cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intracardiac pressures in the human fetus

OBJECTIVE—To obtain normal values for intracardiac pressures in the human fetus. DESIGN—Intracardiac pressures were measured directly in the four chambers of the human fetal heart during clinically indicated invasive obstetric procedures. SETTING—Department of fetal medicine in a tertiary referral centre. PATIENTS—39 fetuses between 16 and 29 weeks of gestation. RESULTS—The ventricular waveforms obtained were similar to those found in postnatal life. There was an increase in ventricular systolic and end diastolic pressures with advancing gestation. There was no difference between left and right ventricular pressures. Atrial pressures were equal and remained constant in the gestational age range studied. CONCLUSIONS—Fetal cardiovascular pressure measurements in the normal fetus assist in understanding the fetal circulation, and provide a basis for the assessment of cases of congenital heart disease that may be amenable to intrauterine treatment. Keywords: fetus; ventricular pressure; congenital heart disease
Automatic quantification of pupil dilation under stress

Response of the autonomic nervous system can be assessed by quantifying the dilation of the pupil of a human placed in darkness. When the intensity of the surrounding light is low, human's pupil dilates to capture a maximum number of photons. This type of dilation is known as dark adaptation. The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that dark adaptation is slowed proportional to the amount of stress that an individual has experienced. We have developed a new tool for automatic quantification of pupil dilation. Our system uses statistics of the color of the pupil and the iris as well as model-to-image registration and region growing segmentation techniques. Our system has been tested on several images and shows high correlation with hand segmentation.
Frequency-domain interferometer for measurement of the polarization mode dispersion in single-mode optical fibers

A new technique based on frequency-domain interferometry has been used to measure the polarization mode dispersion of a birefringent optical fiber. This technique is based on the spectral interference of two, temporally delayed, broadband ultrashort pulses in the frequency domain. Two different configurations are discussed.
Halftone postprocessing for improved rendition of highlights and shadows

Many binary halftoning algorithms tend to render ex- treme tones (i.e., very light or very dark tones) with objectionable dot distributions. To alleviate this artifact, we introduce a halftone post- processing algorithm called the Springs algorithm. The objective of Springs is to rearrange minority pixels in affected regions for a smoother, more attractive rendition. In this paper, we describe the Springs algorithm, and we show results which demonstrate its effec- tiveness. The heart of this algorithm is a simple dot-rearrangement heuristic which results in a more isotropic dot distribution. The ap- proach is to treat any well-isolated dot as if it were connected to neighboring dots by springs, and to move it to a location where the energy in the springs is a minimum. Applied to the whole image, this could degrade halftone appearance. However, Springs only moves dots in selected regions of the image. Pixels that are not minority pixels are not moved at all. Moreover, dot rearrangement is disabled on and around detected edges, since it could otherwise render those edges soft and diffuse. © 2000 SPIE and IS&T.
Turbidimetric Behavior of Casein Fractions after Treatment with Rennet

Abstract Pure κ-casein solutions in concentrations of less than 0.1% produce measurable turbidities in acetate buffer in the presence of dilute rennet solutions at pH 5.8 and 30C. In mixtures of α s - and κ-casein containing less than 20% κ- the increase in turbidity after 5min is proportional to the percentage κ-casein in the mixture. Calcium is needed in the reaction mixture (.008M) to bring about the turbidity increases. The turbidity of pure α s -casein is not affected by addition of rennet. Variable increases in turbidity after rennet action on purified β -casein fraction point to the difficulty of separation of κ-casein from β -casein. Isolated whole casein reacts more slowly with rennet than does purifled κ -casein.
Intrinsic gating properties of a cloned G protein-activated inward rectifier K+ channel.

The voltage-, time-, and K^+-dependent properties of a G protein-activated inwardly rectifying K^+ channel (GIRK1/KGA/Kir3.1) cloned from rat atrium were studied in Xenopus oocytes under two-electrode voltage clamp. During maintained G protein activation and in the presence of high external K^+ (V_K = 0 mV), voltage jumps from V_K to negative membrane potentials activated inward GIRK1 K^+ currents with three distinct time-resolved current components. GIRK1 current activation consisted of an instantaneous component that was followed by two components with time constants T_f~50 ms and T_s~400 ms. These activation time constants were weakly voltage dependent, increasing approximately twofold with maximal hyperpolarization from V_K. Voltage-dependent GIRK1 availability, revealed by tail currents at -80 mV after long prepulses, was greatest at potentials negative to V_K and declined to a plateau of approximately half the maximal level at positive voltages. Voltage-dependent GIRK1 availability shifted with V_K and was half maximal at V_K -20 mV; the equivalent gating charge was ~1.6 e^-. The voltage-dependent gating parameters of GIRK1 did not significantly differ for G protein activation by three heterologously expressed signaling pathways: m2 muscarinic receptors, serotonin 1A receptors, or G protein β1y2 subunits. Voltage dependence was also unaffected by agonist concentration. These results indicate that the voltage-dependent gating properties of GIRK1 are not due to extrinsic factors such as agonist-receptor interactions and G protein-channel coupling, but instead are analogous to the intrinsic gating behaviors of other inwardly rectifying K^+ channels.
Crown-ether functionalised second coordination sphere palladium catalysts by molecular imprinting

Functionalisation of the second coordination sphere of a molecularly imprinted Pd complex was achieved by localising within the polymeric cavity a crown-ether receptor capable of altering the catalytic activity of the reactive site.
On the fusion of possibilistic and probabilistic information in biometric decision-making

(Svetlana Yanushkevich Special Session) Information used in decision-making in biometric systems can come from both sensors and human observers. The sensor provided information generally has a probabilistic type of uncertainty whereas human provided linguistic information typically introduces a possibilistic type of uncertainty. Here we are faced with a problem in which we must fuse information with different types of uncertainty. We provide a unified framework for the representation of these different types of information using a set measure approach for the representation of uncertain information.
Interfacial Chemistry in Self-Assembled Nanoscale Materials with Structural Ordering

This paper discusses the interfacial chemistry encountered in the self-assembly of ordered nanoscale materials based on surfactant liquid crystalline structures. The paper contains three sections. The first section gives a brief introduction to the interfacial chemistry in the co-assembly of surfactants and inorganic materials. The second section discusses the formation of inorganic-inorganic nanocomposites, the properties of such materials, and the interfacial atomic structures. The last section discusses hybrid nanoscale materials with functional monolayers, their interfacial chemistry, and their potential applications.
Effects of Interpersonal Problems at Workplace on Job Involvement

Job involvement plays an important role to create positive job attitude which indicates strong psychological bonding of an employee to his or her job. On the other hand interpersonal problems at workplace make job conflict, increase job stress which is threatening to create positive job attitudes. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between interpersonal problems and job involvement, to explore how different types of interpersonal problems effect on job involvement and to examine the problem areas of interpersonal relationship in workplace that can create negative impact on job involvement. The measuring instruments used in this study were: Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-64) (Alden, Wiggins, Pincus & Horowitz, 2000) for measuring different types of interpersonal problems. And Work Involvement Scale ( Kanungo, 1982) for measuring job involvement. According to the objective of the present study the obtain data were analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation and simple regression. The survey results revealed that interpersonal problem is negatively correlated to job involvement. The study also found that the people who are mostly face problems in cold / distant, overly accommodating and intrusive/needy domains in case of interpersonal relationship; they are more at risk to be less involved with job. JEL Classification Code: M12 Â Handle:Â http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11903/gdeb.v1n1.3
Laparoscopic Subxiphoid Hernia Repair with Intracorporeal Suturing of Mesh to the Diaphragm as a Means to Decrease Recurrence.

Abstract Background: Subxiphoid hernias are a rare complication of median sternotomy with an incidence of 1%–4.2%. Repair of subxiphoid hernias is technically demanding with recurrence rates of 42% and 30% following open and laparoscopic repairs, respectively. We present a novel approach to the laparoscopic repair of subxiphoid hernias with improved overlap and fixation. Materials and Methods: A novel technique for repairing subxiphoid hernias is described. The falciform ligament is dissected superiorly toward the diaphragm to allow proper subfascial positioning of the mesh with adequate overlap. Multiple nonabsorbable intracorporeal sutures are used to anchor the mesh to the diaphragm above the costal margins. Transfascial nonabsorbable sutures and tacks are used to fix the mesh to the anterior abdominal wall below the costal margin. Results: We have used this method in 4 patients with a mean age of 60.5 years and a female to male ratio of 4:0. The average hernia defect size was 20.5 cm2, and the average...
The Application of CPS-SPWM Technology in the Cascaded STATCOM

The current production of large capacity STATCOM has a multi-level chain structure.In the high-power converter occasions,the high-power and high voltage power electronic devices are expected to work in the high switching frequencies which can improve the quality of the output waveform.But the high-power switching devices per-mit lower switching frequency.It is difficult to apply the conventional PWM technology to these large capacity con-verters.CPS-SPWM technique is an excellent modulation strategy which can be available to high-power electrical switching converter.It can achieve a high equivalent switching frequency in low device switching frequency and the harmonics of output waveform are little.
Construing the National Labor Relations Act: The NLRB and Methods of Statutory Construction

In this “age of legislation,” theories of how judges should construe statutes have received considerable attention. This focus on judges, however, fails to appreciate that most of the government's statutory construction is by administrative agencies. And because courts are expected to defer to agency constructions of statutes, agencies often have the final say on what a statute means. This Article addresses statutory construction by the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”), the agency that administers the National Labor Relations Act. This Article discusses administrative agencies and statutory construction and demonstrates that administrative agencies should not use any of the theories of statutory construction currently advocated by jurists, other than to determine if Congress's intent on the interpretive question is clear and, if not, to identify permissible constructions of the statute. After identifying the permissible constructions of the statute, an agency, instead of using any of the theories of statutory construction currently advocated by jurists, should eschew interpretive tools, such as examining statutory text and congressional intent (except when necessary to determine the statute's general purpose), and should select the interpretation it believes best promotes the statute's purpose. However, because no statutory purpose should be pursued at any cost (and thus relevant policies and principles external to the statute must be identified), and because a statute will often have competing purposes (the relative importance of which were not clearly specified by Congress), an administrative agency must assign weight to those purposes, policies, and principles. This in turn means an agency in many cases should, and will, select the construction it believes is best for society. This model of statutory construction gives an administrative agency more discretion than any of the theories of statutory construction currently advocated by jurists, and essentially gives the agency lawmaking power when construing a statute. Drawing on this model of administrative agency statutory construction, this Article addresses how the NLRB should approach statutory construction.
First principles calculations of beryllium stability in zirconium surfaces

Abstract High-temperature oxidation of zircaloys poses a serious safety risk for nuclear fuel cladding applications, thus driving the search for oxidation resistant alloys. Ellingham diagrams suggest preferential oxidation of beryllium over zirconium, but the atomic-scale behavior of Be near Zr surfaces is unknown. We perform first principle calculations using density functional theory to investigate the stability of Be at possible sites in the Zr surfaces and bulk. Our calculations predict that Be favors substitutional sites and prefers to segregate to the surface layers. Charge density analysis shows charge redistribution around the solute atom in substitutional sites which leads to increased bonding and explains the high stability of these sites. The calculated surface segregation energy suggests that Be migrates towards the surface at high temperatures, which could enhance oxidation resistance.
Comparison of the Nanopulse Lithotripter to the Holmium Laser: Stone Fragmentation Efficiency and Impact on Flexible Ureteroscope Deflection and Flow.

Abstract Introduction: The Nanopulse Lithotripter (NPL; Lithotech Medical, Israel) is a novel intracorporeal device that uses a nanosecond duration electrical discharge through a reusable flexible coaxial probe to endoscopically fragment urinary stones. This device was compared with a holmium laser lithotripsy (HoL) with regard to stone fragmentation efficiency (SFE) and its impact on flexible ureteroscope (URS) deflection and flow of irrigation. Methods: Using a custom bench model, a 6 mm BegoStone cylindrical phantom (mixture 5:2) was confined under 0.9% saline atop sequential mesh sieves. The SFE of two NPL probe sizes (2.0F, 3.6F) and two HoL fibers (200, 365 μm) was evaluated using concordant settings of 1 J and 5 Hz. URS deflection and irrigation flow with NPL probes in the working channel were tested in five new fourth generation flexible URS and compared with other adjunct endourologic instruments. Results: The 2.0F NPL showed improved SFE compared with the 200 μm laser (86 mg/min vs 52 mg/min, p ...
INTERNALISASI PENINGKATAN KECERDASAN LINGUISTIK VERBAL MELALUI MUATAN KURIKULUM PEMBELAJARAN BAHASA INGGRIS PAUD

Ragam metode mengajar bagi PAUD memberi alternatif sekaligus kebimbangan bagi guru-guru PAUD untuk memilih metode yang paling sesuai dengan tema pembelajaran dalam satu pekan. Pembelajaran tematik dalam muatan kurikulum PAUD terdiri atas beberapa aspek perkembangan, diantaranya Kemampuan dasar (kemampuan bahasa , kognitif, dan fisik). Satu dari pengenalan bahasa asing yang terdapat dalam kurikulum PAUD berkonsep 4 bahasa ini adalah: bahasa internasional ( Bahasa Inggris ). Pada metodologi penelitian, jenis penelitian yang digunakan adalah penelitian lapangan dengan pendekatan deskriptif kualitatif. Sumber data primer berasal dari kepala PAUD, sie kurikulum sekaligus wali kelas, dan wali peserta didik. Sedangkan sumber data sekunder pendukung adalah referensi. Sumber sekundernya yakni buku-buku yang relevan dengan motivasi dosen Bahasa Inggris khususnya dalam meningkatkan perkembangan bahasa anak usia dini. Data diperoleh melalui teknik observasi, wawancara, dan dokumentasi. Hasil dan pembahasan penelitian motivasi ini berupa: (1) Muatan kurikulum di PAUD Naneymi berlandaskan pembelajaran multi bahasa dengan pembelajaran Beyond Center and Circle Time (BBCT) 4 bahasa: bahasa ibu (Bahasa Jawa), bahasa nasional (Bahasa Indonesia), bahasa al-Qur’an (Bahasa Arab), dan bahasa internasional ( Bahasa Inggris ), (2) Internalisasi kecerdasan linguistik verbal dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris pada muatan kurikulum di PAUD Naneymi Dersalam Kudus Tahun Pelajaran 2014/2015 terjadi dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris yang termuat dalam tema-tema pada English Day , dan (3) Faktor pendukungnya: media berupa alat permainan edukatif yang tepat, kreativitas pendidik, pemilihan metode pengajaran yang tepat. Sedangkan faktor penghambatnya adalah latar belakang keilmuan pendidik yang non PAUD dan pendidik masih memberikan pekerjaan rumah. Solusinya: Pendidik sering mengikuti pelatihan-pelatihan PAUD, melanjutkan ke jurusan PGPAUD atau PGRA di jurusan pendidikan/ tarbiyah, mematuhi aturan dari diknas untuk tidak memberi pekerjaan rumah pada peserta didik, bekerjasama dengan pihak pendidikan dasar untuk tidak memberikan materi baca, tulis, berhitung dalam porsi berlebihan namun pengenalan saja, serta bekerja sama dan berkoordinasi dengan wali peserta didik dengan pendampingan konsultan melalui acara parenting.
A Phylogenomic Solution to the Origin of Insects by Resolving Crustacean-Hexapod Relationships

Summary Insects, the most diverse group of organisms, are nested within crustaceans, arguably the most abundant group of marine animals. However, to date, no consensus has been reached as to which crustacean taxon is the closest relative of hexapods. A majority of studies have proposed that Branchiopoda (e.g., fairy shrimps) is the sister group of Hexapoda [1–7]. However, these investigations largely excluded two equally important taxa, Remipedia and Cephalocarida. Other studies suggested Remipedia [8–11] or Remipedia + Cephalocarida [12, 13] as potential sister groups of hexapods, but they either did not include Cephalocarida or used only Sanger sequence data and morphology [9, 12]. Here we present the first phylogenomic study specifically addressing the origins of hexapods, including transcriptomes for two species each of Cephalocarida and Remipedia. Phylogenetic analyses of selected matrices, ranging from 81 to 1,675 orthogroups and up to 510,982 amino acid positions, clearly reject a sister-group relationship between Hexapoda and Branchiopoda [1–7]. Nonetheless, support for a hexapod sister-group relationship to Remipedia or to Cephalocarida-Remipedia was highly dependent on the employed analytical methodology. Further analyses assessing the effects of gene evolutionary rate and targeted taxon exclusion support Remipedia as the sole sister taxon of Hexapoda and suggest that the prior grouping of Remipedia + Cephalocarida is an artifact, possibly due to long branch attraction and compositional heterogeneity. We further conclude that terrestrialization of Hexapoda probably occurred in the late Cambrian to early Ordovician, an estimate that is independent of their proposed sister group [4, 8, 12, 14].
Iterative Extremum Seeking for feedforward compensation of beam loading in particle accelerator RF cavities

Particle accelerators utilize radio frequency (RF) resonant electromagnetic cavities to establish very large (mega-volt per meter) field gradients with which to accelerate particles (typically protons or electrons). The particles gain energy by draining it from the RF fields, thereby disturbing the steady state oscillations of the RF cavities. An RF feedback control system is required in order to both quickly bring cavity fields up to their required steady state set points, and also to maintain them at those set points despite disturbances such as the beam itself. If the RF field amplitude or phase moves too far from set points then subsequent particles will not be properly accelerated. The gains of RF feedback systems are bounded by large delays (several μs) and the effectiveness of model-based feed forward signals is limited by model accuracy. Therefore, the arrival of a beam creates a sudden impact on the RF fields which cannot be adequately compensated by simple PID-type controllers or model-based methods alone, resulting in lengthy transients of the RF system's amplitude and phase. In this work we demonstrate the use of an iterative Extremum Seeking method for automatic control of RF fields to compensate for beam loading, which is being designed to handle the exotic beam loading conditions that we expect to have in the MaRIE free electron laser (FEL) [24].
Temperate-Water Immersion as a Treatment for Hyperthermic Humans Wearing American Football Uniforms

Context: Cold-water immersion (CWI; 10°C) can effectively reduce body core temperature even if a hyperthermic human is wearing a full American football uniform (PADS) during treatment. Temperate-water immersion (TWI; 21°C) may be an effective alternative to CWI if resources for the latter (eg, ice) are unavailable. Objective: To measure rectal temperature (Trec) cooling rates, thermal sensation, and Environmental Symptoms Questionnaire (ESQ) scores of participants wearing PADS or shorts, undergarments, and socks (NOpads) before, during, and after TWI. Design: Crossover study. Setting: Laboratory. Patients or Other Participants: Thirteen physically active, unacclimatized men (age = 22 ± 2 years, height = 182.3 ± 5.2 cm, mass = 82.5 ± 13.4 kg, body fat = 10% ± 4%, body surface area = 2.04 ± 0.16 m2). Intervention(s): Participants exercised in the heat (40°C, 50% relative humidity) on 2 days while wearing PADS until Trec reached 39.5°C. Participants then underwent TWI while wearing either NOpads or PAD...
Krankheiten der Fische, Amphibien und Reptilien

Bei Fischen, Amphibien und Reptilien gleicht sich die Korpertemperatur — anders als bei Vogeln und Saugetieren — der Temperatur ihrer Umwelt an. Die Abhangigkeit der Kaltbluter von ihrer Umwelttemperatur beeinflust ihre Reaktion auf Verletzungen und setzt ihre Widerstandsfahigkeit gegen Temperaturveranderungen herab. Zu hohe Temperaturen wirken todlich, und bei niedrigen Temperaturen werden die Tiere dormitiv oder sterben.
Factors Associated with Emergency Department Utilization and Admission in Patients with Colorectal Cancer.

We assessed emergency department (ED) utilization in patients with colorectal cancer to identify factors associated with ED visits and subsequent admission, as well as identify a high-risk subset of patients that could be targeted to reduce ED visits. Data from Optum Labs Data Warehouse, a national administrative claims database, was retrospectively analyzed to identify patients with colorectal cancer from 2008 to 2014. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with ED visits and ED “super-users” (3+ visits). Repeated measures analysis was used to model ED visits resulting in hospitalization as a logistic regression based on treatments 30 days prior to ED visit. Of 13,466 patients with colorectal cancer, 7440 (55.2%) had at least one ED visit within 12 months of diagnosis. Factors associated with having an ED visit included non-white race, advancing age, increased comorbidities, and receipt of chemotherapy or radiation. 69.2% of patients who visited the ED were admitted to the hospital. A group of 1834 “super-users” comprised 13.6% of our population yet accounted for 52.1% of the total number of ED visits and 32.3% of admissions. Over half of privately insured patients undergoing treatment for colorectal cancer will visit the ED within 12 months of diagnosis. Within this group, we identify common factors for a high-risk subset of patients with three or more ED visits who account for over half of all ED visits and a third of all admissions. These patients could potentially be targeted with alternative management strategies in the outpatient setting.
ECG telemetry and ambulatory ECG: role in cardiac rehabilitation

ECG telemetric monitoring and ambulatory ECG recording enable the assessment of disturbances of cardiac rhythm and/or abnormalities associated with the occurrence of myocardial ischemia that may occur during cardiac rehabilitative physical activity and/or during occupational or recreational activities. The challenge to the clinician is the selection of patients who are likely to benefit from these testing and surveillance modalities, in view of their cost and the requirement for trained personnel.
Review of cometary spectra

The spectra of comet Kohoutek, comet Bradfield, and comet Mrkos are reviewed and compared in relation to stellar spectroscopy and evolution. The possibility of observing the absorption spectrum of a comet and direct measurement of Doppler shifts due to expansion or streaming motions in comets are considered along with the spectra of giant comets, such as, comet Minkowski, comet Baade, and comet Lovas. A speculative explanation for possible intrinsic abundance differences between comets is given.
Visceral Artery Aneurysms: Diagnosis, Surveillance, and Treatment

Visceral artery aneurysms (VAAs) are a rare, but serious clinical entity as rupture confers a high rate of mortality. Data regarding the prevalence, treatment, and prognosis of VAAs is largely from case series, as true randomized trials are lacking. The incidence of VAAs has risen over the decades with advances in imaging technology, availability, and utilization. Even in the presence of symptoms, the prompt diagnosis of VAAs may be challenging as symptoms are often nonspecific and varied. Although there are no definitive treatment guidelines, asymptomatic VAAs require treatment in the following scenarios: when the aneurysm diameter is greater than 2 cm, when identified during pregnancy, when multiple aneurysms are present, and in the case of hepatic transplant. Similar to therapeutic trends in other vascular beds, advances in endovascular devices and techniques have driven an “endovascular first” approach for the treatment of VAAs. However, although the success rates of endovascular repair are impressive, surgical intervention is still necessary in treating centers. This paper reviews the pathophysiology, clinical features, anatomic characteristics, and management strategies required for the effective diagnosis and treatment of VAAs.
Anna Pessah: Lean Thinking at Summit Funding (a)

This case was a runner-up in the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) 2017 case competition.Anna Pessah, process engineer at Summit Funding (Summit), a mortgage-loan-processing company, is reflecting back on her year at the company. Pessah had been hired to improve operations at the firm—to make the core operations cheaper, faster, and of a higher quality. She had addressed two key operations: loan closings and verifications of employment (VOE). Her next tasks involved improvements at the 28 branches and reaction to a corporate-wide improvement program entitled “Project Ninja.” Pessah had implemented a system called “pods,” similar to manufacturing cells, in order to address loan closings. Data is given for the student to analyze the implications of this approach and suggest alternatives. Data is also given for analyzing the VOE process and deriving an approach to the branch productivity problem. Finally, the Project Ninja memo is given, and students are asked to evaluate this initiative. Excerpt UVA-OM-1569 Rev. Mar. 2, 2018 Anna Pessah: Lean Thinking at Summit Funding (A) Early Career Anna Pessah, an industrial and operations engineer with a master's degree from the University of Michigan, had begun her career at two Fortune 200 manufacturers, working in unionized production facilities as a Lean and change-management associate. While she enjoyed and valued the people she worked with and many of her experiences in these roles, one thing that she consistently found challenging about working in large, established companies with a long history of various change-management programs were the preconceptions many of the employees had about what to expect from her services. Pessah reflected: Working in these environments helped me learn how to overcome other people's resistance to change—mostly by taking the time to make personal connections and building trust. I was able to make some improvements here and there, but ultimately the culture was not a good fit for me. That's what led me to consider leaving manufacturing. . . .
Interstate Rendition Clause (Reference Article)

Reference article on Interstate Rendition Clause of United States Constitution art. IV, sec. 2, cl. 2.
Abiotic and biotic stresses induce a core transcriptome response in rice

Environmental stresses greatly limit crop yield. With the increase in extreme weather events due to climate change and the constant pressure of diseases and pests, there is an urgent need to develop crop varieties that can tolerate multiple stresses. However, our knowledge of how plants broadly respond to stress is limited. Here, we explore the rice core stress response via meta-analysis of publicly available rice transcriptome data. Our results confirm that rice universally down-regulates photosynthesis in response to both abiotic and biotic stress. Rice also generally up-regulates hormone-responsive genes during stress response, most notably genes in the abscisic acid, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid pathways. We identified several promoter motifs that are likely involved in stress-responsive regulatory mechanisms in rice. With this work, we provide a list of candidate genes to study for improving rice stress tolerance in light of environmental stresses. This work also serves as a proof of concept to show that meta-analysis of diverse transcriptome data is a valid approach to develop robust hypotheses for how plants respond to stress.
MEMORY AND PERCEPTION: SOME NEW MODELS

This chapter presents a few models that connect memory with perception, that is, they connect the character of memory processes with the way in which the information to be stored is perceived. It discusses a pure memory model, that is, a model that does not utilize any assumptions about the structure of the stimulus, wherein the main issue lies in a reconciling two facts: (1) that the duration of memory storage is to a large extent random and (2) that the subject may control one's memory, at least to some degree. It also presents the models based on the concept of metamemory, which controls memory by means of some internal stimulation, called internal recalls. The latter result in copying the information and, hence, increasing the probability of recall by simply increasing the number of copies. The chapter presents an analysis of two models: (1) a model in which an internal recall causes an increase of one in the number of copies and (2) a model in which an internal recall causes a doubling of the number of copies.
A Deep Learning Approach to Modeling Temporal Social Networks on Reddit

As terrorists are losing against counter-terrorism efforts, they turn to manipulating cryptocurrency prices through online social communities to gain illicit profit to fund their operations. Modeling temporal online social networks (OSNs) of these communities can possibly help to provide useful intelligence about these malicious activities. However, existing techniques do not learn sufficiently from diverse features to enable prediction and simulation of online social behavior. Research on simulating temporal OSN behavior is not widely available. This research developed and validated a deep learning approach, named Temporal Network Model (TNM), to modeling the complex features and dynamic behavior exhibited in the temporal OSNs of online communities. Using extensive features extracted from fine-grained data, TNM consists of weighted time series models, user and link prediction models, and temporal dependency model that predict respectively the macroscopic behavior, microscopic user participation and events, and time stamps of the events. Evaluation was done in comparison with a benchmark approach to examine TNM’s performance on predicting and simulating behavior of 42,627 users in 440,906 events on the Reddit cryptocurrency community during July-August of 2017. Results show that TNM outperformed the benchmark in 5 out of 8 simulation metrics. TNM achieved consistently better performance in user activity prediction, and performed generally better in structural (network-level) prediction. The research provides new findings on simulating temporal OSNs and new predictive analytics for understanding online social behavior.
Apparent total tract digestibility, ruminal fermentation, and blood metabolites in beef steers fed green-chopped cool-season forages

An experiment was conducted during the winter of two consecutive years to evaluate the effects of feeding green-chopped cool-season forages on digestibility, ruminal fermentation, and blood parameters in beef steers. Nine ruminally cannulated Angus crossbred steers (year 1: 359 ± 79 kg; year 2: 481 ± 105 kg) received ad libitum green-chopped forages from pastures planted with one of the following mixtures: 1) OAT = Horizon 201 oats (Avena sativa L.)/Prine annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) at 95 and 17 kg/ha, respectively; 2) RYE = FL401 cereal rye (Secale cereale L.)/Prine annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) at 78 and 17 kg/ha, respectively; or 3) TRIT = Trical 342 triticale (X Triticosecale spp.)/Prine annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) at 95 and 17 kg/ha, respectively. Intake was measured using the GrowSafe system and orts were discarded prior to subsequent feeding. After a 14-d adaptation, feed and fecal samples were collected twice daily for 4 d to determine apparent total tract nutrient digestibility using indigestible neutral detergent fiber (NDF) as an internal marker. On day 19, blood and ruminal fluid samples were collected every 3 h during a 24-h period to analyze plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) and glucose, ruminal pH, and concentration of ruminal ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and volatile fatty acids (VFA). Data were analyzed as a generalized randomized block design with repeated measures using the PROC MIX of SAS. No effect of treatment (P > 0.05) was observed for intake of dry matter, organic matter (OM), crude protein, NDF, or acid detergent fiber. Apparent total tract digestibility of nutrients was greater (P 0.05) molar proportion of acetate, branched-chain VFA, and acetate:propionate. Increased nutrient digestibility and favorable ruminal fermentation and blood metabolites of OAT and TRIT are potentially conducive to enhanced growth performance when compared with RYE.
The contextual taphonomy of middens at Neolithic Kfar HaHoresh

Abstract Middens are rich sources of evidence for changes in refuse management strategies during the transition to agriculture in the Southern Levant of southwest Asia. By the early Neolithic, more discrete middens were present at sites in the region, including the funerary site of Kfar HaHoresh. Here, faunal remains were repeatedly deposited in middens over several sub-phases of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, when more organized site use practices arose. Yet, it is unclear how different site use behaviors may have formed the aggregated refuse repositories over time. Intra-site contextual taphonomic analysis was conducted to provide more detailed comparisons of faunal assemblages from several midden deposits across the site. The results reveal diverse depositional histories of the middens, reflecting a mix of some more sacred and other more mundane activities that were repeated over time. This continued ritual practice likely united generations of site visitors during the uneasy social transition to agricultural life-ways.
Look at the Beaver Looking

This chapter begins Part III, which opens heterodox lines of questioning about climate change and the high-energy way of life. It does so from the perspective of someone whose faith in the energy orthodoxy is waffling. The chapter begins with a vignette about a Texas gas station with a beaver mascot. It then revisits the parable of the fisherman to examine the insecurities and counter-productivities that hound the high-energy quest for security and productivity. Next, the chapter criticizes the scientism of the energy orthodoxy before concluding with a turn toward phenomenology as the way into heterodox truths that evade the orthodoxy.
Exploring the Application of Machine Learning Algorithms to the City Public Bus Transport

Supervised machine learning is a method that attempts to emulate experienced-based learning similar to how humans learn. This study leverages supervised machine learning algorithms to determine the most important factors of the on-time performance of a San Antonio’s VIA bus system using public data sets collected from the 2019 San Antonio Datathon event. A variety of algorithms are used to create models that are capable of predicting on-time performance to see if a bus route met standards on a given day. The algorithms present in the python libraries Sci Kit Learn and Stats Models. Once an algorithm has proven to be highly accurate at predicting the on-time performance, a further study was conducted into the decision-making process of each algorithm to find out which feature it determined to be most important. By knowing the most important feature of the on-time performance, the study gives insight as to what factors affect the performance of bus routes.
Surgical repair of a chronic, oronasal fistula in a horse using an alveolar bone flap

Summary An 8-year-old Andalusian stallion was presented to the Equine Hospital with a 1.5 year history of an oronasal fistula measuring approximately 2 cm long (caudal to rostral) by 1.5 cm wide following an oral extraction of the right second maxillary premolar (106). An alveolar bone flap was created adjacent to the oronasal fistula and rotated axially and ventrally to close the oral aspect of the fistula. At 3 days after surgery, clinical signs of the fistula, such as green-tinged purulent nasal discharge and malodorous breath, were no longer evident. At 10 days after surgery, the oral opening of the fistula filled with granulation tissue and mucosa and decreased in size to less than 2 ml. The horse was fed a pelleted mash and grass diet and the small fistula was flushed orally twice daily until it completely healed. At 6 months following surgery, the fistula had completely healed. Few options are available for repairing an oroantral or an oronasal fistula in horses. This case report suggests that a large, chronic oronasal fistula involving the alveolus of a maxillary second premolar can be repaired successfully with an alveolar bone flap.
Assessment of environmental controls on acid‐sulfate alteration at active volcanoes in Nicaragua: Applications to relic hydrothermal systems on Mars

[1] A variety of secondary mineralogies has been detected on Mars from both orbiters and landers, indicating widespread aqueous alteration of the crust. Many of these locales exhibit sulfates, which in some cases imply acidic fluids. At present, there are few constraints on the paleoenvironmental conditions that existed during formation of the widespread and diverse classes of secondary minerals on Mars. We investigated hydrothermal systems at three active acidic volcanic systems in Nicaragua, including Cerro Negro, Momotombo, and Telica. The recently erupted materials are similar in composition to the Martian crust and are undergoing extensive acid-sulfate alteration predominately in gas-dominated settings (fumaroles). We characterized the secondary mineralogy and local variables, including temperature, pH, rock and gas composition, and fluid-rock ratio. We find that these environmental parameters exhibit strong controls on the alteration mineralogy. The environments studied include pH that ranged from −1 to 6, temperatures from ambient to hundreds of degrees Celsius, and fumaroles to hot springs. The hottest and most acidic systems contained sulfur, silica, and minor gypsum, while moderately acidic and cooler fumaroles included abundant silica, gypsum and other hydrated sulfates, and phyllosilicates. A setting with a higher fluid-rock ratio but similar temperature and acidity was dominated by phyllosilicates and, to a lesser degree, sulfates. The characterization of aqueous alteration of basalts under a variety of environmental conditions provides a conceptual framework for interpretation of similar relic environments on Mars. Finally, while identification of phyllosilicates on Mars is generally thought to require neutral to alkaline fluids, we documented significant formation of these minerals in the acidic volcanic systems.
Improving Production System Performance on Parallel Architectures by Creating Constrained Copies of Rules

212) 280-2736 sal@cs.columbia.edu Production systems have pessimistically been hypothesized to contain only minimal amounts of parallelism [Gupta 1984]. However, techniques are being investigated to extract more parallelism from existing systems. Among these methods, it is desirable to fmd those which balance the work being performed in parallel evenly among the rules, while at the same time decrease the amount of work which must be performed sequentially in each cycle. The technique of creating constrained copies of culprit rules accomplishes both of the above goals. Production systems are plagued by occasional rules which slow down the entire execution. These rules require much more processing than others and thus cause other processors to idle while the CUlprit rules continue to match. By creating the constrained copies and distributing them to their own processors. each performs less work while others are busy, yielding increased parallelism, improved load balancing, and less work overall per cycle. Improving Production System Performance on Parallel Architectures by Creating Constrained Copies of Rules
Wnt-signaling and planar cell polarity genes regulate axon guidance along the anteroposterior axis in C. elegans.

During the development of the nervous system, neurons encounter signals that inform their outgrowth and polarization. Understanding how these signals combinatorially function to pattern the nervous system is of considerable interest to developmental neurobiologists. The Wnt ligands and their receptors have been well characterized in polarizing cells during asymmetric cell division. The planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway is also critical for cell polarization in the plane of an epithelium. The core set of PCP genes include members of the conserved Wnt-signaling pathway, such as Frizzled and Disheveled, but also the cadherin-domain protein Flamingo. In Drosophila, the Fat and Dachsous cadherins also function in PCP, but in parallel to the core PCP components. C. elegans also have two Fat-like and one Dachsous-like cadherins, at least one of which, cdh-4, contributes to neural development. In C. elegans Wnt ligands and the conserved PCP genes have been shown to regulate a number of different events, including embryonic cell polarity, vulval morphogenesis, and cell migration. As is also observed in vertebrates, the Wnt and PCP genes appear to function to primarily provide information about the anterior to posterior axis of development. Here, we review the recent work describing how mutations in the Wnt and core PCP genes affect axon guidance and synaptogenesis in C. elegans. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 74: 781–796, 2014
Introduction to Magnetism and Magnetic Materials

ELECTROMAGNETISM: MAGNETIC PHENOMENA ON THE MACROSCOPIC SCALE Magnetic Fields Magnetic Field Magnetic Induction Magnetic Field Calculations References Further Reading Exercises Magnetization and Magnetic Moment Magnetic Moment Magnetic Poles and Amperian Bound Currents Magnetization Magnetic Circuits and the Demagnetizing Field Penetration of Alternating Magnetic Fields into Materials References Further Reading Exercises Magnetic Measurements Induction Methods Force Methods Methods Depending on Changes in Material Properties Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices References Further Reading Exercises Magnetic Materials Classification of Magnetic Materials Magnetic Properties of Ferromagnets Different Types of Ferromagnetic Materials for Applications Paramagnetism and Diamagnetism References Further Reading Exercises MAGNETISM IN MATERIALS: MAGNETIC PHENOMENA ON THE MICROSCOPIC SCALE Magnetic Properties Hysteresis and Related Properties Barkhausen Effect and Related Phenomena Magnetostriction Magnetoresistance References Further Reading Exercises Magnetic Domains Development of Domain Theory Energy Considerations and Domain Patterns References Further Reading Exercises Domain Walls Properties of Domain Boundaries Domain-Wall Motion References Further Reading Exercises Domain Processes Reversible and Irreversible Domain Processes Determination of Magnetization Curves from Pinning Models Theory of Ferromagnetic Hysteresis Dynamics of Domain Magnetization Processes References Further Reading Exercises Magnetic Order and Critical Phenomena Theories of Paramagnetism and Diamagnetism Theories of Ordered Magnetism Magnetic Structure References Further Reading Exercises Electronic Magnetic Moments Classical Model of Magnetic Moments of Electrons Quantum Mechanical Model of Magnetic Moments of Electrons Magnetic Properties of Free Atoms References Further Reading Exercises Quantum Theory of Magnetism Electron-Electron Interactions Localized Electron Theory Itinerant Electron Theory References Further Reading Exercises MAGNETICS: TECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS Soft Magnetic Materials Properties and Applications of Soft Magnets Materials for AC Applications Materials for DC Applications Materials for Magnetic Shielding References Further Reading Materials Conferences Hard Magnetic Materials Properties and Applications of Hard Magnets Permanent Magnet Materials References Further Reading Materials Conferences Magnetic Recording History of Magnetic Recording Magnetic Recording Media Recording Heads and the Recording Process Modeling the Magnetic Recording Process References Further Reading Magnetic Evaluation of Materials Methods for Evaluation of Materials Properties Methods for Detection of Flaws and Other Inhomogeneities Magnetic Imaging Methods Sensitivity to Microstructure and Material Treatment References Further Reading Solutions to Exercises