cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
RE: How the Coronavirus Disease-2019 May Improve Care: Rethinking Cervical Cancer Prevention.

These past months of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-2019) pandemic have given us ample opportunity to reflect on the US health-care system. Despite overwhelming tragedy, it is an opportunity for us to learn and to change. As we postpone routine visits because of the pandemic, we worry about risks for patients who delay cancer screening. We use cervical cancer screening and prevention as an example of how we can use some "lessons learned" from the pandemic to prevent "collateral losses," such as an increase in cancers. COVID-2019-related health-system changes, like the more rapid evaluation of diagnostic tests and vaccines, the transition to compensated virtual care for most counseling and education visits, and broadened access to home services, offer potential benefits to the delivery of cervical cancer screening and prevention. While we detail the case for cervical cancer prevention, many of the issues discussed are generalizable to other preventative measures. It would be a tragedy if the morbidity and mortality of COVID-2019 are multiplied because of additional suffering caused by delayed or deferred cancer screening and diagnostic evaluation-but maybe with creativity and reflection, we can use this pandemic to improve care.
Intelligent Agents to Improve Thermal Satisfaction by Controlling Personal Comfort Systems Under Different Levels of Automation

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems account for 43% of building energy consumption, yet only 38% of commercial building occupants are satisfied with the thermal environment. The primary reasons for low occupant satisfaction are that HVAC operations do not integrate occupant comfort requirements nor control the thermal environment at the individual level. Personal comfort systems (PCSs) enable local control of the thermal environment around each occupant. However, full manual control of PCS can be inefficient, and fully automated PCS reduces an occupant’s perceived control over the environment, which can then lead to lower satisfaction. A better solution might lie somewhere between fully manual and fully automated environmental control. In this article, we describe the development and implementation of an Internet-of-Things (IoT)-based intelligent agent that learns individual occupant comfort requirements and controls the thermal environment using PCS (i.e., a local fan and a heater). We tested different levels of automation where control is shared between an intelligent agent and the end user. Our results show that PCS use improves occupant satisfaction and including some level of automation can improve occupant satisfaction further than what is possible with manually operated PCS. Among the levels of automation investigated, inquisitive automation, where the user approves/declines the control actions of the intelligent agent before execution, led to highest occupant satisfaction with the thermal environment.
Challenges in diagnosing coexisting ocular myasthenia gravis and thyroid eye disease

Ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) and thyroid eye disease are two autoimmune conditions that have several overlapping clinical features, and these coexist with a small but not insignificant frequency. Segregating these diagnoses is typically straightforward, but, when the two diseases co-occur in the same individual, making a diagnosis of OMG can be very challenging. In this review we address what is known about the coexistence of OMG and thyroid eye disease and we highlight the clinical features that are suggestive of overlapping conditions. We also describe the major testing approaches used in the diagnosis of these two entities, with special emphasis on the potential shortcomings of individual tests in patients with overlapping disease. In patients with thyroid eye disease, securing a diagnosis of OMG may not be possible on the basis of a single positive test. A multimodal approach using clinical, serologic, imaging, and electrodiagnostic data, is typically required.
‘The Company We Keep:’ Endogenous Network Formation and Peer Effects in Customer Churn

Online connectivity and other technologies provide academic researchers and practitioners with unprecedented access to data on social interactions between consumers in the process of adoption and consumption of products, services, and ideas. In many cases, the social connections that can be recovered from such data are fundamentally endogenous. This paper addresses the endogeneity in social connections in empirical measurement of peer effects in customer churn. Understanding peer effect in churn decisions is of paramount importance in many industries where products or services are consumed in a socially connected manner, both online and offline, as lost customers hurt revenue streams and are expensive to replenish. Equipped with knowledge of causality, managers can craft effective retention campaigns. To tackle the peer network endogeneity issue, we directly model the process of social network formation based on observed consumer interactions during product use. After accounting for the choice of peers, we model the interdependence of agents' churn decisions and estimate the causal peer effect in churn. Modeling the network formation process first allows us to recover the unobserved individual-specific parameters that might affect both peer network formation and individuals' decisions to churn. The recovered latent individual-specific parameters correct for tie endogeneity in the peer effect model. We use data from the popular massively multiplayer online game World of Warcraft. We find significant evidence of the network formation outcome being largely explained by the latent characteristics of gamers. We also find a strong peer effect in churn decisions after controlling for the network endogeneity. Based on our estimation results, we run counterfactual simulation studies to investigate how churn dynamic in the network is affected by composition of gamers that determines the generated network structure. We provide recommendations to inform a company’s policy of inducing formation of guilds that suffer less from peer effect in churn.
Associations among affect, diet, and activity and binge-eating severity using ecological momentary assessment in a non-clinical sample of middle-aged fathers

Knowledge of within-day factors associated with binge-eating severity among middle-aged fathers is limited. The purpose of the current report was to examine within-day associations of affect, diet, and activity in relation to binge-eating severity using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in men. Twenty-three middle-aged fathers completed 8 days of EMA and wore accelerometers to objectively assess activity. Generalized estimating equations assessed relationships among affect, diet, and activity and binge-eating severity. When positive affect was above average, men reported greater binge-eating severity in the next 2 h. Oppositely, when negative affect was above average, men reported less binge-eating severity in the next 2 h. At times when men reported consumption of sweets and fast food, they reported higher binge-eating severity during the same 2-h window. Men with greater average levels of light activity reported less overall binge-eating severity. Findings show that affect, unhealthy food intake, and light activity could be targeted among middle-aged fathers to reduce binge-eating severity and prevent eating disorders. Level III: Evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies.
The ACLGIM LEAD Program: a Leadership Program for Junior-Mid-Career Faculty.

Junior to mid-career medical faculty often move into administrative and leadership roles without formal leadership training. Many national leadership training programs target senior rather than junior faculty. To address the leadership development needs of junior and mid-career faculty. Sessions at annual meetings combined with online learning, independent work, and leadership coaching. 79 junior-mid-career general internal medicine (GIM) faculty enrolled in five consecutive annual cohorts from 2014 to 2018. LEAD scholars participate in a full-day anchor session followed by selected workshops during the annual meeting. They then participate in monthly online sessions, complete a project, interview a senior leader, and receive leadership coaching from senior GIM faculty. Post-program evaluation indicated the LEAD program was effective in helping participants understand what it means to be a good leader (93%, 37/40), become a more reflective leader (90%, 35/39), and apply principles of leadership to increase effectiveness in their role (88%, 34/39). LEAD provides junior-mid-career medical faculty an opportunity to learn effective leadership skills and build a network.
Using Machine Learning to Measure Conservatism

Using a neural network, we develop novel measures of conservatism that fits non-linearities and interactions absent in prior literature. The machine-learning measures exhibit (i) fewer economically anomalous observations, (ii) economic associations consistent with existing studies, (iii) less unexplained year-over-year instability, and (iv) higher economic magnitudes consistent with reduced attenuation bias. The measure further reveals intuitive trends toward a secular decline in conservatism in the US. In simulations, linear models perform honorably even in the presence of a complex data-generating process but causal inference based on machine learning is the most robust to misspecification. The approach offers the promise of reducing noise in measurements and design more powerful tests to assess theories of conservatism.
Partial synthetic models of FeMoco with sulfide and carbyne ligands: Effect of interstitial atom in nitrogenase active site.

Nitrogen-fixing organisms perform dinitrogen reduction to ammonia at an Fe-M (M = Mo, Fe, or V) cofactor (FeMco) of nitrogenase. FeMco displays eight metal centers bridged by sulfides and a carbide having the MFe7S8C cluster composition. The role of the carbide ligand, a unique motif in protein active sites, remains poorly understood. Toward addressing how the carbon bridge affects the physical and chemical properties of the cluster, we isolated synthetic models of subsite MFe3S3C displaying sulfides and a chelating carbyne ligand. We developed synthetic protocols for structurally related clusters, [Tp*M’Fe3S3X]n−, where M’ = Mo or W, the bridging ligand X = CR, N, NR, S, and Tp* = Tris(3,5-dimethyl-1-pyrazolyl)hydroborate, to study the effects of the identity of the heterometal and the bridging X group on structure and electrochemistry. While the nature of M’ results in minor changes, the chelating, μ3-bridging carbyne has a large impact on reduction potentials, being up to 1 V more reducing compared to nonchelating N and S analogs.
Self-report measures of medication adherence behavior: recommendations on optimal use

Medication adherence plays an important role in optimizing the outcomes of many treatment and preventive regimens in chronic illness. Self-report is the most common method for assessing adherence behavior in research and clinical care, but there are questions about its validity and precision. The NIH Adherence Network assembled a panel of adherence research experts working across various chronic illnesses to review self-report medication adherence measures and research on their validity. Self-report medication adherence measures vary substantially in their question phrasing, recall periods, and response items. Self-reports tend to overestimate adherence behavior compared with other assessment methods and generally have high specificity but low sensitivity. Most evidence indicates that self-report adherence measures show moderate correspondence to other adherence measures and can significantly predict clinical outcomes. The quality of self-report adherence measures may be enhanced through efforts to use validated scales, assess the proper construct, improve estimation, facilitate recall, reduce social desirability bias, and employ technologic delivery. Self-report medication adherence measures can provide actionable information despite their limitations. They are preferred when speed, efficiency, and low-cost measures are required, as is often the case in clinical care.
A Model of Relative Thinking

Fixed differences loom smaller when compared to large differences. We propose a model of relative thinking where a person weighs a given change along a consumption dimension by less when it is compared to bigger changes along that dimension. In deterministic settings, the model predicts context effects such as the attraction effect but predicts meaningful bounds on such effects driven by the intrinsic utility for the choices. In risky environments, a person is less likely to sacrifice utility on one dimension to gain utility on another that is made riskier. For example, a person is less likely to exert effort for a fixed monetary return if there is greater overall income uncertainty. We design and run experiments to test basic model predictions and find support for these predictions.
Lp-Theory of Harish-Chandra Transform. Fourier Analysis on the Spaces ℓP(G//K)

The aim of the present chapter is to study the Lp-counter part of the L2-theory that was developed in Chapters 5 and 6. This will be done by studying the Harish-Chandra transforms of functions in a certain family of spaces l P (G//K), 0 < p < 2. For p = 2, l 2 is merely the space l(G//K), while for p = 1, we get the L1-analogue of l(G//K). The end result will be a complete characterization of the algebra of transforms of the spaces.
Tax in the Final Frontier: A Theory of Interstellar Tax

In his pioneering 1978 article "The Theory of Interstellar Trade," Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman considered how interest charges on goods in transit between the stars should be computed. This article seeks to expand on Krugman’s seminal work - and establish my claim to a Nobel Prize - by considering whether income earned in flight should be subject to the federal income tax.
11. Local knowledge and travellers' tales: a selection of climatic observations in Iceland

Iceland is well-known for its rich literary tradition which includes a wealth of historical records containing accounts of climate and weather (Thoroddsen, 1916–17; Porarinsson, 1956b; Bergporsson, 1969a; Ogilvie, 1984, Ogilvie, 1991, 1992a; Ogilvie and Jonsson, 2001). In this paper, some of these sources will be described and evaluated and the information gathered from them will be used to cast light on variations in the climate of Iceland over the last 1000 years or so. The historical records discussed here consist primarily of information from native Icelanders, in other words, the products of local knowledge. Some accounts by foreign visitors to Iceland will also be considered. Of the many available sources, only a few can be highlighted here. These will include accounts taken from a number of different sources, from a variety of genres: the earliest historical works from Iceland; the Icelandic sagas; annals; geographical works; official reports, weather diaries and the accounts of travellers. The evidence from these sources for climatic variations in Iceland over the last 1000 or so years will be also be charted.
Client Threats Toward Social Workers: Nature, Motives, and Response

Client threats toward social workers are a common occurrence in practice and a difficult challenge for clinical intervention and management. This paper reports on results from a survey of 1,129 randomly selected members of the National Association of Social Workers from two states. The prevalence, nature, motives for, and responses to client threats were examined. More than half the sample reported one or more threats, with certain settings and practitioners more at risk than others. The majority of threats were initiated by adult male clients and involved a range of motives and situational contexts. Recommendations for intervention and management are provided.
Impact of current rate and temperature on state-of-charge estimation of Li-ion batteries based on the extended Kalman filter

Accurate battery models and precise calculation of the battery state-of-charge (SOC) are necessary for maximizing battery performance, realizing safe operation, and extending the operating range of hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. In this paper, by taking various temperatures and charging/discharging current rates into consideration, a comprehensive battery model is developed in which the parameters are extracted based on experimental data. Furthermore, an online SOC estimation method based on the developed model and the Extended Kaiman Filter (EKF) is proposed. The accuracies of the battery model and the SOC estimation method at various temperatures and current rates are evaluated and validated based on a set of simulation and experimental studies.
Tactile sensation imaging for artificial palpation

In this paper we investigated a novel tactile sensation imaging method using a flexible, transparent waveguide and the total internal reflection principle. The developed sensor is used to detect and identify inclusions within tissues. To test the performance of the proposed sensor, a realistic tissue phantom with hard inclusions (tumor models) is developed. The proposed tactile imaging sensor estimated the inclusion diameter within 4.09% and the inclusion depth within 7.55%.
Systematic Evaluation of Skeletal Mechanical Function

Many genetic and environmental perturbations lead to measurable changes in bone morphology, matrix composition, and matrix organization. The skeletal system is highly adaptive, such that genetic and environmental perturbations affecting one trait are often accompanied by compensatory changes in other traits. This adaptation should be considered when attempting to draw meaningful conclusions about the role of a gene, for example. The challenge is to figure out which alterations can be attributed to the perturbation and which result from adaptive changes associated with establishing mechanical function. The goal of this chapter is to describe straight-forward biomechanical methods that can be used to determine whether a genetic or environmental perturbation affected bone strength. We introduce a systematic method for evaluating how bone strength was altered in the context of morphology and tissue-level mechanical properties, which are determined in large part from matrix composition, matrix organization, and porosity. We present this work as a first step toward screening mice for a phenotypic effect and for establishing the associated biomechanical mechanism by which function was altered. The outcome of these analyses generally provides insight into the next set of experiments required to further connect the cellular perturbation with the functional changes. The protocols were written to enable researchers without a background in engineering to conduct the assays or to enable researchers to better understand the outcomes of similar assays conducted by colleagues knowledgeable in engineering.
Note on the Banking Industry

This Note provides an overview of the structure and function of the Banking industry, with a primary focus on the U.S. It was designed to support the HBS MBA course "Managing the Financial Firm."
Structure of IFNγ and its Receptors

Publisher Summary This chapter deals with interferon γ (IFNγ), focusing on its structure. IFNγ is a pleotropic cytokine that induces antiviral, antiproliferative, and immunomodulatory effects on numerous target cells. Natural forms of human IFNγ are composed of two 143-amino-acid peptide chains that are posttranslationally modified to contain an N-terminal pyroglutamic acid residue, N-linked glycosylation at two positions, and a heterogeneous C terminus containing the positively charged sequence KTGKRKR (residues 125–131). The crystal structure of human IFNγ has revealed the tight association of two peptide chains (composed of six α-helices, labeled A to F, from the N to C terminus) into a remarkable intertwined helix topology to form a symmetric dimer. In agreement with solution and cell-surface binding studies, the structure of the IFNγ/IFNγR1 complex has revealed the symmetric binding of two IFNγR1s to one IFNγ dimer.
Good Science + Good Ethics = Good Law: Five Rules for Epidemic Preparedness

The ebola epidemic revealed weaknesses in the united States’ health system. But Ebola's lessons can be captured in a simple formulation: Good Science + Good Ethics = Good Law. Drawing on this equation, here are 5 rules for public health preparedness.
Legitimacy and the Rise of NGOs: the Global and Local in South Asia

We extend sociological institutionalist theory and draw on evidence from South Asia to develop a research agenda for studying how nongovernmental organization (NGO) legitimacy plays out in national and local arenas. After first presenting a sociological institutionalist approach to nongovernmental organizing, we extend it into three areas: national laws governing international and domestic NGOs, growth in domestic NGOs, and the situated interactions among international organizations, nation-states, local organizations, and other actors. (1) International and domestic NGOs are governed by national laws, and we sketch the history of such laws in South Asia to hypothesize a pattern of legal change leading to the present social concern about accountability. (2) Sociological institutionalism suggests that domestic NGO growth is related to the presence of international NGOs and can be interpreted as the diffusion of formal organization. (3) We conceptualize the situated interactions of the plethora of actors as...
Applications of fiber optic sensors in civil engineering

Recent development of fiber optic sensor technology has provided an excellent choice for civil engineers for performance monitoring of civil infrastructures. Fiber optic sensors have the advantages of small dimensions, good resolution and accuracy, as well as excellent ability to transmit signal at long distances. They are also immune to electromagnetic and radio frequency interference and may incorporate a series of interrogated sensors multiplexed along a single fiber. These advantages make fiber optic sensors a better method than traditional damage detection methods and devices to some extent. This paper provides a review of recent developments in fiber optic sensor technology as well as some applications of fiber optic sensors to the performance monitoring of civil infrastructures such as buildings, bridges, pavements, dams, pipelines, tunnels, piles, etc. Existing problems of fiber optic sensors with their applications to civil structural performance monitoring are also discussed.
Injured adult neocortical neurons sprout fibers into surviving fetal frontal cortex transplants: evidence using NADPH-diaphorase staining.

Abstract NADPH-diaphorase-stained neurons located in injured adult rat brain motor cortex sprout fibers into surviving fetal frontal cortex transplants.
Relations between endogenous androgens and estrogens in postmenopausal women with suspected ischemic heart disease.

Context: Because androgens are obligatory precursors of estrogens, it is reasonable to assume that their serum concentrations would exhibit positive correlations. If so, then epidemiologic studies that examine the association between androgens and pathological processes should adjust the results for the independent effect of estrogens. Objective: The objective of the study was to examine the interrelationships among testosterone (T), androstenedione, estradiol (E2), estrone, and SHBG in postmenopausal women. Design: This was a cross-sectional study of women participating in the National Heart, Blood, and Lung Institute-sponsored Women’s Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation study. Setting: The study was conducted at four academic medical centers. Patients: A total of 284 postmenopausal women with chest pain symptoms or suspected myocardial ischemia. Main Outcome Measures: Post hoc analysis of the relationships among sex steroid hormones with insulin resistance, body mass index (BMI), and presence or absence of coronary artery disease as determined by coronary angiography. Results: BMI was significantly associated with insulin resistance, total E2, free E2, bioavailable E2, and free T. Highly significant correlations were found for total T, free T, and androstenedione with total E2, free E2, bioavailable E2, and estrone and persisted after adjustment for BMI and insulin resistance. A significant relationship was present between total and free T and the presence of coronary artery disease after adjustment for the effect of E2. Conclusions: Serum levels of androgens and estrogens track closely in postmenopausal women referred for coronary angiography for suspected myocardial ischemia. Epidemiological studies that relate sex steroid hormones to physiological or pathological processes need to control for the independent effect of both estrogens and androgens.
More than loose change: household health spending in the United States and Canada

Abstract: A key point of comparison between U.S. and Canadian health spending is what amount citizens spend for health coverage, given their respective health systems. A comparison of household spending surveys in the two countries shows that Canadian households pay about half of what American households pay for health coverage, but their personal tax burden is almost twice that of Americans. Net personal consumption thus is quite similar between the two countries. Total household health spending in the United States amounted to $215.6 billion in 1989—one-third of the total spent on health that year.
Founder Fukutin mutation causes Walker–Warburg syndrome in four Ashkenazi Jewish families

Objective Walker-Warburg syndrome (WWS) is a genetically heterogeneous congenital muscular dystrophy caused by abnormal glycosylation of α-dystroglycan (α-DG) that is associated with brain malformations and eye anomalies. The Fukutin (FKTN) gene, which causes autosomal recessively inherited WWS is most often associated with Fukuyama congenital muscular dystrophy in Japan. We describe the clinical features of four nonconsanguinous Ashkenazi Jewish families with WWS and identify the underlying genetic basis for WWS. Method We screened for mutations in POMGnT1, POMT1, POMT2, and FKTN, genes causing WWS, by dideoxy sequence analysis. Results We identified an identical homozygous c.1167insA mutation in the FKTN gene on a common haplotype in all four families and identified 2/299 (0.7%) carriers for the c.1167insA mutation among normal American Ashkenazi Jewish adults. Conclusion These data suggest that the c.1167insA FKTN mutation described by us is a founder mutation that can be used to target diagnostic testing and carrier screening in the Ashkenazi Jewish population. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A recombinational event in the history of luteoviruses probably induced by base-pairing between the genomes of two distinct viruses.

Abstract Alignments of luteovirus readthrough protein amino acid sequences show they consist of two distinct regions, here named the N domain and the C domain. N domain sequences were classified, and comparison of this gene phylogeny to phylogenies of other luteovirus genes revealed an anomaly in the relationships between beet western yellows luteovirus, cucurbit aphid-borne yellows luteovirus (CABYV), and pea enation mosaic RNA1 (PEMV1). Together with alignments of virion protein and readthrough protein amino acid sequences, these gene phylogenies indicate the anomaly to be the result of two recombinational events, probably between ancestors of CABYV and PEMV1 and leading to the transfer of RNA coding for the N domain to an ancestor of CABYV. Two likely recombination sites were identified from the alignments, one at the 5′ end of the readthrough protein gene and the other at the 5′ end of the sequence coding for the C domain. Alignments of the nucleotide sequences encompassing the probable recombination sites suggest that base-pairing between the genomes of the two ancestral luteoviruses, resulting from local sequence similarity at the 5′ end of the readthrough protein gene, probably induced one of the interspecies recombinational events.
Depletion of adenosine triphosphate in Desulfovibrio by oxyanions of group VI elements

Oxyanions of elements from group VI of the periodic table, i.e., analogs of SO4 2−, destroyed adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) in cells of sulfate-respiring bacteria (Desulfovibrio spp.), probably via the ATP sulfurylase reaction. The approximate order of effectiveness was CrO4 2−> MoO4 2−=WO4 2−>SeO4 2−. Cultures of aerobically grown or nitrate-respiring bacteria were less susceptible and with fermentatively grownEscherichia coli the oxyanions even appeared to stimulate ATP levels. The selective depletion of ATP in sulfate-respiring bacteria might provide the basis for a rapid and simple assay of their biomass in mixed cultures or environmental samples.
Tannin is the major agent present in cotton mill dust responsible for human platelet 5-hydroxytryptamine secretion and thromboxane formation.

Aqueous extracts of cotton mill dust were examined for their ability to activate washed human platelets as indicated both by the secretion of 5-hydroxytryptamine and the generation of thromboxane A2. The cotton dust extract promoted 5-hydroxytryptamine secretion in a dose-dependent manner. When expressed in terms of its tannin concentration, the dose curve for cotton dust extract was identical to that obtained with purified tannin. Cotton dust extract also promoted the generation of low levels of thromboxane A2. Fractionation of the extract by Amicon ultrafiltration into a > 10,000 MW fraction and a 10,000 MW cotton dust extract fraction was indistinguishable from that of purified tannin. Thus, 2 criteria show that platelet activation by cotton mill dust appears due to the tannin present in the dust.
Face recognition algorithm in hyperspectral imagery by employing the K-means method and the Mahalanobis distance

Recently, spectral information is introduced into face recognition applications to improve the detection performance for different conditions. Besides the changes in scale, orientation, and rotation of facial images, expression, occlusion and lighting conditions change the overall appearance of faces and recognition results. To eliminate these difficulties, we introduced a new face recognition technique by using the spectral signature of facial tissues. Unlike alternate algorithms, the proposed algorithm classifies the hyperspectral imagery corresponding to each face into clusters to automatically recognize the desired face and to eliminate the user intervention in the data set. The K-means clustering algorithm is employed to accomplish the clustering and then Mahalanobis distance is computed between the clusters to identify the closest cluster in the data with respect to the reference cluster. By identifying a cluster in the data, the face that contains that cluster is identified by the proposed algorithm. Test results using real life hyperspectral imagery shows the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Novel catalytic effects of fullerene for LiBH4 hydrogen uptake and release.

Our recent novel finding, involving a synergistic experiment and first-principles theory, shows that carbon nanostructures can be used as catalysts for hydrogen uptake/release in aluminum based complex metal hydrides (sodium alanate) and also provides an unambiguous understanding of how the catalysts work. Here we show that the same concepts can be applied to boron based complex hydride such as lithium borohydride, LiBH{sub 4}. Taking into account electronegativity and curvature effect a fullerene-LiBH{sub 4} composite demonstrates catalytic properties with not only lowered hydrogen desorption temperatures, but regenerative rehydriding at relatively lower temperature of 350 C. This catalytic effect likely originates from interfering with the charge transfer from Li to the BH4 moiety, resulting in an ionic bond between Li{sup +} and BH{sub 4}{sup -}, and a covalent bond between B and H. Interaction of LiBH{sub 4} with an electronegative substrate such as carbon fullerene affects the ability of Li to donate its charge to BH{sub 4}, consequently weakening the B-H bond and causing hydrogen to desorb at lower temperatures as well as facilitating the absorption of H{sub 2} to reverse the dehydrogenation reaction. Degradation of cycling capacity is observed and is attributed to forming irreversible intermediates or diboranes.
Arbuscular mycorrhizae of Gutierrezia sarothrae and elevated carbon dioxide: evidence for shifts in C allocation to and within the mycobiont

Abstract In a complete 2×2 factorial greenhouse experiment we examined the responses of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) and non-mycorrhizal fungi to Gutierrezia sarothrae shrubs grown in elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (750 μl l−1) and fertilized with N. AM percent infection did not change significantly with elevated CO2, but arbuscular infection increased 14-fold in the low-N treatment. Extraradical hyphal length increased on an absolute basis in elevated CO2, and also per infected root length. In the high-N treatments, increasing CO2 caused a decrease in hyphal length per infected root length, and an increase in vesicular infection. There was a significant positive response of AM infection intensity to increasing CO2 for the high N treatment, and a similar trend in the low N treatment. Infection intensity was positively correlated with arbuscular infection and with vesicular infection. Non-mycorrhizal fungi did not respond to any of the treatment combinations, as measured by percent root infection and external hyphal length. Our results indicate that C allocation to the AM fungi was increased in elevated CO2, and that the mycobiont in turn increased C allocation to external hyphae.
A population model for the alkali fly at Mono Lake: depth distribution and changing habitat availability

The densities of alkali fly larvae and pupae were measured in relation to depth and substrate type at six locations around Mono Lake. Samples representing a mixture of different bottom features were taken to a depth of 10 m (33 ft) using SCUBA. This is at or near the depth limit of fly larvae and pupae. The biomass of larvae and pupae on hard substrate were maximum and approximately equal at depths of 0.5 m and 1 m, substantially lower at intermediate depths of 3 m and 5 m, and over an order of magnitude further reduced at 10 m. Densities of flies on hard or rocky substrates (mainly calcareous tufa deposits), were significantly greater than those found on soft substrates such as mud or sand, at all but the greatest depth surveyed.
Television Advertising in the 1992 New Hampshire Presidential Primary Election

This study assesses the importance of paid advertising. Drawing from observations and interviews with ad creators and campaign managers, it describes, analyzes, and evaluates what the candidates did and why in the 1992 New Hampshire presidential primary election. Specifically, the study examines the importance of initial ads, consistency in ads, and the use of negative ads. It demonstrates that candidates flooded the airwaves with 30‐second ads, spending well in excess of overall spending limits on advertising alone. Ad innovations in 1992 were as follows: heavy New Hampshire and Boston time buying, an attack strategy against an incumbent president, an informercial to raise money, distributed videotapes, interactive video appeals, and half‐hour programs. Candidates who advertised early and stayed consistent in their imagery did better than candidates who advertised later and created multiple images and varied ads.
Engineering implementation of a hybrid optical correlator using SLMs

Abstract Optical correlators have been widely used for such applications as automatic target identification, invariant pattern recognition and machine vision. In hybrid optical correlators, Spatial light modulators (SLMs) are used to dynamically update the input and the filter. However, implementation is difficult because of the interference of “ghost” images; rigorous requirements for filter registration, accurate and effective filter sizing and complex valued filtering functions. This paper proposes some practical approaches to handle these issues and provides engineering details of how to build a hybrid optical correlator, where a SLM serves as an updateable intensity filter for real-time pattern recognition.
Lipide changes in chylomicra and subnatant fractions of rat lymph during cholesterol absorption.

SummaryChanges in distribution of neutral fat. phospholipide, and cholesterol between chylomicron and subnatant fractions of rat lymph have been produced by feeding emulsions containing cholesterol, fatty acid, triglyceride, and taurocholate in various combinations. Increases in neutral fat were carried largely in the chylomicron fraction while increases in cholesterol were carried largely in the subnatant fraction. The emulsions also produced changes in percentage composition of the lipide mixture in each fraction.
Optimizing the extraction of phenolic antioxidants from peanut skins using response surface methodology.

Peanut skins are a byproduct of peanut blanching operations and contain high levels of phenolic antioxidants. The effect of solvent type (methanol MeOH, ethanol EtOH, and water), concentration (0, 30, 60, 90%), temperature (30, 45, 60 °C), and time (10, 20, 30 min) on total phenolic content (TPC), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) level, and resveratrol content of peanut skins was investigated. Response surface methodology was used to estimate the optimum extraction conditions for each solvent. EtOH extracts had the highest TPC followed by MeOH and water. The maximum predicted TPC under the optimized conditions (30.8%, 30.9 °C, 12 min) was 118 mg of gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g of skins. MeOH extracts had the highest ORAC activity of 2149 μmol of TE/g followed by EtOH and water under the optimized conditions of 30% MeOH, 52.9 °C and 30 min. Resveratrol was identified in MeOH extracts but was not found in samples extracted with EtOH or water.
Lumbar discal cyst: Diagnostic discography followed by therapeutic computed tomography-guided aspiration and injection

Discal cysts are extradural masses that communicate with the intervertebral disk and are a rare cause of lower back pain and lumbar radiculopathy. This case report describes a lumbar discal cyst, the diagnosis of which was confirmed on conventional discography, and which was treated with computed tomography-guided aspiration and steroid injection. Several reports have described this procedure, but only one in the radiology literature, and thus the purpose of this report is to remind the radiology community of the existence of this entity and propose a minimally invasive means of treatment.
Parametric Roll of High Speed Ships in Regular Waves

Analysis of ship parametric roll has generally been restricted to simple analytical models and sophisticated time domain simulations. Simple analytical models do not capture all the critical dynamics while time-domain simulations are often time consuming to implement. The model presented in this paper captures the essential dynamics of the system without over simplification. This work incorporates various important aspects of the system and assesses the significance of including or ignoring these aspects. Special consideration is given to the fact that a hull form asymmetric about the design waterline would not lead to a perfectly harmonic variation in metacentric height. Many of the previous works on parametric roll make the assumption of linearized and harmonic behavior of the time-varying restoring arm or metacentric height. This assumption enables modeling the roll motion as a Mathieu equation. This paper provides a critical assessment of this assumption and suggests modeling the roll motion as a Hills equation. Also the effects of non-linear damping are included to evaluate its effect on the bounded parametric roll amplitude in a simplified manner.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Energy Levels in Zr 91 Excited by the (d, p) Reaction

Eleven energy levels in ${\mathrm{Zr}}^{91}$ were excited. The excitation energies of the levels are 0, 1.22, 2.07, 2.19, 2.56, 2.84, 3.05, 3.25, 3.45, 3.65, and 3.87 Mev. Angular distributions were measured for the first four levels and assignments were made using the shell-model and the Butler stripping theory. The assignments are $2{d}_{\frac{5}{2}}$ for the ground state, $3{s}_{\frac{1}{2}}$ for the 1.22-Mev state, $2{d}_{\frac{3}{2}}$ for the 2.07-Mev state, and $1{g}_{\frac{7}{2}}$ for the 2.19-Mev state. The application of the Butler theory to the data gave reasonable and useful fits. The ground-state $Q$ value was measured and is 5.02\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.03 Mev.
Identification of a minimal binding element within the T7 RNA polymerase promoter

The T7 RNA polymerase promoter has been proposed to contain two domains: the binding region upstream of position -5 is recognized through apparently traditional duplex contacts, while the catalytic domain downstream of position -5 is bound in a melted configuration. This model is tested by following polymerase binding to a series of synthetic oligonucleotides representing truncations of the consensus promoter sequence. The increase in the fluorescence anisotropy of a rhodamine dye linked to the upstream end of the promoter provides a very sensitive measure of enzyme binding in simple thermodynamic titrations, and allows the determination of both increases and decreases in the dissociation constant. The best fit value of Kd=4.0 nM for the native promoter is in good agreement with previous fluorescence and steady state measurements. Deletion of the downstream DNA up to position -1 or to position -5 leads to a fivefold increase in binding, while further sequential single-base deletions upstream result in 20 and 500-fold decreases in binding. These results indicate that the (duplex) region of the promoter upstream of and including position -5 is both necessary and sufficient for tight binding, and represents the core binding element of the promoter. We propose a model in which part of the upstream binding energy is used by T7 RNA polymerase to melt the downstream initiation region of the promoter. We also show that the presence of magnesium is necessary for optimal binding, but not for specific enzyme-promoter complex formation, and we propose that magnesium is not required for melting of the promoter.
Change in reaction pathway in the reduction of 3,5-di-tert-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone with increasing concentrations of 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol.

The electrochemical reduction of 3,5-di-tert-butyl-1,2-benzoquinone, 1, has been studied in acetonitrile with added 2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, 2. At low concentrations of 2 the reaction proceeds by th...
An improved generalized equation of state

Two forms of a generalized Benedict-Webb-Rubin Equation, BWR24 and BWR44, are proposed for dense gases which represent an improvement by a factor of about three in calculated pressures compared to reduced forms of this relationship in the literature. The method is also tested for accuracy in predicting enthalpy departures for pure components and mixtures. The proposed methods are marginally better than the best of other methods tested. Major advantages for the proposed equations are their relative simplicity, low computer storage requirements, and generality. No mixture interaction constants are required other than those already available in the literature.
Identification of hydrotreatment-resistant heteroatomic species in a crude oil distillation cut by electrospray ionization FT-ICR mass spectrometry

Abstract The diminishing clean oil reserve is driving the search for new or improved ways to reduce the level of NSO-containing species found in high abundance in heavy crude oils. Hydrotreatment is the currently preferred technique to remove those polar species. Unfortunately, nitrogen-containing compounds cause coke formation on the surface of the hydrotreatment catalyst, leading to partial or complete deactivation. Here, positive- and negative-ion electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI FT-ICR MS) identify those nitrogen compounds that resist hydrotreatment. ESI preferentially ionizes polar (e.g., heteroatom-containing) species: basic molecules are detected as positive ions and acidic/neutral molecules as negative ions. FT-ICR MS resolves thousands of species in a single mass spectrum, allowing for unambiguous determination of elemental composition, C c H h N n O o S s , for identification of compound “class” (numbers of N, O, S heteroatoms, “type” (rings plus double bonds), and carbon number (revealing the extent of alkylation). We find that hydrotreatment-resistant compounds typically contain a single nitrogen atom, both pyridinic benzalogs and pyrollic benzalogs. Compounds with more than one heteroatom, such as O x , N x O y , N x S y and N x , are partially removed. Compound classes with lower double bond equivalents or fewer CH 2 groups are preferentially removed. Species that contain O x S y are fully removed by hydrotreatment.
Robust and scalable optical one-way quantum computation

We propose an efficient approach for deterministically generating scalable cluster states with photons. This approach involves unitary transformations performed on atoms coupled to optical cavities. Its operation cost scales linearly with the number of qubits in the cluster state, and photon qubits are encoded such that single-qubit operations can be easily implemented by using linear optics. Robust optical one-way quantum computation can be performed since cluster states can be stored in atoms and then transferred to photons that can be easily operated and measured. Therefore, this proposal could help in performing robust large-scale optical one-way quantum computation.
Software development for neuroimaging: Promoting community access and best practices through NITRC

The Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse, NITRC, is a resource for organizing knowledge about the publicly available resources for neuroimaging. Located at www.nitrc.org, it is based on GForge, and brings a common environment for downloading, discussion, education, rating, and documentation for a growing number of resources. Moreover, NITRC provides a platform to support ‘best practices’ in software engineering and helps to remove barriers that have limited software sharing in the past. We present its design and status, and report on its uses not only to promote software, but also to foster communities of users that promote technological advances specific domain topics. Resources for neuroanatomic segmentation of structural MRI and functional connectivity analysis in fMRI are used as case studies.
Hydrothermal time models for conidial germination and mycelial growth of the seed pathogen Pyrenophora semeniperda

Population-based threshold models using hydrothermal time (HTT) have been widely used to model seed germination. We used HTT to model conidial germination and mycelial growth for the seed pathogen Pyrenophora semeniperda in a novel approach to understanding its interactions with host seeds. Germination time courses and mycelial growth rates for P.semeniperda were measured on PDA amended to achieve a series of five water potentials (ca. 0 to -6 MPa) at six constant temperatures (5-30 °C). Conidial germination was described with alternative population-based models using constant or variable base and maximum temperature and water potential parameters. Mycelial growth was modeled as a continuous, linear process with constant base temperature and base water potential. Models based on HTT showed reasonable fit to germination and growth rate data sets. The best-fit conidial germination model (R(2) = 0.859) was based on variable base and maximum temperature as a function of water potential. The good fit of the linear mycelial growth model (R(2) = 0.916) demonstrated the utility of HTT for modeling continuous as well as population-based processes. HTT modeling may be a useful approach to the quantification of germination and growth processes in a wide range of filamentous fungi.