cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Modeling and simulation framework of real urban and board games to train players

This tutorial will include: (1) a modeling approach for generating an urban terrain model from a Compact Terrain DataBase (CTDB) for computer-simulation of an urban search and rescue operation (US&RO), (2) a modeling approach for implementing the game RISK and generating autonomous players (3) a generalized implementation strategy for integrating both models into an autonomous dynamic planning and execution (ADP&E) framework for gaming simulations, and (4) an evolutionary strategy for using autonomous simulation results to improve player's abilities. The game RISK a multi-player non-cooperative stochastic game problem, and the US&RO simulation is a single-player multi-agent cooperative game problem. Accumulated results from both applications have given insight into a more general framework to ADP&E for Very Large Partially Observable and Uncertain Environments. The generalization of this approach will be described in terms of its hierarchy, modular components, and dynamic processes.
Micro-Raman spectroscopic visualization of lattice vibrations and strain in He + - implanted single-crystal LiNbO 3

Scanning micro-Raman spectroscopy has been utilized to image and investigate strain in He+-implanted congruent LiNbO3 samples. By using abruptly patterned implanted samples, we show that the spatial two-dimensional mapping of the Raman spectral peaks can be used to image the strain distribution and determine its absolute magnitude. We demonstrate that both short- and long-range length-scale in-plane and out-of-plane strain and stress states can be determined using the secular equations of phonon-deformation-potential theory. We also show that two-dimensional Raman imaging can be used to visualize the relaxation of strain in the crystal during low-temperature annealing.
An Improved Lacrimal Irrigating Cannula

I have designed a lacrimal irrigating cannula that is easier and safer to use than previous cannulas. * The 23-gauge cannula is 11 mm long and mounted on a standard needle hub (Figure). Irrigation fluid exits via a 0.3-mm side port located just behind the closed bullet-shaped tip.
Non- d 0 Mn-driven ferroelectricity in antiferromagnetic BaMnO 3

Using first-principles density-functional theory we predict a ferroelectric ground state\char22{}driven by the off-centering of the magnetic ${\text{Mn}}^{4+}$ ion\char22{}in perovskite-structure ${\text{BaMnO}}_{3}$. Our finding is surprising since the competition between energy-lowering covalent bond formation and energy-raising Coulombic repulsions usually only favors off-centering on the perovskite $B$ site for nonmagnetic ${d}^{0}$ ions. We explain this tendency for ferroelectric off-centering by analyzing the changes in electronic structure between the centrosymmetric and polar states and by calculating the Born effective charges; we find anomalously large values for Mn and O consistent with our calculated polarization of $12.8\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\text{C}/{\text{cm}}^{2}$. Finally, we suggest possible routes by which the perovskite phase may be stabilized over the usual hexagonal phase to enable a practical realization of a single-phase multiferroic.
Collision–Ejection Manifold and Collective Analytic Continuation of Simultaneous Binary Collisions in the PlanarN-Body Problem☆

Abstract We study simultaneous binary collision (SBC) singularities ofLbinaries in the planarN-body problem, 2L≤N. We introduce the generalized Levi-Civita transformation and follow it by a new transformation which we call the projective transformation near a SBC singularity. We use this transformation to show the following near a SBC singularity: (1) In the generalized Levi-Civita variables, near a SBC singularity, the collection of collision and ejection orbits together with the singularity form a real analytic submanifold, which we call the collision–ejection (CE) manifold. (2) Let R c( R e) be the collection of SBC (SBE) orbits in phase space, i.e., in the original variables. Then, both R cand R eare real analytic. (3) Each collision orbit corresponds to a unique ejection orbit. Together, they form a real analytic orbit in the generalized Levi-Civita variables, which we call a collision–ejection orbit. (4) Let C ⊂ R c( E ⊂ R e) be a submanifold of initial conditions that end (start) in a simultaneous binary collision (ejection) singularity. We show that C ( E ) can be chosen to be a real analytic submanifold of codimension 1 in R c( R e), and that the correspondence in item (3) above defines a real analytic section mapping from C to E . (5) Collision and ejection orbits can be collectively analytically continued, i.e., each collision–ejection orbit can be written as a convergent power series int1/3, with coefficients that depend real analytically on the initial conditions in C . (6) SBC orbits ofJ (7) A single binary collision singularity in theN-body problem is real analytic block-regularizable. We also give the asymptotic behaviour of collision and ejection orbits.
Influence of weather conditions and eccentric aerodynamic loading on the large amplitude aeroelastic vibration of highway tubular poles

Abstract This paper is motivated by a recent involvement of the author in a forensic investigation on the response of cantilever tubular highway poles during a particular winter storm and, in general, unforeseen and extreme wind events. These can be classified as situations in which the reference wind velocity is clearly below the design value but the characterization of the aerodynamic forces challenged by either the presence of an adverse weather condition (deposit of freezing precipitation) or the eccentric loading transferred to the main system through non-structural elements (e.g., luminaire installed at the top of the unit). In particular, a set of wind-induced failures of aluminum-alloy highway light poles in a central region of the United States during a particular event was the original motivation for this study. The dynamic performance of these systems was analyzed and extended beyond the original scope of the previous investigations to account for the unexpected nature of the loading. Statistical simulations were employed for the interpretation of the results in terms of failure risk.
Studies in intuitive personology from an idiothetic point of view: Implications for personality theory

Following Lamiell's (1981) critique of the individual differences approach to the scientific study of personality, questions have arisen concerning (a) the nature of the empirical research to which the "idiotheric" framework he proposed as an alternative has thus far led, and (b) the wider theoretical implications of that research. The present article seeks to address these questions within the medium of research on the nature of the reasoning process by which lay persons formulate and express subjective personality impressions. It is argued that the findings of this research offer strong empirical support for a conception of the intuitive personologist as a dialectician. Among other things, the discussion of these findings focuses on their implications for a humanistic conception of the relation between cognition and behavior, and thus of personality more broadly defined.
Movement of liquid inclusions by centrifugation

Abstract A theory is developed for movement of solvent inclusions in crystals by a centrifugal field. It is necessary to account for the electric field generated by the differential migration rates of the different ions. The theory predicts a centripetal movement rate which increases as the solubility increases, which usually means as the operating temperature increases. Experimentally, the rate of movement of aqueous incclusions in potassium iodide decreases with increasing temperature and becomes centrifugal above about 30°C. The origin of this discrepancy between experiment and theory is presently unknown.
Making better decisions by better managing information

This article examines how to improve decision making. We tend to prefer simplified thinking and revise our bias only when we are under overwhelming pressure. The article suggests some ways to better use information technology and offers a prioritizing approach to using information to produce better decisions.
Wetlands: An Interdisciplinary Exploration.

The topic of wetlands provides a rich context for curriculum integration. This unit contains seven activities that integrate environmental science with math, technology, social studies, language arts, and other disciplines. In this series, students will identify plants and animals found in wetlands, understand the function of wetlands through the use of models, learn some of the effects of human behavior on wetland preservation, and use problem-solving skills to develop solutions to wetland loss.
Communicating with and empowering international students with a library skills set

Much library research over the last decade has focused on serving this particular group of library user. The project synthesizes and supplements past recommendations with a survey of academic institutions in the Southern USA. Data were collected from 123 colleges and universities. Both librarians and international student support staff agreed that the major challenges international students face are language/communication problems, adjusting to a new educational/library system, and general culture adjustments. The paper recommends a model for library skills training for internationalstudents by weaving together ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards with the communication, educational and cultural adjustments international students encounter when studying in the USA.
Simulation-based evaluation of transactions support for group-oriented mobile commerce

Broadband wireless services, including group-oriented mobile commerce services, are receiving a significant interest among researchers, developers, wireless service providers and users. In this paper, we focus on evaluating the network support for group-oriented transactions using simulation modelling techniques. Our results show that the transaction delays are governed by user connectivity/dis-connectivity ratio and average disconnection duration, while the transaction blocking is governed primarily by the average duration of disconnection. It is also shown that for multi-parametric cases, increased application flexibility can compensate for the negative impact of increased or more frequent user disconnections.
Peasant Political Mobilization and the 1898 anti-Jewish Riots in Western Galicia

This article focuses on the anti-Jewish riots that took place in the spring and summer of 1898 in the western counties of the Habsburg province of Galicia, today divided between Poland and Ukraine. More than 5000 Polish peasants and townspeople were arrested, thousands were tried, and many received long prison sentences. An increasingly strident Catholic anti-Semitism, rumor, mass political mobilization, and actions urged and taken by the various levels of the Habsburg state — the central ministries in Vienna; the office of the Galician governor in the provincial capital of Lemberg; military and police forces on the ground; local officials in western Galicia — all affected the outbreak and course of the violence. The article argues that the riots were not simply a manifestation of rural backwardness, but rather should be understood in the context of the arrival of mass politics in the Habsburg countryside.
Identification of transcription factor KLF8 as a downstream target of focal adhesion kinase in its regulation of cyclin D1 and cell cycle progression

Abstract Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is an important mediator of integrin signaling in the regulation of cell adhesion, migration, survival, and proliferation. Here we report the identification of the transcription factor KLF8 as a target of FAK in cell cycle regulation. KLF8 is induced by FAK and decreased by FAK dominant-negative mutant ΔC14. Overexpression of KLF8 increases cell cycle progression, whereas inhibition of endogenous KLF8 by siRNA reduces it. Cyclin D1 promoter is identified as a target of KLF8, which is activated both directly by KLF8 binding to the GT box A and by an indirect mechanism through its repression of a potential inhibitory regulator of cyclin D1. Transcription activation of cyclin D1 by FAK requires both Ets family and KLF8 factors in a temporally differential manner. Together, our data provide further insights into molecular mechanism for FAK to regulate cell cycle progression.
Physiologically relevant, pH-responsive PEG-based block and statistical copolymers with N,N-diisopropylamine units

In order to impart pH-responsiveness within a physiologically-relevant context to PEG-based biomaterials, a new tertiary amine containing repeat unit, N,N-diisopropyl ethanolamine glycidyl ether (DEGE), was developed and incorporated into statistical and block copolymers with ethylene oxide (EO), and allyl glycidyl ether (AGE) via anionic ring-opening polymerization. The reactivity of this novel monomeric building block in copolymerizations with EO was investigated by spectroscopy with observed reactivity ratios of rDEGE = 1.28 ± 0.14 and rEO = 0.82 ± 0.10. It was further demonstrated that DEGE containing copolymers could serve as building blocks for the formation of new pH-responsive materials with a pKa of ca. 9, which allowed macroscopic hydrogels to be prepared from symmetric triblock copolymers PDEGE5.3k-b-PEO20k-b-PDEGE5.3k. The triblock copolymers exhibited clear sol-to-gel transitions in a physiologically-relevant critical gelation range of pH 5.8–6.6 and pH-dependent viscoelastic properties. On the nanometer scale, the preparation of pH-responsive micro- or nanogels was demonstrated by crosslinking P(DEGE-co-AGE) copolymers in miniemulsion droplets stabilized by PEO-b-P(DEGE-co-AGE) diblock terpolymers. These nanoparticles exhibited a reversible pH-dependent swelling profile with a volume phase transition at physiological pH 6.5–7.5.
A normatively adequate credal reductivism

It is a prevalent, if not popular, thesis in the metaphysics of belief that facts about an agent’s beliefs depend entirely upon facts about that agent’s underlying credal state. Call this thesis ‘credal reductivism’ and any view that endorses this thesis a ‘credal reductivist view’. An adequate credal reductivist view will accurately predict both when belief occurs and which beliefs are held appropriately, on the basis of credal facts alone. Several well-known—and some lesser known—objections to credal reductivism turn on the inability of standard credal reductivist views to get the latter, normative, results right. This paper presents and defends a novel credal reductivist view according to which belief is a type of “imprecise credence” that escapes these objections by including an extreme credence of 1.
Assessment of physical maturation and somatomedin levels during puberty

The chronologic age, skeletal age, and somatomedin level of thirty-nine Caucasian girls of various developmental stages were compared. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the somatomedin levels in the plasma of circumpubertal and postpubertal females. No significant difference was noted between the prepubertal and the circumpubertal subjects tested. In addition, the skeletal age appears to be a better indicator of physical maturation than does the chronologic age of an individual. In order to substantiate the concept of somatomedin as a true marker for the pubertal growth spurt, this study should be continued on a longitudinal basis utilizing rate-of-growth data.
Design-Oriented Introduction of Nanotechnology into the Electrical and Computer Engineering Curriculum:

Nanoelectronics has the potential, and is indeed expected, to revolutionize information technology by the use of the impressive characteristics of nanodevices such as carbon nanotube transistors, molecular diodes and transistors, etc. A great effort is being put into creating an introductory course in nanotechnology. However, practically all courses focus on the physics, chemistry, and materials science aspects of this discipline. On the other hand, a more abstract, design-oriented introduction is desirable for electrical and computer engineering majors. In order to teach design-oriented nanotechnology, the teaching curriculum must be extended to include new concepts. In particular, it is necessary to supply the design principles, device models, and software simulation tools. This article describes our approach for introducing nanotechnology system design into the Electrical and Computer Engineering undergraduate curriculum at Stony Brook University. The approach consists of developing a nanodevice librar...
Map learning using associative memory neural network

Map learning using associative memory is presented. Given a source location and a destination location to be visited and its associated visiting path, an associative memory neural network which can remember and recall all possible paired-location combinations is constructed. Kth nearest neighbor transformation is used to transfer the input paired locations to a vector form indicating the neighboring information among all the locations in the map. Training patterns are selected from the linear combination of the eigenvector of the covariance matrix of the associative group and the input vectors. Training the network with the selected transformed training vectors, the best path of any two points in the map can be obtained. An example of learning a city map is given. >
Ridge planting for row crops on a poorly drained soil. 2. Anhydrous ammonia and UAN management for maize following soybean

A three year study was conducted over the period 1985–1987 to determine the effects of anhydrous ammonia and urea-ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) application methods on yield of ridge-planted maize (Zea mays L.) following soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) on a Hoytville silty clay (Mollic Ochraqualfs). Nitrogen was applied to maize at a rate of 168 kg N ha−1 as injected anhydrous ammonia, or UAN broadcast or dribbled on the soil surface at various times. Anhydrous ammonia produced the highest average yield (9.1 Mg ha−1) over the study period. Treatments in which UAN was broadcast, or applied by split application (sidedress on the ridge), produced yields equivalent to those produced by ammonia in some years, but averaging 0.6 Mg ha−1 less than those produced by ammonia over three years. Treatments in which all UAN was applied by dribbling at planting produced average yields lower than did these three systems. Average ear leaf N concentrations showed differences similar to those seen in grain yields. Results indicated that the method of N application can affect yield of ridge-planted maize, and it appears that N management should be evaluated critically when designing such systems.
Addition of an Endoplasmic Reticulum Retention/Retrieval Signal Does Not Block Maturation of Enzymatically Active Peptidylglycine α-Amidating Monooxygenase

Peptidylglycine α-amidating monooxygenase (PAM) catalyzes the COOH-terminal α-amidation of neural and endocrine peptides via a two-step reaction carried out in sequence by the monooxygenase and lyase domains contained in this bifunctional protein. Peptide α-amidation is thought to take place primarily in the secretory granules in which mature bioactive peptides are stored, and it is not known where in the secretory compartment newly synthesized PAM protein becomes enzymatically active. To address this question, PAM-3, a soluble bifunctional protein, was modified by addition of the KDEL endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retention/retrieval signal to its COOH terminus. PAM-3-KDEL protein stably expressed in hEK-293 cells or in AtT-20 cells was efficiently retained in the ER based on immunocytochemistry, pulse-chase experiments, and maintained endoglycosidase H sensitivity. The effect of the KDEL sequence was specific since PAM-3 with an inactive ER retention/retrieval signal (PAM-3-KDEV) moved through the secretory pathway like wild type PAM-3. In AtT-20 cells, PAM-3-KDEL was not subjected to the COOH-terminal endoproteolytic cleavage that generates a 75-kDa PAM protein from PAM-3 and PAM-3-KDEV. PAM-3-KDEL protein exhibited both monooxygenase and lyase activities with specific activities similar to those of the wild type PAM-3 and PAM-3-KDEV proteins. Thus, although PAM catalyzes a reaction that occurs primarily in the secretory granules, newly synthesized PAM protein becomes enzymatically competent in the ER.
A constraint on physical quantum states in cosmological space-times.

The problem of constructing the Hilbert space of physical states for a free scalar quantum field propagating on a cosmological background is considered. The concept of energy-momentum for such a field is discussed and it is noted that, according to current renormalization theory, for a state ¦M〉 to have finite energy density its associated anticommutator function\(\left\langle {M\left| {\widehat\phi \left( x \right)\widehat\phi \left( {x'} \right) + \widehat\phi \left( {x'} \right)\widehat\phi \left( x \right)} \right|M} \right\rangle \) must be of a particular form first discussed by Hadamard. This restriction is shown to lead to a constraint on the construction of the Hilbert space of physical states. This constraint is used to reject a recently proposed scheme for the construction of this space which was based on a principle of energy minimization.
Influence of fasting and refeeding on 3,3',5'-triiodothyronine metabolism in man.

To determine the influence of prolonged fasting and refeeding on rT3 metabolism in man, five euthyroid obese subjects underwent a 13-day fast, followed by a refeeding period. Each patient received an iv dose of 25 μCi [125I]rT3 during the fed control period, on days 7 and 13 of the fast, and on the fourth day after refeeding with a regular diet. Serial blood and urine samples were obtained to determine serum rT3 clearance and production rates and the urinary tracer rT3 deiodination fraction. Significant increases in serum rT3 values were noted by day 7 and remained elevated for the duration of the fast (P < 0.01). Normalization of rT3 levels occurred after 4 days of refeeding. Both 7 and 13 days of fasting decreased rT3 clearance [132.6 ± 8.3 L/day (P < 0.001) and 132.2 ± 9.5 L/day (P < 0.001), respectively] without changing rT3 production (36.8 ± 5.3 and 33.0 ± 3.7 nmol/D, respectively) compared to control values (207.0 ± 10.9 L/day and 31.8 ± 3.8 nmol/day, respectively). Refeeding did not restore rT3 cl...
The Transport of Thyroxine into Mouse Neuroblastoma Cells, NB41A3: The Effect of L-System Amino Acids*

Thyroid hormones must cross the plasma membrane to interact with nuclear or other intracellular receptors. In brain cells, most of the T3 in the nucleus is derived intracellularly from T4. While a saturable transport system has been demonstrated for T3 in a number of cell types, the evidence for such a system for T4 is less well established. In a mouse neuroblastoma cell line (NB41A3) the transport of T4 was found to be stereospecific, saturable, and energy dependent. When cells were incubated with radiolabeled hormone, the nuclear accumulation of L-T4 was 3.8-fold higher than that of D-T4, whereas isolated nuclei had a similar Ka for both enantiomers. Exposure of cells to antimycin and monodansylcadaverine decreased nuclear uptake of L-T4 (Ki of 197 and 55 μM, respectively), but had little effect on D-T4 uptake. Furthermore, L-system neutral amino acids, in particular L-phenylalanine at physiological concentrations, were shown to be competitive inhibitors of both T3 and T4 transport. In the presence of 0...
TRANSCUTANEOUS BILIRUBINOMETRY OLD AND NEW

As a screening device for hyperbilirubinemia, we compared the Minolta Janudice Meter (M) with the 30 year old Ingram icterometer (Ic). The M is a fiberoptic reflectometer marketed as a device to identify infants whose degree of jaundice indicates the need for chemical serum bilirubin estimation. The inexpensive Ic (appros. $10) consists of a strip of transparent plexiglass on which are painted 5 yellow stripes of precise and graded hue. In use, the color of the baby's skin is matched with the stripes and a jaundice score assigned. 120 serum bilirubin values were obtained by A.C.A. Dupont Analyzer because of visible jaundice in a population of term, healthy Caucasian newborns. Under controlled, artificial light, first the Ic then the M was used on each baby. Defining hyperbilirubinemia as > 12.9 mg/dl the sensitivity and specifity of each device was determined. For 120 trials the Ic had a sens. of .86 and a spec. of .75. The M had a sens. of .95 and spec. of .77. 2 of 3 false negatives with the Ic occurred in the first 4 measurements, a time when familiarity with the insturment was being obtained. The last 116 measurements produced a sens. of .95, spec. of .74 for the Ic and a sens. of .95, spec. of .77 for the M. Although serial individual assessment was consistent, interobserver variation was significant. With the Ic as with the M, we would suggest that individuals establish their own action levels prior to reliable usage. We conclude that in spite of the availability of more complex and expensive instruments, for the individual clinician, the Ic continues to serve as a sensitive, cost effective screening device for hyperbilirubinemia.
Scalable parallel and distributed expert database systems with predictive load balancing

Abstract Much prior work in AI on various attempts to speed up rule-based systems by parallel processing has been reported. Unfortunately, many of these results indicate that there is limited parallelism to be found when rules are applied to relatively small amounts of data. Thus, one can predict that much greater parallelism can be extracted when rules are applied to large amounts of data. However, traditional compile-time parallelization strategies as developed for main-memory based systems do not scale to large databases. We propose a scalable strategy for the efficient parallel implementation of rule-based systems operating upon large databases. We concentrate on load balancing techniques in a synchronous model of rule execution, where the variance in runtime of the distributed sites is minimized per cycle of rule processing, thus increasing utilization and speedup. We demonstrate that static load balancing techniques are insufficient, and thus low overhead dynamic load balancing is the key to successful scaling. We present a form of dynamic load balancing that is based upon predicting future system loads, rather than conventional demand-driven approaches that monitor current system state. We analyze a number of possible predictive dynamic load balancing protocols by isoefficiency analysis to guide the design of a parallel database rule processing system.
Carbon tetrachloride is immunosuppressive and decreases host resistance to Listeria monocytogenes and Streptococcus pneumoniae in female B6C3F1 mice

Abstract Carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is an environmental contaminant that has been detected in ambient air, seawater, surface-water and snow. The immunotoxic potential of CCl4 was evaluated in female B6C3F1 mice. The animals were administered with CCl4 daily for 14 days at doses of 50, 100, 500 or 1000 mg/kg body weight by gavage with corn oil as a vehicle. Exposure to CCl4 resulted in an increase of liver weight but not the body weight and the weights of brain, spleen, lungs, thymus and kidneys. Exposure to CCl4 produced minimal effect on differential hematological parameters; however, it produced a significant increase in serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) levels in all dose groups while other serum chemistries showed sporadic increases, primarily at the dose level of 1000 mg/kg. Exposure to CCl4 produced a decreased humoral immune response; the IgM antibody forming cell (AFC) response to sheep red blood cells (sRBC) was suppressed with the maximal decrease (45%) observed at the dose level of 1000 mg/kg. The IgM serum titer to sRBC was also reduced with a maximal decrease (54%) observed at the dose level of 500 mg/kg. Although exposure to CCl4 had no effects on the mixed leukocyte response (MLR), cytotoxic T lymphocyte activity and natural killer (NK) cell activity, a decrease in both the absolute number and the percentage of CD4+CD8− at the dose level of 500 mg/kg was observed. The functional activity of the mononuclear phagocyte system was compromised as reflected by a decrease in the vascular clearance of 51Cr-sRBC and a decrease in the uptake of 51Cr-sRBC by the liver. Finally, in the two host resistance models evaluated, exposure to CCl4 decreased host resistance to both Streptococcus pneumoniae and Listeria monocytogenes with greater susceptibility to the latter. Overall, these studies demonstrate that CCl4 was immunosuppressive in female B6C3F1 mice.
The future of macroeconomic forecasting: Understanding the forecasting process

Abstract A premise of this paper is that the forecasting process has not been thoroughly investigated in its entirety and that even some of the constituent elements of the process are not well understood. The components of the forecasting process include models, data, the judgment of the forecaster, and their interactions. The paper integrates the research that has considered various aspects of the forecasting process in order to suggest a more complete agenda for improving predictive accuracy. Specifically it was suggested: that past errors be analyzed more carefully; that records that explain the reasons for making adjustments be maintained; and that quality control methods be used to monitor whether or not forecasts are on track.
Scaling and Transcription Measures of Intelligibility for Populations With Disordered Speech

Although Samar and Metz (1988) have addressed significant issues regarding the assessment of the intelligibility of hearing-impaired talkers, we cannot agree with their interpretation of their findings. Because the transcription and rating-scale measures were performed on different types of speech samples, the two sets of scores cannot be compared. Moreover, transcription and scaling measures may provide fundamentally different estimates of speech performance. Investigators should select which measure to use after considering the appropriate construct validity and the purpose of the measurement.
Terra Non Firma: Understanding and Preparing for Earthquakes

Each day that passes ''without one'' increases the chance that the ''big one'' will occur for the 92% of Americans who live in earthquake country. Chapters one through six explain earthquake causes and effects. The final three chapters deal with the engineering, community, and personal aspects of earthquakes.
Turbulence in the presence of a vertical body force and temperature gradient

Two-point correlation equations which include the effects of a uniform temperature gradient and body force are constructed from the Navier-Stokes, heat-transfer, and continuity equations. A solution is obtained by converting the correlation equations to spectral form and assuming that the turbulence is sufficiently weak for triple correlations to be neglected. It is shown that the turbulence decays with time, although the rate of decay is altered by buoyancy effects caused by the body force and temperature gradient. The buoyancy forces can either extract energy from the turbulent field or feed energy into it, depending on the directions of the body force and temperature gradient. Spectra are calculated for the turbulent energy and for the various terms in the turbulent energy equation as well as for the temperature fluctuations and turbulent heat transfer. For fluids with Prandtl numbers less than 1 the buoyancy forces act mainly on the large eddies, whereas for higher Prandtl numbers they can act on the smaller ones. When the buoyancy forces are stabilizing, the turbulence can cause heat to flow against the temperature gradient for certain values of the parameters. For making the calculations, it is assumed that the turbulence is initially isotropic and the temperature fluctuations initially zero.
Gender differences in business school graduates' opportunity to advance

Abstract Survey data concerning the early worklife of a homogeneous sample of college of business graduates are used to examine the gender difference in promoting opportunities during the 1980s. Estimates of a promotion model using trichotomous probit analysis serve to obtain a Blinder-type decomposition between endowment and coefficient effects of the gender difference. Further analysis of the coefficient effect by categorizing variables into those reflecting personal choice and discrimination suggests that the lower opportunities reported by women relate to the personal choice variables and, in particular, weekly hours of work.
Stress, kappa manipulations, and aversive effects of ethanol in adolescent and adult male rats

Elevated ethanol use during adolescence, a potentially stressful developmental period, is accompanied by insensitivity to many aversive effects of ethanol relative to adults. Given evidence that supports a role for stress and the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) system in mediating aversive properties of ethanol and other drugs, the present study assessed the role of KOR antagonism by nor-binaltorphimine (nor-BNI) on ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion (CTA) in stressed (exposed to repeated restraint) and non-stressed male rats (Experiment 1), with half of the rats pretreated with nor-BNI before stressor exposure. In Experiment 2, CTA induced by the kappa agonist U62,066 was also compared in stressed and non-stressed adolescents and adults. A highly palatable solution (chocolate Boost) was used as the conditioned stimulus (CS), thereby avoiding the need for water deprivation to motivate consumption of the CS during conditioning. No effects of stress on ethanol-induced CTA were found, with all doses eliciting aversions in adolescents and adults in both stress conditions. However, among stressed subjects, adults given nor-BNI before the repeated stressor displayed blunted ethanol aversion relative to adults given saline at that time. This effect of nor-BNI was not seen in adolescents, findings that support a differential role for the KOR involvement in ethanol CTA in stressed adolescents and adults. Results from Experiment 2 revealed that all doses of U62,066 elicited aversions in non-stressed animals of both ages that were attenuated in stressed animals, findings that support a modulatory role for stress in aversive effects of KOR activation. Collectively, these results suggest that although KOR sensitivity appears to be reduced in stressed subjects, this receptor system does not appear to contribute to age differences in ethanol-induced CTA under the present test circumstances.
Availability of different dosage forms of scopolamine

We thank Dr. Sherman for his interest in our article and for making pharmacists aware of the availability of scopolamine tablets. While we agree that it is important for pharmacists to be aware of different dosage forms of medications, we could not find any published studies that examined the
Social Skills Training for Highly Aggressive Children Treatment in an Inpatient Psychiatric Setting

Four highly aggressive children who were inpatients in a psychiatric hospital were treated with social skills training. Treatment was applied to each child in multiple baseline fashion across behav...
Applying anticipatory and relational perspectives to the Nigerian delta region oil crisis

Abstract This paper addresses crisis communication shortcomings of oil companies working in the Nigerian delta region. The anticipatory model of crisis communication is blended with the public relations relational perspective to demonstrate how oil companies have responded to crises in the delta region in a manner contrary to what would be consistent with these perspectives. The result has been persistent turmoil in the region and significant distrust of the organizations.
Constructing near-tight wavelet frames by neural networks

ABSTRACT Suppose that o is a sigmoidal function which is the activation function of a neural network. Under certain assumptions on the derivatives of u, we show that a simple linear combination of dilates and translates of o generates a near tight wavelet frame for L2 (R) , which is then used in constructing approximation to multivariate functions by neural networks with one hidden layer. Keywords: neural networks, wavelet frames, representation and approximation. 1. INTRODUCTION In recent years, neural networks have drawn much attention from many different disciplines such as computer science, engineering, biology, and etc. for their wide applications7 in pattern recognition, signal and image processing,robotics, machine speech, control systems, and etc. As it is well known2 ,manyproblems concerning the applications ofneural networks can be directly converted into the problems of approximating multivariate functions by compositions ( or superpositions) of the activation functions of neural networks, for which an extensive study has been motivatedon approximation of multivariate functions by so called neural networks with one hidden layer. Mathematically, aneural network with one hidden layer is expressed as a superposition of an activation function o
Gene products required for de novo synthesis of polysialic acid in Escherichia coli K1

Escherichia coli K1 is responsible for 80% of E. coli neonatal meningitis and is a common pathogen in urinary tract infections. Bacteria of this serotype are encapsulated with the α(2-8)-polysialic acid NeuNAc(α2-8), common to several bacterial pathogens. The gene cluster encoding the pathway for synthesis of this polymer is organized into three regions: (i) kpsSCUDEF, (ii) neuDBACES, and (iii) kpsMT. The K1 polysialyltransferase, NeuS, cannot synthesize polysialic acid de novo without other products of the gene cluster. Membranes isolated from strains having the entire K1 gene cluster can synthesize polysialic acid de novo. We designed a series of plasmid constructs containing fragments of regions 1 and 2 in two compatible vectors to determine the minimum number of gene products required for de novo synthesis of the polysialic acid from CMP-NeuNAc in K1 E. coli. We measured the ability of the various combinations of region 1 and 2 fragments to restore polysialyltransferase activity in vitro in the absence of exogenously added polysaccharide acceptor. The products of region 2 genes neuDBACES alone were not sufficient to support de novo synthesis of polysialic acid in vitro. Only membrane fractions harboring NeuES and KpsCS could form sialic polymer in the absence of exogenous acceptor at the concentrations formed by wild-type E. coli K1 membranes. Membrane fractions harboring NeuES and KpsC together could form small quantities of the sialic polymer de novo.
The role of chemotherapy in advanced thymoma.

Background: Thymoma and thymic carcinomas are rare malignancies. Most thymomas and about one-third of thymic carcinomas can be cured with local therapy. The remainder of will be candidates for systemic therapy. Numerous retrospective trials confirm objective responses to a variety of single-agent and combination chemotherapeutic regimens. Methods: No prospective randomized comparison of regimens has been performed because of the rarity of the disease. This paper reviewed the literature of chemotherapy in advanced thymic malignancies. Results: Existing data suggest that anthracycline plus cisplatin regimens seem to demonstrate higher response rates and perhaps longer median survival times compared with nonanthracycline-containing regimens. Discussion: Thymic malignancies are sensitive to a broad spectrum of systemic agents. Thymic carcinoma has a distinct clinical presentation and worse therapeutic outcomes than thymoma. Despite reproducible high response rates in thymoma, durable complete remissions are rare. Thus, novel new therapeutic targets need to be identified and appropriate agents developed to have further impact on this disease.
Commutative semigroups having greatest regular images

Let S be a commutative semigroup. S has a greatest regular image if and only if each of its Archimedean components contains an idempotent. S has a greatest group-with-zero image if and only if S has precisely two Archimedean components and the upper component contains an idempotent. The existence and structure of these images and of greatest group images is related to tensor products.
A large class of facets for the K -median polytope

The polyhedral structure of the K-median problem is examined. We present an extended formulation that is integral but grows exponentially with the number of nodes. Then, some extra variables are projected out. Based on the reduced formulation, we develop two basic properties for facets of K-median problem. By applying the two properties, we generalize two known classes of facets, de Vries facets and de Farias facets. The computational study illustrates that the generalization is significant.
High pressure adsorption and supercritical desorption of aqueous fructose-glucose mixtures

Abstract An adsorption system with the capability of processing a liquid, gas, or supercritical fluid stream was constructed and used to investigate the phase equilibrium and mass transfer behavior of the monosaccharides, fructose, and glucose. The compounds were first adsorbed onto activated carbon from an aqueous solution and then desorbed into a stream of supercritical carbon dioxide containing a small amount of ethanol to enhance solubility. Experiments were conducted at pressures 82.7 and 151.6 bar and temperatures 35, 50, and 65 °C. A mathematical model incorporating local mass transfer resistance and linear equilibrium isotherms was used to describe the movement of solute in the column. This model represents the experimental data well especially for the liquid phase. The ultimate capacity of activated carbon for both fructose and glucose is low. However, the two components are not adsorbed to the same extent. The relative selectivity of fructose over glucose ranges from 2–75 when adsorbing from aqueous solution, and from 2–300 when desorbing into supercritical carbon dioxide.
An inductive approach to language translation

The possibility of natural language translation by means of fixed operations on example translation is considered. The conception of sentence translation which motivates the work is informally presented, and the measurement of physical similarity in pairs of strings is discussed, a nation which plays a central role in the proposed type of translator. Experimental evidence is presented in support of the premise upon which this conception is based.
Gain-Bandwidth considerations in the design of Hall magnetic circuits

Abstract The gain-bandwidth of Hall devices is shown to be a device characteristic. External circuitry may cause the apparent gain-width product to be less than that of the device. Properties of magnetic materials and their effect upon this product are reviewed.
BiOCl nanoparticles synthesized in lyotropic liquid crystal nanoreactors

The synthesis of nanoparticles of controlled size and shape has attracted much recent interest (1–6). One promising route to nanostructured materials involves synthesis in lyotropic liquid crystals (7–10) formed by mixing a solvent, usually water, and an amphiphile, typically either an ionic or non-ionic surfactant. These amphiphilic molecules typically consist of covalently bound hydrophobic and hydrophilic segments. When such amphiphilic molecules are mixed with water, the resulting amphiphilewater systems self organize into structured periodic lattices consisting of nanometer sized hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains in order to minimize free energy (11). Lyotropic liquid crystals are of exceptional interest because the size, shape, symmetry, and connectivity of these self organized nanoreactors can be predetermined through appropriate selection or design of the liquid crystal phase. Important for scale-up, these nanoreactors are easily reproducible, and can be generated in large volume. When these nanoreactors are used for materials synthesis, it is the subtle interplay of the “soft” nanoreactors with the growing inorganic phase that determines the final size, shape, and crystallographic orientation of the resulting nanomaterials. Liquid crystal nanoreactors are exceptionally versatile for materials synthesis, because there are many chemistries that can be designed to operate exclusively within either the hydrophilic or hydrophobic domains of the liquid crystal. The nanomorphology of the resulting inorganic product is thus greatly influenced by the geometric properties of the nanoreactors it was associated with. Here, we explore the effect of two liquid crystalline phases on the synthesis of BiOCl, the first being a three-dimensionally percolated hexagonal liquid crystal, and the second, a two dimensionally percolated lamellar liquid crystal. Both systems were chemically similar, the only difference being the relative ratio of amphiphile to water, the two components that made up the liquid crystal. We compare these results with synthesis in an isotropic fluid. The size and shape of the BiOCl product correlated directly with the connectivity and confinement effects of the two liquid crystals. The three dimensionally interconnected hexagonal phase yields fairly monodisperse 250 nm long arrowhead shaped particles, while the two dimensionally connected lamellar, phase yields roughly spherical 5 nm particles. Particles synthesized in the absence of the liquid crystal had a completely different shape, and were highly polydisperse in size, consisting of disks ranging from 50 to 250 nm in diameter. Scripta mater. 44 (2001) 1893–1897
Distortion in variable-capacitance diodes

Distortion in variable-capacitance diodes is analyzed using the Volterra series approach. Closed-form expressions for intermodulation distortion produced by variable-capacitance diodes in series- and parallel-tuned circuits are derived and verified by experiment at frequencies up to 200 MHz. The choice of the diode capacitance law exponent for minimum distortion is investigated. Distortion in multiple-diode connections is analyzed and the advantages of the back-to-back connection is shown. Calculation shows the elimination of third-order distortion for n=0.5 in this connection.
Assessing Clinical and Functional Outcomes in the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) Schizophrenia Trial

Schizophrenia is a symptomatically heterogeneous disorder characterized by the presence of positive and negative symptoms, and variable impairment in community functioning. Given the diversity of symptom presentations and functioning associated with schizophrenia, one of the key challenges facing the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) schizophrenia trial was the selection of efficient assessment measures appropriate to a community-based effectiveness trial. This article describes the rationale for the measurement approach adopted for the trial, provides a brief overview of the selected measures, and describes the process of training assessment raters for a large and geographically dispersed study group.