cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Solar System Constraints on the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati Braneworld Theory of Gravity

A number of proposals have been put forward to account for the observed accelerating expansion of the Universe through modifications of gravity. One specific scenario, Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) gravity, gives rise to a potentially observable anomaly in the solar system: all planets would exhibit a common anomalous precession, $d\ensuremath{\omega}/dt$, in excess of the prediction of general relativity. We have used the Planetary Ephemeris Program (PEP) along with planetary radar and radio tracking data to set a constraint of $|d\ensuremath{\omega}/dt{|}_{\mathrm{obs}}l0.02$ arcseconds per century on the presence of any such common precession. This sensitivity falls short of that needed to detect the estimated universal precession of $|d\ensuremath{\omega}/dt{|}_{\mathrm{DGP}}=5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$ arcseconds per century expected in the DGP scenario. We discuss the fact that ranging data between objects that orbit in a common plane cannot constrain the DGP scenario. It is only through the relative inclinations of the planetary orbital planes that solar system ranging data have sensitivity to the DGP-like effect of universal precession. In addition, we illustrate the importance of performing a numerical evaluation of the sensitivity of the data set and model to any perturbative precession.
Reduction of Boolean network models

Boolean networks have been successfully used in modelling gene regulatory networks. However, for large networks, analysis by simulation becomes unfeasible. In this paper we propose a reduction method for Boolean networks that decreases the size of the network, while preserving important dynamical properties and topological features. As a result, the reduced network can be used to infer properties about the original network and to gain a better understanding of the role of network topology on the dynamics. In particular, we use the reduction method to study steady states of Boolean networks and apply our results to models of Th-lymphocyte differentiation and the lac operon.
Discovering gis sources on the web using summaries

In this paper, we consider the problem of discovering GIS data sources on the web. Source discovery queries for GIS data are specified using keywords and a region of interest. A source is considered relevant if it contains data that matches the keywords in the specified region. Existing techniques simply rely on textual metadata accompanying such datasets to compute relevance to user-queries. Such approaches result in poor search results, often missing the most relevant sources on the web. We address this problem by developing more meaningful summaries of GIS datasets that preserve the spatial distribution of keywords. We conduct experiments showing the effectiveness of proposed summarization techniques by significantly improving the quality of query results over baseline approaches, while guaranteeing scalability and high performance.
CYTOLOGY OF SIEVE ELEMENTS IN MINOR VEINS OF SUGAR BEET LEAVES

Summary In view of some questions raised in the literature on assimilate translocation regarding the degree of differentiation of sieve elements in minor veins of Beta vulgaris L. these elements were examined with light and electron microscopes. The sieve elements throughout the minor veins in the sugar beet leaf, including those in the free endings of the veins, have typically differentiated sieve plates, with pores usually lined with callose and containing P-protein. The sieve plates occur in the end walls and the side walls. The sieve elements are connected with adjacent parenchyma cells (including the companion cells) by branched plasmodesmata. The protoplasts of the sieve elements undergo ontogenetic changes common for these cells in most vascular plants. The one to several sieve elements seen in transection of a minor vein attain maturity before the xylem is completely differentiated. No sieve elements are added after this stage, and the earliest mature sieve elements are not obliterated. The parenchyma cells (including the companion cells) of the phloem are generally several times wider than the sieve elements and constitute the major part of the tissue. However, the width of a parenchyma cell may vary at different levels so that in some sections a given parenchyma cell may not exceed a sieve element in width even if it does so in other sections.
Commenting on Health: A Framing Analysis of User Comments in Response to Health Articles Online

Public health officials have continually urged journalists and other members of the news media to ease off health frames that focus on individuals and to instead promote broader societal frames. Although some scholarly research has reinforced these pleas, none has examined the interplay between frames of health news coverage and resulting public comments. The current online environment invites such an analysis, allowing news organizations to post articles online and the public to comment on those articles. Using a content analysis, this study reveals thematic frames in online health stories may drive down gain-oriented responses, while episodic frames may prompt the public to share more personal comments. Furthermore, the findings examine other textual factors--gain and loss frames and mobilizing information--that may be driving the volume and frames of user comments to health stories online.
Filtering Global History: Power and Performance Efficient Branch Predictor

In this paper we present an Application Customizable Branch Predictor, ACBP, that delivers efficiency in energy savings and performance without compromising prediction accuracy. The idea of our technique is to filter unnecessary global history information within the global history register to minimize the predictor size while maintaining prediction accuracy. We suggest in this work an efficient algorithm to capture the beneficial correlations. A cost-efficient and programmable hardware architecture is presented. Extensive experimental analysis confirms significant improvements in power savings and latency, ranging up to 84% and 30%,respectively.
Effects of Urbanization on the Dynamics of Organic Sediments in Temperate Lakes

Residential development of lakeshores affects the structure and function of riparian and littoral habitats. Organic detritus in sediments is a critical component of littoral food webs, but the effects of urbanization on sediment characteristics are unexplored. We characterized the quantity of organic sediments in Pacific Northwest lakes along a development gradient and found a 10-fold decline in the proportion of detritus in littoral sediments associated with density of lakeshore dwellings. In a comparison between two fully developed lakes and two undeveloped reference lakes, we examined several possible controls on sedimentary organic content, including terrestrial inputs, decomposition rates and associated macroinvertebrate communities, and physical retention by coarse wood. The littoral sediments of undeveloped lakes ranged from 34 to 77% organic by mass, whereas the range on urban lakes was an order of magnitude less, ranging from 1 to 3% organic. We found no significant differences in terrestrial litter inputs between the two sets of lakes. Leaf litter decomposition rates did not vary significantly between the two sets of lakes, and we found higher densities of shredder macroinvertebrate taxa in the littoral zones of undeveloped lakes. Sedimentary organic matter on undeveloped lakes accumulated in shallow waters and declined with distance from shore, whereas the opposite pattern existed on urban lakes. Our results suggest that coarse wood physically retains organic matter in littoral zones where it can enter the detrital energy pathway, and the loss of this feature on urban lakes alters littoral sediment characteristics, with potentially far-reaching consequences for lake food webs.
How Leaders Foster Self-Managing Team Effectiveness: Design Choices Versus Hands-on Coaching

This multi-method field study examines the relative effects of two kinds of leader behaviors--design choices and hands-on coaching--on the effectiveness of self-managing teams. Findings show that how leaders design their teams and the quality of their hands-on coaching both influence team self-management, the quality of member relationships, and member satisfaction, but only leaders' design activities affect team task performance. Moreover, design and coaching interact, so that well-designed teams are helped more by effective coaching--and undermined less by ineffective coaching--than are poorly designed teams.
Automated optimal synthesis of microresonators

The rapid layout synthesis of a microresonator from high-level functional specifications and design constraints is demonstrated. Functional parameters such as resonant frequency, quality factor, and displacement amplitude at resonance are satisfied while simultaneously minimizing an objective function. The optimal synthesis tool allows exploration of micromechanical design issues and objectives, as illustrated with a polysilicon lateral resonator example modeled in three mechanical degrees-of-freedom. Layouts for three sets of five different resonators from 3 kHz to 300 kHz are generated, with each set globally optimized to minimize either active device area, electrostatic drive voltage, or a weighted combination of area and drive voltage.
Narrowband channel extraction for wideband receivers

One of the most computationally intensive processing stages of a wideband digital receiver is the extraction of a narrowband channel from a wideband input signal. In implementations that compute the convolutional sum, the computation is proportional to the bandwidth of the input signal. This paper shows how to break this dependence, reducing the limiting factor to the requirement to maintain a sufficient output signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This paper describes two complementary algorithms for efficient channel extraction in wideband receivers. The first allows the required frequency translation to be performed at the lower sample rate of the channel filter output. The second algorithm decouples the effect of interference rejection from the SNR improvement and improves the computational efficiency of filtering by using only a subset of the input samples. Additionally, we present a simple model to quantify the effects of this technique and experimental verification using a wideband software radio receiver.
The β-Oxidation Systems of Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica Are Not Functionally Equivalent

Based on its genome sequence, the pathway of beta-oxidative fatty acid degradation in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium LT2 has been thought to be identical to the well-characterized Escherichia coli K-12 system. We report that wild-type strains of S. enterica grow on decanoic acid, whereas wild-type E. coli strains cannot. Mutant strains (carrying fadR) of both organisms in which the genes of fatty acid degradation (fad) are expressed constitutively are readily isolated. The S. enterica fadR strains grow more rapidly than the wild-type strains on decanoic acid and also grow well on octanoic and hexanoic acids (which do not support growth of wild-type strains). By contrast, E. coli fadR strains grow well on decanoic acid but grow only exceedingly slowly on octanoic acid and fail to grow at all on hexanoic acid. The two wild-type organisms also differed in the ability to grow on oleic acid when FadR was overexpressed. Under these superrepression conditions, E. coli failed to grow, whereas S. enterica grew well. Exchange of the wild-type fadR genes between the two organisms showed this to be a property of S. enterica rather than of the FadR proteins per se. This difference in growth was attributed to S. enterica having higher cytosolic levels of the inducing ligands, long-chain acyl coenzyme As (acyl-CoAs). The most striking results were the differences in the compositions of CoA metabolites of strains grown with octanoic acid or oleic acid. S. enterica cleanly converted all of the acid to acetyl-CoA, whereas E. coli accumulated high levels of intermediate-chain-length products. Exchange of homologous genes between the two organisms showed that the S. enterica FadE and FadBA enzymes were responsible for the greater efficiency of beta-oxidation relative to that of E. coli.
Rational Parties and Retrospective Voters

Many elections specialists take seriously V.O.Key’s hypothesis (1966) that much voting is retrospective: citizens reward good performance by becoming more likely to vote for the incumbent and punish bad performance by becoming less likely. Earlier (Bendor, Siegel, and Kumar 2005) we formalized Key’s verbal theory. Our model shows that people endogenously develop partisan voting tendencies, even if they lack explicit ideologies. However, that paper depicts parties as passive payo-generating mecha
Fetal growth among infants with congenital heart defects by maternal race/ethnicity.

PURPOSE: Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are the most prevalent birth defects. Infants with CHDs more often are small-for-gestational age (SGA) than infants without CHD; however, little is known about racial/ethnic variations in prevalence of SGA or large-for-gestational age (LGA) for infants born with CHDs. This study determined the risk of SGA and LGA for non-Hispanic (NH)-black and Hispanic infants with CHDs. METHODS: Data from the Florida Birth Defects Registry were used in a retrospective cohort study of 10,027 live-born infants to resident NH-White, NH-Black, and Hispanic women ages 15-49 years from January 1, 1998, to December 31, 2003, and diagnosed with 11 CHDs. Defect-specific odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were computed for risk of SGA and LGA by race/ethnicity and adjusted for covariates using multinomial logistic regression. RESULTS: After adjusting for covariates, we found there were no statistically significant racial/ethnic differences in risk of SGA. However, NH-Blacks with ventricular septal defect had increased risk of LGA and NH-Blacks with tetralogy of Fallot had decreased risk of LGA compared to NH-Whites. CONCLUSIONS: Very few racial/ethnic differences in fetal growth are present among infants with CHD. Further elucidation of the factors involved in fetal growth and the impact of CHD itself on fetal development is needed.
Application of the collocation method to the solution of the time-dependent neutron diffusion equation

Abstract In the past several years, with the development of the coarse-mesh schemes for the spatial discretization of the diffusion equations, the computing time for the static neutron flux calculations has been reduced considerably over the conventional finite difference scheme. For the temporal discretization in the time-dependent case, a fully implicit method (FIM) was found to be more efficient than either the explicit or the alternating-direction explicit method. In this paper, a new approach using the collocation method is investigated for the temporal discretization in an effort to further improve the computing time over that of the FIM. Numerical analyses using this method are performed on a simple four-boundle reactor core with both positive and negative reactivity insertions. Comparisons are made to the results of the FIM. It is found that for both positive and negative cases, the collocation method gives significant improvement in the accuracy of time-dependent neutrbn flux calculations.
Laser Induced Thermal Stresses in Brittle Materials

This paper presented the theoretical and experimental background for understanding of opaque and transparent brittle materials subjected to continuous wave laser irradiation. At irradiations above ~ 1 kw/cm2, the time to failure of opaque materials was proportional to the thickness squared and inversely proportional to the thermal diffusivity. The time to fracture of transparent materials was nearly independent of thickness but was highly dependent on the absorption coefficient. The burnthrough time of both opaque and transparent materials was proportional to the thickness and thermodynamic parameters and inversely proportional to the irradiance.
Lessons from the besotted heart.

In poison there is no physic. —Shakespeare, King Henry IV , Part II, Act 1, Scene i ([1][1]) The fox barks not when he would steal the lamb. —Shakespeare, King Henry VI , Part II, Act III, Scene i ([2][2]) Ethanol ingestion has both favorable and deleterious consequences. Viewed as a drug that
Reduction of the shadow spacer effect using reverse electrodeionization and its applications in water recycling for hydraulic fracturing operations

Abstract Reverse electrodialysis (RED) is an electrically driven process for the extraction of usable energy from the Gibbs free energy of mixing. Past research efforts have focused on the improvement of power density through higher voltages, large cell numbers, and overall reduction of stack resistance, yet the process remains far from optimized. One of the principal problems is the shadow spacer effect where limited conductivity near the spacer decreases the amount of electrical transport. We have improved this technology by incorporating ion exchange wafers in each cell, shortening the diffusion pathways, limiting the shadow spacer effect, and obtaining net power densities of approximately 0.32 W/m 2 for reverse electrodeionization (REDI) compared to 0.01 W/m 2 for the RED case. Further, we have found that applying voltage to the system gives an increase in the overall power extraction efficiency due to wafer optimization and the non-ohmic behavior at low voltages. This is the first study incorporating electrodeionization techniques in RED systems. We also investigated the use of REDI in hydraulic fracturing and obtained a net power density of approximately 0.79 W/m 2 using produced water. This technology could be utilized for processing of produced water from hydraulic fracturing operations to provide some of the power used at the well site (when mixing with fresh water for re-fracking) with no greenhouse gas emissions. Using REDI at fracking sites, an industrial process that has been mired by environmental concerns can take positive steps toward developing and adopting sustainable practices.
Having it Our Way: Women in Maryland's Workplace Circa 2027

On November 14, 2007, the University of Baltimore School of Law, the University of Maryland School of Law and the Women's Law Center of Maryland co-sponsored a symposium entitled "Having it Our Way: Women in Maryland's Workplace Circa 2027." The insightful collection of papers in this volume of the University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class represents the work of employment law scholars, public policy specialists, and activists who presented on the current state of Maryland employment law and discussed Maryland's future.This distinguished group of experts and scholars present several themes: the hope of new state laws and how best to effectuate their intent; the work necessary to change Maryland's outdated employment law protections for women employees; the ongoing gender pay disparity, lack of protection for family responsibility discrimination, and paucity of leave rights available for women workers; the importance of coalition building among employee and employer groups in creating and passing new laws; and the need to be creative and think beyond federal laws or existing frameworks in modeling Maryland's new employment law landscape.
Arthritis and the Process of Disablement

Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are two medical conditions that broadly alter the musculoskeletal system and influence a person's ability to perform the functional activities and tasks expected of an independent adult. A burgeoning literature depicts the process of disablement in arthritis and details the relationships among disease, impairments, and functional limitations. There is, however, a substantial gap in the physical therapy literature regarding the relationships among arthritis, musculoskeletal impairment, and physical function. Furthermore, the search for the most effective ways to remediate musculoskeletal impairment and improve function remains a challenge for clinicians and researchers alike.
Aero and Structural-dynamic Repeatability of a Novel MAV Wing Manufacturing Process

Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle wings have been developed using repeatable wing manufacturing techniques. These wings are manufactured using 135 micron thick carbon fiber for the wing structure and Dupont Kapton polyimide for the wing membrane. Repeatability of the manufacturing process was evaluated through structural-dynamic and aerodynamic testing. Utilizing a 3D laser vibrometer, the first three primary vibrational modes were found for each wing. The measured modes across specimens correspond very well with a maximum of 12% mean normalized deviation. Aerodynamic data was collected using a 3mN resolution force/torque transducer with the wings flapped using a piezoelectric actuated wing flapping mechanism. The variation in aerodynamic forces generally fell within the minimum sensing resolution of the transducer, indicating good repeatability. These two data sets quantitatively verify that the described wing fabrication process is repeatable, and thus appropriate for mass production.
Ectopic gastric mucosa in celiac sprue.

A patient with celiac sprue and extensive gastric ectopia of the small intestine is described. The diagnosis of celiac sprue was documented by: (1) the presence of a typical mucosal lesion and intestinal malabsorption; (2) clinical and histological improvement after gluten withdrawal; and (3) recurrence of symptoms together with histological deterioration after an oral gluten challenge. Fundic-type gastric mucosa containing parietal and chief cells was found in the mucosa of all sampled levels of the small intestine including proximal and distal duodenum, proximal, middle, and distal jejunum, and proximal ileum. Jejunal perfusion demonstrated secretion rather than absorption of water and electrolytes, diminished glucose absorption, and a markedly reduced ratio of urea to tritiated water diffusion rates. Although there was no evidence of hydrogen ion secretion by the parietal cell-containing jejunal mucosa during the basal state, bicarbonate absorption occurred during both histamine and pentagastrin infusion, suggesting a limited amount of acid secretion during stimulation.
Responses to Climate Change, Evolution and

Climate change may put as much as 35% of the earth’s biota at risk of extinction. Studies of evolutionary responses to climate change seek to understand both past responses to climate and the role that evolutionary adaptation might play in increasing species’ resilience to the effects of future change. We discuss several methods for documenting evolutionary responses to recent climate change, including resurrection ecology, common-garden experiments, quantitative genetic analyses, and molecular genetics. We conclude with a discussion of the ways that evolutionary thinking can be incorporated into management efforts, in an attempt to minimize biodiversity losses from climate change.
Liver stiffness modifications shortly after total cavopulmonary connection

OBJECTIVES Hepatic damage in Fontan circulation setting is well known. Mainly represented by fibrosis, it is still poorly understood. Transient hepatic elastography (Fibro-Scan) is a useful tool to test liver stiffness and is commonly used in the evaluation of liver fibrosis. Unfortunately, the increase of inferior vena cava pressure consequent to total cavopulmonary connection can probably interfere with Fibro-Scan evaluation altering the result evaluation with the conventional scale. To verify this hypothesis and to quantify the impact of venous pressure on Fibro-Scan results, we checked perioperative liver stiffness changes in patients undergoing total cavopulmonary connection. METHODS A prospective observational study was carried out on 9 patients undergoing extracardiac total cavopulmonary connection. Mean age at operation was 4.3 ± 0.6 years, and mean weight 14 ± 2.4 kg. Hepatic stiffness was analysed with Fibro-Scan evaluation immediately before and 4 months after surgery. Results were matched with several perioperative data: pulmonary pressures, conduit size, fenestration, hepatic enzymes and coagulation setting. RESULTS Preoperative hepatic stiffness was 6.2 ± 1.5 kPa, with a significant increase to 11.2 ± 4 kPa at a mean follow-up of 4 months (P < 0.01). Mean alanine aminotransferase was 16.9 ± 8.3 mg/dl preoperatively and 16.3 ± 8.7 mg/dl at discharge. Both values showed a significant correlation with liver stiffness raise, their Pearson Correlation Indexes being 0.8 and 0.7, respectively (P < 0.01). Mean aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase ratio at discharge was 1.7 ± 0.5 and showed a significant negative correlation with liver stiffness raise, its Pearson Correlation Index being -0.7 (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Liver stiffness increases rapidly after total cavopulmonary connection and perioperative variations in some liver enzymes appear to correlate with this change. Since a true anatomical damage is known to develop gradually with Fontan circulation, early liver stiffness raise is likely due to parenchymal congestion only. Fibro-Scan can easily recognize and assess the entity of such a change. For these reasons, this diagnostic tool must be considered useful only to monitor liver stiffness changes and evolution with time, but a conventional evaluation of results, like in other acquired hepatic fibrosis, can be misleading.
Psychological Distress and the Leading Cancers among American Adults: An Evidence from the 2013 National Health Interview Survey

The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of psychological distress (PD) among cancer patients and to investigate the association of PD with various socio-demographic factors. We consider the 2013 National Health Interview Survey, which is a large survey of the US non-institutionalized civilian population. PD is determined with a standardized questionnaire (K6). Cancer diagnoses are determined on the basis of self-report. For the purpose of this study, four different types of cancer are selected based on the leading number of deaths caused by them. We fit three commonly used ordinal regression models to the ordinal response PD for overall cancer patients. According to the goodness of fit criterion, AIC, we select the adjacent category model as best model for PD. All the predictors along with affliction by cancer are found to be significant determinants of PD. Additional analysis shows that the psychological distress does not differ across the four subtypes of cancer, breast, colon, lung and prostate cancer. However, psychological distress differs across the race of the respondents.
New Strategies for an Old Medium: The Weekly Radio Addresses of Reagan and Clinton

Of the untold values of the radio, one is the great intimacy it has brought among our people. Through its mysterious channels we come to wider acquaintance with surroundings and men. President Herbert Hoover, Radio Address to the Nation, September 18,1929
The King’s In-Laws in The Tudors

In On the Family, Leon Battista Alberti identified acquiring awful in-laws as one of the most calamitous things that could happen to a man in search of a wife: “I think that no one is so great a fool that he would not rather remain unmarried than burden himself with terrible relatives.”1 Henry VIII was unusual in that he had six opportunities to get it right—or wrong—when it came to assessing the tolerability of the in-laws he acquired along with his spouses. Indeed, the monarch was fortunate in the talent and industry he was able to extract from the male relatives of his English brides while those queens were in favor. Unlike the families to which Alberti alluded, the king did not have to suffer horrible relatives for very long because they were discarded as easily as his wives. Ironically, while The Tudors depicts a highly proactive family politics wherein relatives strategically engineer liaisons and marriages to the king, Michael Hirst—executive producer and writer of the series—is just as reactive as the historical Howard, Boleyn, and Seymour men. Whereas they had to react to the vagaries of their king’s lust, Hirst has to respond to the vagaries of actor availability, the tight time constraints of commercial television, the viewing audience’s ability to follow tangled family relationships among people who often shared the same names, and the need to showcase Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII along with his complicated marital history.
Brain rhythm attractor breakdown in Alzheimer's disease: Functional and pathologic implications

Abstract This perspective binds emerging evidence on the bidirectional relationship between Alzheimer's disease (AD) and sleep disorders through a model of brain rhythm attractor breakdown. This approach explains behavioral-cognitive changes in AD across the sleep-wake cycle and supports a causal association between early brainstem tau pathology and subsequent cortical amyloid β accumulation. Specifically, early tau dysregulation within brainstem-hypothalamic nuclei leads to breakdown of sleep-wake attractor networks, with patients displaying an attenuated range of behavioral and electrophysiological activity patterns, a "twilight zone" of constant activity between deep rest and full alertness. This constant cortical activity promotes activity-dependent amyloid β accumulation in brain areas that modulate their activity across sleep-wake states, especially the medial prefrontal cortex. In addition, the accompanying breakdown of hippocampal–medial prefrontal cortex interplay across sleep stages could explain deficient memory consolidation through dysregulation of synaptic plasticity. Clinical implications include the potential therapeutic benefit of attractor consolidation (e.g., slow-wave sleep enhancers) in delaying AD progression.
HARE: A hybrid abstraction refinement engine for verifying non-linear hybrid automata

Open image in new window (Hybrid Abstraction-Refinement Engine) is a counterexample guided abstraction-refinement (CEGAR) based tool to verify safety properties of hybrid automata, whose continuous dynamics in each mode is non-linear, but initial values, invariants, and transition relations are specified using polyhedral constraints. Open image in new window works by abstracting non-linear hybrid automata into hybrid automata with polyhedral inclusion dynamics, and uses Open image in new window to validate counterexamples. We show that the CEGAR framework forming the theoretical basis of Open image in new window , makes provable progress in each iteration of the abstraction-refinement loop. The current Open image in new window tool is a significant advance on previous versions of Open image in new window —it considers a richer class of abstract models (polyhedral flows as opposed to rectangular flows), and can be applied to a larger class of concrete models (non-linear hybrid automata as opposed to affine hybrid automata). These advances have led to better performance results for a wider class of examples. We report an experimental comparison of Open image in new window against other state of the art tools for affine models ( Open image in new window , Open image in new window , and Open image in new window ) and non-linear models ( Open image in new window , Open image in new window , and Open image in new window ).
α6β2 subunit containing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors exert opposing actions on rapid dopamine signaling in the nucleus accumbens of rats with high-versus low-response to novelty.

Determining neurobiological factors that contribute to individual variance in drug addiction vulnerability allows for identification of at-risk populations, use of preventative measures and personalized medicine in the treatment of substance use disorders. Rodents that exhibit high locomotor activity when exploring an inescapable novel environment (high-responder; HR) are more susceptible to the reinforcing effects of many abused compounds, including nicotine, as compared to animals that exhibit low locomotor activity (low-responder; LR). Given that nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) modulation of reward-related dopamine signaling at accumbal dopamine terminals is critical for the acquisition of drug self-administration, we hypothesized that nAChR modulation of dopamine release would be predicted by an animal's novelty response. Using voltammetry in the nucleus accumbens core of rats, we found that nicotine produced opposite effects in HR and LR animals on stimulation frequencies that model phasic dopamine release, whereby release magnitude was either augmented or attenuated, respectively. Further, nicotine suppressed dopamine release elected by stimulation frequencies that model tonic release in LR animals, but had no effect in HR animals. The differential effects of nicotine were likely due to desensitization of nAChRs, since the nAChR antagonists mecamylamine (non-selective, 2 μM), dihydro-beta-erythroidine (β2-selective, 500 nM), and α-conotoxin MII [H9A; L15A] (α6-selective, 100 nM) produced effects similar to nicotine. Moreover, dihydro-beta-erythroidine failed to show differential effects in HR and LR rats when applied after α-conotoxin MII [H9A; L15A], suggesting a critical role of α6β2 compared non α6-containing nAChRs in the differential effects observed in these phenotypes. These results delineate a potential mechanism for individual variability in behavioral sensitivity to nicotine.
Chapter 20 - Clustering

Clustering has been applied in many areas, including signal and image processing. This chapter reviews the motivation for clustering and several different types of clustering. See [35,5] for more detailed information, from which some of this material has been taken.
A User Centered Design Based Approach to Style Guides

The majority of style guide development efforts do not follow User Centered Design (UCD) practices for any phases of development. What is proposed is a UCD-based approach to planning, design, construction, testing, and deployment of UI Style Guides. Experience based UCD techniques that improve communication of desired user interface style content are provided with specific examples generated following this approach.
COMPETITIVE DISPLACEMENT OF PARATRECHINA LONGICORNIS (LATREILLE) (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) FROM BAITS BY FIRE ANTS IN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL

Studies of competitive foraging for three baits by Paratrechina longicornis Latreille, and Solenopsis invicta Buren were conducted in Brazil. Paratrechina longicornis discovered the foods, honey, meat, and cookie, first and recruited large numbers of foragers, dominating the baits for the first 20–30 min of the tests. Solenopsis invicta was slower to discover the baits but their ability to recruit additional foragers and their aggressive behavior resulted in displacement within 45–60 min of most P. longicornis and other ants from the baits and foraging arena. Four other species of ants observed in the study site: a Mycocepurus sp., an Acromyrmex sp., and two Conomyrma spp. occasionally fed on the baits but were not effective competitors for the former two species.
Policy Priorities in the Time of AIDS

Some problems can be forgotten if the assistance goes only to one side. We have other problems like boreholes. Hence this [AIDS] money could also go to other areas … People suffering from other diseases too should be helped. Headman Interview #48, Mchinji District, July 10, 2008 The success of international health and development interventions depends on how they are received by local populations. Judging from the scale of resources, international actors highly prioritize AIDS intervention. Little is known, however, about the policy priorities of the people in whose name powerful donors send assistance. This chapter examines empirically what is often overlooked: Africans’ attitudes about development and health interventions for which they are the intended beneficiaries. While it is true that Africa has suffered the most from AIDS, we cannot presume that HIV is the most important problem facing Africans. Earlier chapters substantiated that AIDS is pandemic in Africa and presented an argument that the global AIDS intervention is plagued by principal–agent problems inherent in the multitiered intervention against AIDS in Africa. That argument relies on the assertion that policy preferences for AIDS intervention are misaligned. In this chapter, I empirically substantiate the misalignment of AIDS prioritization between two important constituencies: the international donors who largely decide global priorities and the people who are their intended beneficiaries. The chapter is structured as follows: the first section details the prioritization of AIDS in the international community, primarily among powerful donors, using data on official development assistance (ODA). I then draw from existing scholarship to examine what shapes citizens’ policy preferences, and focus on two expectations: that people living with HIV (PLHIV) stand to benefit most from AIDS interventions and will thus give higher priority to AIDS; and that HIV-affected people – people related to and potentially caring for PLHIV – will also give AIDS higher priority. The next two sections analyze public opinion data, which substantiate ordinary Africans give relatively low priority to AIDS interventions and provide evidence that experience with HIV/AIDS makes people more likely to prioritize AIDS (even if only weakly). Then I explore alternative measures of AIDS prioritization and alternative explanations for low prioritization of AIDS by ordinary Africans. The chapter concludes with a discussion of some implications of the misalignment of priorities.
Adsorptive Removal of Sulfamethoxazole and Bisphenol A from Contaminated Water using Functionalized Carbonaceous Material Derived from Tea Leaves

Abstract In this study, we report a facile method for the preparation of sulfonic acid functionalized carbonaceous adsorbent (TW-SO3H) from tea leaves. The adsorbent was characterized using Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman Spectroscopy and Zeta potential measurements. The adsorbent was utilized for the adsorptive removal of antibiotics such as sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and endocrine disrupting chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) from water. The calculated adsorption capacities of TW-SO3H were 258.87 mg/g and 236.80 mg/g towards the removal of SMX and BPA, respectively at 25 °C. The new adsorbent has the ability to form electrostatic interaction and π–π stacking that allow the efficient adsorption of SMX and BPA. The Langmuir and Temkin isotherm models best fit the experimental data for the BPA and SMX adsorption processes, respectively. The results of the kinetic studies showed that the removal of SMX and BPA by TW-SO3H followed pseudo-second order kinetic model. A thermodynamic study indicated that the adsorption process was spontaneous as well as exothermic. The adsorbent was facilely regenerated and recycled for three cycles with a nominal loss of adsorption capacity. Our results indicated that TW-SO3H could be utilized as a promising adsorbent for the rapid removal of SMX and BPA from the contaminated water.
Sequential Games of Status: A Replication

This paper uses data from an unreported laboratory study of competition for status in sequences of three-person cooperative games to test a heuristic decision model of negotiations by players who make conscious choices but are subject to limitations of human cognition (LAING/MORRISON, 1973). Although participants face a more complex decision problem in this laboratory situation than in our previous studies, their behavior replicates most of our earlier results. This model’s success in diverse laboratory situations (CHERTKOFF/SKOV/CATT, 1980; FRIEND/LAING/MORRISON, 1978; VINACKE, 1962; ZWICK/RAPOPORT, 1985) presents a challenge to those of us who seek game-theoretic explanations of purposive social behavior.
Somatic Mutation in the Polynesian Rat (Rattus Exulans) at Enewetak Nuclear Test Site

Palatal ridge patterns in about 530 mammal species have been described and depicted by Eisentraut (1976). The intermolar configurations of the palatal ridges in the genus Rattus have been used as an epigenetic marker to describe variation of distinctiveness within and among rodent populations using a nonmetrical statistic (Temme and Jackson, 1978). Diastemal or antemolar ridge patterns have not yet been the subject of an extensive comparative population study.
Modifying peptide properties by prodrug design for enhanced transport into the CNS.

Many central nervous system (CNS) diseases and disorders remain very difficult to treat because of the limiting effect of blood-brain barrier (BBB) on delivery of drugs into the CNS. A limited brain-uptake prevents numerous, otherwise promising agents to become pharmaceutically useful entities. Neuropeptides, their analogues and peptidomimetics are typical of these agents. Besides their poor BBB penetration, size, innate water-solubility and absence of specific transport systems to ferry them into the brain parenchyma, most peptides also have short biological half-lives because of rapid metabolism and clearance from the body [1].
Delegates, Events, and Namespaces

A delegate is a type that defines a function signature, so that an instance of a delegate can call methods that match it. In C++ terms, a delegate is a fancy way to describe a function pointer.
Multigenic basis for maple syrup urine disease with emphasis on mutations in branched chain dihydrolipoyl acyltransferase

Our understanding of inborn errors of metabolism began with Sir Archibald Garrod’s description of alcaptonuria and the fact that this disorder tended to “run in families”(Garrod, 1908, 1923). By the 1950s, this understanding extended to knowing specific enzyme defects for several inborn errors. Thus, the stage was set for describing new disorders of which maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) was one. MSUD was first described clinically in 1954 by Menkes (Menkes et al., 1954). Four of six family members died in infancy, all having the odor of maple syrup or burnt sugar in their body fluids, especially urine (Menkes, 1959; Westall et al., 1957). Analysis showed that the odor was due to elevated concentrations of the branched chain amino acids (BCAA) and their respective α-ketoacids (BCKA). The interpretation, at that time and later proven true, was that a block occurred in the catabolic pathway of these compounds (Dancis et al., 1959). As more individuals were identified with this phenotype, family studies revealed that the disorder was transmitted as an autosomal recessive trait (McKusick 248600) (McKusick et al., 1994).
Ultraviolet Radiation: Interaction with Biological Molecules

Solar radiation is a very important element in our environment and yet, because of its ubiquity, the wide scope of its chemical and biological effects is often not fully appreciated. That solar energy fixation makes life possible is a generally known fact. It is not so generally appreciated that many of the effects of solar radiation are detrimental. Most people are aware that a painful sunburn can be caused by excessive exposure to the sun, and that colors fade and materials age in the sun. There also are more subtle effects of sunlight on living cells, including the production of mutations and the development of skin cancer following sufficient chronic exposure to sunlight.
Equilibrium form of Pb Bi Ni alloy crystals

Abstract Both stable and metastable equilibrium forms of Pb alloy crystals containing 5 at% Bi and either 0.04 or 0.08 at% Ni have been observed. These forms are quite different from those of pure Pb in that several new facets, beyond the {1 1 1} and {1 0 0} facets found on pure Pb, are found to form under conditions close to equilibrium. The appearance of new facets on the alloy dilute in Ni is closely associated with a chemical surface phase transition, in which the surface concentrations of Bi and Ni increase abruptly upon cooling. The results are discussed in the context of a nearest neighbor bond model, which exhibits the chemical surface phase transition, and which predicts a sharp decrease in surface energy at temperatures below that transition. The presence of metastable equilibrium forms is found to be closely tied to the existence of a nucleation barrier which leads to hysteresis in the chemical surface phase transition temperature on {1 1 1} facets, but not on other orientations. The significance of high surface concentrations of Bi and Ni in raising the roughening temperature of certain Pb surface orientations is also addressed.
The factors associated with mode of delivery in fetuses with congenital heart defects.

AbstractObjective: It is not evident whether the mode of delivery (MOD) should be modified in pregnancies complicated by fetal congenital heart defects (CHDs). The question as to whether MOD of CHD...
A Measurement-Efficient Low-Rank Matrix Recovery Approach

This paper presents a novel low-rank matrix recovery approach that jointly performs measurement collection and matrix estimation to improve the overall sample efficiency under unknown rank information. It builds on a key observation that the minimum number of measurements needed for matrix rank estimation can be much less than that for matrix recovery. Such a gap in measurement requirements is first delineated in closes form through empirical quantification. Then, capitalizing on this quantified gap on measurements, a two-step procedure is developed for adaptive measurement collection. The actual rank of the matrix is estimated in the first step, which informs the number of measurements to be collected in the second step for low-rank matrix recovery. Simulations corroborate that our approach can considerably reduce the total number of required measurements for matrix recovery in practice. The improvement in sample efficiency is particularly pronounced for large-scale applications where low-rank matrix estimation is of great relevance.
Creating a community of practice among college campus food pantry directors in Michigan

There is increased awareness of hunger and food insecurity on college campuses. Recent estimates suggest that food insecurity affects as many as 4 out of 10 college students. As a result, over 650 ...
Er and Yb femtosecond laser-induced melting and shaping of indium nanostructures on silicon wafers

We use erbium and ytterbium femtosecond lasers to melt and shape semi-spherical nanostructure by high spatial frequency laser induced periodic surface structures into linear microstructures of 2 μm long in the direction of laser polarization.
Pedagogical Strategies to Increase Students’ Engagement and Motivation

With the goal of improving accessibility and inclusivity, we have implemented a series of pedagogical interventions to increase students’ engagement and learning in a large introductory physics course. Active learning and collaboration were promoted during the lectures via several in-class strategies, including weekly 10-min quizzes, clicker questions, peer discussions, and group quizzes. Metacognition was encouraged by prompting students to reflect on their mistakes via optional exam correction assignments. In addition, self-motivation was prompted by reflections on mindset (fixed versus growth) and the consequences of in-class multitasking. The course also features two key outside-of-class resources, namely peer tutoring and evening study-halls. Here, we discuss students’ responses to these different strategies and highlight the successes and challenges of increasing engagement and performance. Among all of these components, study-halls emerged as the most successful tool to foster collaboration among students and peer learning, and to bring faculty and students closer by permitting them to work together in an informal setting. Although our experience concerns an introductory physics course, geared to life science and pre-medical students, our strategies are independent of subject and class content, and therefore could be used in any university course, as well as adapted for secondary schools.