cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modelling feeding behaviour, rate of feed passage and daily feeding cycles, as possible causes of fatigued pigs

This study was initiated to understand whether feeding behaviour and physiology may contribute to the rate of fatigued pigs at processing plants. Specifically, this study sought to determine: (1) how often pigs eat during the day, (2) the times of the day they eat and (3) a first approximation of the time from feed consumption to excretion (rate of passage) when housed in a group in conventional finishing facilities. Finally, models were constructed to try to predict the percentage of pigs with empty/diminished gastrointestinal (GI) tracts depending on the time of day of truck loading and transport durations. Pigs were randomly selected, weighed and selected for behavioural observations. From video records and live observations, the number of meals (feeding bouts) per day and the time of the day meals took place were recorded. Feed containing chromic oxide was fed to determine when a given meal was excreted. With the feeding times of day determined, models were constructed of the percentage of pigs that would have empty stomachs depending on the time of day pigs were removed from the barn and the length of transport/lairage. Finishing pigs housed in groups ate 5.6 ± 0.6 meals per day with an average feeding bout (meal) length of 11.3 ± 1.1 min. Many pigs fed ad libitum ate most of their meals during the afternoon and evening. The rate of passage of feed was 20.5 h (range = 18 to 24 h). Because fewer pigs ate in the late evening through morning, if pigs were shipped at these times they would have an increased risk of arriving at the stun at a plant with an empty GI tract. Some of the variation in rates of fatigued pigs and pork quality may be explained by times of day taken off feed and transport duration. Shipping in the afternoon or early evening may result in fewer pigs with empty/diminished GI tracts at processing which may influence the rate of fatigued pigs and pork quality.
Fatigue damage in cross-ply titanium metal matrix composites containing center holes

The development of fatigue damage in (0/90) sub SCS-6/TI-15-3 laminates containing center holes was studied. Stress levels required for crack initiation in the matrix were predicted using an effective strain parameter and compared to experimental results. Damage progression was monitored at various stages of fatigue loading. In general, a saturated state of damage consisting of matrix cracks and fiber matrix debonding was obtained which reduced the composite modulus. Matrix cracks were bridged by the 0 deg fibers. The fatigue limit (stress causing catastrophic fracture of the laminates) was also determined. The static and post fatigue residual strengths were accurately predicted using a three dimensional elastic-plastic finite element analysis. The matrix damage that occurred during fatigue loading significantly reduced the notched strength.
Estrogenic modulation of inflammation-related genes in male rats following volume overload

Our laboratory has previously reported significant increases of the proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α in male hearts secondary to sustained volume overload. These elevated levels of TNF-α are accompanied by left ventricular (LV) dilatation and cardiac dysfunction. In contrast, estrogen has been shown to protect against this adverse cardiac remodeling in both female and male rats. The purpose of this study was to determine whether estrogen has an effect on inflammation-related genes that contribute to this estrogen-mediated cardioprotection. Myocardial volume overload was induced by aortocaval fistula in 8 wk old male Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 30), and genes of interest were identified using an inflammatory PCR array in Sham, Fistula, and Fistula + Estrogen-treated (0.02 mg/kg per day beginning 2 wk prior to fistula) groups. A total of 55 inflammatory genes were modified (≥2-fold change) at 3 days postfistula. The number of inflammatory gene was reduced to 21 genes by estrogen treatment, whereas 13 genes were comparably modulated in both fistula groups. The most notable were TNF-α, which was downregulated by estrogen, and the TNF-α receptors, which were differentially regulated by estrogen. Specific genes related to arachidonic acid metabolism were downregulated by estrogen, including cyclooxygenase-1 and -2. Finally, gene expression for the β1-integrin cell adhesion subunit was significantly upregulated in the LV of estrogen-treated animals. Protein levels reflected the changes observed at the gene level. These data suggest that estrogen provides its cardioprotective effects, at least in part, via genomic modulation of numerous inflammation-related genes.
“Schizotaxia”: Clinical Implications and New Directions for Research

We sought to show that (1) schizotaxia (Meehl's term for the predisposition to schizophrenia) is a clinically consequential condition, and (2) distinguishing it from schizotypal personality disorder may be useful from both clinical and scientific perspectives. We review the features of schizotaxia that may be relevant in clinical settings and discuss their implications for the diagnosis, psychosocial functioning, family intervention and treatment of people in schizophrenia families. Our review indicates that prior work finds some of the nonpsychotic and nonschizotypal relatives of schizophrenia patients to have a psychiatric syndrome characterized by negative symptoms, neuropsychological impairment, and psychosocial dysfunction. Following Meehl, we call this constellation of clinical and neurobiological features schizotaxia. The studies we review suggest it may be worthwhile to consider schizotaxia as a separate diagnostic class. Doing so would alert clinicians to a neurobehavioral syndrome not adequately covered by current diagnostic criteria and would motivate researchers to develop diagnostic and therapeutic approaches aimed at helping schizotaxic individuals and, perhaps, preventing the onset of schizophrenia.
Temporal integration of multiple silhouette-based body-part hypotheses

A method for temporally integrating appearance-based body-part labelling is presented. We begin by modifying the silhouette labelling method of Ghost (Haritaoglu, Harwood, and Davis. 1998); that system first determines which posture best describes the person currently and then uses posture-specific heuristics to generate labels for head, hands, and feet. Our approach is to assign a posture probability and then estimate body part locations for all possible postures. Next we temporally integrate these estimates by finding a best path through the posture-time lattice. A density-sampling propagation approach is used that allows us to model the multiple hypotheses resulting from consideration of different postures. We show quantitative and qualitative results where the temporal integration solution improves the instantaneous estimates. This method can be applied to any system that inherently has multiple methods of asserting instantaneous properties but from which a temporally coherent interpretation is desired.
Automatic power management schemes for Internet servers and data centers

We investigate autonomic power control policies for Internet servers and data centers. In particular, by monitoring the system load and thermal status, we decide how to vary the utilized processing resources to achieve acceptable delay and power performance. We formulate the problem using a dynamic programming approach that captures the power-performance tradeoff. We study the structural properties of the optimal solution and develop low-complexity justified heuristics, which achieve significant performance gains over standard benchmarks. The performance gains are higher when the load exhibits stronger temporal variations. We also demonstrate that the heuristics are very efficient, in the sense that they perform very close to the optimal solution obtained via dynamic programming.
Operator Placement for Snapshot Multi-predicate Queries in Wireless Sensor Networks

This work aims at minimize the cost of answering snapshot multi-predicate queries in high-communication-cost networks. High-communication-cost (HCC) networks is a family of networks where communicating data is very demanding in resources, for example in wireless sensor networks transmitting data drains the battery life of sensors involved. The important class of multi-predicate queries in horizontally or vertically distributed databases is addressed. We show that minimizing the communication cost for multi-predicate queries is NP-hard and we propose a dynamic programming algorithm to compute the optimal solution for small problem instances. We also propose a low complexity, approximate, heuristic algorithm for solving larger problem instances efficiently and running it on nodes with low computational power (e.g. sensors). Finally, we present a variant of the Fermat point problem where distances between points are minimal paths in a weighted graph, and propose a solution. An extensive experimental evaluation compares the proposed algorithms to the best known technique used to evaluate queries in wireless sensor networks and shows improvement of 10\% up to 95\%. The low complexity heuristic algorithm is also shown to be scalable and robust to different query characteristics and network size.
Annual burning of a tallgrass prairie inhibits C and N cycling in soil, increasing recalcitrant pyrogenic organic matter storage while reducing N availability

Grassland ecosystems store an estimated 30% of the world's total soil C and are frequently disturbed by wildfires or fire management. Aboveground litter decomposition is one of the main processes that form soil organic matter (SOM). However, during a fire biomass is removed or partially combusted and litter inputs to the soil are substituted with inputs of pyrogenic organic matter (py-OM). Py-OM accounts for a more recalcitrant plant input to SOM than fresh litter, and the historical frequency of burning may alter C and N retention of both fresh litter and py-OM inputs to the soil. We compared the fate of these two forms of plant material by incubating 13C- and 15N-labeled Andropogon gerardii litter and py-OM at both an annually burned and an infrequently burned tallgrass prairie site for 11 months. We traced litter and py-OM C and N into uncomplexed and organo-mineral SOM fractions and CO2 fluxes and determined how fire history affects the fate of these two forms of aboveground biomass. Evidence from CO2 fluxes and SOM C:N ratios indicates that the litter was microbially transformed during decomposition while, besides an initial labile fraction, py-OM added to SOM largely untransformed by soil microbes. Additionally, at the N-limited annually burned site, litter N was tightly conserved. Together, these results demonstrate how, although py-OM may contribute to C and N sequestration in the soil due to its resistance to microbial degradation, a long history of annual removal of fresh litter and input of py-OM infers N limitation due to the inhibition of microbial decomposition of aboveground plant inputs to the soil. These results provide new insight into how fire may impact plant inputs to the soil, and the effects of py-OM on SOM formation and ecosystem C and N cycling.
The mechanisms underlying overgeneral autobiographical memory: An evaluative review of evidence for the CaR-FA-X model

Overgeneral autobiographical memory (OGM) has been found to be an important cognitive phenomenon with respect to depression and trauma-related psychopathology (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder), and researchers have been interested in better understanding the factors that contribute to this proposed vulnerability factor. The most prominent model of mechanisms underlying OGM to date is Williams et al.'s (2007) CaR-FA-X model. This model proposes that three processes influence OGM: capture and rumination, functional avoidance, and impaired executive control. The author reviews the current state of support for the CaR-FA-X model by evaluating 38 studies that have examined OGM and one or more mechanisms of the model. Collectively, these studies reveal robust support for associations between OGM and both rumination and impaired executive control. OGM also appears to be a cognitive avoidance strategy, and there is evidence that avoiding the retrieval of specific memories reduces distress after an aversive event, at least in the short term. Important issues that have been left unresolved are highlighted, including the nature of the capture phenomenon, the role of trauma in functional avoidance, and the developmental nature of functional avoidance. Recommendations for future research that will enhance understanding of the factors that contribute to OGM are suggested.
Use of antioxidant vitamins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: meta-analysis of randomised trials

Summary Introduction Oxidised LDL is thought to play an important part in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Observational studies have associated α tocopherol (vitamin E), β carotene, or both, with reductions in cardiovascular events, but not clinical trials. We did a meta-analysis to assess the effect of these compounds on long-term cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Methods We analysed seven randomised trials of vitamin E treatment and, separately, eight of β carotene treatment; all trials included 1000 or more patients. The dose range for vitamin E was 50–800 IU, and for β carotene was 15–50 mg. Follow-up ranged from 1·4 to 12·0 years. Findings The vitamin E trials involved a total of 81 788 patients and the p carotene trials 138 113 in the all-cause mortality analyses. Vitamin E did not provide benefit in mortality compared with control treatment (11·3 vs 11·1%, odds ratio 1·02 [95% Cl 0·98–1·06] p=0·42) or significantly decrease risk of cardiovascular death (6·0 vs 6·0%, p=0·86) or cerebrovascular accident (3·6 vs 3·5%, p=0·31). β carotene led to a small but significant increase in all-cause mortality (7·4 vs 7·0%, 1·07 [1·02–1·11] p=0·003) and with a slight increase in cardiovascular death (3·4 vs 3·1%, 1·1 [1·03-1·17] p=0·003). No significant heterogeneity was noted for any analysis. Interpretation The lack of a salutary effect was seen consistently for various doses of vitamins in diverse populations. Our results, combined with the lack of mechanistic data for efficacy of vitamin E, do not support the routine use of vitamin E.
Pretest in an Introductory Finance Course: Value Added?

Performance in finance has previously been shown to be affected by performance in prerequisite courses. In this study, the authors hypothesized that student performance in the introductory finance course would be affected by the knowledge brought to the course as measured on a quantitative pretest given at the beginning of the course. They conclude that performance is a function of the quantitative knowledge brought to the course. The results suggest that pretesting for quantitative knowledge may be a good indicator of performance in the introductory finance course and provide students with information to help them target additional work early in the course to offset such deficiencies.
Hydrogen peroxide concentrations in leaves under natural conditions

While H2O2 has been implicated in numerous plant environmental responses, normal levels and variabilities are poorly established, and estimates of leaf tissue concentrations span more than three orders of magnitude, even in a single species under similar conditions. Here, leaf tissue H2O2 contents under natural conditions are reported after determining (i) that H2O2 in extracts was stable with time, (ii) that H2O2 added to the extract was recovered quantitatively, and (iii) that the H2O2 calibration curve was unaffected (or quantifiably affected) by the extract. The broad applicability of the protocol and variability in leaf concentrations were demonstrated using tissue collected from several habitats in association with three, more extensive, experiments. The first involved nychthemeral studies of the mangrove, Rhizophora mangle L. Lowest H2O2 levels occurred in the early morning and near sunset, with higher levels both at midday and at night. Second, using five temperate species in Spring, concentrations were compared on a warm, sunny day and a cool, cloudy day. Higher concentrations were found on the warm day for Aesculus glabra Willd., Glechoma hederacea L., Plantago major L., and Viola soraria Willd., while there were no differences in Quercus macrocarpa Michx. Finally, the effects of elevated CO2 and ozone were examined in soybean, Glycine max L. Pioneer 93B15 under Free Air gas Concentration Enrichment (FACE) conditions. Both supplements led to elevated H2O2. Overall, mean leaf, midday, and mid-summer H2O2 concentrations ranged from 0.67 lmol (gFW) 21 in mangrove to 3.6 lmol (gFW) 21 in A. glabra Willd. Greatest within-species differences were only 2.5-fold in any of the studies.
Development of a Fuzzy Inference Performance Index for Ferrous Drinking Water Pipelines

AbstractAccurate prediction of water pipeline structural and functional deterioration plays an essential role in the utility asset management process and capital investment planning. A key to implementing an asset management strategy is a comprehensive understanding of asset condition and performance and how asset condition and performance change over time. The primary objective of this paper is to develop a fuzzy inference performance index for metallic drinking water pipelines. Furthermore, the developed fuzzy inference performance index is applied to the Western Virginia Water Authority (WVWA). Evaluation of the performance index is accomplished through testing of artificial, field, and lab data. Overall, the fuzzy inference performance model was successfully developed to aid in the evaluation of current drinking water infrastructure systems. The fuzzy inference performance model incorporated with an infrastructure management plan will aid in the prioritization of future inspection, repair, rehabilitat...
STATISTICALLY-CONSTRAINED DEFORMABLE REGISTRATION OF MR BRAIN IMAGES

Statistical models of deformations (SMD) capture the variability of deformations of a group of sample images, and they are often used to constrain deformable registration, thereby improving their robustness and accuracy. Although low-dimensional statistical models, such as active shape and appearance models, have been successfully used in statistically-constrained deformable models, constraining of high-dimensional warping algorithms is a more challenging task, since conventional PCA-based statistics are limited to capture the full range of anatomical variability. This paper first proposes an SMD that is built upon the wavelet-PCA model and then uses it to constrain the deformable registration, wherein the template image is adaptively warped based on SMD during the registration procedure. Compared to the original template image, the adaptively deformed template image is more similar to the subject image, e.g., the deformation is relatively small and local, and it is less likely to be stuck in undesired local minima. In experiments, we show that the proposed statistically-constrained deformable registration is more robust and accurate than the conventional registration
Nitric acid and ammonia emissions from a mid-latitude prescribed wetlands fire

The first simultaneous measurements of gaseous nitric acid and ammonia in the smoke plume of a wetlands biomass burn were obtained. The measurements were made using tungsten oxide-coated diffusion denuder tubes from a helicopter during a prescribed burn on November 9, 1987, at the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, located at the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The mean NH3 and HNO3 mixing ratios measured in the smoke plume were 19 ppbv and 14 ppbv, respectively, both significantly higher than background mixing ratios. Nitric acid correlated well with carbon dioxide produced by the combustion. The mean CO2-normalized emission ratio for HNO3 was found to be 0.00012. Ammonia, however, dit not correlate well with CO2, suggesting a more complex relationship between combustion and production/release of NH3.
The relationship between attachment style, depressive symptoms, and social support: a survey of caregivers

AbstractThe purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between attachment style, perceived social support, and depressive symptoms in a group of caregivers. The sample included 40 caregivers, ages 40–81 (M = 53.63, SD = 8.90). Attachment insecurity was related to depressive symptoms and perceived social support as well as to the type of the advice offered to other caregivers. Individuals in the high insecurity group reported higher levels of depressive symptoms than those in the low insecurity group. Social support did not differ by insecurity group, however; higher levels of avoidance were associated with lower levels of social support. Further, the advice caregivers gave to other caregivers differed by attachment style. Secure caregivers gave advice related to proactive coping (take care of self, seek help); insecure caregivers gave advice related to emotion-focused coping (be patient). The results suggest that insecure caregivers may be at greater risk for negative physical and mental...
Public Information and Inflation Expectations in Developing Countries: Microeconometric Evidence from a Natural Experiment

Governments provide public information about economic conditions to reduce information imperfections and facilitate efficient allocation of resources. Do households in developing countries rely on public signals to inform themselves about market conditions? To identify the importance of public information in households' price expectations, we take advantage of a unique natural experiment in Ecuador where the published inflation rate had been different from the correct rate over a period of 14 months due to a software error. We find that the public signal about prices plays an important role in households' price expectations and the change in price expectations in turn affects their savings choices; the effect is stronger for better educated and older people.
Decency, Due Care, and Lawyering in the 'War on Terror'

This essay considers recent controversy regarding a memorandum written by John Yoo and Robert Delahunty when they worked for the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Scholars have claimed the memorandum (the YDM) was incompetently done and, therefore, that Yoo and Delahunty bear moral responsibility for the abuse of persons detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and in the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. I argue that this criticism misconceives the relationship between competence and ethics. Competent, professional conduct may be indecent, and appeals to decency say nothing about (and do not depend on) competence. I illustrate this point by examining in detail criticism of the YDM as incompetent. I conclude that the criticism is unsound. I also consider whether it may be criticized on grounds of decency even though it is competent. I argue that such criticisms must be made with care, so they do not violate the standards they seek to uphold, and that the facts disclosed to date do not justify such criticism.
Sanitation in india: role of women’s education

Background: It is well known that sanitary practices play a key role in building healthy communities. In many developing countries such as India, lacks of toilet facilities contribute to appallingly poor sanitary conditions. Many studies have found that the demand for sanitary toilet types increases with education. The aim of the present study was to explore in detail the relationship between type of toilette facilities and women’s educational level in India. Method and Material: Data from the Third National Family Health Survey 2007 (NFHS-3) of India is used in this study. Correspondence analysis is used to examine the association between toilet type in use and women’s education at the individual level. Results: Correspondence analysis isolated several significant associations between categories of education and types of toilet facilities. The category ‘complete secondary’ is associated with ‘flush to septic’ while ‘high level of education’ is associated with ‘flush to piped sewer’. Thus, with increases in women’s education, quality of toilet facility improves steadily. It is likely that general education brings about awareness and positive attitudes toward select use of sanitary toilet types. Conclusion: Enriching the curriculum at the secondary school level with facts and concepts of sanitation is likely to improve sanitary toilet practices. In general it appears that educational campaigns to improve women’s education in India can also be effective in bringing about awareness and positive attitudes toward select use of sanitary toilet types.
Histologic changes in the seminiferous tubules after vasectomy.

4 different studies on the effect of vasectomy on the testis in canines and humans are reported. Testicular biopsies were performed at certain intervals and the results in both humans and dogs were nearly identical. It was found that spermatogenesis 2 to 3 weeks after vasectomy remained unchanged with accumulation of spermatozoa in the tubules. Between 3 and 6 weeks progressive spermatogenic arrest with few spermatozoa and decreased spermatids were observed. Between 100 and 300 days occasional mature sperm were found in the tubules indicating a return of spermatogenesis. Meiotic studies showed this to be an arrest in early prophase. It is theorized that spermatogenesis may be sensitive to pressure changes in the tubular system.
Stochastic behavior of nanoscale dielectric wall buckling

The random buckling patterns of nanoscale dielectric walls are analyzed using a nonlinear multi-scale stochastic method that combines experimental measurements with simulations. The dielectric walls, approximately 200 nm tall and 20 nm wide, consist of compliant, low dielectric constant (low-k) fins capped with stiff, compressively stressed TiN lines that provide the driving force for buckling. The deflections of the buckled lines exhibit sinusoidal pseudoperiodicity with amplitude fluctuation and phase decorrelation arising from stochastic variations in wall geometry, properties, and stress state at length scales shorter than the characteristic deflection wavelength of about 1000 nm. The buckling patterns are analyzed and modeled at two length scales: a longer scale (up to 5000 nm) that treats randomness as a longer-scale measurable quantity, and a shorter-scale (down to 20 nm) that treats buckling as a deterministic phenomenon. Statistical simulation is used to join the two length scales. Through this a...
The Mathematica Language

This chapter explores the Mathematica language. In Mathematica, atoms are either symbols, numbers, or strings. A symbol is any sequence of letters and integers not starting with an integer. A typical Mathematica expression might look like f [ x, y [ w1, w2 ] , z ], where all of the symbols are atoms and f is considered to be the head of the expression. The differences between Function, Command, and Operator as descriptions of heads are purely psychological. Ambiguity in the meaning of heads is very helpful because a single semantic model for the behavior of Mathematica expressions is not forced on the user. In programming languages, types are a device for dividing expressions into different forms of entities. A number of operations are available that change the arguments of expressions in some way or the other. Some of these take account of what they are rather than where they are. Some programming languages have special types for arrays, matrices, and lists. In Mathematica, all of these concepts are represented by lists. When many built-in operations are applied to a list, they automatically apply themselves to the entries in the list.
From Geographical Expression to German Empire

When considering how the British viewed and depicted Germany in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it seems appropriate to begin with an examination of their image of the land itself: the shape of its coast-line, extent of its borders, the position of its cities and rivers. Cartography allowed the Britons of the period to gain an immediate picture of the essential physical nature of any state — not merely Germany — by imagining its appearance on the page. And just as other visual sources can further inform the historian as to the prevailing attitudes of Britons towards Germany and the Germans, it is possible also to read maps in this way. Keith Robbins among others has acknowledged that ‘every map has a message, implicit or explicit’, and that as in the writing of a history or novel, in the science of cartography there is just as much ‘need to tell a story’2 The quotation at the head of this section exemplifies well the starting-point from which many Britons approached an understanding of their German cousins; although as we shall see, it presents a somewhat simplistic interpretation of the available cartographic evidence for dramatic, literary effect.
Rapid methods in microbiology

Rapid methods in microbiology may be categorized into those used for detecting microorganisms and their antigens or antibodies in specimens, and for identifying and determining antimicrobial susceptibility of microorganisms isolated in cultures. Stained or unstained wet mount preparations are especially useful for the detection of fungi and parasites. Stained fixed preparations are especially useful for the detection of bacteria and mycobacteria. Fluorescent microscopy provides definitive identification of a variety of microorganisms, including Legionella pneumophila and herpesvirus in tissue and Haemophilus influenzae. Neisseria meningitidis, and Streptococcus pneumoniae in cerebrospinal fluid. Counter-immunoelectrophoresis (CIE), latex agglutination (LA), and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are techniques which are useful for detecting microbial antigens in cerebrospinal fluid, urine, and serum, particularly in cases of partially treated bacterial meningitis and in cryptococcal meningitis. Rapid methods for identifying microorganisms isolated in cultures include immunological techniques (e.g. FA, CIE, LA), kits (e.g. Micro-ID) chromatography (for anaerobic and mycobacteria) and automated devices (e.g. MS-2, AMS). while antimicrobial susceptibility may be rapidly determined in selected instances by direct testing of specimens, specific tests for /(-lactamase production, and automated devices (e.g. Autobac. MS-2, AMS). Rapid techniques for drug assay include bioassay; however, greater sensitivity and specificity are achieved with chromatography, radio-immuno- or -enzymatic assay, and enzyme immunoassay.
Disregard or Disposition?: Assessing Human Rights Practices in the United States

with existing U.S. law. The message this pat tern conveys is that the United States does not allow international legal processes to affect how it defines and protects rights domestically. Two recent books explore aspects of this issue using dramatically dif ferent approaches. The Leading Rogue State: the U.S. and Human Rights, edited by Judith Blau, David L. Brunsma, Alberto Moncada, and Catherine Zimmer is a collection of short essays about U.S. human rights practices across a wide range of issues. Kate Nash's The Cultural Politics of Human Rights: Comparing the US and UK is a well structured exploration of how cultural and institutional factors shape national dis courses surrounding "universal" human rights, and how these processes affect pros pects for the emergence of a cosmopolitan state.
Bernardo Ibáñez de Echavarri and the Image of the Jesuit Missions of Paraguay

The expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain and her possessions represents a historical question mark, in so far as the decisive factors which led to that event are still far from being clear. Ludwig von Pastor's dictum that the whole affair was a most secretive one remains the one conclusion beyond doubt. Historians have presented various hypotheses on the causes for expulsion, but none of them are conclusive or definitive. Among the more probable and plausible of these hypotheses, that of the regalist policies of the Spanish Crown appears to be the most convincing. In effect, regalism as an antithetical force to the organization and activities of the order has been implied by nineteenth and twentieth-century Spanish historians, although they tended to view the “Cloaks and Hats” riot of 1766 as the essential cause of the Jesuits' expulsion.
Biology of a Ground Beetle, Harpalus erraticus,

Adult Harpalus erraticus Say (Coleoptera: Carabidae), the most numerous carabid species in cropland in South Dakota, are active in fields during August and September. Overwintering adults oviposit from late August to early October, and the species overwinters in soil as 1st-stage larvae and as adults. The 2 larval instars cannot be distinguished by measurements of structures of the exoskeleton. Both larvae and adults construct vertical burrows in the soil, which can sometimes be located by the presence of tumuli. The species requires 2 years to complete its life cycle. Adults are poor predators of corn rootworms, Diabrotica spp., in the laboratory. Adults are especially vulnerable to predation by skunks.
The measurement of vitamin B_6 in milk powder by microbiological method

Objective To develop a method of measuring vitamin B6 in milk powder by microbiological method.Methods Vitamin B6 in the samples of milk powder was measured by vitamin B6 quantitative microbial detection kit.Results The standard curve of vitamin B6 was linear in the range of 0.002-0.012 mg/100 g(ml)(r=0.9987),and the detection limit was 0.002 mg/100 g(ml).The relative standard deviations of different samples were all below 10% and the recoveries were between 90.0% and 108%.Conclusion Microbiological method is convenient,rapid and accurate.It can be used to develop a high sensitivity and low detection limit method to measure vitamin B6 in milk powder.
Application of economizer in industrial refrigeration system

The working principle of screw refrigeration compressor system with economizer is introduced as well as characteristics of dry economizer,flash economizer and flooded economizer.The influences of economizer on the performance of compressor set at different evaporation temperature are analyzed on the basis of running data.
Analysis of Interference Service Platform for Transforming Drug Users

Objective To study the management of the 4th China Global Funds for AIDS and the establishment of a needle-exchange center for introducing the drug users to the interference service platform and efficiently controlling the harmful needle sharing behavior. Method A questionnaire and AIDS education had performed to interfere and evaluate the drug users’ behaviors. Results Altogether 65% of the drug users have succeeded in transformation. As for AIDS knowledge, 42.5% have understood the 3 main ways of AIDS spreading. As for those in the drug addition swearing-off organizations, 70.8% have known about the treatment with methadone, 6.06% learned of women health center, 9.2% received the treatment with anti-virus medicine, 18.7% are willing to consult and receive examination, and 18.7% have known nothing about AIDS. As for those addicts in the society, 35.0% have learned of AIDS consulting service, and 70% have known to clean needles and exchange service. Conclusion The drug users know less about AIDS and the 5 interference service platforms. Therefore, AIDS education must be strengthened and a needle-exchange service system should be established for interfering and transforming the drug users' harmful behaviors.
Childhood Victimization, Internalizing Symptoms, and Substance Use Among Women Who Identify as Mostly Heterosexual.

Abstract Purpose: The current article examines substance use behavior and associated factors that contribute to risk of substance misuse, such as history of childhood victimization and reports of internalizing symptoms among women from various sexual identity subgroups. Methods: We recruited a convenience sample of 332 community and university student women (M age = 20.88). Approximately 61.1% of the sample (n = 203) identified as exclusively heterosexual (or “straight”; EH) at the time of the survey, whereas 21.4% (n = 71) identified as primarily heterosexual (or “mostly heterosexual”), 6.6% (n = 22) as bisexual (or “equally gay/lesbian and heterosexual”), 3.0% (n = 10) as primarily gay/lesbian (or “mostly gay/lesbian”) and 7.8% (n = 26) as exclusively gay/lesbian. Results: Mostly heterosexual women were more likely than EH women to report childhood physical abuse and lifetime tobacco and marijuana use. Mostly heterosexual women also had higher levels of past-year alcohol use disorder symptomology, recen...
Rethinking Residential Private Government in the US: Recent Trends in Practices and Policy

This chapter assesses the current state of national and state public policy regarding the operation of residential private governments in the United States. From the early 1960s to the mid-1990s, the emphasis was on promoting more condominium and homeowner association run developments. The mid-1990s saw a new emphasis on state regulation to protect consumers. But when the housing market crashed in 2007 governments and financial institutions sought to protect themselves from the risk that condominium and homeowner associations would become insolvent. Left unanswered is how homeowners are to be protected against those risks.
CHAPTER 24 – Transport in Nucleus

This chapter focuses on the function and structure of the nucleus as the mediator of nucleocytoplasmic transport, which is required for the regulation of genetic processes in eukaryotic cells, including cardiomyocytes, in which intracellular processes, including synthesis of proteins and nuclear transport, are controlled by extracellular and intracellular stimuli. The delivery of a molecule to the nuclear envelope through its interactions with specific nuclear and cytoplasmic components is considered as the mobile phase. The stationary phase involves the actual translocation of the molecule across the nuclear membrane. The majority of small proteins are transported by signal-mediated mechanisms that control their localization rather than by proper diffusion. Proteins mobilized in/out the nucleus by diffusion are transported at rates that suggest that only their size, and not sequence, is limiting. Active transport is responsible for bidirectional movement of the majority of macromolecules, and for transport of smaller proteins that possess a nuclear import (NLS) or export (NES) signal. The classical NLS-directed import is employed by proteins that display a basic NLS. In this mode of import, the NLS motif is recognized by a cytoplasmic NLS–receptor complex consisting of two subunits, importin α or karyopherin α and importin β or karyopherin β.
Ideal Collaboration: A Conceptual Framework of Community Collaboration

Collaboration has become a central feature of organizational and community landscapes in recent years. Although the concept of collaboration has received much scholarly attention, community collaboration has not been adequately considered and conceptualized as a unique and important form of collaboration. This chapter first offers a conceptual framework for understanding community collaboration that emerges from principles and concepts articulated by the bonafide group perspective and the systems perspective. The 12cell matrix, produced by combining the four constituents of community collaborations identified from a bona fide group perspective (individual representatives, collaboration groups, organizational stakeholders, and the communities within which collaborations are embedded) with the three major categories from the systems perspective (inputs/antecedents, throughputs/processes, and outputs), provides the basis for reviewing what is known from the extant literature about successful or ideal communi...
Allport’s Personality and Allport’s Personality

In Gordon Allport’s (1967) brief autobiography, written a year before he died, he asked the question repeatedly: “How shall a psychological life history be written?” It was a question he had asked recently about another life, in preparing for book publication the Letters from Jenny (1965). It was a question he had asked more broadly a quarter-century earlier, in writing his monograph on The Use of Personal Documents in Psychological Science (1942). It was a question he had asked quite early in his career, in a paper on a confessional work titled The Locomotive God (1929). Indeed, Allport said that even his doctoral dissertation, An Experimental Study of the Traits of Personality (1922a), “was an early formulation of the riddle: How shall a psychological life history be written?” (1967, p. 7).
Reaction: Public Policy Challenges to Scientific Innovation on Solar Energy

Dr. Toby Bolsen is an associate professor of political science and director of the Zoukis Research Collaborative at Georgia State University. He studies political communication and political behavior. Dr. James N. Druckman is the Payson S. Wild Professor of Political Science and a fellow at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University. He studies political communication and preference formation. He is currently the co-principal investigator of Time-Sharing Experiments in the Social Sciences. Dr. Fay Lomax Cook is a professor of human development and social policy at Northwestern University. She studies the interrelationships between public opinion and public policy, public deliberation, and the dynamics of public and elite support for social programs. She is on leave as assistant director of the National Science Foundation, where she heads the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorate.
Role of oxidative stress in epigenetic modification of MMP-9 promoter in the development of diabetic retinopathy

Background In the pathogenesis of diabetic retinopathy, damaged retinal mitochondria accelerate apoptosis of retinal capillary cells, and regulation of oxidative stress by manipulating mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (SOD2) protects mitochondrial homeostasis and prevents the development of diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes also activates matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), and activated MMP-9 damages retinal mitochondria. Recent studies have shown a dynamic DNA methylation process playing an important role in regulation of retinal MMP-9 transcription in diabetes; the aim of this study is to investigate the role of oxidative stress in MMP-9 transcription.
An investigation of electroelastic bandgap formation in locally resonant piezoelectric metastructures

Locally resonant electromechanical metastructures made from flexible substrates with piezoelectric layers connected to resonant shunt circuits exhibit vibration attenuation properties similar to those of purely mechanical metastructures. Thus, in analogy, these locally resonant electromechanical metastructures can exhibit electroelastic bandgaps at wavelengths much larger than the lattice size. In order to effectively design such metastructures, the modal behavior of the finite structure with given boundary conditions must be reconciled with the electromechanical behavior of the piezoelectric layers and shunt circuits. To this end, we develop the theory for a piezoelectric bimorph beam with segmented electrodes under transverse vibrations, and extract analytical results for bandgap estimation using modal analysis. Under the assumption of an infinite number of segmented electrodes, the locally resonant bandgap is estimated in closed form and shown to depend only on the target frequency and the system-level electromechanical coupling. It is shown that bandgap formation in piezoelectric metastructures is associated with a frequency-dependent modal stiffness, unlike the frequency-dependent modal mass in mechanical metastructures. The relevant electromechanical coupling term and the normalized bandgap size are calculated for a representative structure and a selection of piezoelectric ceramics and single crystals, revealing that single crystals (e.g. PMN-PT) result in significantly wider bandgap than ceramics (e.g. PZT-5A). Numerical studies are performed to demonstrate that the closed-form bandgap expression derived in this work holds for a finite number of electrode segments. It is shown that the number of electrodes required to create the bandgap increases as the target frequency is increased.
Equilibrium Range Characteristics of Breaking Waves

This paper reviews and extends recent results from the dynamical theory of wave breaking at scales in the equilibrium range, that is, over wavelengths smaller than that of the dominant wave in a wind-generated sea. Expressions are given for the distributions of length of breaking front per unit area at any instant and for the frequency of occurrence of breakers per unit area as functions of friction velocity and breaking wave scale. The latter quantity is associated with the frequency of occurrence of ’sea spikes’ as observed by radar back-scattering from the sea surface at large incidence angles. The results are also expressed as distributions with respect to rate of production of turbulent energy by breaking, a possible index of acoustic generation.
An Empirically Based Agent-Based Model of the Sociocognitive Process of Construction Workers’ Safety Behavior

AbstractWorkers’ unsafe behaviors have a substantial impact on construction safety. To regulate workers’ unsafe behavior, construction practitioners have mainly used formal controls (e.g., penaltie...
Normal Spine Growth

Human spinal growth is a complex phenomenon including longitudinal and diametric growth as well as increases in chest circumference and lung function. Long term results of early onset scoliosis are best optimized by considering normal growth and what is necessary for adult pulmonary capacity.
Semiparametric model and inference for spontaneous abortion data with a cured proportion and biased sampling

Evaluating and understanding the risk and safety of using medications for autoimmune disease in a woman during her pregnancy will help both clinicians and pregnant women to make better treatment decisions. However, utilizing spontaneous abortion (SAB) data collected in observational studies of pregnancy to derive valid inference poses two major challenges. First, the data from the observational cohort are not random samples of the target population due to the sampling mechanism. Pregnant women with early SAB are more likely to be excluded from the cohort, and there may be substantial differences between the observed SAB time and those in the target population. Second, the observed data are heterogeneous and contain a "cured" proportion. In this article, we consider semiparametric models to simultaneously estimate the probability of being cured and the distribution of time to SAB for the uncured subgroup. To derive the maximum likelihood estimators, we appropriately adjust the sampling bias in the likelihood function and develop an expectation-maximization algorithm to overcome the computational challenge. We apply the empirical process theory to prove the consistency and asymptotic normality of the estimators. We examine the finite sample performance of the proposed estimators in simulation studies and illustrate the proposed method through an application to SAB data from pregnant women.
Coupling, Path Coupling, and Mixing Times

In this chapter, we first define coupling and the connection to mixing times of Markov chains via the coupling inequality. We then motivate the method of path coupling with a card shuffling example. In the remaining sections we provide the complete derivation of the path coupling method in full generality and include the definition of the greedy coupling which is the particular coupling used for the statistical mechanical models discussed in this monograph. This will be done in an alternative, and in our opinion, more rigorous way than usually employed.