cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effects of a High Magnetic Field on Abnormal Microstructure in Fe-1.1C (wt.%) Alloy

The present studies are to investigate the microstructure features and macroscopical hardness during transformation from austenite to pearlite without and with 12T magnetic field on Fe-1.1%C alloy. It is found that 12T magnetic field can increase the area fraction of abnormal microstructure and the average width of secondary cementite in Fe-1.1%C alloy by remarkably decreasing the Gibbs energy needed for the ferrite transformation. The macroscopical hardness of the specimens heated with 12Tmagnetic field is lower than the specimens without magnetic field. The reason is that the magnetric field increase the lamellar spacing of pearlite
A Validation Study of the Alcohol Dependence Scale

OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose of this study was to provide a comprehensive assessment of the underlying factor structure of the Alcohol Dependence Scale (ADS). Secondary goals included assessing concurrent validity of the total ADS and subscales derived from the factor analyses with variables related to alcohol dependence and further evaluating the validity of two proposed dichotomously scored, reduced-item ADS measures. METHOD: Responses to the ADS were obtained from participants who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria for alcohol dependence in two large randomized clinical trials: COMBINE (Combining Medications and Behavioral Interventions Study; n = 1,335; 69% male) and Project MATCH (Matching Alcoholism Treatments to Client Heterogeneity; n = 1,666; 75% male). Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and validity coefficients were obtained. RESULTS: Across samples, analyses supported a correlated, three-factor solution representing loss of behavioral control and heavy drinking, obsessive-compulsive drinking style, and psychoperceptual and psychophysical withdrawal. The ADS was significantly related to other measures of severity of dependence, craving for and preoccupation with drinking, temptation to drink and confidence in the ability to not drink in high-risk relapse situations, heavy and sustained drinking patterns, concerns about negative alcohol-related consequences, and awareness of problematic drinking. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support a three-factor solution for the ADS and its ability to assess the construct of alcohol dependence in a reliable and valid manner. The 12-item reduced ADS measure (reflecting mostly dependence-related items), as opposed to the 9-item reduced ADS measure (generally excessive drinking items), provided validity coefficients comparable to the total, 25-item ADS. Language: en
Skillful Strategy, Artful Navigation & Necessary Wrangling

This paper addresses three main issues: the fixation on the individual in corporate research, the emic need to privilege and represent relationships driving the political and cultural economic lived experience and the pressing need to find useful, effective ways engage corporate structures that otherwise are impervious to “views of the collective”. That is, we argue for a reframing of ethnographic work in industry (in some instances) from that of the individual to that of sufficiently contextually complete relationships people have with other people and institutions, especially when working with “emerging markets.” We rely on data and sources from comparative ethnographic work over time in several countries to identify what we need to study and to suggest new, more powerful directions for our research. We also suggest implications for how to navigate within corporate structures in order to liberate ourselves and our work.
Mechanisms of microgravity flame spread over a thin solid fuel - Oxygen and opposed flow effects

Microgravity tests varying oxygen concentration and forced flow velocity have examined the importance of transport processes on flame spread over very thin solid fuels. Flame spread rates, solid phase temperature profiles and flame appearance for these tests are measured. A flame spread map is presented which indicates three distinct regions where different mechanisms control the flame spread process. In the near-quenching region (very low characteristic relative velocities) a new controlling mechanism for flame spread - oxidizer transport-limited chemical reaction - is proposed. In the near-limit, blowoff region, high opposed flow velocities impose residence time limitations on the flame spread process. A critical characteristic relative velocity line between the two near-limit regions defines conditions which result in maximum flammability both in terms of a peak flame spread rate and minimum oxygen concentration for steady burning. In the third region, away from both near-limit regions, the flame spread behavior, which can accurately be described by a thermal theory, is controlled by gas-phase conduction.
More Than Just a Punctuation Mark: How Boys and Young Men Learn About Menstruation

Parents, peers, schools, and the media are the primary contexts for educating young people about sexuality. Yet girls receive more sex education than boys, particularly in terms of menstruation. Lack of attention to how and what boys learn about menstruation has consequences for their private understanding about the biology of reproduction and also for social and cultural ideologies of gendered relationships. In this qualitative study, 23 written narratives from male undergraduates (aged 18-24 years) were analyzed using grounded theory methodology to explore how young men perceive their past and present learning about this uniquely female experience. Findings suggest that most boys first learned about menstruation in their families, primarily through their sisters’ menarche; menstruation is experienced—in boyhood at least—as a gender wedge; and most men described a developmental process of moving from a childish attitude of menstruation as “gross” to seeing themselves as maturing through the experience of...
From OO to FPGA: fitting round objects into square hardware?

Consumer electronics today such as cell phones often have one or more low-power FPGAs to assist with energyintensive operations in order to reduce overall energy consumption and increase battery life. However, current techniques for programming FPGAs require people to be specially trained to do so. Ideally, software engineers can more readily take advantage of the benefits FPGAs offer by being able to program them using their existing skills, a common one being object-oriented programming. However, traditional techniques for compiling object-oriented languages are at odds with today's FPGA tools, which support neither pointers nor complex data structures. Open until now is the problem of compiling an object-oriented language to an FPGA in a way that harnesses this potential for huge energy savings. In this paper, we present a new compilation technique that feeds into an existing FPGA tool chain and produces FPGAs with up to almost an order of magnitude in energy savings compared to a low-power microprocessor while still retaining comparable performance and area usage.
Strange bedfellows: organic synthesis and essay-writing

The article examines the processses involved in essay-writing by comparing it with the the process by which organic chemistry synthesis schemes are solved. In the process of writing an essay, the author uses knowledge of vocabulary, syntax, and discourse to creatively organize and then produce a paper. In the process of generating a synthesis, the chemist uses knowledge of structure, functional group reactivity, and reaction mechanisms to creatively organize and then produce a synthesis. Both the writing of an essay and the design of an organic synthesis are goal-oriented, nonlinear, recursive activities that lead to a product that is greater than the sum of the individual elements involved in its creation.
Habits and beliefs that guide self-regulated learning: Do they vary with mindset?

Abstract Prior research by Kornell and Bjork (2007) and Hartwig and Dunlosky (2012) has demonstrated that college students tend to employ study strategies that are far from optimal. We examined whether individuals in the broader—and typically older—population might hold different beliefs about how best to study and learn, given their more extensive experience outside of formal coursework and deadlines. Via a web-based survey, however, we found striking similarities: Learners’ study decisions tend to be driven by deadlines, and the benefits of activities such as self-testing and reviewing studied materials are mostly unappreciated. We also found evidence, however, that one's mindset with respect to intelligence is related to one's habits and beliefs: Individuals who believe that intelligence can be increased through effort were more likely to value the pedagogical benefits of self-testing, to restudy, and to be intrinsically motivated to learn, compared to individuals who believe that intelligence is fixed.
JAGATH: A Methodology and Its Application for Distributed Systems Performance Evaluation and Control

A methodology (JAGATH) and a tool based on it for establishing the performance of a distributed system within an empirical framework are presented. A set of performance variables representing the system performance is derived in terms of a combination of a set of performance measures. These performance measures represent the actual measurements of the events in the system. These performance variables are used to display the system performance status in the form of Kiviat graphs. The causal relationship between the performance variables and the internal system control variables and the workload characteristics can be established. This can be used in a performance 'tuning' system.
Using discrete event simulation to evaluate housestaff work schedules

A discrete-event simulation model of work performed by hospital interns and residents was developed. The model incorporates such complex features as interruptions of one activity by another, involved decision processes by mobile resources, and highly variable work arrival processes. Where historical data were lacking and too expensive to collect, surveys of experts produced sufficient information to use the VISIFIT distribution fitting package to specify input processes. Validation efforts showed that the model accurately predicted the results of changes to the schedule. With its validity established, the model has since been used to investigate the ramifications of alternative systems, including the addition of a night-float team and more help from subspecialty fellows. The consequences of changes in patient load or decreased availability of senior students were also examined. The prospect for regulatory or legislative restrictions on housestaff hours make the model a valuable tool for evaluating scheduling rules and plans. >
Potent In Vitro Antifungal Activities of Naturally Occurring Acetylenic Acids

Our continuing effort in antifungal natural product discovery has led to the identification of five 6-acetylenic acids with chain lengths from C 16 to C 20 : 6-hexadecynoic acid (compound 1), 6-heptadecynoic acid (compound 2), 6-octadecynoic acid (compound 3), 6-nonadecynoic acid (compound 4), and 6-icosynoic acid (compound 5) from the plant Sommera sabiceoides . Compounds 2 and 5 represent newly isolated fatty acids. The five acetylenic acids were evaluated for their in vitro antifungal activities against Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida krusei, Candida tropicalis, Candida parapsilosis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Trichophyton mentagrophytes , and Trichophyton rubrum by comparison with the positive control drugs amphotericin B, fluconazole, ketoconazole, caspofungin, terbinafine, and undecylenic acid. The compounds showed various degrees of antifungal activity against the 21 tested strains. Compound 4 was the most active, in particular against the dermatophytes T. mentagrophytes and T. rubrum and the opportunistic pathogens C. albicans and A. fumigatus , with MICs comparable to several control drugs. Inclusion of two commercially available acetylenic acids, 9-octadecynoic acid (compound 6) and 5,8,11,14-eicosatetraynoic acid (compound 7), in the in vitro antifungal testing further demonstrated that the antifungal activities of the acetylenic acids were associated with their chain lengths and positional triple bonds. In vitro toxicity testing against mammalian cell lines indicated that compounds 1 to 5 were not toxic at concentrations up to 32 μM. Furthermore, compounds 3 and 4 did not produce obvious toxic effects in mice at a dose of 34 μmol/kg of body weight when administered intraperitoneally. Taking into account the low in vitro and in vivo toxicities and significant antifungal potencies, these 6-acetylenic acids may be excellent leads for further preclinical studies.
An efficient and accurate method for evaluating time series similarity

A variety of techniques currently exist for measuring the similarity between time series datasets. Of these techniques, the methods whose matching criteria is bounded by a specified e threshold value, such as the LCSS and the EDR techniques, have been shown to be robust in the presence of noise, time shifts, and data scaling. Our work proposes a new algorithm, called the Fast Time Series Evaluation (FTSE) method, which can be used to evaluate such threshold value techniques, including LCSS and EDR. Using FTSE, we show that these techniques can be evaluated faster than using either traditional dynamic programming or even warp-restricting methods such as the Sakoe-Chiba band and the Itakura Parallelogram. We also show that FTSE can be used in a framework that can evaluate a richer range of e threshold-based scoring techniques, of which EDR and LCSS are just two examples. This framework, called Swale, extends the e threshold-based scoring techniques to include arbitrary match rewards and gap penalties. Through extensive empirical evaluation, we show that Swale can obtain greater accuracy than existing methods.
A characterization of Hash P by arithmetic straight line programs

Hash P functions are characterized by certain straight-line programs of multivariate polynomials. The power of this characterization is illustrated by a number of consequences. These include a somewhat simplified proof of S. Toda's (1989) theorem that PH contained in P/sup Hash P/, as well as an infinite class of potentially inequivalent checkable functions. >
Strategy for the design of multifocal surfaces.

A method is proposed which may prove useful as an aid in the design of non-spherical surfaces with desired multifocal properties. More specifically, if an axially symmetrical surface is described by a polynomial then the coefficients of this polynomial can be found such that optical path lengths between given object and image points are nearly constant over desired portions of the surface. Three examples are given. One of the examples, a ‘trifocal’ surface, is compared to an aberration-free two-segment concentric bifocal contact lens.
Reusing Relational Queries for Intuitive Decision Optimization

Decision optimization is used in many applications such as those for finding the best course of action in emergencies. However, optimization solutions require considerable mathematical expertise and effort to generate effective models. On the other hand, reporting applications over databases are more intuitive and have long been established using the mature database query technology. A decision optimization problem can be viewed as an "inverse" of the reporting problem. For example, a report may tell the total cost of a certain supply chain given the various sourcing and transportation options used; the corresponding optimization problem can be to select among all possible sourcing and transportation options to minimize the total cost. Reusing existing reporting queries for decision optimization will achieve the dual goals of taking advantage of past investments and of making decision optimization more intuitive. To realize these goals, this paper addresses two related technical issues with a decision guidance query language (DGQL) framework. The first is to annotate existing queries to precisely express the optimization semantics, and the second is to translate the annotated queries into equivalent mathematical programming (MP) formulation that can be solved efficiently. This paper presents the decision queries with examples, provides formal syntax and semantics to DGQL, describes an implementation method through a reduction to MP formulation. Finally, the paper illustrates via experiments on a prototype system that the optimization tasks done with DGQL compete squarely with expertly generated MP models.
Generation of quantum logic operations from physical Hamiltonians

We provide a systematic analysis of the physical generation of single- and two-qubit quantum operations from Hamiltonians available in various quantum systems for scalable quantum information processing. We show that generation of single-qubit operations can be transformed into a steering problem on the Bloch sphere, which represents all ${R}_{z}$-equivalence classes of single-qubit operations, whereas the two-qubit problem can be generally transformed into a steering problem in a tetrahedron representing all the local-equivalence classes of two-qubit operations (the Weyl chamber). We use this approach to investigate several physical examples for the generation of two-qubit operations. The steering approach provides useful guidance for the realization of various quantum computation schemes.
Inherited interstitial lung disease

This article focuses on recent advances in the identification of genes and genetic polymorphisms that have been implicated in the development of human interstitial lung diseases. It focuses on the inherited mendelian diseases in which pulmonary fibrosis is part of the clinical phenotype and the genetics of familial idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other rare inherited interstitial lung diseases. The article also reviews the association studies that have been published to date regarding the genetics of sporadic idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The reader is directed to recent reviews on human genetic predisposition of sarcoidosis, environmental-related, drug-related, connective tissue related pulmonary fibrosis, and genetic predisposition of fibrosis in animal models.
Perovskite-Based Catalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells

As an effort to further explore the possible complex oxide catalysts for methanol electrooxidation, a library of perovskites (ABO3; A = Ba, Ca, Sr, La; B = Fe, Ru) were synthesized and tested. A novel screening strategy, featuring energy-efficient and rapid solution combustion (SC) synthesis techniques in combination with a throughput catalyst activity testing method, was employed. It was demonstrated that most of these mixed-conductor complex perovskites with ruthenium on the B-site are promising candidates for the development of effective catalysts. A possible reaction pathway on the perovskite (e.g., ARuO3) surface is proposed in analogy to the well-established reaction mechanism of methanol oxidation on a Pt surface. Additional experiments by using ethanol and formic acid as fuels were conducted to give further insights on the proposed reaction pathway. Furthermore, composite perovskite−Pt compositions were also synthesized directly by the SC method for the design of multifunctional catalysts, where t...
DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF A PATENT URACHUS IN A WHITE RHINOCEROS CALF (CERATOTHERIUM SIMUM SIMUM)

A 10-day-old female southern white rhinoceros calf (Ceratotherium simum simum) was diagnosed with a patent urachus after urine was observed dribbling from the umbilicus. After being separated from its mother, the animal was sedated with i.m. butorphanol and anesthetized with isoflurane in oxygen for surgical correction of the patent urachus. Mild postoperative complications involved seroma formation and partial skin incision dehiscence, which necessitated three follow-up immobilizations for reevaluation and treatment of the surgical site. Histopathology did not reveal an infectious etiology as the cause for the complications or for the patent urachus. The etiology of the patent urachus in this animal remains undetermined. This report represents the first documented case of a patent urachus in a white rhinoceros.
A mechanical model for elastic fiber microbuckling

A two-dimensional mechanical model is presented to predict the compressive strength of unidirectional fiber composites using technical beam theory and classical elasticity. First, a single fiber resting on a matrix half-plane is considered. Next, a more elaborate analysis of a uniformly laminated, unidirectional fiber composite half-plane is presented. The model configuration incorporates a free edge which introduces a buckling mode that originates at the free edge and decays into the interior of the half-plane. It is demonstrated that for composites of low volume fraction (<0.3), this decay mode furnishes values of buckling strain that are below the values predicted by the Rosen (1965) model. At a higher volume fraction the buckling mode corresponds to a half wavelength that is in violation of the usual assumptions of beam theory. Causes for deviations of the model prediction from existing experimental results are discussed.
A REMARK ON A PROBLEM OF KLEE

This paper treats a property of topological vector spaces first studied by Klee [6]. X is said to have the Klee property if there are two (not necessarily Hausdorff) vector topologies on X, say τ1 and τ2, such that the quasi-norm topology is the supremum of τ1 and τ2 and such that (X, τ1) has trivial dual while the Hausdorff quotient of (X, τ2) is nearly convex, i.e. has a separating dual. Klee raised the question of whether every topological vector space has the Klee property. In this paper we will only consider the case when X is a separable quasiBanach space. In this context the problem has recently been considered in [2] and [7]. In [7], the problem was considered for the special case when X is a twisted sum of a one-dimensional space and a Banach space, so that there is subspace L of X with dimL = 1 and X/L locally convex; it was shown that X then has the Klee property if the quotient map is not strictly singular. Then in [2] a twisted sum X of a one-dimensional space and `1 was constructed so that the quotient map is strictly singular and X fails to have the Klee property. Thus Klee’s question has a negative answer. The aim of this paper is to completely characterize the class of separable quasi-Banach spaces with the Klee property. Using this characterization we give a much more elementary counter-example to Klee’s question. Given a quasi-Banach space X, the dual of X is denoted by X∗. We define the kernel of X to be the linear subspace {x : x∗(x) = 0 ∀x∗ ∈ X∗}. Now we state our theorem:
Spiritual Intelligence: The Tenth Intelligence that Integrates All Other Intelligences.

More and more people everywhere are becoming ready and concerned with the untapped potential of the mind and consciousness. Previously, particularly in education circles, if you talked about inner ...
Predictors of outcome from computer-based treatment for substance use disorders: Results from a randomized clinical trial.

Background Although empirical evidence for the effectiveness of technology-mediated interventions for substance use disorders is rapidly growing, the role of baseline characteristics of patients in predicting treatment outcomes of a technology-based therapy is largely unknown.
Correction: Low bandgap semiconducting polymers for polymeric photovoltaics.

Correction for ‘Low bandgap semiconducting polymers for polymeric photovoltaics’ by Chang Liu et al., Chem. Soc. Rev., 2016, DOI: 10.1039/c5cs00650c.
Post-War Iraq: Prosecuting Saddam Hussein

On January 9, 2004, the United States officially declared Saddam Hussein a prisoner of war and indicated that it will turn him over to a special court established by the Iraqi Governing Council under the direction of the Coalition Provisional Authority. Yet, prosecution in this forum fails to ensure proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt as required by Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and does not prohibit the death penalty. Further, such prosecution requires the application of Iraqi criminal law and procedure where otherwise unarticulated in the statute creating it. This might allow Hussein to twist the laws he implemented to his advantage. Consequently, this Article focuses on alternative fora for jurisdiction over Hussein, recommends an ad hoc international criminal tribunal that does not provide for the death penalty, and examines Hussein''s liability for genocide against the Kurds and crimes against humanity.
Foreign Credit and Fiscal Stability: Dutch Investment in the United States, 1781–1794

IIHE importance of foreign credits and subsidies to war and peacetime finance during the Confederation is well established. Compared to the nominal value of paper currency and interest-bearing note issues, those credits and subsidies produced rather little. But a more accurate comparison would be based on the specie value of fiat money and domestic loan certificates, and would acknowledge the difficulty of finding domestic resources for such essential foreign purchases as military supplies. Little attention has been given foreign borrowing in the early years of the federal government, another critical period in which domestic resources were inadequate. In attempting to achieve financial stability for the new regime, Alexander Hamilton had to cope with a bequest from the Confederation combining a debt-revenue ratio unparalleled in Europe with tenuous or wholly exhausted domestic credit resources. Nor until the mid-1790s could sufficient tax revenues be collected, for the authority given Congress by the Constitution could not be transformed quickly into enough income to meet military, naval, administrative, debt service, and other expenditures. Save default, the only option left was to turn to the reputation for financial dependability which, ironically, had been built for the Confederation on the Amsterdam capital market since 1781. Hamilton's program of national public finance, an adept compromise among conflicting interests, succeeded not merely because it satisfied many potential antagonists, but because Hamilton, recognizing the necessity of foreign credit, took advantage of Dutch loans and the readiness of Dutch rentiers to invest heavily in the American domestic debt. Revenue and expenditure reconstructions show that Hamilton's establishment of a reliable system of public finance was funded substantially by foreign capital, for which there was no substitute, and from which important monetary and economic benefits were also drawn.
Quantifying axis orientation in 3D using polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography(Conference Presentation)

The optic axis of birefringent tissues indicates the direction of structural anisotropy. Polarization-sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) can provide reflectivity contrast as well as retardance and optic axis orientation contrasts that originate from tissue birefringence. We introduce imaging 3D tissue anisotropy by using a single-camera and polarization-maintaining fiber (PMF) based PS-OCT, which utilizes normal and angled illuminations. Because environmental factors such as the movement of PMF and temperature fluctuations induce arbitrary phase changes, the optic axis orientation measurement has a time-varying offset. In order to measure the absolute axis orientation, we add a calibration path which dynamically provides the arbitrary offset to be subtracted from the relative axis orientation values. The axis orientation on the normal plane is the 2D projection of the fiber direction in 3D space. We propose to characterize the axis orientation in different planes (xy, xy’ and x’y planes) by using normal and angled illuminations. This allows calculation of the polar angle that completes the orientation information in 3D. Polarization-based optical systems relying on one illumination angle measure the “apparent birefringence” that light encounters rather than the “true birefringence”. Birefringence as a measure of anisotropy is quantified with the orientation information in 3D. The method and validation with a biological tissue are presented. The study can facilitate imaging and mapping the structural connections in anisotropic tissues including the brain.
Lunasin—a multifunctional anticancer peptide from soybean

Lunasin is a bioactive peptide that was originally isolated from soybean and has since been shown to have a number of biological activities, including both cancer chemopreventive and therapeutic activities. Our recent focus has been on determining the range of cancer types that lunasin can affect and the mechanism of action against specific cancers. We recently found that lunasin has significant therapeutic activity against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistic studies using lunasin-sensitive and lunasin-resistant NSCLC cell lines revealed the lunasin blocks cell proliferation by inhibiting cell cycle progression at the G1/S phase interface and that this inhibition was associated with reduced Akt signaling. In addition, we found that these effects were linked to the inhibition of integrin signaling through αv-containing integrins. Our results provide strong support for the hypothesis that direct effects on integrin signaling represent a major mode of action responsible for lunasin’s anticancer activity.
Chapter 3 Monolithic Silicon Microbolometer Arrays

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the development by Honeywell and others of micromachined silicon microbolometer arrays. Due in large part to the inherent excellent thermal isolation of the micromachining approach, microbolometer-based systems has been demonstrated with noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) better than 40mK for 240 x 336 arrays with f/l optics. In this chapter an electrical and thermal model has been used of a microbolometer to derive useful practical equations and numerical estimates for the responsivity. The chapter considers noise, NETD, noise equivalent power (NEP), and D* of microbolometer arrays. These equations will provide the insight necessary to understand the optimum design and practical operating requirements of microbolometer arrays. Microbolometer fabrication techniques, and practical application of these arrays in IR cameras, will be discussed in the last part of this chapter.
Comparing Kierkegaard and Nietzsche

In the last chapter, we examined several points of disagreement between Kierkegaard and Nietzsche and ended by summarizing some of the most significant points of divergence between them. These include the limits of selfreliance, the source of joy and life-affirmation, and the relationship between spirituality and ethics. As we shall see in this chapter, these points of disagreement not only abide but figure centrally even within the points of overlap and agreement between Kierkegaard and Nietzsche. Thus, the important differences between Kierkegaard and Nietzsche discovered in the last chapter cannot and should not be dismissed or theoretically “mediated” out of existence (as Hannay fears). Just as in the last chapter I did not conclude by declaring one of these thinkers victorious over the other, here I do not conclude by declaring that they are somehow identical. To the contrary, it is necessary to bear these differences in mind in order to see how Kierkegaard and Nietzsche stand in a useful relation to each other.
Italy: IRI and Others

Public enterprises in Italy occupy a major role in the economy accounting for around 15 per cent of the non-agricultural labor force, 20 per cent of value added and 25 per cent of fixed investments.1 Almost half of Italy’s fifty largest companies, in terms of turnover, are state owned. Apart from certain public utilities, such as electricity, where public ownership or control is prevalent in many countries, the Italian public sector controls around 70 per cent of banking and has a major presence in many industries and services (telecommunication, air and sea transport and highways, for example). A large number of these public enterprises had however been organized as private joint-stock or limited liability corporations, in which the government held the controlling interest (imprese a partecipazione statale), through three principal state-owned holding companies (SHCs) IRI (Istituto per la ricostruzione industriale), ENI (Ente nazionale idrocarburi), and EFIM (Ente partecipazioni e finanziamento industria manufatturiera).
Investigating the Dynamics of Vibrio Cholerae Virulence Initiation by Stics and Single Molecule Tracking

Single molecule imaging techniques have provided insight into a vast realm of new biological processes. However, many of these techniques rely on capturing a sufficiently high number of emitted photons to localize a molecule and can thus fail when the photon count is low. In a system where a large fraction of the fluorescent labels are very dim and/or moving quickly, localization methods can fail or be biased toward the slowest and brightest molecules in the system. Fortunately, correlation-based methods can provide insight into dynamics in these systems. Spatio-Temporal Image Correlation Spectroscopy (STICS) uses the full spatiotemporal correlation of a fluorescent image time series to provide information such as the diffusion constants and the densities of fluorescent molecules. STICS does not rely on the emitters positions and thus operates with higher precision in systems where sub-diffraction limited localization fails. We have previously developed STICS for imaging single molecules in living bacteria cells, and here we apply STICS to the specific case of the V. cholerae virulence signaling pathway. In particular, the membrane-bound TcpP, which controls downstream expression of the cholera enderotoxin, is a dynamic protein whose behavior is believed to be affected by various environmental signals including temperature and specific small molecule hormones. Here, we examine the fluorescent signals from single molecules of TcpP fused at the native locus to the photoactivatable fluorescent protein PAmCherry. We analyze these data by STICS and single molecule tracking to compare these two techniques in realistic imaging conditions. Because each technique operates with higher precision in a different imaging regime, we conclude that these approaches used together can provide highly complementary information about the dynamics of TcpP.
Biological Correlates of Suicide across the Life Span

Much has been said about the psychological implications of the various stages of life as regards suicide. The life span is generally depicted as involving a dynamic, ever-changing interplay of both internal and external forces that largely determine the nature and stability of a person’s emotional experience. A major focus has been on developmental tasks and goals that, if incompletely or tardily accomplished, become an obstacle to subsequent growth, and a source of psychic pain conducive to self-destructive activity.
Suppression of emission rates improves sonar performance by flying bats

Echolocating bats face the challenge of actively sensing their environment through their own emissions, while also hearing calls and echoes of nearby conspecifics. How bats mitigate interference is a long-standing question that has both ecological and technological implications, as biosonar systems continue to outperform man-made sonar systems in noisy, cluttered environments. We recently showed that perched bats decreased calling rates in groups, displaying a behavioral strategy resembling the back-off algorithms used in artificial communication networks to optimize information throughput at the group level. We tested whether free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) would employ such a coordinated strategy while performing challenging flight maneuvers, and report here that bats navigating obstacles lowered emission rates when hearing artificial playback of another bat's calls. We measured the impact of acoustic interference on navigation performance and show that the calculated reductions in interference rates are sufficient to reduce interference and improve obstacle avoidance. When bats flew in pairs, each bat responded to the presence of the other as an obstacle by increasing emissions, but hearing the sonar emissions of the nearby bat partially suppressed this response. This behavior supports social cohesion by providing a key mechanism for minimizing mutual interference.
Temperature Decouples Ammonium and Nitrite Oxidation in Coastal Waters

Nitrification is a two-step process linking the reduced and oxidized sides of the nitrogen cycle. These steps are typically tightly coupled with the primary intermediate, nitrite, rarely accumulating in coastal environments. Nitrite concentrations can exceed 10 μM during summer in estuarine waters adjacent to Sapelo Island, Georgia, U.S.A. Similar peaks at other locations have been attributed to decoupling of the two steps of nitrification by hypoxia; however, the waters around Sapelo Island are aerobic and well-mixed. Experiments examining the response to temperature shifts of a nitrifying assemblage composed of the same organisms found in the field indicate that ammonia- and nitrite-oxidation become uncoupled between 20 and 30 °C, leading to nitrite accumulation. This suggests that nitrite peaks in coastal waters might be explained by differences in the responses of ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizers to increased summer temperatures. Analysis of field data from 270 stations in 29 temperate and subtropical e...
Utilizing Elasticity of Cable-Driven Surgical Robot to Estimate Cable Tension and External Force

Cable-driven robots enable compact design by allowing actuators to be mounted away from joints. This kind of actuation is desired in surgical robots. The cables in these robots must remain under tension at all times in order to have optimum performance. Thus, the knowledge of initial value of cable tension is significant. Moreover, in surgery, haptic feedback is vital for diagnosis of healthy tissue and to prevent damaging tissue with excessive force. In this paper, cable pretension was estimated indirectly by estimating stiffness parameter of cables. Then, external forces acting on the robot were estimated in all four quadrants by using cable stretch and dynamic-based methods utilizing system dynamics and unscented Kalman filter (UKF). We assessed the effectiveness of these methods on the third link of Raven-II surgical robot platform. From experiments with the tension estimation technique, it can be determined if the cable pretension is in the safe range. Also, both the cable stretch and UKF-based methods can be used to estimate external forces on all quadrants.
Punishing the “Others”: Citizenship and State Social Control in the United States and Germany

Despite ongoing debates on the continued legal significance of citizenship in a globalized world, international comparative tests of the salience of citizenship under the law have yet to be undertaken. This article combines data from US and German courts with interviews of judges from both countries to 1) estimate the punishment consequences of lacking state membership; 2) compare the sentencing gap across international contexts, and; 3) identify and explicate the mechanisms linking citizenship to punishment considerations. Findings show noncitizens receive increased punishment in US and German courts net of legal factors, but this effect is less pronounced in Germany. The interviews suggest that a variety of intervening mechanisms explain these results. Prominent among these is that judges in both countries resent the fact that noncitizens compound their immigrant status with criminal transgressions. However, German judges place greater emphasis on consistency and proportionality at sentencing, thus guarding against overly harsh and disparate punishments.
Abstract 171: Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 beta Inhibition in the PVN Attenuate Hypertensive Response: Role of inflammation

Emerging evidence indicate that the balance between proinflammatory cytokines (PIC) and anti-inflammatory cytokines (AIC) is an important determinant in the outcomes of cardiovascular disease. Recent evidence suggests that GSK3β has unique immunomodulatory properties to regulate both the PIC and AIC arms of the immune system. Therefore we hypothesized that chronic ANGII infusion causes phosphorylation of GSK3β in PVN neurons and alters the balance between PIC and AIC and contributes to increased sympathetic activity and high blood pressure. To test our hypothesis we used a GSK3 inhibitor given bilaterally into the PVN which inhibits the phosphorylation of GSK3β in the PVN. Rats were implanted with radiotelemetry probes and bilateral PVN cannulae and allowed to recover. Subsequently rats were implanted with osmotic minipumps for the continuous infusion of ANGII or its vehicle; simultaneously rats were also infused with GSK3β inhibitor at a dose of 100ng/kg/min given into the PVN or vehicle, for 28 days. ANGII infusion resulted in a significant increase in blood pressure by day 7(136±3.6) which remained elevated throughout the study (154±4.1; DAY 28 values) and this was accompanied by a significant increase in norepinephrine and PIC in the circulation and PVN. In contrast, treatment with the GSK3 inhibitor+ ANGII resulted in a significant decrease in blood pressure (123±1.8; day 28 values), plasma NE and PIC in the circulation and PVN neurons. These findings suggest there is a continuous, PVN-specific phosphorylation GSK3β after ANGII infusion and this modulates PIC and AIC in the PVN and contribute to high circulating levels of NE and blood pressure response.
A Neural Mechanism for the Opportunity Cost of Time

Recent interest has focused on a class of decision problems in which subjects encounter options serially and must decide when to leave an option in search of a better one, rather than directly comparing simultaneously presented options. Although such problems have a rich history in animal foraging and economics, relatively little is known about their neural substrates. Suggestively, however, a separate literature has argued that the key decision variable in these tasks - the opportunity cost of time, given by the average reward rate - may also govern behavioral vigor and may be reported by tonic dopamine (DA). In this study, we test whether this putative dopaminergic opportunity cost signal plays an analogous role in serial decisions by examining the behavior of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), on and off their DA replacement medication, in a patch-foraging task. In these tasks, subjects' decisions about when to leave a depleting resource implicitly reflect their beliefs about the opportunity cost of time spent harvesting that resource. Consistent with the opportunity cost hypothesis, unmedicated patients harvested longer than matched controls, and medication remediated this deficit. These effects were not explained by motor perseveration. Our results suggest a functional role for DA, and an associated cognitive deficit in PD, in a type of decision process that may be distinct from (but related to) the neuromodulator's well studied roles in behavioral invigoration and learning from rewards.
Curiosity and susceptibility to cigarette smoking among cigarette-naïve, waterpipe smoking US youth: National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2014.

INTRODUCTION Waterpipe smoking is harmful and addictive and can be a gateway to cigarette smoking. This study examined the association between curiosity and susceptibility to cigarette smoking among cigarette-naive US youth who smoke waterpipe using cross-sectional data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2014. METHODS Susceptibility to cigarettes was assessed using a composite index of three questions: 'Do you think you will smoke a cigarette in the next year?', 'Do you think that you will try a cigarette soon?', and 'If one of your best friends were to offer you a cigarette, would you smoke it?'. Curiosity was assessed by one question: 'Have you ever been curious about smoking a cigarette?'. RESULTS Among current waterpipe smokers, 48.5% (95% CI: 43.1-53.9) were susceptible to cigarettes and 42.6% (95% CI: 36.5-48.9) were curious about cigarettes. Overall, 45.1% (95% CI: 38.9-51.4) and 46.5% (95% CI: 40.2-52.8) of those living with a waterpipe smoker were susceptible and curious about cigarettes, respectively. Current waterpipe smokers had significantly higher odds of susceptibility to cigarettes (aOR=1.5, 95% CI: 1.1-2.3, p<0.04), but not for curiosity about cigarettes (aOR=1.2, 95% CI: 0.83-1.70, p=0.3). CONCLUSIONS Initiation of cigarettes among adolescents who smoke waterpipe can be due to increasing susceptibility to cigarette smoking rather than increasing curiosity about cigarettes.
The Power of Personal Narratives in Crime Prevention and Reentry: Process Evaluation of the Seattle Police Department’s IF Project

With thousands of ex-offenders entering communities every week, reentry is at the forefront of agendas for legislators and correctional administrators. The IF Project, founded in 2008 in Washington...
Pin1: Inhibitors and Mechanism

Introduction Peptidyl-prolyl isomerase (PPIase) enzymes are something of an enigma. Part chaperone, part enzyme, they play multiple roles in multiple biological systems. Cyclophilin and FKBP were first discovered in the late 1980’s because they bind to distinct natural products, cyclosporine and FK506 respectively, immunosuppressants which act as prodrugs and become activated by their specific PPIase [1]. The PPIase activity is not relevant to the immunosuppressive activity [2]. The PPIases have also been shown to play distinct chaperone roles in protein folding, improving both rate and yield of their folding substrates [3]. So began a story that seems only to grow more interesting with the telling. In 1996, Pin1 was discovered as the first example of a new class of PPIase enzymes, the parvulins that appears to regulate the cell cycle [4]. Pin1 is unique both among PPIases and among cell cycle regulators. Unlike cyclophilin and FKBP, it does not bind an immunosuppressant drug. Among cell cycle regulators, primarily kinases, phosphatases, histone acetyl transferases, and histone deacetylases, Pin1 is the only PPIase, the only enzyme that does not make or break a bond. The activity of Pin1 is to recognize phosphoSer/Thr-Pro amide bonds in other cell cycle proteins, and swiftly interconvert cis and trans amide isomers (Fig. 1). The reaction is completely reversible and quite rapid. In order to capture snapshots of this enigmatic reaction, we designed conformationally locked isosteres 1 and 2 of each ground state, the cis and trans amides.
Surrogate-based feasibility analysis for black-box stochastic simulations with heteroscedastic noise

Feasibility analysis has been developed to evaluate and quantify the capability that a process can remain feasible under uncertainty of model inputs and parameters. It can be conducted during the design stage when the objective is to get a robust design which can tolerate a certain amount of variations in the process conditions. Also, it can be used after a design is fixed when the objective is to characterize its feasible region. In this work, we have extended the usage of feasibility analysis to the cases in which inherent stochasticity is existent in the model outputs. With a surrogate-based adaptive sampling framework, we have developed and compared three algorithms that are promising to make accurate predictions on the feasible regions with a limited sampling budget. Both the advantages and limitations are discussed based on the results from five benchmark problems. Finally, we apply such methods to a pharmaceutical manufacturing process and demonstrate its potential application in characterizing the design space of the process.