cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preplication, Replication: A Proposal to Efficiently Upgrade Journal Replication Standards

Despite 20 years of progress in promoting replication standards in International Relations (IR), significant problems remain in both the provision of data and the incentives to replicate published research. While replicable research is a public good, there appear to be private incentives for researchers to follow socially suboptimal research strategies. The current situation has led to a growing concern in IR, as well as across the social sciences, that published research findings may not represent accurate appraisals of the evidence on particular research questions. In this article, I discuss the role of private information in the publication process and review the incentives for producing replicable and nonreplicable research. A small, but potentially important, change in a journal’s workflow could both deter the publication of nonreplicable work and lower the costs for researchers to build and expand upon existing published research. The suggestion, termed Preplication, is for journals to run the replication data and code for conditionally accepted articles before publication, just as journals routinely check for compliance with style guides. This change could be implemented alongside other revisions to journal policies around the discipline. In fact, Preplication is already in use at several journals, and I provide an update as to how the process has worked at International Interactions .
Quantitative peptidomics in mice: effect of cocaine treatment.

We recently developed a quantitative peptidomics method using stable isotopic labels and mass spectrometry to both quantify and identify a large number of peptides. To test this approach and screen for peptides regulated by cocaine administration, 32 Cpefat/fat mice and 16 wild-type mice were treated twice daily for 5 d either with saline or 10 mg/kg cocaine. Peptides were extracted from striatum, hypothalamus, hippocampus, and trimethylammonium butyrate containing either nine deuterium or nine hydrogen atoms. Pools of heavy- and light-labeled peptides were combined, purified on an anhydrotrypsin affinity column, and analyzed on a reverse-phase column coupled to an electrospray ionization quadrapole time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Changes in peptide levels upon cocaine treatment were determined from the relative peak intensities of the cocaine versus saline peaks, and peptides were identified from collision-induced dissociation spectra. Ten peptides were found to increase or decrease in each of two separate analyses from distinct groups of mice. Peptides found to increase corresponded to fragments of proenkephalin, prothyrotropin-releasing hormone, provasopressin, proSAAS, secretogranin II, chromogranin B, and peptidyl-glycine-α-amidating mono-oxygenase in the hypothalamus. The same peptidyl-glycine-α-amidating mono-oxygenase peptide decreased in the prefrontal cortex, along with striatal neurokinin B and two unidentified peptides. Thirty other peptides were not substantially affected by cocaine treatment in both replicates. Taken together, the quantitative peptidomics approach provides an efficient method to screen for changes in a large number of peptides.
Exposure, epidemiology, and mechanism of the environmental toxicant manganese

It has become increasingly apparent that global manganese (Mn) pollution to air and water is a significant threat to human health. Despite this recognition, research is only beginning to comprehend the detrimental effects of exposure. Mn, while essential, is particularly harmful to the central nervous system, and overexposure is symptomatic of several neurological disorders. At-risk populations have been identified, but it is still unclear whether typical exposure levels have any long-term consequences. Those at an elevated risk have diminished intellectual function, learning and memory, and mental development. While the overall mechanism of toxicity is undetermined, Mn has been found to induce oxidative stress, exacerbate mitochondrial dysfunction, dysregulate autophagy, and promote apoptosis, ultimately enhancing neurodegeneration. Extrapolation of this in vitro and in vivo data to humans is difficult. There is a definite need to correlate epidemiological studies with causative effects. It is imperative that research efforts endure, so threats are appropriately identified and exposure properly regulated.
UN Peace Operations and the Protection of Civilians

The United Nations Security Council frequently authorizes military interventions with a mandate to protect civilians, but there is an unresolved debate in the qualitative literature about whether those operations actually protect people. Quantitative cross-national analysis might be able to resolve this debate but it has been impeded by highly aggregated, macro-level datasets that cannot reveal the considerable variation in violence over time and across geography. Two new event-datasets (ACLED and GED) disaggregate individual events with the objective of providing and empirical foundation for advances in quantitative studies of conflict dynamics, including civilian protection efforts. Comparison of the two datasets, however, demonstrates that they do not reliably reflect the actual pattern of events. The datasets suffer from an inherent problem with events-data: they contain patterns of reporting instead of patterns of events. Critique of a recent article that uses the GED dataset demonstrates the questionable findings that can result. The paper calls (once again) for more engagement between qualitative and quantitative scholars as a way to more quickly and accurately answer basic questions, such as do UN peace operations really protect people?
Avoiding absolutization of protection range of lightning rods and overhead ground wires

This paper analyzes the lightning protection principle of lightning rods and overhead ground wires along with the major factors influencing their protection range. It is concluded that 1) all formulas dealing with the said protection rage at home and abroad are empirical formulas, for some key influencing factors can not be quantitated; 2) the difference of the protection range stipulated in various documents is the result of different permissible lightning strike probability; 3) absolutizing the protection range of lightning rods and overhead ground wires should be avoided.
Adherence reporting in phase III trials of approved oral anticancer agents: A systematic review.

e20596 Background: With the increasing number of orally administered anticancer agents, evaluation of treatment adherence is critical to assess efficacy and adverse events. When patients enrolled i...
Ordinalization: Lewis A. Coser Memorial Award for Theoretical Agenda Setting 2014

We can think of three basic principles of classificatory judgment for comparing things and people. I call these judgments nominal (oriented to essence), cardinal (oriented to quantities), and ordinal (oriented to relative positions). Most social orders throughout history are organized around the intersection of these different types. In line with the ideals of political liberalism, however, democratic societies have developed an arsenal of institutions to untangle nominal and ordinal judgments in various domains of social life. In doing so, I suggest, they have contributed to the parallel amplification of both. In this article, I specifically discuss the socio-technical channels through which ordinal judgments are now elaborated, a process I call ordinalization. I conclude by exploring the political and economic possibilities of a society in which ordinal processes are ubiquitous.
LASCO White-Light Observations of Eruptive Current Sheets Trailing CMEs

Many models of eruptive flares or coronal mass ejections (CMEs) involve formation of a current sheet connecting the ejecting CME flux rope with a magnetic loop arcade. However, there is very limited observational information on the properties and evolution of these structures, hindering progress in understanding eruptive activity from the Sun. In white-light images, narrow coaxial rays trailing the outward-moving CME have been interpreted as current sheets. Here, we undertake the most comprehensive statistical study of CME-rays to date. We use SOHO/LASCO data, which have a higher cadence, larger field of view, and better sensitivity than any previous coronagraph. We compare our results to a previous study of Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) CMEs, in 1984 – 1989, having candidate magnetic disconnection features at the CME base, about half of which were followed by coaxial bright rays. We examine all LASCO CMEs during two periods of minimum and maximum activity in Solar Cycle 23, resulting in many more events, $\sim130$ CME-rays, than during SMM. Important results include: The occurrence rate of the rays is $\sim11~\%$ of all CMEs during solar minimum, but decreases to $\sim7~\%$ at solar maximum; this is most likely related to the more complex coronal background. The rays appear on average 3 – 4 hours after the CME core, and are typically visible for three-fourths of a day. The mean observed current sheet length over the ray lifetime is $\sim12~R_{\odot}$ , with the longest current sheet of $18.5~R_{\odot}$ . The mean CS growth rates are $188~\mbox{km}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ at minimum and $324~\mbox{km}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ at maximum. Outward-moving blobs within several rays, which are indicative of reconnection outflows, have average velocities of $\sim350~\mbox{km}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}$ with small positive accelerations. A pre-existing streamer is blown out in most of the CME-ray events, but half of these are observed to reform within $\sim1$ day. The long lifetime and long lengths of the CME-rays challenge our current understanding of the evolution of the magnetic field in the aftermath of CMEs.
Laser-enhanced high-intensity focused ultrasound heating in an in vivo small animal model.

The enhanced heating effect during the combination of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) and low-optical-fluence laser illumination was investigated by using an in vivo murine animal model. The thighs of murine animals were synergistically irradiated by HIFU and pulsed nano-second laser light. The temperature increases in the target region were measured by a thermocouple under different HIFU pressures, which were 6.2, 7.9, and 9.8 MPa, in combination with 20 mJ/cm2 laser exposures at 532 nm wavelength. In comparison with conventional laser therapies, the laser fluence used here is at least one order of magnitude lower. The results showed that laser illumination could enhance temperature during HIFU applications. Additionally, cavitation activity was enhanced when laser and HIFU irradiation were concurrently used. Further, a theoretical simulation showed that the inertial cavitation threshold was indeed decreased when laser and HIFU irradiation were utilized concurrently.
Fast bilateral breast coverage with high spectral and spatial resolution (HiSS) MRI at 3T

Purpose To develop and assess a full-coverage, sensitivity encoding (SENSE)-accelerated breast high spatial and spectral resolution (HiSS) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within clinically reasonable times as a potential nonenhanced MRI protocol for breast density measurement or breast cancer screening. Materials and Methods Sixteen women with biopsy-proven cancer or suspicious lesions, and 13 women who were healthy volunteers or were screened for breast cancer, received 3T breast MRI exams, including SENSE-accelerated HiSS MRI, which was implemented as a submillimeter spatial resolution echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (EPSI) sequence. In postprocessing, fat and water resonance peak height and integral images were generated from EPSI data. The postprocessing software was custom-designed, and new algorithms were developed to enable processing of whole-coverage axial HiSS datasets. Water peak height HiSS images were compared to pre- and postcontrast T1-weighted images. Fat suppression was quantified as parenchymal-to-suppressed-fat signal ratio in HiSS water peak height and nonenhanced T1-weighted images, and artifact levels were scored. Results Approximately a 4-fold decrease in acquisition speed, with a concurrent 2.5-fold decrease in voxel size, was achieved, with low artifact levels, and with spectral signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 45:1. Fat suppression was 1.9 times more effective (P < 0.001) in HiSS images than in T1-weighted images (SPAIR), and HiSS images showed higher SNR in the axilla. HiSS MRI visualized 10 of 13 malignant lesions identified on dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI, and did not require skin removal in postprocessing to generate maximum intensity projection images. Conclusion We demonstrate full-coverage, SENSE-accelerated breast HiSS MRI within clinically reasonable times, as a potential protocol for breast density measurement or breast cancer screening. Level of Evidence: 2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017.
Challenging Observant Debaters

Social interaction patterns of student resistance developed in Ms. Gomez’s classroom climate with cultural power at play. Student resistance of classroom culture, norms, and values resulted in social interaction patterns that led to students’ inevitable suspension.
A National Survey of Chief Probation/Parole Officers’ Perceived Interest in and Impact of Partnerships with Police

ABSTRACTFormal police–probation/parole partnerships grew in popularity in the 1990s, supported heavily by federal funding until the early 2000s. Using the membership list of the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), this study represents the first attempt to survey a national sample of community supervision leaders concerning their interest, concerns, and perceived impact of partnerships with law enforcement. Few respondents indicated their agency was not already engaged in partnerships with police. However, the majority were informal, lacking clear interorganizational agreements, documentation, or evaluation outcomes. Results find the support of agency executives and supervisors is the most important variable in creating and maintaining viable and productive partnerships.
On the Genesis of an Assistive Technology Crowdsourcing Community

The e-NABLE movement is a global confederation that designs, builds, and distributes free, 3D-printed, upper limb assistive devices to children born without fingers and hands. It has been called one of the most inspiring philanthropic efforts of the 21st century. We use social network analysis and natural language processing on the original e-NABLE Google+ community to understand the challenges and opportunities in organizing a rapidly growing real-world social entrepreneurship venture via social media. Our results provide important lessons and benchmarks for similar communities.
Respondent-Generated Intervals (RGI) For Recall in Sample Surveys

Respondents are asked for both a basic response to a recall-type question, their usage quantity, and are asked to provide lower and upper bounds for the (Respondent-Generated) interval in which their true values might possibly lie. A Bayesian hierarchical model for estimating the population mean and its variance is presented.
Sex Differences in the Psychometric Properties of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index

Abstract Background: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is a well-known, validated, and reliable instrument used to measure the clinical construct of sleep quality. Little research has been done to measure its psychometric properties by sex. Previous researchers have established the validity of a three-factor structure, but it is unknown whether it applies to both men and women equally. Materials and Methods: This study examined 198 participants; women (n = 104), men (n = 94) who were participants in the Diabetes Sleep Treatment Trial, an ongoing study examining the effect of continuous positive airway pressure on glycemic control in people with type 2 diabetes. A principal components analysis with varimax rotation, scree plots, parallel analysis, and Eigenvalues confidence intervals were all computed to determine factor structure using the seven components measured in the PSQI. Results: Component one, a question about perceived sleep quality, loaded with “sleep efficiency” and “sleep duration” in ...
Privacy preserving cloud-based quadratic optimization

This work proposes a protocol for privately solving constrained quadratic optimization problems with sensitive data. The problem encompasses the private data of multiple agents and is outsourced to an untrusted server. We describe the desired security goals and investigate the information leakage from duality theory. We present an interactive protocol that achieves the solution of a strictly quadratic convex optimization problem with private linear cost and private linear inequality constraints, by making use of partially homomorphic cryptosystems to securely effectuate computations. Then, we provide extensions to the protocol in order to also consider equality constraints and to obtain a speedup of the performance.
n-3 Fatty Acid Supplementation in Mothers, Preterm Infants, and Term Infants and Childhood Psychomotor and Visual Development: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background Epidemiologic studies link maternal seafood and n-3 (ω-3) polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) consumption with improved childhood cognitive development; trials show mixed results. Objective We investigated effects of n-3 PUFA supplementation on child cognitive and visual outcomes. Methods We systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed randomized controlled trials of n-3 PUFA supplementation in mothers or infants (age ≤2 y) and evaluated standardized measures of cognitive or visual development up to age 18 y. Of 6286 abstracts and 669 full-text articles, 38 trials with 53 intervention arms were included. Data were extracted independently in duplicate. Findings were pooled using random-effects meta-analysis across supplementation periods (maternal, preterm, term infant); we also explored subgroup analyses stratified by supplementation period. Heterogeneity was explored using I2, stratified analysis, and meta-regression. Cognitive development was assessed by Bayley Scales of Infant Development mental and psychomotor developmental indexes (MDI, PDI) and intelligence quotient (IQ); visual acuity was assessed by electrophysiological or behavioral measures. Results The 38 trials (mothers: n = 13; preterm infants: n = 7; term infants: n = 18) included 5541 participants. When we explored effects during different periods of supplementation, n-3 PUFA supplementation improved MDI in preterm infants (3.33; 95% CI: 0.72, 5.93), without statistically significant effects on PDI or IQ in different intervention period subgroups. Visual acuity [measured as the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR)] was improved by supplementation in preterm (-0.08 logMAR; 95% CI: -0.14, -0.01 logMAR) and term infants (-0.08 logMAR; 95% CI: -0.11, -0.05 logMAR), with a nonsignificant trend for maternal supplementation (-0.02 logMAR; 95% CI: -0.04, 0.00 logMAR). In main analyses pooling all supplementation periods, compared with placebo, n-3 PUFA supplementation improved MDI (n = 21 trials; 0.91; 95% CI: 0.005, 1.81; P = 0.049), PDI (n = 21 trials; 1.06 higher index; 95% CI: 0.10, 2.03; P = 0.031), and visual acuity (n = 24; -0.063 logMAR; 95% CI: -0.084, -0.041 logMAR; P 0.05 each). Conclusions n-3 PUFA supplementation improves childhood psychomotor and visual development, without significant effects on global IQ later in childhood, although the latter conclusion is based on fewer studies.
Pancytopenia: a rare complication of Graves' disease.

A 27-year-old male patient who presented to the emergency room with complaints of sweating, palpitations, heat intolerance, insomnia and weight loss for the last 3 months. His medical history was significant for hypertension. On examination, he was tachycardic, hypertensive, had tremors of the upper extremities and a smooth goitre with a thyroid bruit. Laboratory assessment revealed a suppressed thyroid-stimulating hormone, high free thyroxine and positive thyroid receptor antibodies. Complete blood count showed pancytopenia. As part of the work-up for pancytopenia, haptoglobin, ferritin, Coombs test, reticulocyte count hepatitis B and C antibodies were done, all of which were normal. Patient was started on methimazole, propranolol and hydrocortisone. His symptoms improved through the hospital course and he was subsequently discharged. Thyroidectomy was done once the patient’s hyperthyroidism was controlled. Levothyroxine was started for the control of postsurgical hypothyroidism. Six months after thyroidectomy, the patient was euthyroid and the pancytopenia resolved.
How I treat hidradenitis suppurativa.

What appears to be furuncles of the axillae often is really suppurating hidradenitis, which is far more difficult to treat. This inflammation of the apocrine glands is usually chronic but may be acute. Lesions must be incised and drained. Systemic and topical therapy are used, and in some cases x-ray treatment and excision may be necessary.
AUTOMATED IMAGE ANALYSIS OF NOISY MICROARRAYS

A recent extension of DNA microarray technology has been its use in DNA fingerprinting. Our research involved developing an algorithm that automatically analyzes microarray images by extracting useful information while ignoring the large amounts of noise. Our data set consisted of slides generated from DNA strands of 24 different cultures of anthrax from isolated locations (all the same strain that differ only in origin-specific neutral mutations). The data set was provided by Argonne National Laboratories in Illinois. Here we present a fully automated method that classifies these isolates at least as well as the published AMIA (Automated Microarray Image Analysis) Toolbox for MATLAB with virtually no required user interaction or external information, greatly increasing efficiency of the image analysis.
Colony-stimulating factors (rhG-CSF, rhGM-CSF, rhIL-3, and BCGF) recruit myeloblastic and lymphoblastic leukemic cells and enhance the cytotoxic effects of cytosine-arabinoside.

The treatment of adult and pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) has resulted in long-term survival and cures in a substantial number of patients [1–3]. Best results have been achieved in pediatric ALL with approximately 70% of patients in ongoing long-term remission [4]. Results in patients with adult leukemias are much worse: though 60%–80% of patients with AML achieved complete remission, only 15% are alive after 5 years [1]. In adult ALL, the incidence of remission is ca. 80%–90%, but only 35% of these remain in long-term remission [1, 3, 5]. These results have not improved significantly over the last 15 years, despite efforts in many centers and in multicentric trials to test new drug schedules, drug combinations, and treatment modalities, including bone marrow transplantation [6]. Clearly, new approaches to improve survival of these potentially curable patients are needed.
Realities of Breast Cancer Control, Public Expectations, and the Law

This article reviews the biologic variance in the lethality and rates of growth of human breast cancers and the clinical paradoxes these variances produce. The paradoxes themselves deviated from contemporary dogma on breast cancer control When alleged deviations from dogma occur in breast cancer interventions, medical negligent suits may arise because the biologic realities responsible for the paradoxes determine the outcome.
That's Not Fair! Deviations from Economic Rationality in Shareholder Say-on-Pay Voting

Do shareholders care about the relationship between CEO pay and firm performance? Historically, research on CEO pay has assumed that they do. We test this assumption by incorporating into the CEO p...
Simultaneous Detection of Signal Regions Using Quadratic Scan Statistics With Applications in Whole Genome Association Studies

We consider in this paper detection of signal regions associated with disease outcomes in whole genome association studies. Gene- or region-based methods have become increasingly popular in whole genome association analysis as a complementary approach to traditional individual variant analysis. However, these methods test for the association between an outcome and the genetic variants in a pre-specified region, e.g., a gene. In view of massive intergenic regions in whole genome sequencing (WGS) studies, we propose a computationally efficient quadratic scan (Q-SCAN) statistic based method to detect the existence and the locations of signal regions by scanning the genome continuously. The proposed method accounts for the correlation (linkage disequilibrium) among genetic variants, and allows for signal regions to have both causal and neutral variants, and the effects of signal variants to be in different directions. We study the asymptotic properties of the proposed Q-SCAN statistics. We derive an empirical threshold that controls for the family-wise error rate, and show that under regularity conditions the proposed method consistently selects the true signal regions. We perform simulation studies to evaluate the finite sample performance of the proposed method. Our simulation results show that the proposed procedure outperforms the existing methods, especially when signal regions have causal variants whose effects are in different directions, or are contaminated with neutral variants. We illustrate Q-SCAN by analyzing the WGS data from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study.
Performance modeling of vl3 volume rendering on GPU-based clusters

This paper presents an analytical model for parallel volume rendering of large datasets using GPU-based clusters. The model is focused on the parallel volume rendering and compositing stages and predicts their performance requiring only a few input parameters. We also present vl3, a novel parallel volume rendering framework for visualization of large datasets. Its performance is evaluated on a GPU-based cluster, weak and strong scaling are studied, and model predictions are validated with experimental results on up to 128 GPUs.
Moving from procedure to practice: a statewide child protection simulation training model

In FY 2015 the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services partnered with the University of Illinois Springfield to develop the Child Protection Training Academy in order to redesign the si...
Hypermetabolism and Coronavirus Disease 2019.

BACKGROUND: Hypermetabolism has been described in stress states such as trauma, sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and severe burn injuries. We hypothesize that patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may develop a hypermetabolic state, which may be a major contributing factor to the extraordinary ventilatory and oxygenation demands in patients with COVID-19. METHOD: Resting energy expenditure (REE), carbon dioxide production (VCO2 ), and oxygen consumption (VO2 ) were measured by indirect calorimetry on 7 critically ill patients with COVID-19. RESULTS: The median measured REE was 4044 kcal/d, which was 235.7% ± 51.7% of predicted. The median VCO2 was 452 mL/min (range, 295-582 mL/min), and the median VO2 was 585 mL/min (range, 416-798 mL/min). CONCLUSION: Critically ill patients with COVID-19 are in an extreme hypermetabolic state. This may explain the high failure rates for mechanical ventilation for these patients and highlights the potential need for increased nutrition requirements for such patients.
Spatially-resolved lithiation dynamics from operando X-ray diffraction and electrochemical modeling of lithium-ion cells

Abstract Energy dispersive X-ray diffraction is used to profile the time evolution of ordered LixC6 phases in solid electrodes of lithium-ion cells charged at rates between 0.2 and 4.7C (where 1C corresponds to full discharge in 1 h). The methods for quantifying lithium concentration in these phases from the acquired diffraction patterns are described. Compact expressions for time-dependent concentration gradients in the solid electrodes using orthogonal polynomial expansions are presented. Experimentally, these gradients persisted in lithiated graphite electrodes even after the cells rested at open-circuit for over 9 h. A multiphase electrochemical model of graphite intercalation captured many of the observed behaviors, including the progression of phase transitions and the persistent gradients at zero current. However, the magnitude of concentration gradients in both the oxide cathode and graphite anode is underestimated by the model, even at moderate currents.
Polymer optical interconnects for silicon photonics: towards optical printed circuit boards

Polymer optical interconnects have been under development for decades and have found use in multimode data center applications, but to date have seen limited use as single-mode optical interconnects, where the preference has been to use optical fiber. However, with the emergence of high volume, high port count silicon photonics, the cost and packaging limitations of single-mode fiber are increasingly evident. We will discuss several innovations we have developed to facilitate optical interconnection between silicon photonics chips, either directly or via an underlying optical printed circuit board, including misalignment tolerant inverse tapers and dry-film direct write refractive index contrast polymers.
The coordination properties and ionic radius of actinium: A 120-year-old enigma

Abstract Actinium is an elusive element with untamed properties and represents a peculiar case in the periodic table, as its isotopes are all radioactive, the longest-lived one having only a 22-year half-life, and the availability of actinium isotopes remains very low (microgram level, at best), hindering research on its compounds. Despite being a natural element discovered more than 120 years ago, and despite an increasing interest in using one of its isotopes (225Ac) for highly efficient cancer therapies, the chemistry of actinium is still largely unknown relative to other elements. Since Ac is the first element of the actinide series, it is accepted that its ion, Ac3+, is the most voluminous trivalent cation of the periodic table. However, the structural data available on Ac3+ compounds are scarce and have mainly been collected in the 1940-1960′s, when actinide chemistry was still in its infancy, and have not been put in perspective with the advances in the chemistry of other elements, making it difficult to accurately evaluate its actual size and coordination chemistry. Herein, we review progress made on the chemistry of lanthanides and actinides and reevaluate the structural data published on Ac3+ since the era of the Manhattan Project. The data are combined across different spectroscopic and characterization methods and presented in the context of periodic trends. When considering crystallographic data, solution chemistry results, and the nuclear properties of actinium isotopes, it appears that some structural parameters ascribed to the Ac3+ ion may have been overestimated. This review can guide researchers interested in actinide sciences and those who are pursuing the development of actinium-based radiotherapies, from isotope production to clinical trials.
Relations Between Modulus and Compliance

Connections between some of the gross features of a modulus and the corresponding compliance are easy to obtain by using the reciprocal relation between their s-multiplied transforms. In the present chapter we first consider some exact relations that can be obtained by considering the behavior of the transforms for small values of the transform parameter. We then consider some approximate but more detailed relations that can be obtained by using linear approximations to the response functions on a log-log plot. The main object of these considerations is to develop enough qualitative understanding that, given one response function in graphical or numerical form, graphs of all others can be sketched immediately with fair quantitative accuracy. More refined numerical techniques which can give arbitrarily accurate results are not discussed because they do not lead to any qualitative understanding of the situation.
Transient response of retinal rod outer segment phosphodiesterase to actinic light pulses. I. Simple quantitative kinetic model.

Abstract We present a quantitative kinetic model for the transient velocity (microM of cGMP hydrolyzed/s) response of retinal rod outer segment (ROS) cGMP phosphodiesterase (v(t) versus t) to a stimulating light pulse in the linear response range. The model gives an excellent fit to experimental v(t) versus t data for ROS suspensions at different concentrations of GTP and GDP and clarifies experimental results which are difficult to understand in the absence of such a model. It contains the minimum number of steps required to fit our experimental data and consists of one rate-limiting step with specific rate kL for the production of active phosphodiesterase (PDE), PDE*, by photoactivated rhodopsin, R*, and deactivation processes for R* and PDE* with lifetimes tau R and tau P, respectively. The experimental graphs of v(t) versus t at each concentration of GTP and GDP are characterized by a fast rise to a peak value, vpeak, followed by a slow decay to zero level. The minimal kinetic model allows us to characterized completely the effects of GTP and GDP, and any other pertinent species, in terms of their effects on the parameters kL, tau R, and tau P. Our kinetic model indicates that for "washed" ROS preparations (a) the risetime of v(t) is determined by tau P which has a value of about 2 s and is insensitive to [GTP]. (b) The decay of v(t) is determined by tau R which decreases with [GTP] and has a value greater than 300 s at low [GTP] and a limiting value of 50 s at high [GTP]. We attribute the greater than 300 s lifetime to the complex R*G (where G is ROS G protein) and the 50-s lifetime to free R*. (c) The rate kL increases hyperbolically with [GTP] with a half-maximal value of 56 microM and kL.max = 22-45 s-1. (d) Peak velocity is given by the expression vpeak alpha kL tau P which is consistent with the dependence of kL on [GTP] and the experimental finding that vpeak varies hyperbolically with [GTP]. The minimal model has also allowed us to (a) develop clear definitions of amplification for the light-triggered enzymatic cascade and (b) clarify experimental methods for measuring gain.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Effect of various essential oils isolated from Douglas fir needles upon sheep and deer rumen microbial activity.

The effects of essential oils isolated from Douglas fir needles on sheep and deer rumen microbial activity were tested by use of an anaerobic manometric technique. Rumen microorganisms were obtained from a sheep which had been fed mainly on alfalfa hay and dried range grass. One deer used in this study had access to Douglas fir trees the year around, whereas the other deer had no access to Douglas fir. All of the monoterpene hydrocarbons isolated from Douglas fir needles—α-pinene, β-pinene, limonene, myrcene, camphene, Δ3-carene, and terpinolene—promoted only slightly or had no effect on deer rumen microbial activity, whereas all of them promoted activity in sheep rumen microbes, except Δ3-carene and terpinolene, which inhibited activity. Of the oxygenated monoterpenes, all monoterpene alcohols—α-terpineol, terpinen-4-ol, linalool, citronellol, and fenchyl alcohol—strongly inhibited the rumen microbial activity of both sheep and deer. Monoterpene esters (bornyl acetate) produced mild inhibition for both sheep and deer microbes, and citronellyl acetate inhibited rumen microbial activity in sheep, whereas it promoted activity in both deer. Monoterpene aldehyde (citronellal) inhibited the activity of rumen microbes from both sheep and deer having no access to Douglas fir from the Hopland Field Station, whereas they produced no effect upon the deer having access to Douglas fir from the Masonite forest. Rumen microbial activity for sheep and deer was promoted slightly with aliphatic ester (ethyl-n-caproate). There was a marked difference between sheep and deer rumen microbes as affected by addition of the various essential oils. The monoterpene hydrocarbons promoted activity more on sheep rumen microbes than on deer, and the monoterpene alcohols inhibited sheep rumen microbial activity more than that of deer. Furthermore, the deer rumen microbes from Hopland Field Station were affected more than the deer from Masonite forest. Images
Keynes was a Keynesian

Ahalf dozen papers together wi th formal comments and a n introduction have been assembled to he lp establ ish the s t a t e of interpretation of Keynes. The contributors to this volume are ideologically like-minded but geographically diverse (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, and the United States are represented). Their book, whose title belies a certain narrowness of focus, is not for everyone; i t reflects the concerns of one particular Keynesian school, best described, in my judgment, as Post Keynesian fundamentalism. Academics who continue to be amused and intrigued with the still-growing li terature on the economics of John Maynard Keynes have had to learn to distinguish among the several different schools that draw inspiration from the master. Hyphenated or adjectival Keynesianism includes, for instance, both NeoKeynesianism, which is based on an assumed wage and price stickiness, and New Keynesianism which attempts to explain the stickiness. Neoand New Keynesianism share certain methodological presuppositions with Neoand New Classicism but do not share in the judgment that markets are generally self-equilibrating. Interpreters who prefer to blend Keynes's ideas with those of the old classical school, which featured a cost-based production theory, have adopted "post" as their adjective of choice. Readers of this literature have been asked to maintain a distinction between Post Keynesianism and Post-Keynesianism-a distinction as subtle a s
Okara: A Possible High Protein Feedstuff For Organic Pig Diets

A potential alternative organic protein source is okara. Okara is the residue left from ground soybeans after extraction of the water portion used to produce soy milk and tofu. Satisfying the high protein requirements of young pigs presents a production challenge to organic pork producers. The effect of dietary supplementation of okara was evaluated on the growth performance of young pigs. In four replicates, weaned pigs (21 ± 2 d of age) were allotted to one of three pens. Each pen received one dietary treatment. Treatments were control diet (composed of corn, soybean meal, oats, and essential vitamins and minerals), 2) okara 25% (25% of total diet), 3) okara 50% (50% of total diet). Pigs and feed were weighed at d 0 and at 7 d intervals until completion of each 18 d trial. Average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain:feed ratio (G:F) were calculated. Data were analyzed using fixed effect models with repeated measures. Feeding dietary okara to young pigs had no effect on ADG, ADFI, or G:F ratio when compared to control treatment. Diets supplemented with 25% okara increased ADG 14% when compared to diets supplemented with 50% okara. Okara fed at 25% of the diet increased G:F ratio 17% when compared to okara fed at 50% of the diet. Under the conditions of our study dietary okara is a potential high protein organic feedstuff. Inclusion levels of dietary okara up to 25% of the diet could be used with no reduction in ADG, ADFI, or G:F ratio.
The History of Anaesthesia

Modern surgical anaesthesia began in 1846 with the first successful public administration of ether. The maturation of this branch of medicine developed during the next century and a half as principles of physiology and pharmacology increasingly became part of clinical practice and as practitioners formed societies to promote research and develop standards for education and practice. Keywords: anaesthesia; history; chloroform; ether; nitrous oxide
Spatial interpolation of interlaced television pictures

The authors present a novel algorithm for spatial interpolation of 2-to-1 interlaced television pictures. The basic problem that this algorithm addresses is reconstruction of a frame from one of the fields. The algorithm is based on two spatially varying image models. It can be applied to color as well as black-and-white pictures. Experimental results demonstrate that the resulting frames contain less spatial aliasing and are sharper than frames generated with commonly used approaches involving zero- or first-order interpolation. >
Margaret Clark's Enduring Contribution to Latino Studies in Medical Anthropology

argaret Clark's stature in Latino studies in medical anthropology stems in large part from the publication of her 1959 monograph, Health in the Mexican American Culture. The book helped to move the emerging field of medical anthropology beyond the narrow gaze that characterized most earlier ethnomedical research (cf. Humphrey 1945; Saunders 1954; van derEerden 1948). Earlier work in medical anthropology tended to focus on the exotica of health beliefs and practices, with little regard to their contexts or social significance. In contrast, Clark's work helped to demonstrate that ethnomedical phenomena could be profitably analyzed as both reflecting and perpetuating broader sociocultural processes. Alongside works by such noted medical anthropologists as Richard Adams, George Foster, Octavio Romano, Arthur Rubel, Benjamin Paul, Lyle Saunders, and Ozzie Simmons, Clark's richly textured analyses added to the enduring impact ethnomedical research with Latinos has had on medical anthropology as a field. Clark's research on sociocultural aspects of health and illness in the economically disadvantaged Mexican American barrio of Sal si Puedes, San Jose, California, helped to establish the legitimacy of ethnographic research with non-Native American populations in the United States while drawing early attention to key issues that continue to interest medical anthropologists to this day. The work focused on informal sector health care, particularly as it was managed within households and by extrahousehold relatives, neighbors, and friends. This perspective helped to set Clark's research apart. Until then, anthropologists had been more interested in the dramatic, colorful, and often supernaturally inspired healing specialists, such as spirit-mediums, diviners, and priests or specialists such as bone-setters and herbalists who controlled well-defined bodies of expert knowledge (e.g., Edgerton 1971; Hallowell 1942; Handelman 1967) And they, like the ethnographers who studied them, were generally men.
Evaluation Functions For Assembly Sequence Planning

Planning robotic manipulation operations is fundamental to the implementation of systems for assembly, disassembly, and repair of space-based equipment. Both teleoperated and fully-autonomous modes of operation will require the representation of feasible operations sequences which accomplish specified tasks. We have developed the AND/OR graph representation of assembly sequences and shown its completeness and correctness for assembly plan representation. The AND/OR graph partitions the state representation in a manner which facilitates local planning decisions. The use of alternative plan representations is coupled to the need for evaluation functions which guide the choice of desirable actions at any given state. In assembly planning, entropy evaluation functions provide a tool for assessment of the complexity of the current state in terms of the available degrees of freedom of motion of parts. Reducing the degrees of freedom of motion of the parts through the introduction of constraints corresponds to a decrease in entropy measures of the assembly. Assembly steps which couple the accuracy of the positioning device to the constraint clearances of the parts are selected using this measure. The entropy evaluation measure may be computed directly from attributes incorporated into a relational description of the parts geometry. The entropy measures must be coupled with other measures of manipulation complexity, availability of tools and fixtures, and speed and cost requirements for the development of general system planning systems.
Conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfate and hydrogen sulfide by Desulfotomaculum orientis

Abstract The autotrophic, sulfate-reducing bacterium, Desulfotomaculum orientis , grew in batch culture with molecular hydrogen (H 2 ) as an energy source, carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) as a carbon source and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) as the terminal electron acceptor. At high H 2 partial pressure, SO 2 was stoichiometrically reduced to hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S). At low partial pressures of hydrogen ( 2 was both oxidized to sulfate and reduced to hydrogen sulfide. These results indicated a new mode of sulfur metabolism for D. orientis .
The effect of fluid chemistry on quartz microcrack lifetimes

Abstract Metamorphic porosity consists of a branching hierarchy of primary features (grain boundaries), secondary features (3- and 4-grain junction tubules), tertiary features (microcracks), and higher order features (fractures). While some of these features are rarely open to bulk fluid flow (e.g. boundaries), higher order features are open to fluid flow for timescales which vary significantly as a function of temperature, pressure, and fluid and rock chemistry. The kinetics of microcrack healing in quartz between 300–600°C at 200 MPa increases as a function of fluid chemistry in the following order:CO 2 -H 2 O 2 O m NaCl≈ 2 m CaCl 2 ≈ 6 m NaCl. Changes in fluid chemistry which increase quartz solubility correlate with increased rates of healing. These observations suggest that local redistribution of quartz occurs by solution-precipitation driven by gradients in curvature along the crack surface, and is possibly rate-limited by pore-fluid diffusion. However, the effect of crack geometry is larger than the effect of fluid chemistry. At elevated temperatures and pressures, aqueous fluids with elevated NaCl concentrations can penetrate pervasively into polycrystalline quartz along a branching hierarchy consisting of episodically open fractures connected to 3- and 4-grain junction tubule networks, while pure water or H 2 O-CO 2 fluid can only infiltrate pervasively along episodically open fractures [ 1 ]. At lower temperatures and pressures, 3- and 4-grain tubule networks in polycrystalline rocks may be closed to all fluids, limiting fluid infiltration to microfacture networks. Lifetimes of quartz microcracks in all these fluids ( P fluid = P confining ) is geologically short even at temperatures as low as 200°C.