cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Unknown Presentation Attack Detection with Face RGB Images

The vulnerability of biometric identification systems to presentation attacks, also a.k.a. spoof attacks, has received great attention from the biometrics community. Face presentation attacks are particularly easy to fabricate, because face image and videos are easy to obtain from social media, and most face recognition systems rely on 2D RGB image sensors only. To our best knowledge, all the existing face Presentation Attack Detection (PAD) research works focus on solving the problem in a close-set setup, even though it is an open-set problem in real life where Unknown Presentation Attack Detection (UPAD) algorithms are demanded. In this paper, One-Class SVM and AutoEncoder based outliers detection algorithms, are proposed to solve the UPAD problem. It aims to detect the attack presentations from different presentation attack instrument species that are not included in the training and validation set. Both algorithms, together with the state of the art Local Binary Pattern feature are evaluated and compared on four largest face PAD datasets, including the latest Oulu dataset - the largest face PAD dataset so far. Moreover, four UPAD protocols are proposed to evaluate the robustness of the algorithms against environment and device variations. These comprehensive evaluations show that the proposed methods are more accurate on detecting unknown presentation attacks than the state of the art PAD algorithms under complex environment and capturing device variations.
Corneal indices following photorefractive keratectomy in children at least 5 years after surgery.

Purpose To evaluate long-term corneal outcomes in pediatric patients who underwent photorefractive keratotomy (PRK) for the treatment of refractive amblyopia. Methods In this prospective interventional case series, children with refractive amblyopia underwent PRK between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2011, at Texas Children's Hospital's Department of Ophthalmology, a single tertiary eye center, and were followed for at least 5 years after surgery. Main outcome measures were 5+ years postoperative indices of corneal thickness, keratometry, degree of corneal haze, and presence or absence of keratectasia. Results Twelve eyes of 8 subjects aged 3-9 years who underwent PRK and were followed for at least 5 years were included. The mean PRK treatment dose was 8.46 D for the myopic cohort and 4.49 D for the hyperopic cohort, which removed an average of 72 μm of corneal stromal tissue in addition to the 50 μm of corneal epithelium that was removed prior to laser ablation. The mean corneal thickness was 563 μm preoperatively, which decreased to 441 μm immediately following the PRK. The mean corneal thickness 5+ years after PRK was stable, at 498 μm, because of epithelial regrowth. None of the subjects developed visually significant corneal haze or topographic evidence of keratectasia. Conclusions In this study cohort, there were no topographic signs of keratectasia or corneal haze in children treated with PRK for high refractive error 5 years or more after surgery.
A Longitudinal Wearable Sensor Study in Huntington’s Disease

BACKGROUND Most current measures of Huntington's disease (HD) motor symptoms are subjective, categorical, and limited to in-person visits. Wearable sensors enable objective, frequent, and remote data collection in real-world settings. However, longitudinal sensor studies in HD are lacking. OBJECTIVE To measure motor symptoms of HD using wearable sensors in a longitudinal study. METHODS Participants with HD, prodromal HD, and without a movement disorder wore five accelerometers, one on each limb and on the trunk, at up to four clinic visits over one year. After each visit, participants wore the sensors at home for two days. Based on the accelerometer data from the trunk, we calculated a "truncal Chorea Index" for periods when the participant was sitting. We also measured gait parameters and activity profiles. To measure group differences, track progression, and observe individual variability, statistical analysis of the data was conducted using a linear mixed-effects model. RESULTS Fifteen individuals with HD, five with prodromal HD, and 19 controls were enrolled. The average truncal Chorea Index was higher in individuals with HD (26.6, p < 0.001) than in controls (15.6). For participants with HD, the truncal Chorea Index showed a high intra-day variability but minimal change over 12 months. Individuals with HD walked less (HD = 3818, prodromal HD = 6957, controls = 5514 steps/day) and took longer duration steps (HD = 0.97, prodromal HD = 0.78, controls = 0.85 seconds/step) than the other groups. Individuals with HD spent over half their day lying down (HD = 51.1%, prodromal HD = 38.0%, controls = 37.1%). CONCLUSIONS A novel truncal Chorea Index can assess truncal chorea at home, finds substantial variability, and suggests that truncal chorea may be present in prodromal HD. Individuals with HD walk less and slower and spend more time lying down than controls. These findings require additional investigation, could inform clinical care, and could be used to evaluate new therapies.
Change Detection and Gaussian Process Inference in Piecewise Stationary Environments Under Noisy Inputs

Gaussian Process (GP) inference in dynamical piecewise stationary environments finds application in many modern real-world problems. Here we focus on scenarios in which precise initial training data is available but each subsequent measurement is taken with uncertainty with respect to the location at which it was taken. In such a scenario, the ideal inference methodology should update the GP only if a considerable change occurs. Furthermore, the update strategy should preserve “correct” initial information in unchanged regions. In this contribution, we propose a change detection methodology which operates in conjunction with the inference process. The proposed detection method is based on the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statistics in such way that an exact PDF can be derived under the null hypothesis. Once detection has occurred, the GP can be naively updated by replacing appropriate measurements in the data set by an average computed from the new, noisy samples. Simulations with synthetic data provide a proof of concept of the proposed strategy as well as its robustness to noisy inputs.
Detection of crown-like structures in breast adipose tissue and clinical outcomes among African-American and White women with breast cancer.

Crown-like structures in breast adipose tissue (CLS-B), composed of necrotic adipocytes encircled by macrophages, are associated with obesity and hypothesized to worsen breast cancer prognosis; however, data are sparse, particularly in multi-racial populations. We assessed specimens for CLS-B from 174 African-American and 168 White women with stage I–III breast cancer treated by mastectomy. Benign breast tissue from an uninvolved quadrant was immunohistochemically stained for CD68 to determine CLS-B presence and density (per cm2 of adipose tissue). Demographic and lifestyle factors, collected via medical record review, were analyzed for associations with CLS-B using logistic regression. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to compute hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between CLS-B and overall (OS) or progression-free (PFS) survival. Detection of any CLS-B was similar between African-American (32%) and White (29%) patients with no evidence of an association between race and CLS-B in multivariable models (OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.49–1.36). Detection of CLS-B was associated with obesity (OR = 4.73, 95% CI = 2.48–9.01) and age ≥ 60 years at diagnosis (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 0.99–3.21). There was some evidence of associations with parity and current smoking status. Detection of CLS-B was not associated with OS (HR = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.55–1.87) or PFS (HR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.59–1.67). Our results show a strong, positive association between BMI and CLS-B in non-tumor tissue similar to previous findings. Detection of CLS-B did not vary by race and was not associated with worse OS or PFS.
Adaptive control of artificial pancreas systems for treatment of type 1 diabetes

Abstract A personalized multivariable, multimodel artificial pancreas (PMM-AP) system is developed to automate and personalize insulin treatment of type 1 diabetes. The proposed PMM-AP is a fully automated insulin delivery system that works with no meal and physical activity announcements. An adaptive-personalized plasma insulin concentration (PIC) estimator is designed to quantify the amount of active insulin present in the body. Time-varying glycemic models are obtained through a recursive system identification technique using physiological measurements, continuous glucose measurements, estimates of unannounced meal effects and PIC. An adaptive-learning model predictive control algorithm is then designed using the identified glycemic models and PIC estimates to compute a safe and optimal insulin amount. Simulation case studies demonstrate the performance of the proposed PMM-AP system.
Cost analysis in global supply chains

Abstract This paper aims to explore effect of supply chain members’ costs change on participants of the network. On one perspective, it explores when there is a cost change to a firm, how other firms are affected and who bear(s) the most effect. On the other perspective, it investigates how an individual firm’s performance is affected by the other members in its network and whose cost change would impose a most significant effect on its profit.
Hyperspectral imaging-based exosome microarray for rapid molecular profiling of extracellular vesicles

One of the challenges of exploiting extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a disease biomarker is to differentiate EVs released by similar cell types or phenotypes. This paper reports a high-throughput and label-free EV microarray technology to differentiate EVs by simultaneous characterization of a panel of EV membrane proteins. The EsupplV microarray platform, which consists of an array of antibodies printed on a photonic crystal biosensor and a microscopic hyperspectral imaging technique, can rapidly assess the binding of the EV membrane proteins with their corresponding antibodies. The EV microarray assay requires only a 2 μL sample volume and a detection time of less than 2 h. The EV microarray assay was validated by not only quantifying seven membrane proteins carried by macrophage-derived EVs but also distinguishing the EVs secreted by three macrophage phenotypes. In particular, the EV microarray technology can generate a molecular fingerprint of target EVs that can be used to identify the EVs' parental cells, and thus has utility for basic science research as well as for point-of-care disease diagnostics and therapeutics.
Diagnosis and Management of Headache: A Review

Importance Approximately 90% of people in the US experience headache during their lifetime. Migraine is the second leading cause of years lived with disability worldwide. Observations Primary headache disorders are defined as headaches that are unrelated to an underlying medical condition and are categorized into 4 groups: migraine, tension-type headache, trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias, and other primary headache disorders. Studies evaluating prevalence in more than 100 000 people reported that tension-type headache affected 38% of the population, while migraine affected 12% and was the most disabling. Secondary headache disorders are defined as headaches due to an underlying medical condition and are classified according to whether they are due to vascular, neoplastic, infectious, or intracranial pressure/volume causes. Patients presenting with headache should be evaluated to determine whether their headache is most likely a primary or a secondary headache disorder. They should be evaluated for symptoms or signs that suggest an urgent medical problem such as an abrupt onset, neurologic signs, age 50 years and older, presence of cancer or immunosuppression, and provocation by physical activities or postural changes. Acute migraine treatment includes acetaminophen, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and combination products that include caffeine. Patients not responsive to these treatments may require migraine-specific treatments including triptans (5-HT1B/Dagonists), which eliminate pain in 20% to 30% of patients by 2 hours, but are accompanied by adverse effects such as transient flushing, tightness, or tingling in the upper body in 25% of patients. Patients with or at high risk for cardiovascular disease should avoid triptans because of vasoconstrictive properties. Acute treatments with gepants, antagonists to receptors for the inflammatory neuropeptide calcitonin gene–related peptide, such as rimegepant or ubrogepant, can eliminate headache symptoms for 2 hours in 20% of patients but have adverse effects of nausea and dry mouth in 1% to 4% of patients. A 5-HT1Fagonist, lasmiditan, is also available for acute migraine treatment and appears safe in patients with cardiovascular risk factors. Preventive treatments include antihypertensives, antiepileptics, antidepressants, calcitonin gene–related peptide monoclonal antibodies, and onabotulinumtoxinA, which reduce migraine by 1 to 3 days per month relative to placebo. Conclusions and Relevance Headache disorders affect approximately 90% of people during their lifetime. Among primary headache disorders, migraine is most debilitating and can be treated acutely with analgesics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, triptans, gepants, and lasmiditan.
An alternative interpretation of BM 76829: astrological schemes for length of life and parts of the body

In this paper I present an alternative reading and interpretation of the cuneiform tablet BM 76829. I suggest that the obverse of the tablet contains a simple astrological scheme linking the sign of the zodiac in which a child is born to the maximum length of life, and that the reverse contains a copy of a scheme relating parts of the body to the signs of the zodiac.
The microbiome’s relationship with congenital heart disease: more than a gut feeling

Patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) are at risk for developing intestinal dysbiosis and intestinal epithelial barrier dysfunction due to abnormal gut perfusion or hypoxemia in the context of low cardiac output or cyanosis. Intestinal dysbiosis may contribute to systemic inflammation thereby worsening clinical outcomes in this patient population. Despite significant advances in the management and survival of patients with CHD, morbidity remains significant and questions have arisen as to the role of the microbiome in the inflammatory process. Intestinal dysbiosis and barrier dysfunction experienced in this patient population are increasingly implicated in critical illness. This review highlights possible CHD-microbiome interactions, illustrates underlying signaling mechanisms, and discusses future directions and therapeutic translation of the basic research.
Countering COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy: the 4 Cs"."

Despite evidence to support the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy, and clear recommendations from professional organizations and the CDC for pregnant people to get vaccinated, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy remains a significant public health problem. The emergence of the highly transmissible B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant among primarily unvaccinated people has exposed the cost of vaccine hesitancy. In this commentary, we explore factors contributing to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in pregnancy and potential solutions to overcome them.
Differentiating SCT and inattentive symptoms in ADHD using fMRI measures of cognitive control

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with different impairment profiles in the symptom domains of hyperactivity/impulsivity and/or inattention. An additional symptom domain of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) has also been proposed. Although there is a degree of correlation between the SCT symptom domain and inattention, it has been proposed as a distinct disorder independent of ADHD. The objective of this study was to examine the neural substrates of cue-related preparatory processes associated with SCT symptoms versus inattentive symptoms in a group of adolescents with ADHD. We also compared cue-related effects in the entire ADHD group compared with a group of typically developing (TD) peers. A modified cued flanker paradigm and fMRI examined brain activity associated with attention preparation and motor response preparation. Between group contrasts between the ADHD and TD group revealed significant hypoactivity in the ADHD group during general attention preparation in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and in the right superior parietal lobe (SPL) during response preparation. In the ADHD group, greater numbers of SCT symptoms were associated with hypoactivity in the left SPL to cues in general whereas greater numbers of inattentive symptoms were associated with greater activity in the SMA to cues that provided no information and less activity in the thalamus during response preparation. Hypoactivity in the SPL with increasing SCT symptoms may be associated with impaired reorienting or shifting of attention. Altered activity in the SMA and thalamus with increasing inattention may be associated with a general problem with response preparation, which may also reflect inefficient processing of the response preparation cue. Our results support a degree of differentiation between SCT and inattentive symptom profiles within adolescents with ADHD.
MultiCost: multi-stage cost-sensitive classification of Alzheimer's disease

Most traditional classification methods for Alzheimer's disease (AD) aim to obtain a high accuracy, or equivalently a low classification error rate, which implicitly assumes that the losses of all misclassifications are the same. However, in practical AD diagnosis, the losses of misclassifying healthy subjects and AD patients are usually very different. For example, it may be troublesome if a healthy subject is misclassified as AD, but it could result in a more serious consequence if an AD patient is misclassified as healthy subject. In this paper, we propose a multi-stage cost-sensitive approach for AD classification via multimodal imaging data and CSF biomarkers. Our approach contains three key components: (1) a cost-sensitive feature selection which can select more AD-related brain regions by using different costs for different misclassifications in the feature selection stage, (2) a multimodal data fusion which effectively fuses data from MRI, PET and CSF biomarkers based on multiple kernels combination, and (3) a cost-sensitive classifier construction which further reduces the overall misclassification loss through a threshold-moving strategy. Experimental results on ADNI dataset show that the proposed approach can significantly reduce the cost of misclassification and simultaneously improve the sensitivity, under the same or even higher classification accuracy compared with conventional methods.
Growth of Matrix Cracks During Intermediate Temperature Stress Rupture of a SiC/SiC Composite in Air

The crack density of woven Hi-Nicalon(sup TM) (Nippon Carbon, Japan) fiber, BN interphase, melt-infiltrated SiC matrix composites was determined for specimens subjected to tensile stress rupture at 815 C. A significant amount of matrix cracking occurs due to the growth of fiber-bridged microcracks even at stresses below the run-out condition. This increased cracking corresponded to time dependent strain accumulation and acoustic emission activity during the constant load test. However, the portion of the rupture specimens subjected to cooler temperatures (< 600 C than the hot section had significantly lower crack densities compared to the hotter regions. From the acoustic emission and time dependent strain data it can be inferred that most of the matrix crack growth occurred within the first few hours of the tensile rupture experiment. The crack growth was attributed to an interphase recession mechanism that is enhanced by the presence of a thin carbon layer between the fiber and the matrix as a result of the composite fabrication process. One important consequence of matrix crack growth at the lower stresses is poor retained strength at room temperature for specimens that did not fail.
Methodological refinements to the mouse paw formalin test. An animal model of tonic pain.

The formalin tonic pain test has recently been adapted for use in mice. We have observed two problems with this procedure. First, compared to a vehicle control group, the majority of mice injected in a hind paw with dilute formalin exhibited a significant nociceptive response (paw licking), including peaks of activity, well beyond the end of the recommended observation period; and, second, an unacceptably wide variation in response occurred. We report two modifications that eliminate these difficulties: a) extending the observation period to 20-45 min postformalin injection, and b) lightly anesthetizing the mice with ether before injection of formalin into the paw. The modified protocol was tested by evaluating morphine, pentazocine and zomepirac (analgesic A50 values were 2.1, 23.8, and greater than 100 mg/kg, s.c., respectively). An intrathecal or intracerebroventricular injection of saline, given to the lightly anesthetized mouse, did not interfere with the nociceptive behavior; this finding widens the applicability and usefulness of the test. Collectively, these refinements significantly improve the mouse formalin model of tonic pain.
The Commonwealth of Nations and the EU after the ‘Global’ Crisis: Rethinking Post-2015 ‘Global’ Development?

AbstractThe continuing ‘global’ crisis has accelerated divergences between regions, especially between the ‘rising’ global South, the European Union (EU) of the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) and Cyprus, which belongs to both the Commonwealth and the EU. This article studies the emerging ‘vertical’ divergences between the EU and the global South, especially around the so-called Economic Partnership Agreements, and the parallel ‘horizontal’ divergences among Anglophone, Francophone (the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie) and Lusophone (the Comunidade dos Paises de Lingua Portuguesa) Commonwealths, with their inheritance of emulation and competition. It focuses on the possibilities of enhanced human/citizen security to propose an analysis that challenges established perspectives and points towards prospects for Commonwealth ‘schools’ of international relations/development.
THE EXECUTIONERS‘ DILEMMAS

Despite several prominent recent botched executions, states usually resist external pressure to improve their lethal injection procedures. This symposium contribution explores why states fail to address lethal injection’s systemic risks and, relatedly, why they so vigorously resist requests to disclose execution procedure details. This analysis is necessarily speculative; it is impossible to know for certain what drives states’ behavior in this area, and motivations likely differ from state to state and from official to official. That said, a constellation of epistemic, structural, strategic, and political factors likely shape much official behavior in this area. Examining those factors more closely can help us better understand why so many states have acted so irresponsibly in designing and implementing their lethal injection procedures. Of course, these explanations hardly excuse states’ frequent indifference to the risk of pain their execution procedures create. Collectively, however, they help shine important light more generally on why state officials sometimes seem insensitive to constitutional values.
High power InAsSb/InAsSbP electrical injection laser diodes emitting between 3 and 5 μm

Abstract Broad-area, electrical injection, interband mid-infrared lasers emitting between 3.2 and 4.7 μm have been grown by low-pressure metal organic chemical vapor deposition. A InAsSbP based double heterostructure laser emitting at 3.2 μm is reported to produce 450 mW in continuous mode operation. Furthermore, the InAsSb and InAsP alloys have been used for the growth of strained-layer superlattice lasers emitting above 4.0 μm. These lasers demonstrate threshold current densities as low as 100 A cm −2 and output powers up to 546 mW.
Lower Palaeozoic strata on the Pacific Plate of North America

The portion of California (USA) and Baja California (Mexico) lying west of the San Andreas–Gulf of California plate boundary is part of the Pacific Plate, and consists of at least seven distinct lithological terranes (Fig. 1). The only pre-Carboniferous rocks previously identified in any of these terranes are the Pre-cambrian gneiss and plutonic rocks of the San Gabriel Mountains in California (Fig. 1, terrane III). Previous reports of Palaeozoic strata west of the San Andreas Fault in southern California are either erroneous1 or unconfirmed (R. V. Sharp, personal communication). Fossils near El Volcan, Baja California, originally reported as possibly Palaeozoic2, are now recognized to be early Triassic3. Unidentified cup corals and crinoid-like specimens were reported in metamorphosed limestone of the Gabilan Range, central California (Fig. 1, terrane I)4. Unidentified brachiopods and crinoidal debris in the Sierra Pinta of Baja California were assigned to the Carboniferous (Fig. 1, terrane VII; ref. 5). Fossils of Pennsylvania age were found in a block of limestone and quartzite in a melange on Isla Cedros.6 We describe here the first Lower Palaeozoic rocks from the Pacific Plate; this carbonate–quartzite sequence contains Lower Ordovician conodonts and is exposed at San Marcos, 50-km south of the International Border between Tecate and Ensenada (Fig. 1).
The Effects of Categorically Based Expectations on Minority Influence: The Importance of Congruence:

The role of congruence and incongruence in diverse decision-making groups is examined by manipulating opinion agreement within and between members of different social categories. Congruence occurs when ingroup members agree with one another and outgroup members disagree, whereas incongruence occurs when an ingroup member disagrees with a majority composed of ingroup and outgroup members. The results of two studies, one using a scenario methodology and the second using simulated work teams with two ingroup members and one outgroup member, show that regardless of the task-relevance of salient differences, individuals respond most favorably when categorical and opinion differences are congruent. Study 1 examined individuals' emotional reactions and group efficacy. Study 2 examined group performance, the minority influence process, and efforts to maintain congruence. The findings suggest that outgroup minority opinion holders may be more influential in diverse group decision-making settings than ingroup minority opinion holders.
Intestinal parasite infections and fecal steroid levels in wild chimpanzees

Immune-endocrine interactions have been evaluated much less frequently in nonhuman primates, and this may be due, in part, to logistical and ethical concerns regarding trapping and sampling of endangered species, especially apes. Using noninvasive fecal collection methods, the present study evaluates possible relationships between fecal steroid levels and gastrointestinal parasite infections in the Ngogo chimpanzee community in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Because both testosterone and cortisol exhibit immunosuppressive effects in vitro and in other animal models, it was hypothesized that both testosterone and cortisol would be positively associated with gastrointestinal parasite infections in these animals. When placed in a mixed model simultaneously, both testosterone (F = 4.98, df = 1, P = 0.033) and cortisol (F = 5.94, df = 1, P = 0.020) were positively associated with total (helminth and protozoan) parasite richness (the number of unique intestinal parasite species recovered from hosts' fecal samples). It is possible that androgens and corticoids alter the ability of a host to mount an effective immune response against concomitant infection with multiple parasitic species. The utility of fecal samples for assessing immune-endocrine interactions is discussed.
A review of the mutagenicity of chloroform

Although chloroform (CHCl3) is metabolized in vivo and in vitro to a substance that covalently interacts with protein and lipid, its potential for binding to DNA is low. In addition, most of the assays for genotoxicity are negative. However, many of the genotoxicity results are inconclusive because of inadequacies in the experimental protocols. The types of genotoxicity tests this report is based on include bacterial, yeast, host-mediated, Drosophila sex-linked recessive lethal, mammalian cell mutagenicity, sperm head abnormality, cytogenetic, and DNA damage. On the basis of presently available information, no definitive conclusion on the mutagenic potential of CHCl3 can be reached.
Arctic Commission appointed

Three AGU members have been appointed to the five-member Arctic Research Commission established by the Arctic Research and Policy Act of 1984 (P.L. 98–373) (Eos, December 18, 1984, p. 1225). The commission will develop an integrated national research policy for the Arctic region.
Effect of disorder on the thermal transport and elastic properties in thermoelectric Zn 4 Sb 3

Zn4Sb3 undergoes a phase transition from alpha to beta phase at T1[approximate]250 K. The high temperature beta-Zn4Sb3 phase has been widely investigated as a potential state-of-the-art thermoelectric (TE) material, due to its remarkably low thermal conductivity. We have performed electronic and thermal transport measurements exploring the structural phase transition at 250 K. The alpha to beta phase transition manifests itself by anomalies in the resistivity, thermopower, and specific heat at 250 K as well as by a reduction in the thermal conductivity as Zn4Sb3 changes phase from the ordered alpha to the disordered beta-phase. Moreover, measurements of the elastic constants using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy (RUS) reveal a dramatic softening at the order-disorder transition upon warming. These measurements provide further evidence that the remarkable thermoelectric properties of beta-Zn4Sb3 are tied to the disorder in the crystal structure.
Seminormal stratified default theories

In this paper we study seminormal default theories. The notions of stratification and strong stratification are introduced. The properties of stratified and strongly stratified default theories are investigated. We show how to determine if a given seminormal default theory is strongly stratified and how to find the finest partition into strata. We present algorithms for computing extensions for stratified seminormal default theories and analyze their complexity.
Molecular simulation of simple fluids and water in porous carbons

Abstract We report Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) molecular simulation studies of argon, nitrogen and water in model porous carbons. Adsorption in “buckytubes” is studied for argon and nitrogen. We calculate adsorption isotherms, density profiles, phase transitions and heats of adsorption for model tubes of 1.05 and 4.8 nm diameter at 77 and 60 K. The smaller buckytube is too small to exhibit phase transitions. For the larger tube we observe layering transitions, capillary condensation and hysteresis for both argon and nitrogen. Fluid molecules are modelled as Lennard-Jones spheres, and an averaged fluid-wall potential, dependent only on the distance of the adsorbed molecule from the centre of the tube, is used. Results are reported for water in model graphitic and activated carbons with slit pores. Water is modelled using the TIP4P potential, and COOH groups are used as the active sites, the water-COOH interaction being the OPLS potential. The structure of the carbon walls is taken into account. We study the effect of varying the density and arrangement of active groups on the surface. For these carbons the adsorption is generally greater than for graphitic carbons, and is strongly dependent on the arrangement of the active groups on the surface.
The evolution of nucleotides

There has been much speculation about the types of molecules that were present in the first living forms. Recent discoveries show that RNA is a more versatile molecule than was previously believed, but whether it was ever able, for example, to synthesize its own monomers from available precursors is not yet known. If amino acids coexisted with nucleosides on the prebiotic Earth, then it seems likely that these two classes of molecules would have interacted with each other. We have been studying oligonucleotide-directed peptide bond formation, and during this work we discovered that aminoacylation of the internal 2'-hydroxyl groups of RNA occurred stereoselectively. Investigation of the mechanism of this reaction has been aided by the use of 3'-inosine methyl phosphate (as a simplified model for a dinucleoside monophosphate) and proton nmr spectroscopy of t-butoxycarbonyl-alanyl esters of nucleosides as models for the transition state of the aminoacylation reaction itself.
Reactivity of mitogen-lnduced autorosette-forming cells to interleukin 2 (T-cell growth factor)

The reactivity of mitogen-induced autologous rosette-forming cells (ARFC) to interleukin 2 (IL-2; T-cell growth factor) was studied in the present report. Both ARFC-enriched T cells and ARFC-depleted T cells, which were separated from concanavalin A (Con A)-activated T cells, were reactive to this factor. The IL-2 activity was absorbed by both ARFC-enriched and ARFC-depleted T cells, although ARFC-enriched T cells could absorb more IL-2 activity. Furthermore, ARFC were further inducible by IL-2 from non-ARFC. These results suggest the expression of the receptors for IL-2 on both ARFC and non-ARFC following mitogen stimulation. They further support the possibility that mitogen-induced ARFC, rather than being recruited only from such a minor T-cell subset as the spontaneous ARFC, are more likely the result of most T cells being responsive to mitogenic stimulation and expressing the receptors for autologous erythrocytes by the effects of IL-2 and mitogen.
Registration of NDBS11(FR‐M)C3, NDBS1011, and NDBSK(HI‐M)C3 Maize Germplasm

NDBS11(FR-M)C3 (Reg. No. GP-554, PI 650887), NDBS1011 (Reg. No. GP-555, PI 650888), and NDBSK(HI-M)C3 (Reg. No. GP-556, PI 650889), are three new maize (Zea mays L.) populations that serve as new sources for inbred line development targeted at 85-95RM hybrids. They were developed by the North Dakota State University maize breeding program and released by the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station (NDAES) in February 2007. NDBS11(FR-M)C3 derived from BS11(FR)C13 and three cycles of stratified mass selection for earliness in North Dakota. NDBS1011 was developed from BS10(FR)C13 x BS11(FR)C13 and four cycles of stratified mass selection for earliness in North Dakota. NDBSK(HI-M)C3 derived from BSK(HI)C11 and three cycles of stratified mass selection for earliness in North Dakota. Cycle populations were evaluated across nine North Dakota environments in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Stratified mass selection was confirmed to be an effective and inexpensive method for adapting populations (e.g., 2 d year -1 ) and also was demonstrated to produce significant positive correlated responses in economically important traits (e.g., 0.4 Mg ha -1 yr -1 ). Preliminary diallel studies suggested that NDBSK(HI-M)C3 shares the same heterotic group as BS22(R-T)C8 and NDSAB(MER-FS)C14 (e.g., early SSS), while NDBS11(FR-M)C3 shares the same group with BS21(R-T)C8, LEAMING(F-S)C6, and CGL(S1-S2)C5 (e.g., early non SSS). NDBS1011 seems to belong to an alternative heterotic group.
Spiralling invariant manifolds

Abstract A definition of the concept of a multidimensional spiralling manifold is studied. Manifolds of this type are shown to occur as invariant manifolds of flows containing hyperbolic restpoints with a pair of complex conjugate eigenvalues. It is shown that spiralling can be a mechanism for producing intersections of invariant manifolds.
Negative earnings surprises: when is the glass half-full?

Purpose – In a setting with local bias in investors’ portfolios, the purpose of this paper is to study the stockholder wealth impact of negative earnings surprises for local firms as reported in a local newspaper. Design/methodology/approach – In the sample of earnings announcements, the authors observe that the stock price impact is statistically significantly more (less) negative in the case where the absolute difference between announced earnings and the consensus analysts’ forecast is greater (smaller) than the absolute difference between the announced earnings and last-year-same-quarter earnings. Findings – The differential effect is only observed when the stock market uncertainty (VIX) is high. In the empirical analysis, the paper finds that investors’ reactions to negative earnings surprises appear to be influenced by the level of historical, publicly available last-year-same-quarter earnings. Originality/value – When stock market uncertainty is high, the result suggests that the stock market may n...
The Development and Validation of a Formula for Measuring Single‐Sentence Test Item Readability

This study describes the development and validation of the Homan-Hewitt Readability Formula. This formula estimates the readability level of single-sentence test items. Its initial development is based on the assumption that differences in readability level will affect item difficulty. The validation of the formula is achieved by (a) estimating the readability levels of sets of test items predicted to be written at 2nd- through 8th-grade levels; (b) administering the tests to 782 students in grades 2 through 5; (3) using the class means as the unit of analyses and subjecting the data to a two-factor repeated measures ANOVA. Significant differences were found on class mean performance scores across the levels of readability. These results indicated that a relationship exists between students’reading grade levels and their responses to test items written at higher readability levels.
β-Adrenergic Stimulation of Cardiac Non-myocytes Augments the Growth-promoting Activity of Non-myocyte Conditioned Medium

Although the stimulatory action of catecholamines on the heart has been presumed to result exclusively from their direct effects on the cardiac myocytes, little work has been done addressing the effects of catecholamines on the supporting non-myocytes of the heart. We have recently identified medium conditioned by neonatal rat cardiac non-myocytes (NMC-CM) as the source of a growth-promoting factor which leads to cardiac myocyte hypertrophy in culture, suggesting that these non-myocytes may play an active role in myocardial growth. Since cardiac non-myocytes also contain adrenergic receptors (both alpha and beta) on their cell surface, we asked whether adrenergic stimulation of these non-myocytes could supplement the growth-promoting effect of NMC-CM. While isoproterenol (ISO, 0.2 microM) caused no increase in the per cell content of total protein in the non-myocytes, inclusion of ISO in the medium used in the production of NMC-CM augmented the growth promoting effects of this "ISOCM" over control CM. This increase was not seen with the alpha 1 adrenergic agonist phenylephrine suggesting that the stimulatory effect was specific to the beta-adrenergic receptor. Because TGF beta 3 contains an upstream cAMP Response Element, we wonder whether its expression could respond to the increase in cAMP induced by ISO. Non-myocytes treated over 72 h with ISO expressed increased steady state mRNA levels for TGF beta 3 but not that for the closely related TGF beta 1 over this time period. We believe that this is the first report indicating that a potential mechanism for the observed effects of beta-adrenergic stimulation on myocardial cells in culture and possibly relevant in vivo is the contribution of beta-stimulated factor(s) produced by non-myocytes which act in a paracrine fashion on myocardial cells.
Detection of neutral products formed during excimer laser ablation of polyimide by UV and VUV laser photoionization/mass spectrometry

Some of the neutral species which are produced in the laser ablation of polyimide have been characterized using multiphoton ionization/time of flight mass spectrometry. Three different wavelengths (193 nm, 157 nm, and 118 nm) have been used in an attempt to effect soft ionization of the products formed during or after the initial laser ablation of the polymer. Neutral photo-ablation products detected using this scheme range from atomic to high molecular weight species which, depending on the probe wavelength, include pure carbon clusters as well as a broad distribution of heteroatom containing clusters. However, there is virtually no overlap in the mass spectra recorded at each probe wavelength. When probing with 193 nm, marked changes are observed in the mass spectra as a function of the probe flux used. At moderate fluxes, pure carbon clusters (fullerenes) are observed. The identification of a large distribution of species other than pure carbon clusters is in dramatic contrast to the recent observation [W.R. Creasy, J.T. Brenna: Chem. Phys. 126, 453 (1988)] of the positively charged ionic species produced, which are solely carbon clusters. These results suggest that the neutral and ionic products observed after ablation of the polymer are due to both condensation of the atomic and molecular fragments which form during the ablation laser pulse and nascent polymer fragments. Various implications of this result for the unambiguous determination of the true ablation product distribution are discussed.
Measurement of muon tagged open heavy flavor production in Pb + Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV with ATLAS

Abstract Heavy flavor quarks are an important probe with which to study the hot, dense medium produced in heavy ion collisions. Charm and bottom quarks are produced at a relatively early stage of the collision and are predicted to have a smaller gluon radiation due to the dead cone effect. Semi-leptonic heavy flavor decays can be identified by the presence of a muon and separated from the light meson background using a template fitting method. In this talk, the R CP for heavy flavor muons in Pb + Pb collisions at s N N = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC is presented as a function of muon transverse momentum.
In a league of their own: Mental leveling and the creation of social comparability in sport

Social measurement involves comparison across highly varying subjects, possible only when a degree of similarity is perceived among disparate events. Assuming sport as a prototype, this paper argues that such comparability derives from a three-pronged process of mental leveling.By (1) matchingopponents according to characteristics thought to influence the object or trait in question, (2) standardizingtheir performances, and (3) scalingthe resulting competitive leagues against one another, leveling yields a stratified meaning system through which individual performances can be ranked. This examination reveals that creating comparability among discrete objects is not without its price; the same mental gridwork that secures comparabilit withinleagues precludes comparison acrossthem, leading to a stratified system whose classes are separated by formidable mental and institutional boundaries. This point becomes particularly salient when one considers the invocation of this model in realms other than sport.
Adolescent Male-to-Female Transgender Voice and Communication Therapy.

A B S T R A C T Current research to describe and evaluate effectiveness of voice and communication therapy for male-to-female transgender people is limited to adults. This paper provides rationale, procedures, and outcomes from voice and communication therapy for a maleto-female transgender adolescent 15 years of age. Treatment addressed vocal hygiene, breath support, fundamental frequency, intonation, resonance and vocal quality, and rate. Positive acoustic, perceptual, and client self-report outcomes confirm treatment effectiveness for this adolescent. Learning outcomes: The reader will be able to recognize common aspects of transgender voice and communication therapy provided by a speech-language pathologist. The reader will also be able to explain the effectiveness of therapy provided to an adolescent speaker.
Selective antagonism to the cadherin BT-R1 interferes with calcium-induced adhesion of epithelial membrane vesicles.

BT-R1 is a member of the cadherin superfamily of proteins and is expressed in the midgut epithelium of Manduca sexta during larval development. Previously, we showed that calcium ions influence the structure and stability of BT-R1 on brush border membrane vesicles (BBMVs) prepared from M. sexta midgut epithelium. In the present study, the effects of calcium and Cry1Ab toxin, produced by Bacillus thuringiensis, on the adhesive properties of BBMVs were investigated. Addition of calcium to a suspension of BBMVs promoted adhesion and aggregation of the vesicles. Treatment of BBMVs with trypsin or lowering the pH (pH 4.0) of the BBMV suspension abolished calcium-induced vesicle aggregation, whereas treatment with deglycosylating enzymes did not affect the aggregation of vesicles, indicating that adhesion and clustering of BBMVs involves protein−protein interactions. Preincubation of BBMVs with Cry1Ab toxin, which specifically binds to BT-R1 with high affinity and disrupts the midgut epithelium of M. sexta, cau...
The liquidity effect for open market operations

Abstract The liquidity effect is the negative relationship between the supply of federal funds and the overnight federal funds rate. Deviations of the federal funds rate from its target can be interpreted as demand innovations for federal funds. Permanent adjustments to demand are modeled as an unobserved component and estimated using the Kalman filter to identify liquidity effects. The demand-based approach for identifying the liquidity effect contrasts previous work which concentrates on errors forecasting the supply of federal funds. This paper finds a liquidity effect several times larger than that from previous studies, indicating the market for federal funds is less liquid than previously thought. The effect of a $1 billion increase in open market operations over a 1-week period is a decrease of the federal funds rate by about 12 basis points.
Two-step chemical-kinetic descriptions for hydrocarbon–oxygen-diluent ignition and detonation applications

Abstract Two-step chemical-kinetic mechanisms for acetylene, ethylene, propane, and JP-10 detonations in oxygen-diluent mixtures are described for use in detonation studies. Conditions addressed cover post-shock temperatures between 1300 and 2500 K, pressures between 1 and 100 bar, and equivalence ratios from 0.5 to 2.0. These mechanisms were developed through reduction from a detailed mechanism consisting of 193 reactions among 41 species that has been tested extensively against shock tube ignition times, counter flow flame-structure measurements, and flame-speed data from literature. Ignition times and temperature histories from the simplified descriptions are in good agreement with those from the detailed mechanism. For all of these fuels, the two-step mechanism consists of a fuel-consumption step that produces radicals, CO, and H2O and releases most of the heat, followed by a CO-oxidation, radical-recombination step, which releases the remainder of the heat thus approaching equilibrium. For acetylene and ethylene, the first step proceeds at a rate, which is the sum of the rates of an initiation step and the H + O2 branching step. For propane and JP-10, due to the fundamentally different chemical-kinetic processes involved, this step has been assigned a rate that is proportional to a characteristic fuel-consumption rate. The second step proceeds at the rate of the elementary H + OH recombination reaction. More complex descriptions involving skeletal mechanisms are available for acetylene, ethylene, and propane. Encouraging results have been obtained through applications of these simplified mechanisms in detonation studies.