cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Overview of Devolatilizers

This chapter examines the technical requirements of the process—limitations and enhancement mechanisms for separation—prior to reviewing the available equipment. It discusses a few broad criteria for the selection of the equipment. Devolatilization of molten polymers is a thermodynamically driven, mass-transfer-limited separation process. Effective means of transferring heat to and from the polymer solution are essential while carrying out devolatilization. Devolatilization is sometimes used to enhance chemical reactions such as polycondensation or grafting. Intentional addition of a devolatilizing aid to the polymer is another practical approach available to the processor for improving separation efficiency, especially during the final stages of vacuum devolatilization. Vapors removed from the devolatilizer are condensed quickly, both to reduce the load on the vacuum system and to recover most of the volatiles back into a process stream.
How Iowa Conquered the World: The Story of a Small Farm State’s Journey to Global Dominance

Review of: "How Iowa Conquered the World: The Story of a Small Farm State’s Journey to Global Dominance," by Michael Rank
Vascular Adipose Complex

An extensive, robust microvasculature is required to maintain the metabolic integrity of adipose tissue. This means that adipocytes and vascular endothelial cells maintain a constant communication that is mediated in part through paracrine signaling, a feature that requires cellular proximity. Adipocytes are atypical mesenchymal cells in that they form a basement membrane in the absence of direct contact with epithelial cells. Adipocyte development always occurs in context with a vascular plexus. Vascular endothelial cells interact with stromal support cells to produce a basement membrane complex. Thus, adipose tissue contains two basement membrane systems in close proximity. These two basement membrane systems also develop during the construction of a tissue engineered, pre-vascularized adipose tissue and form an integrated adipocyte/vascular complex. This complex contains the heparan sulfate proteoglycan perlecan. Perlecan is critical for angiogenesis since it sequesters, concentrates, and protects multiple pro-angiogenic bioactive factors. The basement membrane/vascular complex remains stable upon implantation into a live host. Thus, the basement membrane may be a target for control of adipose tissue since it is critical for vascular function.
Gender Differences in Sexuality

Gender differences in sexual attitudes and behaviors are associated with perhaps the most widespread gender stereotypes of any aspect of psychology. Popular opinion suggests that men prefer sex frequently and with much variety, whereas women are thought to be sexually disengaged, only accepting of sexual activity when it results in procreation or satisfying their partners. An abundance of research has explored this topic to examine claims about gender differences in sexuality. In this chapter we review the results of that research on gender differences in sexual behaviors and attitudes. A point of clarification should be made to introduce the terminology used in this chapter. “Gender” is a term that typically is associated with the psychosocial aspects of being a man or a woman, whereas “sex” typically refers to the biological aspects of being a man or a woman. In order to reduce confusion we will use the term “gender” to refer to both the psychosocial and biological aspects of men/maleness and women/femaleness and reserve the term “sex” to refer to sexual activity. The term “sexuality” is a global term, which refers to sexual attitudes, behaviors, identity, and physical and mental health.
Middle Range Theory and the Strategies of Theory Construction

In 1949 Robert Merton published the first edition of Social Theory and Social Structure (STSS). This volume crystallized a theory construction imperative for the social sciences: a strategy of building theories of the middle range (Merton, 1949, pp. 5–11). Although Merton (1967, 1968, pp. 56–58) would later trace the call for middle range theories (MRTs) to such eminent philosophers as Plato, Francis Bacon, John Stuart Mill, and Karl Mannheim, contemporary concern about the middle range imperative is due almost entirely to Merton’s discussion in the three editions of STSS (1949, 1957, and 1968).1
The Natural History of Fibrous Dysplasia: An Orthopaedic, Pathological, and Roentgenographic Study

A long-term follow-up study of thirty-seven cases of polyostotic fibrous dysplasia and thirteen cases of monostotic fibrous dysplasia is presented. In three fatalities, death could probably be attributed to polyostotic involvement. In two other patients, sarcoma developed after radiation of a lesion
Akrasia, reasons, and causes

We may, and should, reject Davidson's (P2) — the claim that any agent who judges (unconditionally) that it is better to do x than to do y is more strongly motivated to do x than to do y — without having to abandon a causal theory of action. (P2) is false. The connection between unconditional judgments and the balance of an agent's motivation is more complex than Davidson thinks; and this holds as well for the connection between intentions and motivations. The extent to which an agent is self-controlled is also an important factor. This is not to say, however, that there is no connection, nor that to explain an intentional action by citing the reason(s) for which it was intended and performed is not to give a causal explanation of the action.
Pet Econometrics: Ownership of Cats and Dogs

Using a bivariate ordered probit model, this paper examines the effects of house ownership, housing tenure, income, household size and composition, and the occupation and education of the make and female head of household on ownership of cats and dogs. Large households have more of both, but other factors differ between cat and dog ownership. Women's opportunity costs and missing female adults encourage cat ownership. Cats and dogs are slightly complementary. A GMM demographic specification test does not reject normality. The data are taken from a demographic scanner panel data set developed for a marketing study.
Altered Corticolimbic Control of the Nucleus Accumbens by Long-term Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Exposure.

Abstract Background The decriminalization and legalization of cannabis and the expansion of availability of medical cannabis in North America have led to an increase in cannabis use and the availability of high-potency strains. Cannabis potency is determined by the concentration of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), a psychoactive constituent that activates cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors. The use of high-potency cannabis is associated with cannabis use disorder and increased susceptibility to psychiatric illness. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is part of a brain reward circuit affected by Δ9-THC through modulation of glutamate afferents arising from corticolimbic brain areas implicated in drug addiction and psychiatric disorders. Moreover, brain imaging studies show alterations in corticolimbic and NAc properties in human cannabis users. Methods Using in vitro electrophysiology and optogenetics, we examined how Δ9-THC alters corticolimbic input to the NAc in rats. Results We found that long-term exposure to Δ9-THC weakens prefrontal cortex glutamate input to the NAc shell and strengthens input from basolateral amygdala and ventral hippocampus. Further, whereas long-term exposure to Δ9-THC had no effect on net strength of glutamatergic input to NAc shell arising from midbrain dopamine neurons, it alters fundamental properties of these synapses. Conclusions Long-term exposure to Δ9-THC shifts control of the NAc shell from cortical to limbic input, likely contributing to cognitive and psychiatric dysfunction that is associated with cannabis use.
Childhood maltreatment and alcohol-related problems in young adulthood: The protective role of parental warmth

Abstract Background Alcohol use among young adults is highly prevalent. Individuals exposed to childhood maltreatment are particularly vulnerable to alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Few studies have examined family protective factors, such as parental warmth, that may mitigate the effects of childhood maltreatment on alcohol-related problems. Objective The current study seeks to examine the extent to which parental warmth reduces the effect of childhood exposure to maltreatment on alcohol-related problems in young adulthood. Participants and setting Participants were young adults (N = 337; mean age = 21.7), who were recruited from an urban community and completed in-person interviews assessing childhood maltreatment, parental warmth, and alcohol-related problems. Methods Multiple hierarchical linear regression models were used to examine whether maternal and paternal warmth reduced the impact of childhood exposure to maltreatment on alcohol-related problems in young adulthood. Common risk factors for alcohol-related problems, including psychological symptoms and peer and parental alcohol use, were also entered into the models. Results We found a significant moderating effect of paternal warmth on the associations between childhood emotional abuse and alcohol-related problems (β= -0.29, p Conclusion The results of this research suggest that parental warmth may not only relate to fewer alcohol-related problems among offspring, but may also modify the associations between childhood emotional abuse and alcohol-related problems during young adulthood.
“You Soak It up Like a Sponge”: Urban African American Teens’ Perceptions of the Determinants of Dating Abuse Perpetration and Victimization

AbstractBackground:African American (AA) teens endure disproportionately high rates of adolescent dating abuse (ADA). There is a limited understanding of the community–specific pathways that contri...
VizCertify: A Framework for Secure Visual Data Exploration

Recently, there have been several proposals to develop visual recommendation systems. The most advanced systems aim to recommend visualizations, which help users to find new correlations or identify an interesting deviation based on the current context of the user’s analysis. However, when recommending a visualization to a user, there is an inherent risk to visualize random fluctuations rather than solely true patterns: a problem largely ignored by current techniques. In this paper, we present VizCertify, a novel framework to improve the performance of visual recommendation systems by quantifying the statistical significance of recommended visualizations. The proposed methodology allows to control the probability of misleading visual recommendations using both classical statistical testing procedures and a novel application of the Vapnik Chervonenkis (VC) dimension towards visualization recommendation which results in an effective criterion to decide whether a recommendation corresponds to a true phenomenon or not.
Interactions between retronasal olfaction and taste influence vegetable liking and consumption: A psychophysical investigation

Abstract Previously, we found bitter and sweet tastes to be positive and negative predictors of vegetable liking and intake. Here, we examined interactions between retronasal olfactory sensations (flavor) and tastes as potential predictors of vegetable liking and intake. Adults (n = 97), diverse in bodyweight (40% overweight/obese), rated green vegetables (asparagus, Brussels sprouts, kale) for flavor (sampled with nose plugged, then unplugged to perceive flavor volatiles) and tastes (bitterness and sweetness). They were phenotyped for genetic variation in taste (propylthiouracil (PROP) bitterness) and taste function (quinine bitterness on the tongue tip relative to whole mouth); vegetable consumption frequency was self-reported. Greater increases in vegetable flavor sensations (difference of nose unplugged v. plugged) were associated with greater vegetable bitterness but not sweetness. Those tasting PROP as most bitter also reported greater flavor sensations (nose unplugged) but not greater flavor increases (difference of unplugged v. plugged). With retronasal flavor input, hedonic ratings increased significantly for asparagus, showed little change for kale, and were highly variability for Brussels sprouts; these ratings did not vary by taste phenotype. Those with greater body mass index reported more hedonic increases with vegetable flavor (difference of unplugged v. plugged). In multivariate modeling, PROP bitterness directly predicted vegetable bitterness and flavor. Vegetable flavor negatively influenced vegetable liking and intake indirectly via bitterness, and showed direct negative effects on vegetable intake. These findings support the need for basic and applied research across the food system (e.g., farm to table) to identify ways to enhance pleasant oral sensations from vegetables (e.g., sensory-guided breeding). More pleasant oral sensations would encourage vegetable consumption in support of healthy eating and body weight, especially for individuals with genetic propensity to experience negative oral sensations from vegetables.
A method for the inclusion of human factors in system design via use case definition

The necessity of considering human factors in the early phases of intelligent systems engineering is increasing in tandem with overall system complexity and size. With this increased need, the capabilities and limitations of human-systems integration (HSI) are becoming more of a focus in the design of intelligent systems. Systems have been growing progressively more complex as the system is required to perform complicated tasks in an increasingly complex environment. However, the current state of system design and engineering processes is often insufficient or too late in the system life cycle to adequately address human-intelligent systems integration. As a result, emergent problems related to human factors arise late in the system life cycle, often even after system deployment, resulting in additional cost, time, and liability. This research proposes a method for including human factors early and throughout the systems engineering process utilizing use case definitions and associated diagrams that show relationships with external actors, including humans. Human performance, task analysis, and Goals, Operators, Methods, Selection rules (GOMS) models produce quantitative metrics for human factors to be included in the system design process. System use case definitions are a natural pathway for the inclusion of human factors early and throughout the systems life cycle, enabling the consideration of quantitative human-systems integration metrics in the system design process.
Big influence of small random imperfections in origami-based metamaterials

Origami structures demonstrate great theoretical potential for creating metamaterials with exotic properties. However, there is a lack of understanding of how imperfections influence the mechanical...
Viral regulation of mRNA export with potentials for targeted therapy

Eukaryotic gene expression begins with transcription in the nucleus to synthesize mRNA (messenger RNA), which is subsequently exported to the cytoplasm for translation to protein. Like transcription and translation, mRNA export is an important regulatory step of eukaryotic gene expression. Various factors are involved in regulating mRNA export, and thus gene expression. Intriguingly, some of these factors interact with viral proteins, and such interactions interfere with mRNA export of the host cell, favoring viral RNA export. Hence, viruses hijack host mRNA export machinery for export of their own RNAs from nucleus to cytoplasm for translation to proteins for viral life cycle, suppressing host mRNA export (and thus host gene expression and immune/antiviral response). Therefore, the molecules that can impair the interactions of these mRNA export factors with viral proteins could emerge as antiviral therapeutic agents to suppress viral RNA transport and enhance host mRNA export, thereby promoting host gene expression and immune response. Thus, there has been a number of studies to understand how virus hijacks mRNA export machinery in suppressing host gene expression and promoting its own RNA export to the cytoplasm for translation to proteins required for viral replication/assembly/life cycle towards developing targeted antiviral therapies, as concisely described here.
Better the devil you don't know: Types of corruption and FDI in transition economies

Abstract Corruption has a negative impact on foreign direct investment (FDI). However, transition economies show high levels of corruption and also high levels of FDI. I argue that it is not the level but rather the type of corruption that affects FDI in transition economies. Pervasive corruption, or corruption that is widely present, acts as a deterrent to FDI because it increases the known costs of investing, while arbitrary corruption, or corruption that is uncertain, does not have such a deterring influence because it becomes part of the uncertainty of operating in transition economies. In transition economies, investors prefer to deal with an unknown evil – arbitrary corruption – rather than a known one – pervasive corruption.
Interactions between Phase-Separated Liquids and Membrane Surfaces.

Liquid-liquid phase separation has recently emerged as an important fundamental organizational phenomenon in biological settings. Most studies of biological phase separation have focused on droplets that “condense” from solution above a critical concentration, forming so-called “membraneless organelles” suspended in solution. However, membranes are ubiquitous throughout cells, and many biomolecular condensates interact with membrane surfaces. Such membrane-associated phase-separated systems range from clusters of integral or peripheral membrane proteins in the plane of the membrane to free, spherical droplets wetting membrane surfaces to droplets containing small lipid vesicles. In this review, we consider phase-separated liquids that interact with membrane surfaces and we discuss the consequences of those interactions. The physical properties of distinct liquid phases in contact with bilayers can reshape the membrane, and liquid-liquid phase separation can construct membrane-associated protein structures, modulate their function, and organize collections of lipid vesicles dynamically. We summarize the common phenomena that arise in these systems of liquid phases and membranes.
A Simple Method for Simulating Dementia Onset and Death within an Existing Demographic Model.

BackgroundDementia is a common disease that has an impact on both the affected individual and family members who provide caregiving. Simulation models can assist in setting policy that anticipates ...
Massive dipoles across the metal–semiconductor cluster interface: towards chemically controlled rectification

An interface between a metallic cluster (MgAl12) and a semiconducting cluster (Re6Se8(PMe3)5) is shown to be marked by a massive dipole reminiscent of a dipolar layer leading to a Schottky barrier at metal–semiconductor interfaces. The metallic cluster MgAl12 with a valence electron count of 38 electrons is two electrons short of 40 electrons needed to complete its electronic shells in a superatomic model and is marked by a significant electron affinity of 2.99 eV. On the other hand, the metal-chalcogenide semiconducting cluster Re6Se8(PMe3)5, consisting of a Re6Se8 core ligated with five trimethylphosphine ligands, is highly stable in the +2 charge-state owing to its electronic shell closure, and has a low ionization energy of 3.3 eV. The composite cluster Re6Se8(PMe3)5–MgAl12 formed by combining the MgAl12 cluster through the unligated site of Re6Se8(PMe3)5 exhibits a massive dipole moment of 28.38 D resulting from a charge flow from Re6Se8(PMe3)5 to the MgAl12 cluster. The highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the composite cluster is on the MgAl12 side, which is 0.53 eV below the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) localized on the Re6Se8(PMe3)5 cluster, reminiscent of a Schottky barrier at metal–semiconductor interfaces. Therefore, the combination can act as a rectifier, and an application of a voltage of approximately 4.1 V via a homogeneous external electric field is needed to overcome the barrier aligning the two states: the HOMO in MgAl12 with the LUMO in Re6Se8(PMe3)5. Apart from the bias voltage, the barrier can also be reduced by attaching ligands to the metallic cluster, which provides chemical control over rectification. Finally, the fused cluster is shown to be capable of separating electron–hole pairs with minimal recombination, offering the potential for photovoltaic applications.
Strategies for measuring peer alcohol use within egocentric network analysis.

OBJECTIVE Compare different strategies for measuring perceived peer alcohol use within network research. PARTICIPANTS College students (N = 309). METHODS Collected demographic, personal alcohol use, and egocentric network data. Hierarchical linear regression analyses predicted egos' drinking behavior (AUDIT-C scores). RESULTS Egos' perceptions of nominated peers' binge-drinking frequency explained a significant portion of variance in egos' AUDIT-C scores, over and above perceptions of nominated peers' frequency/typical quantity of alcohol consumption and important demographic covariates. Using more than three items to assess perceived peer alcohol use did not offer statistically significant improvements and may add unnecessary response burden. CONCLUSIONS Utilizing the three-item approach (i.e., frequency, quantity, binge-drinking frequency) to assess perceived peer drinking explained more variance in egos' AUDIT-C scores, as opposed to one- and two-item assessments. Implementing this three-item assessment in egocentric network research can enhance programming efforts targeting reductions in binge drinking among college students within social contexts.
Early pressure screens.

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews various studies using gynogenetic diploid zebrafish embryos produced by the early pressure (EP) method to screen for mutations affecting early embryogenesis and compares these screens with those of haploid embryos and of diparental diploids. Mutations affecting motoneuronal pathfinding and neural crest development are isolated using a screen in which mutations are identified in gynogenetic diploid embryos by whole mount immunohistochemistry as well as visible phenotypes. Comparison of the types of mutations thus isolated relative to those isolated in other screens reveals that screening F2 diploid embryos produced by EP compares favorably with screening F3 diploid embryos produced by normal matings, particularly when space is a consideration, although EP embryos are unsuitable for screening for some very specific features of embryogenesis, such as dorsovental patterning. The most important difference from other screens is that it focuses on particular phenotypes revealed by molecular markers for specific cell types. This approach is likely to have widespread application because it focuses on a single aspect of development, a strategy very important for isolation of specific mutations in other eukaryotes, and it reveals subtle mutations that may be cryptic and invisible without markers.
Immunity to Cancer Through Immune Recognition of Altered Self: Studies with Melanoma

The adaptive immune system is capable of recognizing cancer through T- and B-cell receptors. However, priming adaptive immunity against self antigens is potentially a difficult task. Presentation of altered self to the immune system is a strategy to elicit immunity against poorly immunogenic antigens. We have shown that immunization with conserved paralogues of tumor antigens can induce adaptive immunity against self antigens expressed by cancer. Remarkably, cancer immunity elicited by closely related paralogues can generate distinct adaptive immune responses, either antibody or T-cell dependent. Cancer immunity induced by xenogeneic immunization follows multiple and alternative pathways. The effector phase of tumor immunity can be mediated by cytotoxic T cells or macrophages and perhaps natural killer cells for antibody-dependent immunity. Helper CD4+ T cells are typically, but not always, required to generate immunity. Autoimmunity is frequently observed following immunization. Cancer immunity and autoimmunity use overlapping mechanisms, and therefore they are difficult to uncouple, but distinct pathways can be discerned that open the eventual possibility of uncoupling tumor immunity from autoimmunity. Studies examining the molecular basis for immunogenicity of conserved paralogues are facilitating the development of new strategies to rationally design vaccines that trigger adaptive immune responses to cancer.
Specifications Can Make Programs Run Faster

This paper describes a strategy for using the information contained in formal specifications to enhance a compiler's ability to perform optimizations. Because specifications are simpler than code and because they abstract away irrelevant implementation details, a compiler with access to specifications can determine that an optimization is safe more often than compilers that analyze only code. Furthermore, formal specifications can be used to allow programmers to define new optimizations.
Vitamin A controls epithelial/mesenchymal interactions through Ret expression.

Mutations or rearrangements in the gene encoding the receptor tyrosine kinase RET result in Hirschsprung disease, cancer and renal malformations. The standard model of renal development involves reciprocal signaling between the ureteric bud epithelium, inducing metanephric mesenchyme to differentiate into nephrons, and metanephric mesenchyme, inducing the ureteric bud to grow and branch1,2. RET and GDNF (a RET ligand) are essential mediators of these epithelial–mesenchymal interactions3. Vitamin A deficiency has been associated with widespread embryonic abnormalities, including renal malformations4. The vitamin A signal is transduced by nuclear retinoic acid receptors (RARs). We previously showed that two RAR genes, Rara and Rarb2, were colocalized in stromal mesenchyme, a third renal cell type, where their deletion led to altered stromal cell patterning, impaired ureteric bud growth and downregulation of Ret in the ureteric bud5,6. Here we demonstrate that forced expression of Ret in mice deficient for both Rara and Rarb2 (Rara−/−Rarb2−/−) genetically rescues renal development, restoring ureteric bud growth and stromal cell patterning. Our studies indicate the presence of a new reciprocal signaling loop between the ureteric bud epithelium and the stromal mesenchyme, dependent on Ret and vitamin A. In the first part of the loop, vitamin-A–dependent signals secreted by stromal cells control Ret expression in the ureteric bud. In the second part of the loop, ureteric bud signals dependent on Ret control stromal cell patterning.
CTL Fail to Accumulate at Sites of HIV-1 Replication in Lymphoid Tissue

The inability of HIV-1-specific CTL to fully suppress virus replication as well as the failure of administration of exogenous CTL to lower viral loads are not understood. To evaluate the hypothesis that these phenomena are due to a failure of CTL to localize at sites of HIV-1 replication, we assessed the distribution of HIV-1 RNA and HIV-1-specific CTL identified by HIV-1 peptide/HLA class I tetrameric complexes (tetramers) within lymph nodes of 14 HIV-1-infected individuals who were not receiving antiretroviral therapy. A median of 0.04% of follicular compared with 0.001% of extrafollicular CD4(+) cells were estimated to be producing HIV-1 RNA, a 40-fold difference (p = 0.0001). Tetramer-stained cells were detected by flow cytometry in disaggregated lymph node cells from 11 subjects and constituted a significantly higher fraction of CD8(+) cells in lymph node (mean, 2.15%) than in PBMC (mean, 1.52%; p = 0.02). In situ tetramer staining in three subjects' lymph nodes, in which high frequencies of tetramer-stained cells were detected, revealed that tetramer-stained cells were primarily concentrated in extrafollicular regions of lymph node and were largely absent within lymphoid follicles. These data confirm that HIV-1-specific CTL are abundant within lymphoid tissues, but fail to accumulate within lymphoid follicles where HIV-1 replication is concentrated, suggesting that lymphoid follicles may be immune-privileged sites. Mechanisms underlying the exclusion of CTL from lymphoid follicles as well as the role of lymphoid follicles in perpetuating other chronic pathogens merit further investigation.
Chiral Lagrangian treatment of {pi}{eta} scattering

We study $\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\eta}$ scattering in a model which starts from the tree diagrams of a non-linear chiral Lagrangian including appropriate resonances. Previously, models of this type were applied to $\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\pi}$ and $\ensuremath{\pi}K$ scattering and were seen to require the existence of light scalar $\ensuremath{\sigma}(560)$ and $\ensuremath{\kappa}(900)$ mesons and to be consistent with the ${f}_{0}(980).$ The present calculation extends this to include the ${a}_{0}(980),$ thereby completing a possible nonet of light scalars, all ``seen'' in the same manner. We note that, at the initial level, the $\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\eta}$ channel is considerably cleaner than the $\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\pi}$ and $\ensuremath{\pi}K$ channels for the study of light scalars. This is because the large competing effects of vector meson exchange and ``current-algebra'' contact terms are absent. The simplicity of this channel enables us to demonstrate the closeness of our exactly crossing symmetric amplitude to a related exactly unitary amplitude. The calculation is also extended to higher energies in order to let us discuss the role played by the ${a}_{0}(1450)$ resonance.
Dimensionality of Dynamical Chaos in an Unstable Single-Mode Laser

In recent experimental studies of instabilities in single-mode lasers, power spectra of the intensity (photocurrent) have often shown period doublings, or doubly periodic behavior, which develop a broadband spectral component as the laser excitation is increased. This has been tentatively identified as the signature of dynamical chaos; but as the power spectrum represents only the Fourier transform of the two-time correlation function, it does not provide a conclusive distinction between dynamical and stochastic noise. Similarly, when the spectral peaks are broader than the instrumental resolution, the cause could be AM modulation by stochastic noise or one of the several types of nearly periodic deterministic chaos.
SOUTHWORTH AND SERIALITY

E.D.E.N. Southworth9s originally massively popular novel, The Hidden Hand (1859), was not published as a book until it had undergone serialization three separate times, over the course of a quarter century, in a weekly story-paper called the New York Ledger. This bare fact about the material form in which it circulated and gained its large and admiring audience has consequences for interpreting the novel that have gone entirely unexamined by scholars. Thus, Southworth9s novel offers a good test case for the claim that the material form of publication (in this case, periodical serialization) is a substantively important aspect of the work9s meaning: the readers who responded to it so enthusiastically had all read it under the conditions of seriality. In this essay I attempt to take account of the interpretive implications of seriality for understanding Southworth9s novel, exploring some of the ways in which it was ideologically embedded in the Ledger and describing the active and canny role it played in that periodical9s strident apoliticism. The Hidden Hand embodied the magazine9s declared nonpartisanship in, among other things, various forms of generic melding and imaginary scenarios of sectional uni�cation. Critical accounts that have sought to characterize this novel as proslavery or antislavery have all missed the point that Southworth9s tale actively ignored such political issues and thus sought to transcend the dire sectional controversies that were unmistakably impending at the time of its publication.
Top-Down Self-Organization: State Logics, Substitutional Delegation, and Private Governance in Russia

This study investigates the counterintuitive emergence of self-regulation in the Russian construction sector. Despite its proclivity for centralizing political authority, the government acted as the catalyst for the delegation of regulatory powers to private industry groups. The article argues that a factor little considered in extant literature—namely, a weak and corrupt bureaucracy—is key to explaining why the normally control-oriented executive branch began to promote private governance despite industry's preference for continued state regulation. The article's signal contribution is to theoretically explain and empirically demonstrate how a government's prior inability to establish intrastate control over an ineffective and bribable public bureaucracy creates incentives for political authorities to search for alternative means for policy implementation outside of existing state agencies. These findings are important for understanding the impetus and logic behind particular regulatory shifts in countries where the state apparatus is both deficient and corrupt.
Information on worker ability: An analysis of investment within the firm

Abstract This paper considers a world in which firms invest in the production of information concerning workers, where this information is used to help allocate workers among tasks. The question addressed is, does the firm have an incentive to make a socially efficient investment? The analysis derives three major results. First, if information produced is not observed by other firms and individual task assignments are also not publicly observed, then the firm has an incentive to invest optimally in information production. Second, if information produced is public knowledge, then there is a tendency for the firm to underinvest. Third, if only the task assignment is public knowledge, then the investment may or may not be optimal. The outcome in this last case depends on whether firms have the ability to contract over the probability of an old worker being assigned to the skilled task, and on how strategically firms behave.
Modeling Robot Contour Processes

Robot contour processes include those with contact force like car body grinding or deburring of complex castings, as well as those with little or no contact force like inspection. This paper describes ways of characterizing, identifying, and estimating contours and robot trajectories. Contour and robot are modeled as stochastic processes in order to emphasixe that both successive robot cycles and successive industrial workpieces are similar but not exactly the same. The stochastic models can be used to identify the state of a workpiece or process, or to design a filter to estimate workpiece shape and robot position from robot-based measurements.
Stereoselective Alkene Synthesis via 1‐Chloro‐1‐[(Dimethyl)Phenylsilyl]Alkanes and α‐(Dimethyl)Phenylsilyl Ketones: 6‐Methyl‐6‐Dodecene

Stereoselective alkene synthesis via 1-chloro-1-[(dimethyl)phenylsilyl]alkanes and α-(dimethyl)phenylsilyl ketones: 6-methyl-6-dodecene reactant: 16.78 g (20.0 mL, 167.5 mmol) of hexanal intermediate: 1-[(dimethyl)phenylsilyl]-1-hexanol product: 1-chloro-1-[(dimethyl)phenylsilyl]hexane product: (Z)-6-methyl-6-dodecene product: (E)-6-methyl-6-dodecene Keywords: acylation; addition, to CC; addition, to CO; elimination, miscellaneous; metalation reactions, lithium; metalation reactions, magnesium; replacement reactions, hydroxy by halogen; stereoselective reactions, stereospecific; assay methods, of diastereomeric purity by GLC analysis; tetrahydrofuran; hydrogen, fire hazard; hydrogen, fire hazard; potassium
The invasive weed Lantana camara increases fire risk in dry rainforest by altering fuel beds

Berry ZC, Wevill K & Curran TJ (2011). The invasive weed Lantana camara increases fire risk in dry rainforest by altering fuel beds. Weed Research51, 525–533. Summary The invasive weed, Lantana camara, dominates numerous tropical and sub-tropical ecosystems and affects many aspects of ecosystem functioning, one of them being susceptibility to fire intrusion. The process by which L. camara might alter fire regimes in dry rainforest was examined by considering two potential mechanisms: (i) by being more ignitable than native species or (ii) by altering the structure and distribution of biomass to facilitate fire spread. We hypothesised that L. camara might alter fire regimes by both mechanisms. Measurements of leaf dry matter content, twig dry matter content and burn durations in laboratory trials implied that L. camara was less ignitable than native dry rainforest species. Fuel bed depths, leaf litter depths, percentage cover by fuels and amount of medium-size class fuels were higher in dry rainforest invaded by L. camara than in non-invaded forests. This suggests that the mechanism by which L. camara alters the fire regime in dry rainforest is by shifting the distribution of available fuels closer to the ground and providing a more continuous fuel layer in the understory. Management should focus on targeting L. camara removal around forest edges adjacent to frequently burned savannas and in areas of high conservation value.
INCREASED ACTIVITY OF TRYPTOPHAN BIOSYNTHETIC ENZYMES IN HISTIDINE MUTANTS OF NEUROSPORA CRASSA.

Carsiotis, M. (University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio), and Ann M. Lacy. Increased activity of tryptophan biosynthetic enzymes in histidine mutants of Neurospora crassa. J. Bacteriol. 89:1472–1477. 1965.—The activities of tryptophan synthetase and indoleglycerol phosphate synthetase, the last two enzymes in the tryptophan biosynthetic pathway, are elevated twofold or more in all histidine mutants of Neurospora crassa. The elevation occurs only when the mutants are grown in a histidine-limited medium. Several possible mechanisms for this elevation were disproved experimentally. The cause of the elevated enzyme activities remains unknown.
Responses of hybrid striped bass to waterborne and dietary copper in freshwater and saltwater.

Mechanisms of copper toxicity and consequences of exposure vary due to uptake route and ionoregulatory status. The goal of this research was to develop a model fish system to assess the influence of different Cu exposure routes (waterborne or dietary) on bioavailability, uptake, and effects in hybrid striped bass (Morone chrysops×Morone saxatilis) acclimated to fresh- or saltwater. Initially, hybrid striped bass were exposed to dietary Cu concentrations of 571, 785, and 1013 μg Cu/g, along with a control (∼ 5 μg Cu/g), for 14 days in saltwater. Intestinal and liver Cu accumulated in a dose-dependent manner in fish exposed to increasing levels of dietary Cu. Chronic (42 days) experiments were then conducted to determine sub-lethal effects of aqueous, dietary, and combined aqueous and dietary Cu exposures to both freshwater- and saltwater-acclimated hybrid striped bass. Growth and Cu accumulation in the gill, intestine, and liver were measured. Although no significant effects were observed in fish exposed to waterborne Cu, those exposed through the diet accumulated significant liver and intestinal Cu but showed no significant change in growth. Overall, these results suggest that at the levels tested, exposure to elevated waterborne Cu did not cause significant long-term tissue Cu accumulation, whereas dietary Cu exposure caused significant liver and intestinal Cu accumulation in hybrid striped bass which was comparable in both freshwater and saltwater (15 g/L).
First-order conditioning of meaning and the parallel conditioning of a GSR.

(1962). First-Order Conditioning of Meaning and the Parallel Conditioning of a GSR. The Journal of General Psychology: Vol. 67, No. 1, pp. 159-167.
Synthesis and structure-activity relationships of 1-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles as selective insect GABA receptor antagonists.

To study the interaction of phenylheterocycles with γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors, 4- or 5-alkyl(or phenyl)-1-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles were synthesized and examined for their ability to inhibit the specific binding of [3H]-4‘-ethynyl-4-n-propylbicycloorthobenzoate (EBOB), a noncompetitive antagonist, to the housefly and rat GABA receptors, as well as to the β3 subunit homo-oligomer of the human GABA receptor investigated as a model receptor. 4-Substituted 1-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazoles were found to be more potent competitive inhibitors than the 5-substituted regioisomers in the case of all receptors. The 4-tert-butyl or 4-n-propyl analogue of 1-(2,6-dichloro-4-trifluoromethylphenyl)-1H-1,2,3-triazole exhibited the highest level of inhibition of [3H]EBOB binding to all receptors. Most of the synthesized analogues were more active in terms of the inhibition of EBOB binding to the housefly and human β3 GABA receptors than to the rat receptor. The 4-cyclohexyl analogue showed the highest (185-fold) hous...
A hybrid online-education strategy for delivering engineering and technology courses

With the rapid advancement of computer, internet, and information technologies, and the ever-increasing needs for access to higher education from non-traditional learners with full-time jobs and those with family responsibilities, the distance educations are growth at a higher speed than anticipated by many educational institutions. By taking the advantages of modern technologies, an online education can provide quality education at anytime and anywhere. Many online software systems such as WebCT, Blackboard, Angel, etc., are easily used by distance education instructors to develop and deploy non-technical courses, which do not necessarily require extensive hands-on labs. However, in engineering technology disciplines, laboratory experiments serve as the essential tools for relating the theoretical concepts to the real world solutions. Thus, the incorporation of hands-on lab work in an online program becomes a significant challenge to engineering and technology educator. This paper addresses this challenge with a hybrid strategy. Both the lecture and laboratory experiments delivery systems are discussed in detail. The approaches dealt with in this paper for the delivery of online engineering education can serve as, especially at this economic situation, a model for the design of online curriculums in a variety of engineering and technology curriculums.
Hydrogen molecules in a superstrong magnetic field: Excitation levels.

We study the energy levels of H2 molecules in a superstrong magnetic field (B≳10^12 G), typically found on the surfaces of neutron stars. The interatomic interaction potentials are calculated by a Hartree-Fock method with multiconfigurations assuming electrons are in the ground Landau state. Both the aligned configurations and arbitrary orientations of the molecular axis with respect to the magnetic-field axis are considered. Different types of molecular excitations are then studied: electronic excitations, aligned (along the magnetic axis) vibrational excitations, and transverse vibrational excitations (a constrained rotation of the molecular axis around the magnetic-field line). Similar results for the molecular ion H2+ are also obtained and compared with previous variational calculations. Both numerical results and analytical fitting formulas are given for a wide range of field strengths. In contrast to the zero-field case, it is found that the transverse vibrational excitation energies can be larger than the aligned vibration excitation, and they both can be comparable to or larger than the electronic excitations. For B≳Bcrit=4.23×10^13 G, the Landau energy of the proton is appreciable and there is some controversy regarding the dissociation energy of H2. We show that H2 is bound even for B≫Bcrit and that neither proton has a Landau excitation in the ground molecular state.
Anomalous effective dimensionality of quantum gas adsorption near nanopores

Three problems involving quasi-one-dimensional (1D) ideal gases are discussed. The simplest problem involves quantum particles localized within the 'groove', a quasi-1D region created by two adjacent, identical and parallel nanotubes. At low temperature (T), the transverse motion of the adsorbed gas, in the plane perpendicular to the axes of the tubes, is frozen out. Then, the low T heat capacity C(T) of N particles is that of a 1D classical gas: . The dimensionless heat capacity C* increases when T ? 0.1Tx, y (transverse excitation temperatures), asymptoting at C* = 2.5. The second problem involves a gas localized between two nearly parallel, co-planar nanotubes, with small divergence half-angle ?. In this case, too, the transverse motion does not contribute to C(T) at low T, leaving a problem of a gas of particles in a 1D harmonic potential (along the z axis, midway between the tubes). Setting ?z as the angular frequency of this motion, for , the behavior approaches that of a 2D classical gas, C* = 1; one might have expected instead C* = 1/2, as in the groove problem, since the limit is 1D. For , the thermal behavior is exponentially activated, C* ~ (?z/T)2e ? ?z/T. At higher T (), motion is excited in the y direction, perpendicular to the plane of nanotubes, resulting in thermal behavior (C* = 7/4) corresponding to a gas in 7/2 dimensions, while at very high T (), the behavior becomes that of a D = 11/2 system. The third problem is that of a gas of particles, e.g.?4He, confined in the interstitial region between four square parallel pores. The low T behavior found in this case is again surprising?that of a 5D gas.
A Review and Assessment of Microwave Energy for Soil Treatment to Control Pests

Reports of experimental work on controlling pests such as insects, nematodes, weed seeds, and fungi in soil with microwave energy are reviewed. The assessment of the practicability of microwave radiation for soil treatment to control pests involves estimation of energy costs for heating soil to lethal levels for devitalization of weed seeds and consideration of parameters affecting microwave energy attenuation in the soil, conditions for selectively heating organisms in soil, and other factors that need to be taken into account for practical use. It is concluded that little probability exists for practical application of microwave energy for field control of these pests without major new discoveries of lethal mechanisms other than heating. Reasons include the severe attenuation of microwave energy in soils, the improbability of effective, selective heating of organisms, and the extremely high costs of energy and equipment for such applications.
A lower bound on the size of universal sets for planar graphs

A Fary embedding of a planar graph G is an embedding of G into the plane, no edges crossing, with each edge embedded as a straight line segment. A set AC IR2 is said to be n-universal if every n-node planar graph has a Fary embedding into A. We show that any n-universal set has size at least 1.098n, for sufficiently large n.
Permeation of nanocrystals across lipid membranes

Biological membranes are one of the major structural elements of cells, and play a key role as a selective barrier and substrate for many proteins that facilitate transport and signaling processes. Understanding the structural and mechanical properties of lipid membranes during permeation of nanomaterials is of prime importance in determining the toxicity of nanomaterials to living cells. It has been shown that the interaction between lipid membranes and nanomaterials and the disruption of lipid membranes are often determined by physicochemical properties of nanomaterials, such as size, shape and surface composition. In this work, molecular dynamic simulations were carried out using various sizes of nanocrystals as a probe to explore the transport of nanomaterials across dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers and the changes in the structural and mechanical properties of DPPC bilayers during the permeation. A coarse-grained model was used to provide insight at large time and length scales. In this...