cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Multiracialism: A Bibliographic Essay and Critique in Memory of Trina Grillo

Multiracial herself, Trina Grillo exhibited a lifelong interest in law's role in a multiracial society. This essay discusses major works having to do with racial formation and identity, interracial relationships and marriage, census categories and classification, and transracial adoption and custody, showing their relation and how Professor Grillo contributed to this emerging field.
Dear I.R.S., It Is Time to Enforce the Campaigning Prohibition. Even Against Churches

In 1954, Congress prohibited tax-exempt public charities, including churches, from endorsing or opposing candidates for office. To the extent a tax-exempt public charity violated this prohibition, it would no longer qualify as tax-exempt, and the I.R.S. was to revoke its exemption.While simple in theory, in practice, the I.R.S. rarely penalizes churches that violate the campaigning prohibition, and virtually never revokes a church’s tax exemption. And, because no taxpayer has standing to challenge the I.R.S.’s inaction, the I.R.S. has no external imperative to revoke the exemptions of churches that do campaign on behalf of or against candidates for office.This argument makes the normative case that, notwithstanding the I.R.S.’s administrative discretion and the inability of taxpayers to challenge its nonenforcement in court, the time has come for the I.R.S. to begin enforcing the campaigning prohibition. Failing to do so harms the Rule of Law, the taxpaying public, and churches themselves. Moreover, the moment is correct for enforcement, as Pulpit Freedom Sunday has virtually eliminated the I.R.S.’s search costs, people are more aware than ever that churches are violating the prohibition, and, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, the campaigning prohibition may represent the final regulatory barrier between charities and politicking.Even if enforcing the campaigning prohibition is the right thing to do, it would potentially be unpopular, and could provoke a backlash against the I.R.S. After making the normative case for enforcement, then, this Article provides a strategy for enforcement that will allow the I.R.S. to explain what it is doing and why to the general taxpaying public, and will further permit the I.R.S. to avoid the appearance of partisanship. Ultimately, enforcement will allow the I.R.S. to responsibly administer the tax law, will permit the question of the prohibition’s constitutionality to get in front of the judiciary, and will demonstrate dedication to the Rule of Law.
Current Situation and the Countermeasures of Rural Elderly Health Management Service

With comprehensive advancement of basic public health services,the rural elderly health service management work has been on the agenda and gradually deep ened.The rural elderly health management current situation and the existing problems and reasons are analyzed and discussed,according to these reasons,it provides corresponding countermeasures to implement the rural elderly health management services.
Study of the effect of varying hematocrit on free deformation and orientation of erythrocytes in flow

The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spin label method was used to investigate the effect of varying hematocrit on the deformation and orientation behavior of erythrocytes in shear flow. The relative EPR spectral change due to flow, which we use as a measure of the average deformation and orientation of erythrocytes, was observed as a function of the hematocrit. The profile generally shows a rising and a declining phase with the maximum in-between. The position of the maximum with respect to the hematocrit and the level of the spectral change are influenced by the suspending medium viscosity, osmolarity, and depend upon modifications of the red cell properties such as the internal viscosity, area-to-volume ratio and membrane rigidity. Results show that there is an upper limit of free deformation and orientation of the cell for a given hematocrit value. A possible role of the cell-cell interaction is discussed in restricting the space around a cell which is required for free deformation and orientation. A significance of the findings is that the actual deformation and orientation of an ensemble of cells which give rise to the EPR spectral change in flow is determined not only by the single cell deformability but also by the way the cells interact with each other under a given fluid dynamic condition.
Supporting the Supportive Reasons Norm

My case for the Supportive Reasons Norm is almost complete. As I’ve presented it, the case for the Knowledge Norm is roughly a four-legged stool composed of two different kinds of arguments. The first is an inference to the best explanation, and the second is a theoretical argument about the nature of norms. The first three legs comprising the inference to the best explanation are the lottery paradox, Moore’s paradox, and challenges such as “How do you know?”; the fourth leg is the theoretical considerations of the connection between norms and goals. My aim in Chapters 5 through 8 was to take on each of these legs of the KN argument, one by one, knocking them out. Although one of my purposes was to argue how each of these lines of argument doesn’t uniquely support KN, another was to show how many of these lines of argument actually better support a reasons-based norm such as SRN.
Characterization of a Salmonella sugar kinase essential for the utilization of fructose-asparagine

Salmonella can utilize fructose-asparagine (F-Asn), a naturally occurring Amadori product, as its sole carbon and nitrogen source. Conversion of F-Asn to the common intermediates glucose-6-phosphate, aspartate, and ammonia was predicted to involve the sequential action of an asparaginase, a kinase, and a deglycase. Mutants lacking the deglycase are highly attenuated in mouse models of intestinal inflammation owing to the toxic build-up of the deglycase substrate. The limited distribution of this metabolic pathway in the animal gut microbiome raises the prospects for antibacterial discovery. We report the biochemical characterization of the kinase that was expected to transform fructose-aspartate to 6-phosphofructose-aspartate during F-Asn utilization. In addition to confirming its anticipated function, we determined through studies of fructose-aspartate analogues that this kinase exhibits a substrate-specificity with greater tolerance to changes to the amino acid (including the d-isomer of aspartate) than...
Biochemical Validation of a Second Guanidine Riboswitch Class in Bacteria

Recently, it was determined that representatives of the riboswitch candidates called ykkC and mini-ykkC directly bind free guanidine. These riboswitches regulate the expression of genes whose protein products are implicated in overcoming the toxic effects of this ligand. Thus, the relevant ykkC motif and mini-ykkC motif RNAs have been classified as guanidine-I and guanidine-II riboswitch RNAs, respectively. Moreover, we had previously noted that a third candidate riboswitch class, called ykkC-III, was associated with a distribution of genes similar to those of the other two motifs. Therefore, it was predicted that ykkC-III motif RNAs would sense and respond to the same ligand. In this report, we present biochemical data supporting the hypothesis that ykkC-III RNAs represent a third class of guanidine-sensing RNAs called guanidine-III riboswitches. Members of the guanidine-III riboswitch class bind their ligand with an affinity similar to that observed for members of the other two classes. Notably, there a...
Measuring the refractive index in atom optics

The general and powerful ideas of optics embodied in the complex nature of the refractive index can now be carried over directly to "atom optics". Nowhere has this been more beautifully demonstrated than in the recent series of atom interferometry experiments performed by David Pritchard's group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (J Schmiedmayer et al. 1995 Phys. Rev. Lett. 74 1043).
Process connectivity in a naturally prograding river delta

River deltas are lowland systems that can display high hydrological connectivity. This connectivity can be structural (morphological connections), functional (control of fluxes), and process connectivity (information flow from system drivers to sinks). In this work, we quantify hydrological process connectivity in Wax Lake Delta, coastal Louisiana, by analyzing couplings among external drivers (discharge, tides, and wind) and water levels recorded at five islands and one channel over summer 2014. We quantify process connections with information theory, a branch of mathematics concerned with the communication of information. We represent process connections as a network; variables serve as network nodes and couplings as network links describing the strength, direction, and time scale of information flow. Comparing process connections at long (105 days) and short (10 days) time scales, we show that tides exhibit daily synchronization with water level, with decreasing strength from downstream to upstream, and that tides transfer information as tides transition from spring to neap. Discharge synchronizes with water level and the time scale of its information transfer compares well to physical travel times through the system, computed with a hydrodynamic model. Information transfer and physical transport show similar spatial patterns, although information transfer time scales are larger than physical travel times. Wind events associated with water level setup lead to increased process connectivity with highly variable information transfer time scales. We discuss the information theory results in the context of the hydrologic behavior of the delta, the role of vegetation as a connector/disconnector on islands, and the applicability of process networks as tools for delta modeling results.
Sugar-Sweetened Beverage and Vascular Function: Not So Sweet After All.

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are some of the most commonly consumed beverages around the world. Sweeteners used in these beverages include sucrose, fruit juices, and high fructose corn syrup. Increased consumption of these beverages has been causally linked to obesity, diabetes mellitus/metabolic syndrome, hypertension, gout, and cardiovascular disease.1–5 On the basis of a comparative risk analysis model, Micha et al4 concluded that, in 2012 in the United States, ≈45% of 702 308 deaths attributed to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes mellitus were associated with consumption of 10 dietary factors, with consumption of SSB accounting for 7.4% of cardiometabolic deaths. The consumption of SSB accounted for 10.8% of deaths from coronary heart disease and 14.8% of type 2 diabetes mellitus–related deaths.4 See accompanying article on page 1250 These adverse effects of SSB consumption may be mediated through increased glycemic load, obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, increased oxidative stress, inflammation, and vascular dysfunction.1–5 Endothelial dysfunction is considered to be one of the potential mediators of adverse cardiovascular effects of SSB.6 Normal healthy vascular endothelium mediates vasodilation, exhibits an antithrombotic/profibrinolytic phenotype, and inhibits inflammation by its antiadhesive properties against circulating leucocytes, thereby maintaining vascular health. Endothelial dysfunction …
Low temperature dissolution flowsheet for Pu metal

ABSTRACTThe Savannah River National Laboratory was requested to develop a Pu metal dissolution flowsheet at two reduced temperature ranges for implementation in the Savannah River Site H-Canyon facility. The dissolution and H2 generation rates during Pu metal dissolution were investigated using a dissolving solution at ambient temperature (20–30°C) and for an intermediate temperature of 50–60°C. The Pu metal dissolution rate measured at 57°C was approximately 20 times slower than at boiling (112–116°C). The dissolution rate at ambient temperature (24°C) was approximately 80 times slower than the dissolution rate at boiling. Hydrogen concentrations were less than detectable (<0.1 vol%).
Image analysis of PV module electroluminescence

Electroluminescence imaging can be used as a non-invasive method to spatially assess performance degradation in photovoltaic (PV) modules. Cells, or regions of cells, that do not produce an infra-red luminescence signal under electrical excitation indicate potential damage in the module. In this study, an Andor iKon-M camera and an image acquisition tool provided by Andor have been utilized to obtain electroluminescent images of a full-sized multicrystalline PV module at regular intervals throughout an accelerated lifecycle test (ALC) performed in a large-scale environmental degradation chamber. Computer aided digital image analysis methods were then used to automate degradation assessment in the modules. Initial preprocessing of the images was designed to remove both background noise and barrel distortion in the image data. Image areas were then mapped so that changes in luminescent intensity across both individual cells and the full module could be identified. Two primary techniques for image analysis were subsequently investigated. In the first case, pixel intensity distributions were evaluated over each individual PV cell and changes to the intensities of the cells over the course of an ALC test were evaluated. In the second approach, intensity line scans of each of the cells in a PV module were performed and variations in line scan data were identified during the module ALC test. In this report, both the image acquisition and preprocessing technique and the contribution of each image analysis approach to an assessment of degradation behavior will be discussed.
Three-dimensional automated reporter quantification (3D-ARQ) technology enables quantitative screening in retinal organoids

The advent of stem cell-derived retinal organoids has brought forth unprecedented opportunities for developmental and physiological studies, while presenting new therapeutic promise for retinal degenerative diseases. From a translational perspective, organoid systems provide exciting new prospects for drug discovery, offering the possibility to perform compound screening in a three-dimensional (3D) human tissue context that resembles the native histoarchitecture and to some extent recapitulates cellular interactions. However, inherent variability issues and a general lack of robust quantitative technologies for analyzing organoids on a large scale pose severe limitations for their use in translational applications. To address this need, we have developed a screening platform that enables accurate quantification of fluorescent reporters in complex human iPSC-derived retinal organoids. This platform incorporates a fluorescence microplate reader that allows xyz-dimensional detection and fine-tuned wavelength selection. We have established optimal parameters for fluorescent reporter signal detection, devised methods to compensate for organoid size variability, evaluated performance and sensitivity parameters, and validated this technology for functional applications.
High temperature oxidation behavior of CaB6 sintered body

The oxidation at high temperatures of hot-pressed calcium hexaboride (CaB6) sintered body was investigated in order to determine the suitability of this material for application at high-temperature. The oxidation of samples started at 1273 K, and the weight gain increased with increasing oxidation temperature.
Anomalous Conductivity in Random Magnetic (Ga,Cr) As

The electrical conductivity of molecular beam epitaxy grown zinc blende Ga1−xCrxAs, x = 0.1, exhibits anomalous behavior below room-temperature. The room-temperature resistivity is small, ρ = 0.1 Ω cm, and comparable to (Ga,Mn)As. Near room temperature, the conductivity is activated, following σ = σ0 exp(−EA/kT ), with an activation energy of EA = 63 meV. In this activated region, Hall measurements also show activated behavior in the hole concentration where p ∼ 1020 cm−3, indicating that Cr can also act as an acceptor similar to Mn. For decreasing temperature, the resistivity increases rapidly because of hopping or tunneling conduction, and becomes strongly insulating at low temperatures. From T = 20 to 200 K the conductivity follows exp[−(T1/T)1/2] over eight orders of magnitude range of conductivity, possible evidence of tunneling between metallic-like polarons.
Myosin heavy chain isoforms regulate muscle function but not myofibril assembly.

Abstract Myosin heavy chain (MHC) is the motor protein of muscle thick filaments. Most organisms produce many muscle MHC isoforms with temporally and spatially regulated expression patterns. This suggests that isoforms of MHC have different characteristics necessary for defining specific muscle properties. The single Drosophila muscle Mhc gene yields various isoforms as a result of alternative RNA splicing. To determine whether this multiplicity of MHC isoforms is critical to myofibril assembly and function, we introduced a gene encoding only an embryonic MHC into Drosophila melanogaster. The embryonic transgene acts in a dominant antimorphic manner to disrupt flight muscle function. The transgene was genetically crossed into an MHC null background. Unexpectedly, transformed flies expressing only the embryonic isoform are viable. Adult muscles containing embryonic MHC assemble normally, indicating that the isoform of MHC does not determine the dramatic ultrastructural variation among different muscle types. However, transformed flies are flightless and show reduced jumping and mating ability. Their indirect flight muscle myofibrils progressively deteriorate. Our data show that the proper MHC isoform is critical for specialized muscle function and myofibril stability.
Manufacturing Materials Optimization Research at The REMADE Institute

Manufacturing accounts for about 25% of the energy consumption in the United States. To help reduce the energy consumption and emissions, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has supported “The REMADE Institute”, a public–private partnership launched in 2017. The objective of REMADE is to increase manufacturing energy efficiency and reduce embodied energy in materials (metals, polymers, electronic waste, and fibers). This talk provides an overview of REMADE’s five nodes and the objective of its Manufacturing Materials Optimization (MMO) node.
If memory serves: The effect of restaurant servers’ memorization and muddling of orders

Abstract The three experiments presented here examined the effectiveness of restaurant servers who memorize customers’ orders rather than writing orders down. In the experiments, participants viewed videos of simulated server-diner interactions and provided ratings of service quality and expected tip amount. Experiment 1 found no advantage to memorizing orders over writing them down. Experiment 2 found that memorized and correctly delivered entrees resulted in statistically significant increases in customers’ perceptions of service quality and in marginally higher tips. In addition, muddled (versus correct) orders resulted in lower ratings of service quality and dramatically lower anticipated tips. Experiment 3 found that memorizing and muddling complex orders had no effect on perceptions of service quality but led to significantly lower expected tips. The applied and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.
Investigation of the on-site Coulomb correction and temperature dependence of the stability of U–Si phases using DFT+U

Abstract The development and qualification of silicide-based nuclear fuel would significantly benefit from an adequate understanding of the U–Si phase space, yet issues remain with respect to confidence in the phase diagram, especially in the USi–USi 2 composition range. Experimental investigations have shown the existence of hexagonal and tetragonal phases in the USi x 1.5 x 2 phase space. We subsequently performed a detailed analysis of the dependence of the U–Si convex hull on values of the on-site Coulomb correction, U eff , (DFT + U ) using the U -ramping method. This information allowed us to study the influence of electron correlation, and to find U eff values that best represents the U–Si convex hull. Lastly, the temperature dependence was calculated using determined Gibbs energies of the phases. In the USi–USi 2 phase space, two stable phases were observed up to 1200 °C, with a possible hexagonal to tetragonal phase transition at 580 °C for one of the phases.
The Luckiest Girl in the World: Transpalatal penetration of the brain by a knitting needle without major injury

Abstract Transoral penetrating injury leading to a brain laceration is unusual and should be promptly managed due to associated significant morbidity and mortality. We report a case of a 3-year-old girl with an accidental skull base trauma from a knitting needle, which penetrated through the hard palate and eventually into the pituitary gland, traversing into the suprasellar cistern and terminating in the region of the medial thalamus. Severe palatal intracranial lacerations require multidisciplinary management. Preoperative and postoperative imaging and continuous monitoring of the patient's condition are crucial to prevent additional complications. Complex cases require tailored management and treatment for every patient.
Comparison of MESA and PEACE Risk Score with NTproBNP Correlation: Insights from the MESA Study

Introduction PEACE and MESA heart failure (HF) risk scores are validated scores for predicting incident HF in an ambulatory population. We compare risk groups defined by both scores and their correlation with NTproBNP levels among participants of the MESA study. Hypothesis Outcomes among similar risk groups of different scores is expected. MESA groups are expected to correlate better with NTproBNP. Methods PEACE and MESA risk scores were calculated using published integer scoring systems. KM curves were constructed and compared using log-rank test. NTproBNP levels among different groups were compared using Kruskal-Wallis test. P Results Records of 5,700 patients [age 6210 years, 48% men, NTproBNP 55(24-102) pg/mL, LVEF (69+/-7%)] from MESA visit 1 were analyzed. Majority patients were low risk (PEACE 82%, MESA 84%). Outcomes in corresponding groups among both scores showed concordance despite differing median NTproBNP levels (p Conclusion Outcome in terms of incident were comparable among corresponding risk groups irrespective of type of risk score used except for the very high MESA group.
Reference Point and Case: A Cognitive Grammar Exploration of Korean

This monograph answers the rarely discussed questions of why complicated grammatical case phenomena exist in Korean and what the connection is between the case forms and their functions. The author argues that the case forms in Korean reflect patterns of the human cognitive process. While this approach may seem rather obvious to non-linguists, it is indeed a novel claim in contemporary linguistic theory. In order to provide technical analyses of Korean case phenomena such as multiple nominative/accusative, non-nominative subject, and adverbial case constructions, this book adopts an independently established descriptive construct known as reference point in the framework of Cognitive Grammar. The author demonstrates that the notion of reference point not only explains a substantially wider set of data, but also leads to a more reasonable generalization. The intended readership of this book are researchers who are interested in case phenomena, irrespective of their theoretical orientation.
The trajectory of thought: Heavy-tailed distributions in memory foraging promote efficiency.

Free-recall tasks suggest human memory foraging may follow a heavy-tailed distribution, such as a Levy flight, patch foraging, or area-restricted search - walk procedures that are common in other activities of cognitive agents, such as food foraging in both animals and humans. To date, research merely equates memory foraging with hunting in the physical world based on similarities in statistical structure. The current work supports that memory foraging follows a heavy-tailed distribution by using categories with quantitative distances between each item: countries, which have physical distances, and animals, from which cognitive distances can be derived using a multidimensional scaling (MDS) procedure. Likewise, inter-item lag times follow a heavy-tailed distribution. The current work also demonstrates that inter-item distances and times are positively correlated, suggesting the organization of items in memory may be akin to the organization of a physical landscape. Finally, both studies show that participants' original, heavy-tailed lists of countries and animal names produce shorter overall distances traveled than random selection. Human memory foraging follows the same pattern as foraging in the natural world - perhaps because exposure to ecological settings informs our inner cognitive experience - leading to a processing and retrieval time benefit.
Predicting Latency Distributions of Aperiodic Time-Critical Services

There is increasing interest in supporting time-critical services in cloud computing environments. Those cloud services differ from traditional hard real-time systems in three aspects. First, cloud services usually involve latency requirements in terms of probabilistic tail latency instead of hard deadlines. Second, some cloud services need to handle aperiodic requests for stochastic arrival processes instead of traditional periodic or sporadic models. Finally, the computing platform must provide performance isolation between time-critical services and other workloads. It is therefore essential to provision resources to meet different tail latency requirements. As a step towards cloud services with stochastic latency guarantees, this paper presents a stochastic response time analysis for aperiodic services following a Poisson arrival process on computing platforms that schedue time-critical services as deferrable servers. The stochastic analysis enables a service operator to provision CPU resources for aperiodic services to achieve a desired tail latency. We evaluated the method in two case studies, one involving a synthetic service and another involving a Redis service, both on a testbed based on Xen 4.10. The results demonstrate the validity and efficacy of our method in a practical setting.
Speech Pathology Services Are Integral, but Underutilized in Tracheostomy Rehabilitation.

Study Design:Retrospective case series.Objective:Speech language pathology (SLP) is an underutilized but important component in rehabilitation after tracheostomy. The purpose of this study was to d...
The Trouble with Formal Views of Autonomy

A number of philosophers have suggested that formal accounts of personal autonomy are best suited to capturing the concept of autonomy at the heart of liberal morality. I argue that this is likely a mistake. Given the way the concept functions in liberal morality, normative capacity accounts are in a better position to make sense of that role than formal accounts.
Online verification of commutativity

Systems of transformations arise in many programming systems, such as in graphs of implicit type conversion functions. It is important to ensure that these diagrams commute: that composing any path of transformations from the same source to the same destination yields the same result. However, a straightforward approach to verifying commutativity must contend with cycles, and even so it runs in exponential time. Previous work has shown how to verify commutativity in the special case of acyclic diagrams in O(|V|4|E|2) time, but this is a batch algorithm: the entire diagram must be known ahead of time. We present an online algorithm that efficiently verifies that a commutative diagram remains commutative when adding a new edge. The new incremental algorithm runs in O(|V|2(|E| + |V|)) time. For the case when checking the equality of paths is expensive, we also present an optimization that runs in O(|V|4) time but reduces to the minimum possible number of equality checks. We implement the algorithms and compare them to batch baselines, and we demonstrate their practical application in the compiler of a domain-specific language for geometry types. To study the algorithms’ scalability to large diagrams, we apply them to discover discrepancies in currency conversion graphs.
Brain mechanisms of HPA axis regulation: neurocircuitry and feedback in context Richard Kvetnansky lecture.

Regulation of stress reactivity is a fundamental priority of all organisms. Stress responses are critical for survival, yet can also cause physical and psychological damage. This review provides a ...
Prophylactic Aneurysm Embolization during EVAR Is Safe, Improves Sac Regression and Decreases the Incidence of Type II Endoleak.

Background Clinically significant endoleaks remain costly, time-consuming, morbid and even mortal following endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Perigraft arterial sac embolization (PASE) has been utilized to treat type II endoleaks (T2EL) diagnosed at the time of EVAR or after repair. Our objective was to analyze the safety and efficacy of prophylactic PASE on the incidence of T2EL and aneurysm sac regression in patients undergoing EVAR. Methods We performed a retrospective review of prospectively maintained databases from the University of California San Diego and the San Diego Veterans Affairs hospitals between 2015 and 2019. Prophylactic PASE (pPASE) was performed at the time of EVAR with thrombin, contrast and gelfoam liquid embolic aneurysm treatment as previously described. We evaluated technical success, freedom from T2EL, freedom from reintervention, from sac expansion, from type I/III EL, from all-cause mortality (ACM), from aneurysm-related mortality and from non-target embolization (NTE). Results A total of 44 patients were included in the study. Technical success was 100% and no NTE was observed. The average duration of follow-up was 14 ± 11months. In those treated and followed by CT scan, 100% of patients’ aneurysms halted their growth following PASE, while 65.9% demonstrated sac regression. Mean aneurysm sac diameter decreased by 9 mm (95% CI 7–12). At 3 years, freedom from T2EL was 87.1%. Presence of T2EL did not result in aneurysm expansion during the follow-up period and thus did not require reintervention in any of these patients. Freedom from re-intervention was 83.2% for Type Ib EL and limb occlusion and all procedures were determined to be successful at the time of completion. No aneurysm-related deaths occurred during the follow-up. Conclusions PASE proves to be an effective tool in sac management for prophylaxis of endoleak and maximizing sac regression in EVAR. It is safe, effective and durable when employed in this manner in the short and medium-term and was associated with low rates of T2ELs and reinterventions and a 100% freedom from sac expansion. Further analysis is required to evaluate the long-term outcomes of this adjunctive procedure in EVAR.
Solvent Extraction of Klebsiella pneumoniae Bacteriophage Lysates with 1-Dodecanol Results in Endotoxin Reduction with Low Risk of Solvent Contamination.

Antimicrobial resistance in pathogenic bacteria is increasing worldwide. One solution to this crisis is bacteriophage therapy, a treatment that harnesses naturally occurring bacterial viruses to in...
New Growth Centers — A Role for the Bureau of Reclamation

Faced with a probable decline in its historic role of developing irrigation in the West, a new role is hypothesized for the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. This role is in planning for other types of economic growth that will draw additional population to the West and cause the growth there of new population centers. The causes of a probable decline in subsidized irrigation, the rationale for encouraging future population growth to occur in the West rather than in the East, the means of such growth, and the types of impacts that would have to be analyzed are considered. This new planning role for the Bureau is seen as one way of utilizing the Bureau’s capability.
The Efficiency of an Ideal Refrigerator

Recently, doubt has been expressed as to the justification of using the Carnot efficiency as a basis for comparing real refrigerators with an ideal. The question arises because the Carnot refrigerator has an isothermal load, while some real machines do not. If, for example, a Carnot efficiency based upon the lowest temperature of the load is used, an ideal with too low a performance is used. The purpose of this paper is to derive an expression for the efficiency of ideal refrigerators with nonisothermal loads, and to show that this efficiency can differ appreciably from the Carnot efficiency.
Application of ART2-A as a Pseudo-supervised Paradigm to Nuclear Reactor Diagnosis

Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) represents a family of neural networks each having its own unique characteristics. This paper demonstrates the capability of ART2-A network in performing the challenging task of pattern recognition of complex noisy signals from nuclear plant components. In addition, its capability in pattern recognition of acoustic signature is briefly addressed. The results show that an ART2-A network can be successfully used both as an unsupervised pattern classifier and as a pseudo-supervised network for fault identification in a nuclear reactor system.
What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Banking

The run on the shadow banking system in 2008 is routinely identified as the event that transformed the nonprime mortgage securities meltdown into a full-blown Global Financial Crisis. Yet, the components of this shadow sector have not been brought into the light let alone under adequate regulatory supervision. The government-initiated reform measures enacted to date lack consistency and cohesion. Too little attention has been paid to how the varied pieces of this system interconnect with each other and with “real” banking. For example, the multi-trillion dollar repurchase agreement (“repo”) market was ground zero for the sudden, severe withdrawal of liquidity from the banking system in the United States. Yet little has been done to address the dependence upon this short-term, often overnight funding market. Conversely, some shadow players like money market mutual funds, (MMFs) that were already subject to heavy structural controls, have been further regulated. While these new rules were designed to strengthen the funds, making them less prone to runs by their own investors, these same changes may create even more instability and risk for bank and shadow bank counterparties who depend upon them for short-term financing. Additionally, with regard to some of the most risky “nonbank” financial firms, such as hedge funds, the regulatory reform measures to date have been flimsy at best. Accordingly, this chapter first will describe what is meant by “shadow banking,” and the role it played in the financial crisis. Next, it will highlight two key components of shadow banking system: MMFs and the repo market, including the regulatory reforms accomplished to date and proposals being studied. And, finally it will present alternative suggestions for further reform.
Headspace gas chromatography-flame ionization detector method for organic solvent residue analysis in dietary supplements

An analytical method has been developed for the identification and quantification of 20 organic solvent residues in dietary supplements. The method utilizes a headspace sampler interfaced with gas chromatography and flame ionization detection. With split injection (5:1) and a DB-624 column, most of the organic solvents are separated in 9 min. The method has been validated and was found to be relatively simple and fast, and it can be applied to most common organic solvent residues. With the mass detector, the method was able to identify organic solvents beyond the 20 standards tested.
Infinite Sequences and Infinite Series

It is customary to use expressions such as $${u_1} + {u_2} + \cdots + {u_n} + \cdots ,\;and\;\sum\limits_{n = 1}^\infty {{u_n}}$$ (9.1) to represent infinite series. The u i are called the terms of the series, and the quantities $${s_n} = {u_1} + {u_2} + \cdots + {u_n},\quad n = 1,2, \ldots ,$$ are called the partial sums of the series. The symbols in (9.1) not only define an infinite series but also are used as an expression for the sum of the series when it converges. To avoid this imprecision we define an infinite series in terms of ordered pairs.
Biohistory of the Mascarenes

Lost Land of the Dodo. By Anthony Cheke and Julian Hume. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2008. 480 pp. $55. ISBN 9780300141863. T & AD Poyser (A&C Black), London. £45. ISBN 9780713665444. In this detailed consideration of the extinctions that followed the human arrival on the Mascarene Islands (Indian Ocean), the authors describe the complex manner in which the island ecosystems unraveled.
Matchings (Stable Marriages)

Given a set of men and a set of women, a matching is a set of pairs, each pair containing one man and one woman, such that no person is in more than one pair. We shall be interested in finding matchings satisfying various criteria. The first problem we’ll consider is called the stable marriage problem. We assume that there are the same number of men as women, and that each person ranks the people of the opposite sex in order of preference. A matching is stable if there is no unmatched pair {a,b} such that both a and b prefer each other to their present partners. (If such a pair existed, they would run off together.) Though we speak of men and women, this is actually a rather facetious viewpoint; this problem is typically applied to relationships somewhat more pragmatic than marriage, such as roommate assignments, dormitory room assignments, and university admissions. Nevertheless, here we’ll discuss the problem in terms of marriages between men and women.
Glove Box Enclosed D-C Plasma Source for the Determination of Metals in Plutonium Solutions

The direct-current plasma source of a Beckman Spectraspan IIIB emission spectrometer was enclosed in a glove box at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in December 1982. Since that time, the system has been used for the routine determination of alloy and impurity metals in plutonium solutions. This paper presents the systematic steps involved in developing the glove box and gives information regarding the performance of the plasma in the glove box and the effectiveness of the glove box in containment of plutonium.
Long-Run Investment Horizons and Implications for Mixed-Asset Portfolio Allocations

When different asset classes display varying degrees of serial correlation, the investment horizon may substantially alter optimized mixed-asset portfolio allocations. Private-market assets (such as commercial real estate and private equity) often display much higher levels of autocorrelation than their public-market counterparts. Consequently, the one-year returns typically used in mixed-asset portfolio optimization procedures often generate excessive allocations to private-market asset classes. To counteract these excessive loadings, many researchers and practitioners advocate either ad hoc rules designed to constrain the maximum allocation to private-market vehicles and/or the use of some de-smoothing procedure to inject additional volatility in the observed return series. This paper takes a different approach by examining the three components in the standard portfolio optimization technique as the investment horizon lengthens; the auto-correlated nature of the observed returns of private-market assets implies that (annualized) long-horizon volatility decays less slowly – as compared to those public-market asset classes exhibiting the random walk – and long-horizon correlation (with most public-market alternatives) increases. In re-running the mixed-asset portfolio optimization with long-horizon returns, the allocations to commercial real estate – as one example of private-market assets – are much reduced and more consistent with allocation levels generally found in large institutional pension plans.
A framework for motion planning in stochastic environments: modeling and analysis

Presents a framework for analyzing and determining motion plans for a robot that operates in an environment that changes over time in an uncertain manner. The authors first classify sources of uncertainty in motion planning into four categories, and argue that the framework addressed in this paper characterizes an important, yet little-explored category. The authors treat the changing environment in a flexible manner by combining traditional configuration space concepts with a Markov process that models the environment. For this context, the authors then propose the use of a motion strategy, which provides a motion command for the robot for each contingency that it could be confronted with. The authors allow the specification of a desired performance criterion, such as time or distance, and the goal is to determine a motion strategy that is optimal with respect to that criterion. A motion planning problem in this framework is formulated as the design of a stochastic optimal controller.
Isomeric Hexafluoroisopropylidene-Linked Benzophenone Polymers via Nickel Catalysis

High-performance hexafluoroisopropylidene (HFIP)-linked benzophenone polymers were synthesized by means of Ni(0)-catalyzed polymerization of newly developed bis(aryl triflate) and bis(aryl chloride...
Internal genitalia of the female house fly, Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae): analysis of copulation and oviposition

Abstract The morphology of the internal genitalia of the adult female Musca domestica L. was examined to determine the role of these structures during copulation and oviposition. Three major structures, the dorsal, ventral, and posterior valves, project into the lumina of the posterior common oviduct and anterior vagina in the region of the vaginal pouches. The dorsal valve is composed of 2 folds of epithelial tissue suspended from the dorsal vaginal wall, and houses the posterior openings of the spermathecal and accessory gland ducts. During copulation, the dorsal valve receives the aedeagus and is the site of sperm deposition. The ventral valve lies directly anterior to the dorsal valve and consists of a large, transverse muscle band and a posteriorly directed epithelial projection. Immediately beneath the epithelial projection, the vagina forms a blind, conical pocket, the anterior chamber. Fertilization is accomplished within this structure during oviposition. The posterior valve consists of 2 widely separated folds (or arms) of epithelial tissue arising from the ventral floor of the vagina. These arms, along with those of the dorsal valve, hold the egg in position while sperm penetration occurs.
Accelerated fetal lung maturity profiles and maternal cocaine exposure

Objective To determine the effect of maternal cocaine exposure on fetal lung maturity as measured by surfactantalbumin ratios determined by the TDx-FLM test. Methods A case-control study design was used to compare fetal lung maturity as assessed by a surfactant-albumin ratio assay (TDx-FLM) in amniotic fluid (AF) obtained from women who were known to use cocaine and those who were not known to use cocaine during the study pregnancy. Multiple logistic regression procedures were used to control for gestational age and possible confounders, such as obstetric and nonobstetric complications, other substance abuse, race, infant sex, and payer status. Results Maternal cocaine use during pregnancy was associated with an accelerated fetal lung maturity profile (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 2.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–4.00) as determined by the TDx-FLM test. Other variables found to be statistically significant predictors of a mature fetal lung profile were cigarette smoking during the current pregnancy (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.02–2.56). Preterm labor, preterm rupture of membranes, nonobstetric illness during pregnancy, and exposure to other abused substances were not associated with accelerated fetal lung maturity. Conclusion Maternal cocaine use during pregnancy is associated with a doubling of the probability of a mature fetal lung profile as determined by TDx-FLM analysis of AF. Tobacco use is also a predictor of accelerated fetal lung maturity profiles.
Impaired Driving From Medical Conditions: A 70-Year-Old Man Trying to Decide if He Should Continue Driving

Some medical disorders can impair performance, increasing the risk of driving safety errors that can lead to vehicle crashes. The causal pathway often involves a concatenation of factors or events, some of which can be prevented or controlled. Effective interventions can operate before, during, or after a crash occurs at the levels of driver capacity, vehicle and road design, and public policy. A variety of systemic, neurological, psychiatric, and developmental disorders put drivers at potential increased risk of a car crash in the short or long term. Medical diagnosis and age alone are usually insufficient criteria for determining fitness to drive. Strategies are needed for determining what types and levels of reduced function provide a threshold for disqualification in drivers with medical disorders. Evidence of decreased mileage, self-restriction to driving in certain situations, collisions, moving violations, aggressive driving, sleepiness, alcohol abuse, metabolic disorders, and multiple medications may trigger considerations of driver safety. A general framework for evaluating driver fitness relies on a functional evaluation of multiple domains (cognitive, motor, perceptual, and psychiatric) that are important for safe driving and can be applied across many disorders, including conditions that have rarely been studied with respect to driving, and in patients with multiple conditions and medications. Neurocognitive tests, driving simulation, and road tests provide complementary sources of evidence to evaluate driver safety. No single test is sufficient to determine who should drive and who should not.
Toxicity of dimethyl selenide in the rat and mouse.

SummaryThe median lethal dose (L. D. 50) of dimethyl selenide was determined for the mouse and rat. It was found, after intraperitoneal injection of dimethyl selenide, that the median lethal dose f...
Ablation and Precursor Formation in Copper Wire-Array and Liner $Z$ -Pinches

Density maps of the r-θ plane are presented for two basic types of loads with the same total mass and overall dimensions: wire arrays and cylindrical liners. The wire-array load shows complex interactions of the ablation streams, leading to a well-developed precursor plasma on the axis. Some of the liner loads were near-perfect cylinders, whereas other liners had small perturbations to the cylindrical shape. The near-perfect liners had azimuthally uniform and reduced ablation on the inner surface compared to the wire array. This leads to a plasma prefill that was approximately an order of magnitude less dense than that produced by equivalent wire arrays. The perturbed liners had enhanced ablation near the perturbations that destroyed the azimuthal symmetry of the plasma prefill. The plots of azimuthally averaged mass density and ablated-mass-to-load-mass ratio versus radius are presented, as well as comparisons to the rocket model.
CHANGES IN CRAWFISH PRODUCTION COSTS AND CURRENT PRODUCTION PRACTICES USED

Louisiana State University Agricultural Center cost estimates for single-crop crawfish production costs are analyzed for the period, 1991–2010, to determine changes in the cost components of Louisiana crawfish production. Fuel costs have contributed the most and fixed expenses the least to increased production costs, with total expenses per acre increasing by an average of 3.8% per year if land is not included and by 3.6% per year if land is included. Crawfish prices have varied greatly over the period, ranging from $0.50/lb in 1993 to $1.75/lb in 2000. Production practices used by Louisiana crawfish producers are highly variable, creating challenges for estimating representative production cost estimates.