cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Imagining Social Justice amidst Guatemala’s Post-Conflict Violence

Violence 1 , whether it is understood as individual acts of aggression, structural inequality, or direct acts of coercion by the state, always encompasses injustice. In Central America, the postwar period that was begun in the last decade of the twentieth century has been mired by multiple and compounding forms of violence that have magnified injustice. One of the most basic injustices is the reality that residents of Guatemala City joined by the residents of its closest urban neighbours of San Salvador and Tegucigalpa as well as many of their counterparts in other large Latin American cities live in fear of armed assaults and other arbitrary crimes that often end in murder (Caldeira, 2000; Rotker, 2002). A survey of Guatemalan families conducted prior to a rise in crime rates after 2004 indicates the level of insecurity: 42 percent of respondent families reported that at least one of their members had been a victim of a crime in 2004 (Plataforma de Investigacion y Dialogo Intersectorial para el Diseno de una Politica de Seguridad Ciudadana (POLSEC), 2004). Just over 80 percent of the crimes reported by these families were armed robberies that did not result in physical injury and that took place mainly in city streets mostly between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. when individuals tend to engage in shopping and work-related activities. 99 percent of the robberies reported by Guatemalan families took place within the municipal limits of Guatemala City. Amazingly, the threat of robbery was found close to home as 50 percent of the robberies took place within the city zone in which the individual resided. A more recent a survey of Guatemala City residents that was conducted quarterly from 2006 to 2007 also demonstrates a growing concern with insecurity. In this survey, 40 percent of residents reported that they expected to be the victim of a violent crime within six months (PNUD, 2007b). Interestingly, when the same survey asked if the residents had witnessed a violent crime within the last six months, between 40 and 45 percent of respondents responded positively in the 2006-
Predicates, Temporal Logic, and Simulations

We present an integrated theory of predicates, temporal logic, and simulations, developed using the mechanical theorem prover HOL. Both the predicate-based formulation of temporal logic and the formal theory of simulations have been investigated before in the context of HOL. What is new here is the study of the interaction between the two. In particular, we develop a formal theory of simulations in which certain kinds of temporal properties of the simulating program can be translated into those of the simulated program. Thus, if the simulated program is hard to reason about but the simulating program is easy to reason about, then our theory enables us to perform as much reasoning as possible about the “easy” program and then translate the results back to the “hard” program. The translatable temporal properties include many useful liveness properties.
An Algorithmic Framework for Visualizing Statecharts

Statecharts [9] are widely used for the requirements specification of reactive systems. In this paper, we present a framework for the automatic generation of layouts of statechart diagrams. Our framework is based on several techniques that include hierarchical drawing, labeling, and floorplanning, designed to work in a cooperative environment. Therefore, the resulting drawings enjoy several important properties: they emphasize the natural hierarchical decomposition of states into substates; they have a low number of edge crossings; they have good aspect ratio; and require a small area. We have implemented our framework and obtained drawings for several statechart examples. The preliminary drawings are very encouraging.
Robust PCA and clustering in noisy mixtures

This paper presents a polynomial algorithm for learning mixtures of logconcave distributions in Rn in the presence of malicious noise. That is, each sample is corrupted with some small probability, being replaced by a point about which we can make no assumptions. A key element of the algorithm is Robust Principle Components Analysis (PCA), which is less susceptible to corruption by noisy points. While noise may cause standard PCA to collapse well-separated mixture components so that they are indistinguishable, Robust PCA preserves the distance between some of the components, making a partition possible. It then recurses on each half of the mixture until every component is isolated. The success of this algorithm requires only a O(log n) factor increase in the required separation between components of the mixture compared to the noiseless case.
Quasi-Newton methods for parameter estimation in functional differential equations

A state-space approach to parameter estimation in linear functional differential equations is developed using the theory of linear evolution equations. A locally convergent quasi-Newton type algorithm is applied to distributed systems with particular emphasis on parameters that induce unbounded perturbations of the state. The algorithm is computationally implemented on several functional differential equations, including coefficient and delay estimation in linear delay-differential equations. >
Saturated molecular map of the rice genome based on an interspecific backcross population

A molecular map has been constructed for the rice genome comprised of 726 markers (mainly restriction fragment length polymorphisms; RFLPs). The mapping population was derived from a backcross between cultivated rice, Oryza sativa, and its wild African relative, Oryza longistaminata. The very high level of polymorphism between these species, combined with the use of polymerase chain reaction-amplified cDNA libraries, contributed to mapping efficiency. A subset of the probes used in this study was previously used to construct an RFLP map derived from an inter subspecific cross, providing a basis for comparison of the two maps and of the relative mapping efficiencies in the two crosses. In addition to the previously described PstI genomic rice library, three cDNA libraries from rice (Oryza), oat (Avena) and barley (Hordeum) were used in this mapping project. Levels of polymorphism detected by each and the frequency of identifying heterologous sequences for use in rice mapping are discussed. Though strong reproductive barriers isolate O. sativa from O. longistaminata, the percentage of markers showing distorted segregation in this backcross population was not significantly different than that observed in an intraspecific F2 population previously used for mapping. The map contains 1491 cM with an average interval size of 4.0 cM on the framework map, and 2.0 cM overall. A total of 238 markers from the previously described PstI genomic rice library, 250 markers from a cDNA library of rice (Oryza), 112 cDNA markers from oat (Avena), and 20 cDNA markers from a barley (Hordeum) library, two genomic clones from maize (Zea), 11 microsatellite markers, three telomere markers, eleven isozymes, 26 cloned genes, six RAPD, and 47 mutant phenotypes were used in this mapping project. Applications of a molecular map for plant improvement are discussed.
Dietary Supplement Use: Consumer Characteristics and Interests

Four major issues should be considered in a discussion of what consumers need to know about supplements and herbal treatments. 1) Usage of supplements is changing as consumers are taking charge of their health and seeking alternative forms of medicine (Eisenberg et al. 1998, Gilbert 1999). 2) The characteristics of supplement users have been profiled in numerous academic and industrial surveys. However, even the best models based on consumers' characteristics can predict < 30% of diet-related behavior (Baranowski et al. 1999). 3) Experts in traditional medicine and nutrition lack information on supplements and herbals. The Practice and Policy Guidelines Panel of the National Institute of Health Office of Alternative Medicine (1997) stated that practices used in complementary and alternative medicine were unsuitable for the development of evidence-based practice guidelines. Well-designed basic and clinical research is needed on the efficacy, bioavailability and safety of supplements and herbal medications. 4) It is debatable which agencies and professionals are the best gatekeepers of information on supplements and herbals. Significant numbers of consumers do not seem to rely on their physicians for information on alternative forms of medicine (Eisenberg 1997). Despite the obstacles, the traditional medical community (including nutritionists) should focus more research efforts on diet supplements and herbal treatments and increase training on these topics for students majoring in health care fields. Then health care professionals can mount high quality, targeted education programs for consumers.
Beam-foil spectroscopy in the EUV employing a position sensitive microchannel plate

Abstract A 50 mm long microchannel plate was adapted to a 1-m grazing incidence spectrometer equipped with a 1200 l/mm grating and applied to the measurement of beam-foil spectra of highly ionized neon in the EUV. A wavelength resolution of better than 1.0 A was achieved using a 100 μm entrance slit for spectra that sampled a wavelength region spanning approximately 100 A. The overall counting efficiency of the spectrometer system operating in a multichannel analysis mode improved by two orders of magnitude relative to that obtained by single channel scan mode analysis. Wavelength accuracies on the order of 0.1 A were achieved.
Stereocontrolled Synthesis of the Corey Prostaglandin Intermediate, 7-Syn-methoxymethyl-bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-en-2-one

Abstract The key steps in the reported stereocontrolled synthesis of bicyclic ketone 2 are Diels-Alder reaction of 5-methoxymethyl-1,2,3,4,5-pentachloro-1,3-pyclopentadiene, 3, and vinyl acetate and stereocontrolled reductive dechlorination of bicyclic THP ether 4c.
An EM Algorithm for Fitting a Four-Parameter Logistic Model to Binary Dose-Response Data

This article is motivated by the need of biological and environmental scientists to fit a popular nonlinear model to binary dose-response data. The four-parameter logistic model, also known as the Hill model, generalizes the usual logistic regression model to allow the lower and upper response asymptotes to be greater than zero and less than one, respectively. This article develops an EM algorithm, which is naturally suited for maximum likelihood estimation under the Hill model after conceptualizing the problem as a mixture of subpopulations in which some subjects respond regardless of dose, some fail to respond regardless of dose, and some respond with a probability that depends on dose. The EM algorithm leads to a pair of functionally independent two-parameter optimizations and is easy to program. Not only can this approach be computationally appealing compared to simultaneous optimization with respect to all four parameters, but it also facilitates estimating covariances, incorporating predictors, and imposing constraints. This article is motivated by, and the EM algorithm is illustrated with, data from a toxicology study of the dose effects of selenium on the death rates of flies. Other biological and environmental applications, as well as medical and agricultural applications, are also described briefly. Computer code for implementing the EM algorithm is available as supplemental material online.
Investigation of potential inversion in the reduction of 9,10-dinitroanthracene and 3,6-dinitrodurene

Abstract In the case of two-electron reduction of a compound, potential inversion refers to the situation where introduction of the second electron occurs with greater ease than the first. That is E01−E02
Joint power and distortion control in video coding

For video coding in futuristic ubiquitous environments, how to efficiently manage the power consumption while preserving high video quality is crucial. To address the above challenge elegantly, we formulate a multiple objective optimization problem to model the behavior of power-distortion-optimized video coding. Though the objectives in this problem are incommensurate and in conflict with one another. By assessing the performance trade-offs as well as the collective impact of power and distortion, we propose a joint power distortion control strategy (JPDC), in which the power and distortion are jointly considered. After the analysis on the approach of solving the problem statically, we utilize a sub-optimal “greedy” approach in the JPDC scheme. Each complexity parameter is adjusted individually. The system starts coding at the highest complexity level, and will automatically migrate to lower/higher level until the performance improvement gets saturated, leading to the optimal operation point. We perform simulations to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. Our results show that the proposed JPDC scheme is aware of the power constraint as well as the video content, and achieves significant power savings with well-perceived video quality. Such a feature is particularly desirable for futuristic video applications.
Development of MEMS based pyroelectric thermal energy harvesters

The efficient conversion of waste thermal energy into electrical energy is of considerable interest due to the huge sources of low-grade thermal energy available in technologically advanced societies. Our group at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is developing a new type of high efficiency thermal waste heat energy converter that can be used to actively cool electronic devices, concentrated photovoltaic solar cells, computers and large waste heat producing systems, while generating electricity that can be used to power remote monitoring sensor systems, or recycled to provide electrical power. The energy harvester is a temperature cycled pyroelectric thermal-to-electrical energy harvester that can be used to generate electrical energy from thermal waste streams with temperature gradients of only a few degrees. The approach uses a resonantly driven pyroelectric capacitive bimorph cantilever structure that potentially has energy conversion efficiencies several times those of any previously demonstrated pyroelectric or thermoelectric thermal energy harvesters. The goals of this effort are to demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating high conversion efficiency MEMS based pyroelectric energy converters that can be fabricated into scalable arrays using well known microscale fabrication techniques and materials. These fabrication efforts are supported by detailed modeling studies of the pyroelectric energy converter structures to demonstrate the energy conversion efficiencies and electrical energy generation capabilities of these energy converters. This paper reports on the modeling, fabrication and testing of test structures and single element devices that demonstrate the potential of this technology for the development of high efficiency thermal-to-electrical energy harvesters.
Energy-efficient transmission for multimedia streams in last-hop wireless internet

Multimedia applications have unique characteristics that can be leveraged to design energy-efficient loss recovery mechanisms. Given their loss tolerance and strict timing requirements, various frame dropping policies can be used to affect both application performance and energy consumption. However, the effects on energy consumption of such frame dropping policies depends on not only high-layer effects, but also the MAC layer underlying them. Therefore, we first present an analysis of an energy-efficient MAC-layer protocol, called Fast Transmit MAC Protocol (FTMP). We then explore three frame dropping policies: proactive, reactive, and opportunistic. We present the EELR (energy-efficient loss recovery) protocol, which uniquely combines all three frame dropping policies to provide both high energy efficiency and high application performance. EELR is implemented in a real system on top of an energy-saving MAC layer that exposes information about transmission costs to the transport layer for use in frame dropping decisions. Through analysis and real-world experiments, we show that the combination of an energy-efficient MAC layer with a transport protocol using all three frame-drop policies outperforms any other combination.
Double Coronary Arteriovenous Fistula

Coronary arteriovenous fistula is an uncommon, although not rare, congenital cardiac malformation, especially in the adult. Most such reported cases have involved but a single coronary vessel. This report documents the second case of coronary arteriovenous fistulae involving the right and circumflex coronary vessels draining into the coronary sinus. At the present time the patient is free of definite ischemic symptoms or obvious impairment of hemodynamic function and is being followed-up medically.
New method presented for calculating horizontal eddy diffusion

Turbulent features in the ocean, such as fronts, eddies, and filaments, occur when waters of different properties—such as temperature, salinity, density, or velocity—collide. Their dynamics are difficult to study because of their relatively small size (1–10 kilometers) and ephemeral lifetime (on the order of a few days). Nonetheless, they have a large influence on how particles, heat, and salt are mixed and transferred in the ocean.
Comparative effects of light during growth on the photosynthetic properties of NADP‐ME type C4 grasses from open and shaded habitats. I. Gas exchange, leaf anatomy and ultrastructure*

Abstract Maximum photosynthetic rate (Pmax in Zea mays L. was reduced to a much greater extent by neutral shading during growth than in the shade-adapted C4 grass Paspalum conjugatum Berg., although under a high light regime the Pmax of Z. mays was two-fold higher than that of P. conjugatum. In both species the shade-induced reductions of Pmax were not of stomatal origin since the intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci) was not decreased by growth under low light levels. The Ci of P. conjugatum (∼200 μPa Pa−1) measured at air levels of CO2 and high photon flux densities was 30% greater than that of Z. mays and, concomitantly, leaf water use efficiency was less. As with Pmax, specific leaf weight, leaf thickness and chlorenchyma volume were reduced to a greater extent by shading in Z. mays than in P. conjugatum. In contrast to Z. mays, bundle sheath chloroplasts of P. conjugatum contained well-defined stacks of grana. Mesophyll chloroplasts of P. conjugatum developed under a high light regime also contained large amounts of starch. This was not the case with Z. mays.
Confounding effects of individualism in children's cooperation — Competition social motive measures

The exact nature of cooperation — competition differences among children has remained obscure because the effect of individualistic motivation has important but unanalyzed influence on the frequency of cooperative and competitive responding. In order to clarify the nature of cultural differences in cooperation — competition, a novel social motive game was developed that provides distinct cooperative, competitive, and individualist alternatives. The measure was administered to 120 fourth-through sixth-grade Anglo-American and Mexican-American children of lower- and upper-middle-income levels. Consistent with previous research, Mexican-American children were generally more cooperative than Anglo-American children. Contrary to previous conclusions, however, individualism, not competition, was the strongest social motive among children, and Anglo-American children were generally more individualistic but not generally more competitive than Mexican-American children. Culture findings challenge both the methods and the results of previous cooperation — competition studies.
Detection of mRNA for inhibin α- and βA-subunits in bovine ovarian tissues and the effect of in vivo administration of GNRH

The aims of these studies were to determine which types of bovine ovarian tissue contain mRNA for inhibin/activin subunits and whether administration of GnRH influences concentration of these mRNAs. In experiment (exp.) one, cows in the luteal phase of the estrous cycle were given prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) to induce luteal regression and injected after 40 hr with saline (n=5) or 100 μg GnRH (n=6). Ovaries were removed 6 hr later. In exp. two, unilaterally ovariectomized (OVX) heifers (n=33) in the luteal phase of their estrous cycle were given PGF2α to induce luteal regression. Twelve heifers were OVX without injection of GnRH at 24 (n=6) or 40 hr (n=6) after PGF2α. The remaining heifers (n=21) were given 100μg GnRH at 40 hr after PGF2α injection and OVX 8 (n=4), 16 (n=5), 24 (n=6) or 48 (n=6) hr after GnRH injection. Total cellular RNA was isolated from large follicles (exp. one and two), small-medium follicles and stromal tissue (SMS) and corpora lutea (CL; exp. one) tissues and analyzed by dot blot and Northern blot techniques by hybridizing with cDNA probes for human inhibin/activin α- and βA-subunits. Large follicles were classified as steroidogenically active (EA) if follicular fluid (FF) concentration of estradiol-17β (E2) was greater than progesterone (P4), or if P4 and E2 concentrations in FF were greater than 100ng/ml, and estrogen inactive (EI) if FF concentration of E2 and P4 did not satisfy these criteria. In exp. one, mRNA for the α-subunit was primarily expressed in EA follicles, and detectable in EI follicles, SMS, and CL while βA-subunit mRNA was detected only in large EA follicles and a few SMS samples. The mRNA (x ± SEM fmoles/mg DNA) for both subunits of inhibin/activin was higher (P .10) between saline and GnRH treatments. In exp. two, the mRNA (fmol/mg DNA ± SEM) for the α-subunit decreased slightly 24 to 40 hr after PGF2a injection from 112 ± 41 to 84 ± 15, increased (P<.05) transientally to 158 ± 24 at 8 hr after GnRH, and declined (P<.01) to 55 ± 16, 40 ± 4 and 42 ± 14 at 16, 24 or 48 hr after GnRH, respectively. Similarly, the βA-subunit decreased slightly from 242 ± 52 to 189 ± 48 between 24 to 40 hr after PGF2α. Following injection of GnRH mean concentrations decreased (P<.10) further from 155 ± 41 to 53 ± 24, 64 ± 33 or 10 ± 7 at 8, 16, 24 or 48 hr, respectively. In summary, mRNA for the a-subunit of inhibin shows a transient rise in response to the preovulatory gonadotropin surges, but declines rapidly (3 fold decrease in 8 hr) following the transient rise and remains at this decreased level through ovulation. The mRNA for the βA-subunit of inhibin/activin rises (exp. one) or remains at a steady state (exp. two) early after the preovulatory gonadotropin surges and then declines by 16 hr post GnRH injection and remains low through ovulation.
Treatment of lithium intoxication with continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration

Lithium intoxication is an important complication of its frequent use and narrow therapeutic index. Intermittent hemodialysis has been the treatment of choice when emergent extracorporeal lithium clearance is indicated, but postdialysis rebound elevations in lithium concentration with recurrent toxicity have been documented. We report a case of intentional acute on chronic lithium intoxication in which continuous venovenous hemodiafiltration was successfully used. This modality offers the advantage of slow sustained removal of lithium without hemodynamic instability or rebound elevations in lithium concentration.
Deep-UV solid state light sources in the tactical biological sensor

A number of strategies to meet the need for a small and inexpensive biosensor that mitigates military and civilian vulnerabilities to biological weapons are currently being pursued. Among them is UV induced biological fluorescence. UV induced biofluorescence is a potentially successful strategy because it involves no chemical consumables and it is an "on-line" detection method where particles can be interrogated without impaction onto a substrate or into a liquid. Indeed, there are already existing fluorescence based sensors already in place, yet these are limited by the cost and power consumption of the laser based UV excitation sources. Fortunately, inexpensive and low power solid state UV sources arising from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Semiconductor UV Optical Sources (SUVOS) project have become commercially available in wavelengths capable of exciting aromatic amino acids (e.g. tryptophan) and metabolic products (e.g. NADH). The TAC-Bio Sensor is capable of exploiting either source wavelength and will ultimately include both source wavelengths within a single sensor. Initial work with the deep UV sources involves the correct optical filtering for the devices. The primary emission from both the 280 nm and 340 nm devices occurs at the design wavelength and is about 20 nm FWHM, however, there is a tail extending to the longer wavelengths that interferes with the fluorescence signal. A system of optical filters that sufficiently removes the long wavelength component from the UV source is designed and tested for the deep UV sources. Ongoing work with the sensor has confirmed that sensitivity to small biological particles is enhanced with the deeper wavelengths. When the 340 nm sources are placed in the TAC-Bio, it is capable of detecting 4 micron diameter Bacillus globigii (BG, Dugway, washed 4X) spore agglomerates. The deep UV sources show an improvement in signal to noise of 2, permitting the detection of 3 micron diameter BG agglomerates.
Oral Immunotherapy for the Treatment of Peanut Allergy: Is It Ready for Prime Time?

Results of recent studies that suggest that immunotherapy for food allergy may be possible represent one of the most exciting areas of research in our specialty. However, although studies on this topic have certainly provided many encouraging results, we and others have expressed concern that further studies are needed to answer questions regarding both safety and long-term efficacy before bringing these treatments into clinical practice. It is clear, however, that many do not agree with this conservative viewpoint and, in this issue of the journal, Wasserman et al report their experience on the use of peanut oral immunotherapy (OIT) in practice settings and in providing this treatment as a clinical tool rather than as a research procedure. In brief, they summarize the results of a retrospective chart review of 352 patients treated with peanut OIT in 5 different practices: 4 office-based practices in the United States and 1 hospital-based practice in Israel. Although the selection criteria for enrolling patients are not given and OIT methods used in each site varied considerably, the investigators provide overall outcomes from the cumulative experience of these 5 practices. Their report emerges with 2 main messages. First is that they had a success rate of 85% based on the number of patients who reached the targeted maintenance dose and, second, that reactions to dosing that required epinephrine were relatively uncommon, which occurred in 0.7 of 1000 doses during dose escalation and in 0.2 of 1000 doses during maintenance. With regard to these outcomes, we believe that it is important to consider several additional perspectives. Although achieving
The Analysis of Free-Sorting Data: Beyond Pairwise Cooccurrences

Free-sorting data are obtained when subjects are given a set of objects and are asked to divide them into subsets. Such data are usually reduced by counting for each pair of objects, how many subjects placed both of them into the same subset. The present study examines the utility of a group of additional statistics. the cooccurrences of sets of three objects. Because there are dependencies among the pair and triple cooccurrences, adjusted triple similarity statistics are developed. Multidimensional scaling and cluster analysis — which usually use pair similarities as their input data — can be modified to operate on three-way similarities to create representations of the set of objects. Such methods are applied to a set of empirical sorting data: Rosenberg and Kim's (1975) fifteen kinship terms.
Strain inhomogeneities, molecular chain scission and stress-deformation in polymers

Bond rupture and fracture in semicrystalline polymers, noting agreement with random length molecular tie chain scission model
Aircraft observations of a lightning channel in STEPS

[1] We analyze a portion of an intracloud lightning channel that was captured on video by an instrumented aircraft and mapped three-dimensionally by a ground-based lightning mapping array (LMA). By comparing the electric fields measured on the aircraft with a model which simulates the electrostatic field present after charge was effectively deposited by this flash, we estimate that the channel formed ∼80 m in front of and passed ∼30 m below the aircraft, in agreement with the average LMA locations, and that it deposited on the order of 0.02 mC/m of negative charge.
A uniaxial bioMEMS device for quantitative force-displacement measurements

There is a need for experimental techniques that allow the simultaneous imaging of cellular cystoskeletal components with quantitative force measurements on single cells. A bioMEMS device has been developed for the application of strain to a single cell while simultaneously quantifying its force response. The prototype device presented here allows the mechanical study of a single, adherent cell in vitro. The device works in a fashion similar to a displacement-controlled uniaxial tensile machine. The device is calibrated using an AFM cantilever and shows excellent agreement with the calculated spring constant. The device is demonstrated on a single fibroblast. The force response of the cell is seen to be linear until the onset of de-adhesion with the de-adhesion from the cell platform occurring at a force of approximately 1500 nN.
The Relationships Between Childhood Tomboyism, Siblings' Activities, and Adult Gender Roles

Two studies were designed to examine whether siblings and participation in masculine activities influence tomboyism. The influence of tomboyism on adult gender roles was also examined. Study 1 utilized 193 mainly European American undergraduate women. Results indicated that participation in masculine activities was related to tomboyism. Having a brother was only marginally related to tomboyism. Study 2, a replication with 284 undergraduate women, added participants' ethnicity and employment status of mothers as variables. Slightly more than half of the women were European American, with smaller numbers of African American, Asian American, and Hispanic American women. In both studies, tomboyism was related to masculinity in adulthood. No significant relationships were found between tomboyism and ethnicity or mother's employment status.
Evidence for injurious effect of cocaethylene in human microvascular endothelial cells.

Abstract Background : Cocaethylene (CE) is a conjugate of cocaine and ethanol that may contribute to the pathogenesis of systemic vascular diseases. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of CE on human microvascular endothelial cells (HMEC-1) in culture. Methods : Proliferating and confluent monolayers of HMEC-1 were used for assessing growth kinetics, viability, cytotoxicity, and morphologic/barrier alterations after CE treatment (0–1 mmol/l) for up to 7 days. The Trypan blue exclusion, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay, manual cell counts, and silver nitrate staining technique were used. Results : The doubling times of 30.0 and 31.4 h for the 0.5 and 1.0 mmol/l CE-treated HMEC-1, respectively, were significantly longer than the 28.6 h for the control group ( p Conclusions : HMEC-1 exposure to CE induced cellular injury that could affect the permeability of small blood vessels. These cellular changes could in part be the pivotal point for studies to explain the edema and inflammation in surrounding tissues of individuals exposed to CE.
Some characteristics of sorting computing systems using random access storage devices

The substantial differences in characteristics of random access storage and tape devices dictate that concepts and objectives of computer program design be considered from the viewpoint of the external file medium used. This is particularly true in the case of sorting. In a tape-oriented system, the major sorting problem is that of minimizing merge time despite the limited orders of merge possible. In contrast, sorting in a random access-oriented system encourages the selection of the optimum order of merge from many possible orders. The latter problem is discussed in this paper, along with criteria developed for determining the optimum order of merge according to the various properties of random access storage devices. Attention is also given to the problem of key sorting versus record sorting and the possibly serious disadvantage of key sorting on a random access system.
Faithful Change: Exploring and Assessing Faith Development in Christian Liberal Arts Undergraduates.

What is faith development? Can it be assessed? Which environments and experiences are most conducive to growth in faith? These are a few of the questions that the Faithful Change research project attempts to address.
Immobilized Enzyme Studies in a Microscale Bioreactor

Novel microreactors with immobilized enzymes were fabricated using both silicon and polymer-based microfabrication techniques. The effectiveness of these reactors was examined along with their behavior over time. Urease enzyme was successfully incorporated into microchannels of a polymeric matrix of polydimethylsiloxane and through layer-bylayer self-assembly techniques onto silicon. The fabricated microchannels had cross-sectional dimensions ranging from tens to hundreds of micrometers in width and height. The experimental results for continuous-flow microreactors are reported for the conversion of urea to ammonia by urease enzyme. Urea conversions of >90% were observed.
Sweet’s Syndrome with Myelofibrosis and Leukemia: Partial Response to Interferon

Sweet's syndrome with malignancy or acute neutrophilic dermatosis (AND) is an unusual cutaneous disorder seen most commonly in association with acute myelogenous leukemia. A large majority of patients with AND and malignancy have neoplasms of hematopoietic, plasma cell or lymphoid nature. The patient reported here had myelofibrosis, chronic myelogenous leukemia and Sweet's syndrome. The individual lesions responded to intralesional interferon-alpha 2, which has not to our knowledge been reported previously. This result, however, was not as great as the response of AND to intralesional steroid injections.
Stories Baptismal Registers Told: Private Baptism in Seventeenth‐Century England

Even though non-emergency private baptism became a debated issue in seventeenth-century England, the practice, as has been commonly believed, did not become a trend all over the country. By taking a close look at several seventeenth-century baptismal registers of churches in and outside London, this article shows that non-emergency private baptism was the choice taken mostly by well-to-do families living in London. As a contrast, rural parishes still adhered strictly to the Prayer Book, by administering private baptism only in emergency. Therefore, this article maintains that non-emergency private baptism was more of an exception than the common practice.
Discovering Multidimensional Correlations among Regulatory Requirements to Understand Risk

Security breaches most often occur due to a cascading effect of failure among security constraints that collectively contribute to overall secure system behavior in a socio-technical environment. Therefore, during security certification activities, analysts must systematically take into account the nexus of causal chains that exist among security constraints imposed by regulatory requirements. Numerous regulatory requirements specified in natural language documents or listed in spreadsheets/databases do not facilitate such analysis. The work presented in this article outlines a stepwise methodology to discover and understand the multidimensional correlations among regulatory requirements for the purpose of understanding the potential for risk due to noncompliance during system operation. Our lattice algebraic computational model helps estimate the collective adequacy of diverse security constraints imposed by regulatory requirements and their interdependencies with each other in a bounded scenario of investigation. Abstractions and visual metaphors combine human intuition with metrics available from the methodology to improve the understanding of risk based on the level of compliance with regulatory requirements. In addition, a problem domain ontology that classifies and categorizes regulatory requirements from multiple dimensions of a socio-technical environment promotes a common understanding among stakeholders during certification and accreditation activities. A preliminary empirical investigation of our theoretical propositions has been conducted in the domain of The United States Department of Defense Information Technology Security Certification and Accreditation Process (DITSCAP). This work contributes a novel approach to understand the level of compliance with regulatory requirements in terms of the potential for risk during system operation.
Measuring coalescing massive binary black holes with gravitational waves: The impact of spin-induced precession

The coalescence of massive black holes generates gravitational waves (GWs) that will be measurable by space-based detectors such as LISA to large redshifts. The spins of a binary's black holes have an important impact on its waveform. Specifically, geodetic and gravitomagnetic effects cause the spins to precess; this precession then modulates the waveform, adding periodic structure which encodes useful information about the binary's members. Following pioneering work by Vecchio, we examine the impact upon GW measurements of including these precession-induced modulations in the waveform model. We find that the additional periodicity due to spin precession breaks degeneracies among certain parameters, greatly improving the accuracy with which they may be measured. In particular, mass measurements are improved tremendously, by one to several orders of magnitude. Localization of the source on the sky is also improved, though not as much---low redshift systems can be localized to an ellipse which is roughly $10\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{\text{a few}}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}10\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{arcminutes}$ in the long direction and a factor of 2 smaller in the short direction. Though not a drastic improvement relative to analyses which neglect spin precession, even modest gains in source localization will greatly facilitate searches for electromagnetic counterparts to GW events. Determination of distance to the source is likewise improved: We find that relative error in measured luminosity distance is commonly $\ensuremath{\sim}0.1%--0.4%$ at $z\ensuremath{\sim}1$. Finally, with the inclusion of precession, we find that the magnitude of the spins themselves can typically be determined for low redshift systems with an accuracy of about 0.1%--10%, depending on the spin value, allowing accurate surveys of mass and spin evolution over cosmic time.
Chemical ionization mass spectrometry—XIX:n-hexane andn-octane as reactants

The suitability of n-hexane and n-octane as reactant gases in chemical ionization mass spectrometry has been investigated. The mass spectra of these substances have been investigated as a function of pressure up to 2·4 Torr for n-hexane and 1·7 Torr for n-octane. The major ion present in n-hexane at 0·8 Torr is [C6H13]+ (m/e 85) with a relative intensity of 0·65. In n-octane at 0·8 Torr the major ions are [C8H17]+ (m/e 113), [C6H13]+ (m/e 85) and [C5H11]+ (m/e 71). The relative intensities of these ions are 0·38, 0·12 and 0·19, respectively. These alkyl ions in both n-hexane and n-octane are thought to have tertiary structures. Rate constants for the rates of reaction of the primary ions in the two compounds have been determined. The n-hexane chemical ionization spectra of 26 compounds were determined. The spectra of polar compounds are dominated by proton transfer, whereas those of nonpolar compounds exhibit proton transfer and in addition often surprisingly large amounts of electron transfer. The n-octane chemical ionization spectra of 15 compounds were determined and the spectra in general are quite similar to those obtained with n-hexane. n-Hexane and n-octane can be used as reagents in analytical chemical ionization mass spectrometry, but except in certain specialized uses they would probably have no advantage over i-butane.
Evaluation of the AIRS and CrIS relative radiometric calibration under cloudy conditions

The validation of the radiometric calibration of virtually all infrared radiometers has previously been carried out under carefully selected, generally spatially uniform conditions, with the assumption that the radiometric accuracy of the data may be dependent on scene brightness temperature, but is independent of other scene unique conditions, such as scene spatial uniformity. The availability of AIRS and CrIS observations from polar orbits with the identical ascending node presents an opportunity to evaluate the validity of this assumption. For each day between May 2012 and January 2014 we collected 22,000 Random Nadir Spectra (RNS). We then analyzed the time series of the daily differences between AIRS and CrIS Probability Density Function in the 900 cm -1 atmospheric window channel. Under polar conditions the PDF differences between AIRS and CrIS are typically less than 50 mK for the 10%tile, the mean and the 90%tiles values of the PDF. Under area representative global conditions day and night CrIS is about 0.2K colder than AIRS at the 10%tile and mean values. These differences are well within the limits of the instrument requirements specification. However, the difference between AIRS and CrIS have a complicated zonal distribution, particular for the tropical zone. For day tropical land CrIS is 0.3 K warmer in the mean, 1K warmer in the 10%tile value (cold tails of the PDF) than AIRS. The reasons for these differences are still under investigation. A number of modifications to the CrIS radiometric calibration algorithms have been proposed.
Taxonomic classification for web-based videos

Categorizing web-based videos is an important yet challenging task. The difficulties arise from large data diversity within a category, lack of labeled data, and degradation of video quality. This paper presents a large scale video taxonomic classification scheme (with more than 1000 categories) tackling these issues. Taxonomic structure of categories is deployed in classifier training. To compensate for the lack of labeled video data, a novel method is proposed to adapt the web-text documents trained classifiers to video domain so that the availability of a large corpus of labeled text documents can be leveraged. Video content based features are integrated with text-based features to gain power in the case of degradation of one type of features. Evaluation on videos from hundreds of categories shows that the proposed algorithms generate significant performance improvement over text classifiers or classifiers trained using only video content based features.
The effects of Le Fort I osteotomies on velopharyngeal and speech functions in cleft patients.

Purpose Orthognathic surgery alters or even worsens symptoms of velopharyngeal insufficiency in cleft patients. The goal of this study was to evaluate how advancing the maxilla would affect the speech and articulation disorders of these patients. Patients and methods This was a retrospective study in which we compiled and evaluated the speech scores of 54 cleft lip and palate patients who underwent maxillary advancement between 1981 and 2001. Although 34 individuals underwent an isolated Le Fort I advancement, 20 patients had a combined Le Fort I advancement/mandibular setback operation. The following variables were recorded from both preoperative and postoperative speech evaluations: presence of a pharyngeal flap at the time of surgery, oronasal fistulas, nasality, 7 different articulation errors, velopharyngeal function assessment, and overall speech score. Preoperative and postoperative changes in the data were analyzed using the McNemar test and paired t test. Results A decrease in competent velopharyngeal function mechanisms was noted postoperatively (42% to 18%), increased borderline incompetence (9% to 22%), and complete velopharyngeal insufficiency (13% to 20%). Speech scores deteriorated significantly (P < .05), whereas articulation defects insignificantly (P = .146) improved after surgery (84% to 73%), with those related to the anterior dentition (P = .064) showing the greatest change (64% to 47%). The frequency of hyponasality decreased after surgery. The number of cases of mild to moderate hypernasality increased. Conclusion This study confirms previous findings that patients with clefts of the lip and palate or palate alone are predisposed to velopharyngeal function alteration after maxillary advancement, particularly with borderline function preoperatively. However, the results show that surgical correction of skeletal relationships and occlusion may translate into improvements in certain aspects of speech disorders.
Transcriptional Response of Honey Bee Larvae Infected with the Bacterial Pathogen Paenibacillus larvae

American foulbrood disease of honey bees is caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae. Infection occurs per os in larvae and systemic infection requires a breaching of the host peritrophic matrix and midgut epithelium. Genetic variation exists for both bacterial virulence and host resistance, and a general immunity is achieved by larvae as they age, the basis of which has not been identified. To quickly identify a pool of candidate genes responsive to P. larvae infection, we sequenced transcripts from larvae inoculated with P. larvae at 12 hours post-emergence and incubated for 72 hours, and compared expression levels to a control cohort. We identified 75 genes with significantly higher expression and six genes with significantly lower expression. In addition to several antimicrobial peptides, two genes encoding peritrophic-matrix domains were also up-regulated. Extracellular matrix proteins, proteases/protease inhibitors, and members of the Osiris gene family were prevalent among differentially regulated genes. However, analysis of Drosophila homologs of differentially expressed genes revealed spatial and temporal patterns consistent with developmental asynchrony as a likely confounder of our results. We therefore used qPCR to measure the consistency of gene expression changes for a subset of differentially expressed genes. A replicate experiment sampled at both 48 and 72 hours post infection allowed further discrimination of genes likely to be involved in host response. The consistently responsive genes in our test set included a hymenopteran-specific protein tyrosine kinase, a hymenopteran specific serine endopeptidase, a cytochrome P450 (CYP9Q1), and a homolog of trynity, a zona pellucida domain protein. Of the known honey bee antimicrobial peptides, apidaecin was responsive at both time-points studied whereas hymenoptaecin was more consistent in its level of change between biological replicates and had the greatest increase in expression by RNA-seq analysis.