cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Social identity and socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting: The effects of group membership.

In a conversation, speakers and listeners will often influence each other’s memories, and in doing so, promote the formation of a shared, or collective, memory. One means by which a mnemonic consensus emerges is through socially shared retrieval-induced forgetting (SSRIF). When listeners attend to the speakers’ selective retrieval of previously encountered events, they forget unmentioned but related information more than they forget unrelated, unmentioned previously studied information. As a consequence, both speaker and listeners come to remember—and forget—the event in a similar way. SSRIF appears to be dependent on listeners concurrently retrieving the information with the speaker. We asked here whether such concurrent retrieval is a function of group membership, thereby underscoring the connection between a basic mnemonic mechanism—retrieval-induced forgetting—and a social function of communicative interaction—building a shared representation. In Experiment 1, Princeton students listening to a speaker selectively recall previously studied material showed SSRIF when the speaker was identified as a fellow Princeton student, but not when he or she was identified as a Yale student. In Experiment 2, activating a common student identity before the listening task triggered concurrent retrieval in Princeton students when listening to both Princeton and Yale speakers. Thus, similar patterns of selective forgetting are more likely to occur between speakers and listeners if they belong to the same social group. Basic mnemonic mechanisms seem to be adapted to promote the emergence of shared mnemonic representations that preserve group membership and group identity.
Angiotensin II control of regional haemodynamics in rats with aortocaval fistula.

Pathological conditions exist in which regional blood supply is reduced due to a decrease in arterial blood vessel lumen diameter. This may be accomplished by humoral or neurogenic vasoconstriction, or by arterial blood vessel hypertrophy. Adequate blood perfusion is important, and it is desirable to improve blood supply in these conditions. Rats with aortocaval fistulae (ACF) are models of heart failure in which regional blood supply is reduced and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) is activated. Attenuation of the RAAS was expected to cause a larger decrease in mean arterial pressure (MAP) and larger increases in regional blood flows and conductances (haemodynamics) in ACF rats than in sham-operated (SO) rats. Furthermore, AT₁ receptor antagonism by losartan was expected to cause larger effects on MAP and regional haemodynamics than AT₂ receptor antagonism by PD 123319. -- The continuous influence of angiotensin II on regional haemodynamics was estimated by administering captopril, losartan, and PD 1233 19 to rats with and without ACF. Losartan caused a larger decrease in MAP and generally larger increases in regional haemodynamics in rats with ACF than in SO rats. In rats with ACF, losartan caused a larger decrease in MAP and larger increases in regional conductances than the decreases produced by PD 123319. In SO rats, the increase in MAP produced by PD 123319 was larger than the decrease produced by losartan. The increases in mesenteric and renal conductances produced by losartan were larger than the decreases produced by PD 123319. However, the decrease in iliac conductance produced by PD 123319 was larger than that produced by losartan. -- The results of this study suggest (1) that the RAAS has a greater influence in controlling regional haemodynamics in rats with ACF than in SO rats and (2) that the RAAS is altered in rats with ACF to favor vasoconstriction, possibly as a mechanism of maintaining a normal mean arterial pressure despite a large decrease in total peripheral resistance. Finally, (3) AT₁ receptor antagonism is more effective than ACE inhibition at increasing regional blood flow in rats with ACF. This is important, given the goal of increasing regional blood supply in these rats, and may be true of other pathological conditions in which tissue ischaemia results from systemic vasoconstriction and decreased systemic blood flow.
“The Veracruz Merchant Community in Late Bourbon Mexico: A Preliminary Portrait, 1770-1810” *

More than two decades of scholarship on colonial Mexico has established both the role and character of merchant class communities, especially in Mexico City and Guadalajara. Beginning with David A. Brading's seminal Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763-1810 , several additional studies now constitute a significant body of literature on the subject. Collectively, Brading, John E. Kicza, Doris M. Ladd and others have demonstrated how Mexico City merchants consolidated their fortunes by acquiring haciendas (landed estates). Moreover, their studies describe how Mexico City entrepreneurs maintained commercial hegemony by purchasing large quantities of European merchandise and then reselling it at grossly inflated prices. These businessmen monopolized colonial trade through extensive familial ties and trading networks extending back to Spain. Although these and other revelations are important with respect to Mexico City merchants, they neither explain the position nor the significance of entrepreneurs in the principal Spanish colonial port
Molecular Dynamic Simulations for Determining Change in Thermodynamic Properties of Asphaltene and Resin Because of Aging

In this study, a molecular dynamic (MD) simulation is employed to determine the thermodynamic properties of asphalt binder components, namely, asphaltene and resin, before and after oxidative aging. For oxidative aging of asphaltenes, the percentage of oxygen considered in MD simulations is 0.1, 1, 12, 23, and 46.5% of asphaltenes. For oxidative aging of resins, the percentage of oxygen used in MD simulations is 5, 15, and 25% of resins. Using few oxygen, asphaltene, and resin molecules as input, MD simulations are run on a system at a fixed number of molecules and pressure to predict internal energy, structure, and density as function of the temperature. Simulation outputs are analyzed to determine density, glass-transition temperature, and potential and kinetic energies of the system. Results show that density has an inverse relationship with the temperature for both asphaltene and resin systems. At high temperatures, asphaltene and resin molecules gain high thermal energy that makes the molecules mobil...
Lightning NOx and Impacts on Air Quality

Lightning generates relatively large but uncertain quantities of nitrogen oxides, critical precursors for ozone and hydroxyl radical (OH), the primary tropospheric oxidants. Lightning nitrogen oxide strongly influences background ozone and OH due to high ozone production efficiencies in the free troposphere, effecting small but non-negligible contributions to surface pollutant concentrations. Lightning globally contributes 3-4 ppbv of simulated annual-mean policy-relevant background (PRB) surface ozone, comprised of local, regional, and hemispheric components, and up to 18 ppbv during individual events. Feedbacks via methane may counter some of these effects on decadal time scales. Lightning contributes approximately 1 percent to annual-mean surface particulate matter, as a direct precursor and by promoting faster oxidation of other precursors. Lightning also ignites wildfires and contributes to nitrogen deposition. Urban pollution influences lightning itself, with implications for regional lightning-nitrogen oxide production and feedbacks on downwind surface pollution. How lightning emissions will change in a warming world remains uncertain.
Childhood bacterial meningitis in Riyadh.

One hundred and six patients with culture-positive bacterial meningitis were admitted to Sulemania Children's Hospital, Riyadh, from February 1985 to July 1990. The most common organisms causing me...
The Calculation of Effective Cutoff Energies in Cadmium, Samarium, and Gadolinium

A set of effective cutoff energies for 1/v detectors covered by cadmium, samarium, and gadolinium filters is presented. These cutoff energies have been calculated for both isotropic and beam fluxes...
Aggregating Experts: Reducing Error and Assessing Reliability

This paper lays out a simple two-step approach for aggregating individual level data from expert evaluators to create improved quality measures of U.S. House incumbents that are reliable both within and across districts. The two-step procedure is designed to minimize both systematic biases and random error in evaluator opinions to increase the validity and reliability of the aggregated measure. The result is a measure that has higher intra-district agreement than simple mean aggregations of opinions while retaining high between-district reliability. The approach is based on knitting together ideas from several different fields including organizational theory and marketing. Taken together, these steps make a substantial improvement in the construction of aggregated measures of candidate personal quality in U.S. House elections and are generally applicable to any circumstance in which unit level measures are created from evaluators ratings of a common target.
Hints and Tips

The final chapter starts by giving the top 10 tips for routers configuration. The chapter also discusses 10 ‘show’ commands that everyone needs to know. Steps to simulate Break Key sequence when it is not working are also explained. Password recovery steps for 2500 and 2600 series routers are explained in this chapter as well. The chapter also explains how to disable these password recovery steps. Finally, the chapter explains how to use your routers as a packet sniffer. This chapter includes four training scenarios.
Video Communication With Cognitively Intact Nursing Home Residents: A Scoping Review:

Limited research exists examining video communication among cognitively intact nursing home residents to connect with family. This scoping review evaluated existing literature for video communication usage with nursing home residents, family, and nursing homes. A comprehensive search was completed using PubMed and EBSCOhost (including AgeLine, CINAHL, and PsycINFO) between 1972 and 2016 to locate English-language articles. The analysis identified five eligible studies (four involved an intervention, one assessed family views) meeting inclusion criteria. Findings included, seeing family members separated by distance, seeing other parts of their life, and visually monitoring resident's health. Participants described frustration with technology limitations, such as video or audio lag. Current literature does not show a comprehensive assessment of video communication usage for residents, family, and nursing homes. Future studies should address the complexity of the intersection of the person, nursing home, and families in terms of potential benefits and capability of video communication use with residents.
Communal Coping Among Spanish-Speaking Mother–Child Dyads Engaging in Language Brokering: A Latent Class Analysis:

Utilizing self-reported survey data from 120 low-income, Spanish-speaking mother–child dyads, this study examined different types of classes (i.e., subgroups) based on the ways in which mothers and...
The Money Supply Process

This chapter discusses the process of money supply. All money supply definitions include currency and some deposit aggregate. Money supply theory attempts to isolate the factors affecting each part of the money supply. One factor is the monetary base, the total size of which is strongly influenced by actions of the monetary authorities. Another factor is the division of the base into bank reserves and currency, which depends upon the currency−deposit ratio adopted by the nonbank public. A rise in the ratio drains reserves from the banking system and a fall in the ratio increases reserves. The deposit portion of the money supply is regulated by the size of the bank reserves, legal minimum reserve deposit ratios, and the excess reserve behavior of the banking system. Deposits exceed bank reserves to an extent that is inversely related to reserve ratios and bank holdings of excess reserves. The chapter presents various factors affecting the money supply, summarized in the form of base-money multiplier formulas, examples of which are given for the old M-1 and M-2 and the M-1 B and new M-2 definitions of the money supply. These formulas provide a convenient format for analyzing the factors affecting the money supply.
Case Study of Zero Waste Bag Design Utilizing Pre-Consumer Upholstery Fabric Waste

The upholstery industry generates tremendous fabric waste each year, which negatively impacts the environment. The researchers aimed to explore a potential use of pre-consumer upholstery fabric waste through the creation of reusable grocery bags, under the frame of Barquet et al.'s (2016) five sustainability factors for product service system business model. By utilizing 98.88% of 234.48 ounces of upholstery fabric waste provided by an upholsterer, this study resulted in the creation of 30 reusable grocery bags with a total estimated retail value of $1,300. We revealed the positive linkage of our reusable bag design process to four of the sustainability factors: Apply Designs for Environment, Identify Economic Value, Promote Behavior Change, and Act Towards Social Well-being. Findings also suggest this upholstery fabric waste should no longer be considered waste, as it performs as valuable resources for the creation of other durable products.
An interprofessional education approach to fall prevention: preparing members of the interprofessional healthcare team to implement STEADI into practice

An aging population benefits from healthcare providers trained in the care of older adults. Interprofessional education (IPE) and service-learning activities focused on geriatric conditions like fa...
International Teaching Assistants in the Composition Classroom: From World Englishes to Translingualism and Beyond

Although a significant body of research exists on Nonnative English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) of composition, research on International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) of composition is rather limited....
Chemical Engineering Education Reader Survey

Surveys were sent to readers of Chemical Engineering Education in 2004 and 2018. The survey questions, detailed numerical results for 2018 and average numerical results for 2004 and 2018 are presented. Readers in 2018 are, in general, reading fewer articles than in 2004. In addition, all of the comments from both years are presented. An interpretation of the results is presented.
Trans-science as a vocation

This paper compares Weber’s argument in “Science as a vocation,” with Physicist Alvin Weinberg’s discussion of the distinction between science and “trans-science,” as two contrasting blueprints for...
P140 The University of Arizona's SNAP-Ed Used the Health Food Pantry Assessment Tool to Identify Policy, Systems, and Environmental Changes in Food Pantries

Objective To use the Health Food Pantry Assessment Tool (HFPAT) to identify policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) changes in Arizona's food pantries. Use of Theory or Research The HFPAT was selected as an observational survey that measured the healthfulness of food pantry environments and provided PSE resources to guide food pantries and the University of Arizona Supplemental Nutrition Education - Program (UA SNAP-Ed) programming. Target Audience Four food pantries (Apache-2, Maricopa-2 Counties) that participated in SNAP-Ed completed the HFPAT. Program Description The SNAP-Ed sent the HFPAT in advance of site visits. Two Arizona SNAP-Ed staff independently completed the observational portions of the survey and results were compared. The survey was completed by interviewing the food pantry staff. Reports were generated using Qualtrics® and given to the food pantries. The HFPAT Resource Guide, which provides a resource for each section, was included. Evaluation Methods The HFPAT contained 69 questions divided into five sections: pantry location and entrance, food available to clients, policies of the food pantry, frozen chilled, dry storage and food safety, and services for clients. It provided a numeric score on a scale of 0-100; with a score of 100 signifying the healthiest food pantry environment. Results Four food pantries were assessed. The total scores ranged from 41 to 50 (mean: 46.25 out of 100). The food pantries’ mean scores for each section were: a) 9.25 out of 15 possible points; b) 19.25 out of 57 possible points; c) 6 out of 12 possible points; d) 6.25 out of 10 possible points; and e) 4.5 out of 6 possible points. Conclusions The UA SNAP-Ed used the HFPAT to assist food pantries in identifying potential PSE interventions. This evaluation tool provided direction to the UA SNAP-Ed to give specified technical assistance to the food pantries, and resources to improve their low-scoring areas. Funding None.
Reuse of Wikimedia Commons Cultural Heritage Images on the Wider Web

Abstract Objective – Cultural heritage institutions with digital images on Wikimedia Commons want to know if and how those images are being reused. This study attempts to gauge the impact of digital cultural heritage images from Wikimedia Commons by using Reverse Image Lookup (RIL) to determine the quantity and content of different types of reuse, barriers to using RIL to assess reuse, and whether reused digital cultural heritage images from Wikimedia Commons include licensing information. Methods – 171 digital cultural heritage Wikimedia Commons images from 51 cultural heritage institutions were searched using the Google images “Search by image” tool to find instances of reuse. Content analysis of the digital cultural heritage images and the context in which they were reused was conducted to apply broad content categories. Reuse within Wikimedia Foundation projects was also recorded. Results – A total of 1,533 reuse instances found via Google images and Wikimedia Commons’ file usage reports were analyzed. Over half of reuse occurred within Wikimedia projects or wiki aggregator and mirror sites. Notable People, people, historic events, and buildings and locations were the most widely reused topics of digital cultural heritage both within Wikimedia projects and beyond, while social, media gallery, news, and education websites were the most likely places to find reuse outside of wiki projects. However, the content of reused images varied slightly depending on the website type on which they were found. Very few instances of reuse included licensing information, and those that did often were incorrect. Reuse of cultural heritage images from Wikimedia Commons was either done without added context or content, as in the case of media galleries, or was done in ways that did not distort or mischaracterize the images being reused. Conclusion – Cultural heritage institutions can use this research to focus digitization and digital content marketing efforts in order to optimize reuse by the types of websites and users that best meet their institution’s mission. Institutions that fear reuse without attribution have reason for concern as the practice of reusing both Creative Commons and public domain media without rights statements is widespread. More research needs to be conducted to determine if notability of institution or collection affects likelihood of reuse, as preliminary results show a weak correlation between number of images searched and number of images reused per institution. RIL technology is a reliable method of finding image reuse but is a labour-intensive process that may best be conducted for selected images and specific assessment campaigns. Finally, the reused content and context categories developed here may contribute to a standardized set of codes for assessing digital cultural heritage reuse.
Multiple poloxamers increase plasma membrane repair capacity in muscle and nonmuscle cells

Various previous studies established that the amphiphilic tri-block copolymer known as poloxamer 188 (P188) or Pluronic-F68 can stabilize the plasma membrane following a variety of injuries to mult...
ER-to-Golgi Trafficking and Its Implication in Neurological Diseases

Membrane and secretory proteins are essential for almost every aspect of cellular function. These proteins are incorporated into ER-derived carriers and transported to the Golgi before being sorted for delivery to their final destination. Although ER-to-Golgi trafficking is highly conserved among eukaryotes, several layers of complexity have been added to meet the increased demands of complex cell types in metazoans. The specialized morphology of neurons and the necessity for precise spatiotemporal control over membrane and secretory protein localization and function make them particularly vulnerable to defects in trafficking. This review summarizes the general mechanisms involved in ER-to-Golgi trafficking and highlights mutations in genes affecting this process, which are associated with neurological diseases in humans.
Sirt4 Modulates Oxidative Metabolism and Sensitivity to Rapamycin Through Species-Dependent Phenotypes in Drosophila mtDNA Haplotypes

The endosymbiotic theory proposes that eukaryotes evolved from the symbiotic relationship between anaerobic (host) and aerobic prokaryotes. Through iterative genetic transfers, the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes coevolved, establishing the mitochondria as the hub of oxidative metabolism. To study this coevolution, we disrupt mitochondrial-nuclear epistatic interactions by using strains that have mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and nuclear DNA (nDNA) from evolutionarily divergent species. We undertake a multifaceted approach generating introgressed Drosophila strains containing D. simulans mtDNA and D. melanogaster nDNA with Sirtuin 4 (Sirt4)-knockouts. Sirt4 is a nuclear-encoded enzyme that functions, exclusively within the mitochondria, as a master regulator of oxidative metabolism. We exposed flies to the drug rapamycin in order to eliminate TOR signaling, thereby compromising the cytoplasmic crosstalk between the mitochondria and nucleus. Our results indicate that D. simulans and D. melanogaster mtDNA haplotypes display opposite Sirt4-mediated phenotypes in the regulation of whole-fly oxygen consumption. Moreover, our data reflect that the deletion of Sirt4 rescued the metabolic response to rapamycin among the introgressed strains. We propose that Sirt4 is a suitable candidate for studying the properties of mitochondrial-nuclear epistasis in modulating mitochondrial metabolism.
Total amino acids concentration as a reliable predictor of free chlorine levels in dynamic fresh produce washing process

Abstract We establish the total amino acids (AA) concentration in wash water as an alternative indicator of free chlorine (FC) levels, and develop a model to predict FC concentration based on modeling the reaction kinetics of chlorine and amino acids. Using single wash of iceberg lettuce, green cabbage, and carrots, we report the first in situ apparent reaction rate β between FC and amino acids in the range of 15.3 – 16.6 M-1. s-1 and an amplification factor γ in the range of 11.52 - 11.94 for these produce. We also report strong linear correlations between AA levels and produce-to-water ratio (R2 = 0.87), and between chemical oxygen demand (COD) and AA concentrations (R2 = 0.87). The values of the parameters γ and β of the model were validated in continuous wash experiments of chopped iceberg lettuce, and predicted the FC (R2 = 0.96) and AA (R2 = 0.92) levels very well.
Wide-spread vulnerability of black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marsh.) wetlands in Minnesota USA to loss of tree dominance from invasive emerald ash borer

The emerald ash borer (EAB) has killed ash species (Fraxinus L.) in much of eastern North America, but it has yet to reach the vast ash wetlands in northern Minnesota, USA. In these wetlands, a single species, black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marsh.) comprises a majority of trees and has a foundational role in controlling ecosystem function. Given the likelihood of wide-spread mortality of black ash from EAB and the likelihood of severe ecosystem impacts, we examined the potential for co-occurring tree species to replace black ash, either through gap filling in the overstory or release from the understory. We addressed this objective by examining woody plant communities in 32 mature black ash sites located across a large geographic region and inclusive of two distinct wetland types as defined by hydrologic regime. Our results indicate a region-wide lack of species capable of replacing black ash in both wetland hydrologic types; thus there is very low existing potential for replacement of black ash from expansion in the overstory or through release in the understory. These results point to an urgent need for silvicultural intervention to identify and establish future-adapted non-ash tree species so as to promote resilience in the face of EAB by maintaining aspects of the foundational role of black ash in controlling ecosystem functions.
Y, Gd, and Pr tri-doped perovskite-type proton conducting electrolytes with improved sinterability and chemical stability

Abstract Tri-doping of barium cerium zirconate with rare earth elements praseodymium (Pr), gadolinium (Gd), and yttrium (Y) as dopants was followed to mitigate sinterability issues while improving the chemical stability and proton conductivity. The effect of the concentration of dopants was focused by varying the concentration of Pr and Y, and keeping the concentration of Gd, Zr and Ce constant in the ‘B’ site of perovskite structure (BaCe0.5Zr0.2Y0.1Gd0.1Pr0.1O3-δ and BaCe0.5Zr0.2Y0.15Gd0.1Pr0.05O3-δ). The sintering behavior, morphology, and grain boundary growth of the proton conducting electrolyte materials were systematically studied. The BaCe0.5Zr0.2Y0.1Gd0.1Pr0.1O3-δ electrolyte shows high relative density and large grain size (20 µm) after sintering at a relatively low temperature (1350 °C). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopic analysis demonstrated the excellent chemical stability of the Pr-doped proton-conducting electrolyte in a moisture-rich argon atmosphere for over 200 h at 600 °C. The conductivity measurements revealed that the tri-doped electrolyte materials have high conductivity values, 3.11, and 15.09 mS cm-1 in wet Argon at 400, and 600 °C, respectively. The obtained values of conductivity of the electrolytes were found to be stable over 240 h in 50% wet argon atmosphere at 600 °C demonstrating the higher chemical stability of the electrolyte.
RF Energy Harvesting and Management for Near-Zero Power Passive Devices

We present RF energy harvester and management strategy tailored for the passive near-zero power devices. Radio- less RF-powered backscattering tags that have the ability to recognize and localize activities in the surrounding environment are example of such devices. We propose a management strategy that determines the operation regime of the harvester based on the input power level at which harvester provides the instantaneous supply voltage for device operation. As the input power exceeds this level, the storage of the excess energy is managed by an adaptive capacitor charging circuit that keeps the voltage at the input of voltage regulator constant. We demonstrate that backscatter-based RF tag in the listening mode of operation can instantaneously operate with an input power of −34.4 dBm. Due to the adaptive capacitor charging circuit, the power efficiency of the energy harvester is higher than 50% over a range of input powers from −25 dBm up to −5 dBm.
Blockade of corticotropin-releasing factor receptor 1 in the central amygdala prevents cocaine-seeking behaviour induced by orexin-A administered to the posterior paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus in male rats

Background: Orexin-A (OrxA) administration in the posterior paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (pPVT) reinstates extinguished cocaine-seeking behaviour following extended access to the drug (a model of dependence). The pPVT receives and integrates information associated with emotionally salient events and sends excitatory inputs to brain regions involved in the expression of emotional states, such as those driving cocaine-seeking behaviour (i.e., the nucleus accumbens, the central nucleus of the amygdala [CeA], the basolateral amygdala, the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis [BNST] and the prefrontal cortex). Methods: We monitored the activation pattern of these regions (measured by Fos) during cocaine-seeking induced by OrxA administered to the pPVT. The BNST and CeA emerged as being selectively activated. To test whether the functionality of these regions was pivotal during OrxA-induced cocaine-seeking behaviour, we transiently inactivated these regions concomitantly with OrxA administration to the pPVT. We then tested the participation of corticotropin-releasing factor receptors (CRF1) in the CeA during OrxA-induced cocaine-seeking using the CRF1 antagonist CP154526. Results: We observed selective activation of the CeA and BNST during cocaine-seeking induced by OrxA administered to the pPVT, but only transient inactivation of the CeA prevented cocaine-seeking behaviour. Administration of CP154526 to the CeA prevented OrxA-induced cocaine-seeking behaviour. Limitations: The use of only male rats could have been a limitation. Other limitations could have been the use of an indirect approach to test the hypothesis that administration of OrxA to the pPVT drives cocaine-seeking via CRF1 signalling in the CeA, and a lack of analysis of the participation of CeA subregions. Conclusion: Cocaine-seeking behaviour induced by OrxA administered to the pPVT is driven by activation of the CeA via CRF1 signalling.
Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound and Shear Wave Elastography: Novel Methods for the Evaluation of Urethral Stricture Disease.

Purpose:Urologists will benefit from an imaging modality which can assess intra and extraluminal characteristics of urethral strictures. We conducted a prospective pilot study evaluating the utilit...
Religion, Spirituality, and Alternative Health Practices: The Baby Boomer and Cold War Cohorts

Research in religion and health has suggested positive relationships, and most recently has concentrated on the experience of religion, or spirituality. Currently, cohort studies have shown that the baby boomers differ significantly from their elders in their approach to religion, preferring to explore spirituality rather than the religious doctrine of their elders. They also differ in their approaches to health, including greater acceptance and use of alternative health practices. This study isolates the baby boomer and cold war cohorts in order to explore differences in religion, spirituality and alternative health practices. Findings indicate that, for boomers, increased spirituality is significantly related to increased positive health perceptions, while their elders' health perceptions are related to increased religiosity. Alternative health practices and spirituality, however, are not related for either cohort. However, this study does identify important distinctions between the two cohorts. Future studies must recognize differing cohort constructions of reality concerning the meanings of health, spirituality and religion.
What is an Epidemic

Misuse of the word “epidemic” has become an epidemic. In this note I examine several accounts of what it means to be an epidemic, explore what I take to be the motivation for over-extending the term, and explain why I think we should use it in a more careful way.
Hurricane Katrina: Behavioral Health and Health Insurance in Non-Impacted Vulnerable Counties

I find causal evidence that Hurricane Katrina increased stress, smoking, binge drinking, and health insurance coverage in the non-impacted storm surge region. In this region, Hurricane Katrina increased health insurance coverage by 440,000 young adults, the number of smokers by 930,000, and the number of binge drinkers by 510,000. Results are robust to varying the location and time of Hurricane Katrina, varying the pre-Hurricane Katrina time window, and excluding counties within 400 miles of New Orleans. Findings suggest that disasters are integral to the formation of risk perceptions and affect the demand for behavioral health and health insurance.
Autograph: toward automated, distributed worm signature detection

Today's Internet intrusion detection systems (IDSes) monitor edge networks' DMZs to identify and/or filter malicious flows. While an IDS helps protect the hosts on its local edge network from compromise and denial of service, it cannot alone effectively intervene to halt and reverse the spreading of novel Internet worms. Generation of the worm signatures required by an IDS--the byte patterns sought in monitored traffic to identify worms--today entails non-trivial human labor, and thus significant delay: as network operators detect anomalous behavior, they communicate with one another and manually study packet traces to produce a worm signature. Yet intervention must occur early in an epidemic to halt a worm's spread. In this paper, we describe Autograph, a system that automatically generates signatures for novel Internet worms that propagate using TCP transport. Autograph generates signatures by analyzing the prevalence of portions of flow payloads, and thus uses no knowledge of protocol semantics above the TCP level. It is designed to produce signatures that exhibit high sensitivity (high true positives) and high specificity (low false positives); our evaluation of the system on real DMZ traces validates that it achieves these goals. We extend Autograph to share port scan reports among distributed monitor instances, and using trace-driven simulation, demonstrate the value of this technique in speeding the generation of signatures for novel worms. Our results elucidate the fundamental trade-off between early generation of signatures for novel worms and the specificity of these generated signatures.
Planning for the Lifestyle Needs of Retirement

Now that you have decided how you will finance your retirement, you need to consider where you will live and what you will do during your retirement. For many retirees, the choice of where to live is fairly simple: they continue living in the home they purchased prior to retirement. But you have many choices to make regarding where you will live, including the type of facility you will live in, as discussed shortly. What you will do in your retirement, however, is more complicated.
Cloud-top Structure of Tornadic Storms on 10 April 1979 from Rapid Scan and Stereo Satellite Observations

The cloud top structure of the Wichita Falls tornadic storm of 10 April 1979 (and other severe storms on this day) is studied using remotely-sensed observations from radar and satellite. A comprehensive data set included 3 min interval visible (0.6 μm) and infrared (11 μm) radiances from the eastern GOES and similar 30 min interval data from the western GOES. The near synchronization of these two satellites allowed for the stereoscopic determination of cloud top heights. In addition, at 2048 GMT, TIROS-N scanned the storms within one minute of the geosynchronous stereo and provided 1 km resolution infrared blackbody temperatures. Because internal storm dynamics are hidden from the view of the satellite, storm updraft intensity must be inferred from cloud-top minimum temperature and its rate of change. The Wichita Falls, Tex. tornadic storm could be defined in the satellite data by a point of minimum temperature which displayed temporal continuity and achieved a temperature of 208 K. A cloud-top cooling ra...
The Dynamics of Pollination Markets

The economic problem of a commercial beekeeper is akin to that of a traveling salesman with the important difference that bees simultaneously pollinate crops and feed on them. In other words, bees not only provide pollination services but also feed on the crops they visit. As a result, the number and price of bees available for pollination at any time for any crop is determined by the demand for pollination services and the supply of bee food from other crops in the market. I develop a dynamic model of yearly fluctuations in the stock of honey bees and combine it with an economic model of beekeeper's behavior. This dynamic model of bee population highlights the fact that they are a renewable resource whose economic value is derived from both extraction and the provision of pollination services. Losses of hives to parasitic mites and other pests have a greater impact on the pollination cost of crops that blossom early. The effect of honey subsidies on pollination fees is ambiguous theoretically, which challenges previous results from the economics literature on pollination markets.
The Effectiveness of Rate-of-Return Regulation: An Empirical Test Using Profit Functions*

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the effectiveness of rate-of-return regulation. It discusses the use of the theory of profit functions to derive an econometric framework which is both theoretically compatible with the static Averch–Johnson (A–J) model and yields consistent estimators of the underlying technological parameters. Recently, several econometric studies of regulatory effectiveness within the general framework of the A–J model have appeared. The chapter reviews the Averch–Johnson model of the regulated firm, in particular, the comparative statics properties of the model. A generalized profit function for a profit-maximizing regulated firm facing given output and input prices and a maximum allowed rate of return on capital set by a regulatory commission is derived. Although Hotelling's lemma in regard to the partial derivatives of the unconstrained profit function does not hold, a revised version of this lemma is derived for the case of a regulated profit function and is used to develop the econometric model used. Several statistical tests of regulatory effectiveness are derived using the regulated profit function.
BioSimplify: an open source sentence simplification engine to improve recall in automatic biomedical information extraction

BioSimplify is an open source tool written in Java that introduces and facilitates the use of a novel model for sentence simplification tuned for automatic discourse analysis and information extraction (as opposed to sentence simplification for improving human readability). The model is based on a “shot-gun” approach that produces many different (simpler) versions of the original sentence by combining variants of its constituent elements. This tool is optimized for processing biomedical scientific literature such as the abstracts indexed in PubMed. We tested our tool on its impact to the task of PPI extraction and it improved the f-score of the PPI tool by around 7%, with an improvement in recall of around 20%. The BioSimplify tool and test corpus can be downloaded from https://biosimplify.sourceforge.net
Bioavailable Pantothenic Acid in Cereal Grains and Soybean Meal

Summary Three experiments were conducted to determine the bioavailability of pantothenic acid (PA) in corn, barley, sorghum, wheat and dehulled soybean meal (SBM). Crossbred chicks were fed a purified diet essentially devoid of PA from day 1 to 7 posthatching. Crystalline amino acid diets were fed ad libitum during the test period (8 to 21 or 8 to 22 days posthatching). The test ingredients (15% of the diet) were incorporated into the PA-free basal diet at the expense of cornstarch. A PA standard curve was generated by supplementation of the basal diet with 0, 1, 2 or 3 ~g PA/g diet. The slope-ratio assay was used to determine bioavailability estimates (micrograms PA/gram test grain = grams gain/gram test grain consumed + grams gain/microgram PA consumed). Corn, barley, sorghum, wheat and SBM were found to contain 4.6 + 1.3, 11.1 -+ 1.2, 6.0 + 1.5, 9.6 + 1.3 and 21.7 -+ 1.3 #g bioavailable PA/g, respectively. The value of 21,7/~g PA/g for SBM is higher than previously reported estimates. Graded levels of SBM (0, 5, 10 and 15%) were fed so that a more accurate estimate of the PA content of SBM could be obtained. This assay yielded an estimate of 17.7 /ag PA/g SBM, which is also well above previously reported values. It is possible, therefore, that these values represent overestimates because SBM may stimulate growth, apart from its contribution of PA, when added to crystalline amino acid chick diets. A fourth assay was conducted tO determine whether PA supplementation is necessary in a corn-SBM-based diet. A small response was observed in rate and efficiency
Techniques of Project Appraisal

In this paper, I attempt to bring into focus what I believe to be some of the important practical issues that face development planners in the field of project appraisal. I shall try, insofar as possible, to recognize the handicaps under which planners operate, most importantly the handicaps imposed by imperfect foresight and by the virtual necessity of decentralized decision-making. To elaborate briefly on these handicaps, I think we must take it for granted that our estimates of future costs and benefits (particularly the latter) are inevitably subject to a fairly wide margin of error, in the face of which it makes little sense to focus on subtleties aimed at discriminating accurately between investments that might have an expected yield of 101/2 percent and those that would yield only 10 percent per annum. As the first order of business we want to be able to distinguish the 10 percent investments from those yielding 5 or 15 percent, while looking forward hopefully to the day when we have so well solved the many problems of project evaluation that we can seriously face up to trying to distinguish 10 percent yields from those of 9 or 11 percent.
Visualization of 3D images from multiple texel images created from fused LADAR/digital imagery

The ability to create 3D models, using registered texel images (fused ladar and digital imagery), is an important topic in remote sensing. These models are automatically generated by matching multiple texel images into a single common reference frame. However, rendering a sequence of independently registered texel images often provides challenges. Although accurately registered, the model textures are often incorrectly overlapped and interwoven when using standard rendering techniques. Consequently, corrections must be done after all the primitives have been rendered, by determining the best texture for any viewable fragment in the model. Determining the best texture is difficult, as each texel image remains independent after registration. The depth data is not merged to form a single 3D mesh, thus eliminating the possibility of generating a fused texture atlas. It is therefore necessary to determine which textures are overlapping and how to best combine them dynamically during the render process. The best texture for a particular pixel can be defined using 3D geometric criteria, in conjunction with a real-time, view-dependent ranking algorithm. As a result, overlapping texture fragments can now be hidden, exposed, or blended according to their computed measure of reliability.
Some Inconvenient Truths

A recent paper by Frob employs the linearized Weyl-Weyl correlator to construct the tensor power spectrum. Although his purpose was to argue that infrared divergences and secular growth in the graviton propagator are gauge artefacts, a closer examination of the problem leads to the opposite conclusion. The analogies with the BMS symmetries of graviton scattering on a flat background, and with the Aharonov-Bohm effect of quantum mechanics, suggest that de Sitter breaking secular growth is likely to be observable in graviton loop effects. And a recent result for the vacuum polarization does seem to show it.
Paper retraction: on the hardness of embeddings between two finite metrics

We regret to report that we have found an error in our paper "On the Hardness of Embeddings Between Two Finite Metrics," which appeared in the Proceedings of the 32nd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP), Lisboa, Portugal, July 2005.
An Empirical Comparison of Methods for Temporal Distribution and Interpolation at the National Accounts

This study evaluates five mathematical and five statistical methods for temporal disaggregation in an attempt to select the most suitable method(s) for routine compilation of sub-annual estimates through temporal distribution and interpolation in the national accounts at BEA. The evaluation is conducted using 60 series of annual data from the National Economic Accounts, and the final sub-annual estimates are evaluated according to specific criteria to ensure high quality final estimates that are in compliance with operational policy at the national accounts. The study covers the cases of temporal disaggregation when 1) both annual and sub-annual information is available; 2) only annual data are available; 3) sub-annual estimates have both temporal and contemporaneous constraints; and 4) annual data contain negative values. The estimation results show that the modified Denton proportional first difference method outperforms the other methods, though the Casey-Trager growth preservation model is a close competitor in certain cases. Lagrange polynomial interpolation procedure is inferior to all other methods.
Correctness of Source-Level Safety Policies

Program certification techniques formally show that programs satisfy certain safety policies. They rely on the correctness of the safety policy which has to be established externally. In this paper we investigate an approach to show the correctness of safety policies which are formulated as a set of Hoare-style inference rules on the source code level. We develop a framework which is generic with respect to safety policies and which allows us to establish that proving the safety of a program statically guarantees dynamic safety, i.e., that the program never violates the safety property during its execution. We demonstrate our framework by proving safety policies for memory access safety and memory read/write limitations to be sound and complete. Finally, we formulate a set of generic safety inference rules which serve as the blueprint for the implementation of a verification condition generator which can be parameterized with different safety policies, and identify conditions on appropriate safety policies.
Assessment of Spatial Data Mining Tools for Integration into an Object-Oriented GIS (GIDB)

A variety of data mining techniques are under evaluation on the spatial data of concern in our setting. We are planning to integrate a number of these techniques into our geospatial system (GIDB). Three approaches are under special consideration and are described in the paper. A COTS data mining system has been successfully used to develop predictive models of near-shore conditions such as wave height for naval amphibious operations. Attribute generalization was applied to seafloor data to obtain statements about conditions relevant to mine warfare. Finally an extension of association rule discovery applied to fuzzy spatial data that is under development is discussed.
An extended data-flow architecture for data analysis and visualization

Modular visualization environments utilizing a data-flow execution model have become quite popular in recent years, especially those that incorporate visual programming tools. However, simplistic implementations of such an execution model are quite limited when applied to problems of realistic complexity, which negate the intuitive advantage of data-flow systems. This situation can be resolved by extending the execution model to incorporate a more complete and efficient programming infrastructure while still preserving the virtues of "pure data-flow". This approach has been used for the implementation of a general-purpose software package, IBM Visualization Data Explorer.