cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An Approach to Industrial Real Estate Market Segmentation and Valuation Using the Arbitrage Pricing Paradigm

This paper investigates whether a segmented market exists for industrial real estate with respect to risk and return characteristics. Given the existence of industrial market segmentation, the next issue examined is whether a submarket perspective or an integrated real estate market orientation provides better rate of return estimates for individual industrial properties using an Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) framework. The results support the existence of regional markets for industrial real estate. A submarket orientation rather than an integrated perspective is also found more appropriate in predicting returns on industrial real estate.
Potato leafhopper (Homoptera : Cicadellidae) in water-stressed alfalfa : population consequences and field tests

The majority of life history traits of the egg, nymph, and adult stages of the potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris), are adversely affected when they use water-stressed alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.). The consequences of these changes at the population level were examined by constructing life history statistics for cohorts on well-watered, moderately, and severely stressed alfalfa at the early regrowth and bud stage. The net reproductive rate declined with the increase in plant water stress for cohorts on both plant growth stages. The intrinsic rate of increase ( rm ) decreased when expressed on both a day and a degree-day basis. On early regrowth alfalfa, rm values on a centigrade degree-day basis were 0.0064, 0.0049, and 0.0039 for the control, moderate, and severe treatments, respectively. On bud stage alfalfa, rm values were 0.0049, 0.0041, and 0.0031 for the same treatments. The higher temperatures found in water-stressed fields were insufficient to compensate for the lower rm of populations in these treatments. Coupled Leslie matrices were used to model the growth of leafhopper populations during one alfalfa growth cycle. These simulations show a 41 and 54% decline in total population size at harvest for the moderate and severe treatments, respectively. Data from water-stressed field plots were used to validate results from the controlled environment studies. Similar responses were found for immature developmental period, adult fecundity, and nymph population size. These results indicate that data obtained at a relatively constant water potential in a controlled environment can be used to approximate those values under the more variable conditions found in the field.
Anti‐Inflammatory Therapeutics

The development of anti-inflammatory therapeutics is an active area of pharmacological research. As we look forward to future discoveries, it also pays to look to the past for potentially useful but neglected therapeutic agents. One example is thalidomide, the drug that had caused a birth defect disaster. Another is cannabinoid, the molecule that has been associated with substance abuse. More targets for anti-inflammatory therapeutics have been and will be discovered. In this chapter, we will provide two examples: SAHA and catecholamines. Keywords: anti-inflammatory therapeutics; catecholamines; SAHA; anti-inflammatory herapeutics; cannabinoid; thalidomide
The seed dispersal catapult of Cardamine parviflora (Brassicaceae) is efficient but unreliable

UNLABELLED PREMISE OF THE STUDY Seed dispersal performance is an essential component of plant fitness. Despite their significance in shaping performance, the mechanical processes that drive dispersal are poorly understood. We have quantified seed dispersal mechanics in Cardamine parviflora (Brassicaceae), a ballistic disperser that launches seeds with specialized catapult-like structures. To determine which aspects of catapult function dictate interspecific dispersal differences, we compared this disperser with other ballistic dispersers. Comparison with brassicas that lack ballistic dispersal may also provide insight into the evolution of this mechanism. • METHODS Catapult performance was quantified using high-speed video analysis of dehiscence, ballistic modeling of seed trajectories, and measuring the mechanical energy storage capacity of the spring-like siliqua valve tissue that launched the seeds. • KEY RESULTS The siliquae valves coiled rapidly outward, launching the seeds in 4.7 ± 1.3 ms (mean ± SD, N = 11). Coiling was likely driven by the bilayered valve structure. The catapult was 21.3 ± 10.3% efficient (mean ± SD, N = 11) at transferring stored elastic energy to the seeds as kinetic energy. The majority of seeds (71.4%) were not launched effectively. • CONCLUSIONS The efficiency of the C. parviflora catapult was high in comparison to that of a ballistic diplochore, a dispersal mode associated with poor ballistic performance, although the unreliability of the launch mechanism limited dispersal distance. Effective launching requires temporary seed-valve adhesion. The adhesion mechanism may be the source of the unreliability. Valve curvature is likely driven by the bilayered valve structure, a feature absent in nonballistic brassicas.
The production of chemical heterogeneity in Upper Mystic Lake

Chemical heterogeneity in a lake may arise from spatially and temporally nonuniform inputs or from spatially nonuniform transformation rates within the water body. The potential for heterogeneity to persist at a given spatial scale then depends on the relative magnitudes of the hydraulic residence time, the timescale for mixing, and the timescale for transformations to and from the chemical species of interest. Through simple scaling arguments, the potential for heterogeneity in total arsenic (As) and arsenic speciation were predicted for Upper Mystic Lake, a small urban lake near Boston, Massachusetts. Specifically, heterogeneity in total arsenic was expected during periods of high inflow—which are typical of spring conditions—given a sufficient magnitude of inflow variation. Heterogeneity in As(III) was expected throughout the year, whenever spatial variations in the net As(V)-to-As(III) transformation rate exceeded a few percent per day. Observed heterogeneity was consistent with these predictions. Although modest, heterogeneity in total As was highest in early spring (7%, expressed as the spatial standard deviation divided by the lakewide mean). By contrast, heterogeneity of As(III) was as high as 36%, indicating that spatial variation in oxidation and reduction rates is sufficient to contribute to heterogeneity. Heterogeneity in As(III) varied significantly from month to month.
Comorbid somatic symptoms and functional status in patients with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome: sensory amplification as a common mechanism.

Background Somatic symptoms are common in conditions such as fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Objective Authors investigated a potential shared pathologic mechanism: a generalized perceptual abnormality where there is heightened responsiveness to varied sensory stimulation, including pain. Method A composite measure of sensory sensitivity was created and compared with measures of somatic symptoms, comorbid psychological disturbances, and self-reported physical functioning in 38 patients with FM and/or CFS. Results Sensory amplification influenced physical functioning indirectly through pain intensity, and physical symptoms and fatigue also independently contributed to physical functioning. Conclusion Sensory amplification may be an underlying pathophysiologic mechanism in these disorders that is relatively independent of depression and depressive symptoms.
The Cambridge Photographic Moon Atlas, by Alan Chu, Wolfgang Paech, Mario Weigand, translated by Storm Dunlop: Scope: general interest. Level: general readership, non-specialists, pre-university, undergraduate, advanced undergraduate, teacher.

New York, Cambridge University Press, 2012, 192 pp., £35.00 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-10-701973-7. Scope: general interest. Level: general readership, non-specialists, pre-university, undergraduate, a...
ETP: Encounter Transfer Protocol for opportunistic vehicle communication

This paper studies the problem of bulk data transfer between a pair of moving vehicles as they encounter, using IEEE 802.11p (Dedicated Short Range Communication, or DSRC) radios. Comparing to the well-studied problem of “Drive-Through Internet”, enabling an efficient, reliable and fair data transfer between two fast-moving vehicles could be even more challenging because the effective link duration is halved, vehicle-to-vehicle channel is unpredictable and DSRC is a new technology. We design an Encounter Transfer Protocol (ETP) which is suitable for this vehicle encounter case. We introduce two new components which are able to improve the data transfer performance in such a challenging environment: (1) we advocate an enhanced window adjustment policy called BIBD(Bimodal Increase, Bimodal Decrease) which is able to quickly adapt to fast-changing channel conditions and stabilize afterwards. We experimentally demonstrate the BIBD policy outperforms other policies, including commonly used AIMD policy. (2) We also suggest a variety of enhancement techniques that not only fully utilize the precious link duration as vehicles encounter but also aggressively compensate packet drops caused by fading channel. Using a small fleet of DSRC-equipped vehicles, we experimentally demonstrate that ETP is able to at least double the throughput of TCP as both vehicles are moving, and improve performance by about 20–50% as only one vehicle is moving. Our experiments also show that ETP fairly allocates bandwidth resource under stressful network congestion scenarios.
Towards an integrated model for breast cancer etiology: The lifelong interplay of genes, lifestyle, and hormones

While the association of a number of risk factors, such as family history and reproductive patterns, with breast cancer has been well established for many years, work in the past 10–15 years also has added substantially to our understanding of disease etiology. Contributions of particular note include the delineation of the role of endogenous and exogenous estrogens to breast cancer risk, and the discovery and quantification of risk associated with several gene mutations (e.g. BRCA1). Although it is difficult to integrate all epidemiologic data into a single biologic model, it is clear that several important components or pathways exist. Early life events probably determine both the number of susceptible breast cells at risk and whether mutations occur in these cells. High endogenous estrogens are well established as an important cause of breast cancer, and many known risk factors appear to operate through this pathway. Estrogens (and probably other growth factors) appear to accelerate the development of breast cancer at many points along the progression from early mutation to tumor metastasis, and appear to be influential at many points in a woman's life. These data now provide a basis for a number of strategies that can reduce risk of breast cancer, although some strategies represent complex decision-making. Together, the modification of nutritional and lifestyle risk factors and the judicious use of chemopreventive agents could have a major impact on breast cancer incidence. Further research is needed in many areas, but a few specific arenas are given particular mention.
Optimal End-Game Strategy in Basketball

When faced with protecting a three-point lead in the waning seconds of a basketball game, which is a preferable strategy: playing defense or fouling the offense before they can attempt a game-tying shot? Gonzaga University head coach, Mark Few, was faced with such a decision against Michigan State in the semi-finals of the Maui Invitational (November 22, 2005) and elected to play defense. The strategy backfired, as Michigan State's Maurice Ager made a three-point basket at the buzzer to force overtime. (Gonzaga eventually won in triple overtime.) Was this failure to hold the lead at the end of regulation bad luck or bad strategy? Put another way, which strategy (conventional defense or intentionally fouling) maximizes the defensive team's chances of winning the game? Drawing on the Gonzaga/Michigan State game for inspiration, this paper addresses this question and concludes that, contrary to popular belief, intentionally fouling is preferable to playing tight defense.
E-business development for competitive advantages: a case study

Electronic business (e-business) today plays a major role in the world's economy. Forester Research estimated that, by 2003, the value of e-commerce of US and Europe will reach US$ 3 trillion. As the e-marketplace becomes more lucrative, it attracts new entrants and created turmoil in the market. There have been many spectacular successes and many failures.This paper presents a study of e-business competitive advantage strategies using the success at Intel. After the initial deployment of its e-business pilot system in July 1998, Intel ramped US$ 1 billion sales on e-business each month for the rest of the year. Intel became the fifth most profitable company in the US in the year 2000, up from the rank of eighth in 1999. Despite the rapid decline in stock values of many Internet related companies and the recession, Intel is still successful. By the end of 2001, Intel was the seventh largest market capitalization company in the US.
Increased Prevalence of Coronary Artery Aneurysms Among Cocaine Users

Background— Cocaine abuse has been implicated in multiple cardiovascular complications. Coronary artery aneurysms (CAAs) and ectasia occur in 0.2% to 5.3% of patients referred for angiography and are associated with atherosclerosis, Kawasaki’s disease, and several rare disorders. After observing CAAs in multiple young cocaine users, we investigated the prevalence of CAAs among cocaine users undergoing coronary angiography. Methods and Results— Clinical and angiographic characteristics of 112 consecutive patients with a history of cocaine use and coronary angiography were compared with a control group of similar age and risk factors from an existing angiographic database over the same time period. Coronary angiograms were independently read by 3 reviewers blinded to cocaine use. Cocaine users were young (mean age, 44 years), predominantly male (80%), and cigarette smokers (95%). Control patients had higher rates of diabetes (33%) and more severe coronary artery disease (P=0.01). Previous myocardial infarct...
Pinta: a system for visualizing the anatomical structures of the brain from MR imaging

Pinta is a system for segmentation and visualization of anatomical structures obtained from serial sections reconstructed from magnetic resonance imaging. The system approaches the segmentation problem by assigning each volumetric region to an anatomical structure. This is accomplished by satisfying constraints at the pixel level, slice level, and volumetric level. Each slice is represented by an attributed graph, where nodes correspond to regions and links correspond to the relations between regions. These regions are obtained by grouping pixels based on similarity and proximity. The slice level attributed graphs are then coerced to form a volumetric attributed graph, where volumetric consistency can be verified. The volumetric graph is used to ensure consistency from symbolic representations obtained from individual slices. The system allows errors to be made at the slice level, yet removes them when the volumetric consistency cannot be verified. Once the segmentation is complete, the 3D surfaces of the brain can be constructed and visualized. >
Reconfigurable Logic Control Using IEC 61499 Function Blocks

This paper presents one approach to design logic control systems using event-condition-action (ECA) rules implemented with IEC 61499 function blocks (FBs). ECA rules have been used extensively to specify the behavior of active database and expert systems and are recognized as a highly reconfigurable tool to design reactive behavior. Recent results have shown how the use of ECA rules can greatly increase the modularity, integrability, and diagnosability of the logic control system thus increasing its reconfigurability. This paper proposes a FB architecture such that the behavior of the control system follows the ECA paradigm.
Variation of the nature of citation measures with journals and scientific specialties

The classification of scientific citations according to their quality and function, established in a previous paper, is strengthened by tests of its reproducibility and universality. The method is then applied to articles in various specialties of theoretical physics published in various journals, and conclusions are drawn about differences by specialty and by geographical areas. Specifically, it is shown for the sample investigated (a) that the number of papers referred to per article is much lower for Soviet journals than for European, US, or Japanese journals; (b) that this number is much lower for solid state physics than for high energy or nuclear physics; (c) that US journals have a higher percentage of conceptual citations, and a much higher percentage of organic citations than Soviet journals; (d) that the Soviet Journal of Nuclear Physics has citation patterns markedly different than the other two Soviet journals investigated and is rather similar to that of the US journals; (e) that high energy physics shows a significantly higher percentage of organic citations and a somewhat higher percentage of evolutionary citations than either nuclear physics or solid state physics. Some speculations are presented to “explain” these effects.
An Energy-Constrained Parameterization of Eddy Buoyancy Flux

A parameterization for eddy buoyancy fluxes for use in coarse-grid models is developed and tested against eddy-resolving simulations. The development is based on the assumption that the eddies are adiabatic (except near the surface) and the observation that the flux of buoyancy is affected by barotropic, depth-independent eddies. Like the previous parameterizations of Gent and McWilliams (GM) and Visbeck et al. (VMHS), the horizontal flux of a tracer is proportional to the local large-scale horizontal gradient of the tracer through a transfer coefficient assumed to be given by the product of a typical eddy velocity scale and a typical mixing length. The proposed parameterization differs from GM and VMHS in the selection of the eddy velocity scale, which is based on the kinetic energy balance of baroclinic eddies. The three parameterizations are compared to eddy-resolving computations in a variety of forcing configurations and for several sets of parameters. The VMHS and the energy balance parameterizations perform best in the tests considered here.
Apoptosis in anititumor strategies: Modulation of cell cycle or differentiation

There is a strong evidence that administration of antitumor drugs triggers apoptotic death of target cells. A characteristic feature of apoptosis is active participation of the affected cell in its demise. Attempts have been made, therefore, to potentiate the cytotoxicity of a variety of agents by modulating the propensity of cells to respond by apoptosis. Several strategies to enhance apoptosis that involve modulation of the cell cycle or differentiation are discussed. Loss of control of the G1 checkpoint in tumor cells allows one to design treatments that arrest normal cells at the checkpoint and attempt to selectively kill tumor cells with S phase specific drugs. The possibility of a restoration of the apoptosis triggering function of the tumor suppressor gene p53 when the G1 checkpoint function is abolished is expected to increase tumor cells' sensitivity to S phase poisons. Because induction of apoptosis by many antitumor drugs is cell cycle phase specific, drug combinations that preferentially trigger apoptosis at different phases of the cycle, or recruitment of cells to the sensitive phase, offer another antitumor strategy. There is also evidence that apoptosis is potentiated when cell differentiation is triggered following DNA damage. This observation suggests that strategies which combine DNA damaging and differentiating drugs, under conditions where the latter are administered following DNA damage caused by the former, may be successful.
Horizontal transmission of Rickettsia felis between cat fleas, Ctenocephalides felis

Rickettsia felis is a rickettsial pathogen primarily associated with the cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis. Although laboratory studies have confirmed that R. felis is maintained by transstadial and transovarial transmission in C. felis, distinct mechanisms of horizontal transmission of R. felis among cat fleas are undefined. Based on the inefficient vertical transmission of R. felis by cat fleas and the detection of R. felis in a variety of haematophagous arthropods, we hypothesize that R. felis is horizontally transmitted between cat fleas. Towards testing this hypothesis, flea transmission of R. felis via a bloodmeal was assessed weekly for 4 weeks. Rhodamine B was used to distinguish uninfected recipient and R. felis-infected donor fleas in a rickettsial horizontal transmission bioassay, and quantitative real-time PCR assay was used to measure transmission frequency; immunofluorescence assay also confirmed transmission. Female fleas acquired R. felis infection more readily than male fleas after feeding on a R. felis-infected bloodmeal for 24 h (69.3% and 43.3%, respectively) and both Rickettsia-uninfected recipient male and female fleas became infected with R. felis after cofeeding with R. felis-infected donor fleas (3.3-40.0%). Distinct bioassays were developed to further determine that R. felis was transmitted from R. felis-infected to uninfected fleas during cofeeding and copulation. Vertical transmission of R. felis by infected fleas was not demonstrated in this study. The demonstration of horizontal transmission of R. felis between cat fleas has broad implications for the ecology of R. felis rickettsiosis.
CPCJ 50th Anniversary Editorial Board Commentary: Otolaryngology—Then and Now

This review continues the series of articles by the Editorial Board reflecting upon the first volume of the journal published in 1964 and celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal. This editorial examines the contributions of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery to interdisciplinary cleft care. The aerodigestive tract has many functions that are impacted by the cleft anomaly. Progress in the development of selected therapies will be reviewed.
TOTAL ENERGY COSTS - AEROBIC AND ANAEROBIC, EXERCISE AND RECOVERY - OF FIVE RESISTANCE EXERCISES

We utilized a non-steady state method (kJ per set, not kJ min -1 ) to estimate the total energy costs (aerobic and anaerobic, exercise and recovery) of five different resistance exercises: incline bench press, squat, deadlift, shoulder shrug and calf raise. Using a Smith machine, work was precisely measured as the product of the vertical distance the lifting bar traveled and the amount of weight lifted. The average of two lifts performed on separate days was completed by 16 women (165 cm; 61.1 kg; 21.8 years) and 22 men (180.5 cm; 83 kg; 23.7 years). Overall 40 data points (the averages of 80 lifts) were plotted and correlations completed within each exercise for work and total energy costs: deadlift r = 0.997, squat r = 0.977, incline press r = 0.947, shoulder shrug r = 0.921 and calf raise r = 0.941 (p < 0.05). The amount of oxygen consumed during exercise for each lift represented the lowest energy cost contribution (18%), followed by anaerobic (31%) and excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC, 51%) (p < 0.05). The identification of work (J) along with an estimate of the total energy costs (kJ) revealed remarkably consistent relationships within any given resistance exercise, leading to a predictable increase in the cost of lifting for each exercise. However, due to the muscle/joint and movement characteristics of each exercise, the work to cost relationship differed for all lifts.
Development and implementation of a phasor measurement unit for real-time monitoring, control and protection of power systems

Measurement and calculations of actual power system parameters in real-time have been carried out by Synchronized Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs). The applications of PMUs in power system are extended to protection, control and monitoring of wide area of power system. This research will present the real-time calculation of power system parameters using PMUs and their application in power system studies. The developed system has the capability of utilizing the designed PMU for analyzing the power system in real-time. A laboratory test setup was utilized to test real-time application of the developed PMU. This system uses different DAQs to gather voltage and current data, and measure power system parameters such as the voltage and current phasors, positive, negative and zero sequences, powers and frequency of each component. The results of PMUs were verified by measurement devices. The potential of the developed PMU system in calculating the power system stability index in real-time as well as the line parameters by the available phasors data was discussed.
Improving city competitiveness through the investment climate: ranking 23 Chinese cities

During the last decade, major developing countries including China have begun to integrate much more with the global economy. The countries that are aggressively integrating have grown significantly faster than those that are not. In the 1990s, the more rapidly globalizing developing countries (measured in terms of increased trade participation) grew at 5.0 percent per year, while the rest of the developing world posted negative growth of 1.1 percent. Among the more aggressive globalizers were Brazil, China, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, and India. That globalizing developing countries are doing well on average is good news. But these averages disguise considerable variation in performance within this group. China has done spectacularly well, and is the unchallenged leader of the pack. The country has doubled its ratio of trade to GDP over the past two decades (to 41 percent of GDP in 1999), and has had per capita GDP growth of nearly 8 percent on average during 1990-99. Malaysia was another winner: in spite of the temporary income compression due to the Asian crisis, it could still enjoy per capita GDP growth of 3.8 percent during the 1990s. Again, despite the crisis, Thailand's per capita GDP growth in the 1990s averaged 3.8 percent. However, the per capita GDP growth of another relatively aggressive globalizer, Brazil, has only been around 1 percent for 1990-99; and growth in the Philippines was only 0.4 percent. India, with per capita GDP growth of 3.3 percent during 1990-99.
Optimal, efficient, recursive edge detection filters

The design of an optimal, efficient, infinite-impulse-response (IIR) edge detection filter is described. J. Canny (1986) approached the problem by formulating three criteria designed in any edge detection filter: good detection, good localization, and low spurious response. He maximized the product of the first two criteria while keeping the spurious response criterion constant. Using the variational approach, he derived a set of finite extent step edge detection filters corresponding to various values of the spurious response criterion, approximating the filters by the first derivative of a Gaussian. A more direct approach is described in this paper. The three criteria are formulated as appropriate for a filter of infinite impulse response, and the calculus of variations is used to optimize the composite criteria. Although the filter derived is also well approximated by first derivative of a Gaussian, a superior recursively implemented approximation is achieved directly. The approximating filter is separable into two linear filters operating in two orthogonal directions allowing for parallel edge detection processing. The implementation is very simple and computationally efficient. >
Professionalism: A framework to guide medical education

Context Despite considerable advances in the incorporation of professionalism into the formal curriculum, medical students and residents are too often presented with a mechanical, unreflective version of the topic that fails to convey deeper ethical and humanistic aspirations. Some misunderstandings of professionalism are exacerbated by commonly used assessment tools that focus only on superficially observable behaviour and not on moral values and attitudes. Methods Following a selective literature review, we engaged in philosophical ethical analysis to identify the key precepts associated with professionalism that could best guide the development of an appropriately reflective curriculum. Results The key precepts needed for a robust presentation of professionalism can be grouped under two headings: ‘Professionalism as a trust-generating promise’ (representing commitment to patients’ interests, more than a mere business, a social contract, a public and collective promise, and hard work), and ‘Professionalism as application of virtue to practice’ (based on virtue, deeper attitudes rather than mere behaviour, and requiring of practical wisdom). Conclusions These key precepts help students to avoid many common, unreflective misunderstandings of professionalism, and guide faculty staff and students jointly to address the deeper issues required for successful professional identity formation.
Plastid Transformation in Flowering Plants

The plastid genome of higher plants is relatively small, 120–230-kb in size, and present in up to 10,000 copies per cell. Standard protocols for the introduction of transforming DNA employ biolistic DNA delivery or polyethylene glycol treatment. Genetically stable, transgenic plants are obtained by modification of the plastid genome by homologous recombination, followed by selection for the transformed genome copy by the expression of marker genes that protect the cells from selective agents. Commonly used selective agents are antibiotics, including spectinomycin, streptomycin, kanamycin and chloramphenicol. Selection for resistance to amino acid analogues has also been successful. The types of plastid genome manipulations include gene deletion, gene insertion, and gene replacement, facilitated by specially designed transformation vectors. Methods are also available for post-transformation removal of marker genes. The model species for plastid genetic manipulation is Nicotiana tabacum, in which most protocols have been tested. Plastid transformation is also available in several solanaceous crops (tomato, potato, eggplant) and ornamental species (petunia, Nicotiana sylvestris). Significant progress has been made with Brasssicaceae including cabbage, oilseed rape and Arabidopsis. Recent additions to the crops in which plastid transformation is reproducibly obtained are lettuce, soybean and sugar beet. The monocots are a taxonomic group recalcitrant to plastid transformation; initial inroads have been made only in rice.
The FAME Problem Domain for Distributed Planning

We introduce the Fortunate Artists Media Empire (FAME) problem domain to study approaches for solving key challenges in distributed planning such as dynamic environments, dynamic goals, uncertainty of actions and scalability. FAME is an artificial problem domain that allows us to focus on key domain-independent research issues. The FAME problem domain is focused on broadcast quality monitoring tasks for radio and TV stations. Besides the broadcast stations, the FAME infrastructure consists of a quality assurance (QA) monitoring headquarters, QA regional centers, and mobile, truck-mounted sensors that need to be employed effectively. An implementation of the FAME domain could serve as a testbed for distributed planning research.
Fetal Rat Gubernaculum Mesenchymal Cells Adopt Myogenic and Myofibroblast-Like Phenotypes

Purpose: Gubernaculum-cremaster complex development is hormonally regulated and abnormal in a cryptorchid rat model. Using cell tracking techniques and imaging we studied myogenic phenotypes and fates in the fetal rat gubernaculum-cremaster complex.Materials and Methods: Embryonic day 17 gubernaculum-cremaster complexes were labeled with CellTracker™ or the DNA synthesis marker EdU (5-ethynyl-2′-deoxyuridine), or immobilized in Matrigel® and grown in culture. Embryonic day 17 to 21 gubernaculum-cremaster complex sections and cells were imaged using wide field and deconvolution immunofluorescence microscopy, and muscle and/or myofibroblast specific antibodies. Deconvolved image stacks were used to create a 3-dimensional model of embryonic day 21 gubernaculum-cremaster complex muscle.Results: PAX7 (paired box 7) positive and myogenin positive muscle precursors were visible in a desmin-rich myogenic zone between muscle layers that elongated and became thicker during development. Gubernaculum-cremaster comple...
Foreign Reporters Armed to Attack Kenya: 2013 Election as Contestation Space between Western and Local Mediascapes of the 'African Problem'

In How to Write about Africa Binyavanga Wainaina sums up the default view with which Africa is portrayed, especially through a Euro-American mediascape as: Always use the word 'Africa' or 'Darkness' or 'Safari' in your title. Subtitles may include the words 'Zanzibar', 'Masai', 'Zulu', 'Zambezi', 'Congo', 'Nile', 'Big', 'Sky', 'Shadow', 'Drum'... Also useful are words such as 'Guerrillas', 'Timeless', 'Primordial' and 'Tribal'. Note that 'People' means Africans who are not black, while 'The People' means black Africans  This voice captures the default narrative that continue to define what Africa means to a Euro-American mediated reality. But while this narrative has prevailed in the past thanks to the single-story nature of Western media that sourced, created, controlled and perpetuated it in almost all world media, this stereotype is today being challenged. (African) people who were formerly passive characters and unwitting consumers of their narratives as produced for them by Western media, are learning to challenge them. They are claiming some role of prosumers in the a new mediasacape made possible by liberalization and globalization of the means of producing, disseminating and consuming information. This paper examines how this contest played during the 2013 presidential election in Kenya. While Western media continued to hunt for the narrative of violence, social disintegration and tribal disharmony through the lenses of the contested election of 2007-2008, Kenyans were determined to tell their story this time round, through their new role of prosumers. This paper critiques this David-vs-Goliath-like contest in the context of the role of new media and its impact in re-engineering Africans to reshape the story of the African problem.
Putin’s Sochi hubris: righting the ship of sport, wronging the ship of state?

This article contributes to the literature on crisis management by focusing on sport mega-events as a factor which may distract a leader from responding effectively to the outbreak of an internatio...
Linking Value Chain Costs To Products And Customers: Survey And Evaluation Of Large U.S. Manufacturing Firms’ Current Practices

Success in a competitive environment requires effectively selecting an optimal mix of value chain activities. Despite the fact that corporate executives need to understand the costs and benefits of supporting particular products and customers, little empirical evidence is available on how, and how well, companies are linking their value chain costs to these two cost objects. The results of this study, based on responses to a survey of 120 large U.S. manufacturing companies, indicate that firms tend to link their value chain costs to products/product lines more than to customers/customer classes. For both cost objects, most of the cost allocation bases used is volume-based. These findings suggest that while there is attention to the value chain costs, there is room for increasing the proportion of costs traced to products and customers and for expanding the use of non-volume allocation bases.
Perspective On Gallium Nitride

This paper is a historical review (mostly personal) of some major developments in this wide, direct gap material. It includes key technologies of synthesis, electrical and optical properties and many applications.
Black Males’ Perceptions of the Work–College Balance: The Impact of Employment on Academic Success in the Community College

This study discusses the impact of employment on academic success among Black male students in the community college, from students’ perspectives. Data were collected from semi-structured interview...
Inorganic-bonded mica mat for switch gear applications

In many areas of electrical equipment — generators, for example — the constant push toward greater performance levels has made necessary a frequent reappraisal of the materials available for design purposes. This is no less true in switchgear. In the case of arc barriers, the number of available materials has in the past been fairly limited to a group of organic-bonded laminates on the one hand and a small family of moldable inorganic systems on the other. Panels and auxiliary equipment have had a somewhat greater range, but are nevertheless equally pressured to keep an eye on any potentially useful developments. Among these may now be included in mica composition having the frequently-desirable anisotropy of a laminated structure combined with the superior thermal and life properties of a non-resin-based system.
Inhibition of phosphatidylcholine synthesis in mammary tissue by 2-chloroethyltrimethylammonium chloride (Short Communication)

The incorporation of choline into phosphatidylcholine in mammary tissue from lactating cows is impeded by 2-chloroethyltrimethylammonium chloride at concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 9mm. This compound is a non-competitive inhibitor of choline kinase (K(m) 0.25mm), having K(i) 17mm. It is suggested that 2-chloroethyltrimethylammonium chloride may inhibit choline entry into the tissue.
[The impact of quality of cardiopulmonary resuscitation on post-resuscitation inflammatory reaction in a porcine cardiac arrest model].

Objective To evaluate the effects of quality of non-standard cardiopulmonary resuscitation (N-CPR)and new guidelines recommended standard CPR(S-CPR)on post-resuscitation inflammatory reaction in a cardiac arrest(CA)porcine model.Methods Eighteen pigs were randomly divided into two groups,and ventricular fibrillation(VF)was induced by programmed electrical stimulation after giving anesthesia,intubation tube and mechanical ventilation.S-CPR(n=9):CPR was consistent with recommendation of the 2005 guidelines.N-CPR(n=9):given CPR with low quality CPR usually instituded in clinic.After 4 minutes of untreated VF,CPR was started for 9 minutes.Defibrillation and advanced lire support were attempted at 13 minutes of CA.All resuscitated animals were supported with intensive care equipments for 4 hours,and then experimental indexes were observed.Animals were sacrificed if they survived for 24 hours,and tissues of cerebral cortex,cardiac muscle,kidney,and liver were harvested for immunohistochemistry to evaluate the expression of nuclear factor-kB(NF-KB). The changes in hemodynamics was measured at CPR 3,6,and 9 minutes,and the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α),interleukin-1β(IL-1β)were determined before CA,CPR 9 minutes,and 4 hours after restoration of spontaneous circulation(ROSC).Results Compared with N-CPR,S-CPR resulted in a significantly higher ROSC(22.2%vs.88.9%)and 24-hour survival rate(22.2%vs.88.9%,both P＜0.05),and significant improved cardiac output(CO)and mean arterial pressure(MAP)at CPR 3,6,9 minutes (all P＜0.01).S-CPR also yielded lower serum values of TNF-α,IL-1β and lower expression of NF-kB at CPR 9 minutes and ROSC 4 hours.Conclusion High quality CPR not only improves survival of CA pigs,but also alleviates post-resuscitation inflammatory reaction. Key words: cardiac arrest; cardiopulmonary resuscitation quality; inflammatory rea&ion
Improving Depression Among HIV-Infected Adults: Transporting the Effect of a Depression Treatment Intervention to Routine Care

Background Depression affects 20%-30% of people with HIV. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have demonstrated the effectiveness of interventions to improve depression among HIV-infected adults, but typically have highly selected populations which may limit generalizability. Inverse probability of sampling weights (IPSW) is a recently proposed method to transport (or standardize) findings from RCTs to a specific external target population. Methods We used IPSW to transport the 6-month effect of the Measurement-Based Care (MBC) intervention on depression from the SLAM DUNC trial to a population of HIV-infected, depressed adults in routine care in the United States between 2010 and 2014. Results In the RCT, MBC was associated with an improvement in depression at 6 months of 3.6 points on the Hamilton Depression Rating scale [95% confidence interval (CI): -5.9 to -1.3]. When IPSW were used to standardize results from the trial to the target population, the intervention effect was attenuated by 1.2 points (mean improvement 2.4 points; 95% CI: -6.1 to 1.3). Conclusions If implemented among HIV-infected, depressed adults in routine care, MBC may be less effective than in the RCT but can still be expected to reduce depression. Attenuation of the intervention effect among adults in routine care reflects the fact that the trial enrolled a larger proportion of individuals for whom the intervention was more effective. Given the burden of depression among HIV-infected adults, more effective interventions to improve depression are urgently needed. However, examining the transportability of trial findings is essential to understand whether similar effects can be expected if interventions are scaled-up.
Writing Law in Classical Athens

Thus far our study of writing in Greek law has focused largely on the texts of laws, these being practically the only legal texts that were written in the archaic period and fifth-century Gortyn. When we turn to law in classical Athens, however, we find evidence of many more kinds of written documents. Much of the evidence for these comes not from inscriptions but from speeches written for actual trials ca. 420–322. This evidence is in some ways more problematic than a collection of statutes like the Gortyn Code, but the speeches not only provide information about written texts in Athenian law; they also shed light on the actual operation of law in classical Athens, and they inform us about attitudes toward writing and written texts at this time. Before the fifth century, the only written texts in Athenian law besides the laws themselves were the written indictments in cases prosecuted by means of the graphē procedure (Chapter Five). During the course of the fifth and fourth centuries, however, written texts are increasingly present in judicial procedure. In fact, the amount of writing in general, as well as the number of people who knew how to read and write, increased steadily. We cannot speak of mass literacy, but literacy went “far beyond the circle of the wealthy” (W. Harris 1989: 114). For the fifth century Harris suggests that about 10 percent of the total population was literate, but others would put the figure much higher.
Constant load and constant volume response of municipal solid waste in simple shear.

Abstract Constant load and constant volume simple shear testing was conducted on relatively fresh municipal solid waste (MSW) from two landfills in the United States, one in Michigan and a second in Texas, at respective natural moisture content below field capacity. The results were assessed in terms of two failure strain criteria, at 10% and 30% shear strain, and two interpretations of effective friction angle. Overall, friction angle obtained assuming that the failure plane is horizontal and at 10% shear strain resulted in a conservative estimation of shear strength of MSW. Comparisons between constant volume and constant load simple shear testing results indicated significant differences in the shear response of MSW with the shear resistance in constant volume being lower than the shear resistance in constant load. The majority of specimens were nearly uncompacted during specimen preparation to reproduce the state of MSW in bioreactor landfills or in uncontrolled waste dumps. The specimens had identical percentage of
Refinement of OprH-LPS Interactions by Molecular Simulations

The outer membrane (OM) of Gram-negative bacteria is composed of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the outer leaflet and phospholipids in the inner leaflet. The outer membrane protein H (OprH) of Pseudomonas aeruginosa provides an increased stability to the OMs by directly interacting with LPS. Here we report the influence of various P. aeruginosa and, for comparison, Escherichia coli LPS environments on the physical properties of the OMs and OprH using all-atom molecular dynamics simulations. The simulations reveal that although the P. aeruginosa OMs are thinner hydrophobic bilayers than the E. coli OMs, which is expected from the difference in the acyl chain length of their lipid A, this effect is almost imperceptible around OprH due to a dynamically adjusted hydrophobic match between OprH and the OM. The structure and dynamics of the extracellular loops of OprH show distinct behaviors in different LPS environments. Including the O-antigen greatly reduces the flexibility of the OprH loops and increases the interactions between these loops and LPS. Furthermore, our study shows that the interactions between OprH and LPS mainly depend on the secondary structure of OprH and the chemical structure of LPS, resulting in distinctive patterns in different LPS environments.
Absolute Stereochemical Determination of Asymmetric Sulfoxides via Central to Axial Induction of Chirality.

The absolute configuration of chiral sulfoxides is determined by means of host–guest complexation that leads to the induction of axial chirality in an achiral host. The central to axial induction of helicity is rationalized by a simple recognition of the relative length and size of the substituents attached to the S-center. This technique is used to determine the absolute configuration of chiral sulfoxides, requiring micrograms of sample, without the need for prefunctionalization.
Autonomic Classical and Operant Conditioning

The conditioned response (CR) that develops during classical conditioning of the autonomic nervous system has been characterized as either a discrete response or a nonspecific response to the conditioned stimulus (CS). A discrete CR is a learned response that has been elaborated from an unconditioned reflexive response to a highly specific unconditioned stimulus (CS), whereas a nonspecific autonomic CR is one of a cluster of concurrent responses elicited by a CS. The unconditioned autonomic response (UR) is viewed as a component of a reactive homeostatic mechanism that services to return a controlled variable to its preset reference level in response to a regulatory challenge—the unconditioned stimulus (US). In contrast, the autonomic CR is seen as an element of a predictive homeostatic mechanism that is engaged prior to the onset of a noxious US. Viewed from this perspective, a discrete CR is a preemptive response that mitigates or totally nullifies the impact of the regulatory challenge (the US). Similarly, the development of nonspecific autonomic CRs may be thought of as the initial stage of a predictive homeostatic mechanism that is followed by the development of somatic CRs (e.g., eye blink) or an integrated somatic motor response pattern, learned through instrumental conditioning, that mitigates (or totally nullifies) a noxious US; the autonomic CRs are thought to reflect a change in the CNS, referred to as conditioned fear. Alternatively, the autonomic CR may be interpreted solely in terms of autonomic responses involved in predictive homeostasis. For example, a bradycardia CR develops in an aversive conditioning experiment in which the animal is restrained, thereby attenuating the blood pressure increase elicited by the US. Although there is ample evidence for instrumental conditioning of autonomic responses, the level of specificity of operant control seems limited. It appears that the CNS programs for somatomotor and cardiorespiratory responses are coupled and these functionally related systems are influenced in parallel by the same process.