cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Scholarly Literature on E-Government: Characterizing a Nascent Field

The authors conducted a comprehensive review of articles on the subject of e-government that were published in refereed scholarly journals through the end of 2004 to serve as a baseline for future analysis of this emerging field. They found over 100 e-government articles, but only 57 with empirical content. The authors then examined the articles using 12 analytical categories. They conclude that the scholarship about e-government comes primarily from the United States, and from authors trained in the social sciences. Few e-government articles adequately used the literatures that were available (e.g., IT and government, e-government, or any specialized literatures), and few created or tested theory or hypotheses. Articles employed both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, but many contained conclusions that were not supported by their data or analyses. The authors conclude that e-government research is a young and growing field that has yet to achieve adequate scholarly rigor.
High Resolution Mass Spectrometry of Green River Formation Kerogen Oxidations

Normal, isoprenoid, dicarboxylic, keto and various aromatic acids isolated from controlled stepwise degradation of Green River kerogen by successive chromic acid oxidations
A reply to Mayers and Rice (1979)

Abstract Mayers and Rice do not resolve the basic problem in portfolio performance evaluation with the securities market line, the ambiguity introduced by being obliged to choose a market index. Other performance evaluation techniques exist and possess some superior qualities. The Mayers-Rice discussion of my critique of the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) fails to recognize the CAPM's unusual testing implications and ignores the existence of alternative asset pricing theories. Residual analysis should give approximately correct estimates of the abnormal returns caused by specific events if it is conducted with the market model.
Policies for sustaining groundwater resources in India

Abstract: This paper develops an integrated policy framework for groundwater, based on Indian conditions, that identifies four policy types that target depletion, recharge, contamination and treatment. Socio‐economic implications and income inequalities are discussed with special reference to a case study in South India. The sustainability indicators considered in this paper have not shown positive signs especially groundwater level, quality, and distribution of income among different categories of farmers. An integrated watershed based policy package covering both structural and nonstructural policies is suggested in this paper for achieving groundwater sustainability.
Primary HIV Infection Presenting with Acute Rhabdomyolysis

In several reported cases, rhabdomyolysis has been a manifestation of primary infection with HIV. However, other potential causes of rhabdomyolysis were either present or not excluded in most of those cases. We describe a patient in whom acute rhabdomyolysis was a presenting manifestation of primary HIV infection, and in whom other plausible causes of rhabdomyolysis were reasonably excluded.
Comparison of shear-yielding modes in polycarbonate and a thermoplastic polyurethane

A thermoplastic polyurethane (PU) introduced by The Dow Chemical Company under the tradename Isoplast® possesses certain engineering properties that resemble those of polycarbonate (PC), including optical clarity, a glass transition of 140 °C, and comparable modulus and ductility. In this study, the shear-yielding behaviour at a circular hole was compared. Strain birefringence was used to analyse deformation in the linear elastic region. At higher stresses, optical microscope techniques were used to characterize the flow lines through the thickness of the plastically deformed region. Differences in shear-yielding behaviour were attributed to differences in the true stress-true strain relationship of the two materials. The true stress-true strain curve of PC exhibited a yield instability marked by a drop in the true stress. Shear yielding was described in terms of idealized elastic-plastic behaviour, and large-scale flow that accompanied yielding was responsible for the strong thickness dependence of shear yielding. The true stress-true strain curve of PU did not exhibit a true stress drop at the yield point. The primary features of shear yielding were consistent with elastic-plastic behaviour with work hardening; small local plastic strains resulted in more diffuse yielding that was not strongly dependent on thickness.
A note on multiple flow equilibria

A set of ordinary differential equations describing a mechanical system subject to forcing and dissipation is considered. A topological argument is employed to show that if all time-dependent solutions of the governing equations are bounded, the equations admitN steady solutions, whereN is a positive odd integer and where at least (N−1)/2 of the steady solutions are unstable. The results are discussed in the context of atmospheric flows, and it is shown that truncated forms of the quasigeostrophic equations of dynamic meteorology and of Budyko-Sellers climate models satisfy the hypotheses of the theorem.
Rankings and Ravings in the Academic Public

RateMyProfessors.com has received critical reception in the academy: While some college teachers and administrators express support for the site, others complain that it invades their privacy and impinges on their academic freedom. This essay looks closely at one response to Rate My Professors, a weblog titled Rate Your Students that was founded in 2005. The site offers a compelling example of how Rate My Professors—and the movement to commodify higher education that it represents—affects public discourse between students and teachers.
Why Pretend to Deceive

Campbell (1969) has suggested that one way of avoid ing the ethical problem created by deception is to announce to all members of a subject pool that some experiments will involve deception. This paper argues that Campbell's suggestion can be improved by identifying the experiments employing deception. Two basic ways of creating false impressions are examined. One (illusion) is cooperatively produced; the other (delusion) is imposed. Psychological research because of its public nature fails to meet the necessary requirements for successful delusion and overtly or covertly must rely on illusion. A policy of identifying experiments which require false impressions could in time earn psychology the reputation for honesty essential to sound practice.
Sexual politics: Chauvinism and backlash?

This analysis of audience images of contemporary women politicians is organized under three classifications: temperament (the psychological dimension), role (the sociological dimension), and status (the political dimension). The findings provide an answer to the question raised in the title of the essay.
Leaf structure and patterns of photoinhibition in two neotropical palms in clearings and forest understory during the dry season

We studied the leaf structural, water status, and fast fluorescence responses of two palms, Socratea exorrhiza and Scheelea zonensis, under natural dry season conditions in a clearing (high light [HL] palms) and the forest understory (low light [LL] palms) on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. HL-Socratea leaves were more shade-adapted, less xeromorphic, and more strongly affected by drought than HL-Scheelea. Fv/Fm (the ratio of variable to maximum chlorophyll fluorescence) and t, (the half-rise time of Fm) was lower in HL-leaves of both species, indicating photoinhibition. In HL-Scheelea, the lightinduced reduction of Fv/Fm was much less than in HL-Socratea, and Fv/Fm recovered completely overnight. Patterns of relative water content, specific leaf dry weight, stable carbon isotope composition, and leaf conductance suggest that increased drought resistance in Scheelea reduces susceptibility to photoinhibition. An increase in F0 indicated the inactivation of PSII reaction centers in HL-Socratea. The very low chlorophyll a/b ratio and alterations in chloroplast ultrastructure in HLSocratea are consistent with photoinhibition. Under LL, the species showed no appreciable interspecific differences in chlorophyll fluorescence. Excess light leads to low values of Fv/Fm in HL-plants relative to LL-plants on both leaf surfaces, particularly on the lower surface, due to a decrease of Fm in both surfaces and an increase in F0 of lower surface. For both species, Fo for the lower surfaces of HL-plants was higher and t, was markedly lower than for the upper surface, as is typical for shade-adapted leaves. Xeromorphic leaf structure may reduce susceptibility to photoinhibition during the dry season. Drought-enhanced photoinhibition could limit the ability of some species to exploit treefall gaps.
Optical transmission in a circumstellar dust cloud

It is shown from the equation of radiative transfer that the visual attenuation of an optically thick, spherically symmetric circumstellar cloud of dust can be small compared to that produced by an equal optical depth of interstellar dust. The reasons for this are the moderately large albedos of the grains and their tendency to emphasize forward scattering.
‘Fantastic and absurd utterances’: the Vietnam War and misperceptions of anti-Americanism in US–French relations, 1966–1967

This study examines the extent to which policy-makers in the Lyndon Johnson administration relied upon the trope of anti-Americanism to discredit the strong criticism of the Vietnam War that French president Charles de Gaulle delivered in a speech in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in September 1966. It seeks to demonstrate that those in power suffered from what US Secretary of Defence Robert McNamara later acknowledged was a ‘failure of imagination’ towards de Gaulle’s suggestions about the war. Instead, the Johnson team wrongly attributed his critique to an anti-American agenda that they believed stemmed from his tight control over foreign policy, his purported disconnect from the wishes of the French people and his supposed bitterness over both France’s experience in the Second World War and, especially, the end of the French empire in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.
Global Asymptotic Stability of Recurrent Neural Networks With Multiple Time-Varying Delays

In this paper, several sufficient conditions are established for the global asymptotic stability of recurrent neural networks with multiple time-varying delays. The Lyapunov-Krasovskii stability theory for functional differential equations and the linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach are employed in our investigation. The results are shown to be generalizations of some previously published results and are less conservative than existing results. The present results are also applied to recurrent neural networks with constant time delays.
Asymmetrical motor behavior in rats with unilateral striatal excitotoxic lesions as revealed by the elevated body swing test

Abstract Severe degeneration of basal ganglia neurons, particularly the intrinsic neurons of the striatum, is the major underlying neuropathology implicated in clinical attributes of Huntington's disease (HD). The excitotoxin-lesioned striatum provides a useful model for evaluating behavioral parameters of HD. Animals with unilateral excitotoxic lesions exhibit asymmetrical rotational behavior in response to dopamine agonists, such as apomorphine. However, the observed behavior is a pharmacological reaction, and subject to sensitization effects. A behavioral test using undrugged animals may demonstrate a more natural response of the animals to the lesion effects. Recently, we have developed the ‘drug-free’ elevated body swing test (EBST), and demonstrated that hemiparkinsonian rats exhibited significant biased swing activity. In the present study, we observed that animals with unilateral intrastriatal 3-nitropropionic acid or quinolinic acid lesions displayed a significant biased swing activity with the direction ipsilateral to the lesioned side of the brain. This ipsilateral swing corresponded to the ipsilateral rotational behavior exhibited by the lesioned animals when challenged with apomorphine. The present results demonstrated that the EBST is a sensitive measure for characterizing asymmetrical behavior in animals with striatal lesions.
Higher aliphatic polyaldehydes. II. Polymer structure and polymer stability of poly(n‐heptaldehyde)

Poly(n-heptaldehyde) has been prepared by anionic and cationic polymerization at −60°C in methyl cyclohexane. The anionic polymer is more crystalline and of a higher degree of isotactic structure than the somewhat rubbery but still crystalline cationic polymer. The polymers have been acetate-endcapped to improve their thermal stability. Cationic polymer, when endcapped and purified, begins to degrade above room temperature; even crystalline anionic polymer degrades at a reasonable rate at 100°C. The crystallinity of poly(n-heptaldehyde) is caused by crystallization of the acetalic main chain as well as the side chain. Two regions of melting have been recognized by DSC analysis and by microscopic observations. The low melting region between 80 and 100°C has been identified as the melting of the paraffinic side chains of poly(n-heptaldehyde). It consists of three clearly definable endotherms at 78, 87, and 101°C.
Informing, Apprising, Guiding, and Mentoring: Constructs Underlying Upperclassmen Expectations for Advising

We examined the mental constructs that guide students’expectations for advisor behavior. Through exploratory factor analysis, we identified four factors that underlie students’expectations. Interpretive analysis revealed underlying dimensions reflected by the factors of advisor role and enactment level. Specifically, the first dimension reflected that advisors may be expected to perform as academic and developmental advisor. The second dimension showed a refinement of factors such that each role could be enacted in a generalized or individualized manner. Based on the identified role and enactment level, four constructs were posited to guide students’ expectations for advisors: informing, mentoring, guiding, and apprising. Findings suggest that students prefer that advisors display the informing, guiding, and apprising behaviors significantly more than mentoring behaviors.
Signaling virtue: voluntary accountability programs among nonprofit organizations

This article examines the structure of nonprofit voluntary accountability and standard-setting programs, arguing that these programs can be understood as collective action institutions designed to address information asymmetries between nonprofits and their stakeholders. Club theory and the economics of certification suggest that such programs have the potential to provide a signal of quality by setting high standards and fees and rigorously verifying compliance. Such mechanisms can signal quality because higher participation costs may allow only high-quality organizations to join. The article examines the implications of signaling theory using an original dataset on the structure of 32 nonprofit accountability programs across the globe. While many programs set high standards for compliance, the key distinction between strong and weak programs is the use of disclosure or verification mechanisms to enforce compliance. Contrary to theoretical expectations, compliance standards and verification do not appear to be substitutes in creating stronger voluntary programs.
Global communications and expert systems in thermodynamics: Connecting property measurement and chemical process design* ,†

Unprecedented growth in the number of custom-designed software tools for engi- neering applications has created an interoperability problem between the formats and struc- tures of thermodynamic data files and required input/output structures designed for applica- tion software products. Various approaches for standardization of thermophysical and thermochemical property data storage and exchange are analyzed in this paper. Emphasis is made on the development of the XML-based IUPAC standard for thermodynamic data com- munications: ThermoML. A new process for global data submission and dissemination in the field of thermodynamics based on ThermoML and Guided Data Capture software is de- scribed. Establishment of the global submission and dissemination process for thermodynamic data lays the foundation for implementation of the new concept of dynamic data evaluation formulated at NIST/TRC, which requires the development of large electronic databases ca- pable of storing essentially all "raw" experimental data known to date with detailed descrip- tions of relevant metadata and uncertainties. The combination of these databases with expert software designed primarily to generate recommended data based on available "raw" exper- imental data and their uncertainties leads to the possibility of producing data compilations automatically "to order", forming a dynamic data infrastructure. Implementation of the dy- namic data evaluation concept for pure compounds in the new NIST/TRC ThermoData Engine software is discussed.
Overlapping home ranges and microhabitat partitioning among Canyon Wrens (Catherpes mexicanus) and Rock Wrens (Salpinctes obsoletus)

ABSTRACT Patterns of animal space use may vary according to species identity, presence of conspecifics, presence of heterospecifics, and resource availability. We evaluated joint space use by Canyon Wrens (Catherpes mexicanus) and Rock Wrens (Salpinctes obsoletus) by comparing home range sizes, home range overlap, and foraging behavior. Canyon and Rock wrens are ecologically similar species which frequently co-occur along rocky cliffs where members of both species feed on terrestrial invertebrates. Interactions between Canyon and Rock wrens provide information about avian space use and foraging strategies in understudied cliff habitats. We estimated home range for each species using ArcGIS, and quantified foraging microhabitat use. Canyon Wren home ranges were widely spaced, did not overlap conspecifics, and were significantly larger than those of Rock Wrens. Rock Wrens occurred at higher densities and home ranges overlapped conspecifics in 33% of cases by an average of 19%. Canyon and Rock wren home rang...
Intravenous dose-lethality study of American pit viper venoms in mice using standardized methods

An intravenous dose-lethality study of 14 clinically important North and South American pit viper venoms was carried out in mice using standardized, rigorous protocols developed to meet international (WHO) guidelines and US government (FDA) regulations for the development of new treatment products. The study was undertaken in order to establish baseline LD 50 values for the ongoing testing of a new crotalid antivenin F AB prepared from sheep immunoglobulin (IgG). The venoms (lyophilized and pooled from juvenile and adult snakes of both sexes) were taken from 10 rattlesnake (nine Crotalus and one Sistrurus) species, two Agkistrodon species, and two Bothrops species. The dose-response data were subjected to probit analysis. Median lethal dose (LD 50 ) values and their 95% confidence limits (CL) were calculated and statistical comparisons between the median potencies were made. The intravenous LD 50 s (and 95% CL) ranged from a low of 0.13 (0.10–0.15) mg kg –1 for Crotalus durissus terrificus , to a high of 6.32 (5.76–6.94) mg kg –1 for Crotalus horridus horridus . Significant positive rank-order correlations were also found for comparisons between the present LD 5O s and published LD 5O s for intravenous, intraperitoneal, and subcutaneous administration.
Key dependent covert communication system for audio signals

Acoustic signals such as speech and music are commonly used in our day to day life. In recent years, the framework for hiding data into digital audio signals has received extensive research consideration. In this paper, we present a novel mechanism for effective encoding and decoding of hidden data into audio signal's transformed coefficients by decomposing them into Fibonacci bit-lines. Fibonacci bit-lines offer more potential space for data-hiding (since the number of Fibonacci bit-lines is higher than the traditional bit-lines). The proposed technique aims at: i) improving the capacity of the system; ii) improving the stego imperceptiveness; iii) selecting the best audio signal for hiding data from a class of signals; and iv) establishing a covert communication over a public audio channel. The embedded information could be retrieved without prior knowledge of the cover signal. The simulation results were performed over 25 various acoustic signals. In addition, future enhancements of the proposed system are discussed.
Guidance Students Get Guidance1

This article describes the method employed and the results obtained from a follow-up study of New York University alumni who received degrees in the Department of Guidance and Personnel Administration of the School of Education. The study was conducted as a term project, the entire class participating. It is hoped that the material presented will prove useful to students interested in entering upon or progressing in one of the areas of this field of work, as well as to those whose responsibility it is to advise such students.—The Author.
Automated spectral analysis III: application to in vivo proton MR spectroscopy and spectroscopic imaging

An automated method for analysis of in vivo proton magnetic resonance (MR) spectra and reconstruction of metabolite distributions from MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) data is described. A parametric spectral model using acquisition specific, a priori information is combined with a wavelet-based, nonparametric characterization of baseline signals. For image reconstruction, the initial fit estimates were additionally modified according to a priori spatial constraints. The automated fitting procedure was applied to four different examples of MRS data obtained at 1.5 T and 4.1 T. For analysis of major metabolites at medium TE values, the method was shown to perform reliably even in the presence of large baseline signals and relatively poor signal-to-noise ratios typical of in vivo proton MRSI. Identification of additional metabolites was also demonstrated for short TE data. Automated formation of metabolite images will greatly facilitate and expand the clinical applications of MR spectroscopic imaging.
Modelling error estimation and adaptive modelling of perforated materials

Traditional computational analyses of perforated materials, much like traditional computational analyses of heterogeneous materials, involve the use of homogenization, using either the assumption of periodicity or the assumption of statistical homogeneity. Recently, Oden and Vemaganti (Journal of Computational Physics 2000; 164:22-47) have proposed a goal-oriented approach to the modelling of heterogeneous multi-phase linearly elastic materials that does not rely on such idealized situations. In this approach, the mathematical model is adaptively selected based on estimates of the modelling error: the error resulting from the smearing out of rapidly varying material moduli. The approach is said to be goal-oriented because the adaptive process is driven by local estimates of modelling error in quantities of interest to the analyst, instead of global estimates. We extend this goal-oriented adaptive approach to the case of perforated domains composed of linearly elastic materials. Toward this end, new global and local bounds on modelling errors resulting from homogenization of perforated materials are developed. A representative numerical experiment is presented.
CoDeSe: fast deserialization via code generation

Many tools for automated testing, model checking, and debugging store and restore program states multiple times. Storing/restoring a program state is commonly done with serialization/deserialization. Traditionally, the format for stored states is based on data: serialization generates the data that encodes the state, and deserialization interprets this data to restore the state. We propose a new approach, called CoDeSe, where the format for stored states is based on code: serialization generates code whose execution restores the state, and deserialization simply executes the code. We implemented CoDeSe in Java and performed a number of experiments on deserialization of states. CoDeSe provides on average more than 6X speedup over the highly optimized deserialization from the standard Java library. Our new format also allows simple parallel deserialization that can provide additional speedup on top of the sequential CoDeSe but only for larger states.
Adhesion of epoxy to hydrotalcite conversion coatings: I. Correlation with wettability and electrokinetic measurements

Abstract Hydrotalcite (HT) based conversion coatings are being developed as an environmentally benign alternative to chromate conversion coatings. This examination investigates the relationship between the interlayer oxoanion in the HT structure and surface chemistry, and their subsequent effect on adhesion of organic coatings. The interlayer ions examined included nitrate, carbonate and persulfate. Dry and wet-state adhesion of 25–75 μm thick epoxy films were measured by the pull-off tensile strength. The results were compared with surface energy and isoelectric point measurements using the rising height method and electrophoresis of HT powders, respectively. The Lifshitz–van der Waal (LVW)/Lewis acid–base approach was employed for analysis of contact angle data. It was observed that the HTs with greater LVW bonding had better wet-state adhesion, while a reciprocal relationship was seen between dry state adhesion and the isoelectric point. The correlations with the dry and wet state adhesion are interpreted as indicating that dry state adhesion is optimized by minimizing unfavorable polar interactions between the basic epoxy and HT interfaces. Wet state adhesion, where polar interactions are disrupted, is dictated by non-polar bonding.
The Application Of Historical And Modern Management Theories In The Financial Industry: An Analysis Of How Management Practices Affect Employee Turnover!

Employee turnover has always been and continues to be a challenge for managers and entrepreneurs. As managers in the banking industry continue to experience the negative effects of voluntary turnover of tellers and other critical positions, they persist to look for ways to do their jobs better and provide more competitive services to their customers. Some of the literature indicates that a number of the current management practices, fueled by questionable management theories, could be contributing to the increase voluntary turnover ratios. This paper is a literature review as well as application of general management theories and their effect on voluntary turnover in the service industry. It further offers analysis and suggestions for managers, especially for those who are in the service and banking industries. The authors’ observations, suggestions, and recommendations are based on research and nearly fifty years of combined experience as managers and leaders in the banking and service industries.
Transport and Transformation of Chemicals: A Perspective

Transport and transformation processes affecting chemical substances have been examined intensively since the beginnings of the environmental sciences. Most studies of chemical pollutants have been directed toward monitoring the distribution, concentration, and sometimes transformation products that result from releases of chemicals into the environment. Knowledge gained from these studies has often been enhanced when the investigations were guided or complemented by laboratory studies designed to indicate possible transformation pathways. Monitoring data, however, can rarely be generalized because little rationale exists for the direct extrapolation of monitoring results to other chemicals or other sites. Generalizing from the insights gained through monitoring programs and laboratory studies is primarily an exercise in perspective.
Development of a surrogate matrix for cerebral spinal fluid for liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry based analytical methods.

Rationale In recent years, several liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) methods have been reported for the quantitative determination of drugs and metabolites in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). Artificial CSF (aCSF) is often used as a surrogate for preparing calibration curves and quality control samples in these methods. However, aCSF does not accurately represent the composition of real CSF because it is missing all of the proteins and lipids, which may alter the electrospray ionization (ESI) response when performing LC/MS/MS analyses. In the current study we compared the mass spectral response of several compounds with a range of physiochemical properties in aCSF (essentially a mixture of salts and buffers), diluted plasma (ranging from 1:5 to 1:200) and real CSF to find the best surrogate for CSF in LC/MS/MS methods. Methods A number of analytes from polar to non-polar, high protein binding to low protein binding, employing different sample preparation methods, were prepared in diluted plasma, actual CSF or aCSF and tested using LC/MS/MS. The analytes included cotinine and its metabolites, quetiapine, norquetiapine, chlorpromazine, efavirenz and lamivudine. The similarity of MS responses from these compounds in aCSF and diluted plasma to CSF was assessed by comparing the slopes of the calibration curves generated from using linear regression modeling. Results For all compounds, the lowest percent difference in response ratio (0 to 17%) was observed from 1:200 diluted plasma. Our results indicated that, irrespective of the inherent physiochemical properties of the analytes or the method of sample preparation, 1:200 diluted plasma performed as the best surrogate for CSF in LC/MS/MS methods. Conclusions The percent difference in response ratio has been established to demonstrate how different compounds behave between CSF, aCSF and dilute plasma. Although among the compounds tested some of them showed a very similar MS response in actual and aCSF, there were analytes that demonstrated significant differences in ESI-MS signal when sprayed from these two matrices. However, even in such cases, 1:200 diluted plasma generated results with no significant difference from CSF. Therefore, we recommend that in order to develop robust and dependable bioanalytical LC/MS methods from CSF samples, it is more appropriate to prepare calibration curves and quality control samples in diluted plasma instead of aCSF. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Application of Sims Depth Profiling to Ceramic Materials

Depth profiling is becoming a common method of determining composition gradients for those research facilities that have access to SIMS. The problems with this procedure are briefly discussed but well referenced for those interested in using the technique. Spectra for application of depth profiling to a tantalum pentoxide layer on tantalum, silicon implanted in silica, preferential sputtering of niobium and surface treated lithium alumina silicate glass are presented.
Treatment of asthma. New and time-tested strategies.

PreviewResearchers do not know why; but in the last several years, the hospitalization rate and the death rate for asthma have increased significantly. Dr Galant reviews current treatment methods, particularly pharmacologic, for acute and chronic asthma. He also emphasizes education of the patient so that he or she will recognize early signs of asthma exacerbation and institute or seek proper care, which may be the key to reversing this trend.
Quinidine kinetics in congestive heart failure.

The pharmacokinetics of quinidine was studied in cardiac patients with and without congestive heart failure. Following intravenous drug infusion, plasma and urine samples were collected at various times and analyzed for quinidine by a specific assay procedure. Although plasma quinidine concentrations varied over a wide range in both patient groups, the mean drug concentration at each time point was always higher in the congestive failure patients. In the 24-hr postinfusion period, plasma drug disposition was biexponential with half-life values for the fast and slow disposition processes (t½α and t½β) similar for each group. The respective values of t½α and t½β were 5.6 min and 6.8 hr in the congestive heart failure patients and 6.1 min and 6.2 hr in the control group. The volume of the central pool (Vc) and Vdarea were smaller in the congestive heart failure group (p < 0.05) with values of 0.44 ± 0.12 and 1.81 ± 0.49 L/kg, respectively, compared with those of the control group of 0.75 ± 0.31 and 2.67 ± 1.17 L/kg. Total body plasma drug clearance (Cl) was also lower in the heart failure patients (p < 0.05). The estimated Cl values were 3.16 ± 1.10 and 4.95 ± 1.36 ml/min/kg for the heart failure and control patients, respectively. Renal quinidine excretion accounted for 15% and 18% of the administered doses and corresponded to renal clearance values of 0.48 ± 0.15 and 0.95 ± 0.56 ml/min/kg in congestive heart failure and control patients, respectively. The results of this study indicate that the higher quinidine concentrations observed in congestive heart failure patients are due to a significantly smaller distribution volume for the drug.
A review of clinical pharmacy interventions prior to implementation of a personal digital assistant intervention program in a community hospital

Purpose: To evaluate pharmacist interventions and identify areas of improvement prior to decentralization and implementation of a personal digital assistant (PDA) program for documenting interventions. Methods: Intervention data were collected from April 1999 to June 2001 using standardized intervention and activity forms. Following collection, data were analyzed to determine the most common medications requiring intervention, acceptance rates, total and estimated cost savings, interventions performed per care unit, and pharmacist time. Results: A total of 3030 interventions were captured from April 1999 through June 2001. The most common interventions were dosage or frequency changes (80.6%). The total cost savings for the medication ingredients during the period reviewed was $43,733. The estimated cost savings/cost avoidance of interventions during the study period was $850,417. The most common care units involved in interventions were areas where clinical pharmacy faculty practiced: hematology/oncology, general medicine, and intensive care. From January 2001 to June 2001 a comparison of faculty to clinical pharmacists showed that faculty in three care areas (68 beds) documented 552 interventions, compared with 392 interventions by the clinical pharmacists responsible for the seven other care areas (200 beds) (P < 0.05). Conclusions: This review reinforces the benefit of interventions on cost avoidance and patient care. Because a high percentage of interventions was lost due to follow up, implementation of a simplified, uniform approach to clinical intervention reporting through a PDA program and additional decentralization is expected to decrease lost interventions and increase estimated cost avoidance.
The cadmium and lead content of the grain produced by leading Chinese rice cultivars

The cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) content in both white and wholemeal flour milled from 110 leading rice cultivars was assessed. The white flour Cd content ranged from <0.0025 to 0.2530 mg/kg (geometric mean (GM) = 0.0150 mg/kg), while its Pb content ranged from <0.0250 to 0.3830 mg/kg (GM = 0.0210 mg/kg). The indica types took up higher amounts of Cd and Pb than did the japonica types. Although the heavy metal content of wholemeal flour tended to higher than that of white flour, nevertheless 84.5% (Cd) and 95.4% (Pb) of the entries were compliant with the national maximum allowable concentration of 0.2000 mg/kg of each contaminant. An analysis of the Cd content in the white flour of three indica type cultivars grown in two consecutive years at two locations indicated that Cd content may be significantly affected by the conditions prevailing in the growing season.
Electrochemical activation of freons using electron transfer mediators

This overview discusses the electrochemical activation of freons CF2ClCFCl2 (CFC113), CF3Br (FC13B1), and CF2Cl2 (CFC12) using various electron transfer mediators: complex nickel(ii) compounds with nitrogen-containing tetradentate ligands and bipyridyl, aromatic derivatives (perylene, p-dicyanobenzene, A-azobenzene, and others), and sulfur dioxide. A possibility was shown of the homogeneous catalytic activation of freons by two mutually supplementing electron transfer mediators: methylviologen—SO2 and I2—SO2. The involvement of freons by the electron transfer mediators into the syntheses of valuable organic products under mild conditions was demonstrated for several examples.
Teaching Developmental Psychology with Republic

Plato employs the analogy of the “divided line” to illustrate the process of human development. Picture a vertical line broken into four segments. The bottom two segments represent our access to the visible realm (sensation and perception), while the top two represent our access to the intelligible (cognition and intelligence). As we develop, the intellect moves away from the visible realm and sensible particulars toward the conception of abstract essences. This Socratic distinction between the concrete-sensuous and the abstract-formal has been immensely influential in developmental psychology. Through imaginative dialogues with Socrates, students explore the extent to which modern findings from developmental psychology accord with the “upward” movement toward conceptual abstraction and generality Socrates sketched out 2400 years ago.
206 CRISPR/Cas9-MEDIATED REPAIR OF THE NHLRC2 LOCUS IN BEEF CATTLE

In cattle, a mutation in the NHL-repeat containing 2 genes causes a heritable abnormality referred to as developmental duplications. Calves homozygous for this mutation are affected with a broad range of phenotypes resulting from abnormal neural crest cell migration, most commonly manifested as polymelia, the presence of additional limbs. This mutation has become highly prevalent in Angus beef cattle, as lines of cattle with high genetic merit have been shown to have an increased allele frequency of the mutation. The mutation has been identified as a single nucleotide polymorphism resulting in a valine to alanine substitution in a highly conserved protein-coding region of the gene. CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology has been shown to induce changes in the genome by using a guide RNA to target a specific site paired with a Cas-9 protein to create a break in the DNA. These breaks are repaired by either nonhomologous end joining or homology-directed repair. The aim of this preliminary study was to determine the editing efficiency of CRISPR/Cas-9 proteins paired with site-specific guide RNA using cell lines derived from animals homozygous and heterozygous for the NHLRC2 mutation. Bovine fetal fibroblasts of both genotypes were grown in DMEM/F10 media supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 0.01 µg mL−1 of basic fibroblast growth factor, 1 mL L−1 penicillin streptomycin, and 1 mL L−1 of amphotericin B. Cells were plated in a 6-well plate at 80,000 cells/well 48 h before transfection. Two 20-nucleotide guide RNA targeting the genome near the developmental duplications mutation were designed and ligated into pSpCas9(BB)-2A-GFP CRISPR plasmids. Six microliters of Fugene 6 was added to 150 µL of Opti-MEM followed by 2 µg of plasmid DNA and complexed at 37°C for 15 min before being added to each well. At 24 h after transfection, cells were detached with trypsin and sorted by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. When wells were confluent, DNA was extracted using 65 µL of QuickExtract DNA extraction solution. The 500-bp fragment surrounding the mutation was amplified and subjected to a restriction enzyme digest. Fragments with the exact sequence of the mutation were cleaved, whereas normal genotypes or edited genotypes without the mutation sequence remain uncleaved. Fragments were size separated on a 2% agarose gel. Band intensity under ultraviolet illumination was calculated with GelReader and the ratios of cleaved versus uncleaved fragments were compared with the ratio of control (unedited cell lines) for both guide RNA and both heterozygous and homozygous cell lines. Based on this preliminary data, CRISPRs with guide RNA 1 edited the genome at the target site at 13.3 and 12.2% for heterozygous and homozygous cell lines, respectively, and guide RNA 2 affected the target site at 2.5 and 4.1% for heterozygous and homozygous, respectively. These data show that the designed guide RNA paired with CRISPRs are able to elicit changes at the desired locus. In order to understand what repair mechanisms were employed at these loci, the next step is to subclone and sequence PCR products.
Recent Progress in Titanium

A survey of the titanium alloys of greatest commercial significance and those in the pilot stage of development is presented. The alloys discussed include the alpha, alpha-beta, and all-beta titanium alloys. The properties and applications of these alloys are discussed with particular emphasis on their use in rocket motor cases. Other applications for titanium alloys including aircraft fasteners, air-frames, cryogenic vessels, and chemical processing equipment are also discussed. Speculation as to the future of the titanium industry is made.
Substrate cracking in Ti-6Al-4V driven by pulsed laser irradiation and oxidation

Abstract Oxide layers grown on Ti-6Al-4V using pulsed laser irradiation to thicknesses between 100 and 150 nm result in a variation in color of the films, but also exhibit a two-dimensional network of cracks (i.e. mudflat cracking). The crack densities increase with laser scan rate. Focused ion beam sections showed that the cracks not only occur within the oxide film (through thickness) but also penetrate into the titanium alloy substrate to depths between 1 and 6 μm. With this information and the elastic and fracture properties of the film and the substrate measured using nanoindentation, the residual tensile stress and strain undergone by the oxide film while cooling after the application of a laser pulse was estimated; this is the same stress that is relieved through cracking. The possibility that the fracture toughness of the substrate has decreased by embrittlement is also discussed.
Anisoplanatic image propagation along a slanted path under lower atmosphere phase turbulence in the presence of encrypted chaos

In recent research, anisoplanatic electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation along a slanted path in the presence of low atmosphere phase turbulence (modified von Karman spectrum or MVKS) has been investigated assuming a Hufnagel-Valley (HV) type structure parameter. Preliminary results indicate a strong dependence on the slant angle especially for long range transmission and relatively strong turbulence. The investigation was further divided into two regimes, viz. (a) one where the EM source consisted of a plane wave modulated with a digitized image, which is propagated along the turbulent path and recovered via demodulation at the receiver; and (b) transmit the plane wave without modulation along the turbulent path through an image transparency and a thin lens designed to gather the received image in the focal plane. In this paper, we reexamine the same problem (part (a) only) in the presence of a chaotic optical carrier where the chaos is generated in the feedback loop of an acousto-optic Bragg cell. The image information is encrypted within the chaos wave, and subsequently propagated along a similar slant path and identical turbulence conditions. The recovered image extracted via heterodyning from the received chaos is compared quantitatively (through image cross-correlations and mean-squared error measures) for the non-chaotic versus the chaotic approaches. Generally, “packaging” the information in chaos improves performance through turbulent propagation, and results are discussed from this perspective. Concurrently, we will also examine the effect of a non-encrypted plane EM wave propagation through a transparency-lens combination. These results are also presented with appropriate comparisons with the cases involving lensless transmission of imagery through corresponding turbulent and non-turbulent layers.
Low frequency noise in 2D materials: Graphene and MoS 2

The noise mechanisms in graphene and MoS 2 are quite different. The noise characteristics of MoS 2 transistors could be described by the McWhorter model. The range of the trap densities responsible for the 1/f noise in MoS 2 extracted from the noise measurements is from ∼1018 eV−1cm−3 to ∼ 6×1020 eV−1cm−3. The smallest noise level and smallest trap density was found for multilayer MoS 2 transistors with the number of layer N>6. The noise level in graphene, in general, is much smaller than in MoS 2 transistors and does not comply with the McWhorter model. The low frequency noise in high quality graphene transistors might be relatively low and comparable to Si MOSFETs. The contacts have an important effect on the noise in graphene, but the dominant sources of noise in not aged devices is the channel. The gate voltage dependencies of noise in graphene indicate that the mobility fluctuations give the dominant contribution to noise. The noise measurements of electron irradiated graphene devices and measurements in magnetic field confirm this hypothesis. Both in MoS 2 and graphene, the noise decreases with the number, N, of the atomic layers. The 1/f noise in relatively thin graphene devices with N<7 is the surface phenomenon. In the thicker graphene devices the volume mechanisms of noise start to dominate. Gas environment changes the shape of the noise spectra in graphene. Therefore, the low frequency noise measurements, in combination with other sensing parameters, can be used for the selective gas sensing.
Post-Marriage Income Splitting Through the Deduction for Alimony Payments: A Reply to Professor Schoettle on Lunding v. New York

This article responds to an analysis of Lunding v. N.Y. by Professor Ferdinand P. Schoettle, who argues in favor of the taxpayer in the case relying on free-market economic values. Professor Schoettle criticizes Professor Michael J. McIntyre and Richard D. Pomp’s defense of New York’s tax laws regarding payment and receipt of alimony by non-residents. Section 1 of this article discusses the tax treatment of alimony under New York law at that time, and the principle that a goal of the New York state income is not to subject taxpayers to unconstitutional double taxation. This section further illustrates the tax logic of the New York system. Section 1 concludes by arguing that the rate differences under New York law do not unconstitutionally favor residents over non-residents. Section 2 agrees with Professor Schoettle that the proper analysis of the alimony issue should proceed under the Commerce Clause. This section also agrees with Schoettle that free trade principles should carry significant weight when determining whether a state has overreached in the taxation of nonresidents. The article concludes by explaining how the New York system for taxing alimony actually promotes free-market values despite Professor Schoettle’s concerns, and is constitutional under the Commerce Clause.