cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Snow-ice contribution to the structure of sea ice in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica

The widespread occurrence of snow-ice formation on the pack ice plays a critical role in the mass balance of Antarctic sea ice. The stable isotope composition, ice texture and salinity of eight ice cores, obtained from the Amundsen Sea during the Oden Southern Ocean 2010/11 expedition from late December 2010 to January 2011, were investigated to illustrate the snow-ice growth process and its contribution to sea-ice development. Most previous research has utilized δ18O as an index tracer to determine the percentages of core length that contain meteoric water, i.e. snow ice. However, this standard practice of snow-ice identification might be biased due to normally low-resolution isotopic measurements and mixing/diffusion processes between the snow ice and underlying ice layers. Snow-ice contributions in these ice cores based instead on an updated isotope mixing model are also presented. Depth profiles of ice texture and salinity are described to serve as representations of the structures of these ice cores. Our isotope mixing model produced an average of 15.9% snow-ice contribution for pack ice in the Amundsen Sea, and meteoric water occupying 40% of snow-ice mass for all ice stations. These results are compared to previous investigations of snow-ice occurrence around Antarctica.
Effect of Icosapent Ethyl on Gynoid Fat and Bone Mineral Health in the Metabolic Syndrome: a Preliminary Report

Abstract Purpose The metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a systemic disorder associated with reduced atheroprotective gynoid fat and bone mineral content (BMC). The goal of this pilot study was to assess whether administration of icosapent ethyl (IPE), a purified formulation of eicosapentaenoic acid, would maintain gynoid fat and BMC over a 9-month treatment period. Methods Patients with MetS aged ≥40 years were randomly assigned to receive 4 g daily of IPE (2 g BID with food) or placebo (paraffin oil 2 g BID with food) for 9 months. Data were collected at baseline and 9 months later. The data included anthropometric measures, biochemical analysis, and whole body fat mass, including gynoid fat. Bone mineral density and BMC were measured by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. A two-tailed P value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Findings The study sample consisted of 13 patients with MetS (mean age, 61.6 years; age range, 44–77 years; 77% female and 23% male). Compared with the IPE group, the placebo group experienced statistically significant mean reductions in percent gynoid fat (pre/post, 46.8%–43.5%; P = 0.02), BMC (pre/post, 2461 g–2423 g; P = 0.02), and bone mineral density (pre/post, 1.24 g/cm2 to 1.22 g/cm2; P = 0.05) over the 9-month study period. Implications The results of this pilot study raise the possibility that IPE supplementation may preserve gynoid fat distribution and bone mineral health in patients with MetS. Larger, randomized longitudinal studies are necessary to determine the potential long-term metabolic benefits of IPE treatment.
Summary-guided incremental symbolic execution

Symbolic execution is a powerful technique for systematically exploring program paths, but scaling symbolic execution to practical programs remains challenging. State-of-the-art techniques face the challenge to efficiently explore incremental behaviors, especially for highly coupled programs with complex control and data dependency. In this paper, we present a novel approach for incremental symbolic execution based on an iteration loop between path exploration and path suffixes summarization. On one hand, the explored paths are summarized to enable more precise identification of affected paths; on the other hand, the summary guides path exploration to prune paths that have no incremental behaviors. We implemented the prototype of our approach and conducted experiments on a set of real-world applications. The results show that it is efficient and effective in exploring incremental behaviors.
Improving Outcomes of Bariatric Surgery in Patients With Cirrhosis in the United States: A Nationwide Assessment.

INTRODUCTION With increasing burden of obesity and liver disease in the United States, a better understanding of bariatric surgery in context of cirrhosis is needed. We described trends of hospital-based outcomes of bariatric surgery among cirrhotics and determined effect of volume status and type of surgery on these outcomes. METHODS In this population-based study, admissions for bariatric surgery were extracted from the National Inpatient Sample using International Classification of Diseases, 9th and 10th Revision, Clinical Modification codes from 2004 to 2016 and grouped by cirrhosis status, type of bariatric surgery, and center volume. In-hospital mortality, complications, and their trends were compared between these groups using weighted counts, odds ratios [ORs], and logistic regression. RESULTS Among 1,679,828 admissions for bariatric surgery, 9,802 (0.58%) had cirrhosis. Cirrhosis admissions were more likely to be in white men, had higher Elixhauser Index, and higher in-hospital complications rates including death (1.81% vs 0.17%), acute kidney injury (4.5% vs 1.2%), bleeding (2.9% vs 1.1%), and operative complications (2% vs 0.6%) (P < 0.001 for all) compared to those without cirrhosis. Overtime, restrictive surgeries have grown in number (12%-71%) and complications rates have trended down in both groups. Cirrhotics undergoing bariatric surgery at low-volume centers (<50 procedures per year) and nonrestrictive surgery had a higher inpatient mortality rate (adjusted OR 4.50, 95% confidence interval 3.14-6.45, adjusted OR 4.00, 95% confidence interval 2.68-5.97, respectively). DISCUSSION Contemporary data indicate that among admissions for bariatric surgery, there is a shift to restrictive-type surgeries with an improvement in-hospital complications and mortality. However, patients with cirrhosis especially those at low-volume centers have significantly higher risk of worse outcomes (see Visual abstract, Supplementary Digital Content, http://links.lww.com/AJG/B648).
Mud Dauber Nests as Sources of Spiders in Mercury Monitoring Studies.

Identifying ecosystems where biota may be contaminated with hazardous levels of methylmercury (MeHg) is a challenge. One widely used approach for determining site-specific MeHg contamination is to monitor MeHg contamination in sentinel species. Terrestrial shoreline spiders that consume emergent aquatic insects (e.g., midges and mayflies) have been proposed as sentinels of MeHg contamination of aquatic ecosystems. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether a novel sampling technique, collection of spiders from nests of mud dauber wasps (Sphecidae), would be an efficient method for capturing MeHg-contaminated shoreline spiders for use as sentinels in ecological risk assessments. Mud dauber nests were collected near the Clear Fork of the Trinity River in Fort Worth, Texas (USA) on 3 dates from 4 human-made structures. Nests contained 627 unconsumed spiders from 5 families: Araneidae, Salticidae, Thomisidae, Oxyopidae, and Theridiidae. Methylmercury concentrations ranged from 12.2 to 56.3 ng/g wet weight in Thomisidae and Araenidae, respectively. Methylmercury concentrations of the spiders were generally low relative to risk thresholds for adult birds, but a few families of spiders could pose a risk to nestlings. Although mud dauber nests have been recognized as a source of spiders for biodiversity studies, the present study is the first to demonstrate the potential use of spiders collected from mud dauber nests for ecotoxicology studies. Environ Toxicol Chem 2021;40:1335-1340. © 2021 SETAC.
Eupsychian Management in the Age of the Knowledge Worker

Over the past 50 years, a new type of worker emerged in companies across America called the “knowledge worker.” It was a kind of worker that was first envisioned by Peter Drucker in 1959 in his boo...
Aortic Valve Surgery After Neonatal Balloon Aortic Valvuloplasty in Congenital Aortic Stenosis

BACKGROUND We sought to identify predictive factors for aortic valve (AoV) surgery after neonatal balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) and characterize clinical outcomes of AoV surgery after neonatal BAV. METHODS Time-to-event analysis identified predictors for AoV surgery after neonatal BAV. Clinical outcomes of AoV surgery following neonatal BAV were examined. RESULTS This study included 96 consecutive patients who underwent neonatal BAV for congenital aortic stenosis between 1998 and 2018, in 26 of whom a fetal BAV had been performed. Fifty-six patients underwent AoV surgery at a median age of 2.0 years. Significant risk factors for AoV surgery in univariate Cox regression (result presented as hazard ratio [HR], [95% CI]; P value) were a history of fetal BAV (HR, 4.05 [95% CI, 2.19–7.40]; P<0.001), AoV annulus diameter Z score (HR, 0.56 [95% CI, 0.43–0.75]; P=0.001), the presence of endocardial fibroelastosis (HR, 2.61 [95% CI, 1.48–4.51]; P=0.001), severe left ventricular dysfunction before neonatal BAV (HR, 1.75 [95% CI, 1.03–2.97]; P=0.04), and recent era (HR, 3.08 [95% CI, 1.68–5.91]; P=0.0002) in the entire cohort. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and Youden J index analysis identified a cutoff value for AoV annulus diameter Z score of −2.6 in patients without fetal BAV. In 24 patients with midterm cardiac catheterization data, univariate linear regression analysis (result presented as B coefficient [95% CI]; P) showed that the presence of greater-than-moderate aortic regurgitation immediately after BAV (B coefficient, 4.8 [95% CI, 1.0–8.6]; P=0.018) and before AoV surgery (B coefficient, 6.1 [95% CI, 2.2–10.0]; P=0.004) were significant risk factors for elevated left ventricular end-diastolic pressure after AoV surgery, while concomitant endocardial fibroelastosis resection at AoV surgery had a protective effect (B coefficient, −3.8 [95% CI, −7.6 to −0.06]; P=0.05). CONCLUSIONS A small AoV annulus diameter Z score with a cutoff value of −2.6 and a history of fetal BAV were significantly associated with AoV surgery after neonatal BAV. Concomitant endocardial fibroelastosis resection is recommended at AoV surgery following neonatal BAV to improve left ventricular diastolic function.
Understanding the impact of functioning on career factors for individuals with disabilities and criminal backgrounds

Securing meaningful employment following incarceration has proven to be difficult for all individuals but disproportionately affects individuals with disabilities. Despite this knowledge, less rese...
Photovoltaic behavior of polymerizable ionic liquid based fixed-junction light-emitting electrochemical cells

Since their initial demonstration in 1995, light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) have received attention due to potential advantages over traditional polymer optoelectronic devices. A standard LEC consists of two electrodes surrounding an active layer that contains polymer and mobile ions. When a bias is applied, the ions separate and move toward the electrodes, creating a reversible p–n junction analog. Immobilizing the ions after ion dissociation using one of several demonstrated methods to create a “fixed-junction LEC” allows the device to produce a significant photovoltaic response. Recently, our group demonstrated chemically fixed junction LECs using a polymerizable ionic liquid (ATOA-AS) that conferred important advantages over first-generation chemically fixed junction devices, including improved phase compatibility and turn-on time. Early tests showed improvements in the performance of these devices over the first chemically fixed junctions in terms of light-emitting properties. However, their photovoltaic behavior has not been previously investigated. In this paper, we demonstrate photovoltaic behavior in chemically fixed junction LECs based on the polymerizable ionic liquid ATOA-AS as the ion source. While further improvements in the photovoltaic performance of fixed-junction devices still need to be made before they are considered a commercially viable technology, we find that the devices reported here compare well to other single-layer polymer homojunction solar cells and demonstrate an exceptionally high VOC (>1.8 V for some configurations). We also explore the effects that changes to various aspects of device composition and testing procedures have on device performance.
Write Now! Managing Change and Increasing Research in an Academic Library

New and innovative technologies have expanded librarian roles and expertise to include virtual learning, chat reference, online research guides, maker spaces, virtual reality, and more. Change is a consistent part of working in any library, and effectively managing change often has a learning curve for library administrators. Change Management theory is popular amongst business leaders, but could these theories work in libraries as well? In 2017, Library Administration at Marriott Library designed a Change Management program based on the theories of Todd Jick, a nationally-recognized expert in organizational change management. Their goal was to increase the overall amount of scholarly research publications and creative products librarian faculty completed each year. The authors conducted a multi-year research project, hypothesizing that by implementing Jick’s framework, librarian faculty would create more scholarly work. Data was collected from faculty’s self-reported research profiles, survey feedback from research retreats and workshops, and web traffic from staff intranet pages. An analysis of the results indicated a steady increase in research and scholarly output, and an overall positive response to the research change program.
Increased Somatomedin Inhibitors in Renal Failure

Poor growth is a common problem in uremic children. Broyer et al. (1) and others have demonstrated the decrease in growth velocity that occurs after the development of renal disease in childhood, and others(2,3) have shown that growth is poorly responsive to conservative therapy and conventional dialysis approaches. Ritz et al. (4) have shown that uremic children have diminished bone age for chronological age and diminished height age for bone age. As shown by Schiffrin et al.,(5) such growth impairment occurs despite normal levels of growth hormone (GH), prolactin, and insulin. The cause of growth failure is obscure and has been attributed to a variety of factors, including skeletal resistance to hormone action, abnormal mineral metabolism, impaired synthesis of active vitamin D metabolites, and poor nutrition. Although growth in uremic children appears to improve when their nutritional intake is increased,(6) uremic rats exhibit decreased gain in length when compared with pair-fed controls(4); thus, defective growth involves factors beyond poor nutrition.
Treatment of Rapidly Progressive Lupus Glomerulonephritis

Rapidly progressive lupus glomerulonephritis (RPLGN) is a severe and unfavorable complication of systemic lupus erythematosus. (SLE). Progress in supportive and aggressive therapy in recent years has considerably improved the prognosis. Since there is no agreement about the most efficient therapy, the treatment of RPLGN remains a highly controversial topic in clinical medicine (1,2). In this paper, we report a follow-up of 11 patients with RPLGN, monitored for 2–64 months. All patients were treated with prednisone cyclophosphamide or azathioprine and plasma exchange.
Prediction of August Atlantic Basin Hurricane Activity

Abstract Although skillful seasonal hurricane forecasts for the Atlantic basin are now a reality, large gaps remain in our understanding of observed variations in the distribution of activity within the hurricane season. The month of August roughly spans the first third of the climatologically most active part of the season, but activity during the month is quite variable. This paper reports on an initial investigation into forecasting year-to-year variability of August tropical cyclone (TC) activity using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction–National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis dataset. It is shown that 55%–75% of the variance of August TC activity can be hindcast using a combination of 4–5 global predictors chosen from a 12-predictor pool with each of the predictors showing precursor associations with TC activity. The most prominent predictive signal is the equatorial July 200-mb wind off the west coast of South America. When this wind is anomalously strong from the northeast...
Dosimetric effect of respiratory motion on volumetric-modulated arc therapy-based lung SBRT treatment delivered by TrueBeam machine with flattening filter-free beam.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the interplay effect between dynamic MLC movement and tumor respiratory motion in volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT)-based lung SBRT treatment delivered by the flattening filter-free (FFF) beam of a Varian TrueBeam machine. Six lung cancer patients with tumor motions ranging between 0.5–1.6 cm were recruited in this study. All patients underwent 4D-CT scan with audiocoaching. A two-arc VMAT plan was retrospectively generated using Varian’s Eclipse planning system for each patient. To explicitly describe the interplay effect, the contributions of each control point in the original static VMAT plans to each respiratory phase were calculated, and then ten new VMAT plans corresponding to different respiratory phases were generated and imported back into Eclipse planning system to calculate the radiation dose based on the CT images of related respiratory phase. An in-house 4D dose calculation program with deformable registration capacity was used to calculate the accumulative 4D dose distribution of the targets. For all patients, the PTV coverage dropped significantly with increased respiratory motion amplitude. However, V100 and D90 of the GTV and GTV + 5 mm, which mimic the target with setup error of less than 5 mm, were either unchanged or slightly increased up to 1.2%, and the variations of their minimum doses were less than 3.2%. Our results indicated that for VMAT-based lung SBRT treatment delivered by FFF beam of TrueBeam machine, the impact of interplay effects on target coverage is insignificant, as long as a sufficient margin was given.
Digitalis-like activity in human plasma. Purification, affinity, and mechanism.

Abstract A factor having digitalis-like characteristics has been isolated from human plasma and its mechanism of action compared with the commonly used cardenolide, ouabain. The purification scheme involved dialysis of human plasma, lyophilization of dialysate, extraction of methanol-soluble components, and flash evaporation, followed by preparative, semipreparative, and analytical scale reverse-phase chromatography. One peak of biologically active material was obtained and shown to possess digitalis-like activity in assays of sodium pump activity, receptor binding, and Na,K-ATPase activity. Results from (i) the determination of the ligand conditions supporting binding, (ii) kinetics of association and dissociation from the Na,K-ATPase, (iii) affinity titration, (iv) selectivity, and (v) competition studies, when taken together, show that the endogenous digitalis-like factor is a specific inhibitor of the sodium pump that stabilizes the E2P form of the enzyme in a manner analogous to ouabain. The endogenous digitalis-like factor binds competitively in or near the receptor site for cardiac glycosides with an apparent affinity 8-20-fold greater than any known cardioactive steroid. The presence of digitalis-like activity in the circulation of individuals with no known intake of these compounds suggests that the material characterized here is an endogenous counterpart to the cardenolides. This factor may regulate sodium pump activity and provide a rationale for the existence of gene and tissue-specific forms of the Na,K-ATPase having distinct sensitivity to the cardenolides.
Closed-form propagation model combining one or more propagation constant segments

A new model for path loss in radio systems is proposed, which combines the individual segment approach based on varying propagation constants into a single closed form expression. Before this work, the propagation models used examined each propagation segment individually. This closed form expression is more useful than prior models in performing near-far system analyses. This new model is based on concepts drawn from frequency response analysis used in the circuits and control communities. After showing that the general form of a frequency response fits the data shape of a path loss propagation study, the mathematics are refined to effect a close match with measured data. The applicability of this model to signal strengths that increases with distance, such as emerging from a shadow, is demonstrated.
Automatic location and separation of records: A case study in the genealogical domain

Locating specific chunks (records) of information within documents on the web is an interesting and nontrivial problem. If the problem of locating and separating records can be solved well, the longstanding problem of grouping extracted values into appropriate relationships in a record structure can be more easily resolved. Our solution is a hybrid of two well established techniques: (1) ontology-based extraction [ECJ + 99] and (2) vector space modeling [SM83]. To show that the technique has merit, we apply it to the particularly challenging task of locating and separating records for genealogical web documents, which tend to vary considerably in layout and format. Experiments we have conducted show this technique yields an average of 92% recall and 93% precision for locating and separating genealogical records in web documents.
Seamount Age Estimates from Paleomagnetism and Their Implications for the History of Volcanism on the Pacific Plate

Of 100 reliable Pacific seamount paleomagnetic poles, only 36 have ages that also seem to be reliably determined. Nevertheless, it is possible to make age estimates for most of the undated seamounts by comparing their paleomagnetic poles to the Pacific apparent polar wander path. According to their locations along the polar path, seamount paleopoles were divided into four groups: (1) early Tertiary, about 36–45 Ma; (2) Late Cretaceous, 64–79 Ma; (3) mid-Cretaceous, 80 Ma to about 120 Ma, and (4) Early Cretaceous-Jurassic, older than about 120 Ma. The greatest number of paleopoles lie along the mid- to Late Cretaceous portion of the polar wander path, implying a heavy concentration of volcanism of this age in the central and western Pacific. Though there appears to be a significant fraction of seamounts with ages within about 20 Ma of the underlying seafloor throughout this area, many of the seamounts between the western Pacific trenches and the Line Islands in the central Pacific are intraplate volcanoes, formed long after the underlying lithosphere. Moreover, these off-ridge seamounts generally show a trend of decreasing paleomagnetic age toward the southeast, consistent with hypotheses that explain the intraplate volcanism by the northwestward drift of the Pacific plate over mantle plumes presently located in the southeast Pacific.
Refreshing Contractual Analysis of ADR Agreements By Curing Bipolar Avoidance of Modern Common Law

Law governing enforcement of ADR agreement not governed by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) has been uncertain, and often aimless. This Article therefore calls for clarification of this law, through development of a modern contractual approach for enforcing these non-FAA ADR procedures. Although courts may look to the FAA as a resource for evaluating and developing an enforcement approach, they also should employ modern contract and remedy tools that are more adaptive than the Act's summary enforcement because it allow courts to consider contextual, relational, and equitable factors when determining application of specific enforcement remedies. This allows courts to apply these tools to foster contract compliance and cooperative relations, but to protect individuals from coerced participation in ADR that will cause undue financial or emotional hardship, or otherwise defeat the very purposes of ADR.
Enabling programmable ubiquitous computing environments: the dais middleware

Emerging ubiquitous computing scenarios involve client applications that dynamically collect information directly from the local environment by leveraging sensor network nodes opportunistically and unpredictably. Such scenarios deviate from existing deployments of sensor networks which are often highly application-specific and generally funnel information to a central collection service for a single purpose. A significant barrier to the widespread development of such flexible sensor network applications lies in the increased complexity of the programming task when compared to existing distributed or even mobile situations. Ubiquitous computing nodes are severely resource-constrained, in terms of both computational capabilities and battery power, and therefore the application development task must inherently consider low-level design concerns, such as reducing power consumption, minimizing communication in the network to extend the network’s lifetime, and handling the variability of devices’ capabilities and constraints. This complexity, coupled with the increasing demand for applications, highlights the need for programming platforms (i.e., middleware) that simplify application development. This dissertation reports on the DAIS (Declarative Applications in Immersive Sensor networks) middleware platform that enables the development of adaptive ubiquitous computing applications. Our approach focuses on minimizing communication and coordination to best ensure the network’s lifetime. DAIS attempts to localize data collection and sensor interaction to only the regions of the network required for the applications’ immediate data needs. At the programming interface level, this requires exposing some aspects of the physical world to the developer, and we accomplish this through novel programming abstractions that enable on demand access to dynamic data sources. We develop a pair of intuitive grouping abstractions, the scene (which enables local interactions) and the virtual sensor (which enables automatic abstraction of heterogeneous data), to define a coordination model that supports interactions in ubiquitous computing. We combine these abstractions with an expressive programming interface to create the complete DAIS middleware.
FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF VERBAL BEHAVIOR: A BRIEF REVIEW

A variation of the preintervention functional analysis of problem behavior has recently been extended to identify the function of verbal behavior emitted by children with autism. Recent research suggests that a functional analysis of verbal behavior might be beneficial in evaluating previous instruction and guiding the selection of future educational targets and instructional procedures. The present paper reviews previous literature on the functional analysis of verbal behavior and identifies avenues for future research.
The Political Economy of Drones

This paper provides a political economy analysis of the evolution of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or “drones”, in the United States. Focus is placed on the interplay between the political and private economic influences; and their impact on the trajectory of political, economic, and, in this case, military outcomes. We identify the initial formation of the drone industry, trace how the initial relationships between the military and the private sector expanded over time, and discuss how the industry has expanded. Understanding the history and evolution of UAV technology, as well as the major players in the industry today, is important for ongoing policy debates regarding the use of drones, both domestically and internationally.
The adaptive accelerated biased coin design for phase I clinical trials

Phase I clinical trials are designed to study several doses of the same drug in a small group of patients to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), which is defined as the dose that is associated with dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) in a desired fraction Γ of patients. Durham and Flournoy [5] proposed the biased coin design (BCD), which is an up-and-down design that assigns a new patient to a dose depending upon whether or not the current patient experienced a DLT. However, the BCD in its standard form requires the complete follow-up of the current patient before the new patient can be assigned a dose. In situations where patients’ follow-up times are relatively long compared to patient inter-arrival times, the BCD will result in an impractically long trial and cause patients to either have delayed entry into the trial or refusal of entry altogether. We propose an adaptive accelerated BCD (aaBCD) that generalizes the traditional BCD design algorithm by incorporating an adaptive weight function based upo...
MANAGING CONFLICT APPROPRIATELY AND EFFECTIVELY: AN APPLICATION OF THE COMPETENCE MODEL TO RAHIM'S ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT STYLES

The competence model of conflict communication suggests that individuals who use various conflict styles will be perceived differently in terms of appropriateness and effectiveness. A simulated organizational decision‐making task involving 100 randomly‐paired dyads consisting of business students suggested that an integrative conflict style is generally perceived as the most appropriate (in terms of being both a polite, prosocial strategy and an adaptive, situationally appropriate strategy) and most effective style. The dominating style tended to be perceived as inappropriate when used by others, but some participants judged themselves as more effective when they used dominating tactics along with integrating tactics. The obliging style was generally perceived as neutral, although some participants perceived themselves to be less effective and relationally appropriate when they employed obliging tactics. The avoiding style was generally perceived as ineffective and inappropriate. Finally, compromising was perceived as a relatively neutral style, although some participants judged their partners to be more effective and relationally appropriate if they compromised. Overall, these results and others provide general support for the competence model's predictions, while also suggesting some modifications and directions for future research.
Design-Driven Innovation for Sustainability: A New Method for Developing a Sustainable Value Proposition

This paper offers two starting points bridged by a question: The first point is the field of sustainability concepts that can help transform a resource-wasting society into a sustainable one. The second point is the field of design-driven innovation that can generate sustainable economic success by designing products and services that meet people's needs. A question bridges these two starting points: How do we design sustainable products to make them more successful? This essay introduces a tool to help companies develop innovative products and services that are sustainable for the environment, the economy and society: the Sustainable Value Proposition Tool (SVPT).
RESTRICTED LIE ALGEBRAS OF POLYCYCLIC GROUPS

We consider some classes of polycyclic groups which have a p-series such that the restricted graded Lie algebra associated to this p-series is free abelian. We also study p-series and restricted Lie algebras associated to them in arbitrary polycyclic groups.
Ultrastructural organization of the sensory fibers innervating the Golgi tendon organ.

The organization of the sensory innervation of Golgi tendon organs (GTO) from E. carpi ulnaris of the cat is described. The large Ib afferent fiber gives rise to small myelinated branches which become oriented longitudinally in a neural compartment of the GTO capsule lumen. The latter give rise to smaller, unmyelinated branches which further arborize among loosely packed collagen bundles. The unmyelinated fibers form numerous varicosities and small terminal branches which have portions of the axolemma covered only by basal lamina which intervenes between the collagen bundles and the axolemma. In places, the axon's surface may lack all investments and nerve and collagen come into intimate association. The large unmyelinated branches and their varicosities have different axoplasmic characteristics compared with the small unmyelinated terminal portions. The latter contain few or no mitochondria, vesicles, neurotubules, and neurofilaments. In addition to the description of the terminals, the similarities and differences of the innervation of the GTO, compared with other mechanoreceptors, are discussed.
Optimization planning systems and their implementation and application in vertically integrated oil companies

The approaches to planning of activities of a vertically integrated oil company by using optimization systems are considered. Development, implementation, and support of such systems are discussed. These problems fall under the APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) group in the modern classification. Based on the extensive experience of implementation and regular support of optimization systems in OAO LUKOIL, the general requirements necessary for effective using of such systems in vertically integrated oil companies are formulated.
Habits of Mind: Integrating the Social and Personal Characteristics of Doing Science Into the Science Classroom

Scientific habits of mind are an integral part of contemporary definitions of scientific literacy being presented in national reform documents such as Science For All Americans (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1989) and the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996). These scientific habits also serve as an important link between scientific inquiry and science education. This article focuses on three habits associated with personal values and attitudes and one habit associated with the social skills of doing science. These four habits of mind balance the objectivist perspective that misrepresents science as a cold and emotionless abstraction (Pert, 1997) by highlighting a subjective view of scientific activity that is often omitted from school science. The four habits of mind are first illustrated through the story of a modern scientific investigation and then described as the basis of a school laboratory science experience. Implications related to the integration of these four habits of mind into science laboratory reform are discussed.
Cost:Benefit Analysis of Elective Retroperitoneal Aortic Bypass

Of 72 consecutive patients needing abdominal aortic surgery, the transperi toneal approach (TA) was used in 34 patients. In this TA group, with a mean age of fifty-eight years, 28 patients had aortoiliac or aortobifemoral grafts. Of the 38 patients operated via the retroperitoneal approach (RA), 27 had aortoiliac disease and 11 had aneurysms. In the RA group, the mean age was fifty-nine years; 32 patients in this group had aortofemoral grafts. The groups were simi lar with regard to hypertension, heart disease, obstructive pulmonary disease, previous myocardial infarction, and stroke.The TA was associated with the larger intraoperative blood loss (1,100 mL) when compared with the RA (mean: 400 mL). Intraoperative crystalloid re quirements were significantly higher for the TA (5,500 mL) versus the RA (3,000 mL). Similarly, the intraoperative blood requirements were higher for the TA (3.0 units packed red blood cells [PRBC]) than the RA (1.0 unit PRBC). The numbers of units of PRBC transfused after surgery ...
Intranuclear Localization of Mercury in vivo

Purified nuclei isolated from mice challenged with nonlethal levels of mercury chloride (10-3 M ) in drinking water for 4 to 7 weeks (experimental) and from animals given deionized water (control) were fractionated and the subsequent fractions were analyzed for mercury by flameless atomic absorption. Control (active) euchromatin contained 1.75 ± 0.53 micrograms of mercury per milligram of DNA. There was a 12- to 15-fold enrichment of mercury in the euchromatin fraction of challenged animals. Mercury was not detected in control (inactive) heterochromatin, and only trace levels (parts per billion) appeared in experimental heterochromatin. It seems likely that mercury can be incorporated into chromatin as a metal-protein complex, but the possibility of protein-mercury-DNA or mercury-DNA complexes within euchromatin cannot be excluded.
Estimation of ultimate safe loads in elastic stability theory

Ultimate safe load estimates are derived for general isotropic materials. Conditions sufficient to assure stability of equilibrium in the dead load traction boundary value problem are obtained from an energy type criterion by application of certain inequalities and by subsequent separation of the incremental shear strain components from the others. Specific estimates are provided for stability of the undistorted states of every isotropic elastic material, and it is shown that the inequalities based upon the estimates derived here imply those given elsewhere; in the natural state of vanishing stress and strain the conclusions are coincident with the classical inequalities for the shear and bulk moduli. General sufficient conditions for stability of equilibrium of an incompressible Mooney-Rivlin body are derived. Simple shear and simple extension analyses for isotropic Hadamard elastic materials reveal that several classical relations can be obtained for this class of materials in the theory of finite strain, and explicit formulae for determination of certain elastic constants and familiar moduli are provided. Sufficient conditions for stability for every such Hadamard elastic material are obtained by special application of the general formulae developed earlier in the work, and particular results for a compressible Mooney-Rivlin type material are given. It is found that these include as a special case our earlier results for the familiar incompressible Mooney-Rivlin body. It happens also that several inequalities usually obtained from certain requirements that assure resonable material response to the loading, but which otherwise have been unrelated to stability, appear here as natural sufficient conditions for stability in the dead load problem. Finally, several of the results are applied to study the problem of stability of an Euler column, and physical implications of the analyses are discussed.
Vortex condensation in the Chern-Simons Higgs model: An existence theorem

It is shown that there is a critical value of the Chern-Simons coupling parameter so that, below the value, there exists self-dual doubly periodic vortex solutions, and, above the value, the vortices are absent. Solutions of such a nature indicate the existence of dyon condensates carrying quantized electric and magnetic charges.
Very-low-temperature electrical resistivity of KRb, KNa, and LiMg alloys

Previous high-precision measurements below 0.5 K showing a resistivity anomaly in KRb and dilute KNa and LiMg alloys have been extended to KNa and LiMg alloy samples which cover the residual-resistivity range from ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{0}$=4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}10}$ to 1.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}7}$ \ensuremath{\Omega} m. Residual-resistivity data per atomic percent impurity are consistent for all three alloys with literature results in the regions of overlap. The data for all three alloys also show the expected behavior for inelastic electron-impurity scattering. At temperatures above 1 K, the KRb and KNa alloy data show increases in electron-phonon scattering with increasing ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{0}$ probably due to quenching of phonon drag and\char22{}for KRb\char22{}to reduction in the Debye temperatures of the alloys. All three alloy systems display a low-temperature anomaly which has a universal magnitude for a given ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{0}$ when ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{0}$${l10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}7}$ \ensuremath{\Omega} m, and which varies approximately linearly with both temperature and residual resistivity. Localization, electron-electron interaction, and Kondo effects appear to be ruled out as explanations for the anomaly in this regime. Published models based on charge-density waves and ineffectiveness of electron-phonon scattering are also considered. As ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{0}$ increases above ${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}7}$ \ensuremath{\Omega} m, the anomalous behavior approaches the electron-electron interaction limit. In the very-high-concentration LiMg alloys microscopic differences between the alloys are found to affect the data.
High-definition De Novo Sequencing of Crustacean Hyperglycemic Hormone (CHH)-family Neuropeptides

A complete understanding of the biological functions of large signaling peptides (>4 kDa) requires comprehensive characterization of their amino acid sequences and post-translational modifications, which presents significant analytical challenges. In the past decade, there has been great success with mass spectrometry-based de novo sequencing of small neuropeptides. However, these approaches are less applicable to larger neuropeptides because of the inefficient fragmentation of peptides larger than 4 kDa and their lower endogenous abundance. The conventional proteomics approach focuses on large-scale determination of protein identities via database searching, lacking the ability for in-depth elucidation of individual amino acid residues. Here, we present a multifaceted MS approach for identification and characterization of large crustacean hyperglycemic hormone (CHH)-family neuropeptides, a class of peptide hormones that play central roles in the regulation of many important physiological processes of crustaceans. Six crustacean CHH-family neuropeptides (8–9.5 kDa), including two novel peptides with extensive disulfide linkages and PTMs, were fully sequenced without reference to genomic databases. High-definition de novo sequencing was achieved by a combination of bottom-up, off-line top-down, and on-line top-down tandem MS methods. Statistical evaluation indicated that these methods provided complementary information for sequence interpretation and increased the local identification confidence of each amino acid. Further investigations by MALDI imaging MS mapped the spatial distribution and colocalization patterns of various CHH-family neuropeptides in the neuroendocrine organs, revealing that two CHH-subfamilies are involved in distinct signaling pathways.
LONGITUDINAL SPIN RELAXATION IN DILUTE, POLARIZED FERMI GASES

Abstract We consider the calculation of the longitudinal relaxation time T1 in a polarized Fermi system at temperatures T ranging from the degenerate statistics regime to the Boltzmann limit. We include the possibility of arbitrary polarization M of the system. While the low temperature unpolarized system behaves as T-2 as previous calculations have shown, when relaxation takes place in zero external field, polarization leads to substantially smaller values of T1 at low T, because of the opening up of the phase space between up and down Fermi spheres. For the degenerate system T1 is dependent on the value of M in contrast to results in the Boltzmann case.
Public perceptions of global warming

In this paper, we examine the way public opinion responds to the prospect of global warming. In particular, we focus on the public's “willingness to pay” in order to prevent various hypothetical climate scenarios from transpiring. To this end, fractional factorial survey methods are employed with a sample of over 600 residents of Southern California. By and large, the public is able to understand and evaluate rather complicated hypothetical climate scenarios, but the public appreciates some features of climate far better than others. In this context, the contingent valuation estimates we provide, while promising, are clearly not ready of consideration by policy makers.
Physico‐Chemical Interaction between Biominerals and their Environment

A reconsideration of literature data reveals that the incorporation of vacancies, Na, K, Sr, Cl, and CO3 into hydroxyapatite increases its apparent solubility product, whereas that of F decreases it. It is further shown that the composition of saliva is regulated so that a steady state is reached for erupted teeth whereby equilibrium between mineral and saliva is close to the two-phase boundary of apatite and dicalciumphosphatedihydrate (DCPD). The theory explains qualitatively why and how gradients occur of F, Na, and CO3 in surface enamel, why the surface layer remains nearly intact during caries and why calcifications occur in the arteries and not in the veins. – It is assumed that the incorporation of Mg and citrate ions can increase the apparent solubility product of tricalciumphosphate (TCP) and octacalciumphosphate (OCP) respectively. On this basis an estimate is made of the relative position of the stability fields of apatite, DCPD, TCP, and OCP. This estimate indicates why these calcium phosphates may occur simultaneously in dental calculus, bone, dentine and pathological calcifications. If both the effect of crystal size and that of incorporation of foreign ions are taken into consideration, it can be presumed that calcified tissues are in momentary physico-chemical equilibrium with the body fluids bathing them. Eine Ruckbesinnung auf die Daten in der Literatur zeigt, das der Einbau von Leerstellen, Na, K, Sr, Cl und CO3 in Hydroxylapatit das scheinbare Loslichkeitsprodukt erhoht, wahrend es der Einbau von F verringert. Weiterhin wird gezeigt, das die Zusammensetzung von Speichel so reguliert ist, das ein stationarer Zustand erreicht wird, bei dem das Gleichgewicht zwischen Zahnmineral und Speichel dicht an der Zweiphasengrenze zwischen Apatit und Dikalziumphosphatdihydrat (DCPD) liegt. Die Theorie erklart qualitativ, warum und wie Gradienten von F, Na und CO3 in der Schmelzoberflache auftreten, warum die Oberflache bei Karies nahezu intakt bleibt und warum Verkalkungen in Aterien auftreten und nicht in Venen. – Es wird angenommen, das der Einbau von Mg- und Zitrat-Ionen das Loslichkeitsprodukt von Trikalziumphosphat (TCP) und Oktakalziumphosphat (OCP) erhoht. Auf dieser Basis wird die relative Lage der Stabilitatsgebiete von Apatit, DCPD, TCP und OCP abgeschatzt. Diese Abschatzung zeigt auf, warum diese Kalziumphosphate gleichzeitig in Zahnstein, Knochen, Dentin und pathologischen Verkalkungen auftreten konnen. Wenn der Einflus der Kristallgrose und der des Einbaus fremder Ionen in Betracht gezogen werden, kann angenommen werden, das die verkalkten Gewebe in einem momentanen physikalisch-chemischen Gleichgewicht mit der sie umgebenden Korperflussigkeit stehen.
Velocity And Dispersion of Heavy Oils

Acoustic properties of heavy oils have been investigated based on laboratory measurement and modeling studies. Based on newly measured shear velocity data in extended low temperature, we have revealed a full spectrum of shear velocity of heavy oils as function of temperature, which we have applied to calibrate viscosity of heavy oils. A series of models has been developed to describe both Sand P-wave velocities of heavy oils as function of temperature and frequencies
PIXE analysis of rain water collected in Montgomery, Alabama for a five-year period

Abstract Concentrations of trace elements in 297 rain samples were determined using PIXE. These rain samples were collected at every rainfall occurrence in Montgomery, Alabama over a period of almost five years between January 1985 and November 1989. The measured pH values indicated that, with only a few exceptions, the northern rains were more acidic than the southern rains. Also, a slight decrease in the pH value was found during this period, suggesting a corresponding increase in the rainfall acidity. Graphs showing the five-year databases for frequently occurring elements are given in terms of their average seasonal concentrations. Also, the characteristics of the elemental distributions in rain are discussed.
The separation of selenium from sea water by adsorption colloid flotation

Adsorption colloid flotation can be applied successfully to the separation of selenium as SeO32- from sea water. Separation is achieved in 5 min. The modified catalytic method of West and Ramakrishna is used to determine the selenium. The recovery of selenium based on spiked sea-water samples is 100 ± 10%. Standard addition analysis of near-shore Oahu sea water showed a value of 0.40 ± 0.12 μg l-1.