cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Polymorphism and division of labor in the neotropical ant Camponotus sericeiventris Guerin (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Polymorphism and division of labor in the neotropical ant Camponotus sericeiventris (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) was examined. This species is strongly polymorphic along a continuous series with a wide range of worker sizes. Behavioral analysis reveals division of labor among three physical worker castes. The differences in the behavioral repertories of each of the castes are statistically significant. Anatomical and physiological studies support the behavioral observations. The mandibular glands and the maxillary glands are disproportionately large in the major caste. These findings suggest that the majors are specialized for defense and may have a role in processing the colony's food. A comparison with other species of Camponotus implies that C. sericeiventris may have one of the more advanced caste systems in the genus.
AIDS Health Education:A Survey on Coverage Status in General Population in Xinjiang Yili State

Objective To understand the coverage status of AIDS health education in general population in Xinjiang Yili State,to provide a scientific basis for formulating measures for AIDS publicity,education,prevention and control in future. Methods A specific list of needed samples was simply randomly selected based on the sample size of all data of Yili State uploaded to " National Infectious Disease Special Information Platform" and distributed to every survey field to carry out questionnaires. Results In the enrolled 1 101 people,1 076 had AIDS health education,25 did not have,with a coverage rate of 97. 73%. The top 3 AIDS knowledge acquisition sources were TV( 85. 83%,945),free promotional materials( 56. 49%, 622),bulletin board and ad column( 46. 32%,510). There was significant difference in the coverage rate of AIDS health education between general population with different ages,educational levels( P 0. 05). Conclusion The coverage of AIDS health education is generally good in Yili State,but AIDS health education is needed to be strengthened in elderly groups with low educational levels and in districts with different prevalence levels.
Computing with Classical Soliton Collisions

We review work on computing with solitons, from the discovery of solitons in cellular automata, to an abstract model for particle computation, information transfer in collisions of optical solitons, state transformations in collisions of vector solitons, a proof of the universality of blinking spatial solitons, and the demonstration of multistable collision cycles and their application to state-restoring logic. We conclude by discussing open problems and the prospects for practical computing applications using optical soliton collisions in photo-refractive crystals and fibers.
Computational Evaluation of Incomplete Coating Coverage

Corrosion is a major cause of removal from service for many industries. Pitting, which involves localized corrosion of metals, can result in catastrophic failures because of resulting crack initiation and failure. The transition from pit to crack is influenced by the pit shape, which in turn is affected by the microstructure of the corroding material. In this work the authors investigate the importance of understanding the construction of a coating layer that may be present over the pit mouth. The coating layer may be by-products of another activity or a repair coating meant to prevent further damage. Stable pit growth occurs under diffusion control at rate that depends upon the extent of protective coating over the opening of the pit. The two extreme cases are: 1) no cover due to total loss of coating and 2) full cover over an existing pit. The cases in between would represent break in coating cover over an evolving pit. To investigate the effect of coating loss, a parametric study based on coating coverage percentage on the metal is investigated. The coating sample length and gap length are taken to be the same for all cases. Coverage percentages of 0% (no coating), 50%, 75% and 100% (fully coated) are analyzed for a set growth time. Severe numerical complications are discovered in the course of these analyses. The movement of the corrosion front parallel to the spatially fixed coating causes considerable mesh distortion that terminates the simulation prematurely requiring an impractically large number of re-meshing steps. The computational concepts investigated will be discussed in addition to evaluating the influence of pit coverage.Copyright © 2014 by ASME
The cedar closet 1

Disenchanted with traditional portrayals of organizational life, the author uses ethnographic fiction to highlight the background and personalities involved in significant changes undertaken at one institution. Explored are the conflicts and personal struggles related to a university's addition of a sexual orientation clause to its statement of nondiscrimination. Three points are stressed throughout this article: (1) the conflicting nature of reality, (2) the manner in which change takes place, and (3) the ways organizational change might be interpreted. In addressing these points, the author raises questions about standard research writing practices. Instead of evaluating research on the basis of validity or trustworthiness, a reader might ask the following questions: What is learned from the text? Are the characters believable? Are there lessons to be learned from the text for my own life? Is the situation plausible? Where does the author fit in the formation of the text? What other interpretations exis...
Nash Limit Cycles: A Game-Theoretical Analysis of Cultural Integration in America

To be and to become an American: past, present, and future. We analyze the dynamics of the socio-cultural evolution of America as a player in a 1-agent game, integrating multiple immigrant-based cultural identities: American, in continuous random cross-cultural interactions with one another, assign a probability to each of the American ten core values which we recall, thereby defining at every instant a population state as a vector of probabilities. Adapting a methodology from Evolutionary Game Theory (replicator-like in human context), we uncover all possible dynamical game scenarios, to include Nash Equilibria, Eventual Nash Equilibria, Nash Limit Cycles, and Isochrons, a state of self-sustained oscillations in decision-making and where individual preferences evolve with the same constant phase. (Social Isochrons). We conjecture a game scenario for America stability and prosperity as the co-existence of asymptotically stable community Nash Equilibria based on the respective cultural identities, around a Nash Limit Cycle inside-attractive and outside-repulsive, together with a national Nash Equilibrium, asymptotically stable, around a Nash Limit Cycle inside-repulsive while outside-attractive, all in the interior of a 9-simplex, convex compact subset of the R10 Euclidean space. However, socio-cultural structures being highly hierarchical, such an analysis should be extended to the much richer non-Archimedean/p-adic simplex.
Geomorphic signature of a dammed Sandy River: the lower Trinity River downstream of Livingston Dam in Texas, USA.

Abstract Reservoirs behind dams act as deposition sites for much of the sediment being transported by rivers. As a result, the downstream river flow can be well below the transport capacity for bed-material. This promotes bed erosion and other geomorphic changes over some length of river located immediately downstream from a dam. These adjustments have been characterized for the Trinity River, TX, downstream of Livingston Dam. Field measurements and results from a 1D numerical model define a 50–60 river kilometer segment of river undergoing bed erosion as the transport capacity for bed material is reestablished. Consequences of this erosion include lowering of the channel bed, reduction in the sediment volume of channel bars, coarsening of sediment on bar tops, steepening of channel banks, and reduction in lateral migration rates of river bends. Repeat surveys of the river long profile reveals that 40 yr of dam closure has produced up to seven meters of channel-bottom incision downstream of the dam, transforming an initially linear profile into a convex-up long profile. The model output matches this observed change, providing confidence that calculated estimates for spatial and temporal changes in bed-material sediment flux can be used to explore the long-term signature of dam influence on the geomorphology of a sand-bed channel. Measurements of channel geometry, profile, lateral migration, and grain size of the lower Trinity River with distance downstream define both the trend and expected variability about the trend associated with the disruption to the bed-material load.
Adaptive windowing of insufficient CP for joint minimization of ISI and ACI beyond 5G

Using minimum, even insufficient guards are proposed to achieve the spectral efficiency and latency requirements of cellular communication systems beyond 5G. This leads to interference in both time and frequency domains. In this paper, a partial-non-orthogonal multiple accessing scenario in which the desired user is experiencing both intersymbol interference (ISI) due to insufficient cyclic prefix (CP) and adjacent channel interference (ACI) caused by asynchronous transmitters using non-orthogonal numerologies in adjacent bands is investigated. ISI and ACI depend on the power offset between desired and interfering users, the instantaneous channel impulse responses of interfering users and transmitter and receiver window functions. Therefore, joint and adaptive utilization of CP requires real-time calculation of ISI and ACI. Analytical expressions for expected ISI and ACI at each subcarrier of the desired user are derived to minimize their combination. Accordingly, an adaptive algorithm consisting of windowing each subcarrier at the receiver with window length that minimizes the combined interference at that subcarrier by optimally exchanging ISI and ACI is proposed. Interference reduction performances of current, outdated and average optimal window length raised cosine receiver windows are assessed and compared to fixed and no receiver windowing. Windowing reduces interference even when CP is shorter than the channel if window length is determined using the proposed design guidelines.
The Zero-Sum Game of Early Oil Extraction Relations in Colombia: Workers, Tropical Oil, and the Police State, 1918–1938

The history of early oil extraction operations in Colombia resonates with the experiences of other Latin American nations that found themselves in the middle of an imperial struggle for the control of the precious resource. In the early twentieth century, British and US multinational oil corporations, and to a lesser extent Canadian and Dutch companies, came face to face in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, and Chile over the control of oil extraction, export operations, and the development of domestic markets, forcing federal governments to reevaluate nationalist land use policies at the expense of local political interests.
Rotational Energy as Mass in H 3 + and Lower Limits on the Atomic Masses of D and He 3

We have made precise measurements of the cyclotron frequency ratios ${{\mathrm{H}}_{3}}^{+}/{\mathrm{HD}}^{+}$ and ${{\mathrm{H}}_{3}}^{+}/{^{3}\mathrm{He}}^{+}$ and observe that different ${{\mathrm{H}}_{3}}^{+}$ ions result in different cyclotron frequency ratios. We interpret these differences as due to the molecular rotational energy of ${{\mathrm{H}}_{3}}^{+}$ changing its inertial mass. We also confirm that certain high $J$, $K$ rotational levels of ${{\mathrm{H}}_{3}}^{+}$ have mean lifetimes exceeding several weeks. From measurements with the lightest ${{\mathrm{H}}_{3}}^{+}$ ion we obtain lower limits on the atomic masses of deuterium and helium-3 with respect to the proton.
Manganese transport and toxicity in polarized WIF-B hepatocytes.

Polarized WIF-B hepatocytes express manganese (Mn) transporters ZIP8, ZnT10, ferroportin (Fpn), and ZIP14. Fpn and ZIP14 localize to basolateral domains. ZnT10-positive vesicles were adjacent to ap...
Particles in Gauge Theories

We now analyze the particles that appear in the theory described by the Lagrangian (12.2). As usual, we must expand the Lagrangian in the neighborhood of a classical vacuum φ 0, having lifted the degeneracy of the classical vacuum by imposing a gauge condition. A natural gauge condition is $$\sigma \varphi (x)\,{\varphi _0},$$ (13.1) where σ, as before, is the map taking a point in R n to the nearest point in R. We recall that, in general, σ is one-to-one and continuous only in a neighborhood of R, say R, so that the gauge condition (13.1) is only meaningful for fields that are near the vacuum manifold. Generally, the fields considered here satisfy this condition only for |x| large enough, so we will consider gauge transformations defined outside a certain ball, rather than on the whole of R 3. (Also, the gauge transformation can depend on time, but this is not important to the current discussion.)
The Dynamics of Societal Systems

A societal system is a geo-political-cultural unit that organizes the actions of, and transactions among, members of a population in space, and over time. The geographical element of a society is control of bounded territories within which the members of a population and corporate units act; and even when their activities involve geo-political and geo-economic forays into other societies, the territorial home base of the society of origin is still what defines the “place” of individuals and corporate actors. Another geographical element of society is the systems among communities that are built up within a society’s territorial boundaries and, at times, between communities of two or more societies. Like societies, communities are also geographical formations that organize the actions of individual and collective actors.
Predictive utility of subtyping women smokers on depression, eating, and weight-related symptoms.

Objective Smoking and overweight or obesity are preventable causes of disease and death. Women are reluctant to quit smoking because of concerns about postcessation weight gain, underscoring the need to elucidate patterns of weight concerns and associated psychosocial factors that may affect smoking cessation outcomes. The present study aimed to subtype women smokers based on psychosocial and behavioral factors associated with smoking and weight, and examine the utility of these subtypes to predict abstinence and postcessation weight gain. Method Weight-concerned women (N = 343) were randomized to 1 of 2 smoking cessation counseling adjuncts and 1 of 2 cessation medication conditions. At baseline, women were weighed and completed measures of depression, weight or appearance concerns, and eating behaviors. At 3-, 6-, and 12-months after the target quit date, women were weighed and completed self-report and biochemical smoking assessments. Results Latent profile (LP) analyses supported a 3-profile model. The groups had typical (53%, LP1), minimal (33%, LP2), and high (14%, LP3) levels of depressive symptoms and weight concerns. At 12-months posttarget quit date, women in LP3 were more likely to relapse than women in LP1 (odds ratio, OR = 2.93). Among abstinent women, those in LP2 and LP3 gained more postcessation weight than those in LP1. Conclusions Heterogeneity in symptoms of depression, weight or appearance concerns, and eating behaviors was captured by three groups of women smokers, with unique risks for relapse and postcessation weight gain. The distinct profiles identified may help personalize the delivery of care for smoking cessation and, ultimately, reduce disease risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
An Old Norse Courtly Analogue to Beowulf

This article identifies a new Old Norse analogue to Beowulf’s battle in the mere: an episode narrated in chapters 195–197 of the courtly thirteenth-century text Þiðreks saga af Bern. It describes and examines the resemblances between this episode and Beowulf’s fight against Grendel’s mother, as well as the notorious analogue of Grettir’s fight against a troll-woman. As I hope to show, several details of the scene in Þiðreks saga make it a particularly strong analogue to the second monster fight in Beowulf. This article situates these analogues against the common Old Norse topoi of moundbreaking and land-cleansing in order to separate what is analogous from what is merely saga convention. The analogue in Þiðreks saga reveals the broad circulation and flexible use of the monster-fighting narrative in medieval Germanic literature, a narrative paradigm that sometimes attaches to legendary figures but appears to circulate independently of them.
Molecular Clocks and the Timing of the Placental and Marsupial Radiations in Relation to the Cretaceous–Tertiary Boundary

Paleostratigraphic estimates of divergence time for nine independent cladogenic events within Mammalia, ranging from 14 to 130 million years, were regressed against Tamura–Nei-corrected 12S rRNA transversions. Relative rate-adjusted distances were also regressed against paleostratigraphic divergence times. The resulting equations were used to estimate interordinal divergence times within Eutheria and Metatheria for a data set that includes representatives of all orders in each infraclass. Without the adjustment for rate variation, divergence times range from 34 to 156 million years for placental orders, versus 32 to 86 million years for marsupial orders. With rate adjustments, the range of divergence estimates decreases to 53 to 133 million years for placentals versus 40 to 79 million years for marsupials. The effect of rate adjustments is most noticeable for carnivores and perissodactyls, where rates are slow, and proboscideans, where rates are fast. In agreement with studies based on nuclear genes, both unadjusted and rate-adjusted estimates of sequence divergence indicate that the majority of placental orders originated before the terminal Cretaceous extinction. Exceptions include the perissodactyl–carnivore split and cladogenesis among paenungulate orders. Most marsupial orders, in turn, may have originated in the early Tertiary although didelphimorphs, at least, appear to have split from other lineages in the late Cretaceous. Marsupial divergence times based on 12S rRNA data are in good agreement with estimates based on single-copy DNA hybridization and disagree with the suggestion of Hershkovitz (1992) that Dromiciops separated from other marsupials in the Jurassic.
Repair or accommodation? Split antecedent ellipsis and the limits of repair

We begin from the assumption that the grammar requires syntactic matching between an elided verb phrase (VP) and its antecedent. When a fully matching antecedent cannot be found, the antecedent will be repaired if there is evidence for the repair, only a few operations are needed, and the repair reverses a natural speech error. This view correctly predicts that acceptability judgements are inversely correlated with the degree of difficulty of the repair (Arregui et al. 2006; Frazier 2013) and lower when a repair is required than when it is not (Kim & Runner 2018; Clifton et al. 2019), for example.Split antecedent ellipsis looks like a proto-typical case of repair since by definition no matching antecedent is available. It will be argued, however, that split antecedent ellipsis does not involve repair. The results of several experiments show that split antecedent ellipsis does not exhibit the hallmarks of repair. Rather it may involve ordinary accommodation. This raises the question of when the processor repairs an input and when it merely accommodates an antecedent of the appropriate type. We suggest that repair to a grammatical form is unavailable for split ellipsis because syntactic representation is only reliably available for the last independent clause.
Maternal Inheritance: Longevity Programs Nourish Progeny via Yolk.

Summary Epigenetic effects can be mediated by changes in chromatin state that are transmitted from parent to child via gametes, but support is gathering for maternal yolk, which is deposited into ooctyes, as an extranuclear epigenetic factor that can contribute to phenotypic plasticity across generations in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease in the Achilles Tendon

Teaching point: The classic sonographic presentation of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystal deposits in the Achilles tendon is reported.
What distinguishes great software engineers

Great software engineers are essential to the creation of great software. However, today, we lack an understanding of what distinguishes great engineers from ordinary ones. We address this knowledge gap by conducting one of the largest mixed-method studies of experienced engineers to date. We surveyed 1,926 expert engineers, including senior engineers, architects, and technical fellows, asking them to judge the importance of a comprehensive set of 54 attributes of great engineers. We then conducted 77 email interviews to interpret our findings and to understand the influence of contextual factors on the ratings. After synthesizing the findings, we believe that the top five distinguishing characteristics of great engineers are writing good code, adjusting behaviors to account for future value and costs, practicing informed decision-making, avoiding making others’ jobs harder, and learning continuously. We relate the findings to prior work, and discuss implications for researchers, practitioners, and educators.
Tuna locomotion: a computational hydrodynamic analysis of finlet function.

Finlets are a series of small non-retractable fins common to scombrid fishes (mackerels, bonitos and tunas), which are known for their high swimming speed. It is hypothesized that these small fins ...
Does the presence of epidural analgesia reduce the risk of neonatal sepsis in the setting of an intrapartum fever

Objective: Epidural analgesia has been associated with more frequent intrapartum fever as well as neonatal antibiotic therapy. We examined whether intrapartum fever carries the same risk for neonat...
Lights, camera, action: the role of editing and framing on the processing of filmed events

Filmmakers use various cinematic techniques in an effort to guide attention to certain aspects of these events. The present study was conducted to investigate how framing and editing can guide view...
Body Mass Index does not affect Cast Index but increases risk of complication associated with treatment of distal forearm fractures

Purpose: Approximately 20% of all pediatric fractures are distal forearm fractures, most of which are treated non-operatively with closed reduction and casting. Reduction is maintained by a well-molded cast. It is unclear if the amount of soft tissue surrounding a fracture may affect the ability to achieve a good cast mold. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of body mass index (BMI) on cast index (CI) and complications in pediatric patients with distal forearm fractures. …
Analysis of ride-sharing with service time and detour guarantees

Abstract This paper explores whether upper bound guarantees to detour distances can be introduced in ride sharing services. By ride sharing we mean taxi ride aggregation services such as Uber-Pool. The paper develops an analytical model that for a given demand relates the guarantee levels to (i) the percent of rides that can be matched, (ii) the expected vehicle distance traveled; (iii) the expected passenger distance traveled; (iv) the fleet size required, and (v) the average passenger trip time including waiting and riding. The formulas developed reveal that for the full range of feasible fleet sizes, ridesharing with detour distance guarantees outperforms both ordinary ride-sharing and ordinary taxi. This suggests that there is a business opportunity that is not currently being exploited.
Zero Anaphora in Nonnative Texts: Null-Object Anaphora in Nepali English

This paper investigates the occurrence of null objects in a stable nonnative variety of English spoken in Nepal. Previous studies of zero anaphora with second language learners have assumed that advanced learners of English will acquire the native target norms, which highly constrain null object occurrences. This paper shows that in the construction of text speakers of Nepali English may omit both direct and indirect objects in contexts where native speakers may not. Pragmatic principles govern these occurrences although they differ for the two types of objects. Null direct objects are part of discourse topic chains and their referents are recoverable within the text, even across speakers. Null indirect objects, on the other hand, refer primarily to discourse participants and do not generally need textual coreferents. The resultant discourse organization for this variety of English is one that requires greater addressee participation than native English discourse. The paper shows that when learners are confronted with input from two typologically distinct discourse traditions they may develop a third framework that utilizes compatible features for each.
The Use and Cost-Effectiveness of Routine Preoperative Blood Typing and Antibody Screening in Hysterectomy for Benign Indications

Study Objective The purpose of this study is to quantify preoperative blood typing and antibody screening (T&S), as well as blood transfusion rates for benign hysterectomies. We also aim to validate and adopt a model by Stanhiser et al. (2017) that predicts transfusion risk in gynecologic surgery. Lastly, we aim to assess the potential cost savings by decreasing T&S testing through application of this model. Design A retrospective cohort study utilizing the de-identified electronic medical record available at Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Synthetic Derivative Database. Setting Risk of transfusion in hysterectomy patients is low (0.3-11%), however T&S is often ordered routinely preoperatively. Identification of patient characteristics associated with risk of transfusion in gynecologic surgery enabled the development of transfusion risk prediction models. These models may help inform value-driven preoperative laboratory testing. Patients or Participants 5617 patients undergoing hysterectomies (vaginal, laparoscopic, robotic-assisted, or by laparotomy) for benign indications from 2000-2016 at a large academic, tertiary care medical center. Interventions N/A Measurements and Main Results A total of 5617 hysterectomies were identified, of which 1478 were performed by laparotomy. The blood transfusion rate was 4.7% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.2-5.3%). Preoperative T&S was obtained for 53.4% (95% CI, 52.1-54.7%) of patients. Preliminary univariate validation confirmed that transfusion was positively associated with planned laparotomy, history of hypertension, and low hemoglobin (all P Conclusion Preoperative T&S testing occurred in more than half of benign hysterectomy patients, while the blood transfusion rate was 4.7%. There is potential for cost savings by decreasing the use of routine testing by adopting a validated transfusion risk prediction model. Future directions include continued model validation and cost calculations.
Robotic End Effector for Lunar and Martian Geological Space Exploration: Design for Interchangeability

Plans are currently being made for humans to live and work on the Moon and Mars. Exploration using robots will be an integral part of these activities. Even today, the use of robotic arms is critically important to NASA's efforts to learn about the geology and makeup of these celestial bodies. When humans join these robotic explorers, someday soon, on the surface of Earth's neighbors, we will want these robotic arms to do much more than their single, preordained, fixed assignments. We will want them to become much more flexible in their usefulness. The same way much of the usefulness of a human arm is derived from the human hand, a robotic arm's usefulness is derived from its end effector. We invite the research community to consider a need, yet to manifest itself as important, when designing the robotic arms of the future, to consider in their designs the need for end effector interchangeability. This paper proposes herein, a demonstrated, substantive means to facilitate the implementation of interchangeability through the concept of a Universal Interface Design (UID). The “Robotic End Effector for lunar and martian Geological Exploration of Space” (REEGES) was developed to introduce this concept to the Space Research Community.
Paradoxical hyperexcitability from NaV1.2 sodium channel loss in neocortical pyramidal cells

Loss-of-function variants in the gene SCN2A, which encodes the sodium channel NaV1.2, are strongly associated with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability. An estimated 20%-30% of children with these variants also suffer from epilepsy, with altered neuronal activity originating in neocortex, a region where NaV1.2 channels are expressed predominantly in excitatory pyramidal cells. This is paradoxical, as sodium channel loss in excitatory cells would be expected to dampen neocortical activity rather than promote seizure. Here, we examined pyramidal neurons lacking NaV1.2 channels and found that they were intrinsically hyperexcitable, firing high-frequency bursts of action potentials (APs) despite decrements in AP size and speed. Compartmental modeling and dynamic-clamp recordings revealed that NaV1.2 loss prevented potassium channels from properly repolarizing neurons between APs, increasing overall excitability by allowing neurons to reach threshold for subsequent APs more rapidly. This cell-intrinsic mechanism may, therefore, account for why SCN2A loss-of-function can paradoxically promote seizure.
Enhancing Intensive English Program Reading and Writing Courses through Integrated-Skill Activities

In an increasingly competitive global Intensive English Programs (IEPs) environment (Benshoff, 2018), developing courses that efficiently meet student needs and equip students with skills essential for university success is paramount. Many IEPs develop reading and writing (RW) courses around one textbook for reading and another for writing, essentially separating RW skills from listening and speaking skills (Oxford, 2001). However, our university foundation-year program has started to integrate listening and speaking skills with instruction and assessment into RW courses. Instructors have observed what appear to be increased gains in learning when students pre-read, read, discuss, listen to related lectures, present, and then write about academic topics. Students’ writing reveals greater voice as they seem to understand topics more deeply and have developed greater fluency with ideas and terminology and an increased ability to paraphrase, summarize, and synthesize, aligning with findings in related literature (e.g., Horowitz, 1986). This integrated-skill approach also more closely resembles university tasks than the segregated-skill approach does. This article explains the integrated-skill approach, examines its impact on revitalizing IEP RW instruction, and showcases some sample activities. Keywordsreading and writing (RW), extensive reading, integrated-skill approach (ISA), student success, Intensive English Programs (IEPs)
Association of genetic polymorphisms with local steroid metabolism in human benign breasts

PURPOSE Although alterations of concentrations in circulating steroids have been linked to single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of steroidogenic enzymes, we hypothesized that SNPs of such enzymes located within the breast affect local steroid concentrations more than products of such SNPs absorbed from the circulation. METHODS Steroids (estradiol, estrone, testosterone, androstenedione, DHEA, DHEA sulfate, progesterone) in nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) were purified by HPLC and they along with serum steroids were quantified by immunoassays. Polymorphisms of the transporter SLCO2B1 and enzymes HSD3B1, CYP19A1, HSD17B12, AKR1C3, CYP1B1, and SRD5A1 were measured in white blood cell DNA. RESULTS Steroid concentrations in NAF of subjects with homozygous minor genotypes differed from those with heterozygotes, i.e., SLCO2B1 (rs2851069) decreased DHEAS (p = 0.04), HSD17B12 (rs11555762) increased estradiol (p < 0.004), and CYP1B1 (rs1056836) decreased estradiol (p = 0.017) and increased progesterone (p = 0.05). Also, in serum, CYP19A1 (rs10046 and rs700518) both decreased testosterone (p = 0.02) and SRD5A1 increased androstenedione (p = 0.006). Steroids in subjects with major homozygotes did not differ from those with heterozygotes indicating recessive characteristics. CONCLUSIONS In the breast, SNPs were associated with decreased uptake of DHEAS (SLCO2B1), increased estradiol concentrations through increased oxidoreductase activity (HSD17B12), or decreased estradiol concentrations by presumed formation of 4-hydroxyestradiol (CYP1B1). CYP19A1 was associated with decreased testosterone concentrations in serum but had no significant effect on estrogen or androgen concentrations within the breast. The hormone differences observed in NAF were not usually evident in serum, indicating the importance of assessing the effect of these SNPs within the breast.
Physiology of Functional Activation

Nearly all studies of task-specific activation using functional neuroimaging rely on the existence of a close coupling between regional changes in brain metabolism and regional cerebral blood flow (CBF), herein referred to as activation-flow coupling (AFC). Regional CBF changes are used as a surrogate marker for changes in regional brain function, and uncoupling of blood flow and metabolism or neuronal function may result in false negative or false positive activation. Changes in blood flow and metabolism occur with excitatory or inhibitory neurotransmission, both of which are energy consuming processes.
... and unto dust return: The remembered earth

The earth is a primal resource of human imagination; its conceptual and creative tie to literature is pervasive, in part, because of the profound ambiguity of our relationship to it. Home and prison, earth holds in bondage the life it sustains. The paradox of life as freedom and life as bondage gives rise to the conflicting task of holding to the good earth, yet becoming free of it. This paradox and conflicting effort forms a basic pattern in western thought. A deep ambivalence and generative tension frame metaphors in literature from the earliest mythic and creation stories to the most recent poetry. We will examine some of the best known poetic expressions within Western literature to discern the reflective character and lessons that this literature brings to our understanding of the human condition and cultural project.
Self-Checking and Fault-Tolerant Digital Design

Chapter 1 - Fundamentals of Reliability Chapter 2 - Error Detecting and Correcting Codes Chapter 3 - Self-Checking Combinational Logic Design Chapter 4 - Self-Checking Checkers Chapter 5 - Self-Checking Sequential Circuit Design Chapter 6 - Fault-Tolerant Design Appendix Markov Models
Chapter 80 Results from a Dozen Years of Election Futures Markets Research

Publisher Summary Each market is related to a specific future event, for instance a presidential election, and contains a set of contracts with liquidation values pegged to the outcome of the future event. Contracts enter into circulation by the voluntary purchase from the IEM trading system of bundles of contracts that we call “unit portfolios,” or they are removed from circulation by sales of unit portfolios back to the system. These unit portfolios consist of one of each contract available in the market, and they are purchased from and sold to the system for a fixed price, which is the predetermined aggregate payoff to that portfolio. This use of unit portfolios ensures that the market operates as a zero-sum game and it permits the supply of contracts to be determined endogenously by the net number of unit portfolios that have been purchased by traders. Unit portfolios are employed only to place contracts in circulation; transactions among traders occur with individual contracts at prices determined by the participants.
Evolution of Coronal and Interplanetary Magnetic Fields

Numerous studies have provided the detailed information necessary for a substantive synthesis of the empirical relation between the magnetic field of the sun and the structure of the interplanetary field. We will point out the latest techniques and studies of the global solar magnetic field and its relation to the interplanetary field.. The potential to overcome most of the limitations of present methods of analysis exists in techniques of modelling the coronal magnetic field using observed solar data. Such empirical models are, in principle, capable of establishing the connection between a given heliospheric point and its magnetically-connected photospheric point, as well as the physical basis for the connection. We thus find ourselves at a plateau, looking back over a quarter century of empirical synthesis while anticipating a new era of detailed physical investigation on a global scale.
Phenolics and Ripening in Grape Berries

A key objective of this review is to describe the tissue types in the grape berry from a phenolics point of view, that is, an account of cell types based on the phenolic components they contain. To complement this, the major soluble phenolics of the grape are described with an emphasis on the relative abundance of some of the components in each class. The intent of this approach is that the juxtaposition of tissue types and phenolic composition will help identify features of both that influence extraction during winemaking.
Insurance Accounts: The Cultural Logics of Health Care Financing.

The financial exuberance that eventually culminated in the recent world economic crisis also ushered in dramatic shifts in how health care is financed, administered, and imagined. Drawing on research conducted in the mid-2000s at a health insurance company in Puerto Rico, this article shows how health care has been financialized in many ways that include: (1) privatizing public services; (2) engineering new insurance products like high deductible plans and health savings accounts; (3) applying financial techniques to premium payments to yield maximum profitability; (4) a managerial focus on shareholder value; and (5) prioritizing mergers and financial speculation. The article argues that financial techniques obfuscate how much health care costs, foster widespread gaming of reimbursement systems that drives up prices, and “unpool” risk by devolving financial and moral responsibility for health care onto individual consumers.[insurance, health reform, managed care, financialization, Medicare]
Some mechanisms of FLIP expression in inhibition of HIV‐1 replication in Jurkat cells, CD4+ T cells and PBMCs

HIV-1 infection and replication are affected by host factors. Recent studies demonstrate that molecules from apoptotic pathways regulate HIV-1 replication. Therefore, studies on effects of host factors that maintain host cell survival and influence HIV-1 replication are critical to understanding the mechanisms of HIV-1 replicative cycle. Using the susceptible Jurkat cell line, CD4(+) T cells, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), we studied the role of FLIP, an inhibitor of caspase-8, in HIV-1 production. Full length cellular FLIP (cFLIP) inhibited HIV-1 replication in these cells. cFLIP upregulated the expression of viral restriction factors, such as TRIM5, Apobec3G, and Bst2/tetherin, decreased nuclear factor 1C expression and inactivated ERK and p38 induced by HIV-1 in Jurkat cells. cFLIP blocked the trafficking of gp120 and Gag p24 capsid protein into lipid rafts with inhibition of Tsg101 and Alix in ESCRT signaling pathway. cFLIP also promoted Bst2/tetherin trafficking into lipid rafts. These results indicate that cFLIP may inhibit the HIV-1 replication cycle at multiple steps, including viral RNA release, transcription, traffic and assembly. We also found that cFLIP expression downregulated Fas expression and inactivated FADD in the Fas-mediated apoptotic pathway. The inactivated FADD also inhibited HIV-1 replication.
Dissolved Oxygen and Redox Potential

The atmosphere is comprised of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and traces of a few other gases. These gases are soluble in water, and an equilibrium state can be reached between atmospheric gases and dissolved gases. Dissolved oxygen is the most important gas in water quality because it is essential in aerobic respiration and it regulates the oxidation-reduction potential in water and sediment. Carbon dioxide is a waste product of respiration, a source of carbon for photosynthesis, and a major determinant of pH in natural waters. Dissolved nitrogen usually has a higher concentration in water than other gases, but its influence on biological and chemical processes is less than that of oxygen or carbon dioxide. Other gases usually have little influence on water quality.
Issues in cognitive rehabilitation.

Cognitive training has been an accepted therapeutic intervention in the areas of psycholinguistics and special education for learning disability in children and adults for several decades. 1 Current controversy revolves around the questions of "faddism," the potential to effect meaningful change in a neurologically stable individual, and the use of the computer as synonymous with cognitive rehabilitation. A cognitive impairment is a consequence of a structural lesion that may be measured. Neuropsychologic testing enables us to identify that specific impairment that is a consequence of the structural deficit. Brain injury results in impaired function of localized higher-order sensory and motor function corresponding to these well-defined anatomic structures, but it also results in a variety of functions that are not clearly localized, such as the abilities to abstract and to reason. The first step in the process of rehabilitation is to identify the specific deficits. Cognitive retraining is a systematic attempt
Intentional systems representations are useful alternatives to physical systems representations of fire-related human behavior

Abstract Fire safety engineering analyses have been mostly confined to describing how the physical environment causes the events, including human behavior, that comprise a fire incident. Despite the use of cognitive and information processing constructs to explain behaviors, the person remains a “black box” that generates behavioral responses when exposed to physical stimuli in the environment. These “physical systems representations” are well-suited to the prediction of some human behaviors, for example, travel times constrained by physical crowding. However, physical systems representations are ill-suited to the task of modeling cognitively-derived human behaviors, because the mediating effects of peoples' intentions result in behavioral responses that are poorly correlated with objective measures of environmental stimuli. Examples of such behavior are delays in initiating evacuations when people are exposed to alarm signals and other ambiguous signs of fire. Because research based on physical systems representations neglects to investigate how individuals use information in their pursuit of goals, the resulting models are often complicated, lack parsimony, and do not generalize well to new settings. This paper discusses how “intentional systems representations” can describe the cognitively derived responses of people in a more parsimonious manner, and can be used to design fire safety systems that capitalize on the adaptive abilities of people. (A fire safety system is viewed as being comprised of all relevant components, including people, that play significant roles in the defense against a fire threat.) In an intentional systems representation, events are driven by the goals that people pursue. Using the framework of physical versus intentional systems representations, various models of fire-related human behavior are reviewed and evaluated. Also discussed is recent research by Groner and Williamson (1998, Scenario-based goal decomposition: a method for implementing performance-based fire safety analysis. In: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Fire Research and Engineering, 200–211) to develop an approach, called “Scenario-Based Goal Decomposition,” whereby the performance of fire safety systems is analyzed by integrating physical and intentional views into a general systems approach. A pilot study is discussed that used this approach to describe and evaluate the predicted response of a fire safety system to a representative high-challenge fire scenario at a university library. It is also argued that systems approaches that integrate physical and intentional systems representations axe the only way to fully realize the potential of performance-based codes.
Hypo‐phosphorylation leads to nuclear retention of NF‐κB p65 due to impaired IκBα gene synthesis

Subcellular localization guided by IκBα is crucial for regulation of nuclear factor-κB function. Here, we show that p65 Rel homology domain phosphorylation mutants are transported into the nucleus after IκBα degradation, but as a consequence of lower IκBα levels their relocation to the cytosol is blocked. We demonstrate that phosphorylation of residues S205, S276, and S281 of p65 is not required for interaction between p65 and IκBα, but is pivotal for regulating cellular IκBα levels by positively affecting gene synthesis. Our findings indicate that reduction of phosphorylation leads to nuclear retention of p65, which might be partly responsible for altered transcriptional behavior of p65 serine mutants.
Computational procedures for non‐linear three‐dimensional analysis with some advanced constitutive laws

Computational procedures for implementing some constitutive models are described and introduced in three-, and two-dimensional finite element procedures; here variable moduli, Drucker–Prager, critical state and cap models are considered. Consistent numerical schemes are presented with applications to a number of example problems. These procedures can provide successful results with advanced constitutive laws for three-dimensional analysis of a wide range of non-linear problems.
Effect of cold on muscle potentials and electrolytes

Abstract External cooling in vivo produces multiple changes in human and rat muscle membrane potentials and electrolytes. The first change noted is the appearance of increasing numbers of spontaneous potentials and repetitive action potentials after a single stimulus as the rat muscle is cooled to 32° C or less. Extracellular action potentials in humans and both intracellular and extracellular action potentials in rats become progressively more prolonged as the muscle cools below 26° C. In the animals this is accompanied by an increase in muscle Na (and Cl) and decrease in muscle K. Further cooling to below 23° C produces a drop in resting membrane potential as well as progressive increase in duration of the action potential. The previous increase in muscle Na is unaffected but muscle K decreases progressively and muscle water increases without change in muscle inulin space. Muscle Mg and Ca were not significantly different from control values. As cooling progresses in both rats and humans there is at first a slight increase in amplitude of the action potential and then a marked and significant diminution in amplitude. Cooling increases the threshold for stimulation and the delay between stimulus and onset of action potential. At temperatures below 8° C no visible contraction could be seen and the membrane became unresponsive to stimuli of greater than 100 v. The repetitive action potentials noted with minimal cooling diminished rapidly in amplitude. Repetitive action potentials became undemonstrable before the single stimulated action potential did. The possible interrelation of electrolyte changes, muscle membrane potentials and muscle contraction is considered.