cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Web navigation and the behavioral effects of constantly visible site maps

Abstract Knowledge regarding how Web information-seekers behave with respect to the structures and cues they are provided with may shed light on general principles of navigation in electronic spaces, and assist designers in making more informed structural decisions. This study examines user movement through hierarchically structured Web sites and the behavioral effects of a constantly visible, textual contents list for relatively small sites or more extensive local views than are generally used on the Web today. The site overview resulted in users abandoning fewer information-seeking tasks. Users with such context dig deeper into the site structure, make less use of the browser's Back button, and frequently make navigational movements of great hierarchical distances. Navigational correlates of success and reported confidence for users with the overview differ from those without such context. Both with and without a constant overview, the relationship between the source and destination pages may help predict the amount of time spent at the destination. Experimental reports are preceded by a review of click-stream navigation behavior research.
PanDAR: a wide-area, frame-rate, and full color lidar with foveated region using backfilling interpolation upsampling

ABSTRACT LIDAR devices for on -vehicle use need a wide field of view and good fidelity. For instance, a LIDAR for avoidance of landing collisions by a helicopter needs to see a wide field of view and show reasonable de tails of the area. The same is true for an online LIDAR scanning device placed on an automobile. In this paper, we describe a LIDAR system with full color and enhanced resolution that has an effective vertical scanning range of 60 degrees with a central 20 degree fovea. The extended range with fovea is achieved by using two standard Velodyne 32 -HDL LIDARs placed head to head and counter rotating. The HDL LIDARS each scan 40 degrees vertical and a full 360 degrees horizontal with an outdoor effective range o f 100 meters. By positioning them head to head, they overlap by 20 degrees. This creates a double density fovea. The LIDAR returns from the two Velodyne sensors do not natively contain color. In order to add color, a Point Grey LadyBug panoramic camera is used to gather color data of the scene. In the first stage of our system, the two LIDAR point clouds and the LadyBug video are fused in real time at a frame rate of 10 Hz. A second stage is used to intelligently interpolate the point cloud and increase its resolution by approximately four times while maintaining accuracy with respect to the 3D scene. By using GPGPU programming, we can compute this at 10 Hz. Our backfilling interpolation methods works by first computing local linear approximations from the p erspective of the LIDAR depth map. The color features from the image are used to select point cloud support points that are the best points in a local group for building the local linear approximations. This makes the colored point cloud more detailed whil e maintaining fidelity to the 3D scene. Our system also makes objects appearing in the PanDAR display easier to recognize for a human operator. Keywords: LIDAR, Backfilling, interpolation, fusion, frame -rate
Single Molecule Studies of Recombinant Human α- and β-Cardiac Myosin to Elucidate Molecular Mechanism of Familial Hypertrophic and Dilated Cardiomyopathies

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathies (HCM) and dilated cardiomyopathies (DCM) are common inherited cardiovascular diseases, often resulting from single point mutations in genes encoding sarcomeric proteins. Genetic and clinical studies have identified several hundred mutations, including severe disease causing mutations in β-myosin heavy chain (MHC). Despite the clinical significance, few single molecule studies exist for mutated β-cardiac myosin, primarily due to difficulties of heterologous protein expression and instrumental limitations. Previous studies have used mouse α-cardiac myosin or biopsies from patients. Those studies are not optimal to understand the molecular mechanism of HCM/DCM because there are significant differences between mouse α- and human β-MHC. Furthermore, biopsy samples from patients are often inhomogeneous mixtures of wildtype (wt) and mutants. This may explain why there have been many inconsistencies between the previous studies.Here, we demonstrate the first single molecule studies of recombinant human cardiac myosin. We expressed homogenous and fully functional wt human cardiac α- and β-S1 with human light chains bound. Then, we characterized the actin-myosin interaction using in vitro motility and laser beam trapping assays. From the in vitro motility assay, we measured the maximum velocity from wt α- and β-S1. Using the laser trap, we measured stroke sizes, ATP binding rates (low [ATP]) and ADP release rates (high [ATP]). Furthermore, we expressed several HCM (R403Q, S453C) and DCM (S532P) causing mutants, and obtained preliminary in vitro motility and trap data. We have built a modern version optical trap that can resolve the ∼10 nm stroke size and ∼10 ms strongly bound state of cardiac β-S1 at high [ATP]. We have further improved the resolution by implementing real-time feedback control in the system to accurately determine fine changes caused by the single mutations.
Rural and Suburban Sprawl in the U.S. Midwest from 1940 to 2000 and Its Relation to Forest Fragmentation

Housing growth and its environmental effects pose major conservation challenges. We sought to (1) quantify spatial and temporal patterns of housing growth across the U.S. Midwest from 1940-2000, (2) identify ecoregions strongly affected by housing growth, (3) assess the extent to which forests occur near housing, and (4) relate housing to forest fragmentation. We used data from the 2000 U.S. Census to derive fine-scale backcasts of decadal housing density. Housing data were integrated with a 30-m resolution U.S. Geological Survey land cover classification. The number of housing units in the Midwest grew by 146% between 1940 and 2000. Spatially, housing growth was particularly strong at the fringe of metropolitan areas (suburban sprawl) and in nonmetropolitan areas (rural sprawl) that are rich in natural amenities such as lakes and forests. The medium-density housing (4-32 housing units/km 2 ) category increased most in area. Temporally, suburban housing growth was especially high in the post-World War II decades. Rural sprawl was highest in the 1970s and 1990s. The majority of midwestern forests either contained or were near housing. Only 14.8% of the region's forests were in partial block groups with no housing. Housing density was negatively correlated with the amount of interior forest. The widespread and pervasive nature of sprawl shown by our data is cause for conservation concern. Suburban sprawl has major environmental impacts on comparatively small areas because of the high number of housing units involved. In contrast, rural sprawl affects larger areas but with less intensity because associated housing densities are lower. The environmental effects per house, however, are likely higher in the case of rural sprawl because it occurs in less-altered areas. Conservation efforts will need to address both types of sprawl to be successful.
UV Activation Treatment for Hydrophobic Wafer Bonding

Enhanced hydrophobic bond strength can be achieved by exposing prime grade silicon wafers to ultraviolet (UV) light and heat prior to bonding. The following independent variables were explored: platen temperature, UV exposure time, oxygen-containing vs non-oxygen-containing (nitrogen only) bonding atmosphere, and annealing temperature. The results suggest exposure to UV can be used as an activation process which removes the passivation of the silicon surface rendering the silicon highly reactive. Exposure of silicon wafers to UV appears to be a promising low-temperature surface activation method.
Slab pull, slab weakening, and their relation to deep intra‐slab seismicity

Received 8 March 2005; revised 3 June 2005; accepted 21 June 2005; published 21 July 2005. [1] Subduction zone seismicity is highly variable. Great earthquakes occur at few subduction zones around the world, with significant variation in size and frequency of deep events. Interactions between overriding and subducting plates and slab pull strength for individual plates provide a framework for understanding these variations. Previous work suggests an inverse correlation between great earthquake moment release and the degree to which the subducted slab is connected to the surface plate. We find positive correlations between degree of plate-slab attachment and moment release from intermediate and deep earthquakes. This implies that shallow slab weakening that occurs at trenches where compressive stresses (and great earthquakes) dominate not only detaches slabs from plates, but is maintained as the slab descends, discouraging deep seismicity. Regions of low shallow moment release are consistent with extensional shallow stress regimes and undamaged slabs. Such slabs maintain mechanical strength during descent and deform seismogenically at depth. Citation: Bilek, S. L., C. P. Conrad, and C. LithgowBertelloni (2005), Slab pull, slab weakening, and their relation to deep intra-slab seismicity, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L14305,
Clinical microbiology costs for methods of active surveillance for Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae.

Objective. To compare direct laboratory costs of different methods for perirectal screening for carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) colonization. Design. Cost-benefit analysis. Setting. A university hospital and affiliated long-term acute care hospital (LTACH). Participants. Inpatients from the hospital or LTACH. Methods. Perirectal samples were collected from inpatients at risk for exposure to CPE. In 2009, we compared the accuracy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-recommended CPE screening method with similar methods incorporating a chromogenic agar (CA). We then performed a cost projection analysis using 2012 screening results for the CA method, the CDC method, and a molecular assay with wholesale pricing based on the 2009 analysis. Comparisons of turnaround and personnel time were also performed. Results. A total of 185 (2.7%) of 6,860 samples were confirmed as CPE positive during 2012. We previously found that the CDC protocol had a lower sensitivity than the CA method and predicted that the CDC protocol would have missed 92 of the CPE-positive screening results, whereas the modified protocol using CA would have missed 26, assuming similar prevalence and performance. Turnaround time was 3 days using the CDC and CA-modified protocols compared with 1 day for molecular testing. The estimated annual total program cost and total technologist's hours would be the following: CA-modified protocol, $224,596 and 343 hours. Conclusions. The CDC screening protocol appeared to be the least expensive perirectal screening method. However, expense must be weighed against a lower sensitivity and extra labor needed for additional work-up of non-CPE isolates. The molecular test has the shortest turnaround time but the greatest expense.
Increasing Stakeholder Participation in Industry Cluster Identification

Industry cluster analysis has become an important policy tool in state and local economic development planning. Although cluster analysis is generally conceived as an expert-led technical analysis, it can be reframed to engage stakeholders in a collaborative process. This paper illustrates how one community pursued a collaborative approach to cluster identification and the costs and benefits of the method. It finds that increased stakeholder participation in the cluster identification stage improved the analytical quality of the analysis, developed community and political acceptance of the results, and defined a new industry cluster to accommodate stakeholder preferences. The main costs were the time and money required to implement a collaborative approach to cluster identification.
Predicting structurally conserved contacts for homologous proteins using sequence conservation filters

The prediction of intramolecular contacts has a useful application in predicting the three-dimensional structures of proteins. The accuracy of the template-based contact prediction methods depends on the quality of the template structures. To reduce the false positive predictions associated with using the entire set of template-derived contacts, we develop selection filters that use sequence conservation information to predict subsets of contacts more likely to be structurally conserved between the template and the target. The method is developed specifically for protein families with few available templates such as the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family. It is validated on a test set of 342 template-target pairs from three protein families, and applied to one template-target pair from the GPCR family. We find that the filter selection method increases the accuracy of contact prediction with sufficient coverage for structure prediction.
Partial compensation for altered auditory feedback: a tradeoff with somatosensory feedback?

Talkers are known to compensate only partially for experimentally-induced changes to their auditory feedback. In a typical experiment, talkers might hear their F1 feedback shifted higher (so that /e/ sounds like /ae/, for example), and compensate by lowering F1 in their subsequent speech by about a quarter of that distance. Here, we sought to characterize and understand partial compensation by examining how talkers respond to each step on a staircase of increasing shifts in auditory feedback. Subjects wore an apparatus which altered their real time auditory feedback. They were asked to repeat visually-presented hVd stimulus words while feedback was altered stepwise over the course of 360 trials. We used a novel analysis method to calculate each subject’s compensation at each compensation step relative to their baseline. Results demonstrated that subjects compensated more for small feedback shifts than for larger shifts. We suggest that this pattern is consistent with vowel targets that incorporate auditory and somatosensory information, and a speech motor control system that is driven by differential weighting of auditory and somatosensory feedback.
Thinking systems need systems thinking

After describing machine and complex adaptive systems (CASs), we define thinking system as a CAS with two additional, unique characteristics: (1) having goal(s) separate from survival, and (2) having the capability to structure its own learning and to innovate purposefully. Thinking systems always learn. Healthcare can be considered a paradigm of the thinking system and is repeatedly plagued with unintended, adverse outcomes, particularly fixes that fail. Systems thinking can dissolve such dysfunction in healthcare and by extension in any thinking system. Specific recommendations follow from this rationale. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Voluntary Reduction of Cannabis Use Among Graduate Students

Conceptualizing drug use within stages of drug career, this study explored differences between former and current regular marijuana users and the factors associated with reduction of their marijuana use. A total population of 2,983 graduate students were surveyed with a purposive sampling technique resulting in interviews with 186 study subjects. While no attribute variables were predictive of reduction or discontinuance, the frequency of substitution of other activities significantly differed among groups. The implications of these results are discussed within the context of alternative life-style changes in the marijuana careers of study subjects.
The AHIMSA Acculturation Scale: A New Measure of Acculturation for Adolescents in a Multicultural Society

Acculturation has been associated with adolescent health-risk behaviors. Most acculturation scales are inappropriate for adolescent surveys because they are too long, are not applicable to differing ethnic groups, or are language-based only. A brief, multidimensional, multicultural acculturation measure for adolescents was developed. Sixthgrade students (N = 317) in Los Angeles completed that scale and other measures of acculturation. The Acculturation, Habits, and Interests Multicultural Scale for Adolescents (AHIMSA) generates four subscores: United States Orientation (Assimilation), Other Country Orientation (Separation), Both Countries Orientation (Integration), and Neither Country Orientation (Marginalization). Three of the subscales were correlated with the subscales of a modified Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican-Americans-II, with English language usage, and with generation in the United States providing evidence for the validity of the scale. Research on culturally diverse adolescent samples...
Safety of transradial cardiac catheterization in patients with end‐stage liver disease

Background Transradial access may be advantageous for patients with end-stage liver disease (ESLD) who need to undergo left heart catheterization (LHC). We aimed to assess the safety of transradial cardiac catheterization in patients listed for orthotopic liver transplantation. Methods This is a retrospective analysis of consecutive adult patients with the diagnosis of ESLD, who underwent LHC via transradial access as part of a pre-operative liver transplantation evaluation. All the patients also underwent right heart catheterization (RHC) via brachial or femoral vein. The primary outcome measure was procedure-related major bleeding. Secondary outcomes included access site minor bleeding, in-hospital mortality, radial access failure, and acute kidney injury. Results A total of 82 consecutive patients with ESLD, who underwent LHC via transradial access, were enrolled in the study. All patients also underwent RHC (n = 45 via brachial and n = 37 via femoral vein). The median age was 59 (54, 67) years old, and 58% were male. History of coronary artery disease or heart failure was present in 17% of patients. The median MELD score was 19 (13, 24.5), baseline hemoglobin was 10.5 mg/dL (9.4, 11.8), INR was 1.4 (1.2, 1.8) and platelets were 74,000 (53,000, 117,000)/mm3. The most common etiology of liver failure was viral hepatitis (51%), followed by alcoholic cirrhosis (24%) and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (21%). Angiographically significant coronary artery disease was present in 17 (21%) patients. Major bleeding and acute kidney injury each occurred in two patients (2.4%). There were no instances of vascular complications. There were no deaths attributable to complications from cardiac catheterization. Conclusion Upper extremity right and left heart catheterization appears to be a safe method to evaluate coronary anatomy and hemodynamics in a severely ill population of patients with ESLD awaiting transplant. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Acute pancreatitis with saw palmetto use: a case report

Saw palmetto is a phytotherapeutic agent commercially marketed for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Evidence suggests that saw palmetto is a safe product, and mild gastrointestinal adverse effects have been reported with its use. We report a case of acute pancreatitis, possibly secondary to the use of saw palmetto. A 61-year-old Caucasian man with a history of benign prostatic hyperplasia and gastroesophageal reflux disease developed epigastric pain associated with nausea 36 hours prior to presentation. He denied drinking alcohol prior to the development of his symptoms. His home medications included saw palmetto, lansoprazole and multivitamins. Laboratory results revealed elevated lipase and amylase levels. An abdominal ultrasound demonstrated a nondilated common bile duct, without choledocholithiasis. Computed tomography of his abdomen showed the pancreatic tail with peripancreatic inflammatory changes, consistent with acute pancreatitis. Our patient's condition improved with intravenous fluids and pain management. On the fourth day of hospitalization his pancreatic enzymes were within normal limits: he was discharged home and advised to avoid taking saw palmetto. It is our opinion that a relationship between saw palmetto and the onset of acute pancreatitis is plausible, and prescribers and users of saw palmetto should be alert to the possibility of such adverse reactions.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE SUBSTRATE CONCENTRATION ON THE RATE OF HYDROLYSIS OF PROTEINS BY PEPSIN

1. It is pointed out that the apparent exceptions to the law of mass action found in enzyme reactions may be found in catalytic reactions in strictly homogeneous solutions. 2. These deviations in the rate of reaction from the law of mass action may be explained by the hypothesis that the active mass of the reacting substances is not directly proportional to the total concentration of substance taken. 3. In support of this suggestion it is shown that for any given concentration of pepsin the relative rate of digestion of concentrated and of dilute protein solutions is always the same. If the rate of digestion depended on the saturation of the surface of the enzyme by substrate the relative rate of digestion of concentrated protein solutions should increase more rapidly with the concentration of enzyme than that of dilute solutions. This was found not to be true, even when the enzyme could not be considered saturated in the dilute protein solutions. 4. The rate of digestion and the conductivity of egg albumin solutions of different concentration were found to be approximately proportional at the same pH. This agrees with the hypothesis first expressed by Pauli that the ionized protein is largely or entirely the form which is attacked by the enzyme. 5. The rate of digestion is diminished by a very large increase in the viscosity of the protein solution. This effect is probably a mechanical one due to the retardation of the diffusion of the enzyme.
Ah Receptor Antagonism Represses Head and Neck Tumor Cell Aggressive Phenotype

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) has been shown to play a role in an increasing number of cellular processes. Recent reports have linked the AhR to cell proliferation, cytoskeletal arrangement, and tumor invasiveness in various tumor cell types. The AhR plays a role in the de-repression of the interleukin (IL)6 promoter in certain tumor cell lines, allowing for increased transcriptional activation by cytokines. Here, we show that there is a significant level of constitutive activation of the AhR in cells isolated from patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Constitutive activation of the AhR in HNSCCs was blocked by antagonist treatment, leading to a reduction in IL6 expression. In addition, the AhR exhibits a high level of expression in HNSCCs than in normal keratinocytes. These findings led to the hypothesis that the basal AhR activity in HNSCCs plays a role in the aggressive phenotype of these tumors and that antagonist treatment could mitigate this phenotype. This study provides evidence that antagonism of the AhR in HNSCC tumor cells, in the absence of exogenous receptor ligands, has a significant effect on tumor cell phenotype. Treatment of these cell lines with the AhR antagonists 6, 2', 4'-trimethoxyflavone, or the more potent GNF351, decreased migration and invasion of HNSCC cells and prevented benzo[a]pyrene-mediated induction of the chemotherapy efflux protein ABCG2. Thus, an AhR antagonist treatment has been shown to have therapeutic potential in HNSCCs through a reduction in aggressive cell phenotype.
Using artificial queries to evaluate image retrieval

This paper addresses the evaluation and comparison of algorithms for generalized image retrieval. The forms of evaluation currently in vogue are not calibrated with each other and thus do not allow the comparison of results reported by different research groups. We address the problem by proposing a class of tests that are algorithmically defined and relatively independent of the image test set. The proposed tests can be tailored to investigate retrieval performance under specific sets of adverse conditions, allowing additional insight into the strengths and weaknesses of different retrieval mechanisms.
The implementation of the fuzziness index: examining relationships between intellectual abilities, age, gender, and fuzziness on several psychological dimensions

The implementation of the fuzziness index in measuring response style in psychosocial questions was examined, The fuzziness index revealed significant individual differences in response styles in psychological questionnaires, Significant correlations between the fuzziness in psychosocial behaviors and intellectual abilities were presented. The study highlighted the future possibility in modeling the degree and location of fuzziness in order to better understand enormously diverse human characteristics and psychological systems. >
Sustainable development: equal treatment of the present and the future?

This article provides two axioms that capture the idea of sustainable development, and characterises the welfare criterion that they imply. It presents a formal theory of sustainable development, created by the author (Chichilnisky, 1996a, 1997).The axioms require that neither the present nor the future should play a dictatorial role in society's choices over time. Theorems 1 and 2 show that there exist sustainable preferences which satisfy these axioms and provide a full characterisation. Theorems 3 to 5 study a standard dynamical system representing the growth of a renewable-resource economy, give a 'turnpike' theorem, and exhibit the differences between sustainable optima and the ones according to discounted utilitarianism. (JEL 013)
Estimating the size of the capillary-to-fiber interface in skeletal muscle: a comparison of methods

Current evidence suggests that the size of the capillary-to-fiber (C/F) interface is a major determinant of O2 flux into muscle fibers, and methods have been developed for estimating the size of th...
Analysis of voluntary movements for robotic control

This study focuses on the characterization and control of voluntary movements by analyzing motor command patterns, ensuing analysis from involuntary limb movements. As a result, a neuromuscular-like model with two muscle-reflex models is proposed, and motor command patterns are approximated identified from the experimental data. Based on the identified motor command patterns, a control strategy, muscle modulation control, is proposed for possible applications in robotic control using neuromuscular-like models. >
A next generation expert system for flexible assembly

An attempt is made to demonstrate the feasibility of an engineering approach to machine learning through the development of a robotic system that learns to perform assembly tasks from clearly specified training instances. A major technological impediment to increasing productivity in the manufacturing sector is the relative absence of automation at most stages of the product design process. One such stage involves the translation of nonprocedural goal files-describing the desired result of some aspect of the manufacturing process-into procedural task files. The task files detail the exact sequence of required steps as typified by an assembly operation. Flexibility is introduced with an expert translator. The technique provides for coordination among the assembly robots and minimizes costly down-time. The system has been implemented in C and is supported by the Sun 3/50 platform. An advanced prototype has been implemented at the Naval Command, Control, and Ocean Surveillance Center on a DAP-610 supercomputer. >
Conductance slope and curvature coefficient of InGaAs/GaAsSb heterojunctions at varying band alignments and its implication on digital and analog applications

We assess InGaAs/GaAsSb heterojunctions at varying band alignments for applications in both tunnel field effect transistors (TFETs) as well as for nonlinear analog components such as millimeter wave detectors. We use conductance slope measurements as a fundamental figure of merit, as it is not affected by the three-terminal parasitics of subthreshold-slope in a TFET and represents the ideal subthreshold slope intrinsic to the junction in the absence of three-terminal parasitics. We prove that conductance slope/subthreshold slope is not equivalent to curvature coefficient, indicating that it is actually easier to exceed the thermal limit of curvature for analog applications than it is to exceed the subthreshold slope limit for digital applications. In addition, we show that no published heterojunction that exceeds the curvature limit would be capable of exceeding the subthreshold slope limit. We experimentally demonstrate the formation of epitaxial InGaAs/GaAsSb heterojunctions at varying band alignments accomplished using lattice-mismatched epitaxy with graded buffers. We show a dependence of conductance slope on material quality, adding further proof that “steepness” is limited by materials defects and inhomogeneity. We demonstrate that the conductance slope does not depend on temperature for type-II band alignment, adding further proof that TFETs, which show strong temperature dependencies, are dominated by thermal parasitics. Finally, we develop and demonstrate an InGaAs/GaAsSb heterojunction system integrated on an InP platform with a record 76 mV/decade conductance slope and 43 V−1 curvature coefficient near zero-bias, with the capability of up to 60 V−1 curvature coefficient.
A Molecular Perspective on Procedures and Outcomes with Assisted Reproductive Technologies

The emerging association of assisted reproductive technologies with adverse perinatal outcomes has prompted the in-depth examination of clinical and laboratory protocols and procedures and their possible effects on epigenetic regulatory mechanism(s). The application of various approaches to study epigenetic regulation to problems in reproductive medicine has the potential to identify relative risk indicators for particular conditions, diagnostic biomarkers of disease state, and prognostic indicators of outcome. Moreover, when applied genome-wide, these techniques are likely to find novel pathways of disease pathogenesis and identify new targets for intervention. The analysis of DNA methylation, histone modifications, transcription factors, enhancer binding and other chromatin proteins, DNase-hypersensitivity and, micro- and other noncoding RNAs all provide overlapping and often complementary snapshots of chromatin structure and resultant "gene activity." In terms of clinical application, the predictive power and utility of epigenetic information will depend on the power of individual techniques to discriminate normal levels of interindividual variation from variation linked to a disease state. At present, quantitative analysis of DNA methylation at multiple loci seems likely to hold the greatest promise for achieving the level of precision, reproducibility, and throughput demanded in a clinical setting.
Distribution and status of Rufous-necked Hornbill Aceros nipalensis in Myanmar

The Rufous-necked Hornbill Aceros nipalensis was once widely distributed in Myanmar, and was formerly recorded in the northern, central, southeastern and eastern regions of the country as well in northern Taninthayi (= Tenasserim). Recently, however, it has been recorded at only a few sites, and is currently listed as Vulnerable (BirdLife International 2001). Surveys from 2000 to 2012 recorded this species in northern, southern, and western Myanmar. In North Myanmar (Kachin State and Sagaing Division), this species has been recorded at 12 sites; most individuals were located in the Hponkanrazi (n=64) and Hukaung Valley (n=76) Wildlife Sanctuaries (WS), with at least 64 and 76 individuals recorded, respectively. In the west (Chin Hills) and south (Magwe Division), this species has been found only in three areas, one area in West and two areas in South, with a total of four and 10 birds recorded at West and South respectively. The results of recent surveys have found only a few individuals in most of the surveyed areas but indicate that the Hponkanrazi and Hukaung Valley WS’s support the highest number of individuals. Widespread habitat loss, degradation and disturbance represent a significant threat to this species. Hunting is likewise a major threat. This paper is not a recent population estimate for the species. There is an immediate need for additional surveys to clarify their recent population status in Myanmar. Some areas, such as eastern Myanmar (Shan and Kayah States), remain to be surveyed for Rufous-necked Hornbill. Current gaps in our knowledge include present status and long-term population trends, and we recommend revisiting all sites where this species occurred historically, to address this.
“Racism just isn't an issue anymore”: Preservice teachers' resistances to the intersections of sexuality and race

Abstract Through year-long focus group interviews with members of a secondary English Education cohort this paper considers both 1) participants' understandings of sexuality and race and 2) how participants' understandings of sexuality and race shaped their interactions with one another. Themes established through data analysis suggested that 1) participants maintained positioned racism as an historical issue that contrasted with the contemporaneity of LGBTQ issues; 2) participants resisted intersecting race and sexuality; 3) participants silenced Andy, the only queer student of color, when she argued for the intersectionality of race and sexuality.
SHRIMP-RG U-Pb isotopic systematics of zircon from the Angel Lake orthogneiss, East Humboldt Range, Nevada: Is this really Archean crust?: COMMENT

Premo et al. (2008) present new SHRIMP-RG U-Pb zircon data from the orthogneiss of Angel Lake in the East Humboldt Range, Nevada, reinterpreting the age and origin of a rock body that previously had been interpreted as delimiting the southwestern extent of the Archean Wyoming province based on integrated field study and U-Pb ID-TIMS zircon analysis (Lush et al., 1988). Using zircons from the same sample originally collected by A.W. Snoke and J.E. Wright (RM-9), Premo et al. (2008) document Late Cretaceous ages of 91–72 Ma for the clear, oscillatory-zoned rims of many zircons from this sample, conclusively demonstrating the presence of Late Cretaceous melt in this migmatitic gneiss. Furthermore, they reinterpret the core grains as detrital zircons inherited from Meso- to Neoproterozoic metasedimentary source rocks. The potential detrital grains chiefly yield Late Archean apparent ages but also include a variety of Proterozoic apparent ages.
What Determines the Sign Reversal of Magnetoresistance in a Molecular Tunnel Junction

The observations of both positive and negative signs in tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) for the same organic spin-valve structure have baffled researchers working in organic spintronics. In this article, we provide an answer to this puzzle by exploring the role of metal–molecule interface on TMR in a single molecular spin-valve junction. A planar organic molecule sandwiched between two nickel electrodes is used to build a prototypical spin-valve junction. A parameter-free, single-particle Green’s function approach in conjunction with a posteriori, spin-unrestricted density functional theory involving a hybrid orbital-dependent functional is used to calculate the spin-polarized current. The effect of external bias is explicitly included to investigate the spin-valve behavior. Our calculations show that only a small change in the interfacial distance at the metal–molecule junction can alter the sign of the TMR from a positive to a negative value. By changing the interfacial distance by 3%, the number of p...
Investigation of the inherent errors in the Lanczos propagation method

A propagation scheme for solving the scalar Helmholtz wave equation, based on matrix diagonalization in a low-dimensional Lanczos space has been previously proposed.1 We review the scheme briefly here.
Effects of Different Land Use of Meadow Grassland on Soil Biological Activities of Horqin Region

[Objective] The research aimed to determine the effects of different land use of meadow grassland on the biological activities of meadow soil. [Method] The enzyme activities were analyzed with five typical land use in western Horqin Sandy Land. Soil samples at the depth of 0- 10 and 10- 30 cm from natural grassland,forestry field,4-year corn filed,20-year corn filed and paddy field were determined.[Result]Different land use and soil depths had significant influence on the enzyme activities. The activities of soil protease,urease,saccharase,phosphomonoesterase,polyphenoloxpdase,nitrate reductase and dehydrogenase of forest land and grassland were higher than those of other land use type,and the value in 0- 10 cm was higher than that in 10- 30 cm. However the difference between the two depth of 4-year and 20-year cornfields weren't significant. The activities of phosphomonoesterase,saccharase,urease,polyphenol oxidase,and nitratereductase of paddy field were significantly lower in 0- 10 cm layer than those in 10- 30 cm layer. [Conclusion]On the whole,the soil enzyme activities were at high levels,therefore the continuable production ability was present in natural grassland and forestry field. Along with land reclamation,including paddy field,soil quality descended and was easily eroded to desertification. Therefore returning farmland to forests or grassland is one of the feasible ways of restoration of land productivity in this region.
Drug resistance in multiple myeloma associated with high in vitro incorporation of 3H-thymidine

In multiple myeloma, tumor cell mass and labeling index correlate with subsequent survival duration, but do not predict for response to treatment. In the present study was have autoradiographically measured the incorporation of 3H-thymidine as determined by the number of grains over the myeloma nuclei in bone marrow aspiration samples. In 33/37 patients with less than 50% tumor regression or progressive disease, the pretreatment grain count was greater than or equal to 20/myeloma nucleus. Conversely, values of less than 20 were found in 27/29 patients who had greater than or equal to 50% cell mass reduction. Survival duration was significantly better than (p less than 0.001) in patients with grain counts less than 20. Sixty percent of the patients with both a low labeling index (less than or equal to 3%) and grain count (less than 20) were alive at 48 mo, whereas 15/17 patients with a high labeling index and grain count had a median survival of less than 6 mo. In a subset of 22 patients, there as a significant correlation between in vitro resistance to melphalan, adriamycin, and vincristine as tested in the myeloma stem cell colony assay system and a grain count of greater than 20. We can only speculate as to the reasons for the increased 3H-thymidine uptake by myeloma cells resistant to treatment, however, it could be associated with accumulation of excess DNA and /or increased unscheduled DNA synthesis following injury from alkylating agents.
Diffusion stochastic optimization with non-smooth regularizers

We develop an effective distributed strategy for seeking the Pareto solution of an aggregate cost consisting of regularized risks. The focus is on stochastic optimization problems where each risk function is expressed as the expectation of some loss function and the probability distribution of the data is unknown. We assume each risk function is regularized and allow the regularizer to be non-smooth. Under conditions that are weaker than assumed earlier in the literature and, hence, applicable to a broader class of adaptation and learning problems, we show how the regularizers can be smoothed and how the Pareto solution can be sought by appealing to a multi-agent diffusion strategy. The formulation is general enough and includes, for example, a multi-agent proximal strategy as a special case.
Keats and Arnold’s Dandyism

For the nineteenth century, Matthew Arnold’s versions of Keats have particular importance. Far more than Tennyson’s, Arnold’s positions on Keats — stated and restated in his criticism and demonstrated in his poetry — are public stances. They take part in the discussions of the century, but change over time. Unlike Tennyson, Arnold seems to work through much of his ambivalence about the poet in front of his reading public; he states and qualifies Keats’s connections to androgyny over the course of his career, eventually coming to terms with the reputation of the poet in his essay “John Keats” of 1880.
Effects of Cost and Social Influence on Warning Compliance

The behavioral effects of cost and social influence on warning compliance were examined. Participants in several studies performed a chemistry laboratory task using a set of instructions that contained a warning directing them to wear a safety mask and gloves. Cost was manipulated by locating the masks and gloves in either an accessible location (low cost) or a less accessible location (high cost); social influence was manipulated by the presence of a confederate who either did or did not comply with the warning. The results showed reduced compliance with the warning when the cost was high and that the compliance rate was biased up or down depending on the behavior of the confederate. The results from a field study confirmed the social influence effect. Implications of this research for facilitating warning effectiveness and safety are discussed.
Positive Psychology In Sales: Integrating Psychological Capital

As positive psychology moves into the workplace, researchers have been able to demonstrate the desirable impact of positive organizational behavior. Specifically, psychological capital (PsyCap) improves employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Advancing PsyCap in sales research is important given the need for a comprehensive positive approach to drive sales performance, offset the high cost of salesperson turnover, improve cross-functional sales interfaces, and enrich customer relationships. The authors provide an integrative review of PsyCap, discuss its application in sales, and advance an agenda for future research. Research prescriptions are organized according to individual-level, intra-organizational, and extra-organizational outcomes pertinent to the sales field.
The Decline of the Conventional Rate of Profit

The preceding chapters have been concerned with a rigorous empirical test of Marx’s theory of the tendency of the rate of profit to decline as a result of technological change. This test involved the derivation of conceptually rigorous estimates of the Marxian rate of profit and its determinants for the postwar US economy. The main conclusion is that the Marxian rate of profit declined due to an increase in the composition of capital, consistent with the hypothesis of Marx’s theory. This conclusion is very different from that reached by Weisskopf and Wolff in their earlier estimates of the Marxian variables. The main reason for these different conclusions is the different treatments of Marx’s concepts of productive labor and unproductive labor.
Experiments with semantic similarity measures based on LDA and LSA

We present in this paper experiments with several semantic similarity measures based on the unsupervised method Latent Dirichlet Allocation. For comparison purposes, we also report experimental results using an algebraic method, Latent Semantic Analysis. The proposed semantic similarity methods were evaluated using one dataset that includes student answers from conversational intelligent tutoring systems and a standard paraphrase dataset, the Microsoft Research Paraphrase corpus. Results indicate that the method based on word representations as topic vectors outperforms methods based on distributions over topics and words. The proposed evaluation methods can also be regarded as an extrinsic method for evaluating topic coherence or selecting the number of topics in LDA models, i.e. a task-based evaluation of topic coherence and selection of number of topics in LDA.
The Dark Side of the Economy: A Comparative Analysis of the Islamic State's Revenue Streams

The Islamic State’s ambitious goals have led to the organization obtaining a large amount of costs. However, the Islamic State does not have adequate revenue streams to maintain these expenditures. This paper compares the Islamic State’s costs and revenue streams with two similar organizations, Hizballah and Al Qaeda. The comparison will explain that the Islamic State’s revenue streams are not as efficient and diversified as Hizballah and Al Qaeda’s revenue streams have historically been. As a result of inefficient and unvaried revenue streams, the Islamic State will be forced to structurally change.
Credit, Stocks, and Price Transmission Mechanisms

This chapter discusses credit, stocks, and price transmission mechanisms. The particular channels by which information about prices is passed through different middlemen to the buyers are termed price transmission mechanisms. The wool-producing hacendados and peasant herders in the southern sierra are distant from the foreign purchasers of their wool in terms of market stimuli and spatial location. As wool passes through several sets of middlemen before being exported, herd owners make decisions about production based not on export prices but on local prices. This feature is unique to the wool export economy in Peru, as it differs from procedures with other products. There are certain structural features of wool marketing that emerge from the large number of decisions made by the middlemen operating under the constraints. The lack of cooperation among middlemen operating on the same level in the marketing system is evident in the local marketplaces. It is commonly assumed that the open-air marketplaces operate as price-regulating mechanisms. There are a number of individuals purchasing wool, and the herders and middlemen who bring wool can potentially choose among them.
Occurrence of Dipleura dekayi Green, 1832 (Trilobita; Homalonotidae) in the Devonian of Colombia

ABSTRACT A large and almost complete dorsal exoskeleton of a homalonotid trilobite from the Middle Devonian of Colombia (Floresta Formation) is described and referred to Dipleura dekayi Green, 1832, confirming prior suggestions of biogeographical affinity between Colombia and the North Eastern Americas Realm during Devonian times.
Imaging the Hypoxic Tumor Microenvironment in Preclinical Models

Imaging the tumor microenvironment in preclinical models has advanced the understanding of the influence of hypoxia on tumor biology and response to therapy. Tumor microenvironmental hypoxia is both spatially and temporally varying. Ideally, imaging of tumor hypoxia in the preclinical model will provide spatial and temporal information with resolution to capture these features. This chapter will discuss laboratory techniques for visualizing and studying tumor hypoxia, specifically reporter gene constructs and optical methods, such as optical spectroscopy, redox imaging, phosphorescence lifetime imaging, and photoacoustic tomography. Quantitative image analysis is focused on optical sensing, which includes quantification of the presence of fluorescence reporter genes, optical probes, hemodynamics, and other parameters in both normal and tumor tissue to characterize the microenvironment. It is through these imaging methods that a clearer picture will develop of the global consequences of oxygen depletion on neoplastic tissue in regard to the basic science of cellular signaling and protein expression. Defining, manipulating, and studying these hypoxia-induced molecular pathways experimentally, while monitoring the microenvironmental effects with innovative imaging techniques in preclinical models, are key steps to translational advancements in tumor biology and therapeutic responses.
Patterns of bone scan and pain response following treatment with Ra-223 in metastatic castrate resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

e17011Background: Overall survival was improved in men with mCRPC treated with radium-223 (Ra-223) in the phase 3 ALSYMPCA trial; however, bone scans were not performed in this study, and retrospec...