cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Use of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test with Emotionally Disturbed Adolescents.

Abstract The validity and reliability for the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) was estimated with 52 nonpsychotic emotionally disturbed adolescents. Approximately 6 months after an initial administration of the PPVT and the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT), all children were retested. Significant increases in PPVT IQ and PIAT reading comprehension scores were found upon readministration. The internal consistency estimate for the initial PPVT administration showed considerable consistency in responding. A modest temporal stability estimate indicated a fair amount of fluctuation in scores over time. Concurrent validity coefficients for the PPVT indicated moderate to dependable relationships with PIAT subtests. Predictive validity estimates for the PPVT suggested moderate relationships with future achievement, accounting for some 26% of the variability in total achievement.
Detection of stochastic signals in narrowband non-Gaussian noise

A general receiver is developed for the optimum detection of stochastic signals in narrowband non-Gaussian noise. Exploiting the Middleton Class A noise model, we obtain a generalization of the estimator-correlator structure: the likelihood ratio processor involves a series of estimator-correlators which then get exponentiated, weighted and summed. It appears that for most situations of interest the series involves just a few terms; as indicated by preliminary examples, three or four terms generally suffice to closely approximate the optimum receiver.
On Epistemic Luck

L'A. remet en question la these de M. Engel, i.e. la connaissance serait en definitive qu'une question de chance, these developpee dans son article « Is Epistemic Luck Compatible with Knowledge » (1992)
Electron correlation effects near threshold for electron-impact ionization of helium

Using a modification of the trapped-electron technique, we have measured the total intensity of electrons inelastically scattered from helium as a function of both incident and final energies near the ionization threshold. We find that a "cusp," which appears in the scattered electron intensity at the ionization threshold for electrons of near-zero final energy, decreases in visibility as the energy of the scattered electrons increases. For scattered-electron energies greater than about 2.0 eV, the intensity is smooth through the ionization threshold. The physical reason for the cusp is the formation of states with two excited and strongly correlated electrons. These experiments define the range of excess energies above the ionization threshold for which correlation effects are important, and hence measure the energy range of validity of the Wannier law of threshold ionization.
Modeling the influence of cyclodextrins on oral absorption of low‐solubility drugs: I. Model development

The ability to quantitatively predict the influence of a solubilization technology on oral absorption would be highly beneficial in rational selection of drug delivery technology and formulation design. Cyclodextrins (CDs) are cyclic oligosaccharides which form inclusion complexes with a large variety of compounds including drugs. There are many studies in the literature showing that complexation between CD and drug enhances oral bioavailability and some demonstrating failure of CD in bioavailability enhancement, but relatively little guidance regarding when CD can be used to enhance bioavailability. A model was developed based upon mass transport expressions for drug dissolution and absorption and a pseudo-equilibrium assumption for the complexation reaction with CD. The model considers neutral compound delivered as a physical mixture with CD in both immediate release (IR) and controlled release (CR) formulations. Simulation results demonstrated that cyclodextrins can enhance, have no effect, or hurt drug absorption when delivered as a physical mixture with drug. The predicted influence depends on interacting parameter values, including solubility, drug absorption constant, binding constant, CD:drug molar ratio, dose, and assumed volume of the intestinal lumen. In general, the predicted positive influence of dosing as a physical mixture with CD was minimal, alluding to the significance of dosing as a preformed complex. The model developed enabled examination of which physical and chemical properties result in oral absorption enhancement for neutral drug administered as a physical mixture with CD, demonstrating the utility of modeling the influence of a drug delivery agent (e.g., CD) on absorption for rational dosage form design.
Research on Enhanced Oil Recovery: Past, Present and Future

Past and present research on Enhanced Oil Recovery is reviewed with emphasis on the surface phenomena involved. The nature of capillary pressure phenomena in porous media has been understood for some time, and much research has been devoted towards the alteration of the surface forces which prevent the efficient displacement of oil by water. Early work often treated surface active agents as wetting agents designed to remove the oil from the solid surface by classical detergent action. More recent work has recognized the strong influence of oil-water interfacial tension on the displacement of discontinuous oil blobs or ganglia. Therefore, surfactant systems are now being developed to produce the lowest possible oil-water interfacial tensions by adjusting the various components and thus, the phase behavior in the total system. In addition to inter-facial tension, the phase behavior itself can strongly influence the oil displacement. The surfactant work, current work in blob mechanics, current research in CO2 flooding, and past results in alcohol flooding all indicate that an expanding oil phase is very important for effective oil displacement. Therefore, much current research is directed toward methods which utilize materials (including gases such as CO2 and mobility control agents) to dislodge oil blobs, or to prevent their entrapment by maintaining a continuous oil phase and improving sweep efficiency during displacement. The general direction of future research on enhanced oil recovery is predicted.
Observation of Forward Shocks and Stagnated Ejecta Driven by High-Energy-Density Plasma Flow

Laboratory studies of hydrodynamic effects driven by a flowing, expanding plasma of high-energy density and high Mach number are reported. The flowing plasma is the ejecta from matter accelerated and heated by an ablative shock. X-ray backlighting diagnoses the structure produced when this plasma impacts low-density foam. We observe the forward shock driven into the foam and the stagnated ejecta which drives a reverse shock into the flow.
Defect-Tolerant Nanocomposites through Bio-Inspired Stiffness Modulation

A biologically inspired, multilayer laminate structural design is deployed into nanocomposite films of graphene oxide-poly(methyl methacrylate) (GO-PMMA). The resulting multilayer GO-PMMA films show greatly enhanced mechanical properties compared to pure-graphene-oxide films, with up to 100% increases in stiffness and strength when optimized. Notably, a new morphology is observed at fracture surfaces: whereas pure-graphene-oxide films show clean fracture surfaces consistent with crack initiation and propagation perpendicular to the applied tensile load, the GO-PMMA multilayer laminates show terracing consistent with crack stopping and deflection mechanisms. As a consequence, these macroscopic GO-PMMA films become defect-tolerant and can maintain their tensile strengths as their sample volumes increase. Linear elastic fracture analysis supports these observations by showing that the stiffness modulation introduced by including PMMA layers within a graphene oxide film can act to shield or deflect cracks, thereby delaying failure and allowing the material to access more of its inherent strength. Together, these data clearly demonstrate that desirable defect-tolerant traits of structural biomaterials can indeed be incorporated into graphene- oxide-based nanocomposites.
The Importance of Political Context for Understanding Civic Engagement: A Longitudinal Analysis

We contend that political context is important to consider when analyzing social capital and that context has an important but neglected impact on understanding the consequences of civic activity. Our focus is on the influence of rural, local leadership in two Minnesota communities and policies that these elites have developed to bring Internet connectivity to their citizens. One city developed a community electronic network and the other opted for an individualistic, entrepreneurial approach to information technology. Using a quasi-experimental research design and four-wave panel data, we find that elite policy approaches interact with civic activity to predict technology use among citizens, even long after the policies’ initial implementation. In the city with a community network, residents who are integrated into civic life are able to harness these political resources to become more technologically sophisticated.
Cultivating Parabolas in the Parlor Garden: Reconciling Mathematics Education and Feminine Ideals in Nineteenth-Century America

This article introduces the justification problem for mathematics, which it explores through the case study of 1820s–1840s rationales for the teaching of mathematics to women in the United States. It argues that, while educators in the 1820s justified women’s studies through mental discipline (a common reason for men’s study), those of the 1830s–1840s increasingly relied on separate, gendered justifications, tied to emerging ideals of middle-class femininity. This article therefore emphasizes the contingency of the justification problem, which serves to break the present-day cycle of gender stereotypes regarding mathematics.
A case study of stratosphere‐troposphere exchange during the 1996 North Atlantic Regional Experiment

[1] Passive tracers are employed in a relatively high spatial and temporal resolution three-dimensional transport model to analyze a stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) event over the eastern United States and western North Atlantic Ocean. The model is validated against measurements taken on board the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration WP-3D Orion aircraft during the North Atlantic Regional Experiment study in the spring of 1996. Overall, the model reproduces the measurements well during the early part of the flight where there is indication of a small stratospheric intrusion. However, the very strong signatures of STE and mixing contained in the measurements later in the flight are not captured. Use of a finer horizontal resolution (20 km as opposed to 60 km) brings the model results closer to the aircraft measurements and yields higher values (50% at 7–8 km altitude) of ozone, O3, with a deeper penetration into the troposphere (20% at 80–120 ppbv levels).
Variable-constant segment genotype of immunoglobulin kappa is associated with increased risk for rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To further investigate the association of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with a particular genotype identified by a restriction site polymorphism near the constant segment of immunoglobulin kappa (C kappa). METHODS The frequencies of genomic DNA polymorphisms detected within or near C kappa (the most C kappa-proximal variable segment [V kappa] B3 and a T lymphocyte marker [CD8A]) were determined by Southern blotting and hybridization. The frequencies of coding-region polymorphisms of C kappa (Km allotypes) were determined by amplification by polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction enzyme digestion. RESULTS Although the frequencies of B3, Km, and CD8A genotypes were not different between RA and normal control populations, more individuals were homozygous for both C kappa and B3 in the RA group (relative risk 2.2, P less than 0.01), especially in the DR4-negative RA subgroup (relative risk 3.9, P less than 0.001). CONCLUSION The homozygous genotype of an approximately 30,000-base region including the C kappa segment confers an elevated risk for RA, particularly in the DR4-negative subgroup.
Temporal von neumann-morgenstern and induced preferences

The following sections are included:IntroductionFormulationTemporal von Neumann—Morgenstern PreferenceAnalysis of the Two Period ModelAnalysis when Primitive Preference Is Temporal von Neumann—MorgensternApproximating Induced PreferenceAcknowledgmentsReferences
Negative Reputation and Biased Student Evaluations of Teaching: Longitudinal Results From a Naturally Occurring Experiment

This longitudinal, naturally occurring field experiment simultaneously tested several important limitations of previous research regarding a negative reputation biasing ratings of work performance ...
Novel growth and device concepts for high-efficiency InGaN quantum wells light-emitting diodes

The growths and characteristics of staggered InGaN quantum wells (QWs) and type-II InGaN-GaNAs QWs are presented for high-efficiency green-emitting light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Approaches for enhancing internal-quantum-efficiency, light-extraction-efficiency, and efficiency-droop in nitride LEDs are discussed.
Convexification of polygons by length preserving transformations

A length preserving transformation of a polygon is any transformation of its vertices that preserves the lengths of the edges. In the video segment we will demonstrate three types of length preserving transformations: pocket flips, flipturns, and pops. We present sequences of such operations and study their power (or weakness) in the attempt of convexifying simple polygons.
3D Visual Servo Control System

This paper describes a visually-guided robotic system that tracks a moving object in space. In this project two six-degree-of-freedom robots are involved: an "IBM Clean Room" and a "Puma 562". A video CCD camera is attached to the end effector of the gantry IBM robot. The other robot holds a light source in its gripper. We show how the IBM Robot dynumicull tracks the moving light source in 3D. A personal computer serves as the real time (!) image processor and the controller for the closed loops. The search for the moving object takes place in a small squared window. In this way the computation time is short. Three features are extracted from the images: The change in the object's area, and the two distances (x and y) from the window to the center of the image Using an appropriate controller three signals are produced to directly control the independent X, Y and Z axes of the IBM robot. Several problems are addressed, in particular, the effects of the "digitized" object in the image plane, the control loops, sampling rate, stability and performance. A six minute video tape demonstrates the results of this project.
A plug flow-through reactor for studying biogeochemical reactions in undisturbed aquatic sediments

A slow flow, plug-through reactor was developed for measuring equilibrium and kinetic parameters of biogeochemical reactions on intact sections of sediment cores. The experimental approach was designed to preserve the structural, geochemical and microbiological integrity of the sediment sections and, hence, retrieve reaction parameters that apply to in-situ conditions. Inert tracer breakthrough experiments were performed on a variety of unconsolidated surface sediments from lacustrine, estuarine and marine depositional environments. The sediments studied cover wide ranges of composition, porosity (46–83%) and mean grain size (10−4−10−2 cm). Longitudinal dispersion coefficients were determined from the breakthrough curves of Br−. The curves were also used to check for early breakthrough or trailing, that is, features indicative of non-ideal flow conditions. Sediment plugs that exhibited these features were eliminated from further experiments. Dimensionless equilibrium adsorption coefficients (K) of NH4+, were calculated from measured retardation times between the breakthrough of NH4+ and Br−. The values of K at 5°C vary between 0.3 and 2.3, with the highest value obtained in a fine-grained marine sediment, the lowest in a coarse-grained lake sediment. The values for the marine and estuarine sediments agree with values reported in the literature. The dependencies of K on ionic strength (range 0.2-0.7m) and temperature (range 5–25°C) in an estuarine sediment confirm that the main sorption mechanism for NH4+ is ion exchange. The reactor was used in recirculation mode to measure steady-state rates of dissimilatory SO42− reduction in a salt-marsh sediment. Recirculation homogenizes solute concentrations within the reactor, hence facilitating the derivation of reaction rate expressions that depend on solution composition. The rate of microbial S04− reduction was found to be nearly independent of the dissolved SO42− concentration in the range of 2.2−1 mM. Fitting of the experimental rates to a Monod relationship resulted in a maximum estimate of the half-saturation concentration, Ks, of 240 μM. This value is comparable to those reported for a pure culture of SO42−-reducing bacteria, but is significantly smaller than the only other Ks value reported in the literature for SO42− utilization in a natural marine sediment.
Love and Rayleigh phase-velocity maps, 5–40 s, of the western and central USA from USArray data

Abstract Continuous data recorded on more than 1600 USArray seismic stations operating in the western and central US between 2006 and 2012 are used to map phase velocities of Love and Rayleigh waves at short periods (5–40 s) using a noise-correlation technique. Vertical and transverse records for all station pairs separated by less than 600 km are cross correlated in 4-h-long segments, and the resulting spectra are stacked for the time period of station operation. Dispersion curves are determined from the locations of zeros in the real component of the correlation spectra using a method based on that of Aki (1957) . Phase-velocity maps expanded on a 0.25°-by-0.25° pixel grid are estimated by inversion of the phase-velocity measurements. Comparison with predicted phase-velocity maps based on the crustal model CRUST2.0 combined with the mantle model ND08 shows good agreement at the longer periods. Strong slow anomalies ( > 25 % ) in the short-period maps are geographically correlated with basins and regions of thick sedimentary cover. The strength of these anomalies is not well predicted by existing crustal-velocity models.
Thermal ablation of prostate diseases: advantages and limitations

Both benign and malignant conditions affecting prostate gland are very common in elderly men. However, the conventional treatment of these conditions can be associated with significant side effects and complications, and less invasive treatment alternative has been always searched for. Because of the anatomical location and easy accessibility of prostate, many newer treatment modalities using thermal ablation have been applied to the organ. These include not only heating of the pathological tissue but also freezing. Some of such treatment techniques have shown to be effective and safe and been clinically used widely. In this review article, various tissue ablation techniques using temperature change applied to prostate gland are covered. Each procedure's advantages and disadvantages are compared and discussed.
Tumor metrics and morphology predict poor prognosis in prenatally diagnosed sacrococcygeal teratoma: A 25-year experience at a single institution

Abstract Purpose Some fetuses with sacrococcygeal teratoma (SCT) develop hydrops, but there is no consensus on an appropriate prognostic marker for poor prognosis. The purpose of this study is to establish predictors of poor prognosis in fetuses with SCT. Methods A retrospective review of patients with prenatally diagnosed SCT from 1986 to 2011 was performed. Patients with outcome data and ultrasound exams before 32weeks gestational age (GA) were included (n=37). Tumor volume-to-fetal weight ratio (TFR) and tumor morphology were assessed as sonographic predictors of poor prognosis. Results Twelve patients (32%) had good prognosis, and twenty-five patients (68%) had poor prognosis. All patients with poor prognosis had a morphology score ≥3, which is a significant predictor of poor prognosis (p p Conclusions Patients with cystic SCT all had good prognosis. TFR >0.12 was validated as a sonographic predictor of poor prognosis. TFR and tumor morphology can be used to counsel expectant families with prenatally diagnosed SCT regarding prognosis.
Decreased turnover of phosphatidylinositol accompanies in vitro differentiation of embryonic chicken lens epithelial cells into lens fibers.

Abstract The in vivo differentiation of embryonic chicken lens epithelial cells into lens fibers is accompanied by a marked decrease in the rate of degradation of phosphatidylinositol. The present experiments were undertaken to determine whether a similar change in phosphatidylinositol metabolism occurs during in vitro lens fiber formation in cultured explants of embryonic chicken lens epithelia. Lens epithelial cells in the explants differentiate into lens fibers following the addition of fetal calf serum, insulin or chicken vitreous humor to the culture medium. The results show that phosphatidylinositol is degraded with a half-life of 3–6 h in cultured lens epithelia that are not stimulated to differentiate. In contrast, no degradation occurs for at least 6 h in lens epithelia stimulated to form lens fibers. The stabilization of phosphatidylinositol is apparent within 4 h after the onset of fiber cell formation, and thus represents an early event in differentiation. The rapid degradation of phosphatidylinositol in lens epithelia is accompanied by comparably rapid synthesis. During this metabolic turnover only the phosphorylinositol portion of the molecule is renewed, as expected if hydrolysis occurs by the action of a phospholipase C, such as phosphatidylinositol phosphodiesterase. Thus, these data suggest that agents which produce in vitro differentiation of embryonic chicken lens epithelial cells into lens fibers lead to a reduction in either the amount or the activity of phospholipase C.
Comparison of the thiocarbonyl13C NMR resonances of N‐phenylthioureas, N‐phenyl thiocarbamates and N‐phenyl dithiocarbamates

13C NMR spectra of N-phenylthioureas, N-phenyl thiocarbamates and N-phenyl dithiocarbamates of the ethyl and n-butyl type are compared. Significant differences are observed in the chemical shift of the thiocarbonyl carbon, which do not parallel the electronegativity of the bonded heteroatom.
The orientation of the solar rotation axis from Doppler velocity observations

Mt. Wilson observations of solar velocity fields have been examined for evidence that the rotation axis of the nonmagnetic gas at the solar surface is oriented differently that the axis found by Carrington (1863) from sunspot observations. No difference is found with accuracy of 0.15 in the angle of inclination of the axis to the ecliptic.
An Eulerian model for atmospheric transport of heavy metals over Europe: Model description and preliminary results

This paper presents the Heavy Metals Eulerian Transport (HMET) model and simulation results for Europe for 1985. The HMET model takes into account emission, atmospheric transport and deposition of As, Cd, Pb and Zn computed on the EMEP grid system. Meteorological inputs consist of the velocity field at 925 hPa, precipitation and mixing height. Velocity field and precipitation are updated every 6 hr during the model run. New values of mixing height are available every 24 hr. The dry deposition velocities for each metal are variable in space and depend on the particle distribution function for each particular metal. Wet deposition is proportional to the precipitation intensity for the previous 6 hr and a constant scavenging ratio. Model equations are solved by means of the positive definite pseudospectral method which provides accurate numerical solutions for the advection problem. Comparison of the model results with available observations for 1985 indicate a good agreement for Cd and Pb, sufficient egreement for As and serious underestimation for Zn. Since the number of available observations for heavy metals in Europe in 1985 is relatively small, the model results presented in this paper should be considered as preliminary. However, the HMET model performance in computing these results shows that it can be easily and efficiently used as an operational tool and is especially useful for estimating transboundary transport of heavy metals in Europe.
Resolution of time concepts in temporal databases

Abstract In this paper we identify and present three distinct time concepts for precise and lossless information preservation in temporal databases. We provide a formal definition of temporal validity and further extend it to the notion of interpretation-based validity, with which the confusion among various time concepts introduced earlier for temporal databases is resolved. Then, we discuss the problem of preserving multiple past states of a temporal database, which leads to the identification of a maximal set of time concepts. It is shown that the time concept event time is needed to correctly model retroactive and proactive updates, as it is not possible to model them using only the valid and transaction times as thought earlier. We also show the adequacy of three time concepts (event time, along with valid and transaction times) for completely preserving different past states generated by retroactive and proactive updates, error corrections, and delayed updates. In addition, we define the evolution of an object (i.e., object's history) along a single time dimension (valid time) by using temporal and interpretation-based validity. Finally, we sketch the implementation of history for the relational data model.
THE RELATION OF THE ANTERIOR PITUITARY TO BILE PRODUCTION1

FITZGERALD, LASZT, AND VERZAR (1) recently emphasized that the selective action in intestinal absorption is influenced by hypophysectomy. They presented evidence indicating that the administration of the adrenocortical hormone increased the absorption rate of fat and glucose in the hypophysectomized rat. It was suggested that the A P influenced glucose absorption through the action of the adrenocorticotropic hormone upon the adrenal cortex. Althausen and Stockholm (2) and Russell (3) showed a direct relation between thyroxine and rate of ghicose and oleic acid absorption. Fat digestion and especially absorption is known to be regulated in no small part by the bile. Insoluble fatty acids combine with the bile acids to form soluble compounds whose diffusibility through the cells of the intestinal tract is much increased. The bile also stimulates peristalsis and lowers surface tension.
Traffic models for H.264 video using hierarchical prediction structures

We present different video traffic models for H.264 variable bit rate (VBR) videos. We propose our models on top of the recent unified traffic model developed by Dai et al. [1], which presents a frame-level hybrid framework for modeling MPEG-4 and H.264 multi-layer VBR video traffic. We exploit the hierarchical predication structure inherent in H.264 for intra-GoP (group of pictures) analysis. We model the children frames by considering various combinations of the correlation between the parent frames in the prediction structure. Our simulations show that modeling using the hierarchical prediction structure indeed improves capturing the statistical features of the videos and prediction of network performance, without an increase in the complexity as compared to the unified traffic model by Dai et al. [1], which was shown earlier to be better than previous traffic models.
The prevalence of blindness and visual impairment among nursing home residents in Baltimore

Background Although the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment increases with age, most surveys of ocular disease do not include nursing home residents. Methods We conducted a population-based prevalence survey of persons 40 years of age or older residing in nursing homes in the Baltimore area. Of 738 eligible subjects in 30 nursing homes, 499 (67.6 percent) participated in the study. They had their eyes examined and their visual acuity tested and were interviewed in detail. The nonparticipants were more likely to be older, to be white, and to have lower scores on the Mini–Mental State Examination. Results The prevalence of bilateral blindness (visual acuity 20/200) was 18.8 percent. The frequency of blindness increased from 15.2 percent among those under 60 years of age to 28.6 percent among those 90 or older. The age-adjusted prevalence of blindness was 50 percent higher among blacks than among whites (P<0.01). As compare...
Measuring the Short Fiber Content of Cotton

A selection of cotton samples is tested with the Suter-Webb Array, AFIS (advanced fiber information system), and HVI (high volume instrument) methods. Short fiber contents as measured by these different methods show significant differences and high variations. The calibration level is one of the major factors causing these differences. Provided all other conditions are the same, a shift of 0.01 inch in fiber length calibration can cause an approximately 0.37% absolute value change in measured short fiber content based on the average of the test data. Based on the results from AFIS tests and computer simulation, sample nonuniformity, which is a characteristic of cotton fibers, contributes a major portion of the variation of the measured short fiber content.
Production of first generation adenovirus vectors: a review

In the past decade, adenovirus vectors have generated tremendous interest, especially in gene therapy applications. In the so-called 'first generation' adenovirus vectors, the transgenes are inserted in place of the E1 region, or less often the E3 region. Although second-generation and helper-dependent adenovirus vectors will probably prevail in the future in applications that require long-term gene expression, first generation adenovirus vectors will remain very useful in other settings, such as cancer and vaccination, or simply to transfect cell lines that are refractory to other transfection methods. Until a few years ago, the construction of first generation adenovirus vectors was a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. More than 20 methods have appeared that facilitate their construction and are reviewed below.
Invasive tapetum and tricelled pollen in Ambrosia trifida (Asteraceae, tribe Heliantheae).

Staminate flowers of giant ragweed,Ambrosia trifida L. (Asteraceae, tribeHeliantheae, subtribeAmbrosiinae) were processed into resin and sectioned 1–2 µm thick. The invasive (amoeboid) anther tapetum remains parietal until microspores are released from tetrads, then it swells and invades the locule, merging gradually into a single protoplast that flows among the microspores. After the tapetal membrane ruptures at late microspore stage, tapetal debris fills the locule, then disappears as pollen matures. Pollen becomes tricelled before anthesis. The two sperm cell nuclei are slender and wormlike. The present report supports the two generalizations that invasive tapetum and tricelled pollen are attributes of theAsteraceae.
Review : Infertility after chemotherapy: A review of the risks and strategies for prevention

Purpose. Infertility as a late complication of cancer chemotherapy, focusing on specific drug-related ef fects, effects observed in the treatment of certain malignancies, and strategies for prevention is re viewed.Data Sources. A MEDLINE search of articles from 1966 to present was conducted using the terms infertility, antineoplastics, amenorrhea, azospermia, oogenesis, and spermatogenesis. Additional refer ences were identified using review articles and phar macology textbooks.Study Selection. All human studies reported in English language were included. Animal studies were included when human data were insufficient or un available.Data Synthesis. Data on the infertility effects of individual antineoplastic agents are difficult to inter pret for several reasons, including small sample sizes, lack of prechemotherapy fertility assessment, inade quate long-term follow-up, and use of regimens in cluding multiple agents. In general, the incidence and severity of antifertility effects are dependent on the tota...
Breeding Patterns of Galápagos Penguins as an Indicator of Oceanographic Conditions

Surface water changes associated with El Nino have been known to affect deleteriously top carnivores along coastal South America. Data on the breeding strategies of Galapagos penguins and other seabirds indicate that the biological effects of El Nino extend much farther west. The breeding biology of these seabirds is adapted to frequent changes in productivity which are associated with El Nino.
The STAR silicon drift detector vertex tracker

Large (6/spl times/6 cm) linear Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD) have been developed and are in production for use in the Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT), the inner tracking detector of the STAR Experiment at the RHIC Collider. The SVT has been active for 7 years and is a few months from completion. The presentation addresses the SDD performance and the present status of the project. Results from a 7 wafer ladder installed in the STAR for the last six months are presented. Detector performance from a 15 layer SDD tracker (proto-type SVT) is shown. This is the first tracking application of these detectors. Lastly the installation of the SVT is briefly addressed along with associated design choices (grounding, cooling, interlocks).
Language Anxiety: Experiences of Chinese Graduate Students at U.S. Higher Institutions

It is very common for Chinese graduate students to experience language anxiety in the U.S. higher institutions, yet the literature on this topic is limited. This research study focused on the influ...
An automated end-to-end lecture capturing and broadcasting system

We present a complete end-to-end system that is fully automated and supports capturing, broadcasting, viewing, archiving and search. Specifically, we describe a system architecture that minimizes the pre- and post-production time, and a fully automated lecture capturing system called iCam2, which synchronously captures all the contents of the lecture, including audio, video and visual aids. As no staff is needed during the capturing and broadcasting process, the operation cost of our system is negligible. The system has been used on a daily basis for more than 4 years, during which 467 lectures were captured with 17,000+ online viewers.
THE EVOLUTION OF BROODING CHARACTERS AMONG THE FRESHWATER PEARLY MUSSELS (BIVALVIA: UNIONOIDEA) OF NORTH AMERICA

Brooding characters have figured prominently in the classification of North American freshwater pearly mussels (Bivalvia: Unionoidea). The purpose of our study was to evaluate phylogenetic hypotheses of brooding character evolution in order to test homology statements suggested by earlier taxonomic systems of the Unionoidea. Parsimony analysis of partial COI sequences from 29 species of freshwater mussels and 13 outgroups were used to derive a phylogeny. Thirteen brooding characters (e.g., brooding period, marsupium arrangement, structure of interlamellar septa, etc.) were traced onto this phylogeny. Results indicate that long-term brooding (bradytictia) is the derived state among North American freshwater mussels; short-term brooding (tachytictia) is plesiomorphic. Bradytictia evolved independently in the Anodontinae and Lampsilini, with unique morphological modifications derived in those clades to facilitate long-term brooding.
Loop quantum cosmology and slow roll inflation

In loop quantum cosmology (LQC) the big bang is replaced by a quantum bounce which is followed by a robust phase of super-inflation. Rather than growing unboundedly in the past, the Hubble parameter vanishes at the bounce and attains a finite universal maximum at the end of super-inflation. These novel features lead to an unforeseen implication: in presence of suitable potentials all LQC dynamical trajectories are funneled to conditions which virtually guarantee slow roll inflation with more than 68 e-foldings, without any input from the pre-big bang regime. This is in striking contrast to certain results in general relativity, where it is argued that the a priori probability of obtaining a slow roll with 68 or more e-foldings is suppressed by a factor e−204.
Accordion: Toward soft Near-Threshold Voltage Computing

While more cores can find place in the unit chip area every technology generation, excessive growth in power density prevents simultaneous utilization of all. Due to the lower operating voltage, Near-Threshold Voltage Computing (NTC) promises to fit more cores in a given power envelope. Yet NTC prospects for energy efficiency disappear without mitigating (i) the performance degradation due to the lower operating frequency; (ii) the intensified vulnerability to parametric variation. To compensate for the first barrier, we need to raise the degree of parallelism - the number of cores engaged in computation. NTC-prompted power savings dominate the power cost of increasing the core count. Hence, limited parallelism in the application domain constitutes the critical barrier to engaging more cores in computation. To avoid the second barrier, the system should tolerate variation-induced errors. Unfortunately, engaging more cores in computation exacerbates vulnerability to variation further. To overcome NTC barriers, we introduce Accordion, a novel, light-weight framework, which exploits weak scaling along with inherent fault tolerance of emerging R(ecognition), M(ining), S(ynthesis) applications. The key observation is that the problem size not only dictates the number of cores engaged in computation, but also the application output quality. Consequently, Accordion designates the problem size as the main knob to trade off the degree of parallelism (i.e. the number of cores engaged in computation), with the degree of vulnerability to variation (i.e. the corruption in application output quality due to variation-induced errors). Parametric variation renders ample reliability differences between the cores. Since RMS applications can tolerate faults emanating from data-intensive program phases as opposed to control, variation-afflicted Accordion hardware executes fault-tolerant data-intensive phases on error-prone cores, and reserves reliable cores for control.
Advances in Rosetta protein structure prediction on massively parallel systems

One of the key challenges in computational biology is prediction of three-dimensional protein structures from amino-acid sequences. For most proteins, the "native state" lies at the bottom of a free-energy landscape. Protein structure prediction involves varying the degrees of freedom of the protein in a constrained manner until it approaches its native state. In the Rosetta protein structure prediction protocols, a large number of independent folding trajectories are simulated, and several lowest-energy results are likely to be close to the native state. The availability of hundred-teraflop, and shortly, petaflop, computing resources is revolutionizing the approaches available for protein structure prediction. Here, we discuss issues involved in utilizing such machines efficiently with the Rosetta code, including an overview of recent results of the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction 7 (CASP7) in which the computationally demanding structure-refinement process was run on 16 racks of the IBM Blue Gene/L™ system at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center. We highlight recent advances in high-performance computing and discuss future development paths that make use of the next-generation petascale (>1012 floating-point operations per second) machines.
An inexpensive wave height sensor for drogued Argos drifters

This wave height sensor measures significant wave height and wave height spectral energy in a drogued drifter consisting of a surface float attached to a large drogue by an elastic suspension system. The accelerations of the float are analyzed using embedded FFT subroutines in the buoy electronics, the data are formatted into a short binary message and telemetered to a satellite. This paper describes the measurement system, and presents comparisons between the new system and a reference wave measurement buoy.
Effects of functional group interactions on the dissociation reactions of protonated amino alcohols

The dissociation reactions of protonated amino alcohols were examined in a quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer. Multi-stage collision-induced dissociation techniques were used to characterize the ions and their fragments and to assist in the determination of the dissociation mechanisms. In addition, semi-empirical calculations were used to rationalize the results on the basis of the thermodynamics of the reactions in question. The reaction of special interest was the double elimination of water and ammonia. For this high-energy process, it is shown that the initial deamination step is the thermodynamically favored one in most cases. The enthalpies of formation for the various precursor and product ions and also those for some of the reaction intermediates were estimated using molecular modelling and semi-empirical calculation methods. The values obtained indicated that the minimum endothermicity of the sequential deamination–dehydration reaction ranges from 209 to 460 kJ mol−1 for the compounds studied here. Moreover, protonation at the amine site was found to be energetically favored by 38–192 kJ mol−1 over protonation at the hydroxyl site.
Effect of Moisture and Contaminants on the Dielectric Constant of Thin-Film Alumina Substrates

The dielectric properties of substrate materials constitute key parameters that determine the selection, reliability and design of sophisticated modern electronic devices. Two important factors affecting the reliability of electronic devices are the adsorption of moisture from the atmosphere, and contaminants like airborne particles (dust), flux residues, gaseous pollutants, residues from rinsing and cleaning unit operations etc. Any variation in the dielectric properties due to moisture and/or contaminants would be detrimental to the performance of an electronic package. Among the inorganic materials, alumina represents an optimal combination of electrical properties for many low and high-frequency applications. In this paper, the dielectric constant of thin-film alumina substrates has been measured over a wide frequency range (100 Hz to 3 GHz) as a function of relative humidity. The changes in the dielectric constant when the alumina substrates are contaminated with different contaminants like CuC12, CuSO4, organic acids etc. and exposed to various relative humidity levels for different lengths of time have also been measured. The effect on the dielectric constant when the contaminated substrates are treated with surfactants like oleic acid and dodecyl amine and exposed to different relative humidity levels is also presented. An important observation is that at a relative humidity level of approximately 70% there is a sudden increase in the dielectric constant of the contaminated alumina substrates. Results are also presented for the measured moisture adsorption using Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis in pure alumina, alumina contaminated with CuCI2 and contaminated alumina treated with dodecyl amine. It is shown that the measured dielectric constant is consistent with the amount of moisture adsorption that decreases on treatment with the surfactant.
Shape of caudate nucleus and its cognitive correlates in neuroleptic-naive schizotypal personality disorder

Background We measured the shape of the head of the caudate nucleus with a new approach based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) subjects in whom we previously reported decreased caudate nucleus volume. We believe MRI shape analysis complements traditional MRI volume measurements.
Mesopelagic fish biomass in the southern California current ecosystem

Mesopelagic fishes are the most common vertebrates on Earth, forming an important link between lower trophic levels and higher predators, and also between surface production and the deep sea. The biomass of these fishes is a key parameter for ecological modeling of oceanic ecosystems, but it is poorly known. The two most common methods to estimate the biomass of these fishes, acoustic and trawl surveys, are both sensitive to the ability of fishes to avoid nets. We show that size-dependent changes in trawl capture efficiency can affect acoustic estimates of biomass estimates 5-fold. We used both acoustic and trawl-based methods (informed by morphological data and acoustic modeling of individual backscattering) to estimate the biomass of mesopelagic fishes of southern California to be 25– 37 g m � 2 of ocean surface, a comparable density to that of inshore epipelagic zooplanktivorous fishes. Our results indicate that mesopelagic fishes are likely to play a major role in regional food webs.
Age-independent increases in male salivary testosterone during horticultural activity among Tsimane forager-farmers

article i nfo Article history: Initial receipt 5 March 2013 Final revision received 19 June 2013 Testosterone plays an important role in mediating male reproductive trade-offs in many vertebrate species, augmenting muscle and influencing behavior necessary for male-male competition and mating-effort. Among humans, testosterone may also play a key role in facilitating male provisioning of offspring as muscular and neuromuscular performance is deeply influenced by acute changes in testosterone. This study examines acute changes in salivary testosterone among 63 Tsimane men ranging in age from 16 to 80 (mean 38.2) years during one-hour bouts of tree-chopping while clearing horticultural plots. The Tsimane forager- horticulturalists living in the Bolivian Amazon experience high energy expenditure associated with food production, have high levels of parasites and pathogens, and display significantly lower baseline salivary testosterone than age-matched US males. Mixed-effects models controlling for BMI and time of specimen collection reveal increased salivary testosterone (p b 0.001) equivalent to a 48.6% rise, after one hour of tree chopping. Age had no effect on baseline (p = 0.656) or change in testosterone (p = 0.530); self-reported illness did not modify testosterone change (p = 0.488). A comparison of these results to the relative change in testosterone during a competitive soccer tournament in the same population reveals larger relative changes in testosterone following resource production (tree chopping), compared to competition (soccer). These findings highlight the importance of moving beyond a unidimensional focus on changes in testosterone and male-male aggression to investigate the importance of testosterone-behavior interactions across additional male fitness-related activities. Acutely increased testosterone during muscularly intensive horticultural food production may facilitate male productivity and provisioning.
Bootstrapping Quantile Regression Estimators

The asymptotic variance matrix of the quantile regression estimator depends on the density of the error. For both deterministic and random regressors, the bootstrap distribution is shown to converge weakly to the limit distribution of the quantile regression estimator in probability. Thus, the confidence intervals constructed by the bootstrap percentile method have asymptotically correct coverage probabilities.