cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluating Sensitivity of the Ranking of Forest Fuel Treatments to Manager’s Risk Attitudes and the Importance of Treatment Objectives, Montana, USA

This study develops a conceptual framework for evaluating the sensitivity of the ranking of forest fuel treatment strategies (FTSs) to variation in managers’ risk attitudes and the importance ratings managers assign to fuel treatment objectives and demonstrates the application of the framework using a case study. The conceptual framework involves (1) defining a utility function on an index that is a weighted average of fuel treatment objectives and incorporates a manager’s risk attitude; (2) using the utility function to calculate utility values for FTSs; (3) applying the stochastic efficiency with respect to a function method to utility values to obtain certainty equivalents (CEs); and (4) ranking FTSs based on statistically significant differences in median CEs for pairs of FTSs. The case study involves three (federal, state, and private) forested areas in Flathead County, Montana, USA, three FTSs (i.e., Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) Priority; CWPP & Wildland-Urban Interface Priority; and No Priority), three treatment objectives (i.e., minimizing expected residential monetary losses from wildfire, minimizing expected deviation of forest ecological conditions from their historic range and variability, and maximizing expected net returns from timber harvesting associated with fuel treatment), two risk attitudes (i.e., almost risk neutral and highly risk averse), and 35 weight scenarios for treatment objectives. Case study results are used to test the hypothesis that the ranking of FTSs is sensitive to manager’s risk attitudes and the importance ratings for management objectives. The ranking of FTSs for the three forested areas was insensitive for an almost risk neutral manager and sensitive for a highly risk averse manager. In general, the case study indicates that the ranking of FTSs is sensitive to both a forest manager’s risk attitudes and the importance ratings assigned to fuel treatment objectives.
Discrete Adjoint Approach for Nonlinear Unsteady Aeroelastic Design Optimization

Presented is a discrete adjoint approach for computing nonlinear unsteady aeroelastic geometric design sensitivities, which can subsequently be used for nonlinear unsteady aeroelastic geometric des...
Probing high-energy interactions of atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos

Astrophysical and atmospheric neutrinos are important probes of the powerful accelerators that produce cosmic rays with EeV energies. Understanding these accelerators is a key goal of neutrino observatories, along with searches for neutrinos from supernovae, from dark matter annihilation, and other astrophysics topics. Here, we discuss how neutrino observatories like IceCube and future facilities like KM3NeT and IceCube-Gen2 can study the properties of high-energy (above 1TeV) neutrino interactions. This is far higher than is accessible at man-made accelerators, where the highest energy neutrino beam reached only 500GeV. In contrast, neutrino observatories have observed events with energies above 5PeV — 10,000 times higher in energy — and future large observatories may probe neutrinos with energies up to 1020 eV. These data have implications for both standard model measurements, such as of low Bjorken-x parton distributions and gluon shadowing, and also for searches for beyond-standard-model physics. This chapter will review the existing techniques and results, and discuss future prospects.
Engineering Development of a Fluidized-Bed Fluoride Volatility Process. III. Bench-Scale Studies with Irradiated Uranium Alloy Fuels

In six experiments using fluidized-bed fluoride volatility techniques to process irradiated uranium-Zircaloy and uranium-aluminum alloy fuels, less than 1% of the uranium was retained in the reacto...
Adolescents’ Responses to Cereal Ads: An Assessment of Weight and Gender

ABSTRACTChildhood obesity is a health epidemic. While we know that food advertising is impacting dietary perceptions of youth, we do not know all of the contributing factors. Health claims are used...
Kinetics of DNA damage repair response accompanying initial hepadnavirus-host genomic integration in woodchuck hepatitis virus infection of hepatocyte.

Abstract Mechanism of initial hepatitis B virus (HBV) integrations and kinetics of DNA repair immediately after infection remain essentially unknown impairing understanding of hepadnaviral oncogenesis. WCM260 hepatocytes susceptible to HBV-compatible woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) were examined from 15 min to 72 h post-infection (p.i.). WHV strongly induced reactive oxygen species (ROS), transiently inducible nitric oxide (iNOS) and DNA damage from 15 min p.i. All initial WHV-host fusions had the head-to-tail format indicating their formation by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ). Transcription of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) and X-ray repair cross-complementing protein 1 (XRCC1), the PARP1 binding partner, were induced in 30 min p.i. and that of 8-oxyguanine DNA glycosylse (OGG1) responding to oxidative DNA damage at 12 h p.i. Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), a marker of PARP1 activation, and heme oxygenase-1 (HO1), an indicator of pro-oxidative stress, were significantly augmented from 15-30 min p.i. Additionally, PARP1 cleavage activity was evident from 30 min p.i. confirming that PARP1-mediated DNA repair became operational almost instatly after hepatocyte contact with virus. By applying complementary approaches, the study showed that initial WHV integration was due to virus-induced oxidative DNA damage and implied that the NHEJ PARP1-dependent repair pathway determined format of the first virus-host DNA junctions.
An Integrated Approach for Spatio-Temporal Cholera Disease Hotspot Relation Mining for Public Health Management in Punjab, Pakistan.

Public health management can generate actionable results when diseases are studied in context with other candidate factors contributing to disease dynamics. In order to fully understand the interdependent relationships of multiple geospatial features involved in disease dynamics, it is important to construct an effective representation model that is able to reveal the relationship patterns and trends. The purpose of this work is to combine disease incidence spatio-temporal data with other features of interest in a mutlivariate spatio-temporal model for investigating characteristic disease and feature patterns over identified hotspots. We present an integrated approach in the form of a disease management model for analyzing spatio-temporal dynamics of disease in connection with other determinants. Our approach aligns spatio-temporal profiles of disease with other driving factors in public health context to identify hotspots and patterns of disease and features of interest in the identified locations. We evaluate our model against cholera disease outbreaks from 2015–2019 in Punjab province of Pakistan. The experimental results showed that the presented model effectively address the complex dynamics of disease incidences in the presence of other features of interest over a geographic area representing populations and sub populations during a given time. The presented methodology provides an effective mechanism for identifying disease hotspots in multiple dimensions and relation between the hotspots for cost-effective and optimal resource allocation as well as a sound reference for further predictive and forecasting analysis.
Race, Class, and Social Welfare: American Populism Since the New Deal

What makes it so difficult to enact and sustain comprehensive social welfare policy that would aid the disadvantaged in the United States? Addressing the relationship between populism and social welfare, this book argues that two competing camps of populists divide American politics. Regressive populists motivated by racial resentment frequently clash with progressive populists, who embrace an expansion of social welfare benefits for the less affluent, regardless of race or ethnicity. Engstrom and Huckfeldt uncover the political forces driving this divided populism, its roots in the aftermath of the civil rights revolution of the mid-twentieth century, and its implications for modern American politics and social welfare policy. Relying on a detailed analysis of party coalitions in the US Congress and the electorate since the New Deal, the authors focus on the intersection between race, class, and oligarchy.
Associations between the Neighborhood Social Environment and Obesity Among Adolescents: Do Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Sleep Play a Role?

Abstract This study examines: (1) the association between the neighborhood social environment and obesity among adolescents, (2) whether physical activity, screen time, and short sleep mediates this association, and (3) examine sex differences. Participants (n = 12,692; age 11–19 years old) came from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Neighborhood social disorganization and socioeconomic status (NSES) measures were associated with obesity adjusting for sex, race, age, parental education, and urbanicity. Screen time mediated NSES and obesity. Very short sleep duration (
Astrocytes promote a protective immune response to brain Toxoplasma gondii infection via IL-33-ST2 signaling

Understanding how invading pathogens are sensed within the brain is necessary to uncover how effective immune response are mounted in immunoprivileged sites. The eukaryotic parasite Toxoplasma gondii colonizes the brain of its hosts and initiates robust immune cell recruitment, but little is known about innate recognition of T. gondii within brain tissue. The host damage signal IL-33 is one protein that has been implicated in control of chronic T. gondii infection, but the specific impact of IL-33 signaling within the brain is unclear. Here, we show that IL-33 is expressed by oligodendrocytes and astrocytes during T. gondii infection, is released into the cerebrospinal fluid of T. gondii-infected animals, and is required for control of infection. IL-33 signaling promotes chemokine expression within brain tissue and is required for the recruitment of peripheral anti-parasitic immune cells, including IFN-γ-expressing T cells and iNOS-expressing monocytes. Importantly, we find that the beneficial effects of IL-33 during chronic infection are not a result of signaling on infiltrating immune cells, but rather on radio-resistant responders, and specifically, astrocytes. Mice with IL-33R-deficient astrocytes fail to promote an adaptive immune response in the CNS and control parasite burden, demonstrating that astrocytes can directly respond to IL-33 in vivo. Together, these results indicate a brain-specific mechanism by which IL-33 is released and sensed locally, to engage the peripheral immune system in controlling a neurotropic pathogen.
High-throughput investigation of the formation of double spinels

Spinel compounds, with the general chemical formula AB2O4, are a wide class of materials, where A and B can be a variety of cations, providing this structure with a great deal of functional flexibility and giving rise to its considerable scientific interest. Recently, a spinel with the general formula ABB′O4 has been predicted, increasing the possible usability of the spinels due to the higher cation diversity in the so-called double spinel structure. Here, we use density functional theory calculations to predict if double spinels can be formed between experimentally synthesized normal and inverse single spinels. Our computations reveal that 49 double spinels have negative mixing enthalpies and are thus thermodynamically stable, with most of the stable compounds being formed from one of two distinct cation orderings. We show that the 17 different cations that form the different double spinels have a preferred site, tetrahedral or octahedral, except for Mn, Fe and Co which can occupy both sites interchangeably. We also study the relation between mixing enthalpies and cation-specific properties, as well as ways to classify the double spinels into distinct types and spinel groups depending on the cation ordering and cation oxidation states, respectively. By applying the Sure Independence Screening and Sparsifying Operator (SISSO) approach on the coordination-dependent ionic radii of the elemental constituents, we show that an interplay of local strain and electrostatic dominated terms can be used to separate the double spinels into distinct structural types depending on the cation order and their oxidation states.
A Web Portal and Workbench for Biological Dissection of Single Cell COVID-19 Host Responses

Numerous studies have provided single-cell transcriptome profiles of host responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Critically lacking however is a reusable datamine to allow users to compare and explore these data for insight, inference, and hypothesis generation. To accomplish this, we harmonized datasets from blood, bronchoalveolar lavage and tissue samples from COVID-19 and other control conditions and derived a compendium of gene signature modules per cell type, subtype, clinical condition and compartment. We demonstrate approaches for exploring and evaluating their significance via a new interactive web portal (ToppCell). As examples, we develop three hypotheses: (1) a multicellular signaling cascade among alternatively differentiated monocyte-derived macrophages whose tasks include T cell recruitment and activation; (2) novel platelet subtypes with drastically modulated expression of genes responsible for adhesion, coagulation and thrombosis; (3) a multilineage cell activator network able to drive extrafollicular B maturation via an ensemble of genes extensively associated with risk for developing autoimmunity. TeaserImplicating COVID-19 Gene and Cell Networks Responsible for Inflammation, Thromboembolism and Autoimmune Pathobiology.
A Review of Motion Sickness in Automated Vehicles

Automated vehicles (AVs) are the next wave of evolution in the transportation industry, but the progress towards increased levels of automation faces several challenges. One of the major problems, that gets overlooked, is motion sickness. As more drivers become passengers engaging in ‘passenger tasks’, it will lead to greater occurrences of motion sickness, preventing AVs from providing their true benefit to society. In an attempt to encourage more researchers to solve the problem of motion sickness in AVs, this study conducted a literature review following the PRISMA framework to identify the latest research trends and methodologies. Based on the findings and limitations in the existing literature, this study suggests a bird's-eye-view research framework consisting of causation, induction, measurement, and mitigation techniques, that researchers and early practitioners can utilize to conduct research in this field. Furthermore, the paper highlights future research directions in mitigation techniques to combat motion sickness in AVs.
A Political Economy of American Hegemony: Buildups, Booms, and Busts

1. The political economy of imbalance 2. National security shocks and military buildups 3. Warfare, welfare, and the size of the American state 4. Buildups and booms 5. Deflecting the costs of adjustment 6. The financial consequences of America's postwar booms 7. The political economy of American hegemony.
Editing of Neurotransmitter Receptor and Ion Channel RNAs in the Nervous System

The central dogma of molecular biology defines the major route for the transfer of genetic information from genomic DNA to messenger RNA to three-dimensional proteins that affect structure and function. Like alternative splicing, the post-transcriptional conversion of adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) by RNA editing can dramatically expand the diversity of the transcriptome to generate multiple, functionally distinct protein isoforms from a single genomic locus. While RNA editing has been identified in virtually all tissues, such post-transcriptional modifications have been best characterized in RNAs encoding both ligand- and voltage-gated ion channels and neurotransmitter receptors. These RNA processing events have been shown to play an important role in the function of the encoded protein products and, in several cases, have been shown to be critical for the normal development and function of the nervous system.
Toward a Frame-Based Theory of Abuse: An Ongoing Exploration

In this paper frame theory is applied to gain further understanding into the dynamics functioning in situations where there is domestic abuse. The communication dynamic evident in abusive situations is one where the abuser enacts control by using frame-shifting to enforce a paradigm that dictates that he control framing. Abusive frame-shifting prevents the target of abuse from being able to respond appropriately to the situation, because the meaning of the situation is changed through the imposition of a new frame. This dynamic has implications for understanding the difficulty targets have determining an appropriate response to the abuser, and for their exercise and sense of agency. Implications for understanding the role of framing in abusive dynamics at the societal level are noted.
DNA MISMATCH REPAIR AND DNA METHYLATION IN ADULT BRAIN NEURONS

DNA repair is essential for maintaining the integrity of the nucleotide sequence of cellular DNA over time. Although much information has accumulated recently on the mechanisms of DNA repair in cultured cells, little is known about the DNA repair capabilities of cells in the adult brain. In the present study, we have investigated the capacity of nuclear extracts from adult rodent brain neurons to carry out DNA mismatch repair. We focused on the repair of G.T and G.U mismatches, which are caused by deamination of 5-methyl cytosine to thymine, or cytosine to uracil, respectively, because these are the only types of mismatches that can arise in nondividing cells. We found that nuclear extracts from adult brain neurons can correct G.T and G.U mismatches, restoring them to G:C base pairs. Several other types of DNA mismatches could not be processed. These data provide the first direct demonstration that neurons in the adult mammalian brain have the capability to carry out DNA mismatch repair. We also we report that adult brain contains high levels of DNA methyltransferase (MTase) activity. We propose that one function of DNA MTase in the adult brain is to remethylate newly incorporated cytosine residues from G.T mismatch repair after deamination of 5-methyl cytosine, thereby maintaining the original pattern of DNA methylation. The high levels of brain DNA MTase suggest further that this enzyme has additional functions in the brain.
Causal modeling with the TETRAD program

Drawing substantive conclusions from linear causal models that perform acceptably on statistical tests is unreasonable if it is not known how alternatives fare on these same tests. We describe a computer program, TETRAD, that helps to search rapidly for plausible alternatives to a given causal structure. The program is based on principles from statistics, graph theory, philosophy of science, and artificial intelligence. We describe these principles, discuss how TETRAD employs them, and argue that these principles make TETRAD an effective tool. Finally, we illustrate TETRAD's effectiveness by applying it to a multiple indicator model of Political and Industrial development. A pilot version of the TETRAD program is described in this paper. The current version is described in our forthcoming Discovering Causal Structure: Artificial Intelligence for Statistical Modeling.
The Impact of the 1-Year Residency Requirement on Students Preferring Part-Time Study.

This article examines the effect of a 1-year-residency requirement on master of social work students’ psychophysical health, general well-being, perceived workload, and grade point average. The stu...
Application of Gain Scheduling to the Control of Batch Bioreactors

The implementation of control algorithms to batch bioreactors is often complicated by the inherent variations in process dynamics during the course of fermentation. Such a wide operating range may render the performance of fixed gain PID controllers unsatisfactory. In this work, a detailed study on the control of batch fermentation is performed. Furthermore, a simple batch controller design is proposed which incorporates the concept of gain-scheduling, a sub-class of adaptive control, with oxygen uptake rate as an auxiliary variable. The control of oxygen tension in the biorector is used as a vehicle to convey the proposed idea, analysis and results. Simulation experiments indicate significant improvement in controller performance can be achieved by the proposed approach even in the presence of measurement noise.
Differences in the apportionment of molecular and morphological variation in North American strawberry and the consequences for genetic resource management

Variation for 24 morphological traits measured in a greenhouse environment and 36 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers was assessed among 318 wild octoploid strawberry (Fragariaspp.) genotypes from diverse habitats across the northern USA. RAPD marker frequencies and certain leaf and flower morphology traits (petiole color, leaf mass/area ratio, leaflet length and width, flower and receptacle diameter, petal width, flowers/inflorescence) were significantly different between the F. chiloensis-platypetala and F. virginiana-glauca species complexes. The proportion of variation accounted for by provenance effects was lower for the RAPD markers than for most morphological traits, especially in the F. virginiana-glauca species complex. Morphological traits of potential adaptive importance group the collection into provenances within each species-complex, and reflect the significant habitat and geographic differences across the region from which the germplasm was collected. Variation among populations within provenances was low for the molecular and most morphological traits, with a much larger amount of variability among plants within populations. Most of the variation for the presumably more selectively-neutral RAPD data was among plants within populations and populations within provenances rather than among the provenances that were recognized based on morphological traits, especially in the F. virginiana-glauca complex. Patterns of diversity for morphological traits must be considered, along with more selectively-neutral molecular characters such as RAPDs, to formulate effective sampling strategies and to properly estimate the quantity and apportionment of diversity within this germplasm.
Adaptive filters based on the best matched wavelet tree

In applications where some prior information exists about the physical system that gives rise to the signals under consideration, simplification is to be expected in search of representational optimality. Often the purpose of processing is to separate signals from uncorrelated and correlated noise, the latter being certifiably difficult to do without the knowledge of features that enables one to distinguish the signal from noise. Under such circumstances, a priori information about the signal can be used to chose a fixed wavelet basis so that a fixed best wavelet tree can be found in which at least one scale level contains the statistical majority of the input signal energy. Such a wavelet basis is said to match the signal. It is shown that adaptive filtering using matched wavelet filter banks results in improved convergence speed as compared to adaptive filtering with no consideration of matching. The adaptation is done with the LMS algorithm. A fast algorithm is also provided to further reduce the computation complexity. Finally, an application of the method to interference and noise cancellation is presented.
Plasticity of Ly-6Chi Myeloid Cells in T Cell Regulation

CD11b(+)Ly-6C(hi) cells, including inflammatory monocytes (IMCs) and inflammatory dendritic cells (IDCs), are important in infectious, autoimmune, and tumor models. However, their role in T cell regulation is controversial. In this article, we show that T cell regulation by IMCs and IDCs is determined by their activation state and is plastic during an immune response. Nonactivated IMCs and IDCs function as APCs, but activated IMCs and IDCs suppress T cells through NO production. Suppressive IMCs are induced by IFN-γ, GM-CSF, TNF-α, and CD154 derived from activated T cells during their interaction. In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, CD11b(+)Ly-6C(hi) cells in the CNS are increasingly activated from disease onset to peak and switch their function from Ag presentation to T cell suppression. Furthermore, transfer of activated IMCs or IDCs enhances T cell apoptosis in the CNS and suppresses experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. These data highlight the interplay between innate and adaptive immunity: immunization leads to the expansion of Ly-6C(hi) myeloid cells initially promoting T cell function. As T cells become highly activated in the target tissue, they induce activation and NO production in Ly-6C(hi) myeloid cells, which in turn suppress T cells and lead to the contraction of local immune response.
Prenatal and acute cocaine exposure affects neural responses and habituation to visual stimuli

Psychostimulants have many effects on visual function, from adverse following acute and prenatal exposure to therapeutic on attention deficit. To determine the impact of prenatal and acute cocaine exposure on visual processing, we studied neuronal responses to visual stimuli in two brain regions of a transgenic larval zebrafish expressing the calcium indicator GCaMP-HS. We found that both red light (LF) and dark (DF) flashes elicited similar responses in the optic tectum neuropil (TOn), while the dorsal telencephalon (dTe) responded only to LF. Acute cocaine (0.5 μM) reduced neuronal responses to LF in both brain regions but did not affect responses to DF. Repeated stimulus presentation (RSP) led to habituation of dTe neurons to LF. Acute cocaine prevented habituation. TOn habituated to DF, but not LF, and DF habituation was not modified by cocaine. Remarkably, prenatal cocaine exposure (PCE) prevented the effects of acute cocaine on LF response amplitude and habituation later in development in both brain regions, but did not affect DF responses. We discovered that, in spite of similar neural responses to LF and DF in the TO (superior colliculus in mammals), responses to LF are more complex, involving dTe (homologous to the cerebral cortex), and are more vulnerable to cocaine. Our results demonstrate that acute cocaine exposure affects visual processing differentially by brain region, and that PCE modifies zebrafish visual processing in multiple structures in a stimulus-dependent manner. These findings are in accordance with the major role that the optic tectum and cerebral cortex play in sustaining visual attention, and support the hypothesis that modification of these areas by PCE may be responsible for visual deficits noted in humans. This model offers new methodological approaches for studying the adverse and therapeutic effects of psychostimulants on attention, and for the development of new pharmacological interventions.
The RNAissance family: SR proteins as multifaceted regulators of gene expression

Serine and arginine-rich (SR) proteins play multiple roles in the eukaryotic gene expression pathway. Initially described as constitutive and alternative splicing factors, now it is clear that SR proteins are key determinants of exon identity and function as molecular adaptors, linking the pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) to the splicing machinery. In addition, now SR proteins are implicated in many aspects of mRNA and noncoding RNA (ncRNA) processing well beyond splicing. These unexpected roles, including RNA transcription, export, translation, and decay, may prove to be the rule rather than the exception. To simply define, this family of RNA-binding proteins as splicing factors belies the broader roles of SR proteins in post-transcriptional gene expression.
Design and installation of a ferromagnetic wall in tokamak geometry.

Low-activation ferritic steels are leading material candidates for use in next-generation fusion development experiments such as a prospective component test facility and DEMO power reactor. Understanding the interaction of plasmas with a ferromagnetic wall will provide crucial physics for these facilities. In order to study ferromagnetic effects in toroidal geometry, a ferritic wall upgrade was designed and installed in the High Beta Tokamak–Extended Pulse (HBT-EP). Several material options were investigated based on conductivity, magnetic permeability, vacuum compatibility, and other criteria, and the material of choice (high-cobalt steel) is characterized. Installation was accomplished quickly, with minimal impact on existing diagnostics and overall machine performance, and initial results demonstrate the effects of the ferritic wall on plasma stability.
Ridges for Image Analysis

Representation of object shape by medial structures has been an important aspect of image analysis. Methods for describing objects in a binary image by medial axes are well understood. Many attempts have been made to construct similar medial structures for objects in gray scale images. In particular, researchers have studied images by analyzing the graphs of the intensity data and identifying ridge and valley structures on those surfaces. In this paper we review many of the definitions for ridges. Computational vision models require that medial structures should remain invariant under certain transformations of the spatial locations and intensities. For each ridge definition we point out which invariances the definition satisfies. We also give extensions of the concepts so that we can located-dimensional ridge structures withinn-dimensional images. A comparison of the ridge structures produced by the different definitions is given both by mathematical examples and by an application to a 2-dimensional MR image of a head.
Whether the weather: comments on ‘An abrupt climate change scenario and its implications for United States national security’

Abstract In February 2004, the Department of Defense released ‘An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security.’ Written by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall of consulting firm Global Business Network, the study outlined a possible future with climatic conditions similar to those 8200 years ago and speculated on implications related to the subsequent availability of food, water, and energy. As a result of media coverage about the report, which notably included misconceptions about the study's intents, the document may have become too politically controversial for defense planners to engage at the present time and it has apparently not been widely distributed within the administration's national security personnel. Regardless of the document's status within the Pentagon, it is of interest to many who are actively involved in discussions about the future. Broadly, as with any scenario-based undertaking, there are questions about how the vision of the future has been crafted and, subsequently, how it may best be used to inform a decision-making process. More narrowly, this particular scenario is also significant for on-going debates about the role of environmental factors in matters of national security. This paper distinguishes between natural events and human actions to consider some strengths and weaknesses of Schwartz and Randall's text. It also makes recommendations to improve future efforts to understand the relationships between climate change and national security.
Treatment of acute appendicitis with one-port transumbilical laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy: a six-year, single-centre experience.

Background: Laparoscopic appendectomy is a feasible and safe alternative to open appendectomy for uncomplicated appendicitis. In the past decade several laparoscopic procedures have been described using one or more ports. We report our experience in treating acute appendicitis with one-port transumbilical laparoscopic-assisted appendectomy (TULAA). Patients and Methods : We performed 231 TULAA on patients in the period from November 2001 to September 2007. We introduced an 11 mm Hasson’s port using open technique; an operative channel with 10 mm telescope and an atraumatic grasper were used. After intra-abdominal laparoscopic dissection, the appendix was exteriorised through the umbilical access. The appendectomy was performed outside the abdomen as in the open procedure; the operation was completed using only one port in 227 patients (98%), two and three ports in two patients (1%) while conversion to open surgery was needed in two patients (1%). Results : The average operating time was 38 minutes and the median time to discharge was three days. Four (1, 7%) early postoperative complications (two suppuration of the umbilical wound) with no major complications were observed. Conclusions : Our results demonstrate that TULAA, which combines the advantages of both open and laparoscopic procedures, is a valid alternative form of treating uncomplicated appendicitis. If appendectomy cannot be completed with only one port, insertion of one or more ports may be necessary to safely conclude the procedure.
Single-pion production in neutrino and antineutrino reactions

We have studied the neutral-current reactions ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}{N}^{\ensuremath{'}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ and ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}{N}^{\ensuremath{'}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ and compared them to the charged-current reactions ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}{N}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$ and ${\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{N}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}$. We have measured the ratios ${{R}_{0}}^{\ensuremath{'}}=\frac{\ensuremath{\sigma}({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}{N}^{\ensuremath{'}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0})}{2\ensuremath{\sigma}({\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{\ensuremath{-}}{N}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0})}$ and ${{\overline{R}}_{0}}^{\ensuremath{'}}=\frac{\ensuremath{\sigma}({\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}{N}^{\ensuremath{'}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0})}{2\ensuremath{\sigma}({\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}}_{\ensuremath{\mu}}N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}{N}^{\ensuremath{'}\ensuremath{'}}{\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0})}$ to be 0.17\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.04 and 0.39\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.18, respectively. We also present the ${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{0}p$ invariant-mass distribution of the neutrino-induced reactions.
The Impact of ‘Food Addiction’ on Food Policy

As research on food and addiction evolves, it is important to consider how evidence for the addictive potential of certain foods could change public support for various food policies designed to promote healthier choices. We draw lessons from the framing of addiction in the contexts of tobacco and alcohol to discuss how an addiction frame for food might influence public perceptions and support for specific policies. We then evaluate the regulatory landscape in tobacco and alcohol control to determine which policies may be effective to protect the public against foods that may be harmful. We highlight several viable policy options that could be implemented to protect public health from unhealthy food, even in the absence of a strong scientific foundation that such food is also addictive.
Gender Matters: Studying Globalization and Social Change in the 21st Century

This introductory article is aimed at promoting transformative scholarship and research that emphasize the centrality of gender in studying social change associated with the process of globalizatio...
Diurnal blood pressure patterns in normotensive and hypertensive children and adolescents

As abnormalities in diurnal ambulatory blood pressure (BP) have been associated with hypertensive target organ damage in adults, we investigated the diurnal systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) patterns of 54 normotensive children, age 13.4 +/- 3.0 years, and 45 untreated borderline and mildly hypertensive children, age 14.4 +/- 2.6 years. Subjects wore the SpaceLabs 90207 ambulatory BP monitor for 24 h. BP was measured q 15 min from 08.00-21.00 h then q 30 min from 21.00-08.00 h. Nocturnal BP fall, the night-day ratio and cusum derived measures were calculated from time-weighted daytime and night-time SBP and DBP. The groups were compared using analysis of covariance with adjustment for age, race, gender and body mass index. The influence of age, gender and race on the diurnal BP profile was also examined. Nocturnal SBP fall was greater in hypertensive compared to normotensive subjects (17.1 +/- 6.7 vs 14.6 +/- 7.1 mm Hg; unadjusted mean +/- s.d., P = 0.022). Normotensive and hypertensive groups did not differ in nocturnal DBP fall or SBP or DBP night-day ratio. Race appeared to influence the diurnal BP pattern as black subjects had less nocturnal SBP fall (12.9 +/- 6.9 vs 17.1 +/- 6.5 mm Hg; P < 0.005) and a higher night-day SBP ratio (90.1 +/- 5.3 vs 86.7 +/- 4.6%; P < 0.005) than white subjects. In conclusion, hypertensive children and adolescents have a similar diurnal BP pattern as their normotensive counterparts, except that the entire BP profile is shifted upward with a greater absolute fall in SBP at night. Race also appears to influence the diurnal BP profile of normotensive and hypertensive children and adolescents.
Treatment-planning study of prostate cancer intensity-modulated radiotherapy with a Varian Clinac operated without a flattening filter

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of intensity-modulated radiotherapy for prostate cancer using photon beams from an accelerator operated without a flattening filter; and to determine potential benefits and drawbacks of using unflattened beams for this type of treatment. Methods and Materials: Intensity-modulated radiotherapy plans were generated for 10 patients with early-stage prostate cancer. For each patient, four plans were generated: with and without the flattening filter, at 6 and 18 MV. The prescription dose was 75.6 Gy to 98% of the planning target volume. The number of beams, their orientations, and optimization constraints were the same for all plans. Plans were generated with Eclipse 8.0 (Varian Medical Systems). Results: All the plans developed with unflattened beams were clinically acceptable. In terms of patient dose distributions, plans with unflattened beams were similar to the corresponding plans with flattened beams. Plans with unflattened beams required fewer monitor units (MUs) per plan: on average, by a factor of 2.0 at 6 MV and 2.6 at 18 MV, assuming that removal of the flattening filter was not followed by recalibration of MUs. Conclusions: Clinically acceptable intensity-modulated radiotherapy plans for prostate cancer can be developed with unflattened beams at both 6 and 18 MV. Dosimetrically, flattened and unflattened beams generated similar treatment plans. The plans with unflattened beams required substantially fewer MUs. The reduction in the number of MUs indicates corresponding reduction in beam-on time and in the amount of radiation outside the target.
Joseph P. Bradley's Journey: The Meaning of Privileges and Immunities

Justice Joseph P. Bradley of New Jersey will forever be remembered as the judge who in 1883 cruelly scorned black rights in the Civil Rights Cases.1 Yet Bradley's position that year marked the end of a journey that had started in a quite different place. Thirteen years before, when he first joined the Court, Bradley had read Fourteenth Amendment protections of citizens' rights expansively, believing that “it is possible that those who framed the [Fourteenth Amendment] were not themselves aware of the far reaching character of its terms.” In 1870 and 1871, Bradley wrote that the Fourteenth Amendment's Privileges and Immunities Clause reached “social evils … never before prohibited” and represented a commitment to “fundamental” or “sacred” rights of citizenship that stood outside the political process and “cannot be abridged by any state.”2 By 1883, however, Bradley had turned away from such views. In the Civil Rights Cases, he wrote that nothing in the Thirteenth or Fourteenth Amendments countenanced a law against segregation. Blacks, he said, must take “the rank of mere citizen” and cease “to be the special favorite of the laws.”3
Eating and Fasting for God in Sufi Tradition

Dans la tradition soufi, l'alimentation et la boisson ne sont jamais des actes neutres. Manger pour satisfaire un appetit signifie s'ouvrir aux influences sataniques. Manger dans l'interet de Dieu permet au croyant de se fortifier. Le jeune est un instrument de formation de l'âme. Il permet d'ouvrir son esprit a Dieu. Dans l'Egypte moderne, le jeune est meme considere comme un moyen de reduire la materialite du corps. Manger et boire peuvent etre des actes sacres traduisant un pouvoir spirituel et une sanctification ou symbolisant une adoption spirituelle. Offrir de la nourriture est un acte central dans la tradition soufi
Critique of the comparative method

Abstract Biologists seeking to reform their Linnaean taxonomy so that it will embody the history of the evolution of organisms are looking to historical linguistics as a successful model of a truly genealogical (phylogenetic) classification system. Yet despite the boasts of Bloomfield and of Schleicher before him, the comparative method, by which languages are classified genealogically, is seriously flawed. Its premises are admitted — even by Bloomfield himself — to be false. And its results to data are (1) that there is no agreed upon hierarchical classification (taxonomy) of any group of attested languages; and (2) that a large, though indeterminate, number of the world's languages have turned out to be unclassifiable according to the comparative method. The reason for this failure, only suggested here but explained in full in The Limits of Grammar: The New Paradigm , is that, while genealogical classification presupposes that common characteristics reflect divergence from a common origin, the known (as opposed to reconstructed) history of languages shows that they are coming together from diverse origins. Therefore their common characteristics are the result of merging, and thus they are not amenable to classification by a method that presupposes the opposite.
A corneal pigmented line associated with Salzmann's nodular degeneration

A 62-year-old woman with Salzmann's nodular degeneration had a pigmented line at the base of the corneal nodules in each eye. The lines ran horizontally along the superior one third of the cornea and faded at the corneoscleral limbus on both sides. The lines curved around the bases of the raised corneal lesions.
Evolution of sulfide mineralization on Mars

It has been previously suggested, on the basis of compositional and petrographic similarities noted between komatites, SNC meteorites, and the silicate portion of the Martian regolith fines, that iron-sulfide ore deposites may exist on Mars. This paper examines the possible locations of Archean-type sulfide and related ore deposits on Mars, their evolution, and the emplacement mechanisms for the ore deposit. The clues to these questions are deduced by applying to Mars the temporal patterns of ore distribution on earth and the experimental observations on sulfur solubility in basaltic melts.
The record of daily growth in otoliths of Atlantic silversides, Menidia menidia, from field and laboratory

Otoliths were removed from field-collected silversides of age less than 3 months. Otolith diameter was highly correlated with total length of the fish. Daily growth ring counts for this species are known to be a function of age rather than size, so widths for the daily growth rings provide a record of daily increases in length of the fish. Measurement of ring widths showed that weekly specific growth rate was greater than 70% at age 1 week, but declined to about 30% at age 1 month and about 15% at age 2 months. A laboratory experiment in which temperature was changed on a weekly basis demonstrated that environmental variables can affect the width of rings. Nevertheless, the growth rate of field-collected fish, as calculated from otolith ring widths, was more highly correlated with size of fish, as measured by otolith radius, than with the environmental variables of temperature, salinity and plankton abundance. Back-calculation of growth rates from otolith ring widths of five fish collected at the end of the growing season yielded the same age-growth curves as were obtained from 203 fish collected biweekly during the season.
Ecology and behavior of the desert burrowing cockroach,Arenivaga sp. (Dictyoptera, Polyphagidae).

Measurements were made of environmental conditions in the microhabitat ofArenivaga sp., and results were correlated with their diurnal migratory behavior. The animals live in sand dunes with less than 1% moisture most of the year. During the day in spring, summer and fall they borrow in the sand at a depth of 20-60 cm, while at night, when surface temperatures have cooled, they borrow within 1-3 cm of the surface. In winter they are rarely found near the surface, remaining active at lower levels during both night and day. Adult males were collected on the surface or at a depth of 20-60 cm, but they were never observed burrowing near the surface at 1-3 cm.The larvae and adult females are photonegative and remain at lower levels during the day, even though daytime temperature and humidity are sometimes favorable near the surface. In the summer, they migrate to the surface about 2 h later after darkness than in spring and fall. Temperature measurements indicated this was probably due to delayed nighttime cooling of the surface in the summer months. By burrowing near the surface the animals can experience cooler nighttime temperatures and water-loss may be reduced during the summer. This behavior may also facilitate disperasal and mating.The cockroaches feed on decaying leaves and the roots of desert shrubs. Since the latter have 35-38% moisture, they are probably the main source of water for these animals.
ONE-GRAVITON EXCHANGE INTERACTION OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES

The interaction of elementary particles of several different spins due to the exchange of a graviton is investigated. The exact one-graviton exchange potentials are obtained, and then simplified by making various approximations. The gravitational interaction is found to be independent of the spins of the particles, provided that the distance between them is large compared with their Compton wavelengths. It is pointed out that the spin-dependent interaction terms, whose range is of the order of the Compton wavelength, may be of interest in the theory of gravitational collapse. It is also shown that the gravitational particle-anti-particle interaction differs from the corresponding particle-particle interaction only by contact interaction terms.
Preparation of radioisotopically labelled S-ribosyl-l-Homocysteine

S-Ribosyl-L-homocysteine radioisotopically labelled in specific moieties has been prepared by enzymatic hydrolysis of the glycosyl bond of sulfur-35 or tritium-labelled S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine. Procedures for chromatographic purification and analysis are reported.