cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characterization of bio-carbon and ligno-cellulosic fiber reinforced bio-composites with compatibilizer

Abstract Bio-composite samples were manufactured using poly (lactic acid) (PLA), high density polyethylene (HDPE), biochar, wood flour, and coupling agent. Biochar, a carbon rich and thermally stable material, derived from switchgrass under controlled pyrolysis was tested as a functional filler. The study aimed at investigating the impact of biochar and wood fiber in the presence of coupling agent (maleic anhydride) on the properties of bio-composites. The bio-composite physical, mechanical and thermal properties were characterized using microscopy, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results showed that coupling agent is more compatible with wood flour than biochar. Addition of biochar reduced the moisture absorption and linear thermal expansion of filled bio-composites. It also improved the composites strength and moduli, showing a reinforcing nature of biochar. The TGA thermograms confirmed the improved stability of composites with biochar. Coupling agent was more effective in HDPE matrix reinforced by wood flour than biochar. Overall, this study demonstrated that biochar can be a good filler for improving dimensional stability, mechanical properties, and thermal stability of bio-composites.
On the probabilities of branch durations and stratigraphic gaps in phylogenies of fossil taxa when rates of diversification and sampling vary over time

The time separating the first appearances of species from their divergences from related taxa affects assessments of macroevolutionary hypotheses about rates of anatomical or ecological change. Branch durations necessarily posit stratigraphic gaps in sampling within a clade over which we have failed to sample predecessors (ancestors) and over which there are no divergences leading to sampled relatives (sister taxa). The former reflects only sampling rates, whereas the latter reflects sampling, origination, and extinction rates. Because all three rates vary over time, the probability of a branch duration of any particular length will differ depending on when in the Phanerozoic that branch duration spans. Here, I present a birth–death-sampling model allowing interval-to-interval variation in diversification and sampling rates. Increasing either origination or sampling rates increases the probability of finding sister taxa that diverge both during and before intervals of high sampling/origination. Conversely, elevated extinction reduces the probability of divergences from sampled sister taxa before and during intervals of elevated extinction. In the case of total extinction, a Signor-Lipps will reduce expected sister taxa leading up to the extinction, with the possible effect stretching back many millions of years when sampling is low. Simulations indicate that this approach provides reasonable estimates of branch duration probabilities under a variety of circumstances. Because current probability models for describing morphological evolution are less advanced than methods for inferring diversification and sampling rates, branch duration priors allowing for time-varying diversification could be a potent tool for phylogenetic inference with fossil data.
Poetry and the Romantic Musical Aesthetic

James H. Donelan describes how two poets, a philosopher and a composer – Holderlin, Wordsworth, Hegel and Beethoven – developed an idea of self-consciousness based on music at the turn of the nineteenth century. This idea became an enduring cultural belief: the understanding of music as an ideal representation of the autonomous creative mind. Against a background of political and cultural upheaval, these four major figures – all born in 1770 – developed this idea in both metaphorical and actual musical structures, thereby establishing both the theory and the practice of asserting self-identity in music. Beethoven still carries the image of the heroic composer today; this book describes how it originated in both his music and in how others responded to him. Bringing together the fields of philosophy, musicology, and literary criticism, Donelan shows how this development emerged from the complex changes in European cultural life taking place between 1795 and 1831.
Reply to Velavan et al.: Polymorphisms of pfcoronin in natural populations: Implications for functional significance.

Velavan et al. (1) describe work that they have carried out based on our recent PNAS publication, “Mutations in Plasmodium falciparum actin-binding protein coronin confer reduced artemisinin susceptibility” (2). Among 297 patient samples from 4 countries in Africa, they found 12 polymorphic amino acid sites in Pf Coronin, 7 observed only among 48 parasites from the Congo (1). These findings are consistent with results reported in the Pf3k database (https://www.malariagen.net/projects/p-falciparum-communityproject), which we referenced in our original publication. The amino acid replacements of Pf Coronin that we found to be … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: dfwirth{at}hsph.harvard.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
Neurocognitive and psychosocial outcomes in adult survivors of childhood soft‐tissue sarcoma: A report from the St. Jude Lifetime Cohort

Background: To the authors' knowledge, few studies to date have examined long-term neurocognitive outcomes in survivors of childhood soft-tissue sarcoma. Methods: A total of 150 survivors (41% of whom were female with a mean current age of 33 years [SD, 8.9 years] and a time since diagnosis of 24 years [SD, 8.7 years]) and 349 community controls (56% of whom were female with a mean current age of 35 years [SD, 10.2 years]) completed comprehensive neuropsychological testing, echocardiography, electrocardiography, pulmonary function tests, endocrine evaluation, and physical examination. Patient-reported outcomes of health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and social attainment were collected. Survivors were compared with norms and controls on neurocognitive outcomes using general linear models, and on HRQOL and social attainment using modified Poisson models. The impacts of treatment and chronic health conditions on outcomes were examined using multivariable general linear models (effect size was expressed as unstandardized β estimates that reflected the unit of change from a mean of 0 and an SD of 1) and modified Poisson models (effect size expressed as relative risks). Results: Compared with controls and population norms, survivors demonstrated lower performance on measures of verbal reasoning (mean z score, −0.45 [SD, 1.15]; P <.001) mathematics (mean z score, −0.63 [SD, 1.07]; P <.001), and long-term memory (mean z score, −0.37 [SD, 1.14]; P <.001). Cumulative anthracycline exposure (per 100 mg/m2) was found to be associated with poorer verbal reasoning (β = −0.14 z scores; P =.04), reading (β = −0.09 z score; P =.04), and patient-reported vitality (relative risk, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.09-1.59). Neurologic and neurosensory chronic conditions were associated with poorer mathematics (neurologic conditions: β = −0.63 z score [P = 0.02]; and hearing impairment: β = −0.75 z scores [P < 0.01]). Better cognitive performance was associated with higher social attainment. Conclusions: Long-term survivors of soft-tissue sarcoma are at risk of neurocognitive problems and poor HRQOL associated with anthracycline treatment and chronic health conditions. (Less)
A sinonasal inverted papilloma of mixed histology: Implications for management of all sinonasal papillomas

Sinonasal papillomas are classically categorized by their histology. Inverted, cylindrical, and fungiform are the three subtypes used to describe these lesions, and their medical and surgical management is often based on the specific subtype. We describe a case of a sinonasal papilloma with all three subtypes represented within the same surgical specimen. To our knowledge, this represents the first such case in the literature and has implications for the management of all sinonasal papillomas.
Efficacy of intralesional sodium thiosulfate for the treatment of dystrophic calcinosis cutis: A double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study.

Background Intralesional injection of sodium thiosulfate has emerged as a promising therapy for calcinosis cutis, but to our knowledge there are no randomized controlled trials evaluating its efficacy as a treatment. Objective Conduct a prospective, double-blinded investigation of intralesional sodium thiosulfate versus normal saline in the treatment of dystrophic calcinosis cutis. Methods This prospective pilot study injected normal saline or sodium thiosulfate at 0.1 mL/cm2 into lesions at baseline and at 1- and 2-month follow-up. Subjects were followed for a total of 12 weeks. An in-person Physician Global Assessment score was assigned by the injecting physician at each visit and was repeated by an independent observer. Results Of 4 subjects who completed the study, only 1 experienced improvement in the size and Physician Global Assessment score of the lesion. By 3-month follow-up, there was no difference between the average size of the treatment and control lesions (P = .39). Limitations This was a small single-center study with limited demographic diversity and a short follow-up period. Only dystrophic calcinosis cutis subjects were included, and subjects received only 3 monthly injections of sodium thiosulfate. Conclusions With only 1 positive response, our results highlight the need for further study of sodium thiosulfate treatment for dystrophic calcinosis.
An Actuarial Framework for Power System Reliability Considering Cybersecurity Threats

Cybersecurity has become an emerging issue for the secure operation of power systems. Besides hardening the power system to improve its cybersecurity, cyber insurance is emerging as a promising tool in cyber risk management. In this paper, an actuarial framework is established to capture and reduce the riskiness raised by interdependence among cyber risks, with the aim to enhance cyber insurance market for power systems. Absorbing semi-Markov process (SMP) is proposed to model the cyberattacks on the power grid. Also a stochastic model is developed to reflect the correlation of cyber risks across the power system. A sequential Monte Carlo simulations (MCS) framework is developed to evaluate the interruptions of the power system considering both the physical failures of the components and malicious cyberattacks. Then, the detailed insurance schemes are designed to manage the risks of the power system considering the financial consequences of cybersecurity threats. Case studies are conducted on a test system based on the IEEE Reliability Test System (RTS-79) to illustrate the application of the proposed insurance pricing schemes.
Fathering and Being Fathered: Developmental Interdependence

This chapter presents a relational understanding of fathering and being fathered. The theoretical and empirical literature reviewed will establish that fathering and being fathered represent interdependent experiences that have life-altering, developmental consequences for both fathers and their children. A central focus of the chapter is to elaborate how father-child relationships are conducted and experienced to bring developmental benefits and outcomes of the interdependent meanings and processes that occur in the context of everyday intergenerational father-child relationships.
Empirical Musicology: An Interview with David Huron Part II

On the occasion of David Huron's retirement, EMR Editor, Daniel Shanahan, recently interviewed him regarding research methodology, public musicology, music and emotion, formal theory, the place of biology in music studies, and other topics. The second of two interviews.
Cancer Classification from Healthy DNA

ABSTRACT The genome is traditionally viewed as a time-independent source of information; a paradigm that drives researchers to seek correlations between the presence of certain genes and a patient’s risk of disease. This analysis neglects genomic temporal changes, which we believe to be a crucial signal for predicting an individual’s susceptibility to cancer. We hypothesize that each individual’s genome passes through an evolution channel (The term channel is motivated by the notion of communication channel introduced by Shannon1 in 1948 and started the area of Information Theory), that is controlled by hereditary, environmental and stochastic factors. This channel differs among individuals, giving rise to varying predispositions to developing cancer. We introduce the concept of mutation profiles that are computed without any comparative analysis, but by analyzing the short tandem repeat regions in a single healthy genome and capturing information about the individual’s evolution channel. Using machine learning on data from more than 5,000 TCGA cancer patients, we demonstrate that these mutation profiles can accurately distinguish between patients with various types of cancer. For example, the pairwise validation accuracy of the classifier between PAAD (pancreas) patients and GBM (brain) patients is 93%. Our results show that healthy unaffected cells still contain a cancer-specific signal, which opens the possibility of cancer prediction from a healthy genome.
Machine Learning in Emergency Medicine: Keys to Future Success.

An era for artificial intelligence has arrived for emergency medicine. In the systematic review by Kareemi et al. (Ref 1.) published in this issue of Academic Emergency Medicine, the authors evaluate the performance of machine learning (ML) models versus standard care (e.g. clinical decision rules, provider judgement) in emergency medicine across a variety of clinical scenarios and outcomes. The systematic review concludes that ML has superior performance in almost all tasks, but also calls attention to several widespread shortcomings including limited adherence to reporting guidelines and the lack of evaluation through interventional trials. These findings highlight the need for a new phase in clinical decision support (CDS) for emergency care with research and practice focused on integrated, machine learning-driven CDS systems that are usable, interpretable, and effective. In this commentary, we review key concept areas for enhancing the performance, promoting the adoption, and studying the impact of ML within emergency medicine. We also discuss the interpretation and application of machine learning studies and projects, dividing key concepts into two domains: intrinsic - elements of the model and its task-based performance - and extrinsic - the ability for the model to achieve a desired objective with respect to patient care.
2D and 3D in-situ mechanical testing of an interpenetrating metal ceramic composite consisting of a slurry-based ceramic foam and AlSi10Mg

Abstract An interpenetrating metal ceramic composite, based on a ceramic foam and an AlSi10Mg light-weight aluminum alloy, is investigated under compressive load. The ceramic preform is produced by mechanical stirring, drying and finally sintering. It has a relative density of approximately 25% and is infiltrated via gas-pressure infiltration with the aluminum alloy. The damage processes during compressive load, as well as an understanding of crack development is in focus of this research and obtained by complementing 2D and 3D characterization methods. Therefore, a 2D surface in-situ investigation setup with an universal testing machine, a digital image correlation and a microscopy setup is used. For 3D investigation, a compression test with an in-situ X-ray computed tomography is developed and carried out to get an understanding of the material crack growth and crack propagation , as well as its failure mechanisms inside the interpenetrating metal-ceramic phase composite. The material shows crack initiations in the ceramic phase parallel to the load direction. Formation of crack clusters is followed then by a change in failure mechanism due to shear stress dominated failure with a macroscopic crack in 45° regarding the load direction. A good-natured failure of the composite could be determined. The combination of the 2D and 3D investigation methods gives an insight into the failure behavior of the interpenetrating composite and thus contributes to the understanding of the failure mechanism beyond the current state of knowledge.
Post-operative arrhythmias in patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and anatomic variants: incidence, type, and course

Background: Arrhythmias are common in the post-operative course of patients with hypoplastic left heart syndrome. We sought to determine the types, incidence, risk factors, and impact of arrhythmias in patients with HLHS and anatomic variants. Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review of 120 consecutive patients with HLHS and anatomical variants, who had single-ventricle palliation at our institution from January, 2006 to December, 2016. Results: A total of thirty-one patients (26%) had 37 episodes of arrhythmias over a median follow-up period of 3.5 years. Of the 37 episodes, 12 (32.4%) were ectopic atrial tachycardia, 9 (24.3%) were paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia, 4 (10.8%) were junctional ectopic tachycardia, 5 (13.6%) were sinus node dysfunction, 3 (8.1%) were heart block, 2 (5.4%) were atrial flutter, and 2 (5.4%) were ventricular tachycardia. Twenty-four (65%) of the arrhythmias occurred at post-stage 1 surgery. Most (64.8%) of the arrhythmias were resolved. Arrhythmias that occurred at post-stage 1 surgery were more likely to resolve compared to post-stages 2 or 3 (p = 0.006). No anatomical, surgical, or clinical variables were associated with arrhythmia except for age (OR per unit decrease in age at stage 1 palliation: 1.12 (95% CI 1.003, 1.250); p = 0.0439). Arrhythmias were not associated with length of hospital stay or mortality. Conclusion: Arrhythmias are common in patients with HLHS and anatomic variants, with EAT and PSVT being the most common types. Arrhythmias were associated with younger age at surgery, but did not affect mortality or length of hospital stay.
The Relationship Between Justice System Size and Punishment Across Nations

Nations utilize imprisonment to different extents, but scholars have yet to fully explain why. One hypothesis, proposed here and previously unexamined, is that the size of the front-end justice system workforce (police, prosecution, judiciary) is related to incarceration rates. Previous literature has examined why these workforces are of a certain size, but largely ignores the implications of their size in regards to incarceration. Supported by a conflict perspective and a systems approach, this research examines the relationship between justice system workforce size and incarceration rates cross-nationally, controlling for other relevant factors supported by the literature. The study relies on a compilation of data on 47 countries from several international databases, with United Nations Surveys on Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (UN-CTS) as the primary sources for main variables of interest. Findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between prosecution workforce size and incarceration rates in the sample of countries examined, and a weaker, likely indirect, negative relationship between judiciary size and incarceration rate. No relationship between police personnel size and incarceration rate is found. The paper also discusses study limitations and implications for future comparative research on incarceration.
A micro-costing analysis of outpatient flexible cystoscopy: implications for adoption of single-use flexible cystoscopes.

To evaluate the total cost of outpatient flexible cystoscopy associated with reusable device purchase, maintenance, and reprocessing, and to assess potential cost benefits of single-use flexible cystoscopes. Cost data regarding the purchasing, maintaining, and reprocessing of reusable flexible cystoscopes were collected using a micro-costing approach at a high-volume outpatient urology clinic. We estimated the costs to facilities with a range of annual procedure volumes (1000–3000) performed with a fleet of cystoscopes ranging from 10 to 25. We also compared the total cost per double-J ureteral stent removal procedure performed using single-use flexible cystoscopes versus reusable devices. The cost associated with reusable flexible cystoscopes ranged from $105 to $224 per procedure depending on the annual procedure volume and cystoscopes available. As a practice became more efficient by increasing the ratio of procedures performed to cystoscopes in the fleet, the proportion of the total cost due to cystoscope reprocessing increased from 22 to 46%. For ureteral stent removal procedures, the total cost per procedure using reusable cystoscopes (range $165–$1469) was higher than that using single-use devices ($244–$420), unless the annual procedure volume was sufficiently high relative to the number of reusable cystoscopes in the fleet (≥ 350 for a practice with ten reusable cystoscopes, ≥ 700 for one with 20 devices). The cost of reprocessing reusable cystoscopes represents a large fraction of the total cost per procedure, especially for high-volume facilities. It may be economical to adopt single-use cystoscopes specifically for stent removal procedures, especially for lower-volume facilities.
A Research-Based Approach to Game Writing Pedagogy

This paper discusses the importance of, and presents a possible framework for, phenomenological research of game industry practice to enhance pedagogy in computer game design (CGD) education. Built around examples from one such study on the practices of game industry writers, the author provides background for the study in question, outlines the theoretical framework of the research design, and presents an overview of the findings. A discussion of possible impacts and further applications in other subdisciplines of game development follows.
Design and Metamodel-Based Optimization of a High Power Density Wound Field Traction Motor

Traction motors onboard electric vehicles (EVs) are faced with ever-increasing power density requirements and cost reduction challenges. Although permanent magnet (PM) traction motors have been favored for their potential of higher power densities, the price and supply volatilities of PM materials are the major drawbacks. Instead of a single load point, the performance of a traction motor needs to be optimized over various combinations of torque and speed to represent real-world vehicular driving scenarios, which tends to be a time-consuming task with direct optimizations. In this paper, as a PM-free solution, a wound field synchronous motor (WFSM) is designed and optimized using a metamodel-based approach to maximize its efficiency over a custom set of load points, while utilizing a fully per-unitized geometry template. The workflow has proven to be timesaving and the selected design is prototyped.
Selective measurement of NAPE-PLD activity via a PLA1/2-resistant fluorogenic N-acyl-phosphatidylethanolamine analog.

Abstract N-acyl-phosphatidylethanolamine (NAPE)-hydrolyzing phospholipase D (NAPE-PLD) is a zinc metallohydrolase enzyme that converts NAPEs to bioactive N-acyl-ethanolamides (NAEs). Altered NAPE-PLD activity may contribute to pathogenesis of obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis, and neurological diseases. Selective measurement of NAPE-PLD activity is challenging, however, due to alternative phospholipase pathways for NAPE hydrolysis. Previous methods to measure NAPE-PLD activity involved addition of exogenous NAPE followed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) or liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), which are time- and resource-intensive. Recently, NAPE-PLD activity in cells has been assayed using the fluorogenic NAPE analogs PED-A1 and PED6, but these substrates also detect the activity of serine hydrolase-type lipases PLA1 and PLA2. To create a fluorescence assay that selectively measured cellular NAPE-PLD activity, we synthesized an analog of PED-A1 (flame-NAPE) where the sn-1 ester bond was replaced with a N-methyl amide to create resistance to PLA1 hydrolysis. Recombinant NAPE-PLD produced fluorescence when incubated with either PED-A1 or flame-NAPE, while PLA1 only produced fluorescence when incubated with PED-A1. Furthermore, fluorescence in HepG2 cells using PED-A1 could be partially blocked by either biothionol (a selective NAPE-PLD inhibitor) or tetrahydrolipstatin (an inhibitor of a broad spectrum of serine hydrolase-type lipases). In contrast, fluorescence assayed in HepG2 cells using flame-NAPE could only be blocked by biothionol. In multiple cell types, the phospholipase activity detected using flame-NAPE was significantly more sensitive to biothionol inhibition than that detected using PED-A1. Thus, using flame-NAPE to measure phospholipase activity provides a rapid and selective method to measure NAPE-PLD activity in cells and tissues.
The Nets of Modernism: Henry James, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Sigmund Freud

One of the finest literary critics of her generation, Maud Ellmann synthesises her work on modernism, psychoanalysis and Irish literature in this important new book. In sinuous readings of Henry James, James Joyce and Virginia Woolf, she examines the interconnections between developing technological networks in modernity and the structures of modernist fiction, linking both to Freudian psychoanalysis. The Nets of Modernism examines the significance of images of bodily violation and exchange - scar, bite, wound, and their psychic equivalents - showing how these images correspond to 'vampirism' and related obsessions in early twentieth-century culture. Subtle, original and a pleasure to read, this 2010 book offers a fresh perspective on the inter-implications of Freudian psychoanalysis and Anglophone modernism that will influence the field for years to come.
Perceptions and Definitions of Power Within the Context of HIV-Negative Male Couples' Relationships.

Examining dynamics within relationships is critical for development of effective HIV prevention interventions for male couples. The dynamic of power has received little attention in research with male couples, though power has been reported to affect HIV risk among heterosexual couples. To help address this knowledge gap, the present cross-sectional analysis used mixed methods with dyadic data from 142 HIV-negative male couples to (1) assess partnered men’s perception of who has the most power in their relationship and why, (2) examine whether partners concur about who has the most power and their reasoning for this selection, and (3) assess whether male couples’ concurrence about who has the most power is associated with their engagement of condomless anal sex within and/or outside the relationship, type of relationship, and aspects of their sexual agreement. Individual- and couple-level responses about who has the most power were quantitatively assessed, whereas for why, their responses were coded quali...
Self-Identified Sexual Orientation and the Lesbian Earnings Differential

Two decades of research on differences in labor market outcomes by sexual orientation has concluded that lesbian workers earn more than heterosexual women. This research, however, is largely based upon data that do not ask respondents about their own sexual orientation. We are the first to use nationally representative data that includes self-identified sexual orientation. We find evidence of a sizeable wage penalty for self-identified lesbians in 2008 and 2010. We show that using common behavioral proxies for sexual orientation overstates of the earnings of lesbians in some years, but understates it in other years. Using the different methods of identification leads to different conclusions about the way the recession affected lesbians: It took much longer for the wages of self-identified lesbians to recover.
Sensitivity Analysis: Differential Calculus of Models

Models in remote sensing—and in science and engineering, in general—are, essentially, functions of discrete model input parameters, and/or functionals of continuous model input parameters. In this sense, the sensitivities of model output parameters are, essentially, derivatives—partial derivatives with respect to discrete input parameters, and variational derivatives with respect to continuous input parameters. Specificity of models, as compared to functions and functionals in general, is due to the fact that they have two mandatory components. The first component describes the object or process of study, as is. It is a system of a differential equation, or equations, with initial and/or boundary conditions, which is referred to as a forward problem. The second component describes the procedure of deriving the output parameters of the model, which simulate the observed quantities, observables, from the solution of the forward problem. In contrast to the first component, it is just an analytic expression, which is referred to as an observables procedure. In rare practical cases, the forward problem has an analytic solution, and the output parameters are analytic functions or analytic functionals of the input parameters. Correspondingly, analytic evaluation of sensitivities is possible. In most practical cases, only numerical forward solutions are available, and specific approaches of sensitivity analysis considered in this monograph become indispensable.
Neural Networks in Seismic Discrimination

Neural networks are powerful and elegant computational tools that can be used in the analysis of geophysical signals. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we have developed neural networks to solve problems in seismic discrimination, event classification, and seismic and hydrodynamic yield estimation. Other researchers have used neural networks for seismic phase identification. We are currently developing neural networks to estimate depths of seismic events using regional seismograms. In this paper different types of network architecture and representation techniques are discussed. We address the important problem of designing neural networks with good generalization capabilities. Examples of neural networks for treaty verification applications are also described.
Response of native ungulates to drought in semi‐arid Kenyan rangeland

The distribution and abundance of native ungulates were measured on commercially managed, semi-arid rangeland in central Kenya over a 3-year period that encompassed severe drought and above-average rainfall. Native ungulate biomass density averaged 5282 kg km )2 over the study and was dominated by elephant (Loxodonta africana), impala (Aepyceros melampus) and dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii). Biomass density of domestic cattle (Bos taurus) averaged 2280 kg km )2 during the study. Responses of native ungulates to severe drought were variable. Impala densities were similar to or greater than densities for similar habitat in protected areas, and varied from 12 to 16 km )2 during and following the drought to 24–29 km )2 following above-average rainfall. Dik-dik densities were also greater than densities reported for protected areas and were surprisingly stable throughout the study despite the wide annual fluctuations in rainfall. Elephant migrated out of the region during drought but were present at high densities (2.9–5.2 km )2 ) during wet seasons, consistent with telemetry studies emphasizing the importance of Acacia bushland habitat on commercial rangelands for the migratory portion of the Laikipia–Samburu elephant population. Results show that substantial densities of native browsing and mixed-feeding ungulates can occur on rangeland managed for commercial beef production and suggest that the capacity for ungulates to move over large spatial scales (>100 km 2 ) and to shift distributions in re
Sylvia Plath and Material Culture

The following articles consider Sylvia Plath's poetry and prose in light of materials in her archives, the periodicals in which her poems were published, and forms of visual media. 1 Incorporating a range of approaches and types of materials, the essays in this segment of Plath Profiles broaden existing critical conversations regarding Plath's archives, composition practices, and relationship to visual art. 2 In their range of methods and the types of sources they analyze, the contributions below also continue what has become a turn toward historical modes of inquiry in modernist studies. 3 As a result, the section presents new material histories that engage Plath's writing in cultural, visual, and psychological contexts. The attention to detail that the scholars bring to their considerations of published and unpublished texts also suggests further possibilities for understanding not only Plath's oeuvre, but also the publications of her contemporaries. In their second contribution to Plath Profiles, Gail Crowther and Peter K. Steinberg continue their Trans-Atlantic dialogue addressing Plath's primary source materials. "Those Ghostly Archives, Redux" includes Crowther and Steinberg's discussion of one of Plath's titles for the poetry manuscript that would become "Ariel and Other Poems." Following her composition of "Tulips" in 1961, as Steinberg and Crowther note, Plath gave her manuscript the title, "Tulips and Other Poems." Their finding sheds light on not only the development of her poetry volume, but may also
Website Accessibility of U.S. Based Hospitality Websites

The Internet has become an essential part of our society as we are continually embracing this technology to better facilitate our business and social lives. Hotels and restaurants have established websites providing functions such as room availability, menu description as well as online reservations. However, many of the hospitality web designers have neglected the difficulties that visitors with disabilities like visual impairment may have when they visit the websites. This study evaluated the current accessibility situation of current U.S. based hospitality websites and studied the potential problems those websites may have when presenting information to visitors with disabilities. By evaluating the sample hospitality websites under the criteria of Section 508, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, colorblind filter and text size flexibility, the study has found that the current accessibility of hospitality websites in the U.S. is low and failure in providing alternative text for non-text elements is the primary problem. Implications of possible reasons and future research suggestions are discussed accordingly.
Error Analysis of Multi Level Graded Precision Model for Stability Monitoring on the Large Power System

To keep computational burden in stability analysis of the large power system at manageable levels the order of the problem must be reduced. An effective way to accomplish this starts with identifying dynamic clusters [1] within the system than using these to identify weak boundaries where system separation is probable [17] in a particular emergency. Reduction of the order is then accomplished by a graded precision model [18], [19] which retains the backbone (EHV system, tie lines) at full nonlinear representation, linearizes and aggregates the cluster interiors and treats the interface at an intermediate level. This representation is utilized in this paper to further reduce computational load by approximating the effect of the fast, intracluster, oscillations by applying a new averaging method, as opposed to customary singular perturbation. A detailed error analysis of this technique is presented. Excellent approximation is demonstrated in defining the stability boundary through the error analysis and also by simulation.
Common-Law Constitutionalism and the Limits of Reason

In recent years, the central claim of common-law constitutionalism has been that precedent and tradition embody some form of latent wisdom. Judges will generally do best by deferring to the wisdom embodied in precedent and tradition, rather than trusting to their unaided reason. In what follows, I offer a critical analysis of this family of claims. Drawing throughout on Jeremy Bentham's critique of the subconstitutional common law, I conclude that the constitutional common law is not plausibly seen as a repository of latent wisdom, at least not to any greater extent than statutes and other nonjudicial sources of law. The mechanisms advanced by common-law constitutionalists suffer from infirmities of internal logic and from a failure to make the necessary institutional comparisons between and among precedent and tradition, on the one hand, and the outputs of legislatures, executive officials, and constitutional framers on the other.
National Security Research in Plasma Physics and Pulsed Power: Past, Present, and Future

The Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) was established in 1923 to fulfill Thomas Edison's vision of a government research laboratory that could develop and translate scientific knowledge into effective military systems in times of war. The NRL Plasma Physics Division was established in 1966 to create X-ray simulators for testing the effects of nuclear weapons on materials and components of military hardware, to study the physics and effects of high-altitude nuclear explosions, and to perform nuclear fusion research. This paper traces the development of pulsed power and plasma physics from 1940 to the present day through a set of graphical timeframes that depict both the major geopolitical events and the major pulsed power facilities that were noteworthy in a series of 15–20 year epochs. Pulsed power research began at the U.K. Atomic Weapons Establishment, where it was first used for radiography. Subsequently, Sandia, Los Alamos, and Livermore performed pulsed power research for an expanding set of missions. The earliest facilities consisted mostly of single-module machines that had limited ability to synchronize and pulse shape. The 1983 Strategic Defense Initiative led to the development of technologies for directed energy weapons, railguns, and X-ray lasers. The cessation of nuclear testing in 1992 created an increased need for above ground testing including advanced radiography, nuclear weapons effects simulators, hydrotest facilities, and inertial confinement fusion devices. The Stockpile Stewardship Program, which began in the mid-1990s, saw the construction of several major facilities [e.g., National Ignition Facility, Z, Omega, and DAHRT], with increased power, as well as sophisticated synchronization and pulse shaping capabilities. In 2012, the Department of Defense (DoD) announced a strategic pivot to the joint force of 2020 and a rebalance toward the Asian-Pacific region. Looking to the future, a number of DoD documents describe the need to develop and deploy transformational technologies. For example, the 2012 Naval S&T Strategic Plan emphasizes hypervelocity railguns, DE, the detection and neutralization of weapons of mass destruction, and the ability to retain access in contested environments, especially in space. Future military systems will require pulsed power that is compact, repetitive, efficient, and is thermally managed. Low-temperature plasmas and nonequilibrium plasma chemistry are emerging research areas that could impact DoD missions. Atmospheric plasmas are creating new opportunities in plasma biology and plasma medicine. The research capabilities of the rest of the world, especially China, are rapidly growing, and new ideas and capabilities will increasingly come from outside of the U.S. This paper explores some of the future challenges and opportunities for plasma physics and pulsed power research.
Cation selectivity of light-sensitive conductance in retinal rods.

Vertebrate photoreceptors respond to light by a membrane hyperpolarization which is thought to result from the decrease of a Na-selective conductance in the outer segment1–6. One hypothesis is that light increases intracellular free Ca which reversibly blocks the Na conductance7,8; at least part of this Ca is then extruded to the cell exterior by a Na–Ca exchanger at the plasma membrane9–14. We describe experiments here which show that the light-sensitive conductance in rods is also highly permeable to K. While external Na acts to keep the conductance open, external K tends to keep it closed, both actions probably involving the Na–Ca exchanger. The conductance is also permeable to the monovalent cations Li, Rb and Cs and the divalent cations Ca, Sr and Ba. The ability of both Na and K to go through the light-sensitive conductance explains the long-standing puzzle as to why the reversal potential for the light response is at 0 to +10 mV15–17.
The Effects of Distinctiveness Require Reinstatement of Organization: The Importance of Intentional Memory Instructions

The combined influences of organizational and distinctive processing offer one framework for understanding the impressive accuracy of memory (Hunt & McDaniel, 1993). An important implication of this framework is that distinctive processes will be ineffectual in retrieval unless the original encoding context is reinstated. Intentional memory instructions at test are crucial to reinstatement of the original context. Two experiments are reported to test this prediction. Both experiments contrast the effects of a powerful manipulation of distinctive processing, judgment of differences among highly similar items, on explicit and implicit memory tests. Performance on explicit tests of cued recall showed the expected advantage of difference judgments, whereas the manipulation affected implicit tests of word association and category exemplar production only when subjects claimed awareness of the relationship between study and test. The results demonstrate the critical role of cues carried by intentional instructions at the time of test and also offer some insight into the dissociation among conceptually driven implicit tests.
Defensins and Viral Infection: Dispelling Common Misconceptions

Human α- and β-defensins are cationic, amphipathic effector peptides of the innate immune system with broad antimicrobial activity [1]. α-defensins are produced by neutrophils (human neutrophil peptides [HNP] 1–4), as well as by epithelial cells in the gut and genitourinary tract (human defensins [HD] 5 and 6). β-defensins (human β-defensins [HBD] 1–4) are constitutively expressed by epithelial cells of skin and mucosal surfaces. Originally discovered due to their antibacterial activity, defensins are also active against both enveloped and non-enveloped viruses. Mechanisms important for bacterial inhibition have been historically assumed to be responsible for defensin antiviral activity; however, this assumption has not held up to experimentation. Our purpose is to address some persistent myths regarding the activity of human defensins against viruses, as well as to identify areas requiring further investigation (Figure 1). Figure 1 Common misconceptions of defensin antiviral activity. Misconception: Antiviral Activity Is Only Due to Defensin Positive Charge The initial antibacterial mechanism was proposed to be largely dependent on simple charge–charge attraction to the bacterial membrane [2]. Accordingly, defensins are most potently antibacterial in hypotonic media [1], [3]. Antiviral activity, in contrast, is generally preserved at physiological salt concentrations in normal cell culture media, arguing against a dominant charge–charge component to their interaction with viruses [4]–[6]. There is additional strong evidence that charge alone does not dictate antiviral activity: linearized α-defensins that lack a disulfide-stabilized 3-D structure are nonfunctional against all viruses tested [6]. Additionally, obligate monomer forms of α-defensins are highly attenuated for binding to and/or inactivation of viral pathogens. [7], [8]. If antiviral activity were simply due to charge–charge interactions, these defensin mutants would still be active, as their charge is conserved. A second line of investigation using direct mutational analysis showed that arginine to lysine substitutions at specific residues attenuate the antiviral activity of HD5 [7]. These results, coupled with the marked preference for arginines over lysines in α-defensins, imply that other aspects of arginine residues are more important than simple charge [6], [9]. Furthermore, β-defensins are, on average, more charged than α-defensins yet largely exhibit less antiviral activity, especially against non-enveloped viruses. Thus, while charge is important for defensin function, it is not the only determining factor in antiviral activity.
How are potent bulky carcinogens able to induce such a diverse array of mutations

Mutations induced by activated benzo[a]pyrene ((+)-anti-B[a]PDE) in Escherichia coli are being investigated, by using both random and adduct-site–specific mutagenesis approaches. A working hypothesis was proposed that the major adduct of (+)-anti-B[a]PDE (formed at N2-Gua) is able to induce different base-substitution mutations (e.g., GCTA vs. GCAT) depending upon its conformation in DNA, which can be influenced by various factors, notably DNA sequence context. Frameshift mutations are also common with (+)-anti-B[a]PDE, and other work suggested that the frameshift and base-substitution mutagenesis pathways are coupled. The simplest hypothesis to rationalize this interrelationship is that a single (+)-anti-BEa[a]PDE adduct in a single conformation can be bypassed via either a frameshift or a base-substitution pathway. This counterintuitive notion can be reconciled if there are two different kinds of conformations on the pathway to mutagenesis: a class I conformation, which is the initial conformation of a DNA adduct in double-stranded DNA before its encounter with a DNA polymerase, and a class II conformation, which is the conformation that forms at a single-strand/double-strand DNA junction during replication by a DNA polymerase. Thus, GCTA and GCAT mutations may be induced by different class I conformations, whereas base substitution and frameshift mutations may be induced by the same class I conformation but by different class II conformations. The pathway of mutagenesis would be dictated by the relevant class I and II conformations, which in turn would be controlled by various factors, notably DNA sequence context. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Spectrophotometric determination of ruthenium using 4,5-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine sulfate

A spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of ruthenium. The method is based on the magenta coloured complex (absorption maximum — 530 nm) formed when ruthenium and 4,5-diamino-6-hydroxypyrimidine sulfate are heated together in a slightly acidic solution. The molar absorptivity of the magenta coloured complex solution is 6.5 × 103 liter mole−1 cm−1.
Hyperthermophilic Thermotoga Species Differ with Respect to Specific Carbohydrate Transporters and Glycoside Hydrolases

Four hyperthermophilic members of the bacterial genus Thermotoga (T. maritima, T. neapolitana, T. petrophila, and Thermotoga sp. strain RQ2) share a core genome of 1,470 open reading frames (ORFs), or about 75% of their genomes. Nonetheless, each species exhibited certain distinguishing features during growth on simple and complex carbohydrates that correlated with genomic inventories of specific ABC sugar transporters and glycoside hydrolases. These differences were consistent with transcriptomic analysis based on a multispecies cDNA microarray. Growth on a mixture of six pentoses and hexoses showed no significant utilization of galactose or mannose by any of the four species. T. maritima and T. neapolitana exhibited similar monosaccharide utilization profiles, with a strong preference for glucose and xylose over fructose and arabinose. Thermotoga sp. strain RQ2 also used glucose and xylose, but was the only species to utilize fructose to any extent, consistent with a phosphotransferase system (PTS) specific for this sugar encoded in its genome. T. petrophila used glucose to a significantly lesser extent than the other species. In fact, the XylR regulon was triggered by growth on glucose for T. petrophila, which was attributed to the absence of a glucose transporter (XylE2F2K2), otherwise present in the other Thermotoga species. This suggested that T. petrophila acquires glucose through the XylE1F1K1 transporter, which primarily serves to transport xylose in the other three Thermotoga species. The results here show that subtle differences exist among the hyperthermophilic Thermotogales with respect to carbohydrate utilization, which supports their designation as separate species.