cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
International migration from the Dominican Republic: findings from a national survey.

The Dominican migration to the United States has been primarily directed to the New York area. The officially reported addresses given by Dominican aliens to the INS suggest a heavy concentration in the New York/New Jersey region. Using survey data, this study seeks to provide a profile of international Dominican migrants most of whom come to the United States. Reasons for migration by age, sex, and social strata are discussed, and an examination of return migration patterns is presented.
Reflectance indices associated with physiological changes in nitrogen- and water-limited sunflower leaves☆

Abstract We followed diurnal and seasonal changes in physiology and spectral reflectance of leaves throughout the canopies of sunflower plants grown in control, nitrogen (N)-limited, and water-stressed plots. Leaves from control sunflower plants had significantly higher levels of nitrogen, chlorophyll (chl), ribulose bis phosphate carboxylase / oxygenase (RuBPCase) activity and photosynthetic rates and lower starch content and leaf thickness than N-limited plants. Water-stressed plants had the highest N and chl contents (on an area basis). They also had the lowest water potential and photosynthetic rates, in spite of maintaining high RuBPCase activities. Leaves from stressed plants (especially N-limited) had significantly higher reflectances in the visible wavelengths and lower in the near IR than leaves from control plants. The only clear trend across canopy levels was the higher reflectance at all wavelengths but especially in the visible of the lower (oldest) leaves. NDVI-like parameters were useful in distinguishing stress and control leaves over the growing season. However, several narrow-band indices provided better physiological information than NDVI. The physiological reflectance index (PRI) (R550 − R530 / R550 + R530) followed diurnal changes in xanthophyll pigments and photosynthetic rates of control and N-limited leaves. The maximum of the first derivative of reflectance in the green (dG) was correlated with diurnal photosynthetic rate, and with seasonal chl and N changes. The normalized pigment chlorophyll ratio Index (NPCI) (R680 − R430 / R680 + R430) varied with total pigments / chl. The water band index (WBI) (R970 / R902) followed water status. The normalized ratio between the maxima of the first derivatives of reflectances at the red edge and green regions (EGFN) was correlated with chl and N content. Principal components analysis yielded several indicators of physiological status. The first principal component was higher in control leaves, the second was higher in N-limited leaves, and the third was higher in water-limited leaves. Discriminant analysis based on the combination of several narrow-band spectral indices clearly separated leaves into the three treatment groups. These results illustrate the promise of narrow-band spectroradiometry for assessing the physiological state of vegetation.
A computational framework for empirical Bayes inference

In empirical Bayes inference one is typically interested in sampling from the posterior distribution of a parameter with a hyper-parameter set to its maximum likelihood estimate. This is often problematic particularly when the likelihood function of the hyper-parameter is not available in closed form and the posterior distribution is intractable. Previous works have dealt with this problem using a multi-step approach based on the EM algorithm and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). We propose a framework based on recent developments in adaptive MCMC, where this problem is addressed more efficiently using a single Monte Carlo run. We discuss the convergence of the algorithm and its connection with the EM algorithm. We apply our algorithm to the Bayesian Lasso of Park and Casella (J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 103:681---686, 2008) and on the empirical Bayes variable selection of George and Foster (J. Am. Stat. Assoc. 87:731---747, 2000).
Adult age differences in the effects of sentence context and stimulus degradation during visual word recognition.

I investigated adult age differences in the efficiency of feature-extraction processes during visual word recognition. Participants were 24 young adults (M age = 21.0 years) and 24 older adults (M age = 66.5 years). On each trial, subjects made a word/nonword discrimination (i.e., lexical decision) regarding a target letter-string that was presented as the final item of a sentence context. The target was presented either intact or degraded visually (by the presence of asterisks between adjacent letters). Age differences in lexical decisions speed were greater for degraded targets than for intact targets, suggesting an age-related slowing in the extraction of feature-level information. For degraded word targets, however, the amount of performance benefit provided by the sentence context was greater for older adults than for young adults. It thus appears that an age-related deficiency at an early stage of word recognition is accompanied by an increased contribution from semantic context.
Outcomes associated with diabetes‐related amputations in the Netherlands and in the state of California, USA

Objective. The purpose of this study is to compare the incidence, relative risk, in-hospital mortality and hospital stay of diabetes-related lower extremity amputations in the state of California and the Netherlands in the year 1991. Research design and methods. We used established data obtained from the Office of Statewide Planning and Development for the state of California and from SIG Health Care Information in the Netherlands to identify all hospitalisations for lower extremity amputations. We used age- and sex-specific prevalence rates of diabetes mellitus from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and the Hispanic Health and Nutrition Examination Survey for the state of California and rates from the Central Bureau of Statistics for the Netherlands. A direct standardisation technique with the 1991 Netherlands population as the standard population was used to calculate age-adjusted incidence rates. Age was categorised into four different groups; 25–44, 45–64, 65–74 and 75 +. Amputations were defined by four levels; toe, foot, leg and thigh. Results. The age-adjusted incidence of diabetes-related lower extremity amputations was significantly higher in the state of California than in the Netherlands (49.9 vs. 36.1 per 10000 diabetics, P< 0.01). The relative risk, comparing the risk in the diabetic with that in the non-diabetic population, was California 23.7 vs. the Netherlands 19.7. The length of hospital stay was significantly higher in the Netherlands: 40.8 vs. 16.0 (P<0.01). Conclusions. There are some significant differences in the outcomes associated with diabetes-related lower extremity amputations. Some of these differences may be explained by differences in access to health care.
Performance Of A Staring Infrared Mosaic Sensor Against A High Reflectance Background

The application of mosaic focal planes to the problem of satellite surveillance has resulted in an increased interest in background clutter. Perhaps the most stressing background, in terms of its sharp radiance gradients and the existence of edges, occurs under conditions of high solar reflection off of clouds. A high reflectance scene, simulated in two spectral bands, was used to study the clutter induced by platform drift and jitter across such a background. Clutter was studied as a function of footprint, drift rate, and RMS jitter amplitude for first and second difference filters. These results were then compared against those derived from a simulated scene representing a more typical cloud background. All results presented are for a synchronous orbit system.
A High-Resolution Capability for Large-Eddy Simulation of Jet Flows

A large-eddy simulation (LES) code that utilizes high-resolution numerical schemes is described and applied to a compressible jet flow. The code is written in a general manner such that the accuracy/resolution of the simulation can be selected by the user. Time discretization is performed using a family of low-dispersion Runge-Kutta schemes, selectable from first- to fourth-order. Spatial discretization is performed using central differencing schemes. Both standard schemes, second- to twelfth-order (3 to 13 point stencils) and Dispersion Relation Preserving schemes from 7 to 13 point stencils are available. The code is written in Fortran 90 and uses hybrid MPI/OpenMP parallelization. The code is applied to the simulation of a Mach 0.9 jet flow. Four-stage third-order Runge-Kutta time stepping and the 13 point DRP spatial discretization scheme of Bogey and Bailly are used. The high resolution numerics used allows for the use of relatively sparse grids. Three levels of grid resolution are examined, 3.5, 6.5, and 9.2 million points. Mean flow, first-order turbulent statistics and turbulent spectra are reported. Good agreement with experimental data for mean flow and first-order turbulent statistics is shown.
Innovations in Primary Prevention: Emerging Research from CDC’s Prevention Research Centers

A network of community, academic, and public health partnerships make up the Prevention Research Centers (PRCs) funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to address the nation’s chronic diseases. The PRCs partner with communities to conduct research that benefits those directly affected (Ammerman, Harris, Brownson, & Tovar-Aguilar, 2011). A number of the PRCs across the United States report the results of their often-times extensive community research in this special issue of The Journal of Primary Prevention. The first four articles describe the impact of specific aspects of physical activity and nutrition on chronic disease. The first article by Kegler et al. sought to determine the reasons that adults living in the rural southern United States engage in less physical activity than their urban counterparts. A common barrier to physical activity among this population was found to be a lack of sidewalks, planned recreational facilities, and streetlights. Among those rural southern inhabitants who were more physically active, their level of activity was achieved using more practical approaches that utilized their environment, such as walking on trails, doing yard work, and gardening. Understanding how physically active people residing in the Rural South are able to maintain a high level of activity can potentially inform interventions that promote physical activity in this high-risk population. The second article focused on a West Coast group of immigrants of Mexican American/Mexican origin, another population at high risk for obesity and chronic disease, to promote behavior change around obesity. Elder et al. found that engaging the community, actively translating science to practice, and building capacity among various organizations were positive determinants of behavior change in this population. The third article by Ramirez et al. aimed to assess knowledge in an eastern costal state around the concept that physical activity can reduce cancer risk. The study revealed a correlation between high rates of obesity and lack of knowledge that obesity increases the risk of many cancers. The last article in this group (Sharkey et al.) analyzed the use of promotoras in a Hispanic community with health disparities. As trusted agents of the community, promotoras were found to be successful agents of health education and nutrition among their own communities. The next five articles spotlight prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Two of these articles examined human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common STI in the United States. HPV infection is linked to many cancers including cervical, anal, oropharyngeal, and penile cancers, and in the spring of 2012, the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that both females and males be vaccinated against HPV (CDC, 2012). The first article by Kornfeld et al. examined knowledge and B. R. Casey (&) University of Kentucky College of Public Health, Lexington, KY, USA e-mail: bcase2@email.uky.edu
ENZYMATIC CATALYSIS USING ASYMMETRIC HOLLOW FIBER MEMBRANES

Abstract An enzyme immobilization technique employing enzyme sequestration within the porous support regions of asymmetric hollow fiber membranes is described and experimentally evaluated. Reactor conversion data over a wide range of operating conditions agrees well with predictions obtained from a mathematical model developed previously. β-galactosidase immobilized by this technique was found to retain 100% activity for 60 hours of continuous reactor operation, and for 140 days when stored at 3°C. The effects on reactor performance of (1) enzyme adsorption by the membrane, and (2) axial redistribution of enzyme accompanying radial flow of fluid through the fiber wall, have been evaluated; neither process significantly alters conversion kinetics or efficiency for the substrate/enzyme system investigated.
The Role of Ankle Plantarflexors in Maintaining Dynamic Balance During Human Walking

The regulation of whole-body angular momentum is essential for maintaining dynamic balance during human walking and appears to be tightly controlled during normal and pathological movement (e.g., [1, 2]). The primary mechanism to regulate angular momentum is muscle force generation, which accelerates the body segments and generates ground reaction forces that alter angular momentum about the body’s center-of-mass to restore and maintain dynamic balance. Previous modeling studies have shown the ankle plantarflexors are important contributors to the anterior/posterior, vertical and medial/lateral ground reaction forces during human walking [3, 4], and therefore appear critical to regulating angular momentum and maintaining dynamic balance during walking.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
Scanning Electron Microscopy of the H37Ra Strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Exposed to Isoniazid

The morphology of cells of the H37Ra strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposed to 0.5 mug of isonicotinic acid hydrazide (isoniazid) per ml was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cells that were exposed to isoniazid for 3 h showed no detectable change, whereas cells exposed to the drug for 24 h exhibited diverse morphological features. From our examination of these SEM pictures, we have reconstructed the probable sequence of morphological changes to be as follows: (i) the wrinkling of the cell surface was ascribed as the earliest observable change, (ii) the cell surface then became very rough and ragged, (iii) eventually the cytoplasmic material was extruded from the cell, (iv) this event produced a collapsed cell, (v) the cells began to fragment, (vi) the fragmented cells then coalesced to form an amorphous mass of cell debris.
Preschool nutrition survey: Hights and weights of children

Between November, 1968 and December, 1970, some 2300 children between 1 and 6 years old were examined in connection with overall evaluation of nutritional status. Measurements were made of height, weight, thoracic fatfold, and head circumference. X-rays of the hand-wrist were taken to assess skeletal maturation. Heights (standing) and weights were measured by one of five nurses using standard techniques. Data collected between November, 1968 and December, 1969 were analyzed, percentile (10th–90th) values for heights and weights were computed, and distance growth charts have been developed. These charts were based on 1106 children (538 girls and 568 boys with birth weights >2500 g) who represent a national probability sample. Median, 75th, and 90th percentile values were the same or slightly below those of the Boston chart while 25th and 10th percentile values were somewhat progressively more skewed below the Boston norms. Distribution of height values by percentiles shows some relationship to income as do various parameters of dietary intake and biochemical assessment.
In electrospray ionization source hydrogen/deuterium exchange LC-MS and LC-MS/MS for characterization of metabolites

A new method is described for performing hydrogen/deuterium (H/D) exchange in an electrospray ionization (ESI) source. The use of liquid chromatography (LC)-mass spectrometer equipped with an ESI source and deuterium oxide (D2O) as the sheath liquid allows H/D exchange experiments to be performed on-line. This directly provides information for determining the number and position of exchangeable hydrogens, aiding in the elucidation of the structures of drug metabolites. To demonstrate the utility of this method, LC-mass spectrometry (MS) and LC-MS/MS experiments were performed using either H2O or D2O as sheath liquid on a matrix metalloprotease (MMP) inhibitor (PD 0200126) and its metabolites. Examination of the mass shift of the deuteriated molecule from that of the protonated molecule allowed the number of exchangeable protons to be determined. Interpretation of the production-spectra helped to determine the location of the exchanged protons and assisted in the assignment of the site(s) of modification for each metabolite.
The Post-Washington Consensus: Brand New Agenda or Old Wine in a New Bottle?

Has a constructive post-Washington Consensus actually been formed? The author of this paper cautiously believes it has. It is a consensus that recognizes the role of the state, the benefits of industrial policy, and the dangers of rapid deregulation, but that is also grounded in neoclassical principles, which produced the first Washington Consensus. Will the compromise prevail?
Exploring R-matrix Ideas for the Description of One-nucleon Transfer Reactions

Deuteron-induced reactions, in particular (d,p) one-neutron transfer reactions, have been used for decades to investigate the structure of nuclei. These reactions, carried out in inverse kinematics, are expected to play a central role in the study of weakly-bound systems at modern radioactive beam facilities. While the theoretical framework and its computational implementation for describing (d,p) reactions have seen much progress over the decades, open questions remain and need to be addressed, including the proper treatment of transfers to resonance states. Recently, a new formalism was proposed [1] that, in principle, describes transfers to both bound and resonance states. The new formalism is summarized here and illustrated; implications are discussed.
Effects of smoking and preeclampsia on birth weight for gestational age

AbstractObjective: A counterintuitive interaction between smoking during pregnancy and preeclampsia on birth weight for gestational age (BWGA) outcomes was recently reported. In this report, we examine the relationship between these factors in a well-documented study population with exposure data on trimester of maternal smoking.Methods: Preeclamptic (n = 238), gestational hypertensive (n = 219), and normotensive women (n = 342) were selected from live-births to nulliparous Iowa women. Disease status was verified by medical chart review, and smoking exposure was assessed by self-report. Fetal growth was assessed as z-score of BWGA. Multiple linear regression was used to test for the association of maternal smoking and preeclampsia with BWGA z-score.Results: There was no interaction between smoking with preeclampsia or gestational hypertension on fetal growth. BWGA z-scores were significantly lower among women with preeclampsia and those who smoked any time during pregnancy (β = −0.33, p = <0.0001 and β = ...
Implementation of a cancer prevention program for working class, multiethnic populations.

Abstract Background . This paper describes the implementation of the Healthy Directions-Health Centers intervention and examines the characteristics of participants associated with completion of intervention activities. Healthy Directions-Health Centers was designed to address social contextual factors relevant to cancer prevention interventions for working class, multi-ethnic populations. Methods . Ten community health centers were paired and randomly assigned to intervention or control. Patients who resided in low income, multi-ethnic neighborhoods were approached for participation. This study targeted fruit and vegetable consumption, red meat consumption, multi-vitamin intake, and physical activity. The intervention components consisted of: (1) a brief study endorsement from a clinician; (2) an in-person counseling session with a health advisor; (3) four follow-up telephone counseling sessions; and (4) multiple distributions of tailored materials. Results . Among the 1,088 intervention group participants, 978 participants (90%) completed at least five out of six intervention activities. Participants who missed clinical appointments were less likely to complete all components of the intervention. Participant characteristics that predicted receipt of clinician endorsement differed from characteristics that predicted completion of health advisor activities. Low acculturation did not present a barrier to delivery of the intervention once the participant was enrolled. Conclusions . Collection and reporting on process evaluation results can help explain variations in program implementation.
Acute ultrastructural effects of MPTP on the nigrostriatal pathway of the C57BL/6 adult mouse: evidence of compensatory plasticity in nigrostriatal neurons.

Acute doses of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) elicited degenerative and apparently compensatory changes in the nigrostriatum of injected animals within 1 day of treatment. In the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc), low-dose (20 mg/kg) administration elicited early degeneration of mitochondria in the absence of other effects. In the striatum, a low MPTP dose resulted in myelin unwinding, demyelination, cytoplasmic shrinkage, and disturbance of synaptic communication, as evinced by a profound reduction in synaptic vesicle production. High-dose (40 mg/kg) administration generated more drastic axonal degeneration leading to cell elimination in the striatum. At neither dose was mitochondrial disturbance evident in the striatum. Evidence is presented that darkened synaptic boutons, visible at this level of MPTP administration, were part of healthy enlarged axons with an elevated number of synaptic contacts. These spared neuronal processes, therefore, were hypothesized to compensate for the MPTP-induced death of dopaminergic neurons by adaptive structural modifications that would serve to enhance their functional capability. J. Neurosci. Res. 59:126–135, 2000 © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Secure communications with an asymptotic secrecy model

As knowledge based systems become more sophisticated, communications between systems or among their subsystems often conducted over public channels such as the Internet, wireless medium, etc. To secure communications over public channels, the most often used method is Diffie and Hellman's public key infrastructure approach. This method requires a trusted third party to verify identifies, which does not play well with independent knowledge based systems, especially in the case of autonomous agents. In this paper, we proposes an asymptotic secrecy model to secure communications between and within knowledge based systems over public channels. The new model assumes that adversaries are storage space bounded, but not computationally bounded. At the initial phase of the secret communication, both parties exchange a large amount of random bits so that adversaries are not able to save all of them due to the storage space limitation. Each party only saves received data. At the second phase, each party regenerates the random bits, combines them with received data, and generates an encryption key iteratively with a one-way hash function. The key is then used to encrypt the future transmissions from one party to the other. After each transmission, the key is also updated iteratively based on data received. Finally, the proposed model is applied to solve some problems in wireless sensor networks as examples to show how the model can be applied for knowledge based systems in general.
Primer on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging: how to perform the examination.

Summary:Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is made possible by utilizing an external signal, the patient's own electrocardiogram, to time image acquisition. ECG gated cardiac magnetic resonance examination may be performed using spin-echo or gradient reversal techniques or their newer k-space segmen
Treatment of steroid-unresponsive tumefactive demyelinating disease with plasma exchange

The authors describe a patient with an isolated, gadolinium-enhancing, biopsy-proven focus of tumefactive demyelination. There was marked clinical improvement with plasma exchange after failure of high-dose i.v. corticosteroids. The post-treatment clinical course correlated with decreasing enhancement and lesion size on MRI. This patient's rapid clinical and MRI response suggests that plasma exchange may be beneficial in this disorder, and could perhaps serve as a diagnostic tool to avoid the need for brain biopsy.
A Lewis Base Promoted Alkyl/Alkoxide Ligand Redistribution: Reaction of [Me2Al(μ-OCPh3)]2 with THF

The reaction of [Me2Al(μ-OEPh3)]2 with pyridine yields the expected acid−base complexes AlMe2(OEPh3)(py) [E = C (1) and Si (2)]. In contrast, the reaction with THF yields AlMe(OEPh3)2(THF) [E = C (5) and Si (6)], although the dimethyl compounds, AlMe2(OEPh3)(THF) [E = C (3) and Si (4)], are observed in THF-d8 solution. The reaction of [Me2Al(μ-OCPh3)]2 with THF was followed by 1H NMR and found to occur by a two-step process. First, the Al2O2 core of [Me2Al(μ-OEPh3)]2 is cleaved by THF to form compound 3. Second, two molecules of AlMe2(OCPh3)(THF) react with each other, with prior dissociation of THF from at least one complex, resulting in the ligand redistribution and the formation of 5 and AlMe3(THF). The conversion of [Me2Al(μ-OCPh3)]2 into compound 3 is exothermic, and the subsequent formation of 5 and AlMe3(THF) is endothermic. The rate equations for the formation of 3 and its conversion to 5 have been determined. The observation of both alkoxide cleavage and alkyl/alkoxide exchange requires a fine ba...
The Bubbling Galactic Disk. II. The Inner 20

We report 269 mid-infrared bubbles within 10° of the Galactic center from visual inspection of the Spitzer GLIMPSE II Legacy Science program images. The surface density of bubbles is ~5 deg-2 or about 3 times that detected in longitudes |l| = 10°-65°, because the inner 10° of longitude were more thoroughly searched for small bubbles. There is a gradient in the number of bubbles with longitude with an increase of about a factor of 2 from 2° to 10°; this is probably the result of several factors, including decreasing diffuse background brightness, confusion, and opacity with longitude. Bubble eccentricities are typically between 0.6 and 0.8, and >50% show evidence for blowouts, which we suggest result from local density fluctuations of the ISM and/or anisotropic stellar winds and radiation fields. The fraction of bubbles identified with H II regions and clusters is only about half that found at |l| > 10°. This is largely a result of the much smaller angular diameter of bubbles cataloged in the inner Galaxy than in the outer Galaxy. At least 12% of the bubbles have morphologies suggestive of triggered star formation. Most of the bubbles that show evidence for triggered star formation in the inner Galaxy have not formed secondary bubbles; it is postulated that this may be because they are too young to have had time for this to occur.
The origin and fine structure of cellular processes in spermatozoa of the tick Dermacentor andersoni

During early spermiogenesis in the tick Dermacentor andersoni, Golgi complex derived, multiple cisternae become situated beneath the plasma membrane of early spermatids. Such cisternae eventually elongate and fuse, resulting in a single cisternum per spermatid. Cytoplasmic processes extend from the inside wall of the cisternum and become aggregated at one end of the cisternum, which begins to elongate and is in fact the presumptive anterior end of mature spermatozoa. In this region of cellular process aggregation the cytoplasm begins to protrude as an elongate, rod-shaped structure into the elongating cisternal cavity. As it does, it carries with it the cellular processes along its outside surface. The elongating portion of the spermatid eventually ruptures through the cisternal wall and elongates into a 500–600 μm long, mature spermatozoon. The spermatozoon cytoplasm is characterized by large numbers of centrally located glycogen granules and a subplasmalemmal, fibrillar-granular-like region, but lacks microtubules at any stage of development. Cellular processes extend from the anterior end of the sperm and are situated along its outer surface throughout its entire length. Based upon electron density, morphology, and location within the cellular processes, three different components of the processes are described. The significance of the absence of microtubules from both elongating spermatids and mature spermatozoa and the unusual fine structure of the cellular processes are discussed. It is concluded that spermatid elongation and motility in these spermatozoa are independent of microtubules. Motility may reside in some component of either the fibrillar-granular-like region, the cellular processes, or both.
Anxiety, Discrepancy between Need Value and Expectancy, and Internal-External Control:

3 groups of Ss differing in degree of internal-external control were administered measures of anxiety, need value in the academic recognition area, expectancy for success in the academic area, need...
A note on judgements of situational favorableness and probability of success

Abstract This research was conducted (1) to ascertain empirical weights for the components of situational favorableness (i.e., Leader—Member Relations, Task Structure, and Position Power) in Fiedler's theory of leadership and (2) to examine the relationship between judged favorableness of leadership situations and judged probability of success in them. Results of one experimental condition showed that Leader—Member Relations was weighted more than Task Structure, and Task Structure was weighted more than Position Power in participants' judgments of perceived situational favorableness. Results of the second experimental condition showed judgments of probability of a leader's success to be a negatively accelerated monotonic function of situational favorableness.
Sustaining Space Systems for Strategic and Theater Operations: A Study Perspective

Our Desert Storm experience in the tactical utility of DoD space vehicles demonstrated that DoD's investment in space technology can provide a significant military advantage during times of crisis and war. The satellites what gave us such marvelous intelligence in locating, tracking, and enabling the successful attack of key targets resulted in a spectacular military success. However, without an on-orbit servicing capability, the fuel consumed to maneuver these satellites into position over the battlefield shortened their useful life by as much as two years. During the 1970's and 1980's, the Air Force aggressively pursued an or-orbit support capability to support and maintain it's space-based assets. However, in the early 1990's, budgetary and political priorities canceled the programs that would have made this a reality. Realizing that a future decision may be made to re-investigate on-orbit support, the United States Space Command (USSPACECOM) sponsored a study to document efforts undertaken by the Air Force during the 1970's and 1980's in developing strategies and actions to achieve certain tenets of on-orbit support. The study represents an attempt to gather, review, summarize, and archive the most important research performed during this period. It will serve as a historical perspective upon which to base future research and development activities. This paper presents an overview of that study.
Gemstone durability: design to display

Knowledge of the durability of a gemstone is critical to understanding the risks involved in the various setting, repair, and cleaning procedures commonly used by the jeweler. Some gemstones need attention in display because of their reaction to heat and/or light. This article reviews gemstone durability considerations for 31 species and their varieties as they affect design decisions as well as repair, cleaning, and display of the piece. The recommendations in this article are offered from a gemological viewpoint and as guidelines only. -- AATA
A maturational increase in rat neuromuscular junctional acetylcholine receptors despite disuse or denervation.

Abstract Junctional acetylcholine receptors (AChR) of rat skeletal muscles were microassayed 4–7 days after denervation or total disuse. The normal growth-related increase in AChR number occurred despite denervation or muscle atrophy, but in disused muscles, this increase was less. Thus, at least for short periods, the developmental addition of junctional AChR is independent of muscle fiber size or innervation and partly independent of usage.
Relationship between Measures of Fitness and Time Scale in Evolution

The notion of fitness is central in evolutionary biology. We use a simple spatially extended predator-prey or host-pathogen model to show a generic case where the average number of offspring of an individual as a measure of fitness fails to characterize the evolutionary dynamics. Mutants with high initial reproduction ratios have lineages that eventually go extinct due to local overexploitation. We propose general quantitative measures of fitness that reflect the importance of time scale in evolutionary processes.
Endovascular Therapy for Acute Stroke in Patients With Cancer

Intravenous thrombolysis is the standard treatment for acute ischemic stroke (AIS). However, patients with cancer who have stroke are often precluded from therapy because of coagulopathy or recent surgery. Endovascular therapy may be a more suitable recanalization strategy for some patients with cancer and stroke, but no prior detailed reports documenting its use in this population exist. We present a case series from a tertiary care referral center of 2 patients with active systemic cancer who were successfully treated with endovascular therapy for AIS. Both patients had active lung cancer with excellent premorbid functional status and presented with severe AIS from left middle cerebral artery occlusions. Intravenous thrombolysis was deferred because of absolute contraindications. Mechanical embolectomy was performed instead and revascularization was achieved within 5 hours in both patients, resulting in dramatic neurological recoveries-National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale improved from 14 to 0 and from 23 to 3 from admission to discharge, respectively. In conclusion, endovascular therapy may be beneficial for select patients with cancer and AIS who are ineligible for intravenous thrombolysis. However, further studies are needed to determine the safety and efficacy of endovascular therapy in the population with cancer.
Emerging connections between DNA methylation and histone acetylation

Modifications of both DNA and chromatin can affect gene expression and lead to gene silencing. Evidence of links between DNA methylation and histone hypoacetylation is accumulating. Several proteins that specifically bind to methylated DNA are associated with complexes that include histone deacetylases (HDACs). In addition, DNA methyltransferases of mammals appear to interact with HDACs. Experiments with animal cells have shown that HDACs are responsible for part of the repressive effect of DNA methylation. Evidence was found in Neurospora that protein acetylation can in some cases affect DNA methylation. The available data suggest that the roles of DNA methylation and histone hypoacetylation, and their relationship with each other, can vary, even within an organism. Some open questions in this emerging field that should be answered in the near future are discussed.
Very-low-voltage testing for weak CMOS logic ICs

In this paper we propose a very-low-voltage (VLV) testing technique for CMOS logic ICs. Voltage dependence of CMOS logic circuit operation in the presence of resistive shorts and hot carrier damage is studied. It is shown that at certain much-lower-than-normal power supply voltage, weak CMOS logic ICs due to the presence of these flaws can be forced to malfunction while truly good ICs continue to function. Very-low-voltage testing also detects pattern dependent faults caused by resistive shorts. Because of its simplicity and because there is no overhead associated with it, very-low-voltage testing can easily be applied to chips and circuit boards as a production test, field test, or failure diagnosis technique. >
Current Epidemiological Understanding of Citrus Huanglongbing

Huanglongbing (HLB) is the most destructive citrus pathosystem worldwide. Previously known primarily from Asia and Africa, it was introduced into the Western Hemisphere in 2004. All infected commercial citrus industries continue to decline owing to inadequate current control methods. HLB increase and regional spatial spread, related to vector populations, are rapid compared with other arboreal pathosystems. Disease dynamics result from multiple simultaneous spatial processes, suggesting that psyllid vector transmission is a continuum from local area to very long distance. Evolutionarily, HLB appears to have originated as an insect endosymbiont that has moved into plants. Lack of exposure of citrus to the pathogen prior to approximately 100 years ago did not provide sufficient time for development of resistance. A prolonged incubation period and regional dispersal make eradication nonviable. Multiple asymptomatic infections per symptomatic tree, incomplete systemic distribution within trees, and prolonged incubation period make detection difficult and greatly complicate disease control.
Evaluation of the CAN SPAM Act

E-mail spam has been growing since its inception. The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act CAN SPAM Act is U.S. federal legislation that was passed in response to the growing spam problem. A series of evaluations followed after the Act, most of which reported that compliance with the Act's requirements among spammers had not been affected. However, none of these evaluations used methods that were sufficiently rigorous, failing to capture the continuous nature of CAN SPAM Act's enforcement, using a limited number of measures of noncompliance, and ignoring a variety of possible spurious influences. This research addresses all of these limitations by analyzing a sample of 5,490,905 spam e-mails sent between 1998 and 2013. Ten measures of spammer compliance with the CAN SPAM Act were operationalized to test the impact the Act had. Thirteen measures of CAN SPAM Act enforcement were coded from news articles and included in a time-series regression. Findings suggest that the Act may in fact be a deterrent, but in such a way as to increase CAN SPAM Act violations of header forgery as a precaution against being caught.
Are Mormons Theists

It is widely believed to be a fundamental tenet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (hereafter the LDS, or Mormon, Church) that a plurality of divine beings inhabits the universe. It has often been pointed out, for example, that according to Mormon doctrine Elohim (the Father), Jesus (the Son), and the Holy Ghost are three distinct Gods.1 The traditional Christian doctrine of the Trinity is, thereby, unambiguously rejected. In light of this, it has become commonplace among Christian apologists2 to infer
The twin block: a simple technique to block both the masseteric and the anterior deep temporal nerves with one anesthetic injection

The objective of this article is to describe a new technique to anesthetize the masseter muscle and the temporalis muscle using a single extraoral approach. The block targets both the masseteric and the deep temporal nerves as they leave the infratemporal fossa to innervate the deep surfaces of their respective muscles.
On-Chip Clocking Scheme for Nanomagnet QCA

Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) has been demonstrated using aluminum tunnel junction single-electron transistor technology at mK temperatures, and molecular QCA is under development for operation at room temperature (RT). All of the basic building blocks needed for QCA have been experimentally demonstrated. Our work on nanomagnet-based QCA (NMQCA) holds the most promise for achieving viable RT operation in the near term. One requirement of the QCA architecture is low-power clock structures, which is the subject of this paper.
Adaptive divergence in plasticity in natural populations of Impatiens capensis and its consequences for performance in novel habitats.

We tested for adaptive differentiation between two natural populations of Impatiens capensis from sites known to differ in selection on plasticity to density. We also determined the degree to which plasticity to density within a site was correlated with plastic responses of experimental immigrants to foreign sites. Inbred lines, derived from natural populations in an open-canopy site and a woodland site, were planted reciprocally in both original sites at naturally occurring high densities and at low density. The density manipulation represents environmental variation typically experienced within the site of a given population, and the transplant manipulation represents environmental differences between sites of different populations. Internode elongation, meristem allocation, leaf length, flowering date, and total lifetime fitness were measured. Genotypes originating in the open site, where selection favored plasticity of first internode length and flowering time (Donohue et al. 2000a), were more plastic in those characters than genotypes originating from the woodland site, where plasticity was maladaptive. Therefore, these two populations appear to have responded to divergent selection on plasticity. Plasticity to density strongly resembled plasticity to site differences for many characters, suggesting that similar environmental factors elicit plasticity both to density and to overhead canopy. Thus, plasticity that evolved in response to density variation within a site influenced phenotypic expression in the foreign site. Plastic responses to site caused immigrants from foreign populations to resemble native genotypes more closely. In particular, immigrants from the open site converged toward the selectively favored early-flowering phenotype of native genotypes in the woodland site, thereby reducing potential fitness differences between foreign and native genotypes. However, because genotypes from the woods population were less plastic than genotypes from the sun population, phenotypic differences between populations were greatest in the open site at low density. Therefore, population differences in plasticity can cause genotypes from foreign populations to be more strongly selected against in some environments than in others. However, genetic constraints and limits to plasticity prevented complete convergence of immigrants to the native phenotype in any environment.Corresponding Editor: S. Tonsor
Advanced Radioisotope Power Conversion Technology Research and Development

NASA's Radioisotope Power Conversion Technology program is developing next generation power conversion technologies that will enable future missions that have requirements that cannot be met by either the ubiquitous photovoltaic systems or by current Radioisotope Power System (RPS) technology. Performance goals of advanced radioisotope power systems include improvement over the state-of-practice General Purpose Heat Source/Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator by providing significantly higher efficiency to reduce the number of radioisotope fuel modules, and increase specific power (watts/kilogram). Other Advanced RPS goals include safety, long-life, reliability, scalability, multi-mission capability, resistance to radiation, and minimal interference with the scientific payload. NASA has awarded ten contracts in the technology areas of Brayton, Stirling, Thermoelectric, and Thermophotovoltaic power conversion including five development contracts that deal with more mature technologies and five research contracts. The Advanced RPS Systems Assessment Team includes members from NASA GRC, JPL, DOE and Orbital Sciences whose function is to review the technologies being developed under the ten Radioisotope Power Conversion Technology contracts and assess their relevance to NASA's future missions. Presented is an overview of the ten radioisotope power conversion technology contracts and NASA's Advanced RPS Systems Assessment Team.
Characterization of Nutrients in Built-up Broiler Litter Using Trench and Random Walk Sampling Methods

SUMMARY Accurate sampling of broiler litter for nutrient analysis is critical for nutrient management and land application. Litter can be applied to agricultural land either fresh or after composting. If applied fresh, sampling should be done before house clean out so that the nutrient analysis results are readily available prior to land application. There are 2 methods that are suitable for obtaining representative litter samples in poultry houses, the trench and the point methods. This study was designed to investigate the effect of sampling methodology on the resultant nutrient content of broiler litter and how nutrient concentrations in broiler litter differ between brooding and nonbrooding areas in the production unit. The sampling methods gave similar results for litter pH, moisture content (MC), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and total phosphorus (TP), thus indicating that the random walk method can be used to easily collect representative samples instead of the more time- and labor-intensive trench method for nutrient management purposes. The total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) content was significantly higher for the trench method, however, TAN accounted for less than 15% of the litter TKN. Litter MC, TAN, and TP varied significantly in each of the nonbrooding areas and the brooding area. Moisture content was 28.5, 32.0, and 28.0% for the brooding, north, and south nonbrooding areas, respectively. Litter TKN levels were 37.4, 24.9, and 20.5 g/kg for the brooding, north, and south nonbrooding areas, respectively. The TAN concentrations were higher at the north nonbrooding areas. The TP concentrations were 10.4, 8.8, and 8.5 g/kg for north nonbrooding area, brooding area, and south nonbrooding area, respectively. Our results indicate the need for sampling litter in both brooding and nonbrooding areas in broiler houses for the determination of average litter nutrient and MC.
Dislocation density based crystal plasticity finite element simulation of Al bicrystal with grain boundary effects

Crystal plasticity finite element method is a useful tool to investigate the anisotropic mechanical behaviors as well as the microstructure evolution of metallic materials and it is widely used on single crystals and polycrystalline materials. However, grain boundary involved mechanisms are barely included in the polycrystalline models, and modeling the interaction between the dislocation and the grain boundaries in polycrystalline materials in a physically consisstent way is still a long-standing, unsolved problem. In our analysis, a dislocation density based crystal plasticity finite element model is proposed, and the interaction between the dislocation density and the grain boundaries is included in the model kinematically. The model is then applied to Al bicrystals under 10% compression to investigate the effects of grain boundary character, e.g. grain boundary misorientation and grain boundary normal, on the stress state and the microstructure evolution. The modeling results suggest a reasonable correspondence with the experimental result and the grain boundary character plays a crucial role in the stress concentration and dislocation patterning.