cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Potentiality from Aristotle to Rescher and Back

Etienne Gilson once remarked that metaphysics has a way of burying its undertakers. Judging from the sparsity of literature on the subject, one would have thought that the notion of ‘potentiality’ had been laid to rest a long time ago. Even in those circles associated with classical metaphysical pursuits, few studies of the subject have appeared in the last twenty-five years. Prodding, then, came from a rather unexpected quarter as work in the philosophy of science moved from an early eulogistic approach through an evangelical stage with urged the use of empirical techniques in all areas, through a period of historical consciousness or even relativism to present efforts to understand what it means to have a scientific explanation. If your reading of the history of the philosophy of science is somewhat different, it will, nevertheless, probably not detract from my principal observation, namely, that the concept of ‘potentiality,’ and its attendant notion ‘possibility,’ is of more than passing interest in the philosophy of science, at least where efforts are being made to understand the structures of the things that the natural sciences investigate. In recent years, some of the most sophisticated work in the philosophy of science has appropriated certain key Aristotelian concepts, long thought abandoned in a post-Cartesian, post-Humean world.
Gradient elasticity finite element model for the microstructure analysis of asphaltic materials

Publisher Summary A finite element (FE) formulation for gradient elasticity model is implemented in the commercial package ABAQUS. The potential of using of gradient elasticity in modeling the response of asphalt mix microstructure is illustrated in the chapter. It is shown in the chapter that using gradient elasticity allows capturing the influence of binder film thickness and particle size on strain distribution. It assists in overcoming the experimental and FE limitation to capture the details of the microstructure in a representative volume element of the material. The gradient coefficient can be used to simulate the presence of small particles within the mastic that increases the stiffness and reduces the strain localization within the representative volume element (RVE).
Hydride abstraction from [PPN]2[HSb{Fe(CO)4}3] by alkyl iodides

Abstract [PPN]2[HSb{Fe(CO)4}3] ([PPN]2[I]) was reacted with MeI and EtI. The reaction with MeI yielded [PPN][Sb(Me)I{Fe(CO)4}2] ([PPN][II]) whereas the reaction with EtI yielded [PPN]2[ISb{Fe(CO)4}3] ([PPN]2[III]) instead. The structure of [PPN][II] was determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. [PPN][II] crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/c (#15) with a=14.115(3) A, b=17.123(3) A, c=18.913(4) A, β=97.06(3), V=4536.4(16) A3, Z=4, R1 (I>2σ(I))=0.0691 and wR2=0.1900. Analysis of the off gases indicated the presence of methane for [PPN][II] and ethane for [PPN]2[III]. The possibility of the formation of [PPN]2[III] via a radical chain mechanism was excluded by performing the reaction at high dilution, in the dark and in the presence of BHT.
Characterization of actionable somatic alterations in microdissected gynecologic carcinosarcomas.

5594Background: Gynecologic carcinosarcomas (CS) are rare tumors most often arising in the uterus or ovary that histologically contain both carcinomatous and sarcomatous components. CS is thought t...
Structure and evolution of double minutes in diagnosis and relapse brain tumors

Double minute chromosomes are extrachromosomal circular DNA fragments frequently found in brain tumors. To understand their evolution, we characterized the double minutes in paired diagnosis and relapse tumors from a pediatric high-grade glioma and four adult glioblastoma patients. We determined the full structures of the major double minutes using a novel approach combining multiple types of supporting genomic evidence. Among the double minutes identified in the pediatric patient, only one carrying EGFR was maintained at high abundance in both samples, whereas two others were present in only trace amounts at diagnosis but abundant at relapse, and the rest were found either in the relapse sample only or in the diagnosis sample only. For the EGFR-carrying double minutes, we found a secondary somatic deletion in all copies at relapse, after erlotinib treatment. However, the somatic mutation was present at very low frequency at diagnosis, suggesting potential resistance to the EGFR inhibitor. This mutation caused an in-frame RNA transcript to skip exon 16, a novel transcript isoform absent in EST database, as well as about 700 RNA-seq of normal brains that we reviewed. We observed similar patterns involving longitudinal copy number shift of double minutes in another four pairs (diagnosis/relapse) of adult glioblastoma. Overall, in three of five paired tumor samples, we found that although the same oncogenes were amplified at diagnosis and relapse, they were amplified on different double minutes. Our results suggest that double minutes readily evolve, increasing tumor heterogeneity rapidly. Understanding patterns of double minute evolution can shed light on future therapeutic solutions to brain tumors carrying such variants.
Gendering asexuality and asexualizing gender: A qualitative study exploring the intersections between gender and asexuality:

In this article, I explore the intersections between gender and asexuality, drawing on data collected from in-depth interviews with 30 asexually-identified individuals living in the United States. ...
Calculation of Muscle Activity during Race Walking

Race walking has been shown to be a lower impact alternative to running. In fact, lower injury rates are reported in race walkers than runners. This may be due to lower joint forces. However, this theory has not been explicitly tested since joint contact forces are difficult to measure. Therefore, these joint forces are calculated using either a serial or cosimulation approach. In both strategies, a detailed joint model and multibody dynamics model are used in tandem to calculate muscle forces. These muscle forces then contribute to the joint contact forces. Computed muscle control (CMC) is an algorithm that utilizes a proportional-derivative controller, static optimization, and forward dynamics to calculate muscle activations, which are used to subsequently calculate muscle forces. The goal of this study was to investigate the viability of using CMC to calculate muscle activations during race walking, with the intent of using these activations in future studies to calculate joint forces. Instrumented motion capture data (kinematics, kinetics, and electromyography (EMG)) of a representative subject was used from a previous study. In this study, subjects walked, race walked, and ran at a self-selected pace across a walkway with embedded forceplates while marker trajectories and EMG were collected. Muscle actuated forward dynamics simulations (i.e. CMC) were created for each movement. The muscle activations resulting from these CMC simulations were compared to the experimentally measured EMG by performing a cross-correlation. The CMC results were fairly accurate across all muscles (gluteus medius, rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, adductor longus, semitendinosus, tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius, peroneus longus) with correlation coefficients greater than 0.5. There was no apparent relationship between movement type and coefficient. Future work is needed to determine if correlation coefficients of 0.5 are accurate enough for studies looking to accurately quantify joint contact forces.
Passerine and secretive marsh bird responses to cattail management in temperate wetlands

Hybrid cattails (Typha x glauca) are an invasive, emergent aquatic plant that often form monodominant stands, which can alter wetland vegetation structure and negatively affect wildlife populations. Wetland managers often apply prescribed burning, grazing, and herbicide treatments to reduce cattail density but how these management actions influence wetland wildlife is largely unknown. Our objectives were to investigate the effect of hybrid cattail control methods on secretive marsh bird and wetland passerine abundance in central Minnesota, USA. Specifically, we assessed how environmental variables and cattail treatments (e.g., burning, grazing, and herbicide) influenced bird densities and community composition. We used the North American Marsh Bird Monitoring Protocol to assess wetland bird communities across sixteen wetlands comprised of eight treatments with a full-factorial design. Species-specific density estimates and community-wide ordination offered little evidence for a substantial effect of treatments on marsh birds and passerines. However, gradients in vegetation height and mean biomass did have a significant relationship with both passerine and marsh bird community composition, which suggests changes in the bird community following cattail management might require time to develop. To support diverse wetland bird communities, treatments must create contrast among wetland habitats with high and low vegetative biomass. Because secretive marsh birds are under-surveyed, our baseline population estimates are valuable for future local and regional management and for gaining preliminary understanding of the effect of invasive species management on wetland birds in the Upper Midwest.
Diagnosis of stator inter-turn fault and supply voltage unbalance using phase-angle and magnitude of the line currents spectra

This paper describes a new diagnosis approach to discriminate between the supply voltage unbalance and the stator inter-turn fault in induction motor. This approach is based on a simple monitoring of the combined information related to both magnitude and phase-angle obtained from the fundamental by the three line currents frequency analysis. In addition, to simplify the interpretation of the data; a new graphical tool based on a triangular representation is suggested. This representation, depending on its size and orientation, enables to visualize in a simple manner, the existence of the stator inter-turn fault and its discrimination with respect to a supply voltage unbalance. The experimental results obtained show the efficiency and the reliability of this new approach.
Ice Microphysical Properties near the Tops of Deep Convective Cores Implied by the GPM Dual-Frequency Radar Observations

AbstractUsing three years of observations from the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) aboard the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, properties of the cores of deep conve...
Facial Expression Recognition Using Disentangled Adversarial Learning.

The representation used for Facial Expression Recognition (FER) usually contain expression information along with other variations such as identity and illumination. In this paper, we propose a novel Disentangled Expression learning-Generative Adversarial Network (DE-GAN) to explicitly disentangle facial expression representation from identity information. In this learning by reconstruction method, facial expression representation is learned by reconstructing an expression image employing an encoder-decoder based generator. This expression representation is disentangled from identity component by explicitly providing the identity code to the decoder part of DE-GAN. The process of expression image reconstruction and disentangled expression representation learning is improved by performing expression and identity classification in the discriminator of DE-GAN. The disentangled facial expression representation is then used for facial expression recognition employing simple classifiers like SVM or MLP. The experiments are performed on publicly available and widely used face expression databases (CK+, MMI, Oulu-CASIA). The experimental results show that the proposed technique produces comparable results with state-of-the-art methods.
Missing in Measurement: Why Identifying Learning in Integrated Domains Is So Hard

Integrating computational thinking (CT) and science education is complex, and assessing the resulting learning gains even more so. Arguments that assessment should match the learning (Biggs, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 21(1), 5–16. 1996; Airasian and Miranda, Theory into Practice, 41(4), 249–254. 2002; Hickey and Zuiker, Journal of the Learning Sciences, 21(4), 522–582. 2012; Pellegrino, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 49(6), 831–841. 2012; Wiggins, Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation, 2(2). 1990) lead to a performance-oriented approach to assessment, using tasks that mirror the integrated instruction. This approach reaps benefits but also poses challenges. Integrated CT is a new approach to learning. Movement is being made toward understanding what it means to operate successfully in this context, but consensus is neither general nor time tested (Kaput and Schorr, Research on technology and the teaching and learning of mathematics: Case and perspectives (Vol. 2, pp. 211–253) 2008). Movement is also being made toward developing methods for assessing CT. Despite the benefits of matching assessment with pedagogy, there may be intrinsic losses. One problem is that interactions between the two domains may invalidate the results, either because the gains in one may be easier to measure at certain times than the gains in the other, or because interactions between the two domains may cause measurement interference. Our examination draws upon both theoretical basis and also existing practices, particularly from our own work integrating CT and secondary science. We present a mixed-methods analysis of student assessment results and consider potential issues with moving too quickly toward relying on a rubric-based approach to evaluating this student learning. Centrally, we emphasize the importance of assessment approaches that reflect one of the most important affordances of computational environments, that is, the expression of multiple ways of knowing and doing (Turkle and Papert, Journal of Mathematical Behavior, 11(1), 3–33. 1992).
Deoxyribozyme-based Method for Site-specific Absolute Quantification of N6-methyladenosine Modification Fraction

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most prevalent modified base in eukaryotic messenger RNA (mRNA) and long noncoding RNA (lncRNA). Although candidate sites for m6A modification are identified at the transcriptomic level, site-specific quantification methods for m6A modifications are still limited. Herein, we present a facile method implementing deoxyribozyme that preferentially cleaves the unmodified RNA. We leverage reverse transcription and real-time quantitative PCR along with key control experiments to quantify the absolute methylation fraction of specific m6A sites. We validate the accuracy of the method using synthetic RNA with controlled methylation fraction and apply our method on several endogenous sites that were previously identified in sequencing-based studies. This method provides a time and cost-effective approach for absolute quantification of the m6A fraction at specific loci, expanding the current toolkit for studying RNA modifications.
Systematic identification of silencers in human cells.

The majority of the human genome does not encode proteins. Many of these noncoding regions contain important regulatory sequences that control gene expression. To date, most studies have focused on activators such as enhancers, but regions that repress gene expression—silencers—have not been systematically studied. We have developed a system that identifies silencer regions in a genome-wide fashion on the basis of silencer-mediated transcriptional repression of caspase 9. We found that silencers are widely distributed and may function in a tissue-specific fashion. These silencers harbor unique epigenetic signatures and are associated with specific transcription factors. Silencers also act at multiple genes, and at the level of chromosomal domains and long-range interactions. Deletion of silencer regions linked to the drug transporter genes ABCC2 and ABCG2 caused chemo-resistance. Overall, our study demonstrates that tissue-specific silencing is widespread throughout the human genome and probably contributes substantially to the regulation of gene expression and human biology. A genome-wide screen identifies silencer regions in human cells. Deletion of silencers linked to the transporter genes ABCC2 and ABCG2 causes their up-regulation and chemo-resistance.
Implementation of Deep-Learning-based Edge Computing for Maritime Vehicle Classification

In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized almost every field – from automotive industry to electrical industry, continuously affecting the dynamics of society and the lives of consumers. Among the countless applications of AI, AI at the edge provides the ideal solution for specific workload acceleration. Despite the development of various techniques for surveillance in maritime scenarios, automatic maritime vehicle classification of visual surveillance remains a challenge owing to the small dataset, as well as complex, unconstrained, and diverse nature of such scenarios. To date, only a few studies have investigated edge computing in maritime vehicle classification with edge device. In this paper, data augmentation is applied to deal with the small dataset problem because of a lack of images of military ships. Furthermore, the implementation of deep-learning-based edge computing in maritime vehicle classification through the use of NVIDIA Jetson Nano is proposed.
Ethical Issues in Radiation Oncology During a Pandemic

Medicine in the United States has generally followed ethical principles espoused by Immanuel Kant where the individual patient takes priority in decision-making. With the advent of coronavirus disease 2019 as a major health event, radiation oncologists in some situations need to alter the manner in which they act with individual patients. The well-being of health care workers and society as a whole needs to be considered in management decisions. During the time of a pandemic, ethics principles may be based more on a utilitarian approach that emphasizes the common good. Thus, at times treatment decisions might result in delays in initiating therapy, modifying the radiation treatment course (such as to a short course rather than a long course of therapy), and the sequence of therapies, all to minimize viral exposure. It is important that altered therapy is based as much as possible on institutional or departmental decisions and, to the extent possible, not on a case-by-case basis. However, in all situations, we need to still respect the individual's autonomy and fully inform patients of our decisions and the reasons for those decisions.
Prolegomena to virtue-theoretic studies in the philosophy of mathematics

Additional theorizing about mathematical practice is needed in order to ground appeals to truly useful notions of the virtues in mathematics. This paper aims to contribute to this theorizing, first, by characterizing mathematical practice as being epistemic and “objectual” in the sense of Knorr Cetina (in: Schatzki, Knorr Cetina, von Savigny (eds) The practice turn in contemporary theory, Routledge, London, 2001). Then, it elaborates a MacIntyrean framework for extracting conceptions of the virtues related to mathematical practice so understood. Finally, it makes the case that Wittgenstein’s methodology for examining mathematics and its practice is the most appropriate one to use for the actual investigation of mathematical practice within this MacIntyrean framework. At each stage of thinking through mathematical practice by these means, places where new virtue-theoretic questions are opened up for investigation are noted and briefly explored.
Racial differences in opioid withdrawal syndrome among neonates with intrauterine opioid exposure

Background The aim of this study was to investigate the association between race and severe neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) in infants exposed to intrauterine opioids. Methods This is a prospective observational study on intrauterine opioid-exposed term infants. Exposure to opioids was based on maternal disclosure, urine, or umbilical cord drug screening. Severe NOWS was defined based on modified Finnegan scoring and the need for pharmacological intervention. Results One hundred and fifty mother-infant pairs, 60 Black and 90 White with history of opioid exposure during pregnancy, were included. More White than Black infants developed NOWS that required pharmacological treatment, 70 vs. 40%: RR = 1.75 (1.25-2.45). In adjusted analysis, there was no significant association between race and the development of severe NOWS in mothers who attended opioid maintenance treatment program (OMTP). However, in mothers who did not attend OMTP, White race remained a significant factor associated with the development of severe NAS, RR = 1.69 (1.06, 2.69). Conclusions Severe NOWS that required pharmacological intervention was significantly higher in White than in Black infants born to mothers who did not attend OMTP. Larger studies are needed to evaluate the association between social as well as genetic factors and the development of NOWS. Impact There is a significant association between race and development of severe NOWS.
Principles of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics

Abstract Pharmacokinetics is the scientific discipline that studies the time course of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of drugs. Parameters describing a drug’s pharmacokinetics are determined with a number of different methods, including compartmental and noncompartmental methods. Two primary parameters that are determined include clearance and volume of distribution. Clearance is a parameter that measures the elimination of drug from the body, whereas volume of distribution is a proportionality constant that relates the amount of drug in the body with the concentration in plasma. Half-life is a secondary parameter dependent on clearance and volume of distribution that describes is the time required for concentrations to decrease by one-half. Most drugs exhibit linear pharmacokinetics, where drug concentrations change proportionally with dose. For a number of drugs, where this is not the case, their pharmacokinetics are termed nonlinear. Pharmacodynamics is the scientific discipline that studies relationship between the concentration of a drug and the response or effect.
A REVIEW OF INTO THE SEA

In this article, I review the social fiction novel, Into the Sea, by Ash Watson, and discuss the ways in which Watson uses fiction as sociological theory.
Explicit Training to Improve Affective Prosody Recognition in Adults with Acute Right Hemisphere Stroke

Difficulty recognizing affective prosody (receptive aprosodia) can occur following right hemisphere damage (RHD). Not all individuals spontaneously recover their ability to recognize affective prosody, warranting behavioral intervention. However, there is a dearth of evidence-based receptive aprosodia treatment research in this clinical population. The purpose of the current study was to investigate an explicit training protocol targeting affective prosody recognition in adults with RHD and receptive aprosodia. Eighteen adults with receptive aprosodia due to acute RHD completed affective prosody recognition before and after a short training session that targeted proposed underlying perceptual and conceptual processes. Behavioral impairment and lesion characteristics were investigated as possible influences on training effectiveness. Affective prosody recognition improved following training, and recognition accuracy was higher for pseudo- vs. real-word sentences. Perceptual deficits were associated with the most posterior infarcts, conceptual deficits were associated with frontal infarcts, and a combination of perceptual-conceptual deficits were related to temporoparietal and subcortical infarcts. Several right hemisphere ventral stream regions and pathways along with frontal and parietal hypoperfusion predicted training effectiveness. Explicit acoustic-prosodic-emotion training improves affective prosody recognition, but it may not be appropriate for everyone. Factors such as linguistic context and lesion location should be considered when planning prosody training.
Differences in Health-Related Quality of Life Among Adults with a Potential Dihydropyridine Calcium Channel Blocker-Loop Diuretic Prescribing Cascade.

Dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (DH CCBs) are commonly used for hypertension in older adults. However, loop diuretics can be inappropriately added to treat DH CCB-induced edema, putting individuals at increased risk for adverse events and potential decreases in quality of life. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using United States Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data from 2003 to 2015. Adults aged ≥ 55 years without congestive heart failure, nephrotic syndrome, chronic kidney disease, renal failure, and cirrhosis who had consecutive rounds of DH CCB use (round 1 and 2 or round 3 and 4) and completed the self-administered questionnaire (SAQ) were included. Patients initiated on loop diuretics in round 2 or 4 were compared to those not initiated. Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores were analyzed using multivariable linear regression models. Among 5,458,467 DH CCB users (weighted), 3.4% of individuals were identified with new loop diuretic use (185,130 weighted). After adjusting for covariates, DH CCB plus loop diuretic use was associated with a PCS score 3.12 units lower (95% confidence interval − 5.40 to − 0.83; p = 0.008) than DH CCB use alone. We observed no significant difference in MCS score (p = 0.160) among DH CCB plus loop diuretic users compared to DH CCB users alone. New loop diuretic use was associated with lower physical functioning among DH CCB users. These findings suggest that this potential prescribing cascade may result in both significant and clinically meaningful decreases in health-related quality of life. It is important for clinicians to avoid or intervene on this inappropriate prescribing cascade when possible.
Metabolic and Proteomic Defects in Human Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Rationale: Impaired cardiac energetics in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is thought to result from increased ATP utilization at the sarcomere and is believed to be central to pathophysiology. However, the precise defects in cardiac metabolism and substrate availability in human HCM have not been defined. Objective: The purpose of this study is to define major disease pathways and determine the pool sizes of intermediary metabolites in human HCM. Methods and Results: We conducted paired proteomic and metabolomic analyses of septal myectomy samples from patients with HCM and compared results to non-failing control human hearts. Increased abundance of extracellular matrix and intermediate filament / Z-disc proteins, and decreased abundance of proteins involved in fatty acid oxidation and cardiac energetics was evident in HCM compared to controls. Acyl carnitines, byproducts of fatty acid oxidation, were markedly depleted in HCM samples. Conversely, the ketone body 3-hydroxybutyrate, lactate, and the 3 branched chain amino acids, were all significantly increased in HCM hearts, suggesting that they may serve as alternate fuel sources for the production of ATP. ATP, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH), NADP and NADPH, and acetyl CoA were also severely depleted in HCM hearts. Based on measurements from human skinned muscle fibers, the magnitude of observed reduction in ATP content in the HCM hearts would be expected to decrease the rate of cross-bridge detachment, implying a direct effect of energy depletion on myofilament function that could contribute to diastolic dysfunction. Conclusions: HCM hearts display profound deficits in cardiac energetics, marked by depletion of fatty acid derivatives and compensatory increases in other metabolites that could serve as alternate fuel sources. These results lend support to the paradigm that energy depletion contributes to the pathophysiology of HCM and also have important therapeutic implications for the future design of metabolic modulators to treat HCM.
Aerodynamic Performance of Delta Wings at Supersonic Speeds

In recently published papers the authors have discussed the problem of drag of delta wings with straight trailing edges and also the lift of this type of wing. The present paper consists of an extension of these results to delta wings with swept-back or swept-forward trailing edges. Drag at zero lift for two slope surfaces and lift is computed for these airfoils, and a discussion is given of the drag due to lift. Centers of pressure are also computed. In addition, some results for drag of wings with three slope surfaces are given. Discussion is made of optimum design from the standpoint of leading and trailing edge angles, and location of maximum thickness. I t is shown that considerable improvements over two-dimensional airfoil performance can be obtained. Results are presented in the form of conventional engineering coefficients.
Fear and Social Capitalism: The Law and Macroeconomics of Investor Confidence

On July 9, 2002, President George W. Bush delivered a speech intended to revive investor confidence, in order to quell a rapidly declining stock market that was widely viewed as the by-product of a string of scandals in the business sector.This article argues that in a modern economic system, law must take fear as a given. The issue in financial regulation is not whether fear is rational or irrational, but whether the financial system can be protected from fear (rational or not) and whether investor psychology can be managed in a way that allows markets to allocate investment capital in a more macro-economically beneficial way. Indeed, fear management is a central value of the role law plays in securing a more stable and powerful macroeconomy. This article seeks to articulate a comprehensive vision of how law can protect investor confidence in a way that unleashes the power of free markets to the maximum extent possible, and to show the shortcomings in our current law in this regard.Part I of this article will illustrate the debilitating effects of fear on macroeconomic performance and the potential benefits available to a society that uses law to secure long term investor confidence. Part II will highlight areas where the law has lagged economic theory in creating a system designed to achieve ideal investor confidence and attempt to articulate a comprehensive system of law and macroeconomics insofar as fear management is concerned. In the end, this article attempts to show that far more important than the question of whether fear is rational or irrational, is the question of how a modern economy deals with fear that is admittedly irrational. This question is one of the bedrock principles of law and macroeconomics, and one of enduring importance.
The Role of Governmental Public Health Agencies

It is likely that some form of community-oriented public health practice has existed since the beginning of human communities. Early written records suggest that “community organization” dealt with issues of hygiene, and archeological records that predate recorded history suggest some community orderliness to the basic tasks of daily living. The education of community members in the substance of these practices and the importance of compliance for the sake of the community and self are also rooted in antiquity. The Old Testament contains rules for food handling and preparation as well as consumption practices. Members of biblical communities were continuously educated in these practices. [It should be noted that there is no evidence that the biblical prescriptions on food preparation and consumption were rooted in health concerns. It was 1000 years after the origins of the Old Testament before any reference is made to the possible salutary health effects of these practices (Plaut, Bamberger, & Hallo, 1981).] Clearly, community organization for hygiene and the promotion of hygiene through education coexisted well before the era of modern public health.
Serial and Parallel Solution of Large Scale Linear Programs by Augmented Lagrangian Successive Overrelaxation

Serial and parallel successive overrelaxation (SOR) methods are proposed for the solution of the augmented Lagrangian formulation of the dual of a linear program. With the proposed serial version of the method we have solved linear programs with as many as 125,000 constraints and 500,000 variables in less than 72 hours on a MicroVax II. A parallel implementation of the method was carried out on a Sequent Balance 21000 multiprocessor with speedup efficiency of over 65% for problem sizes of up to 10,000 constraints, 40,000 variables and 1,400,000 nonzero matrix elements.
Can Economics Provide Insights into Trust Infrastructure

Many security technologies require infrastructure for authentication, verification, and other processes. In many cases, viable and innovative security technologies are never adopted on a large scale because the necessary infrastructure is slow to emerge. Analyses of such technologies typically focus on their technical flaws, and research emphasizes innovative approaches to stronger implementation of the core features. However, an observation can be made that in many cases the success of adoption pattern depends on non-technical issues rather than technology–lack of economic incentives, difficulties in finding initial investment, inadequate government support. While a growing body of research is dedicated to economics of security and privacy in general, few theoretical studies in this area have been completed, and even fewer that look at the economics of “trust infrastructure” beyond simple “cost of ownership” models. This exploratory paper takes a look at some approaches in theoretical economics to determine if they can provide useful insights into security infrastructure technologies and architectures that have the best chance to be adopted. We attempt to discover if models used in theoretical economics can help inform technology developers of the optimal business models that offer a better chance for quick infrastructure deployment.
Benefits and liabilities of vitamin A and carotenoids.

Vitamin A and carotenoids are often cited as members of a family of antioxidant vitamins that can show protective effects against oxidative stress and some chronic diseases. The great advantages of aerobic metabolism are offset in part by adverse physiological effects that can be caused by highly reactive forms of oxygen and its reduction products. Nature has developed a variety of sophisticated defenses against these undesirable side effects of oxygen. Vitamin A and carotenoids can serve chemically both as electron acceptors and donors (i.e., as oxidants and reductants), although in nature vitamin A seems to be protected from oxidation by other physiological antioxidants rather than serving a protective role itself. Furthermore, large doses of vitamin A are toxic. Carotenoids may serve a broader protective role in humans as they do in plants and microorganisms, but the evidence supporting such a role in humans is mixed. The widely used term antioxidant vitamins is too narrow in scope for the properties attributed to them. A much better term is physiological modulators, which broadens both the set of compounds that are included and the possible nature of their actions, whether beneficial or adverse.
THE WAGES OF STEALTH OVERRULING (WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO MIRANDA V. ARIZONA)

Over the last few years – and especially following the 2006 Term – commentators have criticized the Supreme Court for engaging in “stealth overruling.” This article examines the phenomenon, trying to ascertain why the justices engage in the practice and how we should feel about it. The article focuses on the gradual overruling of Miranda v. Arizona, because here tangible evidence is available about the benefit to the justices – and costs to the rest of us – of the practice of stealth overruling. The article demonstrates that by engaging in stealth overruling the justices are able to see that their will is done by lower courts and public officials, yet avoid any negative effect from public opinion. While the strategy benefits the justices, it has costs. Doctrine is rendered incoherent, and public officials are encouraged to evade federal law. Of greatest concern, stealth overruling tempers the dialogue between the Court and the public about the proper meaning of the Constitution, leaving the course of constitutional law solely in the justices’ hands.
Electronic intervention and platforms and their impacts on crowdfunding behaviour

The following study examines the crowdfunding behaviour of a sample of business professionals located in the service sector of metropolitan Pittsburgh, PA. In general, the empirical findings suggested that smaller goals tend to have better success ratios, while getting the targets achieved tends to attract more donors, especially when a goal is nearly met. Contrary to findings in some previous literature, there appears to be a weak link between respondents' social networking use and familiarity with crowdfunding. Furthermore, respondents' charitable giving habits did not closely link with crowdfunding solicitation behaviour. Finally, there was a weak connection between crowdfunding behaviour and income, but age did reveal a significant connection.
Accident Investigator Bias Potential

Recent and on-going behavioral research suggests a potential for bias on the part of the accident investigator who relies on personal subjective judgment rather than thorough objective analysis. Experience suggests that such bias has the greatest potential for producing accident reconstruction errors; these errors reflect an expected low self-testing investigator behavioral predisposition, one that tends to augment damage, danger and threat. The most obvious ameliorative solution to this problem is extensive objective analysis training (in engineering and basic science) for accident investigators. However, because even engineers exhibit behavioral biases in traffic engineering decisions, such training must be coupled with expressive awareness training.
A positive feedback loop of phosphodiesterase 3 (PDE3) and inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER) leads to cardiomyocyte apoptosis

cAMP plays crucial roles in cardiac remodeling and the progression of heart failure. Recently, we found that expression of cAMP hydrolyzing phosphodiesterase 3A (PDE3A) was significantly reduced in human failing hearts, accompanied by up-regulation of inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER) expression. Angiotensin II (Ang II) and the β-adrenergic receptor agonist isoproterenol (ISO) also induced persistent PDE3A down-regulation and concomitant ICER up-regulation in vitro, which is important in Ang II- and ISO-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. We hypothesized that interactions between PDE3A and ICER may constitute an autoregulatory positive feedback loop (PDE3A-ICER feedback loop), and this loop would cause persistent PDE3A down-regulation and ICER up-regulation. Here, we demonstrate that ICER induction repressed PDE3A gene transcription. PDE3A down-regulation activated cAMP/PKA signaling, leading to ICER up-regulation via PKA-dependent stabilization of ICER. With respect to Ang II, the initiation of the PDE3A-ICER feedback loop depends on activation of Ang II type 1 receptor (AT1R), classical PKC(s), and CREB (cAMP response element binding protein). We further show that the PDE3A-ICER feedback loop is essential for Ang II-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. ISO and PDE3 inhibitors also induced the PDE3A-ICER feedback loop and subsequent cardiomyocyte apoptosis, highlighting the importance of this PDE3A-ICER feedback loop and cAMP signaling in cardiomyocyte apoptosis. Our findings may provide a therapeutic paradigm to prevent cardiomyocyte apoptosis and the progression of heart failure by inhibiting the PDE3A-ICER feedback loop.
Robot trajectory planning using the convolution operator

An automatic trajectory planning technique is presented to produce smooth joint displacement-time functions. One can start with few approximately specified joint displacement values, or from a joint displacement-time function which is not entirely satisfactory. The final joint displacement-time function passes through the initial and final points, and lies in the vicinity of the intermediate approximate points; it also passes through some points which are in the joint dwell ranges. It is important that the final trajectory exhibit little deviation from the desired displacement values. One would also want to obtain a smooth joint acceleration function, and a rapidly declining envelope for the harmonic spectrum. This new method of trajectory planning is based upon the use of the mathematical operation of convolution. It was found that the use of convolution on a given joint displacement time function tended to decrease the peak acceleration amplitudes, while producing a smooth acceleration function. Convolution also reduced the frequency spectrum amplitudes associated with the joint functions, thus reducing the severity of vibrations which can be induced by the joint motion. While there are some drawbacks to this method, such as increased deviations at intermediate points after convolution, it will be shown that these may be reduced by using techniques described in this article.
Cryotherapy Causes Extensive Breakdown of the Blood-Retinal Barrier: A Comparison With Argon Laser Photocoagulation

• Using computerized vitreous fluorophotometry (VFP) in pigmented rabbits, we examined two modalities frequently used in retinal reattachment surgery, cryotherapy and argon laser photocoagulation, for their effect on the blood-retinal barrier. The VFP readings were taken 2 mm posterior to the lens one hour after intravenous injection of 14 mg/kg of fluorescein sodium. After baseline fluorophotometry readings, rabbits were treated with confluent cryotherapy over the inferior 180° in one eye and with confluent laser over an equivalent area of retina in the other eye. The VFP readings were taken 2, 4, 6, and 15 days after treatment. By day 6, the VFP reading had risen from a pretreatment value of 6.4 ± 0.4 ng/mL to 41.8 ± 7.9 ng/mL in the cryotherapytreated eyes as opposed to 15.5 ±3.1 ng/mL in the laser-treated eyes. By day 15, the readings were almost back to baseline, and there was no significant difference between the two treatment groups. These data suggest that there is a significant breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier with both modalities, but that it is considerably more severe with cryotherapy.
The effect of lattice defects on the low-temperature heat capacity of copper

Abstract Low-temperature specific heats of a heavily cold-worked and annealed high-purity copper were measured in the temperature range 1·5–4·2°K. The results are compared with similar measurements reported previously (Ahlers 1966). The enhancement of the electronic specific heat coefficient γ is in excellent quantitative agreement with the calculated increase of the specific heat due to vibrations of mobile dislocations (Granato 1958). In the temperature range of the measurement, this increase is proportional to the dislocation density and the temperature. A phenomenological approach to the study of the properties of a liquid via a heavily deformed solid state is discussed in terms of the stored energy and entropy of cold work.
The Management of Ophthalmic Graves' Disease

From a series of 124 consecutive patients, parameters were developed in the management of Graves' disease. Patients who were stable with symptomatic treatment were observed and followed. Oral steroids, 40 to 80 mg prednisone daily, were moderately effective in reducing progressive soft tissue inflammatory signs, but were less effective in controlling myopathy and lid retraction. Radiotherapy, 1000 rad from each lateral port, was most effective in halting the progressive inflammatory component, particularly in those who had a recent rapid rate of change. Dysthyroid optic neuropathy required high dose steroids; if it was not effective, decompression of the orbit was carried out. Once the disease became stable, myopathy, lid retraction, and exophthalmos were surgically treated on an elective basis. The techniques utilized were tarsorrhaphy, lateral canthoplasty, upper and lower eyelid retractor release, and one- to three-wall orbital decompression.
HOUSEHOLD CROWDING AND AGGREGATE CRIME RATES

ABSTRACT Since the early 1980s, a new wave of ecological research has emphasized that attributes of social areas contribute to their crime rates. One of the most prominent ecological approaches is Stark's (1987) theory of deviant places, which highlights household crowding as a criminogenic area characteristic. Few systematic studies, however, have tested household crowding’ s effect on area crime rates. As a first such test, this study examines household crowding-crime linkages in the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas and counties of the United States. Results support Stark's (1987) view on household crowding's effect. Concluding remarks discuss the implications of the findings.
Voltage Dependent Reactions in the Non-Gastric H/K-ATPase

The non-gastric H/K-ATPase (ngHKA) is the closest relative to the Na/K-ATPase (NKA). Its catalytic subunit associates with the NKA β1 subunit to form a functional, ouabain-sensitive HKA. To study ion binding and unbinding reactions in ngHKA, we measured 86Rb uptake and ouabain-sensitive (20 mM) currents under two-electrode voltage clamp in Na+-loaded Xenopus oocytes. Although HKA transports ions in an electroneutral fashion, HKA injected oocytes presented clamp speed-limited ouabain-sensitive charge movement in response to pulses between −180 to +40 mV from −50 mV in 125 mM external N-methyl D-glucamine (NMG). The charge-voltage curve did not saturate at extreme voltages at pH 7.6, but saturated at negative voltages at pH 5.0. The charge moved by a pulse from −50 to −180 mV was 1.29 ± 0.15 nC at pH 7.6 and 0.35 ± 0.08 nC at pH 5.0. This charge was absent in uninjected oocytes (60 ± 23 pC). External K+ abolished charge movement with mildly voltage-dependent K0.5 (∼ 0.15 mM at −180 mV), while the charge moved in the presence of Na+ at pH 7.6 presented nearly identical saturation at negative voltages as NMG at pH 5.0. This demonstrates the existence of mildly voltage-dependent transitions in ngHKAs which, like the charge movement in NKA, are inhibited by the external presence of the imported ion (K+) and modified by high concentrations of the exported ions (Na+ or H+, respectively). To further address the ion binding reactions and their selectivity, we mutated K793A in the catalytic subunit to make the pump electrogenic. As expected, this mutant concomitantly displayed 86Rb uptake and Rb+-induced steady-state outward currents as well as altered transient charge movement. Unexpectedly, K793A largely reduced the pump's affinity for K+o. Supported by NSF-MCB-1243842 & NIH-NS081570-01, to PA; GM 061583 to CG