cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Endurance and sprint training affect immune function differently in green anole lizards ( Anolis carolinensis ).

Limited resources must be partitioned among traits that enhance fitness. Although survival-related traits often trade off with reproduction, survival-related traits themselves may trade off with each other under energy limitations. Whole-organism performance and the immune system both enhance survival, yet are costly, but it is unclear how the two might trade off with each other under energy-limited conditions. Resources can be allocated to very different types of performance (e.g. aerobic endurance versus anaerobic sprinting), just as they can be allocated to different components of the immune system (e.g. innate versus acquired) to maximize survival. We forced allocation to different performance traits in green anole lizards (Anolis carolinensis) using specialized exercise training, to determine how different components of the immune system would be impacted by shifts in energy use. We measured immunocompetence in endurance-trained, sprint-trained and untrained control lizards by evaluating swelling response to phytohemagglutinin (cell-mediated immunity), antibody response to sheep red blood cells (acquired humoral immunity) and wound healing (integrated immunity). Endurance-trained lizards had reduced cell-mediated immunity, whereas sprint-trained lizards had reduced rates of wound healing. The acquired immune response was not affected by either type of training. Because each immune measure responded differently to the different types of training, our results do not support the hypothesis that simple energy limitation determines overall investment in immunity. Instead, different components of the immune system appear to be affected in ways specific to how energy is invested in performance.
CRIPTO antagonist ALK4L75A-Fc inhibits breast cancer cell plasticity and adaptation to stress.

CRIPTO is a multi-functional signaling protein that promotes stemness and oncogenesis. We previously developed a CRIPTO antagonist, ALK4L75A-Fc, and showed that it causes loss of the stem cell phenotype in normal mammary epithelia suggesting it may similarly inhibit CRIPTO-dependent plasticity in breast cancer cells. We focused on two triple negative breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468) to measure the effects of ALK4L75A-Fc on cancer cell behavior under nutrient deprivation and endoplasmic reticulum stress. We characterized the proliferation and migration of these cells in vitro using time-lapse microscopy and characterized stress-dependent changes in the levels and distribution of CRIPTO signaling mediators and cancer stem cell markers. We also assessed the effects of ALK4L75A-Fc on proliferation, EMT, and stem cell markers in vivo as well as on tumor growth and metastasis using inducible lentiviral delivery or systemic administration of purified ALK4L75A-Fc, which represents a candidate therapeutic approach. ALK4L75A-Fc inhibited adaptive responses of breast cancer cells under conditions of nutrient and ER stress and reduced their proliferation, migration, clonogenicity, and expression of EMT and cancer stem cell markers. ALK4L75A-Fc also inhibited proliferation of human breast cancer cells in stressed tumor microenvironments in xenografts and reduced both primary tumor size and metastatic burden. Cancer cell adaptation to stresses such as nutrient deprivation, hypoxia, and chemotherapy can critically contribute to dormancy, metastasis, therapy resistance, and recurrence. Identifying mechanisms that govern cellular adaptation, plasticity, and the emergence of stem-like cancer cells may be key to effective anticancer therapies. Results presented here indicate that targeting CRIPTO with ALK4L75A-Fc may have potential as such a therapy since it inhibits breast cancer cell adaptation to microenvironmental challenges and associated stem-like and EMT phenotypes.
High-throughput multicast routing metrics in wireless mesh networks

The stationary nature of nodes in a mesh network has shifted the main design goal of routing protocols from maintaining connectivity between source and destination nodes to finding high-throughput paths between them. Numerous link-quality-based routing metrics have been proposed for choosing high-throughput routing paths in recent years. In this paper, we study routing metrics for high-throughput tree or mesh construction in multicast protocols. We show that there is a fundamental difference between unicast and multicast routing in how data packets are transmitted at the link layer, and accordingly how the routing metrics for unicast routing should be adapted for high-throughput multicast routing. We propose a low-overhead adaptive online algorithm to incorporate link-quality metrics to a representative multicast routing protocol. We then study the performance improvement achieved by using different link-quality-based routing metrics via extensive simulation and experiments on a mesh-network testbed, using ODMRP as a representative multicast protocol. Our extensive simulation studies show that: (1) ODMRP equipped with any of the link-quality-based routing metrics can achieve higher throughput than the original ODMRP. In particular, under a tree topology, on average, ODMRP enhanced with link-quality routing metrics achieve up to 34% higher throughput than the original ODMRP under low multicast sending rate; (2) the improvement reduces to 21% under high multicast sending rate due to higher interference experienced by the data packets from the probe packets; (3) heavily penalizing lossy links is an effective way in the link-quality metric design to avoid low-throughput paths; and (4) the path redundancy from a mesh data dissemination topology in mesh-based multicast protocols provides another degree of robustness to link characteristics and reduces the additional throughput gain achieved by using link-quality-based routing metrics. Finally, our experiments on an eight-node testbed show that on average, ODMRP using SPP and PP achieves 14% and 17% higher throughput over ODMRP, respectively, validating the simulation results.
Ultrastaging Using Ex Vivo Sentinel Lymph Node Mapping and One-Step Nucleic Acid Amplification (OSNA) in Gastric Cancer: Experiences of a European Center.

Background: In this study, the effectiveness of One-step nucleic acid amplification (OSNA) in combination with ex vivo SLN mapping is compared with conventional histology including immunohistochemistry. Methods: LNs were retrieved from gastrectomy specimens in an unfixed state. After ex vivo SLN mapping using methylene-blue, LNs were sliced to provide samples for histology and OSNA. Results: In total, 334 LNs were retrieved in the fresh state from 41 patients. SLN detection was intended in 40 cases but was successful in only 29, with a correct LN status prediction in 23 cases (79%). Excluding one case out of 41 with a failure likely caused by a processing error, OSNA showed a high effectiveness with sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy rates of 85.4%, 93.5%, and 92.4%, respectively. The LN status could be predicted in all but one case, in which the single positive LN was not eligible for OSNA testing. Moreover, OSNA evaluation led to upstaging from N0 to N+ in three cases (14%). Conclusion: The ex vivo SLN protocol used resulted in a relatively poor detection rate. However, the OSNA method was not hampered by this detection rate and proved its potential to increase the sensitivity of metastases detection.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Transportation in Austin, Texas

COVID-19 and resulting lockdowns have had a tremendous impact on our daily activities, and subsequently, the traffic on the roads. In this project, we analyze the effect that COVID-19 has had on driving behavior in Austin with respect to vehicle speed and traffic crashes. Data on were collected from the City of Austin open data portal. It was found that the crash count was significantly lower in 2020 in comparison to 2019. Even though there was significant drop in number of crashes, the death count increased close to 14% since 2019. Meanwhile, the average speed in Austin had increased during the pandemic and was higher in 2020 than in 2019. The largest increases in speed occurred during the morning from 7 to 9 a.m. and evening from 4 to 6 p.m. These changes in crash count and speed were observed to be the strongest with the onset of the lockdown and wane as the pandemic progressed. © 2021 International Conference on Transportation and Development 2021: Transportation Operations, Technologies, and Safety - Selected Papers from the International Conference on Transportation and Development 2021. All rights reserved.
Definitions of angular momentum and super angular momentum in asymptotically flat spacetimes: Properties and applications to compact-binary mergers

The symmetries of asymptotically flat spacetimes in general relativity are given by the Bondi-Metzner-Sachs (BMS) group, though there are proposed generalizations of its symmetry algebra. Associated with each symmetry is a charge and a flux, and the values of these charges and their changes can characterize a spacetime. The charges of the BMS group are relativistic angular momentum and supermomentum (which includes four-momentum); the extensions of the BMS algebra also include generalizations of angular momentum called ``super angular momentum.'' Several different formalisms have been used to define angular momentum, and they produce nonequivalent expressions for the charge. It was shown recently that these definitions can be summarized in a two-parameter family of angular momenta, which we investigate in this paper. We find that requiring that the angular momentum vanishes in flat spacetime restricts the two parameters to be equal. If we do not require that the angular momentum agrees with a common Hamiltonian definition, then we are left with a one-parameter family of angular momenta that includes the definitions from the several different formalisms. We then also propose a similar two-parameter family of super angular momentum. We examine the effect of the free parameters on the values of the angular momentum and super angular momentum from nonprecessing binary-black-hole mergers. The definitions of angular momentum differ at a high post-Newtonian order for these systems, but only when the system is radiating gravitational waves (not before and after). The different super-angular-momentum definitions occur at lower orders, and there is a difference in the change of super angular momentum even after the gravitational waves pass, which arises because of the gravitational-wave memory effect. We estimate the size of these effects using numerical-relativity surrogate waveforms and find they are small but resolvable.
Gastrinoma

Gastrinoma treatment has evolved considerably in the last 20 years. In particular, the advent of effective acid-reducing pharmacologic agents has changed the primary morbidity of this disease entity from one of acid hypersecretion to one of tumor growth and spread. Thus, while symptoms can be temporized using histamine receptor antagonists, proton pump inhibitors, or somatostatin analogs, cure can be effected only by surgical means. Recent advances in operative techniques and pre- and intra-operative imaging studies, including routine duodenotomy, somatostatin-receptor scintigraphy, and intraoperative ultrasound, have allowed for identification and subsequent resection of more than 95% of gastrinoma tumors. Most experts agree that all sporadic cases of localized gastrinoma should be excised. In addition, debulking of metastatic tumor may improve symptoms and survival when cure cannot be ascertained. There is, however, some controversy as to the surgical approach for gastrinoma found in the setting of multiple endocrine neoplasia, type 1. Because of the usual multiplicity and particular indolence of these tumors, two primary strategies have emerged:aggressive approaches have been advocated in an effort to eradicate all present and potential tumor; and less aggressive, or nonoperative, approaches have been suggested because it is unclear whether intervention offers survival or disease-free benefit in this population. We advocate surgical intervention for patients with gastrinoma and multiple endocrine neoplasia, type 1 when tumors exceed 2.5 cm in size. This tumor size has been associated with a higher likelihood of hepatic metastases, which ultimately affects survival. The role of adjuvant therapies for gastrinoma remains limited.
Interring the Unitary Executive

This Article addresses a constitutional debate that began in 1789 and rages on yet today. While the U.S. Constitution unequivocally establishes a single President, it leaves open many questions about the officers who will necessarily assist the President in executing the law. Leading originalist scholars contend that Article II’s provisions vesting “the executive Power” in a single President and requiring her to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” dictate a particular governmental structure: a “unitary executive” President with absolute power to remove (and thus control) all officers in the executive branch. An express presidential removal power appears nowhere in the text of the Constitution, and originalist proponents of a unitary executive have placed heavy emphasis on history. They claim that the Founding era never included independent regulatory structures designed to insulate executive officers from presidential removal and control. This Article refutes such claims and introduces a comprehensive historical record that earlier scholars have largely missed. My work establishes that independent structures were not only present at the Founding, but that they pervaded regulatory statutes passed into law by the First Federal Congress and President George Washington. Unitary scholars’ failure to recognize the independent structure of the Sinking Fund Commission — a Founding-era agency proposed by Alexander Hamilton and passed into law by President Washington and the First Congress — is just the tip of the iceberg. Unitarians have also missed dozens of early statutory provisions that repeat non-unitary aspects of the Sinking Fund Commission’s structure and require independent actors to autonomously reinforce the President’s duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. By scouring every public act passed by the First Congress, my research brings to light independent regulatory structures that pervaded the Founding era. The First Congress repeatedly dispersed executive decisions amongst multiple officers who checked one another as well as the President. This body also repeatedly delegated control over executive officers as well as significant executive power to independent judges and lay persons whom the President could not remove. All of these laws belie the conventional originalist view that the Constitution vests “exclusive control over the exercise” of “executive power” in the President of the United States. Independent regulatory structures have been with us since the beginning, and originalism provides no occasion for the Court to declare them unconstitutional now.
Data Mining in Construction Bidding Policy

Many construction projects are selected using competitive bidding, where the lowest bidder wins the project. There is often a tendency for projects to cost more than the original bid amount. The data mining techniques of classification and association were used to study patterns in bidding data and to determine if useful patterns do exist that can help predict a projects tendency to have cost overruns. Using highway-bidding data from Texas highway projects, several different ratios were calculated to describe relationships between the submitted bids such as the spread of the submitted bid and the difference between the low bid and the second lowest bid. Elevated levels of these ratios have been found to be associated with projects that have significant deviations between the original low bid amount and the completed project cost. The tertius and predictive a priori association algorithms, and the Ridor classification algorithm were applied to the data set to determine if useful rules about a projects tendency to have cost overruns could be determined. Keywords: competitive bidding; classification algorithm; Predictive Apriori; Weka system; bidding ratio
Intralesional Immunotherapy with Candida Antigen for the Treatment of Molluscum Contagiosum in Children

Intralesional injection of Candida and other antigens is an established and useful therapy for warts; a cutaneous immune response can induce improvement and or clearance of warts, often with response in anatomically distinct lesions other than those injected. Molluscum contagiosum virus is a common cutaneous infection seen primarily in pediatric dermatology clinics. Treatment is often unsatisfactory, painful, and time consuming. A retrospective chart review was conducted to examine the efficacy of intralesional injection of Candida antigen into a maximum of three individual molluscum lesions. Twenty-nine patients were treated with this therapy; 55% had complete resolution. In addition, 37.9% experienced partial resolution, yielding an overall response rate of 93%. Only two patients failed to respond (6.9%). In addition, only four patients reported a single adverse effect of pain with injection. No other adverse effects were reported or noted clinically. Scarring was absent. No recurrences were reported at the time of publication. This report establishes the efficacy of intralesional injection of Candida for molluscum contagiosum.
An intellectual management system for soil sample collecting

The distribution of soil fertility is a very important factor in accurate agriculture decision. How to obtain the change of soil fertility correctly and efficiently, and guiding mechanized variable fertilization in terms of this change, is the current focal point and hotspot in accurate agriculture research fields. But soil sample data contains plenty of information. And soil constituent changes complicatedly. Now there is not a very useful system to solve the problem. In this paper, GPS navigational system is used to position each soil sample accurately. By this way, we can easy to know the soil sample is from where. And we can see the change of the distribution of soil fertility in the same place. After that, C++ Builder 6.0 and related database system are used to develop an intellectual management system for soil sample storing. By using this system, automatic accurate positioning, automatic bar-code generating, information entering and standard management will be finished. By the bar-code, you can easy to find the soil sample's data which you need. This intellectual management system is easy and convenient to use. The management of soil sample will be finished efficiently by using it. It will meet the demands of current agricultural industry.
Synoptic study of warm rings in the North Brazil Current retroflection region using satellite altimetry

Abstract Ten years of altimeter data are used in conjunction with temperature and salinity data within a two-layer reduced gravity approximation to investigate the shedding and translation of North Brazil Current rings. Space-time diagrams of sea height anomalies and residues along the altimeter groundtracks show large seasonal and interannual variability. Results presented here confirm previous estimates that indicate a shedding rate of 3 to 7 rings per year with no marked seasonal variability but with very strong year-to-year variability. Additionally, eddies not shed by the retroflection travel through the region as well. Most of the rings pass very near of Barbados, affecting the environment in the region, of which seven rings during the study period are seen to enter into the Caribbean Sea. A link is found in this study between long-term surface temperature changes in the tropical Atlantic and the number of rings shed at the NBC retroflection, where periods of time with warmer surface temperatures are associated to a higher number of rings shed.
High energy-efficient and compact AC-AC converters

AC-AC converters offer much better energy efficiency than conventional two-stage power converters or inverters. This paper reports a new modular phase bank design approach of AC-AC converters that significantly reduces the size and weight of the power converter and improves the power density. The modular approach and integrated AC power modules offer a much improved design for the power circuits at affordable cost. In the paper, a preliminary theoretical analysis of the silicon utilization and the AC switch ratings for this new breed of power converter is presented. A DSP based low-cost system control is discussed. Potential major industry applications are also evaluated and highlighted in this paper. Experimental results verify the design.
On-the-job leisure-income tradeoffs: A test of rational behavior

Abstract The assumption that workers can optimally equate on-the-job leisure with income (piece-rate production) is tested by utilizing individual production data based on a multi-layered bonus scheme. The results support the notion that workers are able to calibrate their effort-production levels appropriately, given the specific bonus incentive structure.
Image resolution-variance tradeoffs using the uniform Cramèr-Rao bound

In image reconstruction and restoration, there exists an inherent tradeoff between the recovered spatial resolution and statistical variance: lower variance can be bought at the price of decreased spatial resolution. This tradeoff can be captured for a particular regularized estimator by tracing out the resolution and variance as a curve indexed by the estimator's smoothing parameter. When the resolution of an estimator is well characterized by the norm of the estimator bias-gradient the uniform Cramer-Rao (CR) lower bound can be applied. The bias-gradient norm fails, however, to constrain the width of the estimator point response function and the uniform CR bound with bias-gradient norm can give counter-intuitive results. In this paper we present a modified uniform CR bound on estimator variance which captures the width of the estimator point response. These results on the theoretically minimum attainable resolution-variance curve are useful both for exploring near optimality of practical image estimation algorithms and for optimizing the design of image acquisition systems.
Natural Language Processing: Models of Roger Schank and his Students

Over many years, Roger Schank and his students developed a series of theories and computer models of natural language processing, guided by two main tenets: that natural language processing cannot be studied in isolation from the purposes for which language is used, and that meaning and world knowledge may be crucial at even the earliest points in the understanding process. Through an interplay between study of human reasoning, development of theories, and experiments with computer models, this work has identified important research questions and shed light not only on natural language processing but on a broad range of cognitive processes such as planning, learning, explanation, and even creativity. Keywords: artificial intelligence; learning; memory; natural language processing; story understanding
Orientation dependence of the ferroelectric and piezoelectric behavior of Ba(Ti1−xZrx)O3 single crystals

The dielectric properties, ferroelectric polarization, and piezoelectric strain behavior of Ba(Ti1−xZrx)O3 (x=0.05 and 0.08) single crystals are studied for different crystal orientations. The study of dielectric properties suggests that the three phase transitions in BaTiO3 are pinched by substituting Ti with Zr but the anisotropic dielectric behavior is present in crystals of various orientations. The remnant polarization and strain behavior are also studied for different crystal directions. Higher strain and lower polarization are obtained along the pseudocubic 〈001〉 direction compared to those observed along the 〈110〉 and 〈111〉 directions in both orthorhombic (x=0.05) and rhombohedral (x=0.08) phase. The results for the 〈001〉 oriented orthorhombic crystals with x=0.05 indicate the highest strain level (∼0.25%) with almost hysteresis-free behavior and high piezoelectric coefficient (d33=500 pC/N).
Metabolomics and Milk: The Development of the Microbiota in Breastfed Infants

Metabolomics provides a valuable strategy for describing and annotating the structures, compositions, and functions of mammalian milk. Detailed analyses of the complex components of milk have revealed an unexpected diversity of glycans consisting of oligosaccharides, glycoproteins, and glycolipids, all of which help shape the intestinal environment and in particular the intestinal microbiome of breastfed babies. Using complete and partial ensembles of glycan mixtures, the holistic principles of metabolomics analytics were leveraged for microbial screening studies. The complex glycans of human milk proved to be highly selective in their ability to support the growth of only a very rare group of enteric bacteria. These studies led to the conclusion that a signature achievement of breast milk is the development of a unique milk-oriented intestinal microbiota that results from a functional overlap of stereospecific glycan biosynthesis in maternal mammary epithelia with equally stereospecific glycosidase enzymes encoded within the genome of the commensal bacteria. Clinical evidence in support of that hypothesis has now been generated by the simultaneous administration and quantitation of the entire repertoire of glycans in the milk going in and the feces coming out of human infants. These platforms of systems biology combining separation technologies coupled to highly accurate and sensitive mass spectrometry with exhaustive library development and computational tools provide a model for success in understanding biological processes. Metabolomics is now extending that understanding of the infant microbiota and its phenotype to the role of complex glycans in the microbiota of all ages. The relentless selective pressure on the process of lactation within the mammary epithelial cell over millennia of evolution has been to nourish, protect, and support the survival of the mother infant pair. The principles that have emerged to nourish infants provide a guiding model for diet and health of all humans. The tools of metabolomics are proving successful in revealing the mechanisms behind milk’s “genius.”
Bassini Repair of Inguinal Hernia

Inguinal hernia, in particular, if simple indirect hernia in young patient or female patient.
Degeneration keeps axons on the straight and narrow

Axon degeneration in the adult brain is usually pathological, but a new study finds that mis-sprouting cholinergic axons in the healthy mouse brain are eliminated by a degenerative process that is triggered by myelin via p75NTR.
Predicting incentives to change among adolescents with substance abuse disorder.

While interest in understanding the incentives to change amongindividuals with substance abuse disorders is growing, little is knownabout incentives among adolescents with substance abuse disorders whoare participating in formal services. The present research assesses thedegree and nature of motivation and treatment readiness amongadolescents admitted to substance abuse services, and whether suchfactors vary across significant subgroups of youth based on their social,legal, or clinical profiles. Data are based on interviews with 249 youthbetween 12 and 18 years of age who have been admitted to eitherinpatient, residential, or outpatient substance abuse treatment. Measuresare adapted from an instrument developed to assess multiple domains ofmotivation to change (e.g., intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, treatmentreadiness). Results suggest that the incentive to change amongadolescents with substance‐abusing behavior is modest at best,regardless of dimension. Nonetheless, ethnicity, type of substance use,an...
Purification of Cardiomyocytes From Differentiating Pluripotent Stem Cells Using Molecular Beacons That Target Cardiomyocyte-Specific mRNA

Background—Although methods for generating cardiomyocytes from pluripotent stem cells have been reported, current methods produce heterogeneous mixtures of cardiomyocytes and noncardiomyocyte cells. Here, we report an entirely novel system in which pluripotent stem cell–derived cardiomyocytes are purified by cardiomyocyte-specific molecular beacons (MBs). MBs are nanoscale probes that emit a fluorescence signal when hybridized to target mRNAs. Method and Results—Five MBs targeting mRNAs of either cardiac troponin T or myosin heavy chain 6/7 were generated. Among 5 MBs, an MB that targeted myosin heavy chain 6/7 mRNA (MHC1-MB) identified up to 99% of HL-1 cardiomyocytes, a mouse cardiomyocyte cell line, but <3% of 4 noncardiomyocyte cell types in flow cytometry analysis, which indicates that MHC1-MB is specific for identifying cardiomyocytes. We delivered MHC1-MB into cardiomyogenically differentiated pluripotent stem cells through nucleofection. The detection rate of cardiomyocytes was similar to the perc...
Designs of wide-view and broadband circular polarizers

A novel methodology for designing wide view circular polarizers is proposed. Both single wavelength and broadband wide-view circular polarizers are discussed. Over the ±85° viewing cone, the light leakage from the crossed circular polarizers is less than 2.87×10-4 using the proposed single wavelength circular polarizers (λ=550 nm) and less than 1.7×10-3 using the proposed broadband circular polarizer (λ=450~650 nm). An example of using the designed broadband, wide-view circular polarizers for enhancing the optical efficiency of a direct-view liquid crystal display is elucidated.
New Directions in Radionuclide Sources for Brachytherapy

Brachytherapy continues to play an important role in the management of cancers of several sites, including the head and neck, brain, uterine cervix, endometrium, and prostate. The physical advantages of brachytherapy result from a superior localization of dose to the tumor volume. In brachytherapy, as radiation is continuously delivered over a period of time, repair of sublethal and potentially lethal damage, proliferation, and other cell kinetic effects modify the response of tumor and normal tissues, resulting in complex dose rate effects that also influence the therapeutic ratio for brachytherapy. There are two different forms of brachytherapy: intracavitary irradiation using radioactive sources that are placed in body cavities in close proximity to the tumor, and interstitial brachytherapy using radioactive seeds implanted directly into tumor volume. Intracavitary radiation is always temporary and usually takes about 1 to 4 days. On the other hand, interstitial brachytherapy can be temporary or permanent. Radioactive sources emitting higher energy photons have better tissue penetration but are more difficult to shield for radiation protection purposes than sources emitting lower energy photons. Longer-lived radioactive sources can be used several times in different patients, which reduces their effective cost compared with shorter-lived radioisotopes. However, for permanent implants, shorter-lived radionuclides can provide higher initial dose rate, which may have biological advantages in some cases. These characteristics of various forms of brachytherapy dictate the choice of radioactive sources for a specific treatment. Recently, a number of new radionuclide sources have been developed, making a wide variety of half-lives and photon energies available to the brachy-therapy community. Conventional sources for brachy-therapy in the United States are cesium 137, iridium 192, iodine 125, and gold 198. The physical characteristics of these sources and of the newly developed sources, americium 241, palladium 103, samarium 145, and ytterbium 169, are described.
Stability of steel girders under the effect of temperature variations and moving loads in integral abutment bridges

The response of a 3-span integral abutment bridge to environmental conditions and traffic loads was evaluated through field monitoring and detailed 3-D finite element (FE) modeling. The field-measured data indicates that axial compressive stresses developed in steel girders due to constrained expansion during summer may affect the stability of the steel girders. The FE model was used to investigate the bridge response under the effect of dead load, temperature variations as well as live load. The FE-calculated lateral deformation of the steel girders was used to determine the effective length factor k(sub)b, which was found to be much less than the AASHTO recommended value. Using the 3-D FE-calculated effective length factor, the calculation of the stability ratio under identical loading conditions was found to satisfy the AASHTO criteria, leading to the conclusion that the AASHTO standards are overly conservative. This raises the need for more accurate solutions to predict lateral buckling behavior of composite I girders.
FROGS (Friends of Granites) Report, summer 1988

This is the second Eos-published FROGS Report. Our purpose is to disseminate information and stimulate thinking concerning felsic magmatism in general and granitoids in particular. We intend to publish semiannually information about events and publications that are relevant to the study of felsic rocks, brief updates on research being done by granitoid researchers, and commentaries on important new and/or controversial themes. FROGS Reports is critically dependent upon response by those with an interest in research on felsic rocks. Please keep me (Calvin Miller, 6028B, Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville TN 37235) informed about upcoming or recent conferences, major publications, etc. Also, send me your suggestions for topics for (and/or volunteer to write) pertinent commentaries for FROGS Reports.
Future Directions for Positive Development Intervention Research

The emergence of multiple universal prevention efforts that reduce psychopathology symptoms, along with growing interest in the promotion of healthy development, presents an exciting opportunity for advancing child and adolescent mental health. Multiple frameworks and related construct models of positive development have been developed-and are all driving substantial findings. In addition, efforts under way to understand and systematically review existing interventions as promoting effective development are proving valuable not only for reducing risk but also for improving emotional and social functioning. Principal contributors to this exciting convergence of interests and advancements are described in this article. Moreover, this article presents important challenges and opportunities for moving forward toward a robust integration of positive development and child and adolescent clinical psychology.
Gender in end-user software engineering

In this paper, we describe research that reports gender differences in usage of software engineering tools by end-user programmers. We connect these findings with possible explanations based on theories from other disciplines, and then add to that our recent results that these differences go deeper than software engineering tool usage to software engineering strategies. We enumerate the strategies that work better for males and the ones that work better for females, and discuss implications and possible directions for follow-up.
Hormonal Regulation of Skin Gland Development in the Toad (Bufo boreas): The Role of the Thyroid Hormones and Corticosterone

At metamorphic climax, anurans develop skin glands that migrate from the epidermis into the dermis. Thyroxine (T4) stimulates skin gland differentiation and migration, and a previous study showed that corticosterone (Cort) treatment of larvae is inhibitory. The current study used histological analyses to address the mechanism of CoWs prevention of skin gland development. Two types of glands were observed in controls at metamorphic climax: The first type resembled granular glands found in adults and the second resembled mucous glands. Differential staining revealed that the two gland morphologies represented functionally distinct granular and mucous glands. Treatment of larvae from Gosner Stages 35-42 with Cort or the goitrogen, thiourea (Thio), caused a reduction in the number of mucous (P < 0.05) but not granular glands. The similarity in the effects of Cort and Thio suggested that Cort inhibited skin gland development indirectly by down-regulating the hypothalamo-pituitary-thyroid axis. T4 treatment of larvae reversed the effects of Thio (T4 + Thio-treated animals); however, animals treated with T4 + Cort had no skin glands of either type. Triiodothyronine (T3) treatment of larvae resulted in the complete absence of skin glands with a limited number of gland nests (epidermal precursors of dermal skin glands), but stimulated epidermal growth. T3 + Thio- or T3 + Cort-treated animals also completely lacked skin glands. These data suggest that T3 favors epidermal growth at the cost of skin gland differentiation. Furthermore, we suggest that Cort inhibits skin gland development indirectly through its enhancement of T4 to T3 conversions, and that inhibition of skin glands is caused by an increase in T3 resulting from Cort treatment.
Politicians and property rights

Recent articles by Mark Crain and Robert Tollison [1] and Mark Crain, Thomas Deaton and Robert Tollison [2] have examined the response of congressional candidates to changes in the value of seats in the House of Representatives. The theory treats the campaign expenditure of a candidate as an investment in a congressional seat which has an expected present value. A candidate will spend a greater amount to acquire a seat the larger the expected present value of the seat. Several factors influence the value of a congressional seat. Crain, Deaton and Tollison [2, p. 299] argue that one important factor is the size of the federal budget which can be considered "a pork barrel pie that gets split up among legislators". In recent years the United States Congress has passed laws which alter property rights in the private sector. These laws do not directly affect the Federal Budget since they do not involve taxation and/or expenditure decisions. These laws do affect the allocation of resources in the private sector, however, by altering the structure of property rights. If transaction costs are positive (and they are), this activity will change the allocation of resources. Examples of these laws are the 1962 Kefauver-Harris Amendments regarding drugs, auto safety legislation, safety legislation in general, minimum wage legislation, environmental legislation, and wage and price controls. This type of legislation transfers property rights from the private sector to the legislative authority, Since the ownership of rights increases wealth, this shifting of rights should increase the present value of holding a seat in congress. Further, the executive may share in this increased wealth as a result of his power to veto or administer these programs. In summary, we hypothesize that shifting real resources from the private sector to the public, as well as certain changes in the structure of property rights will increase the value of executive and congressional offices. In the test that follows, the size of the real government budget is used to capture the effect on the value of seats from shifting real resources away from the private to the public sector. A dummy for wage and price controls is employed to test
Dynamic buckling of some elastic shallow structures subject to periodic loading with high frequency

Abstract Dynamic buckling of elastic shallow structures subject to periodic loading is investigated by means of two simple model structures. When the frequency and the magnitude of the oscillatory load are sufficiently high, the cycle averaging technique can be employed to formulate an autonomous system for the cycle-averaged motion of the structure. Energy method is then utilized for determining the upper and lower bounds of the critical load for dynamic buckling.
Lock Conversion in Non-Two-Phase Locking Protocols

A locking protocol is a set of rules governing the manner in which the database entities may be accessed. Such a protocol usually employs several kinds of locks. Most of the previous work in this area has assumed that once a transaction acquires a particular kind of lock on a data item it is not allowed to convert this lock to another kind. In this paper we perform a systematic study of the consequences of allowing lock conversions in non-two-phase locking protocols, and show how this leads to increased concurrency and affects deadlock-freedom. The non-two-phase protocols that we study are the very general guard protocols defined for databases in which a directed acyclic graph structure can be superimposed on the data items. We present very natural generalizations of these protocols, including correctness proofs, and develop deadlock removal methods.
VEGETATION DYNAMICS UNDER FIRE EXCLUSION AND LOGGING IN A ROCKY MOUNTAIN WATERSHED, 1856–1996

How have changes in land management practices affected vegetation patterns in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem? This question led us to develop a deterministic, successional, vegetation model to “turn back the clock” on a study area and assess how patterns in vegetation cover type and structure have changed through different periods of management. Our modeling spanned the closing decades of use by Native Americans, subsequent Euro-American settlement, and associated indirect methods of fire suppression, and more recent practices of fire exclusion and timber harvest. Model results were striking, indicating that the primary forest dynamic in the study area is not fragmentation of conifer forest by logging, but the transition from a fire-driven mosaic of grassland, shrubland, broadleaf forest, and mixed forest communities to a conifer-dominated landscape. Projections for conifer-dominated stands showed an increase in areal coverage from 15% of the study area in the mid-1800s to ∼50% by the mid-1990s. During...
Geochronology of Type Uquian (Late Cenozoic) Land Mammal Age, Argentina

Mammal faunas collected from the Uquia Formation at Chucalezna and Esquina Blanca in Jujuy Province, northwest Argentina, are calibrated by potassium-argon age determinations and paleomagnetic polarity data. The sediments range in age from 2.5 million years old to perhaps as young as 1.5 million years, from late Pliocene through early Pleistocene, and correspond in time to late Blancan and early Irvingtonian land mammal age faunas in North America.
The notion of "dative" in linguistic theory and the grammar of French

Proposition, selon la suggestion de Kayne et d'apres l'exemple des clitiques en francais, de definition du datif d'apres son contenu semantique.
A seminar course in computer ethics

This paper describes the transformation of a required Senior Seminar course. The transformed course emphasizes ethical, social, political, legal, and economic aspects of computing. In addition, the new rendition of the course increases the requirement for oral and written communication. We describe the previous definition of the course, goals of the redesign, and students' reactions to both the new and old versions. To this author's surprise, student satisfaction is higher with the new course, although it requires more of them.We discuss course organization, and suggest assignments and teaching strategy. The course was a joy to teach and, fortunately, a very pleasant and meaningful experience for the students.
Obesity Rates in Special Populations of Children and Potential Interventions.

Childhood obesity has become a problem of epidemic proportions in the United States, but much of the research has focused on prevention and intervention programs, which target the general population of school children. Overlooked in the literature are children with special needs (including autism, genetic disorders, Down syndrome, and Prader-Willi syndrome), who on average have higher rates of obesity than do their typically functioning peers. Specifically, some clinical populations of children have genetic predispositions that make intervention more difficult to accomplish. General intervention considerations are discussed and applied to these groups of children. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Variations in AP and frog-leg pelvic radiographs in a pediatric population

INTRODUCTION It is common for pediatric patients with a history of hip dysplasia to undergo anteroposterior (AP) and frog-leg (FL) lateral radiographs to monitor development of the hip. Because of sensitivity of pediatric tissues to ionizing radiation, we sought to document the relationship between AP and FL radiographs and to determine which image was better to assess acetabular dysplasia. METHODS An Institutional Review Board-approved, retrospective review was conducted on 33 patients screened for hip dysplasia at a single institution. We sought to determine whether either film was more likely to be qualitatively better in position and whether there were differences in acetabular measures between the 2 radiographs. Standard measurements on AP and FL radiographs were made by 5 observers on 2 different occasions to assess interobserver and intraobserver variability. RESULTS The mean age was 23+1 months, and 80% were female; none of the children had hip dysplasia. There was no statistical significance in the quotient of pelvic rotation (AP 1.2 + 0.1 degrees and FL 1.1 + 0.1 degrees; P = 0.84). There was a statistical difference in obturator height in mm (AP 16.0 + 0.3 and FL 17.8 + 0.2; P = 7.2E-10). The mean intraobserver variability for the acetabular index was 1.8 + 0.2 and 1.7 + 0.2 degrees for AP and FL alignments, respectively (P = 0.58), and the mean interobserver variability was 1.7 + 0.1 and 1.7 + 0.1 degrees, respectively (P = 0.75). The measurements of linear variability between the AP and FL showed no statistical significant difference with the exception of the left Hilgenreiner distance in mm (AP 1.00 + 0.08 and FL 0.81 + 0.08; P = 0.02). DISCUSSION These results demonstrate that there is little clinical difference in variability of positioning and rotational variables between AP and FL radiographs for hip dysplasia. These results indicate that either image could be used assess to acetabular dysplasia thus decreasing risks of ionizing radiation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Level III.
Optimizing the collection of local decisions for time-constrained distributed detection in WSNs

We consider a distributed detection application for a fusion center that has a limited time to make a global decision by collecting, weighting, and fusing local decisions made by nodes in a wireless sensor network that uses a random access channel. When this time is not long enough to collect decisions from all nodes in the network, a strategy is needed for collecting those with the highest reliability. This is accomplished with an easily implemented modification of the random access protocol: the collection time is divided into frames and only nodes with a particular range of reliabilities compete for the channel within each frame. Nodes with the most reliable decisions attempt transmission in the first frame; nodes with the next most reliable set of decisions attempt in the next frame; etc. We formulate an optimization problem that determines the reliability interval that defines who attempts in each frame in order to minimize the Detection Error Probability (DEP) at the fusion center. When the noise distribution affecting nodes' local decisions is continuous, symmetric, unimodal, and has a monotone likelihood ratio, reliability thresholds that maximize the channel throughput in each frame are optimal when the ratio of the collection time to the number of nodes is small. The number of frames that should be used depends on whether the average reliability or the worst-case reliability of local decisions in each frame is used to determine the DEP.