregated, prioritized before sent back to control centers. A prototype of the framework is built to evaluate the detection ability and time overhead of it.
Endogenous oxytocin levels are associated with impaired social cognition and neurocognition in schizophrenia.

Abstract Intranasal administration of the neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has yielded inconsistent effects on social cognition and general cognition in individuals with schizophrenia (SZ). Few studies have examined whether endogenous peripheral OT levels are also associated with social and general cognition in SZ. The current study examined whether plasma OT levels are associated with performance on a higher-order social cognition measure (i.e., a task that requires inferential processes and knowledge not directly presented in social stimuli), as well as domains of general cognition. Participants included 30 individuals with SZ and 21 demographically matched healthy controls (CN). The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery was administered to assess neuropsychological impairment in relation to 7 domains (processing speed, attention/vigilance, working memory, verbal learning, visual learning, reasoning/problem solving, and social cognition). Plasma OT levels were measured via radioimmunoassay. SZ had significantly lower endogenous OT levels and poorer MCCB performance on all 7 domains than CN. In CN and SZ, lower endogenous OT was associated with poorer social cognition. In SZ, lower endogenous OT was also associated with poorer processing speed and working memory. The significant association between OT and social cognition in both CN and SZ highlights the importance of endogenous OT levels as a biological predictor of social cognition, irrespective of clinical status. Significant associations between plasma OT and general neurocognition may reflect either an anxiolytic effect of plasma OT that results in better neurocognitive performance, or OT's action on dopamine and enhancement of dopamine tone that results in improved cognition.
INGO memberships revisited: Local variation of receptor sites in the education sector:

This article investigates cross-national variation in the types of locally based actors, or “receptor sites,” that connect with international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) in local context...
Di- and tri-cobalt silicotungstates: synthesis, characterization, and stability studies.

Di- and tricobalt silicotungstate complexes, K5Na4H4[{Na3(μ-OH2)2Co2(μ-OH)4} (Si2W18O66)]·37H2O (1) and K6Na3[Na(H2O){Co(H2O)3}2{Co(H2O)2}(Si2W18O66)]·22H2O (2), have been synthesized through reaction of cobalt chloride and [A-α-SiW9O34]10– in acidic buffer solution. They have been characterized by X-ray crystallography, elemental analysis, cyclic voltammetry, infrared, and UV–vis spectroscopy. In 1, two cobalt atoms as well as three sodium atoms are incorporated in the central pocket of the [Si2W18O66]16– polyanion. In 2, one cobalt atom and one sodium atom are incorporated in the pocket of [Si2W18O66]16–; two other cobalt atoms in this complex protrude outside the pocket and connect with WO6 units of other [Si2W18O66]16– polyanions to form a one-dimensional polymeric structure. The crucial parameters in the synthesis of these two compounds are discussed, and their stability in different buffer solutions is studied. The decomposition of 1 or 2 in heated potassium acetate buffer (pH 4.8, 1 M) yields K11[{...
Description of anti-Xa monitoring practices during low molecular weight heparin use

Certain patient populations (pregnancy, cancer, renal impairment, and obesity) may be at higher risk of adverse events during low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) therapy and may benefit from anti-Xa monitoring. Yet, evidence supporting a standardized approach to anti-Xa monitoring correlated to clinical outcomes is lacking. Patients with at least one documented anti-Xa level and receiving LMWH within a 6-month period were identified. In a 6-month period, 224 adult LMWH patients with 359 anti-Xa levels were identified. Anti-Xa monitoring was most commonly performed in patients with active cancer receiving venous thromboembolism (VTE) treatment doses (57.4%) or obese patients receiving VTE prophylaxis (48.1%). Anti-Xa monitoring during renal impairment and pregnancy were infrequent (0.9% and 1.8%, respectively). Most (71.9%) anti-Xa levels were therapeutic, but only 45% were drawn correctly in relation to LMWH administration time. Compared to those with therapeutic anti-Xa levels, patients with out-of-range levels were four times as likely to receive a LMWH therapy change (odds ratio, 4.16; 95% confidence interval, 2.53-6.84). However, when levels were supratherapeutic or subtherapeutic, the LMWH doses remained unchanged in one-third to one-half of patients, respectively. Anti-Xa monitoring was most commonly performed in patients with cancer or obesity and was more common with VTE prophylaxis dosing. The majority of levels were therapeutic, indicating that anti-Xa monitoring may be unnecessary even in high-risk patient populations. Many out-of-range anti-Xa levels did not prompt a change in LMWH therapy. Further research is still needed to determine if anti-Xa- guided LMWH dosing improves clinical outcomes.
DISCo-microbe: design of an identifiable synthetic community of microbes

Background Microbiomes are extremely important for their host organisms, providing many vital functions and extending their hosts' phenotypes. Natural studies of host-associated microbiomes can be difficult to interpret due to the high complexity of microbial communities, which hinders our ability to track and identify individual members along with the many factors that structure or perturb those communities. For this reason, researchers have turned to synthetic or constructed communities in which the identities of all members are known. However, due to the lack of tracking methods and the difficulty of creating a more diverse and identifiable community that can be distinguished through next-generation sequencing, most such in vivo studies have used only a few strains. Results To address this issue, we developed DISCo-microbe, a program for the design of an identifiable synthetic community of microbes for use in in vivo experimentation. The program is composed of two modules; (1) create, which allows the user to generate a highly diverse community list from an input DNA sequence alignment using a custom nucleotide distance algorithm, and (2) subsample, which subsamples the community list to either represent a number of grouping variables, including taxonomic proportions, or to reach a user-specified maximum number of community members. As an example, we demonstrate the generation of a synthetic microbial community that can be distinguished through amplicon sequencing. The synthetic microbial community in this example consisted of 2,122 members from a starting DNA sequence alignment of 10,000 16S rRNA sequences from the Ribosomal Database Project. We generated simulated Illumina sequencing data from the constructed community and demonstrate that DISCo-microbe is capable of designing diverse communities with members distinguishable by amplicon sequencing. Using the simulated data we were able to recover sequences from between 97-100% of community members using two different post-processing workflows. Furthermore, 97-99% of sequences were assigned to a community member with zero sequences being misidentified. We then subsampled the community list using taxonomic proportions to mimic a natural plant host-associated microbiome, ultimately yielding a diverse community of 784 members. Conclusions DISCo-microbe can create a highly diverse community list of microbes that can be distinguished through 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and has the ability to subsample (i.e., design) the community for the desired number of members and taxonomic proportions. Although developed for bacteria, the program allows for any alignment input from any taxonomic group, making it broadly applicable. The software and data are freely available from GitHub (https://github.com/dlcarper/DISCo-microbe) and Python Package Index (PYPI).
Constitutional Law and the Presidential Nomination Process

The Constitution says nothing about the presidential nominating process and has had little direct role in its evolution from congressional caucuses to party national conventions to our current primary-dominated system. Yet, constitutional law is a factor in empowering and constraining the principal actors in the nomination process and in shaping the framework for potential future changes. The constitutional law of the presidential nomination process operates along two axes: government-party, and state-national. The government-party dimension focuses on the tension between the states and the federal government in writing the rules for and administering the electoral process – which may include the primary elections that determine the nominees of the political parties – and the right of the parties to determine how to pick their nominees. Doctrinally, this involves Supreme Court’s efforts to reconcile the power of the states to write the rules for state-run elections, including the primary elections that decide party nominations, with the freedom of political association guaranteed to the parties under the First Amendment. This government-party axis affects all nominations for state and federal office. Presidential nominations, however, are distinct. For most elections, federal as well as state, most of the rules are determined by state law. But presidential nominations involve a national-level party decision for a nation-wide office. As a result, national party rules and federal laws factor into shaping the nomination process and add the possibility of conflicts between national- and state-level rules to the more common government-party tensions. Key Supreme Court rulings have held that national party rules and the decisions of the national party conventions take precedence over conflicting state laws and state party decisions. To date, Congress has played a minimal role in this area, and its authority to regulate the nomination process has been contested, but its powers need to be understood if Congress is to be involved in reforming this process. The chapter concludes by suggesting that although the multiplicity of constitutionally-empowered actors may be – and has been – a source of conflict and complexity in the presidential nomination process, it may also be a strength. By permitting so many avenues for change, the constitutional framework creates multiple openings for reform.
Trans People in Higher Education

On October 8, 2019, the Supreme Court heard arguments regarding the legality of a funeral home director who fired Aimee Stephens, a trans woman, on the basis that she planned to openly present as a...
An Improved Algorithm for Counting Graphical Degree Sequences of Given Length

We present an improved version of a previous efficient algorithm that computes the number D(n) of zero-free graphical degree sequences of length n. A main ingredient of the improvement lies in a more efficient way to compute the function P(N,k,l,s) of Barnes and Savage. We further show that the algorithm can be easily adapted to compute the D(i) values for all i≤ n in a single run. Theoretical analysis shows that the new algorithm to compute all D(i) values for i≤ n is a constant times faster than the previous algorithm to compute a single D(n) value. Experimental evaluations show that the constant of improvement is about 10. The techniques for the improved algorithm can be applied to compute other similar functions that count the number of graphical degree sequences of various classes of graphs of given order or size and that all involve the function P(N,k,l,s).
An Active Rectifier Fed by a Variable-Speed Generator

In this paper, an active rectifier fed by a variable-speed generator is presented. The controller of the converter is designed for mobile power generation systems in which the electric generator consists of a permanent magnet synchronous machine directly coupled with the prime mover, thus generating a variable-frequency/amplitude output voltage. To address the rapid changes in amplitude and frequency, a model predictive control scheme is implemented in combination with a direct phase-locked-loop (PLL) frequency detection algorithm. The performance of the so-called step-ahead control scheme is verified under accelerating and decelerating variable-frequency/amplitude input voltage ramps as well as a typical internal combustion engine speed profile using a Matlab/Simulink digital computer simulation.
Determining unthinned shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata Mill.) plantation economic rotation ages in the Western Gulf

Shortleaf pine Pinus echinata Mill has been planted in the Western Gulf region The Forest Vegetation Simulator FVS is the only widely available comprehensive yield prediction system for these plantations Predictions from the time ndash of ndash planting were obtained for densities of and for site indexes of and ft base age Based on verification analyses conducted using observed yields from other studies FVS projections conducted from the time ndash of ndash planting are relatively low Hence additional verification analyses were made based on reported diameter distribution and associated height data in year old plantations ldquo Calibrated rdquo projections were then made for ages ranging from to In general if plot data are available allowing FVS to be ldquo calibrated rdquo to local site conditions much more accurate predictions will be produced In terms of economics given current markets economic rotation ages are generally around to years For low quality sites e g site index ft financial returns will likely not be positive and hence on these lower quality sites an ecologically based management regime may be better
Collinear antiferromagnetism in trigonal SrMn2As2 revealed by single-crystal neutron diffraction.

Iron pnictides and related materials have been a topic of intense research for understanding the complex interplay between magnetism and superconductivity. Here we report on the magnetic structure of SrMn2As2 that crystallizes in a trigonal structure ([Formula: see text]) and undergoes an antiferromagnetic (AFM) transition at [Formula: see text] K. The magnetic susceptibility remains nearly constant at temperatures [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] whereas it decreases significantly with [Formula: see text]. This shows that the ordered Mn moments lie in the [Formula: see text] plane instead of aligning along the [Formula: see text]-axis as in tetragonal BaMn2As2. Single-crystal neutron diffraction measurements on SrMn2As2 demonstrate that the Mn moments are ordered in a collinear Neel AFM phase with [Formula: see text] AFM alignment between a moment and all nearest neighbor moments in the basal plane and also perpendicular to it. Moreover, quasi-two-dimensional AFM order is manifested in SrMn2As2 as evident from the temperature dependence of the order parameter.
Observing the Effects of Automating the Judicial System with Behavioral Equivalence

Building on decades of work in Artificial Intelligence, legal scholars have begun to consider whether components of the judicial system could be replaced by computers. Much of the scholarship in AI and Law has focused on whether such automated systems could reproduce the reasoning and outcomes produced by the current system. This scholarly framing captures many aspects of judicial processes, but overlooks how automated judicial decision-making likely would change how participants in the legal system interact with it, and how societal interests outside that system who care about its processes would be affected by those changes. This Article demonstrates how scholarship on legal automation comes to leave out perspectives external to the process of judicial decision-making. It analyses the problem using behavioral equivalence, a Computer Science concept that assesses systems’ behaviors according to the observations of specific monitors of those systems. It introduces a framework to examine the various observers of the judicial process and the tradeoffs they may perceive when legal systems are automated. This framework will help scholars and policymakers more effectively anticipate the consequences of automating components of the legal system.
Inducements for Resource Redeployment in Portfolio Entrepreneurship

This paper investigates which factors serve as inducements to prompt portfolio entrepreneurs to redeploy their own time across ventures within their portfolios. While the corporate strategy literat...
The right insula contributes to memory awareness in cognitively diverse older adults

Unawareness of memory loss is a challenging characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other age-related neurodegenerative conditions at their earliest stages, adversely affecting important outcomes such as patient decision making and safety. The basis of this metacognitive disturbance has been elusive; however it is almost certainly determined in part by compromise to brain regions critical for self-assessment. The subjectivity of traditional measurements of self-awareness in dementia has likely limited the rigor with which its neuroanatomic correlates can be established. Here we objectively measure memory awareness (metamemory) using a Feeling of Knowing (FOK) task in a group of cognitively diverse older adults, including 14 with mild AD and 20 cognitively healthy older adults. Performance on the metamemory task was examined in relation to the structural integrity of 14 bilateral neuroanatomic regions hypothesized to support self-awareness. Less accurate metamemory was associated only with reduced right insular volume (r=.41, p=.019). Implications of the current findings for models of metacognitive aging are discussed, with attention to the role of the insula in the conscious detection of errors.
Are Hemorrhagic Fever Viruses Practical Agents for Biological Terrorism

There is considerable controversy as to which biological agents should concern us, either for defense against military use or, for defense against terrorism. The mosquito-transmitted yellow fever virus is classified as biosafety level 3 (BSL 3), but it is aerosolinfectious and has a high case fatality, which are ameliorated by the existence of a very effective vaccine. The viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) has appropriate properties for aerosol weapons, and this chapter concentrates on three viruses: Machupo virus, Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus, and Marburg virus. The RVF virus is the most stable of the VHF when stored in the liquid or frozen state. Intravenous ribavirin would be expected to be fairly effective against Machupo virus and perhaps helpful in RVF, but stocks are limited and not readily accessible. VHF seems to be very likely agents for lethal state-sponsored actions against large numbers of people. The severe dramatic disease they produce, with its attendant need for intensive supportive care, would increase their impact. Education of clinicians is extremely important as well and is occurring in the context of both travel medicine and bioterrorism defense.
Fine and gross motor skills: The effects on skill-focused dual-tasks

Dual-task methodology often directs participants' attention towards a gross motor skill involved in the execution of a skill, but researchers have not investigated the comparative effects of attention on fine motor skill tasks. Furthermore, there is limited information about participants' subjective perception of workload with respect to task performance. To examine this, the current study administered the NASA-Task Load Index following a simulated shooting dual-task. The task required participants to stand 15 feet from a projector screen which depicted virtual targets and fire a modified Glock 17 handgun equipped with an infrared laser. Participants performed the primary shooting task alone (control), or were also instructed to focus their attention on a gross motor skill relevant to task execution (gross skill-focused) and a fine motor skill relevant to task execution (fine skill-focused). Results revealed that workload was significantly greater during the fine skill-focused task for both skill levels, but performance was only affected for the lesser-skilled participants. Shooting performance for the lesser-skilled participants was greater during the gross skill-focused condition compared to the fine skill-focused condition. Correlational analyses also demonstrated a significant negative relationship between shooting performance and workload during the gross skill-focused task for the higher-skilled participants. A discussion of the relationship between skill type, workload, skill level, and performance in dual-task paradigms is presented.
Performance-Based Reward Distribution Methods for Anonymous Decision-Making Groups

Research has shown that both the support of anonymity and the use of appropriate incentives can lead to improved group performance. Anonymity enables a more open discussion resulting in a more critical analysis of a problem. Rewards can motivate individuals to cooperate, giving them the incentive to share valuable information with the group. Unfortunately, these two mechanisms are both dependent on the ability to identify the contributor. Anonymity hides the identity of the contributor, while the support of individualized, performance-based rewards requires the rewarding agent to be able to determine the identity of the contributor. This contradictory requirement has prevented the simultaneous used of anonymity and performance-based rewards in decision making. Using group decision support systems as a basis, this work identifies procedures to simultaneously support participant anonymity and performance-based rewards. Mechanisms based on public key encryption technologies are presented which make it possible to distribute individual rewards to anonymous contributors, guarantee that only the contributor can claim a reward for her contribution, verify that a reward has been distributed, and be able to deliver this reward in such a way that the identity of the anonymous contributor is protected. This is accomplished without the rewarding agent ever knowing the identity of the recipient.
Acid-Sensing Ion Channel 1 Is Localized in Brain Regions with High Synaptic Density and Contributes to Fear Conditioning

The acid-sensing ion channel, ASIC1, contributes to synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus and to hippocampus-dependent spatial memory. To explore the role of ASIC1 in brain, we examined the distribution of ASIC1 protein. Surprisingly, although ASIC1 was present in the hippocampal circuit, it was much more abundant in several areas outside the hippocampus. ASIC1 was enriched in areas with strong excitatory synaptic input such as the glomerulus of the olfactory bulb, whisker barrel cortex, cingulate cortex, striatum, nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and cerebellar cortex. Because ASIC1 levels were particularly high in the amygdala, we focused further on this area. We found that extracellular acidosis elicited a greater current density in amygdala neurons than hippocampal neurons and that disrupting the ASIC1 gene eliminated H+-evoked currents in the amygdala. We also tested the effect of ASIC1 on amygdala-dependent behavior; ASIC1-null mice displayed deficits in cue and context fear conditioning, yet baseline fear on the elevated plus maze was intact. These studies suggest that ASIC1 is distributed to regions supporting high levels of synaptic plasticity and contributes to the neural mechanisms of fear conditioning.
Medical Cure and Progress: The Case of Type-1 Diabetes

Medicine often defines progress in terms of medical cures; however, such cures are rare. At best, medical progress generally consists of managing patients more efficiently or competently, especially in terms of relieving their symptoms. Today, medicine stands on the edge of curing a number of diseases. However, before achieving such cures, biomedical scientists need to understand in finer detail the mechanisms of physiological and pathological processes, especially from a systems perspective, and students of biomedical studies need to understand more precisely what a medical cure is conceptually or philosophically. This article utilizes type-1 diabetes to explore the issues surrounding medical progress with respect to defining medical cure, especially in terms of distinguishing it from managing a patient's illness.
Health monitoring of concrete structures subjected to environmental attacks

Civil infrastructures are generally the most expensive investments in a country. Concrete has been used extensively in the construction of most of the civil infrastructures. Structures made of concrete have long life span and are rarely replaced once they are erected. During the service life, the concrete ages and deteriorates leading to the loss of structural integrity. One of the major factors for the deterioration of concrete is the attack from environmental factors such as sulfate and acid. This paper presents some experimental results on the effects of environmental attacks on the system performance of impedance-based structural health monitoring. Two types of environmental factors are investigated - sulfate attack and acid attack. The experimental results show that impedance-based health monitoring technique is capable of identifying the change in the material property of concrete due to chemical attacks. Another interesting observation is that the impedance-based monitoring technique appears to be sensitive to the moisture contents in the concrete cube.
Effect of sucrose concentration on carbohydrate metabolism in Bemisia argentifolii : biochemical mechanism and physiological role for trehalulose synthesis in the silverleaf whitefly

Uptake and metabolism of sucrose by adult silverleaf whiteflies (Bemisia argentifolii) were investigated on defined diets containing sucrose concentrations from 3 to 30% (wv). At an optimal pH of 7, the volume of liquid ingested decreased with increasing dietary sucrose concentration, but the amount of sucrose ingested showed a net increase. Above a dietary sucrose concentration of about 10%, a greater amount of the ingested carbon was excreted by the whiteflies than was retained, and the proportion that was excreted increased progressively with increasing dietary sucrose concentration. Carbohydrate analysis showed that the composition of excreted honeydew changed from predominantly glucose and fructose at low dietary sucrose concentrations to predominantly trehalulose at high concentrations, with little change in the proportion of larger oligosaccharides. Measurements of whitefly trehalulose synthase and sucrase activities revealed that the enzymatic potential for metabolizing sucrose shifted from favoring sucrose hydrolysis at low sucrose concentrations to sucrose isomerization at high sucrose concentrations. Thus, the amount of trehalulose synthesized by the silverleaf whitefly was directly related to the properties of trehalulose synthase and sucrase and the concentration of sucrose in the diet. We propose that trehalulose is synthesized for excretion when the carbon input from sucrose is in excess of metabolic needs.
GAS EVOLUTION FROM COAL IN SEALED GLASS AMPOULES

Publisher Summary This chapter explores gas evolution from coal in sealed glass ampoules. In a study described in the chapter, Argonne premium coal samples were sealed in borosilicate glass ampoules in a nitrogen atmosphere. A hydrogen–oxygen torch was used for the sealing. The hydrogen and oxygen gas flows were controlled with a gas mass flow controller to maintain stoichiometric conditions during the sealing. The oxygen content of the glovebox system was constantly monitored during the operation, and no significant deviations from the expected values were observed. A supply of coal ampoules for each of the eight samples in each of the two mesh sizes was selected to provide samples for analysis over several years at initial sample consumption rates of about two per year. The ampoules were sent to the Analytical Chemistry Laboratory of the Argonne National Laboratory for gas analysis. The ampoules were placed in an evacuable chamber, and the surrounding air was pumped out. Differences in the gas contents were observed as time passed. Considerable amounts of methane were released during the initial size reduction in the sample processing facility. These gas contents represented subsequent gas releases.
Petrological evidence on temperature distribution in the mantle of the Earth

On the assumption that convection is an effective process of heat transfer in the mantle, petrological evidence suggests that the temperature at the core boundary fluctuates, in space and time, between a lower limit of about 1500°C and an upper limit of 2500°C. Generation of basaltic magma in the upper 100 km of the mantle is readily explained if the temperature gradient required to start convection does not exceed 0.6°/km, which is about twice the adiabatic value. Formation of uncommon magma types, such as anorthosites, may perhaps be explained by relatively small and momentary departures from conditions described. Implications of the convection hypothesis on the density distribution in the mantle are briefly discussed.
Notes on Leguminosae: Papilionoideae of the southeastern United States

This report includes commentary on taxa in the following genera:Canavalia, Crotalaria, Dalea, Galactia, Lespedeza, Lupinus, Rhynchosia, Strophostyles, andVigna. The generic circumscription ofSesbania and ofDalea is presented. Nomenclatural transactions includeLespedeza hirta var.curtissii (Clewell) Isely, stat. nov.;Dalea adenopoda (Rybd.) Isely, stat. nov.;Lupinus westianus var.aridorum (McFarlin ex Beckner) Isely, stat. nov.; andGalactia microphylla (Chapman) Rogers ex Hall & Ward, stat. nov.
Baroclinic–Barotropic Instabilities of the Gulf Stream Extension

Abstract In this paper, the baroclinic-barotropic instability of the Gulf Stream is studied numerically. The quasigeo-strophic potential vorticity equation is linearized around the mean flow, which is modeled using data from field measurements in the Gulf Stream off Cape Hatteras. The perturbation around the mean flow is decomposed into waves along the streamwise direction using a Fourier transformation in space and a Laplace transformation in time. For each wave, an eigenvalue problem is obtained, which is solved numerically to yield the frequency as a function of the wavenumber. The instability is of the convective type, in the sense that any localized perturbation will propagate out of any fixed region in space in finite time. External noise can, however, drive the instability creating spatially growing waves. The spatial growth rates of the waves are computed as a function of their frequency using an iterative procedure and are found to be in good agreement with growth rates from field measurements. V...
Neutron capture cross sections of 236U

Abstract The neutron capture cross sections of 236 U have been measured for monoenergetic neutrons in the energy range 0·30 to 1·7 MeV.
Reactivity ratios of vinyl esters of aliphatic acids and some common vinyl monomers

The copolymerization reaction of five vinyl esters of aliphatic acids with vinyl chloride, vinylidene chloride, acrylonitrile, butadiene, styrene, and methyl acrylate have been studied. The reactivity ratios have been determined and the Q and e values for the esters have been calculated. The results clearly show that the nature of the acyl residue in a vinyl ester has little influence on its reactivity ratio in a copolymerization reaction or on the Q or e value.
The Effects of Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms on Daily Positive Emotion Regulation

Individuals with anxiety and depressive symptoms exhibit disturbances in positive emotion regulation, which may hinder full recovery. By comparison, individuals with strong beliefs regarding their capacity to “savor” or maintain positive emotions (i.e., savoring beliefs) display more adaptive positive emotion regulation. The present daily diary study explores three momentary processes involved in positive emotion regulation, namely positive emotion reactivity, regulatory goals, and regulatory effectiveness, and examines the comparative effects of baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms versus savoring beliefs on such processes in real-life contexts. A sample of 164 nonclinical undergraduates provided baseline measures of anxiety and depressive symptom severity and savoring beliefs prior to completing 14 daily assessments of positive emotions and emotion regulatory responses to daily positive events. Results indicated that higher baseline anxiety and depressive symptom severity were associated with decreased positive emotion reactivity and increased down-regulation of positive emotions; higher baseline savoring beliefs were associated with increased positive emotion reactivity, decreased down-regulation and increased up-regulation of positive emotions. Potential clinical implications are discussed.
Potassium intake and the calcium economy.

Background: Dietary potassium intake (K) lowers urinary calcium (Ca) excretion and, in short-term studies, may improve Ca balance.Purpose: Our objective was to assess K effects on the Ca economy under steady-state conditions.Design: 8-day, inpatient metabolic studies of nitrogen, phosphorus, and Ca balance, combined with dual isotopic Ca tracer kinetics studies. Study diet matched to prestudy nutrient intakes.Subjects: 191 single women studied from 1–5 times at ∼5-year intervals, for a total of 644 inpatient studies. Median age at time of study: 50.2 yrs; 301 studies were performed postmenopausally without hormone replacement; 343 were either premenopausal or postmenopausal but on estrogen replacement therapy.Results: Dietary K was highly significantly associated with urinary Ca excretion, with a coefficient of −0.0109 mmol urine Ca/mmol diet K. However, dietary K was negatively correlated with dual-tracer Ca absorption (coefficient for Ca absorption fraction: −0.00094/mmol dietary K), and was not associa...
Evaluating microgrid management and control with an implementable energy management system

A microgrid can be characterized by its integration of distributed energy resources and controllable loads. Such integration brings unique challenges to the microgrid management and control which can be significantly different from conventional power systems. Therefore, a conventional energy management system (EMS) needs to be re-designed with consideration of the unique characteristics of microgrids. To this end, we propose a microgrid EMS named a microgrid platform (MP). We take into account all the functional requirements of a microgrid EMS (i.e., forecast, optimization, data analysis, and human-machine interface) and address the engineering challenges (i.e., flexibility, extensibility, and interoperability) in the design and development of the MP. Moreover, we deploy the prototype system and conduct experiments to evaluate the microgrid management and control in real-world settings at the UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center. Our experimental results demonstrate that the MP is able to manage various devices in the testbed, interact with the external systems, and perform optimal energy scheduling and demand response.