cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An iteration method for connected graphs

The set of connected time-ordered Green’s functions(ϱ functions) for a self-interacting neutral scalar field is considered. The exact equations linking them will, upon insertion of a trial set ϱ(0) of ϱ functions, produce a (hopefully) improved set, thus yielding an iteration process. This paper is concerned with a possible form of ϱ(0) which derives from an exact solution of the classical field problem.
Camptothecin effects on DNA synthesis in murine leukemia cells.

Abstract The effects of camptothecin on DNA synthesis were investigated using L1210 and L5178Y cells in culture. After addition of the drug, incorporation of labeled thymidine into cell DNA was gradually inhibited; at a 10 μg/ml drug level, 1 h was required to inhibit thymidine incorporation by 95%. Upon removal of drug, this inhibition was slowly reversed over a period of several hours; but the drug-treated cells were incapable of subsequent division. Cells in the S phase of the cell cycle were most sensitive to camptothecin.
Iron bioavailability from diets containing isolated or intact sources of lignin

Experiments were conducted to determine effects of isolated lignin and intact lignin in foods on bioavailability of intrinsic iron in lignincontaining foods and of supplemental iron (FeSO4·H2O). Standard curve and slope ratio methodology were employed to determine iron bioavailability to chicks. In one experiment, lignin content of foods ranged from 2 to 25% and iron bioavailability ranged from −20 to 140%, but no association between lignin content and bioavailability existed. In other experiments, increasing dietary lignin concentration from some natural sources reduced total iron availability, whereas increasing isolated lignin concentration had no effect. These results suggest that lignin structure or other unidentified factors determine intrinsic iron availability. No lignin source significantly decreased supplemental iron bioavailability.
Acute adrenal insufficiency resulting from adrenal hemorrhage as indicated by post-operative hypotension.

We examined the incidence, diagnosis and therapy of acute adrenal insufficiency, secondary to adrenal hemorrhage. This insufficiency resulted in temperature irregularities, hemodynamic instability, and a large volume resuscitation requirement post-operatively. The case illustrates that a high level of suspicion should be maintained in a clinical scenario that mimics sepsis or myocardial insufficiency in the intensive care unit.
Opposing effects of recirculated gases during cranking on cold start of diesel engines

The effect of recirculating engine-out gases into the intake manifold on the cold start of direct-injection diesel engines is investigated. Two types of recirculation are examined. The first is low-pressure recirculation of engine-out gases into the intake manifold where their rate is controlled by a gas recirculation (GR) valve installed between the exhaust and intake manifold. The second is high-pressure recirculation by restricting the flow of the engine-out gases using a butterfly (BF) valve, installed in the exhaust system after the turbocharger to increase the back pressure and the rate of recirculated gases. Since there is no combustion during cranking, these gases contain evaporated hydrocarbons and partial oxidation products, mostly formaldehyde (HCHO). Experimental investigations on a four-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine indicated that high rates of cranking gas recirculation (CGR) increase the ignition delay and lengthen the cranking period. Since higher concentrations of hydrocarbons (...
Application of Maximum Entropy-Based Image Resizing to Biomedical Imaging

Subsampling algorithms are applied to resize digital images to a lower resolution for display and transmission applications where the pixel count of the display mechanism is lower than the pixel count of the image acquisition method. Unfortunately, interpolation-based resizing methods change the color information and attenuate a specific range of high-frequency components from which the human visual system derives significant response. The described maximum entropy algorithm (MEA) provides that, as an image goes through subsampling, locally informative pixels are retained by analyzing the pixel neighboringhoods. The selected pixels are inserted directly in the output image, and color information is therefore preserved. From subjective observation and object evaluation using the entropy, contrast, and PSNR, MEA effectively maintains important features and color information and demonstrates better resizing performance than interpolation-based methods for some applications. Furthermore, the computational expense is suitable for real-time implementation
A Comparison of Time-Sharing, DPC, and Beamforming for MIMO Broadcast Channels With Many Users

In this letter, we derive the scaling laws of the sum rate for fading multiple-input multiple-output Gaussian broadcast channels using time sharing to the strongest user, dirty-paper coding (DPC), and beamforming, when the number of users (receivers) n is large. Throughout the letter, we assume a fix average transmit power and consider a block-fading Rayleigh channel. First, we show that for a system with M transmit antennas and users equipped with N antennas, the sum rate scales like MloglognN for DPC, and beamforming when M is fixed and for any N (either growing to infinity or not). On the other hand, when both M and N are fixed, the sum rate of time sharing to the strongest user scales like min(M,N)loglogn. Therefore, the asymptotic gain of DPC over time sharing for the sum rate is (M/min(M,N)) when M and N are fixed. It is also shown that if M grows as logn, the sum rate of DPC and beamforming will grow linearly in M, but with different constant multiplicative factors. In this region, the sum-rate capacity of time -sharing scales like Nloglogn
Detecting P2P traffic from the P2P flow graph

Accurate identification of P2P (peer-to-peer) applications' flows is important for network capacity planning, provisioning, application traffic engineering, network service pricing, traffic shaping/policing, and flow prioritization. To this end, many identification methods have been developed based on the transport layer port, analysis of packet payloads, statistical observation on flows and graph-based structural properties. One deficiency of those methods is that they concentrate only on a decision of whether a single flow is P2P flow or not. This paper presents methods for detecting P2P flows by constructing a graph where each flow is a vertex. Edges are constructed by applying various rules that consider the ports used by previously detected P2P flows. In this graph, we find that around 90% of the P2P flows are within a large connected component. The remaining 10% is composed of many smaller connected components. Edges between the large connected component and these other components can be constructed with some heuristics. The methods proposed are tested on traffic traces that included signature matching, so that we are able to ensure that significant P2P applications are detected.
Identification of an Essential Domain in the Herpesvirus VP1/2 Tegument Protein: the Carboxy Terminus Directs Incorporation into Capsid Assemblons

The herpesvirus tegument is a layer of viral and cellular proteins located between the capsid and envelope of the virion. The VP1/2 tegument protein is critical for the propagation of all herpesviruses examined. Using an infectious clone of the alphaherpesvirus pseudorabies virus, we have made a collection of truncation and in-frame deletion mutations within the VP1/2 gene (UL36) and examined the resulting viruses for spread between cells. We found that the majority of the VP1/2 protein either was essential for virus propagation or did not tolerate large deletions. A recently described amino-terminal deubiquitinase-encoding domain was dispensable for alphaherpesvirus propagation, but the rate of propagation in an epithelial cell line and the frequency of transport in axons of primary sensory neurons were both reduced. We mapped one essential domain to a conserved sequence at the VP1/2 carboxy terminus and demonstrated that this domain sufficient to redirect the green fluorescent protein to capsid assemblons in nuclei of infected cells.
Nominal and Real Required Returns in Present Value Analysis

ABSTRACT Present value analysis is complicated by uncertainty about future inflation. If it so happened that real cash flows did not depend on inflation and real required returns were close to zero, then inflation and required returns could be omitted from present value analysis. Unfortunately, they cannot. This paper shows that real cash flows are typically sensitive to inflation and that, outside of the 1950s and 1960s, real interest rates, have not been very stable or close to zero. There have consequently been many years when a neglect of inflation and interest rates would have caused substantial present-value errors. It is also argued that interest rates on Treasury and Corporate AAA bonds are only appropriate for virtually risk-free projects. An engineering project normally commands a substantial risk premium and the neglect of such premia can cause a large overestimate of a project's present value.
Cognitive Processes in Cognitive Therapy: Evaluation of the Mechanisms of Change in the Treatment of Depression

A central theoretical principle guiding cognitive therapy is that mediation by cognitive processes is linked to the successful treatment of depression. The most recent review of the literature on this question is over a decade old and was suggestive of cognitive mediation for cognitive therapy, but was not conclusive. Since this review, a number of studies have been published that address cognitive mediation. The mediation hypothesis can be broadly defined as encompassing two related questions: cognitive mediation framed as “are cognitive changes associated with therapeutic improvement,” and cognitive specificity from the perspective of “are changes in cognition specific to cognitive therapy?” This latter question is particularly important when cognitive therapy is compared to pharmacotherapy. This article reviews the current literature associated with these questions. Our review indicates that the current body of research generally supports cognitive mediation, but is considerably more mixed for cognitive specificity. However, some evidence suggests that cognitive changes associated with pharmacotherapy are more superficial than those associated with cognitive therapy.
A history of pediatric anesthesia: a tale of pioneers and equipment

The history of pediatric anesthesia is fascinating in terms of how inventive anesthesiologists became over time to address the needs for advances in surgery. We have many pioneers and heroes. We hope you will enjoy this brief overview and that we have not left out any of the early contributors to our speciality. Obviously there is insufficient space to include everyone.
Social skills and psychological adjustment of child and adolescent cancer survivors

Social skills and psychological adjustment for survivors of childhood cancer were investigated. Cancer survivors included 42 children and adolescents ranging in age at evaluation from 6 to 18 years with a mean age of 13.1 years. Measures included teacher and parent ratings of social skills and adjustment and parent ratings of family functioning. The findings showed that social skills and psychological adjustment as rated by both parents and teachers were primarily associated with academic functioning. In addition, family cohesiveness was found to account for nearly one third of the variance in survivors' adjustment when rated by teachers, and length of time off treatment accounted for a significant percentage of the variance in children's adjustment when rated by parents. The findings underscore the importance of a multi-informant approach to the assessment of psychological adjustment of pediatric cancer survivors and demonstrate the role of learning difficulties and family functioning in influencing social skills and adjustment for these children and adolescents. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Innovation cockpit: a dashboard for facilitators in idea management

We present the design of a dashboard for facilitators in Idea Management Systems (IMS), an emerging class of collaborative software for business organizations or local geographic communities. In these systems, users can generate, share, judge, refine, and select ideas as part of a grassroots process. However, a class of users that lacks adequate support in current IMS are the facilitators. Their role is to help the best ideas to emerge and grow, while balancing the judgments of the crowd with those of the managers or the community leaders. We show how the dashboard helps facilitators in making more efficient and effective decisions in situations where the selection and judgment become prohibitively lengthy and time consuming.
Spectra of the cobaltlike ions Sr xii, Y xiii, Zr xiv, Nb xv, and Mo xvi

Spectra of the cobaltlike ions Sr xii, Y xiii, Zr xiv, Nb xv, and Mo xvi have been observed by means of a low-inductance vacuum spark and a 10.7-m grazing-incidence spectrograph in the region 40–95 A. For Y xiii, Zr xiv, Nb xv, and Mo xvi more than 40 transitions of the type 3d9–3d84p were identified in each ion. For Sr xii about 20 such transitions were identified. The identifications were made with the aid of Hartree–Fock and least-squares parametric calculations. New wavelengths were obtained for the 3p63d9–3p53d10 transitions in these ions. The previous analysis of Mo xvi was partially revised and extended.
Allocate fair payoff for cooperation in wireless ad hoc networks using Shapley Value

Summary form only given. In wireless mobile ad hoc networks (MANET), energy is a scarce resource. Though cooperation is the basis of network services, due to the limited energy reserve of each node, there is no guarantee any given protocols would be followed by nodes managed by different authorities. Instead of treating the selfish nodes as a security concern and trying to eliminate them, we propose a novel way to encourage cooperative works - rewarding service providers according to their contributions. Nodes in a MANET can form coalitions to reduce aggregate transmission power on each hop along a route. The payment of each node in a coalition is determined by using Shapley Value, a well-known concept in game theory for allocating payoff for each member in a cooperative coalition. We present the contribution reward routing protocol with Shapley Value (CAP-SV). It achieves the objective of truthfulness. The performance of CAP-SV is studied by simulations using ns-2. Analysis and experimental results show a routing protocol with the consideration of the incentives of individual nodes stimulates cooperation and improves network lifetime without significantly diminishing the performance of the whole network.
Fundamental UN Reform: A Non‐starter or Not?

The major issues confronting world politics in the 21st century – climate change, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, pandemics, terrorism and economic meltdowns, among others – require that the United Nations reinvent itself as the multilateral forum for tackling the pressing challenges of today. The possibilities for significant reform are remote but not impossible. This article addresses four major roadblocks: sacrosanct state sovereignty; the emphasis on process over results in organizational culture; perennial and theatrical North–South confrontations; and the twin problems of turf battles and decentralization. At the same time, individuals and states can be as strong as the institutions they create. There are plenty of things wrong with the United Nations, but many can be fixed.
Leader positive mood and group performance: The case of customer service.

It was hypothesized that leader positive mood would be positively associated with group performance in a service setting. Additionally, it was expected that while leader positive mood would be positively associated with both the leader's level of job satisfaction and job involvement, leader positive mood would be positively associated with group performance, controlling for both leader job satisfaction and job involvement. Leader positive mood also was expected to be positively associated with group performance controlling for group positive affective tone. Two potential antecedents of leader positive mood, the leader's level of positive affectivity and the extent to which the leader's own manager engaged in contingent reward behavior, were hypothesized to be positively associated with leader positive mood at work. These hypotheses were tested among a sample of 53 sales managers who led groups ranging in size from 4 to 9 members. All of the hypotheses were supported. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.
Atrial fibrillation propagates through gaps in ablation lines: Implications for ablative treatment of atrial fibrillation

Background It has been hypothesized that atrial lesions must be transmural to successfully cure atrial fibrillation (AF). However, ablation lines often do not extend completely across the atrial wall. Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of residual gaps on conduction properties of atrial tissue. Methods Canine right atria (n = 13) were isolated, perfused, and mounted on a 250-lead electrode plaque. The atria were divided with a bipolar radiofrequency ablation clamp, leaving a gap that was progressively narrowed. Conduction velocities at varying pacing rates and AF frequencies were measured before and after ablations. AF was induced with an extra stimulus and acetylcholine. Results Gap widths from 11.2 to 1.1 mm were examined. Conduction velocities through gaps were dependent cycle length ( P = .002) and gap size ( P Conclusions Conduction velocities were slowed through residual gaps. However, propagation of wave fronts during pacing and AF occurred through the majority of residual gaps, down to sizes as small as 1.1 mm. Leaving viable tissue in ablation lines for the treatment of AF could account for failures.
The Atwater Energy Equivalents Overestimate Metabolizable Energy Intake in Older Humans: Results from a 96-Day Strictly Controlled Feeding Study

The Atwater energy equivalents of 16.7, 16.7 and 37.7 kJ/g of protein, carbohydrate and fat, respectively, are the standard values used to calculate the macronutrient intakes required to meet a person's metabolizable energy requirement. The aim of this study was to compare in older people the measured metabolizable energy intake (MEI(MEAS)) required to achieve and maintain stable body weights with the MEI estimated using the Atwater energy equivalents (MEI(AT)). During a 96-d (14-wk) strictly controlled dietary period, 11 men and 17 women (55-78 y old) were each provided a MEI(AT) to maintain body weight within +/- 0.5 kg of baseline weight. The MEI(MEAS) was determined retrospectively from the gross energy contents of food, urine and feces samples collected during week 14. Resting energy expenditure was measured using indirect calorimetry. At wk 14, MEI(AT) overestimated MEI(MEAS) by 26%. These results suggest that the Atwater energy equivalent values may overestimate the actual MEI of older people.
Catholic Higher Education and Latino(a) Students: Exploring the Experience of University Undergraduates

The experience of Latino(a) undergraduates at Notre Dame was the focus of this study. In general, the students had a positive experience at the university, but one that included challenges, including physical separation from family and familiar community. Family and spiritual supports were important to the Latino(a) students as they coped with difficulties they encountered at the university, than for a comparable sample of Anglo students attending Notre Dame.
Setting Customer Expectation in Service Delivery: An Integrated Marketing-Operations Perspective

Service firms have increasingly been competing for market share on the basis of delivery time. Many firms now choose to set customer expectation by announcing their maximal delivery time. Customers will be satisfied if their perceived delivery times are shorter than their expectations. This gap model of service quality is used in this paper to study how a firm might choose a delivery-time commitment to influence its customer expectation, and delivery quality in order to maximize its market share. A market share model is developed to capture (1) the impact of delivery-time commitment and delivery quality on the firm's market share and (2) the impact of the firm's market share and process variability on delivery quality when there is a congestion effect. We show that the choice of the delivery-time commitment requires a proper balance between the level of service capacity and customer sensitivities to delivery-time expectation and delivery quality. We prove the existence of Nash equilibria in a duopolistic competition, and show that this delivery-time commitment game is analogous to a Prisoners' Dilemma.
Lower Linkage Disequilibrium at CNVs is due to Both Recurrent Mutation and Transposing Duplications

Copy number variants (CNVs) within humans can have both adaptive and deleterious effects. Because of their phenotypic significance, researchers have attempted to find single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in high linkage disequilibrium (LD) with CNVs to use in genomewide association studies. However, studies have found that CNVs are less likely to be in strong LD with flanking markers. We hypothesized that this “taggability gap” can be explained by duplication events that place paralogous sequences far apart. In support of our hypothesis, we find that duplications are significantly less likely than deletions to have a “tag” SNP, even after controlling for CNV length, allele frequency, and availability of appropriate flanking SNPs. Using a novel likelihood method, we are able to show that many complex CNVs—those due to multiple duplication or deletion polymorphisms—are made up of two loci with little LD between them. Additionally, we find that many polymorphic duplications detected in a recent clone-based study are located far from their parental loci. We also examine two other common hypotheses for the taggability gap, and find that recurrent mutation of both deletions and duplications appears to have an effect on LD, but that lower SNP density around CNVs has no effect. Overall, our results suggest that a substantial fraction of CNVs caused by duplication cannot be tagged by markers flanking the parental locus because they have changed genomic location.
Photophoretic Effects in the Stratosphere

Abstract Photophoresis, the movement of small particles under the influence of light, may exert a significant effect on stratospheric processes. The photophoretic behavior of salt and metallic particles from 0.1 to 2.0 microns in radius under pressures of from 4 to 50 mm Hg with artificial light of known intensity was investigated. The velocities expected to be imparted to particles by sunlight at altitudes of from 22 to 40 km were then calculated from typical measured force values. It is concluded that, in the absence of wind and other effects, some particles may actually be caused to rise against the force of gravity while others are induced to fall considerably more rapidly than they would under gravity alone.
The Association of Alternative Financial Services Usage and Financial Access: Evidence from the National Financial Capability Study

This study examined the association of financial access and alternative financial services (AFS) using a nationally representative sample from the 2012 National Financial Capability Study (N = 25,509). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between financial access and AFS usage. Ordinary least squares regression was used to estimate the relationship between banked status and the overall AFS usage as a latent variable while controlling for sociodemographic variables, financial education, financial knowledge, and home ownership. Results suggested that being unbanked was positively associated with AFS usage after controlling for other covariates. Financial education and knowledge, age, gender, marital status, education, household income, and homeownership were significantly associated with AFS usage. These findings have implications for public policy and programs that work with the unbanked.
Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Embryonal Carcinoma Cell Differentiation

Embryonal carcinoma cells represent a subpopulation of undifferentiated stem cells contained within a mixture of differentiated cell phenotypes of teratocarcinoma tumors (1). Such tumors can develop spontaneously in gonadal tissue of certain mouse strains (2,3) and can be induced experimentally (4,5). The undifferentiated EC cells are the primary malignant cells of the tumor and are similar to early embryonic ectoderm morphologically (6), biochemically (7) and antigenically (8). Like early ectoderm cells, EC cells are pluripotent since injection of EC cells into host blastocysts leads to formation of chimeric mice (9–11).
Water infiltration and soil water content in claypan soils influenced by agroforestry and grass buffers compared to row crop management

Agroforestry buffers have recently been introduced in temperate regions to enhance conservation of soil and water resources in row crop management. The effects of agroforestry and grass-legume buffers on in situ water infiltration relative to row crop management (RC) were assessed for a claypan soil in northeastern Missouri, USA. Infiltration rates were observed in early June in 2014 and 2015 for watersheds under corn (Zea mays L.)-soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) management; these watersheds had agroforestry buffers (AGB) or grass buffers (GB). The dominant soil for the watersheds was Putnam silt loam (fine, smectitic, mesic Vertic Albaqualf). The watersheds were in no-till management and established in 1991 with agroforestry buffers and GBs implemented in 1997. Agroforestry buffers, 4.5 m wide and 36.5 m apart, consisted of redtop (Agrostis gigantean Roth), brome (Bromus spp.), and birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) with pin oak (Quercus palustris Menchh.), swamp white oak (Q. bicolor Willd.), and bur oak (Q. macrocarpa Michx.) trees. GBs consisted of redtop, brome, and birdsfoot trefoil. Significant differences were found among the treatments in 2014 for the sorptivity parameter for the fitted infiltration equations with the highest values for agroforestry buffers. Significantly higher saturated hydraulic conductivity values were found for the buffer treatments in 2015. Soil water content measurements were assessed over time for years 2010 and 2011 with sensors at 5, 10, 20 and 40 cm depths for the agroforestry buffer and RC areas. Water content decreased more rapidly during the summer season within agroforestry buffers relative to RC areas; however, water infiltration was higher within agroforestry buffers during the recharge period.
The October WarChanges in Cognitive Orientation, Toward the Middle East Conflict

In this paper we will examine adjustments that foreign policy officials make in their thinking to accommodate new information. In 1971–1972 and again in 1974–1975 a sample of American foreign policy officials was interviewed about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Cognitive maps constructed from the interviews were used to simulate reactions of the policy officials to the October 1973 war. A comparison of simulations based on the pre-war and the post-war maps shows that there was almost no restructuring of beliefs. The conflict reinforced the views of some officials, while it led others to perceive certain concepts as having a negative rather than a positive effect on their values.
Problems in Realistic Modelling of Interfacial Reactions

For modelling the reaction of chemically distinct materials in which intermediate alloy phases are formed a simple thermodynamic description is not adequate. Despite thermodynamic prediction of multiple product phases, a single phase generally forms first which is not necessarily that of greatest thermodynamic stability or of simplest structure. Such initial reaction processes may be modelled as metastable perltectoid (solid-solid) or perltectlc (solid-liquid) reactions, characterized by large thermodynamic driving forces with superimposed kinetic and morphological constraints. The interfacial reaction problem is reviewed in light of heterogeneous nucleation theory with emphasis on non-classical aspects.
Influence of Potato Plant Phenology on the Population Dynamics of the Green Peach Aphid, Myzus persicae (Homoptera: Aphididae)

The population dynamics of the green peach aphid (GPA), Myzus persicae (Sulzer), were examined on four commercial potato cultivars, Solanum tuberosum tuberosum (L.) cv. Katahdin, Norchip, Superior, and 8NW-8, with differing maturation rates and on one wild potato, S. canasense PI 283074. GPA abundance, population growth rate, alate abundance, and within-plant distribution were compared among cultivars. Results showed that GPA numbers were similar among commercial cultivars during most of the growing season. However, GPA population dynamics were influenced by potato plant phenology. GPA were more abundant earlier, populations peaked sooner, and declined earlier on the short-season cultivar, ‘Superior’. Populations on longer-season cultivars reached highest levels later. At 1,167 degree-days, GPA numbers were ca. 50% smaller on ‘Superior’ than on the mid-season cultivar, ‘Norchip’. Fewer GPA were observed on S. canasense than on the commercial cultivars. GPA populations reached one-half their highest level from 6 to 8 days sooner in the growing season on ‘Superior’ than on later-maturing cultivars. Alate numbers were greatest on ‘Superior’, followed by ‘Norchip’, ‘Katahdin’, and 8NW-8. GPA were found predominantly on the lower leaves of each cultivar. GPA population growth rates were greatest on the lower leaves and slowest on the upper leaves of each cultivar. GPA populations increased more rapidly on the upper, middle, and lower leaves of ‘Superior’ than on longer-season cultivars.
Effects of Nitrogen Fertilizer Level on Grow and Yield Characteristics of Rice

Taking Songjing No.9 as material,the effects of nitrogen fertilizer level on grow characteristics,yield and yield components of rice were studied.The results indicated that nitrogen fertilizer was good for increasing of rice height and tiller,but too much nitrogen fertilizer would lead to more invalid tillers.Using nitrogen fertilizer could increase yield,while harvest index would descend.Spike number,full grainper spike and 1000-grain weight were raised by using nitrogen fertilizer,polybasic linear regression equation taking nitrogen fertilizer amount as dependent variable,spike number,full grain and 1000-grain weight as independent variable was set up at the same time.
Study on Actualities of Micro Air Vehicles and Its Technical Features

Micro air vehicle is a multidisciplinary system which integrates the technologies of aeronautical design, aeronautical manufacture, micro machinery, electronics and high capability digital computer. In this paper, the research actualities of MAVs in the world and China and its technical features are summarized, and the development trends of MAV are also expected.
Function of Chaco-Era Great Houses

ABSTRACTChacoan great houses have been a focus of research in the Southwest for well over a century. While models to explain these structures have ranged from great houses as residences to great houses as administrative centers, it is argued here that the evidence points to a ritual role for these structures. This evidence includes an analysis of avifauna from Chacoan sites. The analysis indicates that Chacoan great houses have a larger, more diverse assemblage of ritual avifauna than is found at nearby small house sites. It follows that more ceremonies using bird feathers took places at these structures. Further, there is considerable diversity in architecture and associated material culture among the great houses, both within Chaco Canyon and at the myriad outlying great houses across and beyond the San Juan Basin. In the absence of a centralized Chaco system, peer polity interaction is proposed as the mechanism whereby Chacoan ritual beliefs and practices spread throughout the region.
Communist Legacies and Democratic Survival in a Comparative Perspective: Liability or Advantage

The literature on the legacies of communism for democratization has focused almost exclusively on explaining variation in the democratic experiences within the postcommunist space. While this is us...
Sinogram Blurring Matrix Estimation From Point Sources Measurements With Rank-One Approximation for Fully 3-D PET

An accurate system matrix is essential in positron emission tomography (PET) for reconstructing high quality images. To reduce storage size and image reconstruction time, we factor the system matrix into a product of a geometry projection matrix and a sinogram blurring matrix. The geometric projection matrix is computed analytically and the sinogram blurring matrix is estimated from point source measurements. Previously, we have estimated a 2-D blurring matrix for a preclinical PET scanner. The 2-D blurring matrix only considers blurring effects within a transaxial sinogram and does not compensate for inter-sinogram blurring effects. For PET scanners with a long axial field of view, inter-sinogram blurring can be a major problem influencing the image quality in the axial direction. Hence, the estimation of a 4-D blurring matrix is desirable to further improve the image quality. The 4-D blurring matrix estimation is an ill-conditioned problem due to the large number of unknowns. Here, we propose a rank-one approximation for each blurring kernel image formed by a row vector of the sinogram blurring matrix to improve the stability of the 4-D blurring matrix estimation. The proposed method is applied to the simulated data as well as the real data obtained from an Inveon microPET scanner. The results show that the newly estimated 4-D blurring matrix can improve the image quality over those obtained with a 2-D blurring matrix and requires less point source scans to achieve similar image quality compared with an unconstrained 4-D blurring matrix estimation.
Medical management of gout.

Hyperuricemia predisposes to gout, but it is not possible to determine whether gout will occur in the asymptomatic hyperuricemic individual. Hence, hyperuricemia, unless very marked, is managed conservatively until overt signs of gout appear. Prognosis in most cases of primary gout has improved dramatically with earlier diagnosis and the introduction of potent and relatively safe uricosuric drugs and allo-purinol. The incidence of acute attacks can be reduced, and joint disability and deformity are no longer inevitable.
Mind Your Cs and Gs

How can an innate immune sensor shape viral evolution? In recent work, Takata et al. (2017) determined that the antiviral protein ZAP recognizes CG dinucleotide composition to differentiate self from non-self. This pressure may have driven CG dinucleotide suppression in HIV-1 and other RNA viruses to evade host antiviral defenses.
Recombinant Therapeutic Molecules Produced in Plants

Abstract Research on the use of plants for production of protein-based therapeutics has increased tremendously since the initial experiments in the early 1990s. Plant-based expression systems offer several production advantages of low cost, rapidity, scalability, and a significantly lower chance of contamination with prion or mammalian viruses. In addition, the capability of plants in producing homogeneous N-glycans allows the development of novel therapeutics with superior efficacy and safety to their mammalian cell-produced counterparts. Various plant species have been used to develop and produce vaccines, antibodies, and pharmaceutical enzymes against a myriad of diseases by multiple expression technologies. While most of these plant-made therapeutics are in preclinical development, many have progressed into human clinical study phases and several have been approved by regulatory agencies. The current status and recent advancement of plant-based expression systems and key clinical products will be presented in this chapter. The remaining challenges and future directions for the field of plant-made therapeutics will be discussed.
Physiologic facet capsule stretch can induce pain & upregulate matrix metalloproteinase-3 in the dorsal root ganglia when preceded by a physiological mechanical or nonpainful chemical exposure.

Abstract Background Neck pain from cervical facet loading is common and induces inflammation and upregulation of nerve growth factor (NGF) that can sensitize the joint afferents. Yet, the mechanisms by which these occur and whether afferents can be pre-conditioned by certain nonpainful stimuli are unknown. This study tested the hypothesis that a nonpainful mechanical or chemical insult predisposes a facet joint to generate pain after a later exposure to typically nonpainful distraction. Methods Rats were exposed to either a nonpainful distraction or an intra-articular subthreshold dose of NGF followed by a nonpainful distraction two days later. Mechanical hyperalgesia was measured daily and C6 dorsal root ganglia (DRG) tissue was assayed for NGF and matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) expression on day 7. Findings The second distraction increased joint displacement and strains compared to its first application (p = 0.0011). None of the initial exposures altered behavioral sensitivity in either of the groups being pre-conditioned or in controls; but, sensitivity was established in both groups receiving a second distraction within one day that lasted until day 7 (p Interpretation These findings suggest that nonpainful insults to the facet joint, when combined, can generate painful outcomes, possibly mediated by upregulation of MMP-3 and mature NGF.
3D experimental quantification of fabric and fabric evolution of sheared granular materials using synchrotron micro-computed tomography

Many experimental studies have demonstrated that mechanical response of granular materials is highly influenced by micro-structural fabric and its evolution. In the current literature, quantification of fabric and its evolution has been developed based on micro-structural observations using Discrete Element Method or 2D experiments with simple particle shapes. The emergence of X-ray computed tomography technique has made quantification of such experimental micro-structural properties possible using 3D high-resolution images. In this paper, synchrotron micro-computed tomography was used to acquire 3D images during in-situ conventional triaxial compression experiments on granular materials with different morphologies. 3D images were processed to quantify fabric and its evolution based on experimental measurements of contact normal vectors between particles. Overall, the directional distribution of contact normals exhibited the highest degree of isotropy at initial state (i.e., zero global axial strain). As compression progressed, contact normals evolved in the direction of loading until reaching a constant fabric when experiments approached the critical state condition. Further assessment of the influence of confining pressure, initial density state, and particle-level morphology on fabric and its evolution was formed. Results show that initial density state and applied confining pressure significantly influence the fabric-induced internal anisotropy of tested specimens at initial states. Relatively, a higher applied confining pressure and a looser initial density state resulted in a higher degree of fabric-induced internal anisotropy. Influence of particle-level morphology was also found to be significant particularly on fabric evolution.
Field-based high-throughput phenotyping of plant height in sorghum using different sensing technologies

Plant height is an important morphological and developmental phenotype that directly indicates overall plant growth and is widely predictive of final grain yield and biomass. Currently, manually measuring plant height is laborious and has become a bottleneck for genetics and breeding programs. The goal of this research was to evaluate the performance of five different sensing technologies for field-based high throughput plant phenotyping (HTPP) of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] height. With this purpose, (1) an ultrasonic sensor, (2) a LIDAR-Lite v2 sensor, (3) a Kinect v2 camera, (4) an imaging array of four high-resolution cameras were evaluated on a ground vehicle platform, and (5) a digital camera was evaluated on an unmanned aerial vehicle platform to obtain the performance baselines to measure the plant height in the field. Plot-level height was extracted by averaging different percentiles of elevation observations within each plot. Measurements were taken on 80 single-row plots of a US × Chinese sorghum recombinant inbred line population. The performance of each sensing technology was also qualitatively evaluated through comparison of device cost, measurement resolution, and ease and efficiency of data analysis. We found the heights measured by the ultrasonic sensor, the LIDAR-Lite v2 sensor, the Kinect v2 camera, and the imaging array had high correlation with the manual measurements (r ≥ 0.90), while the heights measured by remote imaging had good, but relatively lower correlation to the manual measurements (r = 0.73). These results confirmed the ability of the proposed methodologies for accurate and efficient HTPP of plant height and can be extended to a range of crops. The evaluation approach discussed here can guide the field-based HTPP research in general.
DETECTION, SIGNIFICANCE, AND THERAPY OF BACTERIURIA IN PREGNANCY: Update in the Managed Health Care Era

Profound physiologic and anatomic changes of the urinary tract during pregnancy contribute to the increased risk for symptomatic urinary tract infection in women with bacteriuria. Asymptomatic bacteriuria is the major risk factor for developing symptomatic UTIs during pregnancy and may be associated with adverse effects on maternal and fetal health. Because most symptomatic UTIs develop in women with bacteriuria earlier in pregnancy, treatment of bacteriuria is undertaken to prevent symptomatic infections. All pregnant women should be screened at the first antenatal visit, which is reliably and inexpensively done with a dipstick culture. Short-course therapy should be given to women with bacteriuria and clearance of bacteriuria should be documented after therapy is complete. Failure to eliminate bacteriuria with repeated therapy or recurrence with the same organism is indicative of renal parenchymal infection or a structural abnormality. All women with persistent bacteriuria or recurrent infection should have follow-up cultures and a urologic evaluation after delivery.
Realcompactness and measure-compactness of the unit ball in a Banach space

It is proved that the unit ball (with its weak topology) is not real-compact in the Banach spaces l∞/c0 and J(ω1). It is stated, but not proved, that the unit ball is not measure-compact in the Banach space l∞.
The Use of Reserve Requirements in Developing Countries

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a study of the uses of reserve requirements of various types as an instrument of central bank policy in developing countries, especially in relation to their implications for the liquidity of an economy's banking system, the quantity and control of an economy's money supply, the allocation of an economy's resources to various financial institutions, as well as the allocation of credit to various recipients and uses. Any particular country's choice of the type of reserve requirement to adopt, and the uses to which it will be put, must depend in part upon the alternative monetary instruments available. This is particularly important for the less developed countries where the alternatives are more restricted. The extent of these restrictions must be assessed to make optimal compromises in the uses of various policy instruments. To aid in evaluating the possible consequences to less developed countries of having to rely more heavily on reserve requirements, the chapter discusses the characteristics of reserve requirements, and the consequences of their use relative to those of open market operations and central bank discounts and advances, on the assumption that these alternatives are available.
The Mechanisms of Action of Norepinephrine and Acetylcholine on the Heart: Role of Protein Phosphorylation

The heart does not beat with the same frequency or force all the time: the heartbeat is constantly regulated by various neurotransmitters and hormones. In particular, norepinephrine (NE) released from the sympathetic nervous system causes an increase in the frequency and force of contraction, whereas acetylcholine (ACh) has the opposite effects. During the past decade, our understanding of the mechanisms by which neurotransmitters produce their effects on heart has increased significantly, but at the same time it has become clear that these mechanisms are extremely complicated. The effects of NE and ACh are mediated through a variety of different effector systems including several kinds of ionic channels in the plasma membrane, the sarcoplasmic reticulum, and the contractile apparatus. The purpose of this review is to summarize how these various systems interact to regulate cardiac contraction.
Approximate Solutions of Optimal Control Problems

In the previous two chapters, differentials are used to derive the equations for the various-order terms of the perturbation problem first involving algebraic equations then involving differential equations. In this chapter, differentials are used to derive the corresponding equations for the optimal control perturbation problem that involves both algebraic and differential equations.
Land lotteries, long-term wealth, and political selection

Does personal wealth cause individuals to select into public office? This study exploits the 1805 and 1807 Georgia land lotteries to investigate the hypothesis that wealth increases political power. Most eligible males participated in the lotteries and more than one-in-ten participants won a land prize worth over half of median property wealth. I find no evidence that lottery wealth increases the likelihood of officeholding or running for office, and argue that those null findings are informative because the estimates are not practically different from zero. The absence of a treatment effect implies that commonly observed cross-sectional correlations between personal wealth and officeholding are likely explained by selection effects.