cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Examination of Hydroxychloroquine Use and Hemolytic Anemia in G6PDH-Deficient Patients.

Objective: Some sources urge caution when prescribing hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to patients with glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency, presumably due to a risk of hemolytic anemia. There is limited published data, however, to support this risk. Additionally, not all patients with G6PD deficiency are at similar risk for hemolysis, and people with the African variant are at particularly low risk. Through a retrospective chart review, we aimed to quantify the frequency of G6PD deficient patients with hemolysis attributed to HCQ. Methods: We identified Duke Rheumatology patients with HCQ usage and a measured G6PD level. A retrospective chart review was performed, recording demographics, G6PD levels, episodes of anemia, laboratory values consistent with hemolysis, and HCQ use. Results: Of the 275 patients reviewed, 84% were female, 46% African American and 48% Caucasian. The leading diagnoses were lupus (32%), rheumatoid arthritis (29%), and inflammatory arthritis (14%). Only 4% of patients were G6PD deficient, all African American. Two G6PD-deficient patients had hemolysis during severe lupus flares that occurred while not taking HCQ. There were no reported episodes of hemolysis in over 700 months of HCQ exposure among the 11 G6PD-deficient patients. Conclusion: This is the largest study to date evaluating G6PD deficiency with concurrent use of HCQ. Among 11 patients with G6PD deficiency, 2 had episodes of hemolysis, but neither occurred during HCQ therapy. These data do not support routine G6PD level measurement or withholding HCQ therapy among African American patients with G6PD deficiency. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Awaiting the king: reforming public theology

James K. A. Smith's latest book, Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology is the final of his three-volume series on “Cultural Liturgies.”1 Smith says that the ultimate goal of the series is th...
Conflict and consensus in stakeholder views of seal management on Nantucket Island, MA, USA

Abstract With recovery of seal populations after their near extirpation from the coastal waters of Massachusetts, USA, controversy has emerged over seal-fishery interactions. To assess stakeholder attitudes toward management of seal-fishery conflicts and marine mammal protection, questionnaires were administered to the general public, on-site anglers, and tourists on Nantucket Island. All three groups agreed that the interests of the ecosystem should be the top management consideration and supported marine mammal protection. Opposition to lethal management was found among all groups, with tourists most opposed, followed by the public and on-site anglers. While non-lethal management received more support than lethal management, some support for leaving seals alone was found, particularly among tourists. No differences were found among stakeholder groups for non-lethal methods of seal management, with the exception of the scenario of using non-lethal methods to reduce population levels. These findings suggest that management of seal-fishery conflicts must respect ethical and ecological concerns to promote co-existence.
Retweet Wars: Tweet Popularity Prediction via Dynamic Multimodal Regression

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then images should be utilized together with other available data modalities when predicting the virality of online posts, such as tweets. In this paper, we re-visit the tweet popularity prediction problem by considering all data modalities: tweet language semantics, embedded images, author' social relationships, and the diffusion process of tweets. To model the content of tweets, we propose a joint-embedding neural network that combines visual, textual, and social cues together. Such content features can be either used for prediction directly, or for pre-conditioning a 'dynamics RNN', which models the message propagation process. A novel Poisson regression loss is optimized to train the network. We demonstrate that content based features can be used to improve upon social features and dynamics features via our joint-embedding regression model. Our model outperforms the state-of-the-art on multiple large-scale real-world datasets collected from Twitter.
Collaboration and Partnership in the Context of Indian CSR: The Global Compact Local Network and the I4D Project

The recent emergence of sustainability partnerships and the activities and commitments of some prominent global actors has not received enough empirical attention in the academic literature. In this chapter, we examine the collaborative dynamic of a relatively new initiative – the Investors for Development Project (I4D). Specifically, we investigate how its partners i.e. Northern Governments, United Nations Economic and Social Commission Asia Pacific, the UN Global Compact, and the wider community in the CSR field, have fueled the promotion and awareness of sustainable and responsible business in Asian economies. We find that financial and leadership commitments play an important role in shaping the sustainability efforts among Global Compact participants in Asian nations. In particular, we observe how the aims of this project have, to some extent, addressed some of the reported challenges of implementing CSR among the Indian business sector. We further find that the I4D model, conceptualized in this study as an inclusive partnership of global actors, does offer a platform for collaboration and networking opportunities among various stakeholders genuinely concerned for sustainable development in the South. We offer a discussion on the potential of this initiative, and make calls for more strategic insights that can move the scientific research in this field.
Methionine formation by transmethylation in vitro.

We reported in a previous communication (1) that guanidoacetic acid is methylated to creatine by rat liver slices in the presence of choline and either homocysteine or homocystine. Choline, homocystine, or homocysteine alone had little or no effect. These observations closed the gap which had existed between the evidence from tissue slice experiments on the one hand (2) and that from experiments in viva on the other (3-5) regarding the transfer of choline methyl in the formation of creatine.
Scheduling Open-Nested Transactions in Distributed Transactional Memory

Distributed transactional memory (DTM) is a powerful concurrency control model for distributed systems sparing the programmer from the complexity of manual implementation of lock-based distributed synchronization. We consider Herlihy and Sun’s dataflow DTM model, where objects are migrated to invoking transactions, and the open nesting model of managing inner (distributed) transactions. In this paper we present DATS, a dependency-aware transactional scheduler, that is able to boost the throughput of open-nested transactions reducing the overhead of running expensive compensating actions and abstract locks in the case of outer transaction aborts. The contribution of the paper is twofold: (A) DATS allows the commutable outer transactions to be validated concurrently and (B) allows the non-commutable outer transactions, depending on their inner transactions, to commit be committed before others without dependencies.
Towards a Greater Understanding of the Antecedents of Dehumanization: A Contempt-Dehumanization Framework

OF THE THESIS Towards a Greater Understanding of the Antecedents of Dehumanization: A Contempt-Dehumanization Framework by Fade Rimon Eadeh Master of Arts in Psychology Washington University in St. Louis, 2013 Professor Alan Lambert, Chair Although dehumanization has been studied in a variety of conceptual and methodological paradigms, surprisingly little is known about the role of affect as a mediator of the dehumanization process. In this paper we propose and test a contempt-dehumanization model, which stipulates that, the effect of severe norm violations on dehumanization is indirect, as mediated by contempt (norm violation ! contempt ! dehumanization). Across three studies we provide consistent support for this model in the realm of extremely immoral acts committed by drug dealers who intentionally target young children (Experiments 1 and 3) as well as unscrupulous Wall Street businessmen who deliberately scam unsuspecting elderly investors (Experiment 2). We discuss the implications of our model for previous models of dehumanization.
Safety, Feasibility, and Efficacy of Transcutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation in Acute Spinal Cord Injury Neurogenic Bladder: A Randomized Control Pilot Trial

Objectives We investigated whether transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (TTNS) in acute spinal cord injury was safe and feasible, and could achieve neuromodulation and improve cystometrogram parameters during acute inpatient rehabilitation. Materials and methods Participants were consecutive acute traumatic spinal cord injury patients admitted for acute inpatient rehabilitation, randomized to a 2-week trial of TTNS v sham stimulation. Primary outcomes were safety and feasibility of TTNS and secondary outcomes were bladder measures based on pre- and post-TTNS cystometrogram by group and within groups, including bladder capacity, detrusor hyperreflexia, pressures, and detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia, as well as filling sensations and desire to void. The principle investigator and subjects were blinded to treatment allocation. Results A total of 19 subjects consented to the study and completed the stimulation protocol. Morbidity was similar between groups and compliance was 100% to the TTNS protocol. Based on a lack of rehabilitation interruptions and comments from staff, TTNS was feasible. Post-cystometrogram parameters were significant for lower volumes until sensation in the control group and prolonged volumes until sensation in the TTNS group. The control group had significant changes of increased detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia and decreased bladder capacity. This was not significantly changed in the TTNS group. Conclusions TTNS is a safe and feasible modality that can be performed during inpatient rehabilitation of acute traumatic spinal cord injury. Bladder capacity and episodes of detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia significantly worsened in the control group and did not significantly change in the TTNS group, suggesting that TTNS can alter the course of neurogenic bladder via neuromodulation.
Explaining Election Boycotts

In this chapter, Buttorff discusses elections and boycotts in the 12 Arab countries that held elections between 1990 and 2010, as well as the common patterns of boycott and participation regularly observed in the Arab world. She also provides an overview of the reasons for boycotting expressed by the opposition parties themselves. Finally, using cross-national data on opposition boycotts as well as electoral fairness indicators, Buttorff explores the strengths and limits of existing scholarship in explaining the variation in the boycotting behavior of opposition groups in the region.
Propulsion and assembly of remotely powered p-type silicon microparticles

In this letter, we discuss how to prepare millions of uniform p-type silicon (Si) microparticles using top-down fabrication processes and how to remotely control their dynamics when they are suspended in water and powered by external alternating current (AC) electric fields. These microparticles present positively charged carrier types (majority carriers from boron atom doping in the intrinsic Si) and negatively charged carrier types (minority carriers from the free electrons in the Si lattice), which electrostatically affects their negatively charged surfaces and enables a variety of programmable behaviors, such as directional assembly and propulsion. At high AC electric field frequencies ( f > 10 kHz), the microparticles assemble by attractive dielectrophoretic polarization forces. At low electric field frequencies ( f ≤ 10 kHz), the microparticles propel by induced-charge electrophoretic flows. The ability to manipulate the electrostatic potential distribution within and around the microparticles (i.e., by controlling electronic carrier types through doping) is useful for designing a number of new dynamic systems and devices with precise control over their behaviors.
A response to Zhang et al. (2018), “Can Mouse-tracking Reveal Attribute Processing Speeds in Dietary Self-control? Commentary on Sullivan et al. (2015) and Lim et al. (2018)”

In Sullivan et al. (2015), mouse-tracking was used in a food choice paradigm to test two related hypotheses: 1) that there are differences in the relative speed with which the decision-making circuitry computes and weights the value of attributes like health and taste; and, 2) that individual differences in these relative speeds are associated with individual differences in the ability to make healthy dietary choices. Regression analysis of the mouse-tracking paths found that health became significantly predictive of the mouse's angle of movement ~195 ms later than taste, on average. Moreover, individual dietary self-control varied with estimates of the individual differences in the relative speed with which taste (tTaste) and health (tHealth) entered the decision-making process. Similar results have been found in other studies, including Lim et al. (2018) and the new data presented in Zhang et al. (2018). However, Zhang et al. (2018) argue that the conclusions of the previous work are flawed due to problems with the methods used in the previous literature. Here, we respond to each of their points. Among other results, we find that the central analysis technique used by Zhang et al. (2018) eliminates the difference in tTaste and tHealth even when it is built into a simulated dataset.
Educating Leaders for Proactive Involvement in Policy Development.

Schools and education in general face intense scrutiny, particularly as states enact high stakes accountability legislation that measures and judges performance. This has led to increased stress fo...
Chapter 9 Receptors as Models for the Mechanisms of Membrane Protein Turnover and Dynamics

Publisher Summary This chapter focuses on the general behavioral patterns of cell surface receptors and how this behavior compares with that observed for other membrane proteins. The investigation of receptor dynamics is a potentially powerful approach for understanding the mechanisms responsible for generating and maintaining the unique composition of the plasma membrane. The turnover of cellular proteins is classically defined as a function of the synthetic and degradation rates of the proteins. Virtually, all of the techniques presently available for analyzing the fate of membrane receptors rely on following the bound ligand rather than the receptor itself. Any kinetic analysis of the rate of turnover of membrane proteins requires a quantitative determination of the number of receptors at the plasma membrane at any one moment. The processes and mechanisms responsible for the differential internalization rates of receptors are potentially involved in determining the specific composition of the plasma membrane as a whole. The available information on receptors displaying very high internalization rates indicates that this is mediated through a preferential association of the receptors with coated-pit structures. The concept of receptor recycling or reutilization is an area of intense current study because the mechanisms involved in the reinsertion of previously internalized membrane proteins should provide insight into the general mechanisms of membrane dynamics in living cells. The great promise of receptor studies is that the binding of specific ligands to specific membrane proteins is a very powerful method for analyzing their behavior in situ .
Integrating environmental and neighborhood factors in MaxEnt modeling to predict species distributions: A case study of Aedes albopictus in southeastern Pennsylvania

Aedes albopictus is a viable vector for several infectious diseases such as Zika, West Nile, Dengue viruses and others. Originating from Asia, this invasive species is rapidly expanding into North American temperate areas and urbanized places causing major concerns for public health. Previous analyses show that warm temperatures and high humidity during the mosquito season are ideal conditions for A. albopictus development, while its distribution is correlated with population density. To better understand A. albopictus expansion into urban places it is important to consider the role of both environmental and neighborhood factors. The present study aims to assess the relative importance of both environmental variables and neighborhood factors in the prediction of A. albopictus' presence in Southeast Pennsylvania using MaxEnt (version 3.4.1) machine-learning algorithm. Three models are developed that include: (1) exclusively environmental variables, (2) exclusively neighborhood factors, and (3) a combination of environmental variables and neighborhood factors. Outcomes from the three models are compared in terms of variable importance, accuracy, and the spatial distribution of predicted A. albopictus' presence. All three models predicted the presence of A. albopictus in urban centers, however, each to a different spatial extent. The combined model resulted in the highest accuracy (74.7%) compared to the model with only environmental variables (73.5%) and to the model with only neighborhood factors (72.1%) separately. Although the combined model does not essentially increase the accuracy in the prediction, the spatial patterns of mosquito distribution are different when compared to environmental or neighborhood factors alone. Environmental variables help to explain conditions associated with mosquitoes in suburban/rural areas, while neighborhood factors summarize the local conditions that can also impact mosquito habitats in predominantly urban places. Overall, the present study shows that MaxEnt is suitable for integrating neighborhood factors associated with mosquito presence that can complement and improve species distribution modeling.
Motion denoising of multiband resting state functional connectivity MRI data: An improved volume censoring method

The study of resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) using functional MRI scans has rapidly become one of the most promising and widely used techniques for investigations of human brain function in both healthy and psychiatric populations. Two critical recent developments in this field are 1) the increasing use of simultaneous multi-slice fMRI (multiband) acceleration techniques, which dramatically improves the spatial and temporal resolution of fMRI data, and 2) the recognition that participant motion is a critical confound in RSFC studies, which requires careful denoising in order to obtain valid results. However, motion artifact denoising techniques were not developed with the temporal resolution of multiband fMRI in mind, which results in the capture of high-frequency respiration-related motion of participants during scanning. This respiration-related motion appears to negatively impact the performance of existing volume censoring approaches. Using publicly available multiband RSFC data from the Human Connectome Project, we developed a new volume censoring motion correction approach that addresses respiration-related motion separately from other sources of motion, and outperforms one of the most widely used denoising pipelines. We further show that the assumptions underlying some of the most commonly employed metrics for evaluating motion denoising pipelines (testing for significant differences in RSFC correlations between high- and low-motion participants, and so-called QC-FC based methods) may be inappropriate for the evaluation of pipeline performance. Specifically, the number of significant RSFC correlations between high- and low-motion groups is dramatically reduced by exclusion of participants exhibiting substance use or who have a family history of psychiatric or neurological disorder, indicating that individual differences in unmeasured third variables contribute to both higher motion and true differences in RSFC correlations. As a result, we call into question the use of these widely used metrics as objective, quantitative indicators of data quality after motion denoising, which assumes that no true differences in RSFC exist between high- and low-motion groups. Finally, we develop and present an empirical basis for selecting volume censoring thresholds in any multiband RSFC dataset, which are widely used in the field but have had an exclusively heuristic basis prior to this work. These findings thus have three major impacts: first, to present a substantively improved pipeline for motion denoising of multiband RSFC data; second, to raise concerns about a key metric used to evaluate motion denoising for RSFC data more generally; and third, to provide investigators with an empirically-grounded estimate of the optimal volume censoring threshold to employ for any dataset.
Fear, Anger, and Political Advertisement Engagement: A Computational Case Study of Russian-Linked Facebook and Instagram Content:

This study examined political advertisements placed by the Russian-based Internet Research Agency on Facebook and Instagram. Advertisements were computationally analyzed for four rhetorical techniq...
Application of POMDPs to Cognitive Radar

In recent years, hardware advances have resulted in software configurable radar systems that lend themselves well to decision-making systems. Partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) are evaluated herein as a framework for decision-making in radar scenarios, and value iteration is examined as a method for computing an optimal decision policy with a POMDP. A scenario is investigated wherein a radar is competing with a greedy agent for spectrum. Results demonstrate improvement over a heuristic decision-making agent that seeks to maximize immediate reward.
Human placenta-derived matrix with cancellous autograft and demineralized bone matrix for large segmental long-bone defects in two dogs with septic nonunion.

Objective To report the successful treatment of septic nonunion in two dogs with large segmental defects secondary to long-bone fractures by using a novel human placenta-derived matrix (hPM) as adjunct to fixation. Animals One 3-kg 9-year-old neutered male Yorkshire terrier with a distal antebrachial fracture and one 6-kg 4-year-old spayed female miniature pinscher with a distal humeral fracture. Study design Short case series. Methods Both dogs presented for septic nonunion after internal fixation of Gustilo type II open diaphyseal fractures from dog bite injuries. During revision, debridement of nonviable bone resulted in segmental defects of 32% and 20% of the bone length for the antebrachial and humeral fractures, respectively. The antebrachial fracture was stabilized with a circular external fixator, and the humeral fracture was stabilized with biaxial bone plating. The fracture sites were not collapsed, and full length was maintained with the fixation. Autogenous cancellous bone graft and canine demineralized bone allograft were packed into the defects, and hPM was injected into the graft sites after closure. Results Radiographic union was documented at 8 weeks and 6 weeks for the antebrachial and humeral fractures, respectively. Both dogs became fully weight bearing on the affected limbs and returned to full activity. Conclusion Augmenting fixation with grafts and hPM led to a relatively rapid union in both dogs reported here.
Living behind the Mask amid Two Pandemics: COVID-19 and Social Injustice

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has put a spotlight on what the kidney community has known for decades. Underlying diseases—such as diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease—leave individuals, especially people of color, vulnerable to severe medical conditions. As a survivor of COVID-19 and a recipient of a kidney transplant, I fall into the category of these underlying diseases. When you incorporate my chronic illness with the current climate of fear, anxiety, and sadness due to the uncertainties with COVID-19, it negatively affects your mental and physical health. In late March 2020, COVID-19 infected my wife, Tina, and I. Tina’s symptoms had worsened to the point that the physicians admitted her into the COVID-19–designated intensive care unit for 6 days. During that time, our only means of communication was through FaceTime. Gazing at her, and seeing the streams of tears running down her face, left me helpless and devastated. As a husband unable to physically be near the woman who never left my side during my tumultuous kidney-transplant journey, all I could do in return is to show my support and optimism through words of encouragement. During our interactions, my words were masking the pain, hurt, and hopelessness of our situation. There was a point during a FaceTime conversation where I was looking at my wife lying in her hospital bed, struggling to breathe. For a brief moment, I had a flashback to my April 2017 kidney journey. On April 21, 2017, I received a kidney transplant. When I woke up from the surgery, the doctor told me that my new kidney was not working yet. During my transplant journey, I endured 24 hours of hemodialysis every other day, a total of four surgeries, 33 days of hospitalization, and it ended with my kidney starting to work on the 47th day. Tina refused …
Submillimeter and Millimeter Antiferromagnetic Resonance in Polycrystalline Nickel Oxide

The temperature dependence of the effective internal fields of NiO has been determined from antiferromagnetic resonance experiments at submillimeter frequencies using Fourier transform spectroscopy and at millimeter wavelengths with the usual spectroscopic techniques.
A 256Gb/s/mm-shoreline AIB-Compatible 16nm FinFET CMOS Chiplet for 2.5D Integration with Stratix 10 FPGA on EMIB and Tiling on Silicon Interposer

This work presents an Advanced Interface Bus (AIB)-compatible microcontroller unit (MCU) chiplet in 16nm FinFET CMOS. The MCU chiplet consists of three AIB channels, each providing 20 Tx and Rx pairs to support 80Gb/s/channel over $55\mu m$ - pitch microbumps. Two multi-chip modules (MCM) were constructed, one made of two MCU chiplets integrated on a 180nm passive silicon interposer, and the other made by pairing an MCU chiplet with a Stratix 10 FPGA over an Embedded Multi-die Interconnect Bridge (EMIB). The AIB interface provides 256Gb/s/mm-shoreline, consuming 0.83pJ/b at 0.9V and 1GHz. The two MCMs demonstrate the ease and versatility of modular 2.5D integration.
Impossible solutions: Competing values in marketing alternative proteins for sustainable food systems

Abstract Creators of alternative proteins (APs) claim to provide solutions, so-called promissory narratives, to the messy and complex problems in our food system. Through these promissory narratives APs are said to offer responsible consumption. Our article uses convention theory to explore how justifications by AP companies change and expand from primarily using civic concerns (e.g. the environment, animal welfare) to focusing on a much wider range of justifications, including financial, status, and traditions or trust as these products move into the marketplace. This work makes an original contribution by extending convention theory and the broader theory of regimes of engagement to the marketization of APs. Marketization refers to the creation of new market relations around new goods. Our results also challenge the rapidly expanding AP literature that has claimed these companies seek to encourage people to care about civic concerns, like the environment and animal welfare. Despite these results, we argue APs can contribute to responsible consumption through distributed responsibility, but there is always the danger that non-market values may be subsumed under market values, thereby stunting the transformative potential of APs.
Rediscovering Ourselves as Educators: An Exploration of Our Own Teaching Practices during a Global Pandemic

The purpose of this manuscript is to tell the story of two literacy methods professors’ teaching experiences in Fall of 2020. We found ourselves in a unique situation in that one of us was teaching fully online and the other using a hybrid model of both in person and online instruction. Together, we knew that there was something to discover in regard to higher education, specifically preservice service teacher methods courses, that needed to be explored. Therefore, we asked ourselves five reflective questions at the end of each month in the fall semester. Collectively, we decided on these questions as they related most to what we had experienced in Spring of 2020 and what we wanted to further learn from in the Fall. We answered these questions individually and then came together in a zoom meeting to discuss our reflection and anything else that we wanted/needed to share. While we found this process of reflecting and sharing to be cathartic to our own experiences, it was also uncomfortable to bump against our own beliefs about teaching and education in general. As a result, we share our collective conversation based on our reflections. This framework allowed us to move from “teacher lounge” talk and into action because our conversations were more structured and purposeful. We were able to understand ourselves as educators better and provide a framework for reflection for the field of education
The Social World of Intellectuals in the Roman Empire: Sophists, Philosophers, and Christians

Introduction 1. Inclusion and identity 2. Contesting competence: the ideal of self-determination 3. Expertise and authority in the early church 4. Defining the circle of sophists: Philostratus and the construction of the Second Sophistic 5. Becoming orthodox: heresiology as self-fashioning 6. Successions and self-definition 7. 'From such mothers and fathers': succession narratives in early Christian discourse.
Regolarizzazione di problemi mal posti

I problemi inversi vengono utilizzati in parecchie applicazioni scientifiche che spaziano dalle attivita biomediche a quelle di geofisica della Terra solida, all’atmosfera e all’oceanografia.
Neurotic Self-Deception as a Reproductive Strategy

Freud originally tried to ground psychoanalysis in the principles of evolutionary biology as Freud was quite familiar with Darwin’s work (Makari 2008, p. 111). Unfortunately, some of those principles proved erroneous such as Lamarck’s belief in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, Haeckel’s idea that ontogeny must recapitulate phylogeny, and the assumption that natural selection selects groups rather than individuals (Nesse and Lloyd 1992). In addition, Freudian thought has frequently been charged with excessive biological reductionism and determinism that tends to minimize the ways in which human personality functioning is socially constructed (Cushman 1996). Freud’s attempts at reconstructing the prehistorical evolution of the human mind, as in Totem and Taboo (Freud 1912–1913), have been characterized as “phylogenetic fantasies” (Freud 1915/1987). As a consequence, evolutionary thinking in psychoanalysis has gone out of fashion with some notable exceptions (Slavin and Kriegman 1992). Nevertheless, concepts such as psychological adaptation and psychological homeostasis that utilize ideas originally derived from biology are routinely employed in the psychoanalytic literature without much reflection on the status of those ideas in contemporary evolutionary thinking.
Calculations of p̄p → ȲY Near Threshold

The reactions pp → ȲY will soon be studied1,2 near threshold at LEAR. Comparison of theoretical calculations with the measured differential cross sections, polarizations and spin correlations may help to determine the role of various meson exchange terms and the extent to which quark degrees of freedom are important. Calculations along these lines are in progress and are described briefly below.
Disturbance of isotope systematics during experimental shock and thermal metamorphism of a lunar basalt with implications for Martian meteorite chronology

To better determine the effects of impact-related processes on radiometric chronometers in meteorites, we undertook an isotopic study of experimentally shocked and heated samples of lunar basalt 10017. Shock experiments at 55 GPa were completed on one subsample, and a second subsample was heated in an evacuated quartz tube at 1000 � C for 170 h. A third subsample was maintained as a control. Samarium-neodymium, Rb-Sr, 238 U- 206 Pb, and 206 Pb- 207 Pb isotopic analyses were completed on mineral fractions (leached and unleached), leached whole rocks, and complementary acid leachates. Disturbance in the shocked and heated samples was evaluated through comparison of their isochron diagrams with those of the control sample. The Sm-Nd isotope system was the least disturbed, the Rb-Sr isotope system was more disturbed, and the 238 U- 206 Pb and 206 Pb- 207 Pb isotope systems were the most disturbed by shock and annealing. Samples that experienced extended heating demonstrated greater isotopic disturbances than shocked samples. In some cases, the true crystallization age was preserved, and in others, age information was degraded or destroyed. In no case did the experiments generate isochrons that maintained linearity while being rotated or completely reset. Although our results show that neither experimental shock nor thermal metamorphism alone can account for the discordant ages represented by different isotope systems in some Martian meteorites, we postulate that shock metamorphism may render a meteorite more susceptible than its unshocked counterpart to subsequent disturbance during extended impact-related heating or aqueous alteration. The combination of these processes may result in the disparate chronometric information preserved in some meteorites.
Comparative effectiveness of treatment options for pediatric craniopharyngiomas.

Object No clear treatment guidelines for pediatric craniopharyngiomas exist. The authors developed a decision analytical model to evaluate outcomes of 4 surgical approaches for craniopharyngiomas in children, including attempted gross-total resection (GTR), planned subtotal removal plus radiotherapy, biopsy plus radiotherapy, and endoscopic resections of all kinds. Methods Pooled data, including the authors' own experience, were used to create evidence tables, from which incidence, relative risks, and summary outcomes in quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were calculated for the 4 management strategies. Results Quality-adjusted life years at the 5-year follow-up were 2.3 ± 0.1 for attempted GTR, 2.9 ± 0.2 for planned subtotal removal plus radiotherapy, 3.9 ± 0.2 for biopsy plus radiotherapy, and 3.7 ± 0.2 for endoscopic resection (F = 17,150, p < 0.001). Similarly, QALYs at 10-year follow-up were 4.5 ± 0.2 for attempted GTR, 5.7 ± 0.5 for planned subtotal removal plus radiotherapy, and 7.8 ± 0.5 for biop...
Incremental Computation of Static Single Assignment Form

Static single assignment (SSA) form is an intermediate representation that is well suited for solving many data flow optimization problems. However, since the standard algorithm for building SSA form is exhaustive, maintaining correct SSA form throughout a multi-pass compilation process can be expensive. In this paper, we present incremental algorithms for restoring correct SSA form after program transformations. First, we specify incremental SSA algorithms for insertion and deletion of a use/definition of a variable, and for a large class of updates on intervals. We characterize several cases for which the cost of these algorithms will be proportional to the size of the transformed region and hence potentially much smaller than the cost of the exhaustive algorithm. Secondly, we specify customized SSA-update algorithms for a set of common loop transformations. These algorithms are highly efficient: the cost depends at worst on the size of the transformed code, and in many cases the cost is independent of the loop body size and depends only on the number of loops.
The Evolution Of Food Aid

Abstract The purpose of food aid has evolved over the past 30 years, shifting from surplus disposal to a ‘development first’ regime. This shift was accelerated by the World Food Conference, but even 10 years after the conference it is yet to be completed. There are inherent tensions between the older and new design principles. The author proposes a more coherent set of governing principles and norms.
The Voyager mission to Uranus and beyond

On 24 January 1986 the Voyager 2 probe will approach within 82,000 km of the cloud tops of the planet Uranus, obtaining our first closeup pictures of this giant outer planet as well as amassing large quantities of data from the ten other onboard experiments. Closeups of the five presently known Uranian satellites will be transmitted back over a distance of 20 AU with a one-way light-time of two and three-quarter hours. The narrow, elliptical, inclined rings of Uranus will be probed both by the imaging subsystem and by the photopolarimeter detecting the light of stars shining through this diffuse necklace.
Exploring the Use of Lean Thinking and Six Sigma in Public Housing Authorities

Inadequate funding for federal housing programs for low-income families and the elderly makes it necessary for public housing authorities to find ways to make do with less. In response, a few of these organizations have turned to private-sector quality ..
The Positive Correlation of Price and Concentration in Staples: Market Power or Indivisibility?

The FTC's successful challenge of the Staples-Office Depot merger is one of the most important antitrust cases in recent years. Vital to the FTC's success was evidence that prices for office supplies were significantly higher in markets having only one firm operating office supply superstores than in markets having two or three such firms. The FTC used this evidence to argue that the merger would raise the price of office supplies. This paper applies an idea of Harold Demsetz (1989) - indivisibility rent - to argue that one-firm markets probably have higher marginal costs. If so, the FTC's inference about the effect of the merger is doubtful.
FIRM MANAGEMENT, STRATEGY, RESOURCES, AND PRESENCE ON THE WEB

This paper examines the variables associated with a firm having a site on the World WideWeb and with the site's characteristics. We predict that company leadership and strategy,firm resources and the need to communicate with the public are associated with thepresence of Web sites and their characteristics. To test the predictions, we use data fromthe Business Week 1000 largest firms in the US., two year's of chairmans' annual reportletters, and a survey of Web sites. The results show that firm leadership and strategy isthe strongest predictor of having a Web site and its characteristics. Firm resources andthe need to communicate are also positively associated with Web sites. The presence of aWeb site and its evaluation appear to be independent of industry classification. Weexplore the implications of the results for firm strategy toward the adoption oftechnological innovations.
A Simulation Study of the Metabolism and Compartmentation in Brain of Glutamate, Aspartate, the Krebs Cycle, and Related Metabolites

Abstract 1. The portion of brain metabolism involving glutamate, aspartate, glutamine, glutathione, γ-aminobutyric acid, Krebs cycle intermediates, and related substances has been simulated with a digital computer. This involves the interaction of a complex metabolic pattern with a complex compartmentation. A model has been constructed from 49 differential equations representing 49 (unlabeled) chemical species, and its behavior has been compared, with generally satisfactory agreement, with experimental data obtained from administration of several 14C-labeled tracers and intravenous infusion of large doses of 15NH3. 2. Most of the substances and pathways involved in the model are divided between a large and a small compartment (except glutamine and ammonia). The large compartment contains 4 to 10 times as much as the small compartment of nearly all divided substances; but the Krebs cycle flux and hence the number of mitochondria are about equally divided between the compartments. Radioactivity from 14C-glucose first appears mostly in the large compartment, and ordinarily most CO2 fixation to oxalacetate takes place there; but high ammonia levels stimulate fixation of CO2 into the small compartment, together with an efflux of glutamine from the brain. 3. On the basis of the rates at which they metabolize possible energy sources, such as glucose, and their response to ammonia intoxication, it is suggested that the compartments serve as a homeostatic mechanism to protect part of the brain against fluctuations in environment. 4. Based on known biochemical properties, an identification with these compartments of several cytological structures is suggested: the small compartment contains the nerve ending fraction and some glial cells; the large compartment includes most of the neuron bodies and glial cells, particularly astroglia. 5. A number of experiments suggested by the model are described, mostly to check the identification of the nerve ending fraction as part of the small compartment (e.g. by following CO2 fixation in vitro). Some are to check theories relating to this area of metabolism, such as a possible neurotransmitter action of γ-aminobutyric acid.
Learning approximate MRFs from large transaction data

In this paper we consider the problem of learning approximate Markov Random Fields (MRFs) from large transaction data. We rely on frequent itemsets to learn MRFs on the data. Since learning exact large MRFs is generally intractable, we resort to learning approximate MRFs. Our proposed modeling approach first employs graph partitioning to cluster variables into balanced disjoint partitions, and then augments important interactions across partitions to capture interdependencies across them. A novel treewidth based augmentation scheme is proposed to boost performance. We learn an exact local MRF for each partition and then combine all the local MRFs together to derive a global model of the data. A greedy approximate inference scheme is developed on this global model. We demonstrate the use of the learned MRFs on the selectivity estimation problem. Empirical evaluation on real datasets demonstrates the advantage of our approach over extant solutions.
A TARGET FOR CRITICS

Surprise at the methods followed and vigorous dissent from the conclusions reached are greeting the publication of the Thorndike study of the possibility of predicting vocational success. The subjoined review by Dr. Paterson criticizes the investigators for failure in so elementary a matter as the establishing of adequate criteria of vocational success. From across the sea comes a review of the sort commonly characterized as “devastating.” Written by Angus Macrae of the British National Institute of Industrial Psychology, published in the organ of the Institute, The Human Factor, and here reprinted by permission, the article points out—we quote from its own introduction—that the methods used in the Thorndike experiment “are a travesty of scientific vocational guidance.” It adds: “The failure of such methods was to be expected; but it is quite unjustifiable to argue from their failure to the uselessness of vocational guidance in general.” Dr. Paterson agrees. His review precedes that of Mr. Macrae.
Genetic Identification of Chinook Salmon: Stock-Specific Distributions of Juveniles along the Washington and Oregon Coasts

AbstractWe used microsatellite DNA data and genetic stock identification methods to delineate the temporal and spatial distributions of juvenile Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha occupying coastal habitats extending from central Oregon to northern Washington. Juveniles were collected in trawl surveys conducted during spring, summer, and autumn over 15 years. Distributions (mean latitude and distance from shore) differed between yearling and subyearling life history types and between stocks; many of these differences were consistent across years. Yearlings were nearly all (98%) from Columbia River sources, and only 6% were naturally produced. In late May, yearlings from the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers were farther north than other yearlings, likely due to the early spring timing of their releases from hatcheries and subsequent out-migration from the Columbia River. However, yearling distributions in late June reflected known migration behaviors. Yearlings from interior Columbia and Snake Riv...
A theoretical perspective of man-made system disasters: Social-technical analysis and design

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study major man‐made system disasters and to suggest a solution for filling the noted gaps in control systems interfaces and to render those vital considerations for the next‐generation disaster management control systems.Design/methodology/approach – This research analyzes the nature of large‐scale disasters and observes that most man‐made system disasters are composed of many related events that interact with one another.Findings – The findings show evidence of a common path to catastrophe. These functional failures resulted from the information gaps that eventually contribute to the development of a tragedy. Because of the intricate interconnections among related events of a developed calamity, an integrated approach to man‐made disaster detection and prevention as well as emergency management is required.Practical implications – Conducting an analysis of the typical contingency control structures, the authors suggest that disaster or emergency managers adopt a...
‘Always gettin’ in trouble’: the Li’l Tomboy comic-book series, the good female consumer, and the fifties bad girl

This essay explores the rich and interesting but critically neglected Li’l Tomboy comic-book series (Charlton Publications, 1956–59). As my discussion demonstrates, Li’l Tomboy offers a compelling commentary about the complex feedback loop that existed between American popular culture during the 1950s and its prevailing social anxieties. The comic-book career of Li’l Tomboy takes place against the backdrop of growing national concerns about female gender conformity, youth rebellion, and the rising rates of juvenile delinquency. This feisty female figure engaged in behaviour that went far beyond simple defying post-war notions about appropriate feminine conduct; it could often be seen as delinquent. Moreover, Li’l Tomboy engages in these activities not simply under the watchful eye of the Comics Code Authority, but, astoundingly, with their official seal of approval. During a time when the censors employed by the Authority office were at their most powerful and restrictive, Li’l Tomboy engaged in antics th...
Dynamic Study of Common Well Screen Materials

Experiments simulating the dynamics of compliance sampling via a monitoring well were performed to assess the effects of common well screen materials (rigid polyvinyl chloride, polytetrafluoroethylene, stainless steel 304. and stainless steel 316) on several metals and tri- chloroethylene (TCE) in ground water. This was achieved by using a continuous flow-through chamber system capable of exposing monitoring well screens to ground water for periods ranging from 0.25 to 8 hours. The findings of this study are more representative than static laboratory experiments for assessing the potential effects well casing materials have on ground water samples. Under dynamic flow conditions stainless steel 304 and 316 screens were found to influence solution concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, and Fe, while ground water TCE concentrations were not affected by any of the materials tested.