cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Chronically lowering sympathetic activity protects sympathetic nerves in spleens from aging F344 rats

Abstract In the present study, we investigated how increased sympathetic tone during middle-age affects the splenic sympathetic neurotransmission. Fifteen-month-old (M) F344 rats received rilmenidine (0, 0.5 or 1.5 mg/kg/day, i.p. for 90 days) to lower sympathetic tone. Controls for age were untreated 3 or 18 M rats. We report that rilmenidine (1) reduced plasma and splenic norepinephrine concentrations and splenic norepinephrine turnover, and partially reversed the sympathetic nerve loss; and (2) increased β-adrenergic receptor (β-AR) density and β-AR-stimulated cAMP production. Collectively, these findings suggest a protective effect of lowering sympathetic tone on sympathetic nerve integrity, and enhanced sympathetic neurotransmission in secondary immune organs.
Long-Term Gestational Hypoxia Modulates Expression of Key Genes Governing Mitochondrial Function in the Perirenal Adipose of the Late Gestation Sheep Fetus

We previously reported that long-term hypoxia (LTH) increases expression of brown adipose tissue (BAT) genes in the perirenal adipose in the ovine fetus. The mechanisms with which hypoxia mediates the enhanced BAT phenotype are unresolved. This study was designed to examine the effects of LTH on (1) the expression of endothelial cell nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and (2) indicators of mitochondrial biogenesis (transcription factors mitochondrial transcription factor A (mtTFA), nuclear respiratory factor (NRF) 1, and NRF-2; cytochrome c oxidase (COX) I, II, and IV and mitochondrial DNA content). Pregnant ewes were maintained at high altitude (3820 m) from ∼40 to 137 to 140 days of gestation and perirenal adipose was collected from normoxic control and LTH fetuses. There was no effect of LTH on fetal body weight or perirenal adipose mass. Long-term hypoxia increased (P < .05) perirenal eNOS and phospho-eNOS, messenger RNA (mRNA) for NRF1, NRF-2, mtTFA as well as COX-I, COX-II, and COX-IV mRNA. In contrast, mRNA for 2 markers for cellular proliferation (Ki67 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen [PCNA]) was lower in perirenal adipose from LTH fetuses compared to controls (P < .05), while mitochondrial to nuclear DNA ratio did not differ between groups. In conclusion, nitric oxide may function as a mechanism via which LTH enhances the BAT phenotype in fetal sheep prior to birth. Although there is an apparent increase in genes supporting mitochondrial function and adaptive thermogenesis in response to LTH, there does not appear to be an increased mitochondrial biogenesis per se. Such adaptive changes may provide a mechanism for the prominence of the BAT phenotype observed in the late gestation LTH fetus.
Information processing and reading competencies in hydrocephalic children

Abstract Cross-sectional studies of heterogeneous groups of hydrocephalic children report reading lags of 18 months compared to controls matched for physical disability. This longitudinal study investigated the relationship between the global skill of reading and basic sensory information processing capacities in three homogeneous groups of children: 21 children with uncomplicated hydrocephalus; 24 children who made excessive letter reversals (LR), and 30 normal school children. All children had normal range IQ, and were 4–10 years of age. Three information processing tasks were administered once per year for two years: a tactile matching-to-sample, a visual tachistoscopic matching-to-sample task and an auditory dichotic listening task. Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests were given to measure reading proficiency. Hydrocephalics demonstrated a number of consistent information processing deficits when compared to letter reversal and normal school children. Hydrocephalics showed tactile information processing deficits, quantitatively and qualitatively, both years. Hydrocephalic children showed consistent qualitative differences in visual information processing both years. Hydrocephalics did now show consistent differences (i.e., both years) in auditory information processing. Global reading proficiency appeared to be normal both in children with uncomplicated hydrocephalus and letter reversal children with normal range IQ. Some subcomponent reading skills were impaired in hydrocephalics. Several significant correlations were found between information processing errors and reading scores in both hydrocephalics and letter reversal children. However, these correlations were considered unreliable due to either (1) a failure to reach significance the second year or (2) a sign change from positive to negative by the second year of testing. The conclusion was drawn that there were no consistent associations between specific tactile, visual and auditory information processing deficits and reading proficiency in any of the three groups tested. These results are discussed in light of the importance of longitudinal research with homogenous groups as opposed to cross-sectional sampling in children with proficiency skill problems.
Mechanical factors in electrode‐induced osteogenesis

Previous experiments have suggested that mechanical activity of electrode implants may contribute to the observed bone formation that has been attributed to the electrical currents. This was tested by implanting movable and stationary wires in the medullary canal of the rabbit femora or tibiae. The moving implants uniformly showed significant medullary bone formation at the wire, whereas the stationary ones did not. This bone persisted for as long as 8 weeks and was mostly resorbed by 12 weeks as the implants became fixed. The new trabecular bone closely resembled that typically seen at electrically active implants. Implant motion may have a more important role in electrically induced osteogenesis than previously thought.
Steroid Maintenance of Pregnancy in Rats in the Absence of Dietary Protein

Investigation was made into the alterations of blood, liver, skeletal muscle, uterus, placenta and fetuses of mother rats fed a 0 % casein diet and injected with estrone and progesterone from days 3-20 gestation. Successful maintenance of pregnancy by steroid injections into protein-depleted rats was not associated with increased food intake, decreased nitrogen excretion, excessive enlargement or mobilization of hepatic or uterine protein sources when compared with appropriate control animals. It is suggested that the transfer of maternal protein to developing fetuses in the absence of dietary protein emanates to a large extent from skeletal muscles where both total size and protein concentration were decreased in response to the steroid regimen. Muscle glycogen levels of the steroid-injected protein-depleted pregnant rats were markedly reduced as compared with complete diet-fed pregnant controls. Though smaller in size and fewer in number, the placentae of the experimental rats did not differ significant...
Left ventricular apical puncture: a procedure surviving well into the new millennium.

We report two patients with a history of prior mitral valve and aortic valve replacement with St. Jude prosthetic valves, who were referred for repeat valve replacement after noninvasive assessment was suggestive of prosthetic valve malfunction. Both patients were managed medically after evaluation with direct left ventricular apical puncture revealed normal hemodynamics in the first and mild aortic stenosis in the second patient. These two cases illustrate that, despite the advancements in the noninvasive evaluation of prosthetic heart valves, left ventricular direct puncture continues to have an important value in the evaluation of patients referred for repeat valve replacement, and it can prevent unnecessary surgeries associated with a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 49:68–73, 2000. © 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The rapid development of arterial lesions in dogs fed an “infarct-producing” diet

Abstract A dietary method for the rapid production of atherosclerosis in dogs has been presented. Previous methods involving feeding of cholesterol, bile salts and thiouracil have usually required more than one year to produce atherosclerosis. The method presented herein consists essentially of adding large amounts of highly saturated fats to the diets previously used. With this method atherosclerotic lesions have been produced in as short a period as 8 weeks.
A Case Study of Select llinois Community College Board Chair Perspectives on Their Leadership Role

The leadership perspectives of three community college board chairs were examined in a multiple-case study. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed. The themes of facilitation, communication, information, participation, expectation, and collaboration emerged from the data. The author summarizes the chairs' perspectives and offers a guide to board chair leadership.
Strategies and equipment for sampling suspended sediment and associated toxic chemicals in large rivers — With emphasis on the Mississippi river

Abstract A Lagrangian strategy for sampling large rivers, which was developed and tested in the Orinoco and Amazon Rivers of South America during the early 1980s, is now being applied to the study of toxic chemicals in the Mississippi River. A series of 15–20 cross-sections of the Mississippi mainstem and its principal tributaries is sampled by boat in downstream sequence, beginning upriver of St. Louis and concluding downriver of New Orleans 3 weeks later. The timing of the downstream sampling sequence approximates the travel time of the river water. Samples at each cross-section are discharge-weighted to provide concentrations of dissolved and suspended constituents that are converted to fluxes. Water-sediment mixtures are collected from 10–40 equally spaced points across the river width by sequential depth integration at a uniform vertical transit rate. Essential equipment includes (i) a hydraulic winch, for sensitive control of vertical transit rates, and (ii) a collapsible-bag sampler, which allows integrated samples to be collected at all depths in the river. A section is usually sampled in 4–8 h, for a total sample recovery of 100–120 l. Sampled concentrations of suspended silt and clay are reproducible within 3%.
Application of a Navier-Stokes Solver to the Analysis of Multielement Airfoils and Wings Using Multizonal Grid Techniques

A computational study was performed to determine the predictive capability of a Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes code (CFL3D) for two-dimensional and three-dimensional multielement high-lift systems. Three configurations were analyzed: a three-element airfoil, a wing with a full span flap and a wing with a partial span flap. In order to accurately model these complex geometries, two different multizonal structured grid techniques were employed. For the airfoil and full span wing configurations, a chimera or overset grid technique was used. The results of the airfoil analysis illustrated that although the absolute values of lift were somewhat in error, the code was able to predict reasonably well the variation with Reynolds number and flap position. The full span flap analysis demonstrated good agreement with experimental surface pressure data over the wing and flap. Multiblock patched grids were used to model the partial span flap wing. A modification to an existing patched- grid algorithm was required to analyze the configuration as modeled. Comparisons with experimental data were very good, indicating the applicability of the patched-grid technique to analyses of these complex geometries.
Enabling Aspects of Metal Halide Nanocomposites for Reversible Energy Storage

The concept of reversible and non reversible conversion in high bandgap metal fluorides is expanded through the introduction of mixed conducting matrices to form dense nanocomposite structures capable of good transport to nanodomains of metal fluorides. Specific examples for BiF3 and especially CuF2 using matrices of nominal composition of MoO3 are discussed. The reversible conversion mechanism of the metal halides is expanded to enable a new concept of electrochemically self assembled microbatteries (ESAMs) based on alkali halides. Such technology enables the fabrication of a solid state microbattery between two current collectors of various configurations on the microscale. First examples demonstrated based on LiI have demonstrated cell formation, appreciable energy density, and preliminary reversibility.
Generating non-redundant association rules

The traditional association rule mining framework produces many redundant rules. The extent of redundancy is a lot larger than previously suspected. We present a new framework for associations based on the concept of closed frequent itemsets. The number of non-redundant rules produced by the new approach is exponentially (in the length of the longest frequent itemset) smaller than the rule set from the traditional approach. Experiments using several “hard” as well as “easy” real and synthetic databases confirm the utility of our framework in terms of reduction in the number of rules presented to the user, and in terms of time.
PROXIMATE CONTRIBUTIONS TO ADULT BODY SIZE IN TWO SPECIES OF DUSKY SALAMANDERS (PLETHODONTIDAE: DESMOGNATHUS)

Abstract I used skeletochronological data to evaluate the contributions of propagule size, larval/juvenile growth, and age at first reproduction to differences in adult body size in two species of plethodontid salamanders of the genus Desmognathus. The traits in question were evaluated in populations of the larger D. quadramaculatus and smaller D. monticola in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, USA. Gompertz and von Bertalanffy functions were fitted to the plots of standard length on skeletochronological age of each complete sample (larvae and/or juveniles, and adults) of earlier data sets; linear functions were fitted to data of immatures (larvae and/or juveniles). In order to examine the relationship of body mass and age, I conducted regressions of body mass on standard length in later samples of both species, calculated estimated body masses of the salamanders in the skeletochronological data sets, and then fitted a modified Gompertz function to each plot of body mass on age. The resu...
Effect of voltage sags on adjustable speed drives-a critical evaluation and an approach to improve its performance

In this paper, a critical evaluation of the effect of voltage sags on adjustable speed drives (ASDs) is presented. In particular the DC-link voltage variation under voltage sag and its dependence on source impedance, DC-link inductance and output load is computed. It is shown that for larger source impedance, the DC-link voltage variation under a voltage sag is also large and increases the susceptibility of an ASD and may result in a nuisance trip. The results from the analysis are plotted in per unit quantities and serve as a design guide to assess ASD performance for a variety of sags. In order to improve the performance of ASDs, this paper proposes an integrated boost converter approach. This approach provides ridethrough to critical ASD load during voltage sags without any additional energy storage device. Upon detection of a voltage sag the boost converter operates with suitable duty ratio and maintains the DC-link voltage within acceptable limits. This prevents nuisance tripping and facilitates continuous operation of critical ASD load at rated torque. The proposed integrated boost converter does not introduce any additional semiconductors in the series path of the power flow and is low in cost. A commercially available 480 V, 22 kVA ASD is modified with the integrated boost converter approach and details are discussed. Analysis, simulation and experimental performance of the ridethrough approach are presented.
Microlocal Analysis on Morrey Spaces

The spaces now called Morrey spaces were introduced by C.B. Morrey to study regularity properties of solutions to quasi-linear elliptic PDE, but since then they have been useful in other areas of PDE. Before saying more on this, let us first define the Morrey spaces M q p (ℝ n
Bridging Critical Feminist Gerontology and Social Work to Interrogate the Narrative on Civic Engagement

It is important to bridge the work of feminist scholars who toil in their respective fields and are not always directly connected to one another because they publish in a plethora of different outlets. Beginning with a brief background on the emergence of critical gerontology, the work of feminist activists is briefly reviewed and the scholarship of feminist gerontologists in social work is highlighted. Using the current narrative on civic engagement as an exemplar of how the discourse changes when feminist gerontologists raise questions about unintended consequences, the article ends with implications for social work educators and practitioners.
The New Victory Danish Festival: A New Perspective on Puppetry and Family Entertainment

Claudia Orenstein reconsiders the notion of “entertainment for the whole family” via a puppetry-centered program that, by drawing on the power of performing objects, delves into the uncanny and fantastical to appeal to young minds, inventive artists, and adventurous adult spectators alike. Edward Scheer considers the aesthetics of disappearance within Australian performance artist Mike Parr’s most recent series of actions, Amerika , which involve extreme physical demands even as they posit the body as subject simultaneously to its own presence and absence.
Excitation of ultrasonic Lamb waves in composite membranes

The excitation of ultrasonic Lamb waves by an interdigital transducer in a composite plate consisting of a piezoelectric thin film deposited on a nonpiezoelectric membrane is analyzed using the Green's function method. The amplitudes of the generated waves are obtained in terms of the charge density on transducer electrodes. An electrostatic analysis that neglects piezoelectric coupling is used to relate this charge density to the voltage applied across the IDT. This is then used to calculate the input characteristics of the IDT. The characteristics of Lamb wave devices fabricated on a zinc oxide-on-silicon nitride membrane are measured and compared with theoretical calculations. It is shown that strong internal reflections are inherently present in an IDT fabricated on thin plates. A knowledge of these is essential in order to correctly calculate the characteristics of the IDT. It appears that the internal reflections can be utilized to realize unidirectional transducers for Lamb waves.
Differential effects of control and antigen-specific T cells on intracellular mycobacterial growth

We investigated the effects of peripheral blood mononuclear cells expanded with irrelevant control and mycobacterial antigens on the intracellular growth of Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) in human macrophages. More than 90% of the cells present after 1 week of in vitro expansion were CD3+. T cells were expanded from purified protein derivative-negative controls, persons with latent tuberculosis, and BCG-vaccinated individuals. T cells expanded with nonmycobacterial antigens enhanced the intracellular growth of BCG in suboptimal cultures of macrophages. T cells expanded with live BCG or lysates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis directly inhibited intracellular BCG. Recent intradermal BCG vaccination significantly enhanced the inhibitory activity of T cells expanded with mycobacterial antigens (P lipoarabinomannan > 38kd > Ag85B > Mtb39) expanded inhibitory T cells, demonstrating the involvement of antigen-specific T cells in intracellular BCG inhibition. We studied the T-cell subsets and molecular mechanisms involved in the memory-immune inhibition of intracellular BCG. Mycobacteria-specific γδ T cells were the most potent inhibitors of intracellular BCG growth. Direct contact between T cells and macrophages was necessary for the BCG growth-enhancing and inhibitory activities mediated by control and mycobacteria-specific T cells, respectively. Increases in tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-6, transforming growth factor β, and vascular endothelial growth factor mRNA expression were associated with the enhancement of intracellular BCG growth. Increases in gamma interferon, FAS, FAS ligand, perforin, granzyme, and granulysin mRNA expression were associated with intracellular BCG inhibition. These culture systems provide in vitro models for studying the opposing T-cell mechanisms involved in mycobacterial survival and protective host immunity.
Biomimetic Sonar and Neuromorphic Processing Eliminate Reverberation Artifacts

A biomimetic sonar is configured using two conventional sensors that generate point processes related to echo waveform intensity, resembling biological action potential spikes. The sensors point slightly outward from the sonar axis, similar to pinnae in some bats, to acquire slightly different views of the environment during a rotational scan. Artifacts in sonar maps are points that do not relate to actual object locations. Physical criteria identify artifacts by applying echo strength, azimuthal extent, and binaural coincidence criteria. Neuromorphic processing implements these criteria with thresholding, delays, and short-term memories. Artifacts are deleted to produce robust sonar maps. Multiple resolution maps, generated by using two thresholds, illustrate improvements over conventional sonar maps and tradeoffs between resolution and stability
Development of EST-SSR Markers for the Study of Population Structure in Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)

A set of 61 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers was developed from the 19,523 Lactuca sativa and Lactuca serriola unigenes. Approximately 4.5% of the unigenes contained a perfect SSR at least 20 bp long, corresponding to roughly 1 perfect SSR per 14.7 kb. Marker polymorphism was tested on a set comprising 96 accessions representing all major horticultural types and 3 wild species (L. serriola, Lactuca saligna, and Lactuca virosa). Both the average marker heterozygosity (UHe = 0.32) and the number of different alleles per locus (Na = 3.56) were significantly reduced in expressed sequence tag (EST)-SSRs as compared with anonymous SSRs (UHe = 0.59, Na = 5.53). Marker transfer rate to the wild species corresponded to the decreasing sexual compatibility with L. sativa and was higher for EST-SSRs (100% L. serriola, 87% L. saligna, and 75% L. virosa) than for anonymous SSRs (93%, 66%, and 42%, respectively). Assessment of population structure among 90 L. sativa cultivars with SSRs was in good agreement with classification into the horticultural types. The average marker heterozygosity was smallest in iceberg (0.097), Latin (0.140), and romaine-type (0.151) cultivars while highest in leaf (green leaf 0.208 and red leaf 0.240) lettuces. The level of marker heterozygosity is in accord with morphological variability observed in different horticultural types.
Spermatophore production as a function of food abundance and age in the calanoid copepods, Acartia tonsa and Acartia hudsonica

Lifetime spermatophore (sperm packet) production, which can provide valuable information about male energetics and mating, is not known for any species of copepod. Spermatophore production could limit reproduction in species in which females require multiple matings to remain fertilized and in populations that often have adult sex ratios highly skewed toward females. Spermatophore production rates were measured in the laboratory for two species of calanoid copepods, Acartia tonsa and Acartia hudsonica, from time of maturation until death, and under three food regimes (high, low, and no food). Rates of spermatophore production in A. tonsa were independent of food treatment. By contrast, in A. hudsonica, spermatophore production was significantly greater under high food than in low or no food. Spermatophore production decreased significantly with age in both species and the majority of males ceased producing spermatophores halfway through their adult lives. This pattern occurred regardless of food treatment, except for in A. hudsonica under low-food conditions: low production rates in younger males were compensated by continued reproduction into old age. Therefore, there was no difference in the total lifetime number of spermatophores produced by males of A. hudsonica fed at high- or low-food conditions. In the absence of food, however, significantly fewer spermatophores were produced. In A. tonsa, there was no difference among food treatments in the total number of spermatophores produced over a male’s life. The effect of these low rates of spermatophore production on fertilization was evident in the field. During 2 years of weekly collections, at no point in time were all females in the population fertilized. We conclude that low rates of spermatophore production over a lifetime and the short reproductive period of males contribute to the low frequencies of mated females in field populations.
A single high affinity binding site for histone H1 in a nucleosome containing the Xenopus borealis 5 S ribosomal RNA gene.

We have reconstituted nucleosomes containing the Xenopus borealis 5 S rRNA gene, a single histone octamer, and 1 or 2 molecules of histone H1. We determine that the 1st molecule of histone H1 to associate with the 5 S nucleosome binds with high affinity (KD ~ 2 nM), and the 2nd molecule of H1 binds with a reduced affinity (KD~ 10 nM). This latter binding is comparable with the association of histone H1 with naked DNA. Neither molecule of histone H1 alters the helical periodicity of DNA in the nucleosome as revealed by hydroxyl radical cleavage. We conclude that although multiple molecules of histone H1 can associate with nucleosomal DNA, there is only a single high affinity binding site for histone H1 within the 5 S nucleosome.
Empirical constraints for perceptual modeling

Open peer critical commentary to Steven Lehar's article "Gestalt isomorphism and the primacy of subjective conscious experience: A Gestalt Bubble model"
A Bayesian approach to source separation

The problem of source separation is by its very nature an inductive inference problem. There is not enough information to deduce the solution, so one must use any available information to infer the most probable solution. We demonstrate that source separation problems are well-suited for the Bayesian approach which provides a natural and logically consistent method by which one can incorporate prior knowledge to estimate the most probable solution given that knowledge. We derive the Bell-Sejnowski ICA algorithm from first principles, i.e. Bayes' Theorem and demonstrate how the Bayesian methodology makes explicit the underlying assumptions. We then further demonstrate the power of the Bayesian approach by deriving two separation algorithms that incorporate additional prior information. One algorithm separates signals that are known a priori to be decorrelated and the other utilizes information about the signal propagation through the medium from the sources to the detectors.
Modeling Ethno-religious Conflicts as Prisoner's Dilemma Game in Graphs

In this paper, we present and analyze a multi-agentgame theoretic model of conflicts in multi-cultural societies. Two salient factors responsible for violence in multi-cultural societies (that are identified in the social sciences literature) are (a) ethnoreligiousidentity of the population and (b) spatial structure(distribution) of the population. It has also been experimentally shown by Lumsden that multi-cultural conflict can be viewed as a Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) game. Using the above observations, we model the multi-cultural conflict problem as a variant of the repeated PD game in graphs. The graph consists of labeled nodes corresponding to the different ethno-religious types and the topology of the graph encode the spatial distribution and interaction of the population. The agents play the game with neighbors of their opponent type and they update their strategiesbased on neighbors of their same type. This strategy updatedynamics with different update neighborhood from game playing neighborhood distinguishes our model from conventional models of PD games in graphs. We present simulation results showing the effect of various parameters of our model to the propensity ofconflict in a population consisting of two ethno-religious groups.
Total homocysteine and cognition in a tri-ethnic cohort: The Northern Manhattan Study

Objective: Several studies implicate elevated homocysteine as a risk factor for dementia and cognitive decline, but most studies have involved subjects older than 55 years from homogeneous populations. The authors examined homocysteine and cognition in a tri-ethnic community sample 40 years and older. Method: The Northern Manhattan Study includes 3,298 stroke-free subjects. Of these 2,871 had baseline fasting total homocysteine (tHcy) levels and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores available. The authors used multiple linear regression to examine the cross-sectional association between baseline tHcy levels and mean MMSE scores adjusting for sociodemographic and vascular risk factors. Results: Homocysteine levels were related to age, renal function, and B12 deficiency. Those with B12 deficiency had tHcy levels five points higher (9.4 vs 14.4 nmol/L). Mean MMSE scores differed by age, sex, and race-ethnic group. Those with hypertension, diabetes, cardiac disease, and B12 deficiency had lower MMSE scores. In multivariate analyses, elevated tHcy was associated with lower mean MMSE scores for those older than 65 but not for those 40 to 64. Adjusting for B12 deficiency and sociodemographic factors the mean MMSE was 2.2 points lower for each unit increase in the log tHcy level (95% CI −3.6, −0.9). Adding vascular risk factors to the model did not attenuate this effect (mean MMSE −2.2 points; 95% CI −3.5, −0.9). Conclusions: Elevated homocysteine was independently associated with decreased cognition in subjects older than 65 in this tri-ethnic cohort, adjusting for sociodemographic and vascular risk factors.
District Superintendent Perceptions of Idaho Secondary CTE Teachers' Professional Development Needs.

The superintendent is the instructional leader and chief executive officer of the school district (Hoyle, Bjork, Collier, & Glass, 2005; Wilmore, 2008). Superintendents are responsible for and supervise district budgets, personnel decisions, and community interaction (Wilmore, 2008). Ultimately, however, the “CEO” is responsible for increasing student achievement district wide. To create a culture that fosters high levels of achievement, effective superintendents empower district teachers to grow professionally and focus on higher levels of performance (Hoyle, et al., 2005).
Information and Implementation: Assessing the Net Impact of Trading on Mutual Funds

Studies examine the relation between mutual fund performance and trading cost using a variety of proxies - the most common being portfolio turnover. Overall, the evidence is consistent with informational equilibrium, i.e., trading has zero net impact on performance. We offer an alternative explanation, that common trade cost proxies lack statistical power. We show that a necessary condition for statistical power that common trading cost proxies such as turnover fail to satisfy: the proxy must jointly reflect both the volume and per unit cost of trading. Using this observation we develop a simple proxy for trading cost that sorts performance differences of 233 bps per year across fund quartiles, and forecasts fund returns better than past performance, fund size, expense ratios, or other proxies for trading cost.
NEGOTIATING TEXT INTEGRITY

In this study, I undertook a discourse analysis of the interaction between fans and producers of the digital-game series Fallout, with a goal to better understand fan–producer interaction in an era where it is increasingly common and consequential. I argued that we must understand the tension between the two parties not only as a struggle over ownership or censorship, but more fundamentally as a struggle over the less material concept of text integrity (defined as an ideal about the wholeness, validity, and truth of a media text). Guided by this concept, I found that fans of the game series Fallout enacted four roles when communicating with producers: consular/managerial, antagonistic/adversarial, cynical/jaded, and deferential/respectful. Conversely, when producers communicated with fans, they simultaneously enacted Jenkins' three strategies: support, contempt, or supervision. The study concluded by arguing for a more nuanced understanding of fan–producer interaction in an era where fans and producers ar...
Onlay island flap in the repair of mid and distal penile hypospadias without chordee

The onlay island flap is a variation of the transverse preputial island flap for hypospadias repair. It is useful in patients without fibrous chordee whose meatus is mid penile or subcoronal. This technique was used in 50 patients and the results were compared to those of 34 patients undergoing the Mathieu meatal-based flap (flip-flap) during the same period. The cosmetic results with the onlay island flap were quite satisfactory and the complication rate was 6 per cent, which was identical to that observed with the Mathieu repair. The onlay island flap is applicable particularly in patients with mid shaft hypospadias without chordee, if the meatus is too proximal for a Mathieu repair and in patients with distal penile hypospadias with deficient ventral skin.
Weeding Out Failed Practices: A Case Study of Community Gardens in Rural Mali

The World Bank estimates that 78% of economically active women in Mali are engaged in agricultural activities. Consequently women are challenged as much as men by recent changes that have resulted in diminished agricultural yield. Importantly this situation has increased male migration to urban centers to find alternative work making women’s roles in production essential to household and community survival. Attempting to ensure food sufficiency women supplement family earnings through small-scale income-generating activities such as the production of charcoal the processing of shea butter and market gardening. In his study on Mali Becker (2000) found that revenue from own-account activities including gardening are essential to food security and most critical for women whose access to labor and insecure land tenure were most volatile. The failure of large-scale agricultural interventions has also prompted scholars to propose alternative strategies for enhancing food security including small-scale gardens. Several facets of community gardening such as the relatively low start-up cost adaptability to harsh conditions and the capacity for fostering sound environmental practices have been the basis for its support by NGOs worldwide. Unlike subsistence farming which is relatively more labor intensive gardening activities can coincide with women’s daily tasks. Some scholars further argue that gardening is a “food-based” strategy that can empower women because it relies on existing practices and on their responsibility as caregivers. (excerpt)
Polishing of SiC films

Abstract Usage of SiC films in the fabrication of microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems has increased significantly in the recent past. SiC films need to be polished at different stages during fabrication and hence there is a necessity to have suitable slurries. This chapter gives an overview of the polishing characteristics and challenges associated with SiC chemical mechanical planarization. It presents a mechanistic understanding of the polishing mechanisms of SiC films in different slurries based on various surface characterization data. The reasons for the enhancement of SiC polish rates in the presence of certain transition metal additives are also discussed.
Spirituality in Latino families of children with autism spectrum disorder

ABSTRACTResearch on Latino parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) suggests that these parents often use spirituality to conceptualize and to cope with their child’s diagnosis. However, there are no studies that examine religion among Latino parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The current study explores how Latino parents of children with ASD incorporate spirituality into their conceptualizations of their child’s disability. In the current study, 34 Latina mothers of children with ASD were interviewed about autism-related services, family characteristics, and cultural beliefs including spiritual beliefs. Thematic analysis of the transcribed interview data relating to spiritual beliefs was conducted for the present study. Most mothers endorsed beliefs that their child with a disability was a message from God. Within this theme, mothers reported beliefs that their child was a blessing from God, a test from God, a sign from God or that the parent was s...
Death of Rationality: The Social Networks’ Factor in Policy Response to Ebola

ABSTRACTThe sociopolitical role of social networks in public decision-making is far from fully understood. Their fast-pace and elusive nature makes the situation fluid and therefore susceptible to rushed theorization. The emerging dominant view is that social networks increase mass political polarization. A new view proposes that social networks increase harmony and tolerance. By examining the role of social networks in the policy response to Ebola in the United States, this paper suggests that social networks play a dual role: increasing polarization around politically divisive issues and promoting tolerance regarding less contentious issues. The paper also expanded the definition of social networks to include online discussions forums. Using the public choice theory and its rational model as a frame of reference, the study focused on six online forums during the peak of Ebola scare, October 2014 through January 2015.
Thewkachela ratufi n.g. n.sp., an Unusual New Cheyletid Mite (Cheyletidae: Acariformes) from the Giant Squirrel, Ratufa, (Sciuridae: Rodentia) in Sabah and Thailand

Thewkachela ratufi , (Cheyletidae: Acariformes) is described from adult females taken from Ratufa affinis (Sciuridae: Rodentia) in Sabah, formerly North Borneo, and R. bicolor and R. affinis in Thailand. The mites are unique among known Cheyletidae in possessing a large recurved hook arising from the ventral surface of the subcapitulum.
A note on interresponse time distributions during generalization testing

Following variable interval training a pigeon was reinforced for responding to S+ (1099 cps tone) but was not reinforced for responding during S-(no tone). When discrimination was stable test stimuli were introduced at preselected (formerly S-) periods. Interresponse time (IRT) distributions were obtained during presentation of stimuli. Minimal changes occurred in the IRT distributions for test stimuli relative to those for S+.
Theodicy and Commerce

Recent theological treatments of political economy have tended to ignore the early-modern origins from which the capital market system arose. An effort is made here to trace a specific conceptual development from the theodicies of G. W. Leibniz and Bishop William King to the economic theory of David Hume and Adam Smith, a development that implies certain theological transmutations. Both the theodicist and economist claim, for different reasons, that nature itself is capable of redeeming evils. Two theoretical shifts contributed to this development: rational optimism and conjectural historiography. Scrutinizing the mechanistic backdrop for this historical narrative discloses acute theological compromises.
Extension and enhancement of the Allen-Eggers analytic solution for ballistic entry trajectories

The closed-form analytic solution to the equations of motion for ballistic entry developed by Allen and Eggers is presented using modern nomenclature and is extended and enhanced through several new developments. A method of choosing an appropriate constant flightpath angle is identified. Analytic limits are proposed that bound the domain of applicability of the approximation. Closed-form expressions for range and time are developed that are consistent with the assumptions in the Allen-Eggers approximation. Collectively, these improvements address key weaknesses in the original approximate solution. Assessment of the accuracy of the approximate solution relative to the planar equations of motion shows that the extended and enhanced Allen-Eggers solution provides good accuracy across a wide range of ballistic coefficients at Earth for initial flight-path angles steeper than about -7 deg.
Species Diversity Investigation of Mosquitoes in Taihang Mountain Area(Anyang,Hebi Section)

Objective To research species diversity of mosquitoes in Taihang Mountain area(Anyang,Hebi section)of Henan Province. Method Adult mosquitoes in livestock sheds and villagers living room were collected by labor hour method. Larvae in the nearby rivers and potholes water were observed and identified at the same time. Results 748 adult mosquitoes and 319 larvae were collected in this research,these mosquitoes belong to 4 genera and 9 species,such as An. sinensis,An. pattoni,Cx. pipiens pallens,Cx. tritaeniorhynchus,Cx. Pseudovishnui,Cx. sinensis,Ae.albopictus,Ae. vexans and Ar. Subalbatus. The density index of Anyang section is higher than Hebi section. Conclusion The advantage mosquitoes in Taihang Mountain area(Anyang,Hebi section)is Ar. Subalbatus,Cx. Pseudovishnui and Ar. subalbatus were followed. The ratios were 57.14%,16.75% and 9.85%. The density index difference was coursed by precipitation difference of tow sections. This phenomenon illustrated that the survival of the mosquitoes is related to ecological system factors such as climate and environmental,this research was also influenced by these factors.
Peer-Enhanced Weight Management Treatment for Overweight Adolescents: Some Preliminary Findings

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the utility of adding a peer-based intervention (peer-based skills training [PBST]) to a traditional cognitive–behavioral weight management intervention for overweight adolescents. Sixteen adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16 years and between 30 and 80$percnt; overweight participated in a 16-week group-based weight management program with the addition of peer-based skills training. Adolescents and parents separately attended 60-min group sessions addressing diet, physical activity, and behavior modification techniques. In addition, adolescents attended a 90-min PBST session each week. Group activities included both mental and physical challenges that fostered development of trust, social skills, and self-confidence. Measures of height and weight, as well as questionnaires assessing self-concept, physical self-worth, and social functioning, were obtained prior to treatment, immediately following the 16-week intervention, and 6 months after completion of active treatment. Paired t tests revealed significant improvements over time in measures of physical self-worth, physical appearance and romantic appeal. Adolescents lost an average of 14.73 pounds from the start to end of treatment, and this was maintained at 6-month follow-up. These preliminary findings provide some support for the application of a novel peer-based program as an adjunctive treatment for adolescent weight management intervention.
Intraband relaxation of hot carriers in AlGaAs and related semiconductors

Previous measurements of intraband carrier relaxation in semiconductors have employed the equal-pulse correlation technique to observe a saturation effect in the transmission of short pulses through a thin sample.1 Relaxation times were extracted from the recorded data by fitting it to the convolution of the pulse autocorrelation and an exponential response function. This requires some estimate of the coherent contribution to the signal, which in turn depends on parameters that are not directly accessible to experiment.
Credit Management: Keys to the Home Buying Decision Among African Americans

Mort African American households that can afford to purchase a home do not do so. In part, this results from their lack of knowledge of the home buying process. This papers outlines the steps in the home purchasing process and provides suggestions designed to increase an African American’s chances of uwning a home.
Settling in the States

While we made several good friends in Seattle, we were only to stay at the University of Washington for 2 years until 1953. That was because Katy Dan had joined the Biology Department at the newly established Tokyo Metropolitan University as head of the Embryology Section (at the urging of his classmate Daigoro Moriwaki, who had just accepted the chairmanship). He wanted me to return to Tokyo and join him as Assistant Professor in his new group. It was Katy and Jean who had gotten me the opportunity to come to the United States in the first place, and Sylvia agreed that I owed it to them at least to try and see what we could do there so I accepted.
The Superposition-Traffic Game

We consider a queuing game where a set of sources or players strategically send jobs to a single shared server. The traffic sources have disparate coefficients of variation of the interarrival times, and the sources are strategic in their choice of mean inter-arrival times (or the arrival rates). For every job completion, each player receives a benefit that potentially depends on the number of other players using the server (capturing network effects due to using the same server). However, the players experience a delay due to their jobs waiting in the queue. Assuming the service times have a general distribution with a finite second moment, we model the delay experienced by the superposed traffic using a Brownian approximation.In our first contribution, we show that the total rate of job arrivals at a Nash equilibrium with n sources is larger when the sources have heterogeneous coefficients of variation, while the average delay experienced by a job is smaller, compared to the equilibrium with an equal number of homogeneous sources. In the second contribution, we characterize the equilibrium behavior of the queuing system when the number of homogeneous sources scales to infinity in terms of the rate of growth of the benefits due to network effects.
Fever of unknown origin (FUO) due to miliary BCG: The diagnostic importance of morning temperature spikes and highly elevated ferritin levels.

Fever of unknown origin (FUO) is defined as prolonged fever of >101 °F for at least 3 weeks that remains undiagnosed after a focused inpatient or outpatient workup. One of the most elusive FUO diagnoses is miliary tuberculosis (TB) which typically has few/no localizing signs/symptoms. Since the introduction of intravesicular Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) treatment for bladder carcinoma, miliary BCG has only rarely been reported as a cause of FUO. As with miliary TB, there are few/no clues to suspect miliary BCG. We present an interesting case of FUO due to miliary BCG without any localizing signs, i.e., no lung, liver or prostate involvement. The only clues to the diagnosis of this FUO due to disseminated BCG were morning temperature spikes and otherwise unexplained highly elevated ferritin levels.
Ignatian Spirituality, Political Effectiveness, and Spiritual Discernment: Dean Brackley's Account of Liberation Theology

Dean Brackley offers a helpful, yet underutilized, way to understand liberation theology, namely as a politically and more than politically effective practice of spiritual discernment: a way of lif...