cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Structure of the nucleon from electromagnetic form factors

Recent experimental data on the ratio of electric to magnetic elastic form factors are reviewed in light of a model of the nucleon with an intrinsic (quark-like) structure and a meson cloud. The analysis points to the astonishing result that the proton electric form factor vanishes at Q 2 ∼ 8 (GeV/c)2 and becomes negative beyond that point. The intrinsic structure is estimated to have a r.m.s. radius of ∼ 0.34 fm, much smaller than the proton r.m.s. radius ∼ 0.87 fm. The calculations are in perfect agreement with the proton data, but deviate drastically from neutron data at Q 2 > 1 (GeV/c)2. Relativistic invariance is a crucial ingredient responsible for the vanishing of G Ep . Symmetry, rather than detailed dynamics, appears to be a determining factor in the structure of the nucleon. Scaling appears to occur at much larger values, Q 2 ≥ 30 (GeV/c)2, than previously thought.
Hybrid NOrec: a case study in the effectiveness of best effort hardware transactional memory

Transactional memory (TM) is a promising synchronization mechanism for the next generation of multicore processors. Best-effort Hardware Transactional Memory (HTM) designs, such as Sun's prototype Rock processor and AMD's proposed Advanced Synchronization Facility (ASF), can efficiently execute many transactions, but abort in some cases due to various limitations. Hybrid TM systems can use a compatible software TM (STM) in such cases.We introduce a family of hybrid TMs built using the recent NOrec STM algorithm that, unlike existing hybrid approaches, provide both low overhead on hardware transactions and concurrent execution of hardware and software transactions. We evaluate implementations for Rock and ASF, exploring how the differing HTM designs affect optimization choices. Our investigation yields valuable input for designers of future best-effort HTMs.
Anakinra: review of recombinant human interleukin-I receptor antagonist in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Abstract Background: Interleukin-1 (IL-1) plays an important role in the pathophysiology and progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by contributing to destruction of cartilage, bone, and periarticular tissues. Inhibiting IL-1 synthesis or activity with the use of recombinant human IL-1 receptor antagonist (anakinra) may prove to be an effective approach to the treatment of RA. Objective: The purpose of this article is to review the effects of anakinra in the treatment of RA. Methods: A MEDLINE search from 1982 to 2003 was used to identify animal studies and randomized clinical trials of anakinra and other therapies that target IL-1. Results: Clinical trials of anakinra have shown that it reduces the signs and symptoms of active disease and slows the rate of radiographic destruction in adults with RA. With anakinra 150 mg/d, 43% of patients achieved an American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 20% response, compared with 27% with placebo ( P = 0.014). The ACR20 score indicates at least 20% improvement in the ACR composite score, which includes assessment of tender and swollen joint count, and other clinical end points such as pain and disability assessment. Patients treated with anakinra also experienced a 59% reduction in new bony erosion compared with controls ( P P = 0.020). Injection-site reactions were the most commonly reported adverse event, occurring in 50%, 73%, and 81% of patients receiving anakinra 30, 75, and 150 mg/d, respectively, compared with 25% of patients receiving placebo. Few serious adverse events were reported, and they typically occurred in patients receiving the highest daily dosage. Conclusions: IL-1 is an important cytokine in promoting the damage associated with RA. Anakinra is mildly to moderately effective and well tolerated in patients with active RA when used as monotherapy or in combination with methotrexate.
Cleavage Site Mapping and Substrate-Specificity of Leishmaniavirus 2-1 Capsid Endoribonuclease Activity

The Leishmaniavirus capsid protein possesses an RNA endoribonuclease activity that cleaves viral positive-sense RNA at a specific, single site within the 5' untranslated region. The site of cleavage in LRV1-4 RNA was previously mapped to nucleotide 320 of the LRV1-4 genome. Here we show that an LRV2-1-derived substrate RNA transcript is also cleaved at a single site in an in vitro cleavage assay with LRV2-1 virions. Precise RNA cleavage site mapping in this divergent Old World virus, LRV2-1, confirms that cleavage is occurring within a region of homology to the LRV1 isolates. Substrate RNA transcripts possessing viral sequences from LRV1-4 or LRV2-1 genomes were assayed for susceptibility to cleavage by the cognate and noncognate capsid endoribonucleases to determine the level of substrate specificity.
Heart Failure Research in the Emergency Department and Observation Unit

Heart failure is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States. Though it is a condition largely defined by chronic debility, most patients with heart failure will seek care in the emergency department (ED) during the course of their illness. Over 80% of patients who present to the ED are admitted; these patients spend a median of 4.5 days in the hospital, and many return within 30 days for readmission. Unfortunately, research and national guidelines for diagnosis, risk stratification, and management of patients with acute heart failure syndrome (AHFS) lag woefully behind comparative cardiovascular problems such as acute coronary syndrome. Furthermore, AHFS clinical trials have largely focused on therapies initiated long after clinical improvement has begun (often well after inpatient admission), limiting the potential for observed therapeutic effect. Thus, emergency medicine clinician-scientists are poised to provide an ideal location, environment, patient population, and timing necessary to fully explore new diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic tools for AHFS research. We highlight knowledge gaps in these areas and suggest directions for emergency department-based AHFS research in order to address the profound challenges associated with care for this extremely common and costly condition.
Impossibility Results for Nondierentiable Functionals

We examine challenges to estimation and inference when the objects of interest are nondifferentiable functionals of the underlying data distribution. This situation arises in a number of applications of bounds analysis and moment inequality models, and in recent work on estimating optimal dynamic treatment regimes. Drawing on earlier work relating dierentiability to the existence of unbiased and regular estimators, we show that if the target object is not continuously dierentiable in the parameters of the data distribution, there exist no locally asymptotically unbiased estimators and no regular estimators. This places strong limits on estimators, bias correction methods, and inference procedures.
Imprecision in Human Combination of Evidence

For inference problems involving combination of evidence with either fuzzy quantifiers or support intervals some basic properties are reviewed. An empirical study is reported that was set out to investigate consensus of human inference with model inferences. It is shown that consensus is heavily influenced by the factors positiveness, monotonicity, and entropy/nonspecificity. On the one hand, human heuristics distort consensus; on the other hand, specific model assumptions could be reformulated. An approach using conditional objects to this reformulation is outlined.
Pathophysiology of Diabetic Retinopathy

The retina was first described by Herophilus of Chalcedon around 300 bc. It was named by Rufos of Ephesus (c. 110 ad) and appeared to early anatomists as a surrounding net which supported the vitreous. Though Galen noted structural similarities to the brain, he was unable to provide further understanding regarding its function. It was Kepler who first suggested that the retina served as the eye’s primary photoreceptor tissue. By using alcohol fixation, Treviranus (1835) performed the first detailed microscopic retinal studies. Only with the subsequent development of electron microscopy, trypsin digest, clinical fluorescein angiography, and optical coherence tomography have scientists been able to understand the retina’s cellular connections, ultrastructure, and retinal vasculature, as well as correlate anatomical and clinical findings.1
Puzzled: Where sets meet (Venn diagrams)

Welcome to three new puzzles. Solutions to the first two will be published next month; the third is as yet unsolved.
Continuous intracellular recording from mammalian neurons exposed to hyperbaric helium, oxygen, or air.

We developed a hyperbaric chamber for intracellular recording in rat brain stem slices during continuous compression and decompression of the tissue bath with the inert gas helium. Air, rather than...
Laboratory Evaluation of Single and Periodic Chlorpyrifos Applications for German Cockroach (Orthoptera: Blattellidae) Control

Residual activities of various combinations of application rates and times of 14C-chlorpyrifos-labeled water solutions of Dursban 4E were evaluated under laboratory conditions on painted wood surfaces with adult male Orlando normal (insecticide-susceptible) strain Blattella germanica (L.). A standard control procedure that utilized an initial application of 0.50%(AI) Dursban and subsequent monthly applications of 0.25%(AI) Dursban was shown to produce insufficient availability of chlorpyrifos on the test surfaces between treatments to provide acceptable control of B. germanica under laboratory test conditions. A theory was proposed to explain measured levels of chlorpyrifos with different treatment combinations.
Portal venipuncture; a percutaneous, trans-hepatic approach.

ConclusionThis technic permits relatively easy access to the portal venous system in man. It should afford many opportunities for clinical investigations, including portal venography.
Microcomputer Storage and Analysis of Quality Control Data in Clinical Microbiology

A microcomputer system was devised for storage and analysis of microbiology quality control data, using a system with 10 megabytes of disk storage capacity on a fixed disk. This provides rapid entry and retrieval of data and considerable storage capacity. Special programs were written in BASIC to accept QC data for media, reagents, and susceptibility tests. Rapid data entry is achieved by having a rapid access disk device with a terminal specifically for QC data. Results are entered daily or at times when tests are done and stored on the disk storage device. The data can be recalled for complete printing or summarization and weekly reports can be generated. This system has the potential to eliminate QC paperwork, thus conserving storage space, while allowing detailed retrospective analysis.
Mitochondrial DNA variation and structure among North American populations of Megaselia scalaris

The scuttle fly Megaselia scalaris is a pest species whose larvae consume living or dead plant or animal tissue, and parasitize humans. Although known to exist on most continents, often transported passively with humans, the connectivity between populations has not been investigated. We use mitochondrial cytochrome B sequences to investigate structure among North American isolates of this species. Despite small sample sizes, we detected statistically significant structure among populations. This finding suggests that local measures may be effective in controlling this pest species.
Alcohol Experiences Viewed Mutoscopically: Newly Incident Drinking of Twelve- to Twenty-Five-Year-Olds in the United States, 2002-2013.

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to discover recent age-specific and cohort-specific patterns of newly incident drinking of alcoholic beverages among young people in the United States, with identification of age at peak risk, cohort by cohort, and age by age. METHOD: Data are from the U.S. National Surveys on Drug Use and Health 2002-2013, with 12 independent successive replications of nationally representative surveys (n ≈ 420,000 12- to 25-year-olds). Drinking was assessed via confidential computer-assisted self-interviews. RESULTS: Looking across age strata, we found rising age-specific drinking incidence rates across adolescence to a plateau at age 16-18 years and made a new discovery of a statistically robust and highly reproducible dip in incidence at age 19-20 years, followed by the major peak at age 21 years, with sharply reduced incidence thereafter. Evaluated using an epidemiological mutoscope view, individual cohorts showed a congruent pattern, with starting age held constant. A completely different pattern was seen in age-specific prevalence estimates that showed monotonic linear increases. CONCLUSIONS: The novelty seen here, with multiple replications, is a set of clearly nonlinear, age-specific drinking incidence patterns not documented in prior studies. Evidence of noncongruent prevalence patterns is provided. We hope these simple examples will be useful in teaching the epidemiology of alcohol drinking. Language: en
Research on the Fuzzy-PID Control System for a 6-DOF Parallel-link CMM

A technique of self-adaptive fuzzy PID control is presented,and applied to the control of a hydraulic driving 6-DOF parallel-link coordinate-measuring machine (CMM).Using fuzzy toolbox provided in Matlab,the author designed and built a fuzzy PID controller in Simulink environment,and also offered simulation on an electro-hydraulic servo system of a single channel of the parallel-link CMM.
Comparison of allograft aortic valve orifice area as estimated by the Gorlin formula and the continuity equation

In this article, we report a comparison among the results of allograft aortic valve (AAV) orifice area (AVA) as estimated by the Gorlin formula, the continuity equation and modifications of these. The best pulse hydrodynamic performance of the AAV was determined in a duplicator. The results show that the key difference among the results estimated by the Gorlin formula, the continuity equation and their modifications at the same anatomic areas was that different corrective constants are needed. The Gorlin formula was shown to be theoretically sound.
Redoing the foundations of decision theory

In almost all current approaches to decision making, it is assumed that a decision problem is described by a set of states and set of outcomes, and the decision maker (DM) has preferences over a rather rich set of acts, which are functions from states to outcomes. However, most interesting decision problems do not come with a state space and an outcome space. Indeed, in complex problems it is often far from clear what the state and outcome spaces would be. We present an alternate foundation for decision making, in which the primitive objects of choice are syntactic programs. A program can be given semantics as a function from states to outcomes, but does not necessarily have to be described this way. A representation theorem is proved in the spirit of standard representation theorems, showing that if the DM's preference relation on programs satisfies appropriate axioms, then there exist a set S of states, a set O of outcomes, a way of viewing program as functions from S to O, a probability on S, and a utility function on O, such that the DM prefers program a to program b if and only if the expected utility of a is higher than that of b. Thus, the state space and outcome space are subjective, just like the probability and utility; they are not part of the description of the problem. A number of benefits of this approach are discussed.
The fracture of C-S-H and C-S-H/CH mixtures

Abstract The fracture behavior of six well-characterized synthetic preparations of C-S-H and C-S-H/CH mixtures was investigated. The C/S ratios of the C-S-H ranged from 0.68 to 1.49. Log crack velocity vs. stress intensity (log V vs. K I ) curves were obtained for compacted double-torsion specimens prepared with a wide range of porosity values. The dependence of the critical stress intensity factor K c on porosity, C/S ratio, and polymer/dimer ratio of the C-S-H was determined. The results indicate that an optimum mixture of short and long silicate chains is required for maximum fracture resistance of C-S-H.
Motivations to develop performance prediction for adaptive radar

Performance prediction, or the capability to forecast system behavior, is a widespread technique used to advance the comprehension of how systems, and systems of systems, will react under certain circumstances and assumptions. In this paper, we discuss the motivating factors for development of performance prediction (2P) for radar. In the case of adaptive radar, the optimal unconstrained transmit waveform (for detection) is easily computed. However, it is generally not suitable for practical use. Therefore, we apply constraints on the waveform design and are forced to sacrifice signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) to meet the constraints, i.e., there is no free lunch. Understanding the consequences of applying constraints in arbitrary waveform design can benefit the decision making process of an adaptive system by providing insight into selection of the transmit signal. We develop a use-case for 2P and give examples of successful 2P models. We discuss the trade-space between optimality and speed in the waveform design process. Lastly, we mention several current areas of promising research, selected results and comment on future needs to realize effective 2P for radar.
Problems and progress in dielectric research

One of the main objectives of the Conference on Electrical Insulation is to establish an intimate contact and exchange of ideas between the science devoted to fundamental research on dielectrics and the industry concerned with their applications. In the last few years it appeared as if this purpose was not being accomplished. Our program has oscillated between a too scientific approach, frightening the practical engineer, and a too practical approach, alienating the scientists. In addition, we began to load our agenda with so many papers that the chance for unhurried discussion was lost, and the membership brought to the verge of physical exhaustion.
Conventionality analysis of array objects in JavaScript

In JavaScript, arrays are objects with a property named length that is automatically updated. An index is a property that is a string representation of an integer between 0 and 232 − 2. A conventional array is an array that does not have any properties other than indices and length. Do JavaScript programmers use arrays conventionally just like in other object oriented languages? Do they use arrays like regular objects? This paper proposes a static conventionality analysis for JavaScript to help us to find answers to these questions. Conventionality analysis can be useful for program understanding and optimization.
The Molecular Basis for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Latency.

Although potent combination antiretroviral therapy can effectively block viral replication in the host, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) persists due to the existence of latent but replication-competent proviruses residing primarily in a very small population of resting memory CD4+ T cells. Viral latency is established when the expression of the autoregulatory viral trans-activating factor Tat is reduced to subthreshold levels. The absence of Tat reduces HIV transcription and protein production to levels that make the host cell invisible to the immune system and refractory to antiretroviral treatment. Key host cell mechanisms that drive HIV into latency are sequestration of transcription initiation factors, establishment of epigenetic barriers inactivating the proviral promoter, and blockage of the assembly of the host elongation factor P-TEFb. This comprehensive understanding of the molecular control of HIV transcription is leading to the development of optimized combinatorial reactivation and immune s...
Barotropic disturbances caused by a point storm in aβ-plane ocean

Barotropic equation for vorticity balance in theβ-plane is solved for a volume transport stream function with a northward moving wind stress torque concentrated at a point (tweak). Asymptotic techniques are applied to the solution expressed by Fourier type integrals. In the front zone (northern half from the tweak) the stream function behaves asO(¦X¦−5) whereX is a scaled eastward coordinate. In the wake, the stream function behaves asO(¦X¦−1/2) within a wedge bounded by the westward axis and a line directed SSE approximately, but behaves asO(¦X¦−5) in the rest of the half plane. On these boundaries it behaves asO(¦X¦−5/2) andO(¦X¦−1/3), respectively. East-west asymmetry is a result of asymmetry in zonal propagation of the planetary waves, which also cause the wavy pattern of the streamline in the western half of the wake. Friction is most effective in decreasing the stream function in the south to SSW sector and least effective to the west. Effect of divergence changes the wave pattern in the western half of the wake but does not change magnitude of the stream function. It is speculated that abnormal changes in daily mean sea levels observed in 1965 to 1971 along the south coast of Japan may be caused by the wake effect of moving typhoons east off Japan.
Laparoscopic Stage 2 Fowler-Stephens Orchiopexy

AbstractWhile laparoscopy has become a reasonably well accepted modality in the management of the nonpalpable testis, its role has been largely diagnostic. We report complete laparoscopic management of the intra-abdominal testis. The advantage of the 2-stage Fowler-Stephens orchiopexy is discussed and the technique of a laparoscopic second stage is described, which has been used successfully in 5 patients.
Lack of contribution of nitric oxide synthase to cholinergic vasodilation in murine renal afferent arterioles

We have previously reported significant increases in neuronal nitric oxide synthase (NOS) immunostaining in renal arterioles of angiotensin type 1A receptor (AT1A) knockout mice, and in arterioles ...
Narrative and Meaning in Life

Many theorists have argued that the meaningfulness of a life is related in some way to the narrative or story that can be told about that life. Relationists claim that a life gains in meaning when a particular set of “narrative relations” obtain between the events that constitute it. Recountists claim that it is the telling of a story about those relations, not the relations themselves, that confers meaning. After identifying problems with existing versions of both of these positions, this paper introduces a new and more satisfying variant of Recountism , centered on the old-fashioned idea that a meaningful life is, in part, an intelligible one. I argue that personal narration does play a role in a meaningful life and that my “Fitting Story” account provides the best explanation of how and why that is so.
Mechanical abnormality in graphene-based lamellar superstructures

Graphene aerogels and foams have gained widespread interest due to their impressive mechanical properties as well as their ability to be tuned for optimal performance in a variety of applications. It is highly desirable to attain theoretical relationships to help predict their behavior. Here we employ molecular dynamics simulation to explore the behavior of a graphene aerogel-inspired superstructure under applied compression and tension with a focus on the mechanical stabilizing mechanisms and properties of the deformed structures. The biomimetic structure consists of lamellae and equally spaced bridges, which allows the structure to be lightweight, strong, and resilient. Our results show that the material is highly anisotropic in both tension and compression. In compression, the material is compressible with no permanent loss of structure 75% strain with ultimate strengths on the order of 100 GPa. In tension, the material is elastic up to 26% strain in one direction and up to 84% in the other, with ultimate strengths of between 2 and 30 GPa in one direction and 78 GPa in the other. The material is also shown to possess unusual lateral strain responses in tension and compression which are dependent on bridge length.
High Plains Late Prehistoric

Relative Time Period: Follows the Late High Plains Archaic tradition and precedes the historic period.
Trauma-Induced Conduction Disturbances.

Background: Electrical disturbances following blunt cardiac injuries are rare but can be caused by electrical or structural damage to the heart. We present the case of a patient who had conduction abnormalities following blunt traumatic injury that were incidentally detected on telemetry. Case Report: A 64-year-old female with no history of cardiac disease was brought to the emergency department after a motor vehicle collision that resulted in chest wall bruising. The patient was found to have L-spine fractures and was admitted for observation. During her hospitalization, the patient had multiple episodes of heart block. A temporary pacemaker was inserted because of the recurrent episodes, and a dual-chamber permanent pacemaker was placed on day 4 of her hospitalization. Conclusion: Heart block as a consequence of blunt cardiac injury is rare; however, it needs to be recognized as early as possible. Permanent pacemaker placement is usually indicated for patients with prolonged or recurrent episodes.
Cost analysis of road traffic crashes in a tertiary hospital in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

Background: Road traffic crashes (RTCs) are an important cause of injury and fatality in low-middle-income countries. In South Africa, they result in 7.8% of gross domestic product losses. The aim ...
Sericin silk protein in peripheral nervous repair associated with the physical exercise of swimming in Wistar rats.

Objective: To verify the action of sericin associated to swim exercise with overload, on sciatic nerve repair in Wistar rats, after 22 days of nerve compression.Methods: Forty animals been composed...
RENEWABLE ENERGY: A PRIMER

In this modern society, energy is indispensable; it powers almost everything we use. The energy industry is undergoing an unparalleled transformation which is directly associated with the uptake of renewable energy. Renewable energy is derived from energy resources that are naturally and constantly replenished. This includes hydroelectric power, solar energy, wind energy, fuel cell, geothermal energy, and biomass energy. This paper presents a brief introduction to renewable energy.
Using machine learning models to predict and choose meshes reordered by graph algorithms to improve execution times for hydrological modeling

Abstract Is it possible to predict the execution time of a spatially distributed hydrological model by only examining the mesh? This article investigates this question by using a benchmark mesh with the Penn State Integrated Hydrologic Model (PIHM). The benchmark mesh triangles are reordered using ten different graph search algorithms that treat each mesh triangle as a graph root to select the remaining triangles in the watershed domain. PIHM then executed these graph-reordered meshes to create performance datasets to find which graph search algorithm and triangle root combinations improved PIHM's execution time. The performance datasets were used to train and classify seven different machine learning (ML) models to predict the fastest execution times. Analyzing these ML results facilitated a strategy for end users of the HydroTerre expert system to choose meshes that improve execution times for their hydrological science research with PIHM.
Predator complementarity dampens variability of phytoplankton biomass in a diversity-stability trophic cascade

The indirect effects of top predators on the biomass of lower trophic levels have been extensively documented, especially in aquatic ecosystems and are commonly characterized as "trophic cascades." There have also been studies showing that predator diversity can play an important role in mediating these trophic cascades. In addition, some studies have demonstrated that the diversity of consumers can impact the stability of their resources. However, the effects of predator diversity on the stability of lower trophic levels (cascading effects of predator diversity) have not yet been studied. We conducted a field pond mesocosm experiment and accompanying laboratory microcosm experiment in which we grew phytoplankton with zooplankton herbivores, manipulating the presence and co-habitation of two heteropteran predators while controlling for total expected predation. We hypothesized that if the predators partitioned their herbivore prey, for example by size, then co-presence of the predators would lead to 1) increased average values and 2) decreased temporal variability of phytoplankton biomass. We present evidence that the predators partitioned their herbivore prey, and found that this simultaneous suppression of different herbivore groups reduced the variability of edible (smaller) phytoplankton biomass, without affecting mean phytoplankton biomass. We also found that phytoplankton more resistant to herbivory were not affected by our manipulations, indicating that the zooplankton herbivores played an important role in mediating this cascading diversity-stability effect. Our results demonstrate that predator diversity can indirectly stabilize primary producer biomass via a "diversity-stability cascade" in the manner of a trophic cascade, seemingly dependent on predator complementarity and the vulnerability of taxa to consumption, and independent of a more traditional trophic cascade in which average biomass is enhanced. Predator diversity, especially in terms of functional traits relating to differential prey use such as body size, may be important for regulating ecosystem stability, and may provide a way to improve the reliability of algal crop yields via biological control.
Cognition and the Predictive Utility of Three Risk Scores in an Ethnically Diverse Sample.

BACKGROUND Various factors, such as age, cardiovascular concerns, and lifestyle patterns, are associated with risk for cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Risk scores model predictive risk of developing a disease (e.g., dementia, stroke). Many of these scores have been primarily developed in largely non-Hispanic/Latino (non-H/L) White samples and little is known about their applicability in ethno-racially diverse populations. OBJECTIVE The primary aim was to examine the relationship between three established risk scores and cognitive performance. These relationships were compared across ethnic groups. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study with a multi-ethnic, rural-dwelling group of participants (Mage = 61.6±12.6 years, range: 40-96 years; 373F:168M; 39.7% H/L). The Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE), Framingham Risk Score (FRS), and Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP) score were calculated for each participant. RESULTS All three scores were significantly associated with cognition in both H/L and non-H/L groups. In H/Ls, cognition was predicted by FRS: β= -0.08, p = 0.022; CAIDE: β= -0.08, p < 0.001; and WHICAP: β= -0.04, p < 0.001. In non-H/Ls, cognition was predicted by FRS: β= -0.11, p < 0.001; CAIDE: β= -0.14, p < 0.001; and WHICAP: β= -0.08, p < 0.001. The strength of this relationship differed between groups for FRS [t(246) = -4.61, p < 0.001] and CAIDE [t(420) = -3.20, p = 0.001], but not for WHICAP [t(384) = -1.03, p = 0.30], which already includes ethnicity in its calculation. CONCLUSION These findings support the utility of these three risk scores in predicting cognition while underscoring the need to account for ethnicity. Moreover, our results highlight the importance of cardiovascular and other demographic factors in predicting cognitive outcomes.
Robust Inversion and Data Compression in Control Allocation

We present an off-line computational method for control allocation design. The control allocation function delta = F(z)tau = delta (sub 0) (z) mapping commanded body-frame torques to actuator commands is implicitly specified by trim condition delta (sub 0) (z) and by a robust pseudo-inverse problem double vertical line I - G(z) F(z) double vertical line less than epsilon (z) where G(z) is a system Jacobian evaluated at operating point z, z circumflex is an estimate of z, and epsilon (z) less than 1 is a specified error tolerance. The allocation function F(z) = sigma (sub i) psi (z) F (sub i) is computed using a heuristic technique for selecting wavelet basis functions psi and a constrained least-squares criterion for selecting the allocation matrices F (sub i). The method is applied to entry trajectory control allocation for a reusable launch vehicle (X-33).
What transcranial direct current stimulation intensity is best for cognitive enhancement

In a recent study published in The Journal of Neurophysiology, Ehrardt et al. (Ehrhardt SE, Filmer HL, Wards Y, Mattingley JB, Dux PE. J Neurophysiol 125: 385–397, 2021) report that moderate intens...
Monoracial perceivers’ sociopolitical motives and their inclusion versus exclusion of multiracial people

Many societies today are organised as race-based social hierarchies, with clear boundaries between racial groups at the top versus bottom. The growth of multiracial populations has been heralded as...
Evaluation of a Social Media Campaign Designed to Increase Awareness of Thirdhand Smoke among California Adults.

Despite a growing body of research outlining the harms of thirdhand smoke (THS), the public remains generally unaware of risks and exposure routes. This project built on past tobacco prevention campaigns and the tenants of McGuire's input-output model to implement and evaluate a seven-month Facebook-disseminated campaign seeking to improve THS awareness among California adults (n = 1087). Multilinear regression showed that THS-related knowledge (χ2[6] = 19.31, p < .01), attitude (χ2[6] = 13.88, p < .05), and efficacy (χ2[6] = 13.81, p < .05) significantly increased by the campaign's end, with messages highlighting children's health (r = .110, p < .05), pets (r = .145, p < .01), and dust reservoirs (r = .144, p < .01) as the most persuasive. Path analysis modeling found campaign recall to be associated with changes in knowledge (β = .161, p < .01), which predicated attitude change (β = .614, p < .001) and, in turn, behavior change (β = .149, p < .05). Findings suggest social media campaigns should continue to educate diverse populations about new tobacco risks and that tobacco control advocates should consider integrating educational THS messages.
Political Fragmentation and the Decline of Effective Government

What is the most fundamental challenge facing democracies today? One major concern is democratic backsliding, regression, or the rise of “illiberal democracies.” Another concern, closely related, is the rise of “populism,” at least in certain forms, such as those that are fundamentally anti-pluralist and view the “people” as a “moral, homogenous entity whose will cannot err,” or, in less virulent form, those that express impatience with institutional structures and norms -- such as judicial review, independent institutions, or separation of powers -- that stand in the way of direct, unmediated expression of the “popular will.” This essay argues instead that the deepest and perhaps most enduring challenge to democratic governments across the West that has emerged in recent years is what I call “political fragmentation.” Put briefly, political fragmentation is the dispersion of political power into so many different hands and power centers that it becomes extremely difficult to marshal enough political power and authority for governments to function effectively. The inability of democratic governments to deliver on the issues their populations care most about poses enormous dangers. At a minimum, it can lead to alienation, resignation, distrust, and withdrawal among many citizens. Worse, it can spawn demands for authoritarian leaders who promise to cut through the dysfunction of the political process. And at an even more extreme, it can lead people to question the efficacy of democracy itself and become open to anti-democratic systems of government. The first part of this paper describes the ways in which political fragmentation is now affecting most Western democracies, and describes the different forms fragmentation takes today in proportional-representation political systems versus in first-past-the-post ones. The second part analyzes the causes of fragmentation and asks whether this fragmentation is temporary or more likely to be enduring. This part argues that the communications revolution is a major cause of the political fragmentation of our era. The challenge the communications revolution poses to democratic governments is deeper than is generally recognized, because it goes beyond the now familiar issues of disinformation and conspiracy spreading (though these are serious problems). But the communications revolution might be thought almost inherently to undermine the capacity for legitimate, broadly accepted political authority – the authority necessary to be able to govern effectively in democratic systems. Most Western democracies are perceived by many of their members to be failing to address the major issues of the day. Political fragmentation makes it all the more difficult to do so. Democracies must figure out how to meet this challenge, lest their inability to deliver effectively on the issues their citizens find most urgent leads to even greater threats to democratic politics.
The interplay between sperm-mediated and care-mediated paternal effects in threespine sticklebacks.

The environment experienced by one generation can influence the phenotypes of future generations. Because parental cues can be conveyed to offspring at multiple points in time, ranging from fertilization to posthatching/parturition, offspring can potentially receive multiple cues from their parents via different mechanisms. We have relatively little information regarding how different mechanisms operate in isolation and in tandem, but it is possible, for example, that offspring phenotypes induced by nongenetic changes to gametes may be amplified by, mitigated by, or depend upon parental care. Here, we manipulated paternal experience with predation risk prior to fertilization in threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, and then examined the potential of paternal care to mitigate and/or amplify sperm-mediated paternal effects. Specifically, we compared (1) offspring of predator-exposed fathers who were reared without paternal care, (2) offspring of predator-exposed fathers who were reared with paternal care, (3) offspring of control (unexposed) fathers who were reared without paternal care and (4) offspring of control fathers who were reared with paternal care. We found that offspring of predator-exposed fathers were less active and had higher cortisol following a simulated predator attack. Although predator-exposed males shifted their paternal care behaviours – reduced fanning early in egg development and increased fanning right before egg hatching compared to control males – this shift in paternal behavior did not appear to affect offspring traits. This suggests that paternal care neither amplifies nor compensates for these phenotypic effects induced by sperm and that nongenetic changes induced by sperm may occur independently of nongenetic changes induced by paternal care. Overall, these results underscore the importance of considering how parents may have multiple nongenetic mechanisms by which they can influence offspring.
Optimizing locality of data representation in MLP networks

Local learning techniques associated with multilayer perceptron (MLP) networks typically rely on integrating receptive fields into the network model. However, data representation schemes that employ multiple, overlapping receptive fields to preprocess network inputs can be another source of local learning in MLP networks. This paper demonstrates a preprocessing scheme in which a genetic algorithm is used to determine the form and placement of receptive fields in order to optimize locality of representation of MLP network inputs. A performance metric for comparing MLP networks with disparate degrees of freedom is introduced. Both the preprocessing scheme and the proposed metric are demonstrated by using them in the context of predicting the Mackey-Glass chaotic time series. >
In Reply: Was This Experiment Necessary?

The article on pharmacokinetics of acetaminophen in the human neonate Levy et al.1 in the June 1975 issue prompts some questions and a carping comment. Why would one give acetaminophen to a neonate when significant need for an antipyretic is almost nonexistent at this age, even in the presence of infection? The infants reported were given a dose of this medication for experimentation only and with no thought of benefit. The dose was small, amounting to 36 mg for an infant weighing 3 kg or more, but neither the therapeutic dose nor the toxic dose is known for this age.
Post-Conflict Rebuilding of the Police: Lessons from Sierra Leone

This article presents an overview and analysis of the police restoration project in post-conflict Sierra Leone. The article begins with an historical description of the Sierra Leone Police (SLP), a chronology of the decade-long civil war, and a discussion of how the conflict affected the personnel and operations of the SLP. The article then examines the rebuilding effort by dividing it into three phases: first, personnel and infrastructure improvements; second, police training and standardization of procedures; and third, integration of policing with other justice system components. Finally, the article offers a summary of lessons learned from the overall project and recommendations for consideration in future post-conflict police reform efforts.
Medium Matters: Order through Fluctuations?

A fluid lipid bilayer in water fluctuates freely. Even in the absence of specific chemical interactions, a complex interplay of a variety of nonspecific forces—attractive and repulsive, short- and long-ranged—determine the equilibrium separation between these well-hydrated bilayers (1). It also plays critical roles in many biological processes, such as cell adhesion and membrane fusion, in which these surfaces are pushed closer together. Contributing to the interplay are coupled influences of the classical DLVO (named after Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey, and Overbeek, who described forces between small, smooth, and charged surfaces in water) and non-DLVO forces.
Fluorescence of Lysozyme and Lysozyme Substrate Complexes SEPARATION OF TRYPTOPHAN CONTRIBUTIONS BY FLUORESCENCE DIFFERENCE METHODS

Abstract A study has been made of the changes with pH of the fluorescence spectrum and quantum yield of lysozyme and lysozyme complexes with di-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine and tri-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine. The fluorescence changes are associated with changes of ionization of certain carboxyl groups in the acid pH region and tyrosine groups in the basic pH region. The greater fluorescence loss for the complexed enzyme in the acid pH region is interpreted as the result of a localized conformational change which takes place upon binding these inhibitors, effecting the greater availability of carboxyl groups for quenching tryptophan residues in the binding site. A partial separation of the fluorescence spectra and quantum yield contributions of the 3 tryptophan residues involved in binding the tri-N-acetyl-d-glucosamine was possible with the use of difference fluorescence spectra. It was shown that 2 of these residues in the binding site are in an aqueous environment in the free enzyme and in a less aqueous environment in the enzyme-inhibitor complex. The spectrum of each of these residues was obtained for the complex and shown to be different, which indicates a difference in the local environment around each residue. The difference spectral method has also shown that tryptophan residues that are in a nonaqueous environment are preferentially quenched by ionized tyrosine via long range energy transfer.
Perturbative approach to compute sensitivity matrix elements in electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) of flow systems

We describe an efficient way to compute the sensitivity matrix for electrical capacitance tomography (ECT). The sensitivity matrix is used in conjunction with a neural-network based multi-criterion optimization image reconstruction technique (NN-MOIRT) designed for 3D realtime imaging of three-phase flow systems. We adopt a perturbative approach for the calculation of the sensitivity matrix for very small pixel sizes (higher resolutions). This approach can reduce the sensitivity matrix fill time by up to two orders of magnitude in this kind of problem, when compared to traditional methods such as FEM.
Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Intervening with an Emotionally Abusive Couple

Abstract Working with couples who are both survivors of emotional abuse and are currently in an emotionally abusive relationship can be particularly challenging for the clinician. This article focuses on Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy as a recommended practice approach for clients who are caught in emotionally abusive patterns with one another. The article reviews relevant literature on this approach and illustrates the specific interventions applied lo an emotionally abusive couple.
Characterization of functional receptors for somatostatin in rat pituitary cells in culture.

Abstract GH4C1 cells are a clonal strain of rat pituitary tumor cells which synthesize and secrete prolactin and growth hormone. Somatostatin, a hypothalamic tetradecapeptide, inhibits the release of growth hormone and, under certain circumstances, also prolactin from normal pituitary cells. We have prepared [125I-Tyr1]somatostatin (approximately 2200 C1/mmol) and have shown that this ligand binds to a limited number of high affinity sites on GH4C1 cells. Half-maximal binding of somatostatin occurred at a concentration of 6 x 10(-10) M. A maximum of 0.11 pmol of [125I-Tyr1]somatostatin was bound per mg of cell protein, equivalent to 13,000 receptor sites per cell. The rate constant for binding (kon) was 8 x 10(7) M(-1) min(-1). The rate constant for dissociation (koff) was determined by direct measurement to be 0.02 min(-1) both in the presence and absence of excess nonradioactive somatostatin. Binding of [125I-Tyr1]somatostatin was not inhibited by 10(-7) M thyrotropin-releasing hormones. Substance P, neurotensin, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, calcitonin, adrenocorticotropin, or insulin. Of seven nonpituitary cell lines tested, none had specific receptors for somatostatin. Somatostatin was shown to inhibit prolactin and growth hormone production by CH4C1 cells. The dose-response characteristics for binding and the biological actions of somatostatin were essentially coincident. Furthermore, among several clonal pituitary cell strains tested, only those which had receptors for somatostatin showed a biological response to the hormone. We conclude that the characterized somatostatin receptor is necessary for the biological actions of somatostatin on GH4C1 cells.