cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dynamic social network for narrative video analysis

Narrative video analysis has attracted much research attention, for narrative scenes can provide meaningful representations of multimedia contents. To go beyond the limitations of content based appraoches, social network techniques was introduced in the literature to explore the high-level narrative structures by mining the relations between video characters. Taking into account the fact that such a social network is not static but changes over time as the video narrative evolves, in this work, we develop a novel social network model, namely dynamic social network, for capturing the spatiotemporal dynamics in the social network of video characters so as to enable the automatic segmentation of a video into a sequence of narrative scenes. The proposed approach is experimented with various genres of movies and the results demonstrate our effectiveness.
Use of an Experimental Model To Test the Efficacy of Planned Exposure to Live Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus

The objectives of this study were to test the efficacy and safety of planned exposure to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in protecting naive and previously exposed pigs against PRRSV challenge and to gain information on the dose of PRRSV necessary to induce a protective immune response. Fifty 2-week-old pigs were randomly assigned to one of five groups: a group exposed to a low dose of autogenous PRRSV vaccine (the L-VAC group), a group exposed to a high dose of autogenous vaccine (the H-VAC group), a group exposed to a low dose of a heterologous PRRSV strain (strain SDSU73) prior to planned exposure (the SDSU73-L-VAC group), a group exposed to a high dose of a heterologous PRRSV strain (strain SDSU73) prior to planned exposure (the SDSU73-H-VAC group), and a control group. All groups were challenged with PRRSV VR2385 5 weeks after the planned exposure. Necropsy was done 2 weeks after the PRRSV challenge. The H-VAC, SDSU73-L-VAC, and SDSU73-H-VAC groups had significantly (P < 0.05) less severe clinical disease (sneezing, respiratory scores, and weight gain), significantly (P < 0.05) less severe macroscopic and microscopic lung lesions, and significantly (P < 0.05) lower numbers of PRRSV genomic copy numbers in their sera compared to the results for the control group. Planned exposure to live PRRSV can be used as an inexpensive and effective way to decrease the severity of PRRSV-induced disease following subsequent challenge.
SECRETION AND METABOLISM OF GROWTH HORMONE IN PREMATURE AND FULL-TERM INFANTS.

Measurements of plasma growth hormone by radioimmunoassay have been made in umbilical vein plasma of 20 infants at the time of delivery and in peripheral venous blood plasma of 85 normal and 111 premature infants during the first months of life. Although a high degree of individual variation was noted, mean levels were high in cord blood at birth and remained high in peripheral vein blood during the first 48 hr of life (50–72 mμg/ ml). Thereafter, growth hormone concentration fell but remained higher at 8 weeks of life than concentrations measured in adult plasma. The mean plasma growth hormone concentration of premature infants was higher than that of normal infants for much of the period from 2 to 56 days of life. An exaggerated release of growth hormone occurred in response to the induction of hypoglycemia within the first day of life. The disappearance of growth hormone from the plasma of infants is faster than that observed in adult subjects. The induction of hyperglycemia during the early days of li...
Hadamard multiplexing in laser ultrasonics

In state-of-the-art laser ultrasonics (LU), the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is limited by the shot noise of the detected laser radiation. Further improving the SNR then requires averaging multiple signals or increasing generation and/or detection laser intensities. The former strategy is time consuming and the latter leads to surface damages. For signal-independent limiting noises, Hadamard multiplexing increases the SNR by averaging multiple signals in parallel using a single detector. Here we consider the use of Hadamard multiplexing in LU for the non-contact ultrasonic inspection of materials. By using 31 element Hadamard masks to modulate the spatial intensity distribution of the generation laser beam, the measured SNR is improved by a factor 2.8, in good agreement with the expected multiplexing or Fellgett advantage. In contrast to many other applications of Hadamard multiplexing, the SNR is improved for shot-noise-limited measurements since the shot noise level is independent of the signal in LU. The Hadamard multiplexing of the detection laser beam is also considered but can only lead to a throughput or Jacquinot advantage. However, for pulse-echo LU, the Hadamard multiplexing of both generation and detection laser beams allows using the synthetic aperture focusing technique (SAFT).
Groups prepare for next phase in Ocean Drilling Program

With the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) slated to begin in October 2003—the month following the conclusion of the current Ocean Drilling Program (ODP)—a number of groups are preparing for this next stage in scientific ocean drilling. The Joint Oceanographic Institutions (JOI), which has managed the Ocean Drilling Program for the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) since 1985, announced on 25 September that it has selected the two incumbent ODP science operators for its upcoming proposal to manage U.S. aspects of the IODP.
Phenological studies of shrub and treelet species in tropical cloud forests of Costa Rica

(1) During 1978–1981, marked individuals of 107 species of treelets and shrubs in three forest types between 1300–1650 m elevation at Monteverde, Costa Rica, were monitored at monthly intervals for behaviour of leafing, flowering, and fruiting.(2) Although there was not a pronounced seasonal pattern of leafing activity, more species produced new leaves in the dry season. Species that flush large quantities of new leaves do so more commonly in the drier months. Leaf loss was gradual and unobtrusive in species observed.(3) Flowering activity was greatest in the late dry season and early wet season. Most species exhibited extended flowering; only 15% of the species were massively flowering. Massive flowerers showed less seasonality than extended flowerers.(4) Of the species studied, the majority had relatively unspecialized flowers which were visited by a variety of insects; small bee-pollination was the next most common, followed by hummingbird, beetle, settling moth, sphingid, butterfly, large bee and fly pollination (the pollination system of 18 species was unknown). Hummingbird pollinated species showed little seasonality of flowering when compared with species exhibiting small moth, and beetle pollination syndromes, as well as those with unspecialized flowers.(5) The vast majority of species studied have fleshy fruits (sarcochores). Fruiting activity was less markedly seasonal than flowering. Species with fruit are more numerous in the second half of the year (the wet season and early dry season). The second year of the study saw substantially fewer species in fruit than the first year; this is attributed to the greater than usual rainfall and inclement weather during the peak flowering season.(6) Cloud forest shrub and treelet phenology is compared with patterns of other forests that have been studied. In general, the greater the rainfall, the less seasonality of flowering and fruiting is seen. Although Monteverde is very wet, rainfall is intermediate between that of lowland dry and lowland wet forest in Costa Rica. Seasonality of flowering and fruiting at Monteverde is more pronounced than at La Selva (wet) and less obvious than in Guanacaste (dry).
Outcrops on lunar crater rims: Implications for rim construction mechanisms, ejecta volumes and excavation depths

The raised rims of impact craters consist of ejecta deposited onto structurally uplifted target rocks. Although it is commonly accepted that ejecta makes up 50–75% of the total rim height, no previous measurements on well-preserved, naturally occurring impact craters exist. Relying on data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, I report the first direct measurements of the rim-forming constituents from 21 lunar craters ranging in diameter from 2.2 km to 45 km. Results show that the ejecta deposit accounts for no more than ~20% of rim relief, and structural uplift is the primary mechanism of rim development in both simple and complex craters. Thick, quasi-horizontal outcrops of coherent bedrock indicate that this uplift is the result of subsurface injection of debris or melt into the surrounding target rocks. Crater growth, at least during the latest portion of the excavation stage, therefore, proceeds mainly through injection—rather than ejection—of material. These results suggest that ejecta volumes and excavation depths may be factors of 3 to 4 less than previously considered.
Determination of Elastic Moduli and Compliances of Viscoelastic Liquids Using the Dynamic Light Scattering Technique

Relations between the dynamic light scattering spectrum and the mechanical compliances and longitudinal stress moduli of viscoelastic liquids are provided. The result provides a basis for determination of mechanical relaxation spectra using the dynamic light scattering technique. The method of Computating the longitudinal modulus and the compliance spectra from the time correlation of density fluctuations of poly (propylene glycol), as determined by the photon correlation spectroscopy technique is illustrated.
Monte Carlo modeling of the transport of ionizing radiation created carriers in integrated circuits

We are modeling the collection process of ionizing radiation created carriers. We assume that the charge collection problem can be reduced to the classical transport of minority carriers, and use the Monte Carlo method to solve the transport equation. This technique, with modest computational requirements, is capable of handling the realistic charge collection environments found in integrated circuits. To test the simulated results, we carried out charge collection experiments on simple layouts to α-particle radiation. Although a small deviation was found from the assumed classical transport, with a slight modification on the simulation this effect could be taken into account. The final agreement between theory and experiment is excellent.
Non-Newtonian flow in branched pipes and artery models

This work concerns finite element analysis for a class of generalized Newtonian flows through branching pipe or tube junctions in industrial applications or blood flow through arterial branches, prosthetic tube implants or in biomedical engineering devices. A two-step morphing transformation is developed and implemented to map a generic coplanar 3D branching flow configuration to general out-of-plane deformed geometry including local constriction/dilation 'defects' suitable for modeling specific arterial flow and industrial flow applications. Unstructured 3D meshes may be generated in the reference configuration and morphed to the application configuration. The resulting meshes may be tangled and exhibit mesh quality degradation. Algorithms integrating mesh generation, morphing, untangling and cell shape control strategies are presented. Phenomenological studies are conducted with the Powell-Eyring class as a representative model to determine local details of shear-thinning flow behavior as well as the nature and location of high shear stress regions on artery branch walls. The supporting simulations are carried out using a parallel finite element scheme with domain decomposition by a sectional partitioning that takes advantage of the medial curve shape and specialized ILU preconditioning.
Prey dispersal and predator impacts on stream benthic prey

The impact that predators have on local invertebrate prey density in streams varies between different types of predators as well as across different types of prey. Insights into mechanisms generating this variation can be gained by considering dispersal responses of prey to predators. If predators induce increases in prey dispersal rates then local prey density will decline. In contrast, if predators suppress prey dispersal rates then this will tend to increase prey density. In this chapter we review evidence revealing that prey dispersal responses to predators are important in driving patterns in predator impact on local prey density in streams. Future studies on predator impact on local prey density should examine the dispersal responses of prey to determine the degree to which dispersal generates patterns of predator impact on local prey density. Finally, we show that the spatial scale at which a study is conducted will have a strong influence on the degree to which prey dispersal influences predator impact on prey density. Small-scale studies will reflect mostly prey dispersal effects. In contrast, large-scale studies will reflect mostly direct (consumptive) effects of predators on prey density.
Spatial and seasonal responses of precipitation in the Ganges and Brahmaputra river basins to ENSO and Indian Ocean dipole modes: implications for flooding and drought

Abstract. We evaluated the spatial and seasonal responses of precipitation in the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins as modulated by the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) modes using Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) full data reanalysis of monthly global land-surface precipitation data from 1901 to 2010 with a spatial resolution of 0.5° × 0.5°. The GPCC monthly total precipitation climatology targeting the period 1951–2000 was used to compute gridded monthly anomalies for the entire time period. The gridded monthly anomalies were averaged for the years influenced by combinations of climate modes. Occurrences of El Nino alone significantly reduce (88% of the long-term average (LTA)) precipitation during the monsoon months in the western and southeastern Ganges Basin. In contrast, occurrences of La Nina and co-occurrences of La Nina and negative IOD events significantly enhance (110 and 109% of LTA in the Ganges and Brahmaputra Basin, respectively) precipitation across both basins. When El Nino co-occurs with positive IOD events, the impacts of El Nino on the basins' precipitation diminishes. When there is no active ENSO or IOD events (occurring in 41 out of 110 years), precipitation remains below average (95% of LTA) in the agriculturally intensive areas of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Western Nepal in the Ganges Basin, whereas precipitation remains average to above average (104% of LTA) across the Brahmaputra Basin. This pattern implies that a regular water deficit is likely, especially in the Ganges Basin, with implications for the agriculture sector due to its reliance on consistent rainfall for successful production. Historically, major droughts occurred during El Nino and co-occurrences of El Nino and positive IOD events, while major flooding occurred during La Nina and co-occurrences of La Nina and negative IOD events in the basins. This observational analysis will facilitate well-informed decision making in minimizing natural hazard risks and climate impacts on agriculture, and supports development of strategies ensuring optimized use of water resources in best management practice under a changing climate.
Structural Properties of Calcium Silicate Pastes: I, Effect of the Hydrating Compound

The chemical and physical properties of C3S, β-C2S, a C3S/C2S blend, and portland cement pastes cured at 25°C were investigated. The H2O specific surface areas of the calcium silicate samples follow a common linear relation when plotted against a CIS ratio. The β-C2S had higher capillary porosity and N2 surface area, resulting from increased mesopore volume at the expense of micropores. All calcium silicate pastes had similar polysilicate content vs time curves, indicating an aging process which is not sensitive to the starting composition of the hydrating calcium silicate. The polysilicate content of portland cement was much lower than that of the corresponding calcium silicate pastes. Strength-capillary porosity relations for the various systems are discussed.
Benefits and costs of substance abuse treatment programs for state prison inmates: results from a lifetime simulation model†

Reflecting drug use patterns and criminal justice policies throughout the 1990s and 2000s, prisons hold a disproportionate number of society's drug abusers. Approximately 50% of state prisoners meet the criteria for a diagnosis of drug abuse or dependence, but only 10% receive medically based drug treatment. Because of the link between substance abuse and crime, treating substance abusing and dependent state prisoners while incarcerated has the potential to yield substantial economic benefits. In this paper, we simulate the lifetime costs and benefits of improving prison-based substance abuse treatment and post-release aftercare for a cohort of state prisoners. Our model captures the dynamics of substance abuse as a chronic disease; estimates the benefits of substance abuse treatment over individuals' lifetimes; and tracks the costs of crime and criminal justice costs related to policing, adjudication, and incarceration. We estimate net societal benefits and cost savings to the criminal justice system of the current treatment system and five policy scenarios. We find that four of the five policy scenarios provide positive net societal benefits and cost savings to the criminal justice system relative to the current treatment system. Our study demonstrates the societal gains to improving the drug treatment system for state prisoners.
Decompression-triggered positive-pressure ventilation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation improves pulmonary gas exchange and oxygen uptake.

Background— Intermittent positive-pressure ventilation (IPPV) is the “gold standard” of ventilation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is increasingly discussed as an alternative. This study investigated hemodynamics and pulmonary gas exchange applying CPAP enhanced with pressure support ventilation (CPAPPSV) during CPR. Methods and Results— Twenty-four pigs were subjected to ventricular fibrillation and CPR with CPAPPSV, CPAP, or IPPV. Measurements were taken before (hemodynamics, blood gases, inert gas measurements) and 10 (hemodynamics, blood gases) and 20 (hemodynamics, blood gases, inert gas measurements) minutes after induction of ventricular fibrillation. Although no significant intergroup differences in hemodynamics were found, arterial partial pressure of oxygen (Pao2) was significantly higher during CPAPPSV compared with CPAP or IPPV (98±10, 61±27, and 71±30 mm Hg, respectively, P<0.05). CPAPPSV resulted in an alveolar-arterial partial pres...
Nonagostic M···H–C Interactions. Synthesis, Characterization, and DFT Study of the Titanium Amide Ti2Cl6[N(t-Bu)2]2

The compound Ti2Cl6[N(t-Bu)2]2 (1) has been synthesized by treating TiCl4 with di(tert-butyl)amine, HN(t-Bu)2. Compound 1 crystallizes in two different polymorphs from pentane, both conforming to the space group P21/n. In both polymorphs, 1 exhibits a close Ti···C contact of 2.634(3) A between titanium and a γ-methyl group in one of the two tert-butyl groups of the bound amido ligand. Interestingly, the γ-methyl group adopts a rotational conformation that maximizes the Ti···H distances, the shortest of which are 2.36(2) and 2.62(2) A. Even though the former distance is within the range characteristic of agostic interactions, the rotational orientation of the methyl group suggests that the Ti···H interactions are repulsive rather than attractive. DFT and NBO analysis confirms this supposition: there is no evidence of weakening of the C–H bond closest to the titanium and no evidence of significant overlap of titanium orbitals with the C–H bonding orbitals of the γ-methyl group involved in the close contact....
Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer with Liquid Metal Field Ion Source and Quadrupole Mass Analyzer

An ultra-high vacuum secondary ion mass spectrometer has been assembled from commercially available components. By doing this, the cost has been held to around $100,000.
Improving I/O performance with a conditional store buffer

Microprocessor I/O performance is becoming increasingly critical in order to support efficient communication interfaces as modern microprocessors continue to be used in a variety of multiprocessor configurations. Numerous performance enhancements have been made to improve processor performance by improving the latency and bandwidth to main memory or creating efficient mechanisms to hide main memory latency. These include speculative out of order instruction execution, lock-up free caches, and improved memory bus designs. Sadly these improvements are not directly applicable to improved I/O system performance and may even complicate high performance I/O system design. This paper introduces and analyzes the design of a simple mechanism called the conditional store buffer. The conditional score buffer improves I/O write performance by making better use of the system bus to increase effective I/O bandwidth, while greatly reducing synchronization overhead. The cost is a minor increase in hardware complexity.
Utility of the ESSENCE Surveillance System in Monitoring the H1N1 Outbreak.

The Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE) enables health care practitioners to detect and monitor health indicators of public health importance. ESSENCE is used by public health departments in the National Capital Region (NCR); a cross-jurisdictional data sharing agreement has allowed cooperative health information sharing in the region since 2004. Emergency department visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) in the NCR from 2008 are compared to those of 2009. Important differences in the rates, timing, and demographic composition of ILI visits were found. By monitoring a regional surveillance system, public health practitioners had an increased ability to understand the magnitude and character of different ILI outbreaks. This increased ability provided crucial community-level information on which to base response and control measures for the novel 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak. This report underscores the utility of automated surveillance systems in monitoring community-based outbreaks.
Chronic fibrosing pancreatitis in childhood: report of a case and literature review.

Chronic fibrosing pancreatitis in childhood is an uncommon condition of unknown etiology with a variety of clinical presentations, histopathologic features, and outcomes. The diagnosis is one of exclusion (of hereditary or secondary pancreatitis), which should include histological assessment. The histological features of this condition have been described, to our knowledge, in nine published cases. We report a case in a 13-year-old male, who presented, with obstructive jaundice and subsequently had evidence of endocrine and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, despite a surgical decompression of the pancreatic-biliary duct system.
Philip Coppel (ed), Information Rights: Law and Practice

(2011). Philip Coppel (ed), Information Rights: Law and Practice. Judicial Review: Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 72-73.
Human and algorithm performance on the PaSC face Recognition Challenge

Face recognition by machines has improved substantially in the past decade and now is at a level that compares favorably with humans for frontal faces acquired by digital single lens reflex cameras. We expand the comparison between humans and algorithms to still images and videos taken with digital point and shoot cameras. The data used for this comparison are from the Point and Shoot Face Recognition Challenge (PaSC). For videos, human performance was compared with the four top performers in the Face and Gesture 2015 Person Recognition Evaluation. In the literature, there are two methods for computing human performance: aggregation and fusion. We show that the fusion method produces higher performance estimates. We report performance for two levels of difficulty: challenging and extremely-difficult. Our results provide additional evidence that human performance shines relative to algorithms on extremely-difficult comparisons. To improve the community's understanding of the state of human and algorithm performance, we update the cross-modal performance analysis in Phillips and O'Toole [22] with these new results.
Magnetic field influence on acetylcholine release at the neuromuscular junction

The effects of a static magnetic field on the frequency of miniature end-plate potentials (MEPPs), recorded from the murine phrenic nerve-diaphragm preparation, were studied. In the presence of a 1,200-G field, statistically significant changes in MEPP frequency were observed. There was a modest increase in frequency at temperatures at and below 34 degrees C and a prominent decrease in frequency at temperatures above 35 degrees C. This temperature-dependent phenomenon was not seen in the absence of calcium in the perfusate. These results suggest that, at its phase transition temperature, the diamagnetic anisotropy of the presynaptic membrane is sufficient to influence neurotransmitter release by altering the function of the transmembrane calcium transfer mechanism.
Application of the double paddle oscillator for quantifying environmental, surface mass variation

Sub-monolayer sensitivity to controlled gas adsorption and desorption is demonstrated using a double paddle oscillator (DPO) installed within an UHV (ultra-high vacuum) environmental chamber equipped with in situ film deposition, (multi)gas admission and temperature control. This effort is intended to establish a robust framework for quantitatively comparing mass changes due to gas loading and unloading on different materials systems selected or considered for use as mass artifacts. Our apparatus is composed of a UHV chamber with gas introduction and temperature control and in-situ materials deposition for future materials testing enabling in situ preparation of virgin surfaces that can be monitored during initial exposure to gasses of interest. These tools are designed to allow us to comparatively evaluate how different materials gain or lose mass due to precisely controlled environmental excursions, with a long term goal of measuring changes in absolute mass. Herein, we provide a detailed experimental description of the apparatus, an evaluation of the initial performance, and demonstration measurements using nitrogen adsorption and desorption directly on the DPO.
Effect of Epinephrine on the Synthesis of Acetylcholine.

Summary1. The synthesis of acetylcholine in vitro in the presence of epinephrine was investigated. 2. Epinephrine in concentrations used (1.10-8 to 1.10-5 increased the synthesis of acetylcholine by 40 to 150% respectively above the control.
Regulation der Transkription in Eukaryoten und Prokaryoten: ein gemeinsamer Mechanismus

Es sind verschiedene Beispiele eukaryotischer Gene bekannt, die sich von den λ Genen durch eine Besonderheit unterscheiden: Ihre Transkription wird aktiviert, wenn ein Protein an eine DNA-Sequenz bindet, die mehrere hundert Basenpaare vom Startpunkt der RNA entfernt liegt. Zu diesen Beispielen gehoren menschliche Gene ebenso wie Gene von Nagern und Gene aus der Hefe.
Thick evaporites and early rifting in the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California

Multichannel seismic transects reveal an ∼2-km-thick, ∼50 × 100 km evaporite body under the shelf on the eastern margin of the Guaymas Basin, central Gulf of California (Mexico). These thick newly discovered evaporites appear to be correlated with well-known gypsum beds near Santa Rosalia to the northwest, on the Baja California peninsula. Closing the Gulf of California along kinematic flow lines suggests that the thin, scattered, ca. 7 Ma Santa Rosalia gypsum beds formed on the fringe of the much thicker evaporite deposit. This correlation, and the large volume of the Guaymas evaporates, implies that substantial marine incursions and subsequent evaporite deposition occurred during the Late Miocene and prior to lithospheric rupture. Furthermore, the shape of the Guaymas evaporite is indicative of a transtensional basin, suggesting that oblique extension existed in the central Gulf of California ca. 7 Ma.
Extraction of thermal Green's function using diffuse fields: a passive approach applied to thermography

In the field of non-destructive evaluation, defect detection and visualization can be performed exploiting different techniques relying either on an active or a passive approach. In the following paper the passive technique is investigated due to its numerous advantages and its application to thermography is explored. In previous works, it has been shown that it is possible to reconstruct the Green’s function between any pair of points of a sensing grid by using noise originated from diffuse fields in acoustic environments. The extraction of the Green’s function can be achieved by cross-correlating these random recorded waves. Averaging, filtering and length of the measured signals play an important role in this process. This concept is here applied in an NDE perspective utilizing thermal fluctuations present on structural materials. Temperature variations interacting with thermal properties of the specimen allow for the characterization of the material and its health condition. The exploitation of the thermographic image resolution as a dense grid of sensors constitutes the basic idea underlying passive thermography. Particular attention will be placed on the creation of a proper diffuse thermal field, studying the number, placement and excitation signal of heat sources. Results from numerical simulations will be presented to assess the capabilities and performances of the passive thermal technique devoted to defect detection and imaging of structural components.
β-Endorphin: cellular localization, electrophysiological and behavioral effects

Tremendous excitement has been generated by the isolation, purification, and subsequent synthesis of the opioid peptides. Our collaborative efforts have been directed at the questions of where β-endorphin is stored in brain and pituitary, how such structures are related to those storing the enkephalins and possibly other biogenic substances, and the functions of these peptides expressed through their electrophysiological properties. Although none of these questions is yet completely answered, sufficient data have been accumulated (Bloom et al., 1976, 1977a, b; Guillemin et al., 1977a, b, c; Rossier et al., 1977a, b, c; Nicoll et al., 1977; Henriksen et al., 1977; French et al., 1977) to enable us to give this overview and progress report.
Insulators for Spark Plugs

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses insulators for spark plugs, which were produced originally by hand at a rate of 3000 cylindrical blanks per day. A modern spark plug is approximately 90% Al2O3 with SiO2, CaO, and MgO. Magnesium oxide is present as a grain growth inhibitor, and CaO and SiO2 act as fluxes. While most plugs are produced by isostatic pressing, extrusion and injection molding have also been used. Materials other than alumina have been considered, but the properties of alumina have so far proved superior. The insulator is exposed to rapid temperature changes in the internal combustion engine and thermal-shock resistance is critical. Generating a spark requires a high voltage surge. To force the electricity to jump the gap at the base of the spark plug, the ceramic must be an insulator and have high dielectric strength. The insulator must be as chemically inert as possible. Alumina has this combination of properties and can be produced rapidly and cheaply using modern technology. All this must be accomplished for only a few US cents per insulator.
Analysis of germ line development in the chick embryo using an anti-mouse EC cell antibody.

We have found that EMA-1, a monoclonal antibody originally raised against mouse embryonal carcinoma (Nulli SCC1) cells (Hahnel & Eddy, 1982), also labels chick primordial germ cells (PGCs). We have used this antibody in immunohistological studies to follow the development of PGCs in the chick embryo from the time of their initial appearance beneath the epiblast, through their migratory phase and subsequent colonization of the germinal epithelium. During hypoblast formation, individual EMA-1-labelled cells appeared to separate from the basal surface of the epiblast and enter the blastocoel, coincident with the appearance of morphologically identifiable PGCs in this same area. EMA-1 continued to label germ cells until the initiation of gametogenesis in each sex; specifically, labelling was absent by 7–8 days of incubation in females and started to decrease at 11 days of incubation in males. There was a recurrence of the epitope on oogonia at 15 days of incubation, but not on spermatogonia during the remainder of development through hatching. These observations are consistent with an epiblast origin for the avian germ line, and are strikingly similar to those reported for the early mouse embryo using the same antibody (Hahnel & Eddy, 1986).
Genotype, environment, and evolutionary mechanism of diseases

Large-scale genomic projects have unexpectedly challenged the current approach of focusing on genes in disease studies. As common gene mutations are difficult to identify for common/complex diseases, and the diagnostic distinction of gene profile between “normal” and “patient” becomes increasingly blurry, the power of gene-focused studies in medicine is actually decreasing. More attention is now being focused on gene–environment interaction. However, such a transition is still within the framework of using molecular descriptions of specific genes for understanding diseases, which is challenging in the clinic, where nonlinear relationships are dominant. In this article, we define diseases as genotype/environment-induced variants that are not compatible with a current environment. This explains (1) why the genotype is not simply the gene mutation profile, but comprised of multiple levels of genetic/nongenetic (including epigenetic) variations, as environmental dynamics require all sorts of system modifications; (2) why many disease conditions represent a trade-off of cellular adaptation, in addition to inherited or environment-induced bio-errors; and (3) why costly variants function as the “insurance policy” for adapting to the unpredictability of environments. This leads to the general mechanism of the majority of diseases: genotype–environment interaction generates variations, which are either essential for future crises or useful for current cellular function. Unfortunately, as a trade-off, these variants also contribute to diseases. This general mechanism can unify diverse specific molecular mechanisms, and suggests that the goal of eliminating all diseases is not only impossible, but also comes with the potential negative consequence of reducing the heterogeneity essential for human survival.
Transfer of maternal antibodies results in inhibition of specific immune responses in the offspring

A potentially detrimental consequence of maternally transferred antibodies was demonstrated in a mouse model for rabies virus, where pups from rabies virus-immune dams showed a decrease in the generation of specific B- and T-cell responses to immunization with rabies virus antigen, resulting in vaccine failures. The degree and duration of the vaccine failures was inversely correlated with the amounts of maternally transferred antibodies, and exceeded the time when maternal antibodies provided reliable protection against a viral challenge. The low responsiveness to vaccination, measured by serum antibody titers and by lymphokine release upon in vitro restimulation of in vivo-primed lymphocytes, was specific for the target virus of the maternal antibodies and was also observed in pups from Sendai virus-immune dams upon vaccination with the homologous virus. In addition, an inhibition of the specific immune responses was demonstrated upon passive immunization of newborn mice with monoclonal antibodies to rabies virus. Although the mechanism(s) that causes the observed inhibition in the offspring of immune dams or in pups that were inoculated with antibodies postnatally is currently unknown, data presented in this manuscript indicate that the observed effect on B- and T-cell responses might not be solely caused by removal of the antigenic load due to residual maternal antibodies.
United States industrial development

This chapter provides an overview of industrial development in the United States. Early United States history provides tangible examples of the effect of the different factors upon industrial development and the growth of industry and communities. The British created plantation companies as a means of colonizing and developing the portion of America they controlled. Spain established forts and trading posts to defend against the English. These plantation companies were charted by the government and capitalized by public subscription in the London money market. Other companies were created by private subscription. General Oglethorpe located Savannah, Georgia, as his principal town or base of operations for developing Georgia. Charleston, South Carolina was another plantation company development. Nashville was originally a trading post located at a ford over the Cumberland River. As settlement increased, river and land traffic increased, and Nashville became a distributing center. These examples exemplify patterns to be found throughout the United States. Cities were settled and developed at natural trade route crossings along rivers and on bays. This chapter discusses in detail about influence of trade routes on the growth and development of US cities. The chapter also discusses about the railroad era of the United States.
Mapping-Based Positioning Strategies for LGV

Positioning is the core of a LGV system. The basic concepts of positioning LGV are first introduced. On the basis of the concepts, the positioning process is divided into two steps, mapping and calculating. Two main categories of mapping process, fullmap and quickmap, are proposed. Quickmap are further discussed as position-based quickmap and angle-based quickmap. Fullmap is based on geometrical matching while quickmap is based on continuous mapping. Based on different mapping strategies, the calculating processes are accordingly different. Least Square Method is used to refine the result of position-based strategies, including fullmap and position-based quickmap. Least Square Quasi-Newton method is used to calculate the result of angle-based strategy, which here is angle-based quickmap.
Facial Drooping, Aphasia, and an Incidental Lung Mass in a Nonsmoker.

Background:Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter are atrial tachycardias associated with embolic strokes. To date, there have only been a few reports highlighting the incidence of these atrial tachycardias due to mechanical compression of myocardial structures and the pulmonary vasculature in certain mediastinal masses and cysts.Case:We present a case of a 75-year-old gentleman who is a nonsmoker with a history of hypertension who presents with an acute embolic stroke due to atrial flutter likely from mechanical compression from an underlying squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.Conclusion:This case represents, to the best of our knowledge, a rare case of squamous cell carcinoma of the lung in a nonsmoker likely leading to mechanical compression and a resultant atrial tachycardia with an embolic stroke.
Computation and Crowds: Models for Dynamic Ridesharing

We develop and test computational methods for guiding collaboration that demonstrate how shared plans can be created in real-world settings, where agents can be expected to have diverse and varying goals, preferences, and availabilities. The methods are motivated and evaluated in the realm of ridesharing, using GPS logs of commuting data. We consider challenges with coordination among self-interested people aimed at minimizing the cost of transportation and the impact of travel on the environment. We present planning, optimization, and payment mechanisms that provide fair and efﬁcient solutions to the rideshare collaboration challenge. We evaluate different VCG-based payment schemes in terms of their computational efﬁciency, budget balance, incentive compatibility, and strategy proofness. We present the behavior and analyses provided by the ABC ridesharing prototype system. The system learns about destinations and preferences from GPS traces and calendars, and considers time, fuel, environmental, and cognitive costs. We review how ABC generates rideshare plans from hundreds of real-life GPS traces collected from a community of commuters and reﬂect about the promise of employing the ABC methods to reduce the number of vehicles on the road, thus reducing CO2 emissions and fuel expenditures.
One-Step Preservation and Decalcification of Bony Tissue for Molecular Profiling

Bone metastasis from primary cancer sites creates diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. Calcified bone is difficult to biopsy due to tissue hardness and patient discomfort, thus limiting the frequency and availability of bone/bone marrow biopsy material for molecular profiling. In addition, bony tissue must be demineralized (decalcified) prior to histomorphologic analysis. Decalcification processes rely on three main principles: (a) solubility of calcium salts in an acid, such as formic or nitric acid; (b) calcium chelation with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA); or (c) ion-exchange resins in a weak acid. A major roadblock in molecular profiling of bony tissue has been the lack of a suitable demineralization process that preserves histomorphology of calcified and soft tissue elements while also preserving phosphoproteins and nucleic acids. In this chapter, we describe general issues relevant to specimen collection and preservation of osseous tissue for molecular profiling. We provide two protocols: (a) one-step preservation of tissue histomorphology and proteins and posttranslational modifications, with simultaneous decalcification of bony tissue, and (b) ethanol-based tissue processing for TheraLin-fixed bony tissue.
Implementation of respiratory-gated VMAT on a Versa HD linear accelerator

The accurate delivery of respiratory-gated volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) treatment plans presents a challenge since the gantry rotation and collimator leaves must be repeatedly stopped and set into motion during each breathing cycle. In this study, we present the commissioning process for an Anzai gating system (AZ-733VI) on an Elekta Versa HD linear accelerator and make recommendations for successful clinical implementation. The commissioning tests include central axis dose consistency, profile consistency, gating beam-on/off delay, and comparison of gated versus nongated gamma pass rates for patient-specific quality assurance using four clinically commissioned photon energies: 6 MV, 6 FFF, 10 MV, and 10 FFF. The central axis dose constancy between gated and nongated deliveries was within 0.6% for all energies and the analysis of open field profiles for gated and nongated deliveries showed an agreement of 97.8% or greater when evaluated with a percent difference criteria of 1%. The measurement of the beam-on/off delay was done by evaluating images of a moving ball-bearing phantom triggered by the gating system and average beam-on delays of 0.22–0.29 s were observed. No measurable beam-off delay was present. Measurements of gated VMAT dose distributions resulted in decrements as high as 9% in the gamma passing rate as compared to nongated deliveries when evaluated against the planned dose distribution at 3%/3 mm. By decreasing the dose rate, which decreases the gantry speed during gated delivery, the gamma passing rates of gated and nongated treatments can be made equivalent. We present an empirically derived formula to limit the maximum dose rate during VMAT deliveries and show that by implementing a reduced dose rate, a gamma passing rate of greater than 95% (3%/3 mm) was obtained for all plan measurements.
One Team-Patient, Family, and Health Care Providers: An Interprofessional Education Activity Providing Collaborative and Palliative Care.

The article explains an approach to building interprofessional education (IPE) and interprofessional practice opportunities as well as content in palliative/hospice care within undergraduate and graduate curricula for six health disciplines, including speech-language pathology. Graduate students from nursing, medicine, communication sciences, and disorders, physical therapy, social work and nutrition, as well as undergraduate nursing students participated in one of four IPE training sessions using six videotaped simulation scenes portraying the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Learning objectives included (1) engaging in effective interprofessional communication and teamwork, (2) discussing therapeutic patient/family communication, (3) employing supportive holistic care with patients and families at end of life, and (4) relating the patient's physiological assessment findings to the dying process. Students discussed the role of the interprofessional team in end-of-life care and were coached on ways to apply interprofessional communication, a key interprofessional education competency, using patient- and family-centered care principles. Results revealed strong positive agreement among the disciplines regarding the value of the learning opportunities provided during this IPE simulation activity.
Altering Infamy: Status, Violence, and Civic Exclusion in Late Antiquity

This paper investigates the application of the legal stigma of infamia (disrepute) in Late Antiquity. The legal status is used as a lens through which to view the changing systemic, religious, and social landscapes between the reigns of Diocletian and Justinian, indicating the various uses and, ultimately, abuses of the status, as well as the marked consequences of expanding its definition. The use of the legal status to marginalize religious deviants in particular is inspected. This analysis reveals that the amendment of infamia to include heretics, apostates, and pagans signals the use of classical law to define orthodoxy and to articulate the anxiety over the pagan-Christian religious transition. The unforeseen consequences of infamia9s expansion were the abetment of violence in the fourth and fifth centuries. Moreover, the disqualification of religious deviants from serving on curial councils had a noticeable impact on some municipalities in the later empire, and may have created a loophole with which to avoid curial service altogether.
The IR Has Two Faces: Positioning Institutional Repositories for Success

ABSTRACTThis article describes the ongoing efforts at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Libraries to evolve the role of the institutional repository (IR) and to effectively position it within the context of the Libraries’ collections, research support, and scholarly communication services. A major component of this process is re-examining the fundamental aims of the IR and aligning it to the Libraries and the campus strategic goals. The authors situate UNLV Libraries’ experience within the context of the current literature to provide background and reasoning for our decision to pursue two, at times conflicting, aims for the IR: one for scholarly communication and another for research administration.