cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Using information gain to analyze and fine tune the performance of supply chain trading agent

The Supply Chain Trading Agent Competition (TAC SCM) was designed to explore approaches to dynamic supply chain trading. During the course of each year's competition historical data is logged describing more than 800 games played by different agents from around the world. In this paper, we present analysis that is focused on determining which features of agent behavior, such as the average lead time requested for supplies or the average selling price offered on finished products, tend to differentiate agents that win from those that do not. We present a visual inspection of data from 16 games played in one bracket of the 2006 TAC SCM semi-final rounds. Plots of data from these games help isolate behavioral features that distinguish top performing agents in this bracket. We then introduce a metric based on information gain to provide a more complete analysis of the 80 games played in the 2006 TAC SCM quarter-final, semi-final and final rounds. The metric captures the amount of information that is gained about an agent's performance by knowing its value for each of 20 different behavioral features. Using this metric we find that, in the final rounds of the 2006 competition, winning agents distinguished themselves by their procurement decisions, rather than their customer bidding decisions. We also discuss how we used the analysis presented in this paper to improve our entry for the 2007 competition, which was one of the six finalists that year.
Fiber optic data link development

Practical design methods for implementing an optimized fiber-optic data link are presented. In addition, the risetime and falltime budgets of the associated components and the overall frequency response of the fiber-optic data link are discussed. All these parameters are discussed with reference to the length of the data link. This will enable designers to optimize the data link designs to suit their particular applications. A limiting factor in the usage of the fiber-optic technology is the fiber-optic busing schemes where the optical energy needs to be tapped. The feasibility of such fiber-optic busing schemes is examined. >
New Concepts for Managing Urban Pollution

Most current pollution management in cities is based on treating pollution at the end-of-the pipe, after pollution is generated. This paradigm worked well for treating municipal sewage and industrial effluents – point sources of pollutants. Pollution from these sources has been greatly reduced since passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972. However, the remaining pollution problem in post-industrial cities is mostly caused by nonpoint sources – runoff from lawns, erosion from construction sites, gradual decomposition of automobiles (e.g., erosion of tire particles containing zinc and brake pad linings with copper), and added road salt from de-icing operations. The next section of this chapter shows why the end-of-pipe paradigm cannot be the primary approach for dealing with these types of pollution and why new approaches are needed. If the traditional end-of-pipe paradigm doesn’t work, what will? I will argue that a new paradigm must be based on analysis of the movement of pollutants through urban ecosystems, an approach sometimes called materials flow analysis (MFA). MFA can be used to identify where a potential pollutant enters an urban ecosystem, how it is transferred from one ecosystem compartment to another, and ultimately, it enters surface or groundwater to become an actual pollutant. As we will see, MFA can be used to guide the development of novel approaches for pollution management: reducing inputs of potentially polluting materials to urban ecosystems, improving the efficiency by which they are utilized for their intended purposes, and recycling them. MFA can also be used to develop strategies to mitigate legacy pol
On leakage and seepage of CO 2 from geologic storage sites into surface water

Geologic carbon sequestration is the capture of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) and its storage in deep geologic formations. The processes of CO2 seepage into surface water after migration through water-saturated sediments are reviewed. Natural CO2 and CH4 fluxes are pervasive in surface-water environments and are good analogues to potential leakage and seepage of CO2. Buoyancy-driven bubble rise in surface water reaches a maximum velocity of approximately 30 cm s−1. CO2 rise in saturated porous media tends to occur as channel flow rather than bubble flow. A comparison of ebullition versus dispersive gas transport for CO2 and CH4 shows that bubble flow will dominate over dispersion in surface water. Gaseous CO2 solubility in variable-salinity waters decreases as pressure decreases leading to greater likelihood of ebullition and bubble flow in surface water as CO2 migrates upward.
Analysis of the Decision to Select a Conventional or Cook-Chill System for Hospital Foodservice

Abstract Objective The objectives of this study were to determine what variables hospital foodservice directors consider when selecting a conventional or cook-chill system, to determine the importance of each variable considered, and to compare decision variables by type of foodservice system. Design Survey questionnaire. Subjects/setting Hospital foodservice directors in general, medical-surgical hospitals who had been involved in the decision to select a conventional or cook-chill system (N=127). Statistical analysis Analysis of variance and χ 2 . Results The decision process used by foodservice directors who selected a conventional system appears to differ significantly from the process used by directors who selected cook-chill systems. However, directors in this study who selected a cook-chill system were more likely than those who selected conventional systems to consider more issues in the decision process, visit other operations, place more importance on return on investment and projected labor costs, calculate more values, consider both conventional and cook-chill options, and use nonfoodservice personnel such as manufacturers' representatives and consultants. Applications Results of this research suggest that the decision process to select a foodservice system in hospitals is complex and is one that foodservice directors will likely be involved in several times throughout their careers. Directors who have made such decisions appear to consider many issues, both quantitative and qualitative, when selecting either a conventional or cook-chill system. Regardless of the system chosen, directors indicated that numerous issues were important in the decision.
Migration Decision-making: A Hierarchical Regression Approach

While migration decision-making has long been studied using mover-stayer models and standard re- gression models, they do not well handle small- and large-scale heterogeneities (migration propensities). The hierarchical regression model can help solve this problem, because it deals with data organized hierarchically and studies variation at different levels of the hierarchy simultaneously. Using Wisconsin's 5% Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) file from Census 2000 for a two-level hierarchy - individual/household level and Public Use Microdata Area (PUMA) level, we take a fresh look at how a hierarchical logit model can improve migration studies by including demographic, socio-economic, and biogeophysical factors. The findings indi- cate that the hierarchical regression approach provides significant advantages in studying migration decision- making.
SURVIVAL, SPORE FORMATION AND EXCISION REPAIR OF UV‐IRRADIATED DEVELOPING CELLS OF DICTYOSTELIUM DISCOIDEUM NC‐4

— The synchronously developing aggregates of the cellular slime mold, Dictyostelium discoideum NC-4, were disaggregated into individual cells and irradiated with 254 nm UV light at preaggregation (0h), late interphase (6h), late aggregation (12 h), and preculmination (18 h). When assayed for replica-tive ability (colony formation), the developing cells at 0, 6, 12, and 18h showed the same sensitivity as vegetative cells; the 10% survival dose (D10) was 160 J/m2. The spores were more sensitive, with D10 of 70 J/m2. Excision repair of the nuclear DNA of the developing cells was studied by alkaline sucrose gradients. UV-induced single-strand breakage and rejoining of the DNA occurred to the same final extent in the cells from the 0, 6, 12 and 18 h stages of development, but a longer time was required for the completion of rejoining at the later stages (for example, at 54 J/m2, 6.6 h for preculmination cells, 3.3 h for preaggregation cells). When the cells irradiated at various stages were required to redevelop, as measured by the relative numbers of spores produced, their sensitivity for completing this development increased the later the stage from which they were taken. The D10s for spore production were 200, 130, 100 and 70 J/m2 for cells at the 0, 6, 12 and 18 h stages, respectively. The fractional viability among the spores that appeared after this treatment was the same independent of the stage at which the cells were irradiated; the D10 for this viability was 160 J/m2, the same as if the cells had been plated immediately with no intervening developmental sequence. We conclude that DNA excision repair as related to replicative ability is retained at all stages of development; however, development seems independent of replicative ability and depends upon DNA and/or non-DNA damage in a more complex way.
Experimental Investigation of the Low-Speed Aerodynamic Characteristics of a 5.8-Percent Scale Hybrid Wing Body Configuration

A low-speed experimental investigation has been conducted on a 5.8-percent scale Hybrid Wing Body configuration in the NASA Langley 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel. This Hybrid Wing Body (HWB) configuration was designed with specific intention to support the NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project goals of reduced noise, emissions, and fuel burn. This HWB configuration incorporates twin, podded nacelles mounted on the vehicle upper surface between twin vertical tails. Low-speed aerodynamic characteristics were assessed through the acquisition of force and moment, surface pressure, and flow visualization data. Longitudinal and lateral-directional characteristics were investigated on this multi-component model. The effects of a drooped leading edge, longitudinal flow-through nacelle location, vertical tail shape and position, elevon deflection, and rudder deflection have been studied. The basic configuration aerodynamics, as well as the effects of these configuration variations, are presented in this paper.
A Study Towards the Design of Materials for Nonlinear Optical Applications Using First Principle Calculations

Electronic structure calculations are carried out to predict properties of reverse saturable absorption (RSA) materials that are important in nonlinear optical (NLO) applications. The RSA dyes under investigation are zinc porphyrins with a combination of halogen and phenyl substituents. The computed data include electronic spectra for the ground and triplet excited states as well as ionization potentials. These properties are important in predicting the performance of NLO materials. Since comprehensive data are not available, we begin with the basic porphyrin unit, then systematically replace the peripheral hydrogens of porphin with halogen and phenyl groups to study the substituent effects. The results of halogenated porphyrins and halogenated tetraphenylporphyrins provide insightful accounts of effects of phenyl, fluoro, chloro, and bromo substituents on the spectra of these systems. The computed spectra and IPs are in excellent agreement with available experimental data.
EVIDENCE THAT SUTTER BELONGS TO THE KELL BLOOD GROUP SYSTEM.

While studying the original anti-Jsb serum it was observed that the red cells of the two Ko individuals (Peltz and Kanto) were Js(a—b—). Two additional examples of anti-Jsb are also reported as a result of this study. More than 4,000 Negroes were tested and six were found who were K+, Js(a+). Five of these families are presented in which K and Jsa can be followed in the offspring of a parent who is K+, Js(a+). In six children of three matings in which one parent is K+Js(a+) and the other parent is K—, Js(a_) no recombinations were observed. One child from such a mating inherited neither K nor Jsa. In the other two families one parent was K+, Js(a+) but the other parent could not be tested or was Js(a+). In the Memphis area the incidence of K+ among Negroes is 1.5% and of Js(a+) 14%. Among the K+ individuals the incidence of Js(a+) was found to be 8%. The population studied is not large enough to be statistically significant but the data suggest that K and Jss will rarely if ever occur on the same thromoscme. The possible relationship of the two systems is discussed.
Resonance Raman studies of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8‐octamethylporphin, 1,3,5,7‐tetramethylporphin, and mesotetraphenylporphin and its Ni‐, Cu‐, and Pd‐chelates

Resonance Raman spectra are reported for 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octamethylporphin, 1,3,5,7-tetramethylporphin and mesotetraphenylporphin and its Ni-, Cu-, and Pd-chelates. Comparison of infrared and Raman data for the non-metallo compounds provides evidence that mesotetraphenylporphin loses its centre of symmetry in the solid state while the other two molecules retain theirs. Depolarization ratio measurements for Ni-tetraphenylporhin in CS2 solution reveal the presence of several anomalously polarized vibrations (ϱ > ¾). Evidence is presented to show that the symmetry of the molecule in solution has been reduced from D4h.
Computational considerations in solving the many electron problem for molecular systems

In this manuscript, one investigates a general, approximate method for solving the many electron Schrodinger Equation for a molecule or a molecular fragment representing a solid. The method chosen is the Unrestricted Hartree-Fock method augmented by a size-consistent many body perturbation theory correction. In this manuscript, a single reference function is used for simplicity. The extension to multireference formalisms is straight forward if tedious. Computational considerations are discussed and a few sample results obtained to illustrate the potential of the method.
Landlords and Rural Capitalists in the Modernization of Japan

There is impressive evidence that wealthy peasants contributed significantly to the success of the Meiji Restoration, the political revolution that launched Japan on her career of modernization. These rural capitalists, for such they were, helped to give the revolution direction as well as power. How otherwise is one to account for a government dominated by samurai, the elite carriers of tradition, following policies that did great violence to Japan's past and destroyed the privileged status of the warrior class? But if the influence of the representatives of rural wealth was so strong, why did they consent to a clique of warriors holding political power almost as a private prerogative for a generation after the Restoration? Despite the demand for a share in power in the eighties, they did consent and weakly accepted the Meiji constitution which sanctified authoritarian government.
Learning to classify text from labeled and unlabeled documents

In many important text classification problems, acquiring class labels for training documents is costly, while gathering large quantities of unlabeled data is cheap. This paper shows that the accuracy of text classifiers trained with a small number of labeled documents can be improved by augmenting this small training set with a large pool of unlabeled documents. We present a theoretical argument showing that, under common assumptions, unlabeled data contain information about the target function. We then introduce an algorithm for learning from labeled and unlabeled text based on the combination of Expectation-Maximization with a naive Bayes classifier. The algorithm first trains a classifier using the available labeled documents, and probabilistically labels the unlabeled documents; it then trains a new classifier using the labels for all the documents, and iterates to convergence. Experimental results, obtained using text from three different realworld tasks, show that the use of unlabeled data reduces classification error by up to 33%.
Kinetics of peroxidase production by Streptomyces viridosporus and recombinant Streptomyces lividans

The production of peroxidases by Streptomyces viridosporus T7A and recombinant Streptomyces lividans TK64.1 was characterized in stirred tank fermentors. The rate of peroxidase production was strongly growth associated with plasmid-coded S. lividans, in contrast to chromosome-coded S. viridosporus, where peroxidase production was proportional to cell mass rather than cell growth rate. A modified form of the logistic equation gave a good fit to the experimenal data for cell growth and peroxidase formation.
A hybrid Branch-and-Bound and evolutionary approach for allocating strings of applications to heterogeneous distributed computing systems

Providing efficient workload management is an important issue for a large-scale heterogeneous distributed computing environment where a set of periodic applications is executed. The considered shipboard distributed system is expected to operate in an environment where the input workload is likely to change unpredictably, possibly invalidating a resource allocation that was based on the initial workload estimate. The tasks consist of multiple strings, each made up of an ordered sequence of applications. There is a quality of service (QoS) minimum throughput constraint that must be satisfied for each application in a string, and a maximum utilization constraint that must be satisfied on each of the hardware resources in the system. The challenge, therefore, is to efficiently and robustly manage both computation and communication resources in this unpredictable environment to achieve high performance while satisfying the imposed constraints. This work addresses the problem of finding a robust initial allocation of resources to strings of applications that is able to absorb some level of unknown input workload increase without rescheduling. The proposed hybrid two-stage method of finding a near-optimal allocation of resources incorporates two specially designed mapping techniques: (1) the Permutation Space Genitor-Based heuristic, and (2) the follow-up Branch-and-Bound heuristic based on an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) problem formulation. The performance of the proposed resource allocation method is evaluated under different simulation scenarios and compared to an iteratively computed upper bound.
Surgical treatment of scapholunate advanced collapse

This study reports the outcomes of six different reconstructive procedures for stage II and stage III scapholunate advanced collapse (SLAC) wrist in 55 cases followed an average of 50 months. Scaphoid excision and intercarpal arthrodesis was performed in 31 cases: four-corner arthrodesis in 23 cases and capitolunate arthrodesis in 8 cases. Proximal row carpectomy was performed in 12 cases, radioscapholunate arthrodesis in 5 cases, radioscaphoid arthrodesis in 3 cases, and primary total wrist arthrodesis in 4 cases. Following surgical treatment the majority of patients in all groups had less wrist pain. The nonunion rate was four cases for the capitolunate arthrodesis group compared with two for the four-corner arthrodesis group. Six of 51 motion-sparing cases were converted to total arthrodeses. Scaphoid excision and four-corner arthrodesis reliably diminished wrist pain in patients with stage III SLAC wrist while maintaining a 54 degrees flexion-extension arc. Stage II SLAC wrist can be successfully treated with this procedure, radioscaphoid arthrodesis, or proximal row carpectomy. Of the three procedures, proximal row carpectomy best preserves wrist mobility, with a flexion-extension arc of 71 degrees.
When do incumbents learn from entrepreneurial ventures?: Corporate venture capital and investing firm innovation rates

Abstract In this paper, we focus on the potential innovative benefits to corporate venture capital (CVC), i.e. equity investments in entrepreneurial ventures by incumbent firms. We propose that corporate venture capital programs may be instrumental in harvesting innovations from entrepreneurial ventures and thus an important part of a firm's overall innovation strategy. We hypothesize that these programs are especially effective in weak intellectual property (IP) regimes and when the firm has sufficient absorptive capacity. We analyze a large panel of public firms over a 20-year period and find that increases in corporate venture capital investments are associated with subsequent increases in firm patenting.
Calibration and intercomparison of acetic acid measurements using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS)

Abstract. Acetic acid is one of the most abundant organic acids in the ambient atmosphere, with maximum mixing ratios reaching into the tens of parts per billion by volume (ppbv) range. The identities and associated magnitudes of the major sources and sinks for acetic acid are poorly characterized, due in part to the limitations of available measurement techniques. This paper demonstrates that, when properly calibrated, proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) can be a valuable technique for fast response, accurate quantification of acetic acid in ambient air. Three different PTR-MS configurations were calibrated at low ppbv mixing ratios using permeation tubes, which yielded calibration factors between 7.0 and 10.9 normalized counts per second per ppbv (ncps ppbv−1) at a drift tube field strength of 132 Townsend (Td). Detection limits ranged from 0.06 to 0.32 ppbv with dwell times of 5 s. These calibration factors showed negligible humidity dependence. Acetic acid was measured with PTR-MS on Appledore B Island, ME, during the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT) campaign and validated based on acetic acid measured in parallel using tandem mist chambers coupled with ion chromatography (MC/IC). Mixing ratios ranged from a minimum of 0.075 ± 0.004 ppbv to 3.555 ± 0.171 ppbv, with a median mixing ratio of 0.530 ± 0.025 ppbv. An orthogonal least squares linear regression of paired data yielded a slope of 1.14 ± 0.06 (2σ), an intercept of 0.049 ± 0.020 (2σ) ppbv, and an R2 of 0.78.
Animal Aloft: The Origins of Aerial Behavior and Flight

Diverse taxa of animals exhibit remarkable aerial capacities, including jumping, mid-air righting, parachuting, gliding, landing, controlled maneuvers, and flapping flight. The origin of flapping wings in hexapods and in 3 separate lineages of vertebrates (pterosaurs, bats, and birds) greatly facilitated subsequent diversification of lineages, but both the paleobiological context and the possible selective pressures for the evolution of wings remain contentious. Larvae of various arboreal hemimetabolous insects, as well as many adult canopy ants, demonstrate the capacity for directed aerial descent in the absence of wings. Aerial control in the ancestrally wingless archaeognathans suggests that flight behavior preceded the origins of wings in hexapods. In evolutionary terms, the use of winglets and partial wings to effect aerial righting and maneuvers could select for enhanced appendicular motions, and ultimately lead to powered flight. Flight behaviors that involve neither flapping nor wings are likely to be much more widespread than is currently recognized. Further characterization of the sensory and biomechanical mechanisms used by these aerially capable taxa can potentially assist in reconstruction of ancestral winged morphologies and facilitate our understanding of the origins of flight.
(Dis)respecting versus (Dis)liking: Status and Interdependence Predict Ambivalent Stereotypes of Competence and Warmth

As Allport (1954) implied, the content of stereotypes may be systematic, and specifically, ambivalent. We hypothesize two clusters of outgroups, one perceived as incompetent but warm (resulting in paternalistic prejudice) and one perceived as competent but not warm (resulting in envious prejudice). Perceived group status predicts perceived competence, and perceived competition predicts perceived (lack of) warmth. Two preliminary surveys support these hypotheses for 17 outgroups. In-depth analyses of prejudice toward particular outgroups support ambivalent prejudice: Paternalistic prejudice toward traditional women, as well as envious prejudice toward career women, results in ambivalent sexism (Glick & Fiske, 1996). Envious prejudice toward Asians results in perceived competence but perceived lack of social skills. Ambivalent content reflects systematic principles.
Functional brain monitoring via NIR based optical spectroscopy

Cognitive activity is associated with changes in optical properties of the brain tissue. Near infrared (NIR) based optical measurements during brain activation can assess the hemodynamic changes, namely blood oxygenation and blood volume. Furthermore, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has recently attracted much interest, since the technology allows the design of portable, safe, affordable, non-invasive and negligibly intrusive monitoring systems. In this paper, we present experimental procedures and results of the functional near infrared (fNIR) measurements acquired from the forehead during cognitive tasks. The data is collected from subjects engaged in two standardized attention and working memory tasks, respectively, the ''target categorization'' and the ''n-back memory'' tests. In the case of target categorization, the aim is to study changes in blood oxygenation and volume level while participants are experiencing decrements in vigilance, increased lapses of attention and cognitive slowing. Data analysis results revealed that the level of oxygenation changes in missed targets is higher than the level in captured targets. The blood oxygenation and volume level changes during consistently varying "loads" on working memory were measured in participants performing the n-back test. The results show that the level of oxygenation rises with the increase of working memory load.
Caribbean crossing: African Americans and the Haitian emigration movement

Sarah Fanning's well-researched book, Caribbean Crossing, highlights the relationships between Haitian leaders after Haiti's independence and the free Black population of the USA in the 1820s. On t...
Epidemiological-Clinical Correlates of Hepatitis B Antigen Subtypes

Hepatitis B antigen (HB Ag) in the sera of 135 blood donors and patients with either acute viral hepatitis or chronic liver disease was subtyped to better characterize the epidemiology of type B infection. Antigenemic volunteer blood donors had HB Ag which was predominantly subtype D (D:Y ratio of 7:1) whereas this subtype was found in only slight excess (D:Y ratio of 1.8:1) in the sera of patients acquiring hepatitis after transfusion of blood drawn entirely from the volunteer donor population. Patients with "needle stick hepatitis" had almost exclusively subtype Y-HB Ag. In contrast, individuals with chronic liver disease had primarily subtype D-HB Ag. Patients without recognized exposure ("sporadic hepatitis") had a HB Ag subtype D:Y ratio of 1.2:1. Using demographic data, it was possible to distinguish subgroups related to the antigen subtype. The age, race, sex, and socioeconomic status of patients with sporadic hepatitis and subtype D-HB Ag were similar to individuals with post-transfusion hepatitis, whereas patients with subtype Y-HB Ag had epidemiological features similar to persons with needle stick hepatitis and frequently gave a history of close contact with individuals using drugs illicitly.
Predicting Size and Change in Nonoutbreak Populations of the Douglas-fir Tussock Moth (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae)

A range of nonoutbreak densities of the douglas-fir tussock moth, Orgyia pseudotsugata (Mcdunnough), were analyzed for 11 generations at four geographic locations. Simple correlation analyses of transformed data showed that, of the variation in early larval density, 69% was contributed by the density of early instars in the previous generation and 85% by late instars. In an alternate representation, 52% of the variation in intergeneration trend was contributed by the survival rate of larvae, even though survival was a poor predictor of trends in decreasing populations. For these data, a relatively high rate of larval survival is a good indicator of rapidly increasing populations; however, a causal mechanism is not identified.
Glucose absorption by isolated perfused rat proximal straight tubules.

Glucose absorption was investigated in isolated perfused proximal straight tubules from rats by use of a newly developed ultramicrofluorometric assay. This assay takes advantage of the increase in fluorescence associated with the reduction of NAD to NADH while glucose is degraded to 6-phosphogluconate. When tubules were perfused at 6.70 +/- 0.42 nl.mm-1.min-1, the mean rate of glucose absorption was 11.0 +/- 1.0 pmol.mm-1.min-1, and the mean rate of fluid absorption was 0.61 +/- 0.06 nl.mm-1.min-1. Glucose transport is generally due to Na-glucose cotransport in the proximal nephron. In the rat proximal straight tubule, glucose absorption also appeared to be primarily due to Na-glucose cotransport, since 10(-4) M phlorizin inhibited absorption by 100%, as did inhibition of Na(+)-K(+)-ATPase by K removal. To determine the maximum rate of transport, tubules were perfused at rates greater than 20 nl.mm-1.min-1 with a solution containing 5.5 mM glucose. The maximum rate of glucose absorption was approximately 20 pmol.mm-1.min-1 under these conditions. The concentration of glucose that supports 50% of the maximum rate of absorption, Km, was 0.6 mM. When tubules were perfused at flow rates of less than or equal to 2 nl.mm-1.min-1, the luminal glucose concentration reached a limiting value of 0.47 mM with 5.5 mM glucose in the bath. The glucose permeability was 3.1 X 10(-6) cm/s.
OpenMP as a High-Level Specification Language for Parallelism

While OpenMP is the de facto standard of shared memory parallel programming models, a number of alternative programming models and runtime systems have arisen in recent years. Fairly evaluating these programming systems can be challenging and can require significant manual effort on the part of researchers. However, it is important to facilitate these comparisons as a way of advancing both the available OpenMP runtimes and the research being done with these novel programming systems.
Is Reading Impairment Associated with Enhanced Holistic Processing in Comparative Visual Search

This study explores a proposition that individuals with dyslexia develop enhanced peripheral vision to process visual-spatial information holistically. Participants included 18 individuals diagnosed with dyslexia and 18 who were not. The experiment used a comparative visual search design consisting of two blocks of 72 trials. Each trial presented two halves of the display each comprising three kinds of shapes in three colours to be compared side-by-side. Participants performed a conjunctive search to ascertain whether the two halves were identical. In the first block, participants were provided no instruction regarding the visual-spatial processing strategy they were to employ. In the second block, participants were instructed to use a holistic processing strategy-to defocus their attention and perform the comparison by examining the whole screen at once. The results did not support the hypothesis associating dyslexia with talents for holistic visual processing. Using holistic processing strategy, both groups scored lower in accuracy and reacted faster, compared to the first block. Impaired readers consistently reacted more slowly and did not exhibit enhanced accuracy. Given the extant evidence of strengths for holistic visual processing in impaired readers, these findings are important because they suggest such strengths may be task dependent. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of an In Vitro Model to Screen CYP1B1-Targeted Anticancer Prodrugs

Cytochrome P450 1B1 (CYP1B1) is an anticancer therapeutic target due to its overexpression in a number of steroid hormone-related cancers. One anticancer drug discovery strategy is to develop prodrugs specifically activated by CYP1B1 in malignant tissues to cytotoxic metabolites. Here, we aimed to develop an in vitro screening model for CYP1B1-targeted anticancer prodrugs using the KLE human endometrial carcinoma cell line. KLE cells demonstrated superior stability of CYP1B1 expression relative to transiently transfected cells and did not express any appreciable amount of cognate CYP1A1 or CYP1A2, which would have compromised the specificity of the screening assay. The effect of two CYP1B1-targeted probe prodrugs on KLE cells was evaluated in the absence and presence of a CYP1B1 inhibitor to chemically "knock out" CYP1B1 activity (CYP1B1 inhibited). Both probe prodrugs were more toxic to KLE cells than to CYP1B1-inhibited KLE cells and significantly induced G0/G1 arrest and decreased the S phase in KLE cells. They also exhibited pro-apoptotic effects in KLE cells, which were attenuated in CYP1B1-inhibited KLE cells. In summary, a KLE cell-based model has been characterized to be suitable for identifying CYP1B1-targeted anticancer prodrugs and should be further developed and employed for screening chemical libraries.
Integrated access to medical and pharmacological information: the unified medical language system at the National Library of Medicine

Of the many challenges facing those in the information science field today, none is more pressing than the inexorable growth of the information itself. This growth is manifested not only in the total volume of published material, but in the variety of information sources, the heterogeneity of information content, and the complexity of information formats.
The Solution of the Inhomogeneous Cauchy–Riemann Equations

Many of the tools and constructs of one complex variable are not available in the several complex variable setting. As a substitute in several complex variables we have sheaf theory and partial differential equations. In the present chapter we develop the latter topic. In particular, we describe Joseph Kohn’s construction of a solution of the Cauchy–Riemann equations on strongly pseudoconvex domains.
Siderophores and Biological Systems; An Overview

The two stable valences of iron impart considerable range to the potential of the metal for participation in. Oxidation-reduction reactions. Most biological systems make use of this potential in the catalysis of many different critical steps. By placing iron within domains on enzyme molecules, the catalytic properties of the atom are disciplined in order to permit only a single reaction with strictly limited types of reactants, thereby achieving the specificity necessary for metabolism. Biological dependence on iron means that high affinity iron chelating agents should have an impact on most life forms. The microbial siderophores are such chelators. The present paper sketches some of the roles (or effects) of siderophores in several biological systems. It is intended as a survey or “overview”, not as an exhaustive review and references to original literature (which could total several hundred) are kept to a minimum. For preparation of the overview, use was made of extensive revies by (Braun, 1985; Byers and Arceneaux, 1977; Crosa, 1984; Emery, 1982; Hider, 1984; Lankford, 1973; Neilands, 1981a: 1981b: 1982; Raymond et al., 1984; Weinberg, 1984; Williams and Carbonetti, 1984) and these should be consulted for citations of research papers supporting most of the information presented in the overview. Recently research describing a role for certain siderophores in plant iron nutrition and plant diseases has blossomed; extensive discussion of these topics is correctly reserved for the remaining authors.
SCAN — Automatizing libraries in African villages

Mobile devices have been helping to empower underserved communities around the world. From bringing information on health and farming to substituting expensive devices, cellular phones and apps have proved to be powerful tools in poverty alleviation and disaster relief. The Mobile Lab at Santa Clara University focuses on developing mobile solutions for social benefit and, in this paper, we describe the use of cellular phones and cloud services for automatizing libraries in African villages.
‘Creating justice between us’: Audre Lorde’s theory of the erotic as coalitional politics in the Women’s Movement:

This article asks how interracial sex and/or sexual attraction might be an integral part of cross-racial feminist work. Focusing on the work of black lesbian feminist poet Audre Lorde, I argue that...
Case 78: A Neurosurgical Case with a Sudden Disappearance of the Arterial Line Waveform

A 57-year-old female (ASA3, weight 148 lbs and height 5′6″) is scheduled for the clipping of a left temporal arterial venous malformation. Her past history is significant for COPD, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus type 1. Her laboratory values and preanesthetic vital signs are all within normal limits.
Thickness Limit for Alignment of Block Copolymer Films Using Solvent Vapor Annealing with Shear

The swelling and deswelling of a cross-linked polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) pad adhered to a block copolymer (BCP) film during solvent vapor annealing (SVA) provides sufficient shear force to produce highly aligned domains over macroscopic dimensions in thin films. Here, we examine how far this alignment can propagate through the thickness of a BCP film to understand the limits for efficacy of the SVA-S (SVA with shear) process. Films of cylinder-forming polystyrene-block-polyisoprene-block-polystyrene (SIS) ranging from 100 nm to more than 100 μm are examined using the same processing conditions. The SIS surface in contact with the PDMS is always well-aligned, with Herman’s orientation parameter (S) exceeding 0.9 as determined from AFM micrographs, but the bottom surface in contact with the silicon wafer is not aligned for the thickest films. The average orientation through the film thickness was determined by transmission small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), with S decreasing gradually with increasing thi...
Revision Spine Surgery in the Growing Child

Growing children with intractable spinal deformity are a very challenging clinical problem. Surgical management is similarly difficult, with efforts made to preserve growth remaining in the spine and to avoid complications. The revision pediatric spinal surgeon must understand the mechanisms involved in the failure of their patient’s prior surgeries, and the surgeon needs to develop a revision strategy that will manage the identified issues, as well as those reasonably to be expected in the remainder of the patient’s growth to maturity. Reviewed here are concepts for thorough evaluation, development of a surgical revision plan, and introduction of techniques that are routinely used in revision spine surgery. Among the most powerful techniques in the “tool box” of the revision spine surgeon are spinal osteotomies, including posterior column only variations and those that traverse all three columns. Revision surgeries will at times require both an anteroposterior approach, and attempts are made to do these under a single anesthesia; however, when “softening” of the spine is required to obtain additional correction, such as with use of a halo, staging is typically well tolerated. Surgical goals for these patients include obtaining a balanced spine in both the coronal and sagittal planes, solid arthrodesis, and minimizing postoperative pain, while minimizing risk for complications and postoperative morbidity. Excellent outcomes can be expected in patients appropriately diagnosed, operated, and postoperatively convalesced.
Lessons from stroke trials using anti-inflammatory approaches that have failed.

Recent experimental work supports the thesis that inflammation is a pervasive and multifaceted accompaniment of focal brain ischemia. Whether it is a beneficial process meant to promote recovery and tissue healing, or detrimental, serving to increase an initially limited ischemic insult has been debated (del Zoppo et al. 2001). On the premise that both humoral and cellular inflammation contributes to tissue injury by promoting pan-necrosis or “neurodegeneration”, defined as infarction in many small animal systems, a small number of anti-inflammatory approaches with therapeutic intent have been applied early to ischemic stroke patients in clinical trial.
3.09 – MRI of the Liver

High-quality diagnostic magnetic resonance images require the use of fast scanning techniques, with the intention of generating images that demonstrate consistent display of disease processes. Respiration and bowel peristalsis are the major artifacts that have lessened the reproducibility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Breathing-independent sequences and breath-hold sequences form the foundation of high-quality MRI studies of the abdomen. Disease conspicuity depends on the principle of maximizing the difference in signal intensities between diseased tissues and the background tissue. Gadolinium chelate enhancement may be routinely useful since it facilitates detection and characterization of disease.
Echoes of narcissus: classical mythology and postmodern pessimism in The Crying of Lot 49

The Crying of Lot 49 ends on a seemingly hopeful note. Lot 49 may reveal the existence of an energy source beyond the cultural and existential inertia Oedipa Maas has discovered since she left Kinneret for San Narciso to execute her late lover's will. Shortly before the auction begins, Oedipa anticipates this revelation.
Certainty equivalence with uncertainty adjustments in stochastic adaptive control

A useful technique for finding relatively simple and yet asymptotically optimal solutions to stochastic adaptive control problems is to incorporate into certainty-equivalence rules suitable adjustments for parameter uncertainty. We review some results in sequential testing and estimation theories in statistics and discuss their applications to the assessment of parameter uncertainty and to efficient adjustments of certainty-equivalence rules in stochastic adaptive control.
Time-Resolved Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering in Weakly Disordered Molecular Crystals

The presence of structural or substitutional disorder in a crystal alters the structure of its states and modifies its transport properties. Traditionally both the experimental and the theoretical study of the effects of disorder have dealt with time-independent measurements in the frequency domain (such as spectral or specific heat determinations and density of states calculations) even when time-processes (such as relaxation or transport) are of interest1.
Diphenylisobenzofuran Bound to Nanocrystalline Metal Oxides: Excimer Formation, Singlet Fission, Electron Injection, and Low Energy Sensitization

We report the photophysical properties of the dicarboxylated diphenylisobenzofuran dye (1) bound to nanocrystalline metal oxide surfaces. With increased surface loading of 1, emission from the films is significantly quenched but with a small amount of excimer emission at maximum surface loadings. Long-lived triplets were observed by ns TA spectroscopy that are consistent with singlet fission occurring on mesoporous ZrO2. The evolution of these triplets, however, could not be convincingly resolved by our subnanosecond TA spectroscopy. Dye-sensitized devices composed of 1 on a TiO2|Al2O3 core–shell structure exhibited an unusual decrease, increase, and then decrease in Jsc with respect to the thickness of Al2O3. In these films the Al2O3 acts as a tunneling barrier to slow electron injection from the singlet excited state such that singlet fission, and electron injection from the triplet state becomes competitive. Proof-of-principle self-assembled bilayer films that exhibit efficient triplet energy transfer ...
EXOME SEQUENCING OF MULTIPLEX PEDIGREES WITH EARLY ONSET, RECURRENT MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER

Background Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common, often impairing disorder that ranks as the second leading cause of disability worldwide. More effective treatments are urgently needed, but few novel treatments have been developed over the last several decades, in large part due to our limited understanding of the pathophysiology of MDD. A long history of family and twin studies has shown consistent evidence for significant heritability in MDD and recent large scale GWAS analyses have begun to identify strongly associated common variants. However, few studies have so far focused on rare more penetrant variants, which may provide more interpretable insights into MDD related biology. Methods We selected 25 multiplex families from the Genetics of Early Onset Depression cohort, hypothesizing that pedigrees with at least three family members with childhood-onset depression, would be enriched for highly penetrant rare variants. We have completed exome sequencing in 3 affected members from these 25 highly multiplex families to average depth of 50X. Alignment and genotyping was performed employing standard pipelines using BWA-mem and GATK. Given prior evidence that ultra-rare variation may be most likely associated with greater penetrance, we focused our analyses on "singly-segregating" variants, defined as variants that fully segregated in a single family and were absent in all other pedigrees. Annotation was performed with ANNOVAR. Selected variants were confirmed with sanger sequencing. Results Each of the 25 multiplex families had an average of 4,092 segregating variants of which 412 were rare (defined as minor allele frequency Discussion Our study represents one of the first family based exome sequencing studies of major depression using an early onset, multiplex sample. We have found a number of highly damaging segregating variants that may be associated with MDD. Additional ongoing analyses, including pathway enrichment and replication, will also be presented.
A Progressive Damage Methodology for Residual Strength Predictions of Center-Crack Tension Composite Panels

An investigation of translaminate fracture and a progressive damage methodology was conducted to evaluate and develop a residual strength prediction capability for laminated composites with through penetration notches. This is relevant to the damage tolerance of an aircraft fuselage that might suffer an in-flight accident such as an uncontained engine failure. An experimental characterization of several composite materials systems revealed an R-curve type of behavior. Fractographic examinations led to the postulate that this crack growth resistance could be due to fiber bridging, defined here as fractured fibers of one ply bridged by intact fibers of an adjacent ply. The progressive damage methodology is currently capable of predicting the initiation and growth of matrix cracks and fiber fracture. Using two difference fiber failure criteria, residual strength was predicted for different size panel widths and notch lengths. A ply discount fiber failure criterion yielded extremely conservative results while an elastic-perfectly plastic fiber failure criterion showed that the fiber bridging concept is valid for predicting residual strength for tensile dominated failure loads. Furthermore, the R-curves predicted by the model using the elastic-perfectly plastic fiber criterion compared very well with the experimental R-curves.