cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Successional dynamics of nitrogen fixation and forest growth in regenerating Costa Rican rainforests

Regenerating tropical forests have an immense capacity to capture carbon and harbor biodiversity. The recuperation of the nitrogen cycle following disturbance can fuel biomass regeneration, but few studies have evaluated the successional dynamics of nitrogen and nitrogen inputs in tropical forests. We assessed symbiotic and asymbiotic nitrogen fixation, soil inorganic nitrogen concentrations, and tree growth in a well-studied series of five tropical forest plots ranging from 19 yr in age to old-growth forests. Wet-season soil inorganic nitrogen concentrations were high in all plots, peaking in the 29-yr-old plot. Inputs from symbiotic nitrogen fixation declined through succession, while asymbiotic nitrogen fixation peaked in the 37-yr-old plot. Consequently, the dominant nitrogen fixation input switched from symbiotic fixation in the younger plots to asymbiotic fixation in the older plots. Tree growth was highest in the youngest plots and declined through succession. Interestingly, symbiotic nitrogen fixation was negatively correlated with the basal area of nitrogen-fixing trees across our study plots, highlighting the danger in using nitrogen-fixing trees as a proxy for rates of symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Our results demonstrate that the nitrogen cycle has largely recuperated by 19 yr following disturbance, allowing for rapid biomass regeneration at our site. This work provides important insight into the sources and dynamics of nitrogen that support growth and carbon capture in regenerating Neotropical forests.
Reconciling Different Approaches to Reference and Information Service Using Q Methodology

To make sense of the variety of conflicting conceptualizations of reference and information service (RIS) in the literature, this study uses Q methodology, which involves a card sort and interview, to identify librarians’ espoused conceptualizations. Librarians in South Africa and the United States sorted 35 statements representing the breadth of approaches to RIS. Preliminary data were analyzed to identify prominent conceptualizations based on like sorts. Results will inform theoretical work and professional education for RIS.
The Use of Web-Based Support Groups Versus Usual Quit-Smoking Care for Men and Women Aged 21-59 Years: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Existing smoking cessation treatments are challenged by low engagement and high relapse rates, suggesting the need for more innovative, accessible, and interactive treatment strategies. Twitter is a Web-based platform that allows people to communicate with each other throughout the day using their phone. Objective: This study aims to leverage the social media platform of Twitter for fostering peer-to-peer support to decrease relapse with quitting smoking. Furthermore, the study will compare the effects of coed versus women-only groups on women’s success with quitting smoking. Methods: The study design is a Web-based, three-arm randomized controlled trial with two treatment arms (a coed or women-only Twitter support group) and a control arm. Participants are recruited online and are randomized to one of the conditions. All participants will receive 8 weeks of combination nicotine replacement therapy (patches plus their choice of gum or lozenges), serial emails with links to Smokefree.gov quit guides, and instructions to record their quit date online (and to quit smoking on that date) on a date falling within a week of initiation of the study. Participants randomized to a treatment arm are placed in a fully automated Twitter support group (coed or women-only), paired with a buddy (matched on age, gender, location, and education), and encouraged to communicate with the group and buddy via daily tweeted discussion topics and daily automated feedback texts (a positive tweet if they tweet and an encouraging tweet if they miss tweeting). Recruited online from across the continental United States, the sample consists of 215 male and 745 female current cigarette smokers wanting to quit, aged between 21 and 59 years. Self-assessed follow-up surveys are completed online at 1, 3, and 6 months after the date they selected to quit smoking, with salivary cotinine validation at 3 and 6 months. The primary outcome is sustained biochemically confirmed abstinence at the 6-month follow-up. Results: From November 2016 to September 2018, 960 participants in 36 groups were recruited for the randomized controlled trial, in addition to 20 participants in an initial pilot group. Data analysis will commence soon for the randomized controlled trial based on data from 896 of the 960 participants (93.3%), with 56 participants lost to follow-up and 8 dropouts. Conclusions: This study combines the mobile platform of Twitter with a support group for quitting smoking. Findings will inform the efficacy of virtual peer-to-peer support groups for quitting smoking and potentially elucidate gender differences in quit rates found in prior research. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02823028; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02823028
An intonational model of Shanghai Wu: A pitch-accent analysis

This paper presents an intonational model of Shanghai Wu in the Autosegmental-Metrical framework. Shanghai’s peculiar phrasal tonal system, which spreads lexical tones over sandhi domains, is well-discussed in the literature; however, there is no account of the language's contrastive intonational elements and their phonetic realization. Grounded in phonetic data collected from 14 Shanghainese speakers born between 1945 and 1963, the paper analyzes the language as a pitch-accent system rather than a tonal one, with three distinctive accents: L* + H, H* + L, and L*. These pitch accents pair with one of two accentual phrase-like boundary tones, La and LHa with specific tonotactic requirements. Additionally, I will describe the prosodic hierarchy, as determined by the intonation, as having two levels above the accentual phrase, the intonational phrase (marked via initial pitch range expansion and one of three boundary tones: L%, %, and H%) as well as the major phrase. Together with a labelling system, this analysis allows for easy annotation of Shanghainese tonal events, similar to the ToBI-type models for languages such as Japanese and Serbo-Croatian.This paper presents an intonational model of Shanghai Wu in the Autosegmental-Metrical framework. Shanghai’s peculiar phrasal tonal system, which spreads lexical tones over sandhi domains, is well-discussed in the literature; however, there is no account of the language's contrastive intonational elements and their phonetic realization. Grounded in phonetic data collected from 14 Shanghainese speakers born between 1945 and 1963, the paper analyzes the language as a pitch-accent system rather than a tonal one, with three distinctive accents: L* + H, H* + L, and L*. These pitch accents pair with one of two accentual phrase-like boundary tones, La and LHa with specific tonotactic requirements. Additionally, I will describe the prosodic hierarchy, as determined by the intonation, as having two levels above the accentual phrase, the intonational phrase (marked via initial pitch range expansion and one of three boundary tones: L%, %, and H%) as well as the major phrase. Together with a labelling system, this an...
Neuroticism predicts fear of falling after hip fracture.

OBJECTIVES Fear of falling (FoF) is common and associated with poorer functional outcomes after hip fracture. We sought to differentiate patterns of FoF at 4 and 12 weeks after surgical repair for hip fracture and examine predictors of FoF. METHODS/DESIGN Secondary analysis of existing data from a 52-week prospective study examining recovery after hip fracture. Participants (N = 263) were aged 60 and older with recent hip fracture recruited from eight hospitals. FoF was measured 4 and 12 weeks postfracture with the Short Falls Efficacy Scale-International. Latent class mixed models were constructed to identify distinct patterns of FoF from 4 to 12 weeks postfracture and predictors of FoF. Predictors examined included age, gender, neuroticism, depression, negative affect, perceived social support, medical comorbidity, functional ability, cognition, and pain. RESULTS Three latent classes of FoF were identified: a group with minimal FoF at weeks 4 and 12 (72%), a group with high FoF that decreased (17%), and a group with high FoF that increased from week 4 to 12 (11%). In a multivariate model, higher neuroticism was associated with greater risk for high FoF (increasing or decreasing), whereas higher premorbid medical comorbidity was associated with increasing FoF, poorer premorbid functional ability was associated with decreasing FoF, and social support was not significantly associated. CONCLUSIONS Older adults with higher neuroticism are more likely to have FoF in the first 12 weeks after a hip fracture. Screening for neuroticism in health care settings might identify individuals who would benefit from interventions to improve outcomes during recovery.
Intraspecific variation in tree lizard escape behaviour in relation to habitat and temperature

Optimal escape theory has proven useful for understanding the dynamics of antipredator behaviour in animals; however, approaches are often limited to single-population studies. We studied how the escape behaviour of tree lizards (Urosaurus ornatus) varied across a disturbance gradient. We also considered how sex, body temperature, and perch temperature affected their escape decisions. Both sexes exhibited similar response patterns; however, lizards in the most-disturbed habitat, as well as cooler (body or perch temperature) lizards, initiated escape earlier (but did not flee further) than other animals. Increased wariness as indicated by earlier escape suggests that frequently-disturbed, more-open localities may be stressful habitats for species like U. ornatus. In addition, because cooler temperatures limit locomotor performance capacity, escape decisions should also depend on a species’ thermal ecology. Overall, we stress the importance of multi-population approaches for capturing the variety of ways species adaptively respond to the threat of predation across habitat gradients.
Incorporation of Styrene into a Model Polyolefin for Enhanced Compatibility with Polyisoprene

Polyisoprene (PI) and hydrogenated medium-vinyl polybutadiene (hPB), a polydiene–polyolefin pair, are expected to show limited compatibility (with a high interaction energy density, X, proportional...
Red to Purple? Changing Demographics and Party Change in Texas

Objective: This study investigates the potential for party change in Texas, specifically if a generational replacement and demographic changes are leading to an increase in Democratic identification A competitive Texas has national political implications. Method: Using the Impressionable Years framework, party identification and ideology are analyzed with public opinion surveys of Texans and demographic data. Generation cohorts and race/ethnicity are the key variables of interest, and the analysis includes line graphs and linear regression. Results: The findings demonstrate younger cohorts of white Texans are less likely to identify as Republican and older cohorts of whites are most likely. All cohorts of people of color are likely to identify as Democrats. Conclusions: Generational and demographic changes are leading to an increase in Democratic Party identification and a decline in Republican identifiers. The mobilization by parties of young Texans, who are trending towards Democrats, is critical to the future of Texas politics.
Hodge filtration, minimal exponent, and local vanishing

We bound the generation level of the Hodge filtration on the localization along a hypersurface in terms of its minimal exponent. As a consequence, we obtain a local vanishing theorem for sheaves of forms with log poles. These results are extended to $${\mathbf {Q}}$$-divisors, and are derived from a result of independent interest on the generation level of the Hodge filtration on nearby and vanishing cycles.
Capacity of Primary Care to Deliver Telehealth in the United States.

Background: Because of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) pandemic, many primary care practices have transitioned to telehealth visits to keep patients at home and decrease the transmission of the disease. Yet, little is known about the nationwide capacity for delivering primary care services via telehealth. Methods: Using the 2016 National Ambulatory Medical Survey we estimated the number and proportion of reported visits and services that could be provided via telehealth. We also performed cross-tabulations to calculate the number and proportion of physicians providing telephone visits and e-mail/internet encounters. Results: Of the total visits (nearly 400 million) to primary care physicians, 42% were amenable to telehealth and 73% of the total services rendered could be delivered through telehealth modalities. Of the primary care physicians, 44% provided telephone consults and 19% provided e-consults. Discussion: This study underscores how and where primary care services could be delivered. It provides the first estimates of the capacity of primary care to provide telehealth services for COVID-19 related illness, and for several other acute and chronic medical conditions. It also highlights the fact that, as of 2016, most outpatient telehealth visits were done via telephone. Conclusions: This study provides an estimate of the primary care capacity to deliver telehealth and can guide practices and payers as care delivery models change in a post-COVID 19 environment.
When MINMOD Artifactually Interprets Strong Insulin Secretion as Weak Insulin Action.

We address a problem with the Bergman-Cobelli Minimal Model, which has been used for 40 years to estimate SI during an intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT). During the IVGTT blood glucose and insulin concentrations are measured in response to an acute intravenous glucose load. Insulin secretion is often assessed by the area under the insulin curve during the first few minutes (Acute Insulin Response, AIR). The issue addressed here is that we have found in simulated IVGTTs, representing certain contexts, Minimal Model estimates of SI are inversely related to AIR, resulting in artifactually lower SI . This may apply to Minimal Model studies reporting lower SI in Blacks than in Whites, a putative explanation for increased risk of T2D in Blacks. The hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp (HIEC), the reference method for assessing insulin sensitivity, by contrast generally does not show differences in insulin sensitivity between these groups. The reason for this difficulty is that glucose rises rapidly at the start of the IVGTT and reaches levels independent of SI , whereas insulin during this time is determined by AIR. The minimal model in effect interprets this combination as low insulin sensitivity even when actual insulin sensitivity is unchanged. This happens in particular when high AIR results from increased number of readily releasable insulin granules, which may occur in Blacks. We conclude that caution should be taken when comparing estimates of SI between Blacks and Whites.
Robert McRuer, Crip Times: Disability, Globalization, and Resistance

Robert McRuerâ€™s latest monograph is an expansion and critical application of crip theory, a form of cultural analysis McRuer himself has shaped in theoretically framing the alignment of disability ...
Detection the effect of rifampicin concentration on the level of hepatic enzymes in white rats

The present paper aimed to detect the effects of rifampicin on the enzymatic activity of some liver enzymes (GPT, GOT, ALP). 40 adult male rats were used in this study, randomly divided into four equal groups for each drug, control group and three groups administrated GOTric dose - Low, medium and high (50, 100, 150 mg/kg) for a period of 28 days, and the rat's weights averaged from 225 - 260 g at the age of 5 months, after which blood was drawn from animals for the purpose of obtaining the serum for the required functional tests, which is to measure the level of liver enzymes GPT, GOT. ALP. The results of the current study recorded a significant increase (P <0.05) in the level of enzymes (GPT, GOT, ALP) in groups of rats treated with rifampicin drug compared with the control group.
Anticoagulation After Ischemic Stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) in the Time of Direct Oral Anticoagulation (DOAC) and Thrombectomy.

Objective To assess anticoagulation (AC) timing and appropriateness in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) due to atrial fibrillation (AF) in a predominantly Hispanic community hospital in the era of direct oral AC (DOAC) and endovascular thrombectomy (EVT). Methods Adult patients presenting with known or new-onset AF and primary diagnosis of AIS/TIA admitted to Baptist Hospital of Miami between January 2018 and January 2019 were included. AC appropriateness was determined on medical history and concordance with American Heart Association AHA/American Stroke Association (ASA) AC guidelines. Median time from AIS/TIA diagnosis to AC initiation was the primary endpoint. AC guideline concordance on admission and at discharge, discordant justification, and AC selection were secondary endpoints. Results The sample included 120 patients. AC initiation was five days (interquartile range (IQR) 2-9) following AIS/TIA. Patients' receiving intravenous (IV) alteplase experienced a 1.4-day delay in AC initiation (x=5.44, SE=1.05, p<.05). There was no significant delay for those receiving EVT. A symptomatic hemorrhagic transformation occurred in 3% (n=3) of patients; only one patient was initiated on AC prior to the event. No recurrent AIS/TIAs occurred prior to discharge. Guideline-based AC concordance increased by 14% to 96% from admission to discharge. Apixaban (78%, n=52) was the most prescribed anticoagulant during hospitalization. Discussion This study suggests that early AC initiation for patients with AF and AIS/TIA with or without IV alteplase and/or EVT is a safe and effective stroke prevention intervention. Further, it identified a need for improved concordance with guideline-based AC within the clinic setting.
Spirituality. A brief history, by Philip SheldrakeSpirituality, theology and mental health: Multi-disciplinary perspectives, by Christopher CookStudying Christian spirituality, by David Perrin

From the book cover, “Philip Sheldrake is Senior Research Fellow at the Cambridge Theological Federation, UK, regularly a visiting professor in the United States of America, and a former president ...
Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond

Reviewed Medium: book Authors: Theodore Levin and with Valentina Suzukei Year: 2006 Pages: 312 Publisher: Indiana University Press ISBN: 0-253-34715-7 (hard cover). Prices: $35.00 USD(hard cover).
Substrate analysis of the Pneumocystis carinii protein kinases PcCbk1 and PcSte20 using yeast proteome microarrays provides a novel method for Pneumocystis signalling biology

Pneumocystis carinii (Pc) undergoes morphological transitions between cysts and trophic forms. We have previously described two Pc serine/threonine kinases, termed PcCbk1 and PcSte20, with PcSte20 belonging to a family of kinases involved in yeast mating, while PcCbk1 is a member of a group of protein kinases involved in regulation of cell cycle, shape, and proliferation. As Pc remains genetically intractable, knowledge on specific substrates phosphorylated by these kinases remains limited. Utilizing the phylogenetic relatedness of Pc to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we interrogated a yeast proteome microarray containing >4000 purified protein based peptides, leading to the identification of 18 potential PcCbk1 and 15 PcSte20 substrates (Z-score > 3.0). A number of these potential protein substrates are involved in bud site selection, polarized growth, and response to mating α factor and pseudohyphal and invasive growth. Full-length open reading frames suggested by the PcCbk1 and PcSte20 protoarrays were amplified and expressed. These five proteins were used as substrates for PcCbk1 or PcSte20, with each being highly phosphorylated by the respective kinase. Finally, to demonstrate the utility of this method to identify novel PcCbk1 and PcSte20 substrates, we analysed DNA sequence data from the partially complete Pc genome database and detected partial sequence information of potential PcCbk1 kinase substrates PcPxl1 and PcInt1. We additionally identified the potential PcSte20 kinase substrate PcBdf2. Full-length Pc substrates were cloned and expressed in yeast, and shown to be phosphorylated by the respective Pc kinases. In conclusion, the yeast protein microarray represents a novel crossover technique for identifying unique potential Pc kinase substrates. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Induction and Repression by Arginine in Escherichia coli DIFFERENT MECHANISMS

Abstract The presence of arginine in the growth medium of an Escherichia coli W mutant leads to the simultaneous induction of acetylornithine δ-transaminase and repression of acetylornithinase and ornithine transcarbamylase. In order for either induction or repression by arginine to occur, a functional regulatory gene, argR, must be present. An analogue of arginine, homoarginine, which does not inhibit the growth of this mutant, has been used to study these two types of control mechanisms. Homoarginine will partially repress the synthesis of acetylornithinase and ornithine transcarbamylase but will not induce transaminase synthesis; however, homoarginine will delay the onset of induction of the transaminase by arginine. Repression of acetylornithinase and ornithine transcarbamylase by homoarginine also requires the presence of a functional regulatory gene. Homoarginine does not function as substrate for arginyl transfer RNA synthetase, suggesting that charged arginyl-tRNA is not necessary for regulation of synthesis of the arginine biosynthetic enzymes. The data indicate that homoarginine combines with the regulatory gene product to bring about partial repression, but this interaction will not induce the synthesis of transaminase. Although the product of the regulatory gene functions in both induction and repression, it appears that the functional groups involved in regulation may differ for these two processes.
ROBUST MULTILAYER INSULATION FOR CRYOGENIC SYSTEMS

New requirements for thermal insulation include robust Multilayer insulation (MU) systems that work for a range of environments from high vacuum to no vacuum. Improved MLI systems must be simple to install and maintain while meeting the life-cycle cost and thermal performance objectives. Performance of actual MLI systems has been previously shown to be much worse than ideal MLI. Spacecraft that must contain cryogens for both lunar service (high vacuum) and ground launch operations (no vacuum) are planned. Future cryogenic spacecraft for the soft vacuum environment of Mars are also envisioned. Industry products using robust MLI can benefit from improved cost-efficiency and system safety. Novel materials have been developed to operate as excellent thermal insulators at vacuum levels that are much less stringent than the absolute high vacuum requirement of current MLI systems. One such robust system, Layered Composite Insulation (LCI), has been developed by the Cryogenics Test Laboratory at NASA Kennedy Space Center. The experimental testing and development of LCI is the focus of this paper. LCI thermal performance under cryogenic conditions is shown to be six times better than MLI at soft vacuum and similar to MLI at high vacuum. The experimental apparent thermal conductivity (k-value) and heat flux data for LCI systems are compared with other MLI systems.
chapter 23 – HEAT TRANSFER

Publisher Summary The transfer of heat occurs whenever an object is not in thermal equilibrium with its surroundings. The three forms of heat transfer are conduction, convection, and thermal radiation. Conduction is the transfer of heat without any flow of matter. Heat conduction is well understood and can be given a concise mathematical formulation. Convection is a form of heat flow that can occur only in fluids. Heat is transported by the currents of fluid that circulate between hotter and cooler regions. The convection is called free or natural when the convection currents are driven by internal forces arising from lack of thermal equilibrium. Heat is transferred between the currents and their surroundings by conduction. Convection is called forced when the convective currents are driven by external forces. This chapter describes Newton's law of cooling. It presents Stefan–Boltzmann law, which governs thermal radiation, and uses it to show how the temperature of the sun can be determined by using only an “eyeball” measurement and an ordinary thermometer.
Characterizing high-bandwidth real-time video traffic in residential broadband networks

Users are generating and uploading multimedia content to the Internet at an unprecedented rate. Residential broadband networks, however, have low upload capacities and large packet latencies. Wi-Fi networks that are used to access the Internet can suffer from high packet losses and contention latencies. All of these factors can result in poor video quality for residential users. Using packet traces and active measurements from houses, we study video quality in residential scenarios. We analyze the primary factors that contribute to poor performance and compare the performance over both the wireless and the broadband hop. Our measurements show that the upload capacities on the broadband links restrict the video bitrate (and hence the resolution) that can be transmitted. Residential wireless networks, however, have much higher capacities than the broadband links and, despite being densely deployed, do not see extended periods of high utilization. Our measurements shed light on the video transmission quality that is typically achievable from residences and are used to characterize the reasons behind quality deterioration.
Inertial Navigation System Simulator: Behavioral Specification

Abstract : The Ada Embedded Systems Testbed Project at the Software Engineering Institute is specifying and developing a representative real-time application. This document augments an original set of specifications written by a Navy affiliate. The purpose of this behavioral specification is to clarify and augment the original.
Modeling Scanned Acoustic Imaging of Defects at Solid Interfaces

This is an expository summary of my and my collaborators work building mathematical models of scanned acoustic imaging of defects such as cracks or voids that break the surface of a solid or form along solid-solid interfaces. We construct explicit models both of a high frequency, scanned acoustic microscope operating in a reflection mode, and of a lower frequency, scanned confocal acoustic imaging system operating in a transmission mode. The acoustic microscope can operate from 100 megahertz to several gigahertz. One of its most interesting imaging modes is the detection of small surface- breaking cracks, whose traces at the surface of a solid are smaller than an acoustic wavelength, even at high megahertz frequencies. It does so by using a leaky Rayleigh wave as part of its imaging mechanism. The confocal imaging system operates in a neighborhood of 10 megahertz, a lower frequency. It is used to image complicated solid- solid interfaces comprised of scatterers at numerous length scales, many of which are less than a wavelength. For both cases, we explain how the sound scattered from the defects is mapped into the sound collected by the transducers and hence into the voltages they produce. The models are approximate, make use of reciprocity relations and depend upon asymptotic evaluations of Fourier integrals.
Testing for Multilevel Dimensionality: A Higher-Order Factor Analysis of a Script Concordance Test

To date, few script concordance test (SCT) research studies have empirically investigated whether SCTs measure a single test dimension of clinical reasoning. Prior analyses have been inconclusive and unsuccessful at identifying exam dimensions through simple first-order factor analyses. Therefore, the principle objective of this work was to explore the higher-order factor structure of a problem-solving SCT to determine whether the dimensionality of the test conformed to a multilevel construct arrangement. This retrospective data analysis utilized scores from medical students (n = 522) who took a SCT in their fourth year of undergraduate training. Higher-order factor analyses were conducted on six different SCT scoring methods. In addition, Schmid-Leiman solutions were conducted to evaluate the proportion of variance unique to a given level of the model. Five of the six scoring methods yielded a factor structure with three first-order factors and one second-order factor. The total variance in the first-order factors explained by the second-order factor was notable at greater than 40 %. However, Schmid-Leiman solutions unveiled the deceptiveness of the higher-order models in that, across the various scoring methods, very few items contributed unique variance to the second- or first-order factors. Ideally, all items would have contributed unique variance to one or more levels of the model. In this study, SCT scores did not conform to a clear interpretable higher-order factor structure suggesting that SCTs may not measure the meaningful clinical reasoning constructs they are thought to measure. An explanation for these findings is provided, and recommendations for revising the SCT format and scoring procedures are proposed.
The new SAE FMECA standard

The new SAE FAMECA standard goes a long way toward bringing FMECA (failure mode effects and criticality analysis) into line with modern design practices. This is accomplished through three major changes. (1) The new standard describes the FMECA procedure as a process to be used throughout the product development cycle, rather than as a task to be done after the design is complete. It emphasizes the role of functional and interface FMECAs as well as that of the traditional piece part FMECA. (2) The concept of "failure mode equivalence" enables failure modes that have equivalent effects to be analyzed together and reduces much of the duplicative work generated by traditional component-by-component fault analyses. This concept allows the analyses of functional failure modes done early in the design process to be carried over to the effects of interface and piece-part failure modes analyzed later in the design. (3) Criticality is assessed using a Pareto ranking procedure based on the probability and the severity of the failure mode. This is more broadly applicable than the use of criticality numbers as defined in Mil-Std-1629 and it avoids some of the mathematical difficulties of the RPN analysis used in the Automobile FMECA standard, SAE J1739.
Implementing Federal Policy: Confronting State Capacity and Will

This article identifies two key constructs likely to influence implementation of federal policy. It theorizes that states' institutional capacity and political will may constrain or facilitate application of national initiatives, and offers a way to reorganize implementation analyses. The argument is applied in the education policy arena using several years of data to examine how resources and political will influence state test rigor under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). We hypothesize that better resourced and more conservative states are less likely to develop rigorous exams. Using a multilevel model, we find that state-level capacity and political will (notably state-level partisanship and preexisting accountability regimes) explain a substantial portion of variance in response to NCLB. These findings suggest in particular that implementation researchers should more often take note of explicitly political factors like state partisanship to anticipate how layers of government interact as they translate policy into practice. Related Articles: Patrick, Barbara. 2012. “Performance Policies, Needs, and Expectancy Theory: Are States Using Performance Policies to Build Highly Functional Workforces?” Politics & Policy 40 (4): 592-627. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2012.00370.x/abstract McGrath, Robert J. 2009. “Implementation Theory Revisited … Again: Lessons from the State Children's Health Insurance Program.” Politics & Policy 37 (2): 309-336. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2009.00174.x/abstract Grady, Dennis O., and Kathleen M. Simon. 2002. “Political Restraints and Bureaucratic Discretion: The Case of State Government Rule Making.” Politics & Policy 30 (4): 646-679. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2002.tb00139.x/abstract Related Media: Film Clip: Hamilton. 2012. “No Child Left Behind: Ten Years Later.” RAND Multimedia . http://www.rand.org/multimedia/video/2012/01/05/no-child-left-behind.html Various Resources: RAND Corporation. 2012. “NCLB.” RAND Education . http://www.rand.org/topics/nclb.html Identificamos dos factores que posiblemente influencian la implementacion de politicas federales. Argumentamos que la capacidad institucional y la voluntad politica de los estados puede restringir o facilitar la aplicacion de iniciativas nacionales, y ofrecemos una forma de reorganizar los analisis de implementacion. Aplicamos nuestro argumento al area de las politicas educativas usando informacion de muchos anos para examinar la influencia de los recursos y la voluntad politica estatal en el rigor de las pruebas en la iniciativa No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Nuestra hipotesis es que estados con mejores recursos y mas conservadores son menos probables a desarrollar examenes rigurosos. Usando un modelo multinivel, encontramos que la capacidad a nivel estatal y la voluntad politica (en particular el nivel de partidismo estatal y niveles pre-existentes de responsabilidad) pueden explicar una cantidad significativa en la variacion de respuesta a NCLB.
Tax Reform in Latin America

IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to carry out a rational fiscal program in any developing country without some common developmental goals agreed upon by business, the public, and by the most important implementor of fiscal policy, the government. In the past, development programs in Latin America (at least those large enough to encompass fiscal reform) have not been adopted with much vigor. Most fiscal changes were made to meet some specific need or to promote or restrict some private activity and, in the words of the Economic Commission for Latin America, "fiscal policy could not be more precise than development policy."' But fiscal policy holds a key role in any development program. Indeed, since the days of Keynes, it has been regarded as the most powerful tool of government. It has been recognized by the E.C.L.A. as the essential component for carrying out the much-needed social and economic reforms there. Specifically, fiscal policy is intimately related to the control of the volume of public and private investment (and its composition), to the quality and quantity of essential governmentally sponsored social goods and services, and to the distribution of income. In keeping with its importance to the less developed world, and in particular for Latin America, the E.C.L.A. has published under the auspices of the United Nations a "Report of the Conference on Fiscal Policy," organized by the Organization of American States, the International Development Bank, and by E.C.L.A.'s joint Tax Program, which took place in Santiago, Chile, in December, 1962. It will be the aim of this presentation to explore this report and other available sources on the topic in an attempt to synthesize and evaluate contemporary thought on tax reform.
The reliability of paleomagnetic data

Abstract A set of seven reliability criteria has been applied to a previously published Phanerozoic paleopole database for Europe and North America and a Late Precambrian data set for Africa. A quality factor (0 ⩽ Q ⩽ 7) is assigned to a result, based on the number of criteria satisfied. Three criteria, dealing with age reliability, structural control and laboratory demagnetization analysis are deemed the most important; for the Phanerozoic results these are satisfied by a large majority of the results, whereas for the majority (up to 80%) of the African Late Precambrian results such criteria are not met. Criteria based on tests that constrain the age of the magnetization, such as those dealing with folds, conglomerates, contacts or reversals, enhance the reliability of a result; for the Phanerozoic, they are generally satisfied by about one third of the data, but for the Precambrian only a few results incorporate such tests. The assertion is made in this study that these criteria indeed qualitatively describe the reliability of results in broad terms, so that a data set satisfying on average most of the criteria (Q ⩾ 4) can be described as more robust than a data set with average Q = 2. Statistical evaluations illustrate the difference in robustness of paleopole data sets between the well-studied Phanerozoic Era and the much more uncertain Late Precambrian.
Electrical anesthesia in surgical preparation for physiologic studies

Summary Electrical anesthesia was induced in 75 mongrel dogs using direct current combined with an alternating rectangular wave applied in the midsagittal plane between the chin and the posterior parietal area with platinum-sponge electrodes. Duration of the wave was varied from 0.1 to 1. millisecond: the frequency from 100 to 1000 cps. The electrodes were applied by a simple technique of gluing with Eastman 910 adhesive and tape. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased during induction and with any subsequent increases in current or with any sudden decrease in current. Gradual decreases in current did not have this effect. Bradycardia (sometimes alternating with tachycardia) occurred at the same time as the hypertension. During steady states of anesthesia, arterial blood pressure and rhythm returned to normal. the blood pressure more slowly. Upon cessation of current, blood pressure (if still elevated) immediately returned to normal. Prior sedation reduced these pressor reactions. Electric current applied to an extremity resulted in similar cardiovascular changes, which were ablated by denervation of the extremity. Placing of electrodes on the cranial bones did not decrease cardiovascular changes, nor did prefrontal lobotomy. All combinations of durations and frequencies produced hypertension and bradycardia. These changes were greater with lower frequencies and shorter durations. However, less satisfactory anesthesia resulted with the higher frequencies. Gradual or abrupt application of an anesthetic level had similar cardiovascular effects. An instantaneous application of an anesthetic level using 100 cps with a 1 millisecond pulse was adopted for routine use. A table of peak voltages was obtained with various combinations of wave frequency and duration. The peak voltage increased with decreasing percentage of time of passage of current (pulse duration/period ratio). It is suggested that this may be the dosage measurement related to anesthetic level. Respiratory and pressor reactions to intravenous sodium cyanide and to inhaled carbon dioxide were present during and after electrical anesthesia. The occasional increases in body temperature which occur during electrical anesthesia appear to be the result of muscular activity combined with failure of the panting mechanism and can be avoided by paralyzing drugs or adequate pulmonary ventilation. Skin (paw) temperature reactions to electrical anesthesia were not consistent. Skin temperature increases were observed after barbiturates (prolonged increase) and succinylcholine (brief increase). Electrical anesthesia would appear to be a suitable method for the surgical preparation of experimental animals for awake experiments.
Thinking Outside of the “RGS Box”: New Approaches to Therapeutic Targeting of Regulators of G Protein Signaling

Regulators of G protein signaling (RGS) proteins are emerging as potentially important drug targets. The mammalian RGS protein family has more than 20 members and they share a common ∼120-residue RGS homology domain or “RGS box.” RGS proteins regulate signaling via G protein-coupled receptors by accelerating GTPase activity at active α subunits of G proteins of the Gq and Gi/o families. Most studies searching for modulators of RGS protein function have been focused on inhibiting the GTPase accelerating protein activity. However, many RGS proteins contain additional domains that serve other functions, such as interactions with proteins or subcellular targeting. Here, we discuss a rationale for therapeutic targeting of RGS proteins by regulation of expression or allosteric modulation to permit either increases or decreases in RGS function. Several RGS proteins have reduced expression or function in pathophysiological states, so strategies to increase RGS function would be useful. Because several RGS proteins are rapidly degraded by the N-end rule pathway, finding ways to stabilize them may prove to be an effective way to enhance RGS protein function.
BLOOD-TRANSFUSION IN GROUP-B STREPTOCOCCAL SEPSIS

Abstract Transfusion of fresh whole blood was evaluated as a means of supplying opsonins and lessening the high mortality of group-B streptococcal sepsis in neonates. Pre-transfusion and post-transfusion sera from 22 infants were examined for the presence of opsonins against group-B organisms. Opsonic activity rose only when donor blood containing heat-stable antibody was administered in high volume (>40% of blood-volume). 9 of 9 infants transfused with blood containing antibody to their infecting strain survived septic episodes. 3 of 6 who received blood lacking antibody to their infecting strain died.
Scheduling with parallel machines to minimize total job tardiness

An integer goal programming algorithm is constructed to solve the parallel machine tardiness problem. In this problem, different machines are allowed to have different processing speeds on a job. This reflects the real-life situation that some machines may be older or of later design than others. In this paper the solution procedure is introduced beginning with the single machine problem and then extended to the general case of m machines. The computational complexity of this problem remains a major question. Currently, there is no polynomial time algorithm existing for this problem, nor a proof of NP-completeness. Due to the difficulty of this problem, future research will probably be concentrated on the development of approximate algorithms. Optimal solutions obtained from the integer goal program developed in this paper can serve as standards in evaluating the efficiency of approximate algorithms.
Visual Perception in the Brain of a Jumping Spider

Jumping spiders (Salticidae) are renowned for a behavioral repertoire that can seem more vertebrate, or even mammalian, than spider-like in character. This is made possible by a unique visual system that supports their stalking hunting style and elaborate mating rituals in which the bizarrely marked and colored appendages of males highlight their song-and-dance displays. Salticids perform these tasks with information from four pairs of functionally specialized eyes, providing a near 360° field of view and forward-looking spatial resolution surpassing that of all insects and even some mammals, processed by a brain roughly the size of a poppy seed. Salticid behavior, evolution, and ecology are well documented, but attempts to study the neurophysiological basis of their behavior had been thwarted by the pressurized nature of their internal body fluids, making typical physiological techniques infeasible and restricting all previous neural work in salticids to a few recordings from the eyes. We report the first survey of neurophysiological recordings from the brain of a jumping spider, Phidippus audax (Salticidae). The data include single-unit recordings in response to artificial and naturalistic visual stimuli. The salticid visual system is unique in that high-acuity and motion vision are processed by different pairs of eyes. We found nonlinear interactions between the principal and secondary eyes, which can be inferred from the emergence of spatiotemporal receptive fields. Ecologically relevant images, including prey-like objects such as flies, elicited bursts of excitation from single units.
Voltage instability in a simulated fuel cell stack correlated to cathode water accumulation

Single fuel cells running independently are often used for fundamental studies of water transport. It is also necessary to assess the dynamic behavior of fuel cell stacks comprised of multiple cells arranged in series, thus providing many paths for flow of reactant hydrogen on the anode and air (or pure oxygen) on the cathode. In the current work, the flow behavior of a fuel cell stack is simulated by using a single-cell test fixture coupled with a bypass flow loop for the cathode flow. This bypass simulates the presence of additional cells in a stack and provides an alternate path for airflow, thus avoiding forced convective purging of cathode flow channels. Liquid water accumulation in the cathode is shown to occur in two modes; initially nearly all the product water is retained in the gas diffusion layer until a critical saturation fraction is reached and then water accumulation in the flow channels begins. Flow redistribution and fuel cell performance loss result from channel slug formation. The application of in-situ neutron radiography affords a transient correlation of performance loss to liquid water accumulation. The current results identify a mechanism whereby depleted cathode flow on a single cell leads to performance loss, which can ultimately cause an operating proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack to fail.
Fabrication of multi-layer vertically stacked fused silica microsystems

In this paper, we present a fabrication process for an extremely compact, multi-layer, vertically-stacked fused silica microsystem. The system contains six fused silica layers in a total volume of less than 13 mm3. In the package are seven capacitive sensors designed as a six-degree of freedom inertial measurement unit plus a resonant timing device. Sixty-eight vertical electrical feedthroughs run through all six layers. Three key technologies are introduced: the fabrication of electrostatic devices on fused silica, the creation of through wafer vias in multiple layers of fused silica and stack bonding for 3-D integration of fused silica devices. The presented fused silica technology can be used for extreme miniaturization and integration of many future MEMS microsystems.
Congenital dislocation of the hip

Summary There has been a definite decrease in the incidence of residual problems from congenital dislocation of the hip as a result of more sophisticated diagnostic and treatment methods. Early controlled positioning in the young child has resulted in the increased possibility of an essentially normal hip; however, a significant number of young children still have a vascular necrosis, usually from forced positioning, however mild. The importance of keeping the newborn hips that already demonstrate or have a high risk for pathology in flexion, rather than abduction, must be understood, although this is no guarantee of a normal hip. The future for children with congenital dislocation of the hip looks brighter, because more specific attention to detailed evaluation will facilitate early diagnosis and treatment which almost always leads to normal hip development.