cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Graphene-Based Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

The growing field of spintronics relies on new techniques and technologies for injecting and detecting electron spins to generate spin-dependent signals and utilize spin as a new state variable. Magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) do this by employing thin oxide layers as insulating barriers between two ferromagnetic metals, but the oxides suffer from defects and material interdiffusion that limit device performance. In this work, we demonstrate that graphene, a material widely studied for its high lateral conductance, functions as a tunnel barrier in the out-of-plane direction. We fabricate graphene-based MTJs and characterize spin and charge transport as a function of bias and temperature from 4 to 425 K. The device behavior fits well with traditional charge and spin-polarized tunneling transport models. This result has implications for development of new, ultra-low power spin-based devices such as magnetic random access memory (MRAM), spin logic, and reconfigurable circuits.
Simple, continuous-flow systems for dissolving the water-soluble components of crude oil into sea-water for acute or chronic exposure of marine organisms☆

Abstract A continuous flow apparatus, referred to as a solubilizer, was constructed to dissolve the water-soluble fraction (WSF) of crude oil into water for short and long-term experiments with marine organisms. The basic solubilizer system consists of an oil reservoir, oil pump, modified glass bottle, and oil waste reservoir. This system dissolves the water-soluble components of crude oil without the loss of the more volatile compounds and without the formation of emulsions or oil droplets. Four solubilizer systems (two continuous flow and two recirculating) were evaluated for their efficiency in extracting the water-soluble components from Cook Inlet crude oil by analyzing for six monoaromatics over a 96-h period of continuous operation. When a solubilizer system was started, a stable concentration of the monocyclic aromatics in the water-soluble fraction was reached within 24 h. The water quality of the WSF effluent was not altered markedly in the continuous (open) flow systems, but there was a substantial reduction in dissolved oxygen in the recirculated (closed) systems. A single solubilizer system (open flow) with a 3 ml min −1 oil flow and a 1 l min −1 sea-water flow generated approx. 1.4 ppm of the total monoaromatics, which includes benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and the three xylene isomers. This concentration varied depending on physical parameters and the chemical composition of the crude oil and water. With only slight modifications of the basic continuous flow system, a higher concentration (> 3.4 ppm total monoaromatics) of the water-soluble fraction of crude oil was achieved. By recirculating the water supply, concentrations of 6.7–11 ppm total monoaromatics in the WSF were produced. The stability, reproducibility, and reliability of the four systems were demonstrated in several experiments. Researchers working in aquatic systems with crude oil can well appreciate a simple system that is easily cleaned, relatively maintenance-free, and which produces stable, reproducible concentrations of the WSF over extended periods of time. The increasing demands for ecological studies on aquatic organisms with crude oil, a difficult mixture of chemicals with which to work, precipitated the development of these solubilizer systems.
Cytoskeletal regulation of nitric oxide synthase.

The three isoforms of nitric oxide synthase (NOS)—endothelial NOS (eNOS), inducible NOS (iNOS), and neural NOS (nNOS)—colocalize with the cytoskeleton including actin microfilaments, microtubules, and intermediate filaments directly or indirectly. These colocalizations enable optimal nitric oxide production and help NOS exert their functions. The reorganization of cytoskeletal polymerization state induced by extracellular stimuli such as shear stress, hypoxia, and drugs regulates eNOS, nNOS, and iNOS. Alterations of nitric oxide production caused by cytoskeletal reorganization play an important role in physiological and pathophysiological conditions. This review focuses on recent data regarding the regulation of NOS by the cytoskeleton at transcriptional, posttranscriptional, and posttranslational levels.
Association of amphibians with attenuation of ultraviolet-b radiation in montane ponds

Ambient ultraviolet-b (UV-B) radiation (280–320 nm) has increased at north-temperate latitudes in the last two decades. UV-B can be detrimental to amphibians, and amphibians have shown declines in some areas during this same period. We documented the distribution of amphibians and salmonids in 42 remote, subalpine and alpine ponds in Olympic National Park, Washington, United States. We inferred relative exposure of amphibian habitats to UV-B by estimating the transmission of 305- and 320-nm radiation in pond water. We found breeding Ambystoma gracile, A. macrodactylum and Rana cascadae at 33%, 31%, and 45% of the study sites, respectively. Most R. cascadae bred in fishless shallow ponds with relatively low transmission of UV-B. The relationship with UV-B exposure remained marginally significant even after the presence of fish was included in the model. At 50 cm water depth, there was a 55% reduction in incident 305-nm radiation at sites where breeding populations of R. cascadae were detected compared to other sites. We did not detect associations between UV-B transmission and A. gracile or A. macrodactylum. Our field surveys do not provide evidence for decline of R. cascadae in Olympic National Park as has been documented in Northern California, but are consistent with the hypothesis that the spatial distribution of R. cascadae breeding sites is influenced by exposure to UV-B. Substrate or pond depth could also be related to the distribution of R. cascadae in Olympic National Park.
Sparing of an olfactory discrimination habit following extensive neocortical removals in rats

Abstract Adult male albino rats, blinded by enucleation, learned a tap water-acetone discrimination and subsequently sustained bilateral destruction of the occipito-temporal, parietal, lateral fronto-parietal, dorsal fronto-parietal or cingulate areas. The retention test disclosed that the various brain-damaged groups were not significantly inferior to the control group in savings scores. These data, which confirm the findings of Swann [13], suggest that certain olfactory experiences are not stored within the neocortex.
Review of internal friction due to point defects

Abstract Simple considerations lead to the expectation that point defects will cause internal friction (by a stress-induced ordering mechanism) in all cases where the introduction of the defects sets up local asymmetric distortions of the surrounding lattice. Three categories of specific examples are considered, in which the relaxation centers are believed to contain 1. (a) a single isolated elementary point defect, 2. (b) two interacting elementary point defects, 3. (c) several interacting elementary point defects. The elementary point defects considered are 1. (1) an interstitial solute atom, 2. (2) a substitutional solute atom, 3. (3) a vacancy, 4. (4) a split self-interstitial. The material for this review is taken from the existing literature with the exception of a brief account of some recent experiments by the author on cold-worked nickel, which relate to the report of a peak due to split interstitials in this metal by Seeger et et al. (17) . Due to a background recovery phenomenon, it was not found possible to obtain support for the existence of the peak.
Mental Models and Deduction

In Deduction, Johnson-Laird and Byrne have made an extremely important contribution to the study of cognition by providing a unified theory of all types of deduction, including modal inferences. Their theory is that, contrary to the traditional view, deduction is not rule-based but model-based reasoning, and the central cognitive process involves a model-based search for counterexamples to conclusions. Although the author believes that Johnson-Laird and Byrne are right about the significance of mental models when it comes to certain types of deduction, their quest for a single cognitive process underlying all types of deductive inference has forced them to adopt the logician's notion of a model rather than a more psychological one. As a result, they are open to criticism. In this article, the author shows how mental models actually work in the case of deduction. However, the mental models discussed are a far cry from the mental models found in Deduction.
Reproductive gambling in bighorn sheep (ovis): A simulation

Abstract It has been hypothesized that bighorn sheep living in unpredictable desert environments may resort to a life history pattern of reproductive gambling in which they have increased fertility because of continuous breeding. To determine whether such gambling is in fact feasible, simulations of a seasonal and gambling population were run with survival schedules generated as functions of precipitation. Although annual per capita fertility was substantially increased in the gambling population, the seasonal strategy resulted in a higher finite rate of increase. These results indicate that reproductive gambling, as modeled, is not an ecologically stable strategy unless survival of offspring born outside the optimum period is substantially increased.
Biomechanical evaluation of dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry for predicting fracture loads of the infant femur for injury investigation: an in vitro porcine model.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of bone mineral density (BMD) measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and geometry measured by biplanar x-ray to predict fracture mechanics in vitro in an immature femur model. Design: Prospective analysis of radiographic and biomechanical data was performed. Setting: In vitro experimentation. Interventions: Bone geometry and DXA data were obtained before mechanical testing. Twenty-two porcine femora from males and females (age 3 to 12 months; body weight 3.6 to 7.0 kilograms) were fractured. Mechanical tests were performed on the diaphysis of the femora in two loading configurations: (a) three-point bending to simulate loads that result in transverse fractures; and (b) torsion to simulate twisting injuries that result in spiral fractures. Main Outcome Measures: Correlation of radiographic data with the experimentally determined bone strength. Results: Three-point bending consistently resulted in transverse fractures. Femoral diaphysis BMD (mean, 0.304 grams per square centimeter; SD. 0.028 grams per square centimeter) strongly correlated (r 2 = 0.938) to fracture load in bending. Load at failure ranged from 530 to 1,024 N (mean, 726 N; SD, 138 N), consistent with the findings of Miltner. Empirically derived strength parameters coupling BMD with geometry accurately predicted bending loads (r2 = 0.84, p < 0.001) and energy to failure (r 2 = 0.88, p < 0.05). Torsional loading failed to generate spiral fractures consistently, resulting in either end plate or diaphyseal fractures. Load at failure for torsion ranged from 1,383 to 3,559 Newton-millimeters (mean, 2,703 Newton-millimeters; SD, 826 Newton-millimeters). Because of these inconsistent fracture results, empirical strength parameters for torsion could not be derived. Conclusion: BMD coupled with geometry is a strong predictor of bending fracture loads in the immature femoral diaphysis. A similar relationship could not be shown for torsion because of inconsistent failure results. This study represents an initial attempt at developing a methodology for predicting the strength of young bones from radiographic measures. Further research is required to establish this methodology and to show the necessary correlation with immature human bone.
Perchlorate Exposure Induces Hypothyroidism and Affects Thyroid-Responsive Genes in Liver But Not Brain of Quail Chicks

Ground-dwelling birds in perchlorate-contaminated areas are exposed to perchlorate ion, a known thyroid disruptor, and might be vulnerable to the developmental effects of perchlorate-induced hypothyroidism. We hypothesized that perchlorate-induced hypothyroidism would alter the expression of thyroid-responsive genes involved in thyroid hormone (TH) regulation and in the development of target organ function. Japanese quail chicks were exposed to 2000 mg/L ammonium perchlorate in drinking water for 7.5 weeks beginning on day 5 posthatch. Hypothyroidism was evident after 2 weeks of exposure as lower plasma THs and lower TH content in exposed chicks than in controls. The degree of hypothyroidism was increased at 7.5 weeks, as indicated by significant thyroid gland hypertrophy and sustained changes in thyroid function. After 2 weeks of exposure, hypothyroidism increased type 2 5'-deiodinase (D2) mRNA level and decreased Spot 14 (SP14) mRNA level in the liver, whereas D2 mRNA and RC3 mRNA levels in brain were not affected. After 7.5 weeks of exposure, mRNA levels in the exposed group did not differ from those in controls in either the liver or brain, suggesting the responsiveness of these genes to THs decreased during development. These results suggest that the brain, but not the liver, was protected from the effects of hypothyroidism, probably by changes in D2 activity at the protein level and/or regulation of TH entry and exit from the brain. We concluded that perchlorate exposure caused hypothyroidism in young Japanese quail and affected the expression of thyroid-responsive genes during early posthatch development.
Viral testing and isolation of patients with bronchiolitis.

In this issue of Pediatrics , Harris et al1 raise important issues that highlight the importance of controlling the spread of infections among young ill children. The goal of the clinical practice guideline “Diagnosis and Management of Bronchiolitis”2 was to provide recommendations for the diagnosis and management of children between 1 month and 2 years of age with bronchiolitis, based on the best available evidence, for pediatricians, family physicians, emergency medicine specialists, hospitalists, and others who care for these children. The guideline, therefore, is addressed primarily to this large and varied group of mostly primary care providers. Certainly, situations occur that require alternate emphasis and adjustments of the recommendations. Some of these we noted, but in most instances it is the individual clinician who is best able to determine the exception. The guidelines are not intended to replace clinical judgment. Children with unrecognized underlying conditions would be among these exceptions. We specifically noted in the guidelines that the recommendations do not apply to children with high-risk underlying conditions, including … Address correspondence to Allan S. Lieberthal, MD, FAAP, Pediatrics, Kaiser Permanente, 13652 Cantara St, Panorama City, CA 91344. E-mail: allan.s.lieberthal{at}kp.org
Influence of dolomitic limestone and N:P:K: Fertilization on the mineral composition of coastal bermudagrass grown under very acid soil conditions

Abstract The influence of limestone and N:P:K fertilizer rates on elemental composition of Coastal bermudagrass forage was determined to evaluate causes for high yield responses to dolomitic limestone at high N:P:K rates, as well as severe stand loss, and chlorosis of bermudagrass in the unlimed treatments. Increasing N:P:K fertilization resulted in severe Mg deficiency. Maximum yields (when limed with dolomitic limestone) were associated with Mg concentrations of 1.0 g/kg plant tops. Magnesium lost to plant removal, Mg loss to enhanced leaching under N fertilization, and K interference associated with excess K accumulation at high rates of NK inputs all contributed to Mg deficiency. However, the accumulation of excess K, which interfered with Mg uptake when high rates of N and K were applied, was considered to be the primary cause of the observed Mg deficiency.
Information Redundancy and Decision Behavior: A Process Tracing Investigation

Abstract Effects of information redundancy on decision behavior were studied using a process tracing decision task. Information redundancy was defined both in terms of dimension similarity as indicated by dimension labels (expected redundancy) and as actual intercorrelations among the values on the several dimensions (actual redundancy). Time constraints on the decision task were manipulated to investigate the possible interaction between constraints and redundancy. Undergraduate students (n = 140) completed three job choice tasks on the computer, each of which involved selecting one best job from among 10 job offers. Decision behavior was studied with measures of depth, pattern, and latency of search. Subjects examined less information, but in a more interdimensional search pattern and for longer durations with the redundant information dimensions. Interactions were found between actual and expected redundancy. Although time constraints were found to limit depth and latency of information search, no interactions were observed between constraints and redundancy. Future research examining the processes by which redundancy influences search behavior is discussed.
Recall of random and distorted chess positions: implications for the theory of expertise.

This paper explores the question, important to the theory of expert performance, of the nature and number of chunks that chess experts hold in memory. It examines how memory contents determine players’ abilities to reconstruct (1) positions from games, (2) positions distorted in various ways, and (3) random positions. Comparison of a computer simulation with a human experiment supports the usual estimate that chess Masters store some 50,000 chunks in memory. The observed impairment of recall when positions are modified by mirror image reflection implies that each chunk represents a specific pattern of pieces in a specific location. A good account of the results of the experiments is given by the template theory proposed by Gobet and Simon (in press) as an extension of Chase and Simon’s (1973b) initial chunking proposal, and in agreement with other recent proposals for modification of the chunking theory (Richman, Staszewski, & Simon, 1995) as applied to various recall tasks.
Ancient Mexico: Cultural Traditions in the Land of the Feathered Serpent

Ancient Mexico: Cultural Traditions in the Land of the Feathered Serpent. Jacqueline Phillips Lathrop. Dubuque: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1991. Bibliography, illustrations, 183 pp. $20.95 (paper). ISBN 0–8403–6426–1.
Characterization of L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) backscatter from floating and grounded thermokarst lake ice in Arctic Alaska

Abstract. Radar remote sensing is a well-established method to discriminate lakes retaining liquid-phase water beneath winter ice cover from those that do not. L-band (23.6 cm wavelength) airborne radar showed great promise in the 1970s, but spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) studies have focused on C-band (5.6 cm) SAR to classify lake ice with no further attention to L-band SAR for this purpose. Here, we examined calibrated L-band single- and quadrature-polarized SAR returns from floating and grounded lake ice in two regions of Alaska: the northern Seward Peninsula (NSP) where methane ebullition is common in lakes and the Arctic Coastal Plain (ACP) where ebullition is relatively rare. We found average backscatter intensities of −13 dB and −16 dB for late winter floating ice on the NSP and ACP, respectively, and −19 dB for grounded ice in both regions. Polarimetric analysis revealed that the mechanism of L-band SAR backscatter from floating ice is primarily roughness at the ice–water interface. L-band SAR showed less contrast between floating and grounded lake ice than C-band; however, since L-band is sensitive to ebullition bubbles trapped by lake ice (bubbles increase backscatter), this study helps elucidate potential confounding factors of grounded ice in methane studies using SAR.
The optimum pipeline depth for a microprocessor

The impact of pipeline length on the performance of a microprocessor is explored both theoretically and by simulation. An analytical theory is presented that shows two opposing architectural parameters affect the optimal pipeline length: the degree of instruction level parallelism (superscalar) decreases the optimal pipeline length, while the lack of pipeline stalls increases the optimal pipeline length. This theory is tested by analyzing the optimal pipeline length for 35 applications representing three classes of workloads. Trace tapes are collected from SPEC95 and SPEC2000 applications, traditional (legacy) database and on-line transaction processing (OLTP) applications, and modern (e. g. web) applications primarily written in Java and C++. The results show that there is a clear and significant difference in the optimal pipeline length between the SPEC workloads and both the legacy and modern applications. The SPEC applications, written in C, optimize to a shorter pipeline length than the legacy applications, largely written in assembler language, with relatively little overlap in the two distributions. Additionally, the optimal pipeline length distribution for the C++ and Java workloads overlaps with the legacy applications, suggesting similar workload characteristics. These results are explored across a wide range of superscalar processors, both in-order and out-of-order.
Comment on modeling ecological response to climatic change

Researchers have developed many computer simulation models to project ecological responses to climatic change. Three general types of models are examined: transfer functions, stand models, and physiological models. Criteria for evaluation are, first, ability to represent observed and theoretical responses to climatic change i.e., geographical migration, individualistic responses, and disequilibrium or inertia, and second, ability to provide useful information on biological diversity and impacts on society. Because of their roots in ecological interactions at the species level, stand models best meet these criteria at present, but physiological models have greater potential, given unlimited computing power.
Implementation of distributed asynchronous algorithms with stochastic delays for solving time drifting optimization problems

A distributed asynchronous algorithm that minimizes a functional whose minimum drifts with time is discussed. The communication delays among the processors are assumed to be stochastic with Markovian character. The authors present conditions under which the mean square and almost sure convergence to the sought nonstationary solution are guaranteed. >
GenNets: genetically programmed neural nets-using the genetic algorithm to train neural nets whose inputs and/or outputs vary in time

The author shows that the generic algorithm (GA) can be applied successfully to training nonconvergent networks, and presents some examples of their extraordinary behavioral versatility. He first gives a brief summary of the GA and the genetic programming of neural networks. He shows how GP techniques were used to evolve GenNets with specified operating conditions, and demonstrates some of the extraordinary capacities of time-dependent GenNets. He also makes a plea to the neural network research community to 'shift its sights upwards' by devoting more effort to thinking about 'dynamic' neural networks in general, and the theory of GenNet dynamics and 'evolvability' in particular. >
Developmental Biology in the Vasculature—Review Series

Series Editor: Mark Majesky PhD In this issue of the ATVB , we present a series of concise review articles on the development of blood and lymphatic vessels. These articles discuss the fundamental mechanisms at work to form and remodel the vascular system. They also address current issues and controversies in the field and propose new directions for future investigation. The process of vascular development begins with formation of angioblasts and their assembly into a primitive vascular plexus. In a review of this process titled “The Opening Act: Vasculogenesis and the Origins of Circulation,” Suk-Won Jin and Cam Patterson1 discuss the interplay between predetermined genetic mechanisms for vasculogenesis and important epigenetic factors that modify these genetic pathways and shape the outcome …
Costs and Risks of Segregating GM Wheat in Canada

An analytical model was developed to explore prospective costs and risks of alternative testing strategies for a marketing system in Canada which markets both genetically modified (GM) and Non-GM wheats. The problem is solved using stochastic optimization, base case results are defined, and sensitivities conducted to evaluate impacts of selected variables. Added costs include: testing, rejection, and a risk premium which is required for handlers to be indifferent between the current and the proposed dual system. Protocols would require testing at the point of loading at the primary elevator, and export elevator, and supplementing this information with some form of grower variety declaration. There are several sources of inherent risks in such a system. For buyers, the cumulative impact of these is the risk of receiving GM content in a Non-GM shipment. For sellers, it is the risk of having a Non-GM shipment rejected. For sellers, the risk of rejection was typically less than 2%, and for buyers, the risk was typically less than 0.02%. Nous avons elabore un modele analytique pour explorer les couts et les risques potentiels de la mise en place de nouvelles strategies pour analyser le grain si le Canada decidait de commercialiser du ble genetiquement modifie (GM) et du ble non genetiquement modifie (NGM). Le probleme est resolu a l'aide d'une optimisation stochastique; des scenarios de reference sont definis et des tests de sensitivite sont effectues pour evaluer l'impact de variables selectionnees. Les couts supplementaires comprennent les couts d'analyses, les couts lies au rejet ainsi qu'une prime de risque exigee pour que les manutentionnaires demeurent indifferents entre le systeme actuel et le systeme double propose. Les protocoles obligeraient la tenue d'analyses au point de chargement du silo primaire ainsi qu'au silo terminal, auxquelles s'ajouterait une certaine forme de declaration du cerealiculteur sur la variete. Ce genre de systeme comporte plusieurs sources de risques inherents. Pour les acheteurs, l'impact cumulatif est le risque de recevoir un chargement de ble NGM contenant du ble GM. Pour les vendeurs, c'est le risque qu'un chargement de ble NGM soit rejete. Pour les vendeurs, le risque de rejet etait generalement inferieur a 2%, et pour les acheteurs, le risque etait generalement inferieur a 0.02%.
Human glucokinase gene: isolation, structural characterization, and identification of a microsatellite repeat polymorphism.

The gene encoding human glucokinase (ATP:D-hexose 6-phosphotransferase, EC 2.7.1.1), a major component of glucose sensing in pancreatic islet beta-cells, was isolated and characterized. The gene was shown by Southern blotting to exist as a single copy in the genome which mapped to chromosome 7p. It contained 12 exons including two tissue-specific first exons, one active in islet beta-cells (1B), and the other active in liver (1H), and one optional cassette exon which was expressed as a minor form in the liver. Thus the three previously reported isoforms of glucokinase mRNA were the result of tissue-specific activation of separate liver and islet promoters and subsequent alternative splicing events. Eleven exons, including 1H and the optional cassette exon 2A, were scattered over 16 kilobase (kb) in the genome, while exon 1B was separated from the rest by at least 20 kb. Although the islet promoter was found to lack a TATA box, a major transcript from the islet promoter was mapped 486 nucleotides upstream ...
Medium effects in ρ-meson photoproduction

Abstract We compute dilepton invariant mass spectra from the decays of ρ mesons produced by photon reactions off nuclei. Our calculations employ a realistic model for the ρ photoproduction amplitude on the nucleon which provides fair agreement with measured cross sections. Medium effects are implemented via an earlier constructed ρ propagator based on hadronic many-body theory. At incoming photon energies of 1.5–3 GeV as used by the CLAS experiment at JLAB, the average density probed for iron targets is estimated at about half saturation density. At the pertinent 3-momenta the predicted medium effects on the ρ propagator are rather moderate. The resulting dilepton spectra approximately agree with recent CLAS data.
Site-specific integration of the Haemophilus influenzae bacteriophage HP1: location of the boundaries of the phage attachment site.

Plasmids containing DNA segments from the attachment region of phage HP1 were constructed and tested for the ability to replace the phage attachment site substrate in site-specific recombination reactions. The distance separating the boundaries of the functional site was 418 bp. Replacements within the 11-residue segment 59-GGCGGTTATCG at the left boundary or within the 12-residue segment 59-GGATTTTTTGAA at the right boundary abolished substrate activity. A segment of the 418-residue sequence preserves the integrity of an operon of three Haemophilus influenzae tRNA genes after HP1 insertion within the coding sequence.
FIN-DE-SI?CLE WORK ON VICTORIAN AESTHETICISM

In MASCULINE DESIRE: The Sexual Politics of Victorian Aestheticism, his study of the role of male same-sex attraction among Victorian aestheticist writers, Richard Dellamora refers to Elaine Showalter's claim that Gerard Manley Hopkins was one of a series of writers who tried to reclaim male literary dominance from women writers in the wake of George Eliot's death in 1880. Dellamora proposes instead what he thinks a more likely source of creative anxiety: "Insofar as he may appear at times to regard literary creativity as a male prerogative, his anxieties are better referred to a celibate homosocial environ ment than to the creative ascendancy of Victorian women writers" (56). But these two anxieties may not be entirely separate. Recent critical studies have shown that the mid Victorian novel, whether written by women or men, was a form dominated by domestic and marriage plots, by the depiction of the bourgeois family and the construction of gender roles as principles of social regulation. Thus the emergence from the shadow of Eliot and the turning of aestheticist literature and art toward various alternative construc tions of gender and desire ? not merely new claims of masculine prerogative but also articulations by women writers of positions resistant to Victorian gender regularities ? would be intimately connected. Oscar Wilde's trial and imprisonment, the social and legal persecution of homosexuality, and the consequent reaction of modernists against their aestheticist forebears may for a long time have occluded these aspects of aestheticism, but scholarship in our own fin-de-si?cle 1990s has turned considerable attention to their
Amygdala Recruitment in Schizophrenia in Response to Aversive Emotional Material: A Meta-analysis of Neuroimaging Studies

Emotional dysfunction has long been established as a critical clinical feature of schizophrenia. In the past decade, there has been extensive work examining the potential contribution of abnormal amygdala activation to this dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia. A number of studies have demonstrated under-recruitment of the amygdala in response to emotional stimuli, while others have shown intact recruitment of this region. To date, there have been few attempts to synthesize this literature using quantitative criteria or to use a formal meta-analytic approach to examine which variables may moderate the magnitude of betweengroup differences in amygdala activation in response to aversive emotional stimuli. We conducted a meta-analysis of amygdala activation in patients with schizophrenia, using a bootstrapping approach to investigate: (a) evidence for amygdala under-recruitment in schizophrenia and (b) variables that may moderate the magnitude of betweengroup differences in amygdala activation. We demonstrate that patients with schizophrenia show statistically significant, but modest, under-recruitment of bilateral amygdala (mean effect size 52 0.20 SD). However, present findings indicate that this under-recruitment is dependent on the use of a neutral vs emotion interaction contrast and is not apparent if amygdala activation by patients and controls is evaluated in a negative emotional condition only.
Using Social Media to Perform Local Influenza Surveillance in an Inner-City Hospital: A Retrospective Observational Study

Background: Public health officials and policy makers in the United States expend significant resources at the national, state, county, and city levels to measure the rate of influenza infection. These individuals rely on influenza infection rate information to make important decisions during the course of an influenza season driving vaccination campaigns, clinical guidelines, and medical staffing. Web and social media data sources have emerged as attractive alternatives to supplement existing practices. While traditional surveillance methods take 1-2 weeks, and significant labor, to produce an infection estimate in each locale, web and social media data are available in near real-time for a broad range of locations. Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the efficacy of flu surveillance from combining data from the websites Google Flu Trends and HealthTweets at the local level. We considered both emergency department influenza-like illness cases and laboratory-confirmed influenza cases for a single hospital in the City of Baltimore. Methods: This was a retrospective observational study comparing estimates of influenza activity of Google Flu Trends and Twitter to actual counts of individuals with laboratory-confirmed influenza, and counts of individuals presenting to the emergency department with influenza-like illness cases. Data were collected from November 20, 2011 through March 16, 2014. Each parameter was evaluated on the municipal, regional, and national scale. We examined the utility of social media data for tracking actual influenza infection at the municipal, state, and national levels. Specifically, we compared the efficacy of Twitter and Google Flu Trends data. Results: We found that municipal-level Twitter data was more effective than regional and national data when tracking actual influenza infection rates in a Baltimore inner-city hospital. When combined, national-level Twitter and Google Flu Trends data outperformed each data source individually. In addition, influenza-like illness data at all levels of geographic granularity were best predicted by national Google Flu Trends data. Conclusions: In order to overcome sensitivity to transient events, such as the news cycle, the best-fitting Google Flu Trends model relies on a 4-week moving average, suggesting that it may also be sacrificing sensitivity to transient fluctuations in influenza infection to achieve predictive power. Implications for influenza forecasting are discussed in this report. [JMIR Public Health Surveill 2015;1(1):e5]
Estimation of Web video multiplicity

With ever more popularity of video web-publishing, many popular contents are being mirrored, reformatted, modified and republished, resulting in excessive content duplication. While such redundancy provides fault tolerance for continuous availability of information, it could potentially create problems for multimedia search engines in that the search results for a given query might become repetitious, and cluttered with a large number of duplicates. As such, developing techniques for detecting similarity and duplication is important to multimedia search engines. In addition, content providers might be interested in identifying duplicates of their content for legal, contractual or other business related reasons. In this paper, we propose an efficient algorithm called video signature to detect similar video sequences for large databases such as the web. The idea is to first form a 'signature' for each video sequence by selection a small number of its frames that are most similar to a number of randomly chosen seed images. Then the similarity between any tow video sequences can be reliably estimated by comparing their respective signatures. Using this method, we achieve 85 percent recall and precision ratios on a test database of 377 video sequences. As a proof of concept, we have applied our proposed algorithm to a collection of 1800 hours of video corresponding to around 45000 clips from the web. Our results indicate that, on average, every video in our collection from the web has around five similar copies.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Racial Socialization in African American Families: The Art of Balancing Intolerance and Survival:

The climate of racial hostility in American society remains one of the most difficult obstacles for families of color to overcome. As African Americans and other families of color raise their children to become healthy, wealthy, and wise, many feel compelled to prepare them psychologically for survival in this climate. This article takes the stance that racial socialization is necessary to ameliorate the impact of racial hostilities and for African American children to achieve and develop positive self-images. Family therapists must understand not only how societal institutions (e.g., school) may adversely affect the psychological well-being of children and their parents, but also how to intervene.
Act-ing Against Muscle Loss in Cachexia

Cachexia is defined as a loss of body mass, mostly fat and muscle, that cannot be reversed by eating more calories. Cachexia is commonly seen in patients with end-stage diseases such as cancer, chronic obstructive lung disease, and congestive heart failure, and its presence hastens death considerably. There is no effective treatment for cachexia as of yet, but knowledge of growth factors that regulate muscle mass could help in the quest to prevent muscle wasting. One such signaling pathway implicated in muscle wasting is initiated by the ActRIIB receptor, a high-affinity activin type 2 receptor that binds several transforming growth factor–β (TGF-β) family ligands, such as myostatin and activin. Myostatin is a negative regulator of muscle growth; null mutations lead to dramatic muscle hypertrophy in animals and humans. In mice that lack the hormone inhibin, which antagonizes both myostatin and activin, myostatin and activin probably cause cachexia. Now, Zhou et al . show that a decoy receptor of ActRIIB (sActRIIB) reverses cachexia and markedly improves survival in mouse models of cancer. These authors demonstrate that in mice with cancer-induced cachexia and in mice lacking inhibin, sActRIIB completely reversed muscle loss, increasing its mass even beyond that of cancer-free control mice. This treatment did not prevent the loss of adiposity (something a cancer patient can live with), nor did it reduce tumor mass, although it did markedly increase survival, possibly because sActRIIB completely blocked the atrophy of cardiac muscle. ActRIIB signaling appears to activate the transcription factor Smad2, which triggers FOXO3a to move to the nucleus, where it induces atrogin-1 and MuRF1, important intracellular mediators of muscle breakdown. Because sActRIIB treatment had no effect on other cytokines commonly believed to be critical mediators in cancer cachexia [such as interleukin-6 (IL6) or tumor necrosis factor–α] and IL6 infusion did not induce cachexia, these cytokines may in fact not contribute to cachexia. Thus, this study provides proof of principle that the loss of muscle mass causally contributes to the mortality of cancer cachexia and demonstrates that sActRIIB prevents muscle wasting by decreasing protein degradation. Inhibition of ActRIIB may be a promising pharmacological strategy in battling cancer cachexia in humans. X. Zhou et al ., Reversal of cancer cachexia and muscle wasting by ActRIIB antagonism leads to prolonged survival. Cell 142 , 531–543 (2010).[[Abstract]][1] [1]: http://www.cell.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867410007804
The duration of placement as a predictor of peripheral and pulmonary arterial catheter infections

Abstract To determine the appropriate time for removal or replacement of peripheral and pulmonary arterial catheters in critically ill cancer patients, we prospectively studied 71 peripheral arterial catheters and 71 pulmonary artery (Swan-Ganz) catheters from 110 consecutive cancer patients. All catheters were cultured semiquantitatively, by the roll-plate culture technique. Of the 71 peripheral arterial catheters, 11 (15%) produced local infections (⩾15 colonies) and four (5·5%) produced catheter-related septicaemia. Ten of the 11 local infections and all four septicaemias occurred after 4 days of catheter placement ( P P = 0·056). Duration of piacement was a risk factor for the development of catheter infections, independent of the patient's neutropenic status, administration of antibiotics such as vancomycin during catheterization, and the presence of concurrent central venous catheters. Life-table analysis showed that the cumulative risks of developing a catheter infection increased from 7% to 17% after 6 days of peripheral arterial catheter placement and from 9% to 18% after 4 days of placement of the Swan-Ganz catheter. We conclude that in the critically ill cancer patient in our unit, peripheral arterial catheters should be changed to a new site every 4–6 days and pulmonary artery catheters every 4–7 days.
Correlations Between Pitch and Phoneme Perception in Cochlear Implant Users and Their Normal Hearing Peers

This study examined correlations between pitch and phoneme perception for nine cochlear implant users and nine normal hearing listeners. Pure tone frequency discrimination thresholds were measured for frequencies of 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz. Complex tone fundamental frequency (F0) discrimination thresholds were measured for F0s of 110, 220, and 440 Hz. The effects of amplitude and frequency roving were measured under the rationale that individuals who are robust to such perturbations would perform better on phoneme perception measures. Phoneme identification was measured using consonant and vowel materials in quiet, in stationary speech-shaped noise (SSN), in spectrally notched SSN, and in temporally gated SSN. Cochlear implant pure tone frequency discrimination thresholds ranged between 1.5 and 9.9 %, while cochlear implant complex tone F0 discrimination thresholds ranged between 2.6 and 28.5 %. On average, cochlear implant users had 5.3 dB of masking release for consonants and 8.4 dB of masking release for vowels when measured in temporally gated SSN compared to stationary SSN. Correlations with phoneme identification measures were generally higher for complex tone discrimination measures than for pure tone discrimination measures. Correlations with phoneme identification measures were also generally higher for pitch perception measures that included amplitude and frequency roving. The strongest correlations were observed for measures of complex tone F0 discrimination with phoneme identification in temporally gated SSN. The results of this study suggest that musical training or signal processing strategies that improve F0 discrimination should improve consonant identification in fluctuating noise.
Bounding Network Interdiction Vulnerability Through Cutset Identification

Assessing the vulnerability of network infrastructure to disruptive events is recognized as an important component of network planning and analysis. Motivations for this type of research range from searching for the most effective/ efficient means of disrupting a network (e.g., preventing drug trafficking — see Wood 1993) to assessing possible threats to critical network infrastructures so that adequate protective measures can be devised to limit potential disruption (see Wu 1992). In such analysis, the disruptive activity being examined, whether due to natural disaster, accident, or sabotage, can be generically referred to as network interdiction.
Robust automatic breast cancer staging using a combination of functional genomics and image-omics

Breast cancer is one of the leading cancers worldwide. Precision medicine is a new trend that systematically examines molecular and functional genomic information within each patient's cancer to identify the patterns that may affect treatment decisions and potential outcomes. As a part of precision medicine, computer-aided diagnosis enables joint analysis of functional genomic information and image from pathological images. In this paper we propose an integrated framework for breast cancer staging using image-omics and functional genomic information. The entire biomedical imaging informatics framework consists of image-omics extraction, feature combination, and classification. First, a robust automatic nuclei detection and segmentation is presented to identify tumor regions, delineate nuclei boundaries and calculate a set of image-based morphological features; next, the low dimensional image-omics is obtained through principal component analysis and is concatenated with the functional genomic features identified by a linear model. A support vector machine for differentiating stage I breast cancer from other stages are learned. We experimentally demonstrate that compared with a single type of representation (image-omics), the combination of image-omics and functional genomic feature can improve the classification accuracy by 3%.
Long-Term Stability of the NIST Conical Reference Transducer

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Conical Reference Transducer (CRT) is designed for purposes requiring frequency response characteristics much more uniform than those attainable with ultrasonic transducers conventionally used for acoustic emission (AE) nondestructive testing. The high performance of the CRT results from the use of design elements radically different from those of conventional transducers. The CRT was offered for sale for 15 years (1985 to 2000). Each CRT was furnished with data which expressed, as a function of frequency, the transducer sensitivity in volts per micrometer of normal displacement on the test block. Of the 22 transducers constructed, eight were reserved for long term research and were stored undisturbed in a laboratory with well controlled temperature and humidity. In 2009, the sensitivities of these eight units were redetermined. The 2009 data have been compared with data from similar tests conducted in 1985. The results of this comparison verify the claim "Results of tests of the long term stability of CRT characteristics indicate that, if proper care is taken, tens of years of service can reasonably be expected." made in the CRT specifications document furnished to prospective customers.
Open-loop feedback to increase physical activity in obese children.

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated whether making access to sedentary activities contingent on physical activity would increase physical activity. DESIGN: Experimental. PARTICIPANTS: Thirty-four obese children aged 8–12 y were randomized to one of three groups in which children had to accumulate 750 or 1500 pedometer counts to earn 10 min of access to video games or movies, or to a control group in which access to sedentary behaviors was provided noncontingently. MEASUREMENTS: Physical activity in the 20 min experimental session was measured by electronic pedometer and triaxial accelerometer (ie TriTrac®). Activity liking was measured by visual analog scales. Anthropometric and demographic characteristics were also assessed. RESULTS: Children in the 750 and 1500 count contingency groups engaged in significantly more physical activity and spent more time in moderate intensity activity or higher compared with controls. Children in the Contingent 1500 group engaged in more activity and spent more time in moderate or greater intensity activity compared to children in the Contingent 750 group. CONCLUSION: Findings suggest that contingent access to sedentary activities can reinforce physical activity in obese children, and changes in physical activity level depend in part on the targeted physical activity goal.