cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Statistical considerations for cross-sectional data relating to tracheal reconstruction over time.

Complementary statistical analyses are performed on data concerning tracheal reconstruction in rats. The principal response criterion is vessel area as defined by the area of a graft onto the trachea covered by blood vessels. Postoperatively, this vessel area changes in a nonlinear fashion over time. Starting at 0% immediately postoperation, the vessel area increases to a peak and then sharply decreases to a certain level at which it remains. A total of 64 independently observed cross-sectional pairs (postop day, vessel area) are distributed among four treated groups. Analysis consists of two-way analysis of variance and piecewise linear regression under the usual assumptions of normality and variance homogeneity. Other analyses that relax these assumptions are also considered; treatment differences are established by nonparametric tests, and a quasi-likelihood analysis of the piecewise linear regression model is applied under the assumption of a binomial-like variance function. The resulting fit of the n...
Hyporheic Exchange in Mountain Rivers II: Effects of Channel Morphology on Mechanics, Scales, and Rates of Exchange

We propose that the mechanisms driving hyporheic exchange vary systematically with different channel morphologies and associated fluvial processes that occur in mountain basins, providing a framework for examining physical controls on hyporheic environments and their spatial variation across the landscape. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of hyporheic environments within mountain catchments represents a nested hierarchy of process controls. Large-scale process drivers (geology, climate, fire, and land use) impose a suite of watershed conditions (topography, streamflow, sediment supply, and vegetation) on the fluvial system. Different combinations of imposed watershed conditions result in different reach-scale channel morphologies (e.g. step-pool, pool-riffle, and braided) that, in turn, structure hyporheic processes (e.g. pressure divergence, spatial variation of hydraulic conductivity) and resultant hyporheic environments (scales and rates of hyporheic exchange). Consequently, a holistic view of natural and anthropogenic drivers over a range of spatial and temporal scales is needed for understanding hyporheic ecosystems.
Physiological Ecology of North American Desert Plants

This book begins with the physical and biological characterization of the four North American deserts and a description of the primary adaptations of plants to environmental stress. In the following chapters the authors present case studies of key species representing dominant growth forms of the North American deserts, and provide an up-to-date and comprehensive review of the major patterns of adaptations in desert plants. One chapter is devoted to several important exotic plants that have invaded North American deserts. The book ends with a synthesis of the adaptations and resource requirements of North American desert plants. Further, it addresses how desert plants may respond to global climate change.
Computational models of reinforcement learning: the role of dopamine as a reward signal

Reinforcement learning is ubiquitous. Unlike other forms of learning, it involves the processing of fast yet content-poor feedback information to correct assumptions about the nature of a task or of a set of stimuli. This feedback information is often delivered as generic rewards or punishments, and has little to do with the stimulus features to be learned. How can such low-content feedback lead to such an efficient learning paradigm? Through a review of existing neuro-computational models of reinforcement learning, we suggest that the efficiency of this type of learning resides in the dynamic and synergistic cooperation of brain systems that use different levels of computations. The implementation of reward signals at the synaptic, cellular, network and system levels give the organism the necessary robustness, adaptability and processing speed required for evolutionary and behavioral success.
Natriuretic Peptide and Cardiovascular Risk: Is It About “U”?

Natriuretic peptides have established indications for the diagnosis of acute decompensated heart failure in patients presenting with dyspnea, and for prognosis in patients with an established diagnosis of heart failure (American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association stage C heart failure
Concomitant weekly docetaxel, cisplatin and radiation therapy in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer: A dose finding study

Abstract The optimal dose of weekly docetaxel in combination with cisplatin and concomitant thoracic radiation therapy (XRT) in patients with locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is not well defined. The purpose of this study was to define the maximal tolerated dose (MTD) of docetaxel in this combination. Eligible patients had unresectable stage IIIA or IIIB NSCLC without pleural effusion. Treatment consisted of cisplatin 25 mg/m2 plus docetaxel weekly and concomitant standard XRT for a total of 60 Gy at 200 cGy/fraction/day 5 times weekly for 6 weeks. The starting dose of docetaxel in the first cohort was 15 mg/m2/week. This dose was escalated by 5 mg/m2 per cohort of 3 patients. No intrapatient dose escalation was allowed. The doses of cisplatin and XRT were not escalated. A total of 23 patients were enrolled, and 19 patients were evaluable for analysis. The first cohort (docetaxel 15 mg/m2/week) completed treatment without any Grade 3 or 4 toxicities. The second cohort (docetaxel 20 mg/m2/week) was expanded to 6 patients because of Grade 3 cough observed in 1 patient. One of 5 patients experienced Grade 3 esophagitis at the docetaxel 25 mg/m2/week dose level. Dose limiting toxicity consisting of Grade 3 esophagitis was reached in 4 of 5 patients receiving docetaxel at 30 mg/m2/week. This study determined the MTD of weekly docetaxel to be 25 mg/m2 when combined with cisplatin 25 mg/m2 and radiation therapy for locally advanced NSCLC. Further evaluation of this regimen in a phase II trial is underway.
A comparison of voting algorithms for n-version programming

One approach to software fault-tolerance is to develop three versions of a program from a common specification, execute these versions in parallel, and vote on the output. If two versions agree, this majority vote is taken as the correct result. Errors in a single version are thus masked out. If there is no majority, a 3-version failure occurs. In earlier experimental work, groups of versions were tested in 3- version programming mode and the resulting average failure probability compared with the average failure probability of the individual versions. This paper describes the use of 5 alternative voting algorithms and compares the resulting failure probabilities against the failure probability for standard 3-version programming. All algorithms produced an improvement over standard 3-version programming, and one algorithm was sometimes able to produce entirely correct values even when none of the three versions has done so. >
How Long Must They Wait? Lackey Claims, Excessive Delay, and Evolving Standards of Decency

An almost inherent characteristic of American death penalty jurisprudence is the long period of time that passes between the sentencing of a death-eligible defendant and the defendant’s execution. ...
Group information foraging in emergency response: an illustration incorporating discrete-event simulation

Large-scale emergencies require groups of response personnel to seek and handle information from an evolving range of sources in order to meet an evolving set of goals, often under conditions of high risk. Because emergencies induce time constraint, efforts spent on planning activities reduce the time available for execution activities. This paper discusses the design and implementation of a discrete-event simulation system used for assessing how risk and time constraint can impact group information seeking and handling (i.e., foraging) during emergency response. A demonstration is given of how system parameters may be tuned in order to manipulate risk, time constraint, distribution of information and resources available for response. The results of a pilot test of the implemented system are briefly discussed. Finally, ongoing extensions of this simulation are discussed.
Developing Vocabulary and Conceptual Knowledge for Low-Income Preschoolers A Design Experiment

The purpose of this design experiment was to research, test, and iteratively derive principles of word learning and word organization that could help to theoretically advance our understanding of v...
Subtropical Jet Streaks over the South Pacific

Abstract The main objective of this study is to obtain a better understanding of the upper-tropospheric subtropical westerly wind maxima over the Australian–South Pacific region in the summer half of the year, which have been documented in previous papers to occur with a periodicity of 1–2 weeks. The focus of the study is to quantify the relative importance of tropical versus nontropical forcing during the acceleration phase of the aforementioned westerly wind maxima. Outgoing longwave radiation, wind data, and kinetic energy budgets, partitioned into rotational and divergent components, are used to examine the significance of the forcing mechanisms during the 6-month summer periods from 1985 to 1989. Criteria are developed to identify strong episodes of zonal wind accelerations. In all, 40 cases were found that met these criteria, or approximately 10 cases per year. In summary, 17 of the 40 cases suggested that tropical forcing was primarily responsible for the observed increase in the rotational kinetic...
Transforming to a Quality Culture

We describe the cultural transformation of the surgical pathology laboratory at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, to one that has adopted an expectation for empowered workers to see their daily work in the context of continually learning and making effective process improvements that are designed and tested by the scientific method. This transformation has been achieved by creating an organizational and educational framework for implementing guiding principles originally systematized as the basis of lean manufacturing by our founder, Henry Ford, at the turn of the century, and incorporating the innovations of the Toyota Production System. We present novel data collection techniques to establish baseline states by which to gauge the success of changes and lessons from rapid process improvement studies. Herein, we share our experiences, lessons learned, and successes to date in the pathology-based Henry Ford Production System. We do not make changes for the sake of making them, but we never fail to make a change once it is demonstrated that the new way is better than the old way. We hold it our duty to permit nothing to stand in the way of progress. —Henry Ford 1
Quenching of red cell tryptophan fluorescence by mercurial compounds.

Intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence in red cell ghost membranes labeled with N-ethylmaleimide (N-EM) is quenched in a dose-dependent manner by the organic mercurial p-chloromercuribenzene sulfonate (p-CMBS). Fluorescence lifetime analysis shows that quenching occurs by a static mechanism. Binding of p-CMBS occurs by a rapid (< 5 s) bimolecular association (dissociation constant K1 = 1.8 mM) followed by a slower unimolecular transition with forward rate constant k2 = 0.015 s−1 and reverse rate constant k-2 = 0.0054 s−1 Analysis of the temperature dependence of k2 gives ΔH = 6.5 kcal/mol and ΔS= – 21 eu. The mercurial compounds p-chloromercuribenzoic acid, p-aminophenylmercuric acetate, and mercuric chloride quench red cell tryptophan fluorescence by the same mechanism as p-CMBS does; the measured k2 value was the same for each compound, whereas K1 varied. p-CMBS also quenches the tryptophan fluorescence in vesicles reconstituted with purified band 3, the red cell anion exchange protein, in a manner similar t...
Recent Advances in the Molecular Aspects of Polymer Viscoelasticity

Abstract Polymers are materials worthy of study both because of their unique properties and because of their common occurrence in industrial products and in biological systems. The attention focused on them has been rewarded by an increased amount of success in establishing the relationships between their complex physical properties and their molecular structure. This article is concerned with a particular aspect of these investigations, the Theological properties of polymers in the liquid state. There has been an increase of activity in this field during the last fifteen years, which is the period covered by this review. The interested reader is directed to earlier reviews and articles that discuss related subject material. We begin with a qualitative description of a rheological experiment which demonstrates the mechanical response of polymers as well as introduces some of the essential phenomena which need to be explained. When a small shearing force is applied to a high-molecular-weight polymer liquid...
Determination of tantalum from tantalum oxide nanoparticle X-ray/CT contrast agents in rat tissues and bodily fluids by ICP-OES

Accurate and precise means for quantifying Ta in tissues, bodily fluids, and bone is critical in understanding anticipated safety-profiles for tantalum oxide (TaO) nanoparticle-based X-ray/CT diagnostic imaging agents and has prompted the development of three digestion methods which are the focus of this work. Spike recovery studies were employed to evaluate bias, precision, and sample matrix effects in the quantification of Ta in (1) liver, blood and femur by microwave-assisted digestion, (2) urine by open-beaker digestion, and (3) carcass, liver and feces by dry-ash digestion. All analyses were performed with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Spike recoveries were 98.5–102.3% for all biological matrices except femur (91.6%); however, a modified version of the original microwave digestion procedure improved the recovery of Ta in femur to 103.8%. Precision of spike recovery reported as one standard deviation ranged from 0.1 to 3.8% for within-run and from 0.5 to 3.3% for overall recovery depending on the tissue type and digestion method. Limit of detection (LOD) was 0.006 to 6 μg Ta per g and limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.02 to 20 μg Ta per g depending on the method. The presented methods were applied to the determination of Ta in liver, kidney, spleen and carcass from an in vivo TaO nanoparticle retention study, and the results for percent injected dose (% ID) of Ta retained are given.
Single-Arm Phase II Survival Trial Design Under the Proportional Hazards Model.

ABSTRACTFor designing single-arm phase II trials with time-to-event endpoints, a sample size formula is derived for the modified one-sample log-rank test under the proportional hazards model. The derived formula enables new methods for designing trials that allow a flexible choice of the underlying survival distribution. Simulation results showed that the proposed formula provides an accurate estimation of sample size. The sample size calculation has been implemented in an R function for the purpose of trial design. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.
The result analysis on monitoring brucellosis among the sixth division in Xinjiang in 2013

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the state of brucellosis among the population of the sixth division in Xinjiang in order to provide scientific evidences for its prevention and control.Methods Serological test was conducted to part of the population of six farms.RBPT method was used for the preliminary screen for brucellosis,and the suspected cases were tested for Brucella antibody with SAT.Results Brucellosis prevalence among the sixth division was 0.83%,and the infection rate was 4.58%.Conclusion Brucellosis was detected among the sixth division.All leaders should pay more attention to the situation,and every department should actively cooperate with each other to effectively control the epidemic.
Evaluation of 2 sugarcane molasses feeding strategies on measures of growth and reproductive performance of replacement beef heifers

ABSTRACT Our objectives were to compare the effects of 2 sugarcane molasses feeding strategies on growth (Exp. 1 and 2), reproductive performance (Exp. 1), and forage intake (Exp. 2) of replacement beef heifers. In Exp. 1 and 2, treatments consisted of cottonseed meal manually mixed with molasses in a slurry form (SLU), or cottonseed meal and molasses provided in separate bunks (SEP). In Exp. 1, 48 Brangus-crossbred heifers (BW = 236 ± 4 kg; age = 335 ± 5 d) were randomly assigned to 1 of 12 bahiagrass pastures (4 heifers per pasture; 6 pastures per treatment). Each pasture received 31.8 kg of molasses and 6.4 kg of cottonseed meal (as fed) twice weekly from d 0 to 70. In Exp. 2, Braford heifers were randomly assigned into 1 of 16 drylot pens to evaluate the daily hay DMI of heifers offered SEP or SLU supplementation twice weekly from d 0 to 21. Effects of treatment and treatment × day were not detected for BW and ADG of heifers in Exp. 1 and 2 ( P ≥ 0.27). In Exp. 1, overall pregnancy rates were similar ( P = 0.55), but puberty achievement tended to be greater for SLU versus SEP heifers ( P = 0.10). In Exp. 2, G:F and hay DMI did not differ between treatments ( P ≥ 0.21). Therefore, cottonseed meal and sugarcane molasses can be offered separately rather than in a slurry form without affecting growth, forage intake, and reproductive performance of grazing replacement beef heifers during breeding season.
Coordination Chemistry of Linear Tripyrroles: Promises and Perils

Presenting an electron-rich π system and an array of three pyrrolic nitrogen donors, linear tripyrrolic ligands are attractive platforms for metal coordination. While retaining several advantageous...
Population Trends of Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goats in the Greater Yellowstone Area

Climate is one of the driving forces affecting wildlife and fisheries. Access to daily data from SNOTEL stations in the mountains and Climatological stations in the valleys provides data on temperature, precipitation and snow that can be interpreted to help understand response to climate variables. Dates of spring and fall green-up, growing degree-days and forage production can be derived. Snow water equivalent (SWE) can be estimated from Climatological stations. Start of snow accumulation, maximum accumulation and date of maximum SWE, and date of melt-out can be determined for each station. Critical temperatures are different for each species and accumulated effect of cold temperatures can be determined from daily minimum temperatures. Long-term trends and annual variations can help explain fluctuation in population, reproduction, predation and mortality. Relationships have been developed relating plant phenology to climatic variables for lilacs (which have been used as a surrogate for estimating growing seasons) and Whitebark Pine. SWE can be related to migration and predation Keetch Byram Drought Index (KBDI) was developed for fire spread analysis but can also be used as an index to soil moisture. Index of Winter Severity (IWS) can be calculated for various areas and species using a combination of SWE, forage production and critical temperatures. Streamflows can be related to SWE, soil moisture, spring precipitation and temperatures.
No theory: an explanation of the lack of consistency in cross-country health care comparisons using non-parametric estimators

Since 2000 several papers have examined the efficiency of healthcare delivery systems worldwide. These papers have extended the literature using drastically different input and output combinations from one another, with little theoretical or empirical support backing these specifications. Issues arise that many of these inputs and outputs are available for a subset of OECD countries each year. Using a common estimator and the different specifications proposed leads to the result that efficiency rankings across papers can diverge quite significantly, with several countries being highly efficient in one specification and highly inefficient in another. Broad input-output measures that are collected annually provide consistent efficiency rankings across specifications, compared to specifications that utilize specific measures collected infrequently. This paper also finds that broad output measures that are not quality-adjusted, such as life expectancy, seem to be a suitable alternative for infrequently collected quality-adjusted output measures, such as disability adjusted life years.
Drug Metabolism in Kidney Disease

Abstract Patients with kidney disease represent a significant and expanding segment of the US population. A growing body of experimental and clinical evidence indicates that nonrenal drug clearance is altered in patients with acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Altered nonrenal drug clearance (CLNR) has been described in clinical pharmacokinetic studies, but to date the specific CLNR pathways that are affected in kidney disease have not been definitively established, and the mechanism has not been elucidated. Accumulated uremic toxins may lead to transcriptional, translational, or posttranslational modifications of drug metabolism pathways, and may do so in a reversible manner. Future Food and Drug Administration recommendations pertaining to the conduct of pharmacokinetic studies in CKD will undoubtedly improve our understanding of the clinical significance of altered CLNR of individual drugs and lead to more comprehensive drug-dosing recommendations for patients with kidney disease.
Depression treatment patterns among adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and depression.

AbstractObjective: To estimate rates and patterns of depression treatment among adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and depression.Methods: We used a retrospective, cross-sectional study design, pooling data from 2010 and 2012 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). The study sample consisted of 527 individuals aged 21 years or older, diagnosed with COPD and depression. Depression treatment was grouped into three categories based on those who received: (1) neither antidepressant nor psychotherapy; (2) antidepressants only; and (3) psychotherapy combined with antidepressants (combination therapy). We conducted chi-squared tests and multinomial logistic regressions to examine factors (demographic, socio-economic characteristics, healthcare access, health status, and personal health practices) associated with depression treatment among adults with COPD and depression.Key findings: The mean age of the study sample was 55.96 years (SD = 13.36). Overall, 18.8% of the sample adults did not ...
Boosted Jet Tagging with Jet-Images and Deep Neural Networks

Building on the jet-image based representation of high energy jets, we develop computer vision based techniques for jet tagging through the use of deep neural networks. Jet-images enabled the connection between jet substructure and tagging with the fields of computer vision and image processing. We show how applying such techniques using deep neural networks can improve the performance to identify highly boosted W bosons with respect to state-of-the-art substructure methods. In addition, we explore new ways to extract and visualize the discriminating features of different classes of jets, adding a new capability to understand the physics within jets and to design more powerful jet tagging methods.
TGF-β1/Smad3 Pathway Targets PP2A-AMPK-FoxO1 Signaling to Regulate Hepatic Gluconeogenesis

Maintenance of glucose homeostasis is essential for normal physiology. Deviation from normal glucose levels, in either direction, increases susceptibility to serious medical complications such as hypoglycemia and diabetes. Maintenance of glucose homeostasis is achieved via functional interactions among various organs: liver, skeletal muscle, adipose tissue, brain, and the endocrine pancreas. The liver is the primary site of endogenous glucose production, especially during states of prolonged fasting. However, enhanced gluconeogenesis is also a signature feature of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Thus, elucidating the signaling pathways that regulate hepatic gluconeogenesis would allow better insight into the process of normal endogenous glucose production as well as how this process is impaired in T2D. Here we demonstrate that the TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling pathway promotes hepatic gluconeogenesis, both upon prolonged fasting and during T2D. In contrast, genetic and pharmacological inhibition of TGF-β1/Smad3 signals suppressed endogenous glucose production. TGF-β1 and Smad3 signals achieved this effect via the targeting of key regulators of hepatic gluconeogenesis, protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and FoxO1 proteins. Specifically, TGF-β1 signaling suppressed the LKB1-AMPK axis, thereby facilitating the nuclear translocation of FoxO1 and activation of key gluconeogenic genes, glucose-6-phosphatase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. These findings underscore an important role of TGF-β1/Smad3 signaling in hepatic gluconeogenesis, both in normal physiology and in the pathophysiology of metabolic diseases such as diabetes, and are thus of significant medical relevance.
A numerical method for stationary shock problems with monotonic solutions

Numerical methods are considered for singularly perturbed quasilinear problems having interior-shock solutions. It is shown that the direct discretization on a layer-adapted mesh is ineffective for these problems. A special method is proposed for the case when the solution is monotonic: the problem is transformed by interchanging the dependent and independent variables, and it is then discretized on a uniform mesh. The method is analyzed both theoretically and numerically. It is shown that it can be effective, but that it is not entirely without problems. An approach for improving the method is suggested.
Chapter 4 – Generating fractals from Voronoi diagrams

Publisher Summary Voronoi diagrams can be used to generate interesting fractal patterns that resemble leaf veins, roadmaps, and cracked pottery glaze. The patterns are generated by recursively creating a Voronoi diagram inside each Voronoi polygon. A Voronoi diagram consists of nearest-neighbor polygons. To generate the fractal images, one starts with a small set of points and draws the Voronoi diagram of these points. Then, a denser set of points is used and a new Voronoi diagram is computed inside each region of the first diagramFor each region only the points inside that region are considered, and a Voronoi diagram is drawn clipped to that region. This process is repeated recursively, building a new Voronoi diagram inside each region of the higher-level diagram. The output can be varied in several ways. The most obvious parameters are the number of points at each level and the total recursion depth.
The Shot Made Round (Across) the Table (Maybe)

(2008). The Shot Made Round (Across) the Table (Maybe) Mathematics Magazine: Vol. 81, No. 4, pp. 249-267.
Interrelationships Between Hypoxia and Thermoregulation in Vertebrates

All vertebrates have a region of the brain used for thermoregulation. The sensory and integrative circuits are similar for both ectothermic and endothermic vertebrates (Crawshaw and Hammel 1974). Most or all thermoregulatory functions can be interpreted by single or dual set point models (Hammel et al. 1973; Barber and Crawford 1977). The outputs of the thermoregulatory center, behavioral and physiological, provide feedback control of core body temperature (Tb). Perhaps more surprising is the fact that animals without a brain also show temperature preferences and regulation. The protozoan Paramecium caudatumis a good example (see below).
Lithium and depression.

Following the findings that lithium carbonate is effective in the treatment of the manic phase of manic-depressive illness, there have been numerous attempts to evaluate its therapeutic effectiveness in a number of psychiatric conditions, including schizophrenia, anxiety states, premenstrual tension, and childhood behavior problems. These have been of uncertain value (see Chapter 15 for further discussion). The medical history of lithium (Mendels and Secunda, 1972) is also replete with unsubstantiated claims for therapeutic effectiveness, including efforts to use it in the treatment of gout, epilepsy, and insomnia as well as claims that it functions as a tonic and sedative. Consequently, it is not surprising that the suggestion that lithium carbonate may be effective in the treatment of yet another clinical condition, depression, has been received with reservation.
Under the Radar: Simplifying the Representation of Latent Class Characteristics:

In this visualization, we demonstrate how to use radar plots to represent the class-specific posterior response probabilities from latent class analysis results. These plots allow for a simple repr...
Government Engagement with Commercial Remote Sensing Companies: A Framework for Evaluating Public Data Buys

Abstract As the commercial remote sensing industry continues to grow, government agencies are looking for opportunities to take advantage of the new and relatively inexpensive data provided by thes...
Probabilistic Ice Forces on Offshore Structures

This paper presents an easy to understand method for predicting probabilistic ice forces on offshore structures. It discusses the development of probabilistic distributions from environmental data, and the formulas which are used to compute the ice forces. For one type of ice feature, many forces are calculated and a probability is assigned to each force to obtain the probability distribution. A method is developed for combining ice force distributions for more than one type of ice feature. The return period of a force is defined and the selection of its design value is discussed. The probability of exceeding the force in a time period, such as the life of the structure, is considered. Future developments are discussed with emphasis on obtaining better ice data.
Latin influence on German word order

Abstract Behaghel’s claim that verb finality in German dependent clauses (DCs) reflects Latin influence (1892, 1932) has been revived by Chirita (1997, 2003). According to Chirita, DC word order remains variable up to Early New High German, while in Latin, verb-finality is more frequent in DCs than main clauses (MCs); hence, she claims, German verb finality reflects Latin influence. This papers shows that the arguments for Latin influence are problematic and that the Modern German word order difference between MCs and DCs can be explained as the ultimate outcome of developments that started in early North and West Germanic. In the conclusion I briefly discuss similar developments in Western Romance and their implications for European contact linguistics.
Gender, Ideology, and Dominance in Supreme Court Oral Arguments

Gender bias in political discourse has been demonstrated in many settings, including the US Supreme Court. We investigate the effects of ideology and gender in verbal interactions during Supreme Co...
A Newly Proposed Framework and a Clarion Call to Improve Practice

The literature on evidence-based assessment is available but much of it focuses on evidence-based testing. In an effort to move the field toward more evidence-based practice, this chapter proposes an evidence-based psychoeducational assessment and report writing framework that establishes the platform for the book in its entirety. This framework argues for the regard of the psychometric and diagnostic/treatment utility literature, metrics of interpretability, scientific decision-making and critical thinking, and the creation of a well-organized, aesthetically appealing report that is properly conveyed to stakeholders.
Fossil fuel–fired power plant operations under a changing climate

Climate change introduces an uncertain risk to power plant operations as ambient conditions potentially constrain generation through thermodynamic limitations. Previous studies aiming to quantify this risk have suggested a wide range of results, from minimal to disastrous capacity loss. In this analysis, we used a power plant modeling tool to study how a variety of power plant configurations respond to varying meteorological conditions. We developed tools that enable the analysis of the climate impacts on power plant operations for a spectrum of geographic situations and technological configurations. We also used these tools to conduct a case study for US coal and natural gas power plants in 2050, under climate change scenario representative concentration pathway 4.5. Our study indicates that rising air temperatures are unlikely to seriously threaten capacity and efficiency at power plants at most locations, provided that wet recirculating and dry cooling systems are designed adequately. Our results allow for simpler modeling of power plant capacity deratings given ambient conditions, highlight potential regions of risk, and underscore the importance of incorporating climate factors into the electric power system’s design and planning.
Introduction: Constitutionalism for Divided Societies

The commentary in this Part of the book focuses on a range of tensions that have developed from misjudged political meddling in fragile constitutional orders. The writers capture the extent to which the operation of constitutional settlements in divided, heterogeneous multinational European states can be affected by no small degree of political contingency. The timing of this thoughtful analysis is particularly auspicious given the development of a range of constitutional ruptures across Europe over the past few years. More specifically, the authors offer an account, through an eclectic and innovative array of methodological style, of how legal devices that often operate at the subterranean may in fact entrench communal division in a crisis. Read together, then, these chapters offer an innovative exploration of a range of legal responses to acute constitutional stress in several divided European nation states.
Assessment of Circulating MicroRNAs for the Diagnosis and Disease Activity Evaluation in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis by Using the Nanostring Technology.

Background: Clinical decision and patient care management in inflammatory bowel diseases is largely based on the assessment of clinical symptoms, while the biomarkers currently in use poorly reflect the actual disease activity. Therefore, the identification of novel biomarkers will serve an unmet clinical need for IBD screening and patient management. We examined the utility of circulating microRNAs for diagnosis and disease activity monitoring in ulcerative colitis (UC) patients. Methods: Blood serum microRNAs were isolated from UC patients with active and inactive disease and healthy donors. High-throughput microRNA profiling was performed using the Nanostring technology platform. Clinical disease activity was captured by calculating the partial Mayo score. C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured in UC patients as part of their clinical monitoring. The profiles of circulating microRNAs and CRP were correlated with clinical disease indices. Results: We have identified a signature of 12 circulating microRNAs that differentiate UC patients from control subjects. Moreover, six of these microRNAs significantly correlated with UC disease activity. Importantly, a set of four microRNAs (hsa-miR-4454, hsa-miR-223-3p, hsa-miR-23a-3p, and hsa-miR-320e) which correlated with UC disease activity, were found to have higher sensitivity and specificity values than CRP. Conclusions: Circulating microRNAs provide a novel diagnostic and prognostic marker for UC patients. The use of an FDA approved platform could accelerate the application of microRNA screening in a GI clinical setting. When used in combination with current diagnostic and disease activity assessment modalities, microRNAs could improve both IBD screening and care management.
Using machine learning to augment collaborative filtering of community discussions

Collaborative filtering systems have been developed to manage information overload in online communities. In these systems, users rank content provided by other users on the validity or usefulness within their particular context. Slash-dot is an example of such a community where peers rate each others' comments based on their relevance to the post. This work extracts a wide variety of features from the Slashdot metadata and posts' linguistic contents to identify features that can predict the community rating. We find that author reputation, use of pronouns, and author sentiment are salient. We achieve 76% accuracy at predicting the community's rating of the post as good, neutral, or bad.
Check‐up Time: A Closer Look at Physical Symptoms in Occupational Health Research

In order to advance research on stress-related symptoms in occupational health psychology, our study examined three ways to measure physical symptoms—by asking about symptom frequency, interference with daily activities and whether a doctor was seen for each symptom. We used exploratory factor analysis and item response theory to gain greater insight into these measures and compared how symptoms measured along these dimensions predicted other stress-related outcomes in the workplace. Among the main findings of our study are the following: (1) symptoms may be categorized as those that occur as a response to acute events and those that reflect more chronic stress; (2) individuals appear to have a relatively low threshold for reporting that acute symptoms (e.g. heart pounding) interfere with daily activities; and (3) specific symptom (acute, chronic)–response format (frequency, interference) combinations uniquely predicted other strain variables in conceptually meaningful ways. Recommendations for the assessment of physical symptoms are provided. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mass transfer process in a two‐region medium

[1] Two-region mass transfer models have been widely considered for describing flow and transport in highly heterogeneous porous media. Previous studies have indicated that in two-region systems the effective mass transfer coefficient is not a constant but depends upon a time convolution of the concentration history. Although such a representation does capture the mass transfer dynamics correctly, it can be difficult to apply because the convolution operation couples the effective mass transfer rate to the average concentration. In this work, we present the upscaling of a two-region system complete with a method for predicting the time-varying effective mass transfer coefficient that arises. We consider in detail the particular case that occurs when the convective flux in the low conductivity region can be neglected and the inclusions are spherical. This puts the problem in a classical context, and we develop explicit closed-form expressions for the time-varying effective mass transfer coefficient within the context of volume averaging. Our goals in this work are to (1) determine the general (convolution) form of the macroscale two-equation model for transport in such a medium using volume averaging, (2) assess the influence of several simplifications to the convolution form of the two-equation model, and (3) compare this result with existing classical results for the simplified geometry of spherical inclusions. A comparison of the results predicted by theory and experimental data from two macroscale, two-region systems is made. Additional discussion about how the method can be extended to other geometries and to cases where the convective flux is not negligible is also presented.
International students' travel characteristics: an exploratory study.

The focus of this study was to identify travel characteristics of international students in general and the longest trip taken in the last 12 months, along with demographic characteristics. Information sources among international students were also studied. Results indicated the majority of international students traveled during their study in the U.S., and they planned their trips in advance. Maps, family/friends, and past experiences were the most often used travel information sources. This study was exploratory in nature. Findings of the study may stimulate further investigation of this fast-growing market segment.
The Theory of Available Potential Energy and a Variational Approach to Atmospheric Energetics

Publisher Summary The concept of available potential energy is founded upon the principle of conservation of mass and the idealization that flows, which conserve specific entropy, may exist. Under these conditions, the sum of the internal, potential, and kinetic energies is a constant, and; therefore, a state of the atmosphere, which possesses a minimum of total potential energy will likewise have a maximum of kinetic energy. The purpose of this chapter to: (1) Develop the theory of available potential energy and its rate of change rigorously and exactly, and thereby clarify the roles of convection, hydrostatic departures, static stability, and diabatic processes. (2) Investigate the relationships between the concepts of available potential energy, static stability, and entropy, and investigate contributions to available energy under various circumstances. (3) Demonstrate that the methods of the calculus of variations provide an economical method of obtaining exact results in available energy theory. (4) Propose an application of variational techniques, which offer considerable intuitive insight and the possibility of analytic and numerical attacks on the problem of why the atmosphere chooses the modes of circulation it does. (5) Illustrate the role of available potential energy in maintaining the circulation in the context of the proposed theory of the control of the general circulation. Studies of energy transformations in general and those involving available potential energy in particular, can never yield information about the control of the circulation unless they are coupled with a dynamic theory. By themselves, such studies are of necessity diagnostic and kinematic, and can yield only a detailed understanding of the mechanisms by which energy is conserved. The discovery and application of variational and integral techniques in atmospheric research is just beginning, but their success in other fields is sufficient guarantee that their exploitation will dispel many mysteries.
Adaptive Landscapes of Resistance Genes Change as Antibiotic Concentrations Change

Most studies on the evolution of antibiotic resistance are focused on selection for resistance at lethal antibiotic concentrations, which has allowed the detection of mutant strains that show strong phenotypic traits. However, solely focusing on lethal concentrations of antibiotics narrowly limits our perspective of antibiotic resistance evolution. New high-resolution competition assays have shown that resistant bacteria are selected at relatively low concentrations of antibiotics. This finding is important because sublethal concentrations of antibiotics are found widely in patients undergoing antibiotic therapies, and in nonmedical conditions such as wastewater treatment plants, and food and water used in agriculture and farming. To understand the impacts of sublethal concentrations on selection, we measured 30 adaptive landscapes for a set of TEM β-lactamases containing all combinations of the four amino acid substitutions that exist in TEM-50 for 15 β-lactam antibiotics at multiple concentrations. We found that there are many evolutionary pathways within this collection of landscapes that lead to nearly every TEM-genotype that we studied. While it is known that the pathways change depending on the type of β-lactam, this study demonstrates that the landscapes including fitness optima also change dramatically as the concentrations of antibiotics change. Based on these results we conclude that the presence of multiple concentrations of β-lactams in an environment result in many different adaptive landscapes through which pathways to nearly every genotype are available. Ultimately this may increase the diversity of genotypes in microbial populations.
Modeling soil heating and moisture transport under extreme conditions: Forest fires and slash pile burns

[1] Heating any soil during a sufficiently intense wildfire or prescribed burn can alter it irreversibly, causing many significant, long-term biological, chemical, and hydrological effects. Given the climate-change-driven increasing probability of wildfires and the increasing use of prescribed burns by land managers, it is important to better understand the dynamics of the coupled heat and moisture transport in soil during these extreme heating events. Furthermore, improved understanding and modeling of heat and mass transport during extreme conditions should provide insights into the associated transport mechanisms under more normal conditions. The present study describes a numerical model developed to simulate soil heat and moisture transport during fires where the surface heating often ranges between 10,000 and 100,000 W m−2 for several minutes to several hours. Basically, the model extends methods commonly used to model coupled heat flow and moisture evaporation at ambient conditions into regions of extreme dryness and heat. But it also incorporates some infrequently used formulations for temperature dependencies of the soil specific heat, thermal conductivity, and the water retention curve, as well as advective effects due to the large changes in volume that occur when liquid water is rapidly volatilized. Model performance is tested against laboratory measurements of soil temperature and moisture changes at several depths during controlled heating events. Qualitatively, the model agrees with the laboratory observations, namely, it simulates an increase in soil moisture ahead of the drying front (due to the condensation of evaporated soil water at the front) and a hiatus in the soil temperature rise during the strongly evaporative stage of the soil drying. Nevertheless, it is shown that the model is incapable of producing a physically realistic solution because it does not (and, in fact, cannot) represent the relationship between soil water potential and soil moisture at extremely low soil moisture contents (i.e., residual or bound water: θ < 0.01 m3 m−3, for example). Diagnosing the model's performance yields important insights into how to make progress on modeling soil evaporation and heating under conditions of high temperatures and very low soil moisture content.
Ka/Q band GaAs IMPATT amplifier technology

GaAs IMPATT diodes are capable of generating 2 to 3 W simultaneously with 18–22% efficiency in the 33 GHz to 46 GHz frequency band. The design of the amplifier circuits which utilize these devices is discussed. The circuit design is based on a 3-step closed form algorithm. The first step is a passive circuit characterization with an automatic network analyzer. In the second step, a computer is used to generate diode device lines. The third step is load line synthesis for predictable operation. The resulting performance is described. 2 W over a 2GHz bandwidth was achieved simultaneously with a minimum gain of 12 dB.
Excited state electron transfer of fullerenes. Singlet states versus triplet states

Abstract We report that the quenching rate constants of the triplet states of fullerenes (C70 and C60) by aromatic amines such as N,N-diethylaniline and N-ethylcarbazole are at least four orders of magnitude smaller than those of the singlet states in methylcyclohexane. Such dramatic differences between the singlet and triplet electron transfer rate constants from a single species, in spite of the states' apparently similar energetics, are unprecedented. Several possible mechanisms are discussed. The data can be rationalized by the presence of structural distortion and biradical character in the triplet state.