cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Whey protein-sucrose coating gloss and integrity stabilization by crystallization inhibitors

Whey protein coatings protect foods from change and deterioration and can extend product shelf life. However, because they are also made from food materials, whey protein coatings may also change over time if not properly formulated. Whey protein isolate (WPI)-sucrose high-gloss coatings, with and without crystallization inhibitors, were formed on chocolate-covered peanuts. The objective was to determine the effectiveness of crystallization inhibitors on preventing cracking of coatings and loss of coating gloss caused by sucrose crystallization during product storage. The 4 inhibitors tested were lactose, modified starch, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and raffinose. The WPI-coated chocolate-covered peanuts were stored for 119 d in 23%, 33%, and 44% relative humidity (RH) at 25°C. Gloss of the WPI coatings was measured periodically with a gloss-analysis system. It was found that raffinose is the most effective inhibitor of sucrose crystallization in whey protein-sucrose coatings. WPI coatings containing raffinose had significantly higher gloss values than all other coatings. For raffinose-containing samples stored in 23% and 33% RH environments, less than 3% of gloss was lost during storage. In 44% RH, the raffinose coating system had significantly less gloss fade than other WPI-sucrose coatings. This information can be used to improve the effectiveness of water-based high-gloss edible coatings.
Piracy as an alternative reproductive tactic for males

Males of many animals exhibit multiple mating behaviours1–3 but most of these alternatives merely enable smaller, competitively inferior males to obtain a few matings where they could get none in regular competition. Some alternatives may match the mating rate of dominant males4,5, but alternatives with higher payoffs than being a nesting or territorial male are virtually unknown. Here, I describe a new alternative, 'piracy', in which the largest males circumvent the costs of nest construction, guarding and potential nest failure by taking over successful nests of other males, spawning in these, and abandoning them to be guarded by the original owner. The overall payoff to a pirate male appears to be above that of the average nesting male and 2.5 to 10 times higher than that of the other documented alternatives in the population.
Computer Modeling Of Open And Shielded Microstrip Discontinuities In Millimeter Waves

The computer-aided analysis and design of various open and shielded microstrip discontinuities is discussed in detail. The analytical method employed in these algorithms efficiently takes into account the effect of radiation and surface wave propagation and accurately evaluates the related losses. The technique can be applied to a wide variety of discontinuities in the millimeter-wave frequency range. Comparison with available experimental data is very good.
Insulin tolerance during endotoxic shock in 10-day-old rats.

Purpose. The purpose was to investigate insulin tolerance during endotoxic shock in 10-day-old rats. Materials and Methods. [14C]Deoxy-glucose (2DG) with or without insulin (1 unit/kg) was injected to 10-day-old and 6-week-old rats 3 h after an injection of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide: LPS). Plasma concentrations of glucose and 2DG were serially measured for 45 min. Gluconeogenesis was measured in hepatocytes isolated from control and endotoxic 10-day-old rats to evaluate effects of insulin on gluconeogenesis. Results. In endotoxic 10-day-old rats, plasma glucose concentration at 45 min was 48 ± 3% (P < 0.05) of value at 0 min, and when insulin was injected with 2DG, it was 29 ± 4% (P < 0.05) after insulin injection. Plasma 2DG disappearance was enhanced by insulin injection in the control (t1/2 = 17.9 vs 20.5 min, P < 0.05), but not in the endotoxic rats (t1/2 = 17.9 vs 18.4 min), indicating the presence of insulin tolerance in septic rats. Insulin decreased gluconeogenesis (P < 0.05) in hepatocytes from both control and endotoxic 10-day-old rats. In endotoxic 6-week-old rats, plasma glucose concentration was decreased to 46 ± 10% at 45 min and further decreased to 38 ± 4% (P < 0.05) by insulin injection. Plasma 2DG disappearance was enhanced by insulin injection in the control (t1/2 = 11.8 vs 17.4 min, P < 0.05) and in the septic rats (t1/2 = 14.8 vs 12.2 min). However, the enhancement of plasma 2DG disappearance by insulin was less (P < 0.05) in the septic rats than in the control, confirming reports of other investigators which showed insulin tolerance in septic shock. Conclusion. Although hepatocytes from endotoxic rats retained insulin sensitivity, insulin tolerance which was evaluated by 2DG disappearance occurred during septic shock in newborn rats.
Bilateral Postinfectious Optic Neuritis and Intravenous Steroid Therapy in Children

Six patients presented with acute, simultaneous, bilateral optic neuritis. Five of the six patients admitted to a recent history of a brief upper respiratory or gastrointestinal illness, presumably viral in nature. Visual acuity was severely reduced in all patients. Five of the six patients also demonstrated marked neurologic deficits, including seizure activity and cerebellar dysfunction. Three patients demonstrated enhancing intracranial lesions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) consistent with demyelinative plaques, whereas lumbar puncture was abnormal in three patients. HLA tissue typing was performed on five of the six patients. All patients were treated with intravenous methylprednisolone, followed by a 2-month tapering course of oral prednisone. Each patient experienced a rapid and nearly complete recovery of vision during treatment.
A negative regulatory element upstream from the mouse Adh-1 gene can down-regulate a heterologous promoter.

Abstract Regulation of Adh-1 (encoding mouse alcohol dehydrogenase-A2) gene expression results from the interplay of positive and negative effects. We report here the detection and localization of a negative regulatory element (NRE) to the sequence between −754 and −732 bp relative to the transcription start point (tsp). This element, which we call Adh-1NRE2, can down-regulate transcription from a strong heterologous promoter (the SV40 promoter + enhancer). Adh-1NRE2 can function in both orientations and either upstream or downstream from the promoter, and thus has attributes characteristic of a ‘silencer’. A protein that binds to the Adh-1 NRE is widespread in mouse tissues.
Thoughts About Critical-Analytic Thinking Deficits and Antecedents

I am honored to serve as a commentator for this special issue on critical-analytic thinking (CAT). A few years ago, Gregg Schraw and I engaged in a similar effort by editing a book on the assessment of higher order thinking skills (Schraw and Robinson 2011). The present effort updates (Brown et al. 2014) and extends this literature by including research on interventions to enhance CAT (Murphy et al. 2014), relations between CAT and motivation (Miele and Wigfield 2014), developmental trends in CAT (Byrnes and Dunbar 2014), and a neuropsychological perspective on individual differences in CAT (Bolger et al. 2014). Because I do not consider myself an expert in CAT, my comments will focus on my general reaction to the articles. Few will argue that CAT is not an important educational outcome or that it should not be nurtured both at home and in schools. The ability to critically analyze and evaluate evidence sources is something all citizens need and would undoubtedly benefit society. The current revival of childhood diseases such as measles is simply the result of parents who lack CAT. Public opinion has convinced them that vaccines cause autism. In our own field of educational psychology, I have seen a lack of CAT in researchers who have claimed causality based on correlational evidence (e.g., Robinson et al. 2013). The authors in this special issue have done a great job of providing a “state of the field” with regard to CAT and where we should go from here. I wish them and the field of CAT well in finding ways to increase this important skill in our children. Brown et al. (2014) claimed that CAT is an important component of educational reform efforts. This is where my enthusiasm fades. We have seen several reform efforts over the past 50 years ranging from The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to its most recent amendment—No Child Left Behind. They are thematically consistent: both presume to order teachers and schools to overcome the developmental injuries inflicted on children during the 91 % of childhood from ages 0–18 that is spent outside of a K-12 classroom. None of them has significantly reformed education to the point where achievement has increased. We currently live in a world of high-stakes testing and school accountability. I strongly doubt that creating more accurate assessments of CAT will do more for educational reform than simply showing which schools have the highest concentrations of poor children. Educ Psychol Rev (2014) 26:583–585 DOI 10.1007/s10648-014-9292-0
The stigma of relocation to a retirement facility

Abstract Relocation to a retirement facility can have a detrimental effect on an older person's self-concept. This research suggests that residing at a retirement facility is a source of stigma for older people because of the way it affects their relationships with others. Data were gathered through three years of participant observation at a multilevel care facility. Interviews were conducted with over 150 residents and 16 people on the facility's waiting list. Those on the waiting list perceived residents as less capable and less competent and dreaded relocation. In contrast, residents felt stigmatized by those outside who pitied and patronized them. Within the facility, residents were grouped by disabilities into three classifications reinforcing the negative stereotypes that healthier residents held about the more disabled residents. Those in the more regimented classifications were pitied and patronized. Such interactions, and the identification of self with stereotypes associated with residency classification, negatively affected the resident's selfconcept.
An exponential partial prior for improving nonparametric maximum likelihood estimation in mixture models

Abstract Given observations originating from a mixture distribution f [ x ; Q ( λ ) ] where the kernel f is known and the mixing distribution Q is unknown, we consider estimating a functional θ ( Q ) of Q . A natural estimator of such a functional can be obtained by substituting Q with its nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator (NPMLE), denoted here as Q ˆ . We demonstrate however, that the plug-in estimator θ ( Q ˆ ) can be unstable or substantially biased due to large variability of Q ˆ or structural properties of the parameter space of λ . In this paper we propose using a partial prior for Q to improve the estimation in motivating examples. In particular we propose an empirical Bayes estimation method based on an exponential prior, and show its effectiveness in improving estimation in motivating examples of binomial mixture.
M-SHELL ELECTRON CONTRIBUTION TO ORBITAL ELECTRON CAPTURE

The probability per unit time for capture of an electron from the $M$ shell is calculated by means of the method used by Brysk and Rose for capture from the $L$ and $K$ shells. In addition, the calculations for $L$ and $K$ shells are extended to give the results for third forbidden and third forbidden unique transitions. These calculations indicate that, at least in the case of unique forbidden transitions, the $\frac{M}{L}$ ratio exceeds 20% for all values of transition energy. The possibility of determining nuclear mass differences, order of forbiddenness of a transition, and numerical values for ratios of the nuclear matrix elements from experimental values of $\frac{M}{L}$ is discussed. This last procedure is applied to the determination of the nuclear matrix elements of $_{76}\mathrm{Os}^{185}$.
Relationship between changes in food group variety, dietary intake, and weight during obesity treatment.

BACKGROUND: Experimental studies show diets with greater variety in energy-dense foods increase consumption and body weight. Reducing variety in energy-dense food groups may decrease energy and dietary fat intake, promoting weight loss. OBJECTIVE: This study examined changes in food group variety during obesity treatment and the relation between changes in food group variety, dietary intake, and weight. DESIGN: Overweight men and women (n=202) were randomly assigned to one of two standard behavioral treatments with varying exercise prescriptions (exercise level of 4186 kJ/week (1000 kcal/week) or 10465 kJ/week (2500 kcal/week)), but received the same diet. Complete measures were obtained from 122 participants, of which 70 (58%) were female, with a mean body mass index of 31.3 kg/m2 (s.d.=2.5). MEASUREMENTS: Food group variety and diet composition were assessed at 0, 6, and 18 months from food-frequency questionnaires. Food group variety was calculated as percent of foods consumed on a weekly basis within a food group, irrespective of servings consumed. RESULTS: Participants reported increased variety (P≤0.001) in low-fat breads (LFB) and vegetables, and decreased variety (P≤0.001) in high-fat foods (HFF), and fats, oils, and sweets (FOS) over the course of the 18-month study. From 0 to 6 months, decreased HFF and FOS variety was associated with reduced energy and percent dietary fat intake, and decreased HFF variety was related to weight loss. From 6 to 18 months, decreased HFF variety and increased LFB variety was associated with reduced percent dietary fat consumed and weight loss. CONCLUSION: Changing variety in specific food groups may help in adopting and sustaining a diet low in energy and fat, producing better weight loss and weight loss maintenance.
The Paradox of Blackmail

. The author questions himself about what is known as “the paradox of blackmail,” that is, the fact that blackmail is the result of the combination of two ways of behaving which are often both lawful if taken individually, but unlawful once they are connected. The author also examines whether the harm principle typical of liberal orders provides the justification (the rationale) for the assumption of blackmail as a crime, or whether it is instead necessary to turn to another justificatory basis: the exploitation principle. However, as this principle leads to legal moralism, it opposes a liberal ethics. Thus, one is faced with the dilemma of either accepting the harm principle thus decriminalizing blackmail, or accepting the exploitation principle and going against principles of liberalism. To escape this dilemma the author distinguishes between various types (five categories) of blackmail, concluding that only non-paradoxical types fit the common-sense expectation of criminalization.
Technology transfer: The key to successful space engineering education☆

Abstract The 1990s are the threshold of the space revolution for the next century. This space revolution was initiated by space pioneers like Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, and Oberth, who contributed a great deal to the evolution of space exploration, and more importantly, to space education. Recently, space engineering education programs for all ages have been advocated around the world, especially in Asia and Europe, as well as the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union. And yet, although space related technologies are developing rapidly, these technologies are not being incorporated successfully into space education programs. Timely technology transfer is essential to assure the continued education of professionals. This paper reviews the evolution of space engineering education and identifies a number of initiatives which could strengthen space engineering education for the next century.
Motion artifact reduction in fan-beam and cone-beam computed tomography via the fan-beam data consistency condition (FDCC)

Motion contamination in computed tomography projection data causes significant artifacts in the reconstructed images. If during the tomographic acquisition the object is relatively stationary during a portion of the acquisition, and then moves significantly, the projection data after the motion will be inconsistent with the projection data during the period of relative stationarity. The fan-beam data consistency condition (FDCC) provides a means to directly estimate motion contaminated projection data based on all of the projection data acquired. Thus, the FDCC may be used to combat many types of motion contamination in computed tomography. This approach to motion artifact correction is novel as none of the previous methods for artifact correction utilized a direct estimation of motion contaminated data. Additionally, this methodology depends upon only a small amount of a priori information and is not based on a motion model. Another distinguishing feature of this method is that it operates directly in the projection space, and is completely independent of the reconstruction algorithm utilized. An example of clinical relevance of coronary motion artifact reduction is presented using both simulated projection data as well as projection data acquired with a porcine model using a state-of-the-art 64 row volumetric CT scanner. Significant reduction in motion related artifacts is achieved in both the simulation case and the porcine model.
Selective Promotion in Officer Cohorts

ONE APPROACH to the study of social and organizational change is the study of life histories of strategic cohorts.' This approach is particularly appropriate for military elites because of the marked age grading in education, selection, and career development. Thus, the officer who is slow in his movement through the ranks is clearly recognized as "over-age in grade." Cohort analysis must be seen in the light of external events affecting the cohort. The demands placed upon the American military establishment during this century have altered the nature of relations between the civilian and military sectors of society. American involvement in two world wars and in postwar world politics has required a vast expansion of the armed forces which was achieved through widespread enlistment and conscription of "civilian soldiers." The increasingly complex technology of warfare and of military organization, moreover, required professional skills other than those traditionally taught within the service academies. Thus, there has been a tendency toward "reciprocal interpenetration" of the civilian and military spheres.2 The defining characteristics of this interpenetration are (1) a convergence of the skills required in the civilian and military spheres as the technological bases of both systems become more complex; (2) a broadening of the base of military recruitment generally and of officer recruitment specifically, so that nonacademy graduates are admitted to the officer corps; (3) the presence of civilian personnel employed within the military system.3 The values generated within organizations such as the military provide a basis for the development of processes aimed at maintaining the structural integrity of these organizations. These processes may be said to be maintaining the boundaries of the organization as a system.4 The broadening of the base of military officer recruitment, which causes newly
Reactions of thrombin-serpin complexes with thrombospondin.

Abstract Activated platelets release proteins that form stable complexes with thrombin (J. J. Miller, P. C. Browne, and T. C. Detwiler, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 151, 9–15, 1988). A working model for the reaction (P. C. Browne, J. J. Miller, and T. C. Detwiler, Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 265, 534–538, 1988) includes a dissociable complex of thrombin with released platelet protease nexin, leading to formation of a nondissociable thrombin-nexin complex that then becomes disulfide linked to thrombospondin. This disulfide-linked complex is converted back to the thrombinnexin complex by reduction of disulfide bonds. Results that allow elaboration on this model are presented. After longer periods of incubation or after incubation with higher concentrations of thrombin, the amount of thrombin complexed with thrombospondin exceeded the amount of thrombinnexin complex recovered after reduction of disulfide bonds. When the reaction mixture included inhibitors of formation of the thrombin-nexin complex, a slow formation of the thrombin-thrombospondin complex was observed. It was concluded that there is a nexin-independent as well as the faster nexin-dependent disulfide linkage of thrombin to thrombospondin. Addition of thrombin-antithrombin III complexes to the supernatant solution of activated platelets also led to complexes with thrombospondin, demonstrating that serpins other than platelet protease nexin facilitate incorporation of thrombin into complexes with thrombospondin. By heparin affinity chromatography, it was shown that thrombin-nexin complexes dissociably associate with thrombospondin prior to formation of disulfide-linked complexes. These observations are incorporated into a more detailed model of the reaction.
Nonlinear damage models for diagnosis and prognosis in structural dynamic systems

This work aims to establish a nonlinear dynamics framework for diagnosis and prognosis in structural dynamic systems. The objective is to develop an analytically sound means for extracting features, which can be used to characterize damage, form modal-based input-output data in complex hybrid structures with heterogeneous materials and many components. Although systems like this are complex in nature, the premise of the work here is that damage initiates and evolves in the same phenomenological way regardless of the physical system according to nonlinear dynamic processes. That is, bifurcations occur in healthy systems as a result of damage. By projecting a priori the equations of motion of high-dimensional structural dynamic systems onto lower dimensional center, or so-called 'damage', manifolds, it is demonstrated that model reduction near bifurcations might be a useful way to identity certain features in the input- output data that are helpful in identifying damage. Normal forms describing local co-dimension one and two bifurcations are assumed to govern the initiation and evolution of damage in a low-order model. Real-world complications in damage prognosis involving spatial bifurcations, global bifurcation phenomena, and the sensitivity of damage to small changes in initial conditions are also briefly discussed.
The Rs of Biology: R-Loops and the Regulation of Regulators

Work by Sun et al. (2013) in Arabidopsis reveals an additional function for R-loops in suppressing the expression of a long noncoding RNA and sheds light on the single-stranded DNA binding protein AtNDX that promotes persistence of the R-loop.
Effects of progesterone on the inflammatory response to brain injury in the rat

The effects of progesterone on the cellular inflammatory response to frontal cortex injury were examined on postsurgical days 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 in male rats treated with progesterone (4 mg/kg) and/or vehicle. Rats with bilateral contusions showed increased levels of edema on days 1, 3 and 5, more reactive astrocytes on days 3, 5, 7 and 9, and more macrophages/activated microglia on days 1, 3, 5 and 9 compared to shams. The number of neurons in the medial dorsal nucleus (MDN) of the thalamus reduced on days 5 and 9 after injury compared to shams. Progesterone reduced edema levels and increased the accumulation of macrophages/activated microglia compared to vehicle controls (p<0.025); however, these changes in the inflammatory response were not related to MDN neuronal survival. Our results confirm the possibility that one way progesterone mediates its neuroprotective effects following injury is through its actions on the inflammatory response.
Hyaluronan Participates in the Epidermal Response to Disruption of the Permeability Barrier in Vivo

Hyaluronan (hyaluronic acid, HA) is a glycosaminoglycan in the extracellular matrix of tissues that plays a role in cellular migration, proliferation and differentiation. Injury to the stratum corneum elicits an epidermal hyperproliferative response, a pathogenic feature in many cutaneous diseases including eczema and psoriasis. Because HA is abundant in the matrix between keratinocytes, we asked whether the presence of HA is required for epidermal hyperplasia to occur in response to barrier injury. Disruption of the stratum corneum, by acetone application on the skin of hairless mice, led to a marked accumulation of HA in the matrix between epidermal basal and spinous keratinocytes, and also within keratinocytes of the upper epidermis. To test whether HA may have a functional role in epidermal hyperplasia, we used Streptomyces hyaluronidase (StrepH), delivered topically, to degrade epidermal HA and blunt the accumulation of epidermal HA after acetone. StrepH signficantly reduced epidermal HA levels, and also significantly inhibited the development of epidermal hyperplasia. This reduction in epidermal thickness was not attributable to any decrease in keratinocyte proliferation, but rather to an apparent acceleration in terminal differentiation (ie, increased keratin 10 and filaggrin expression). Overall, the data show that HA is a significant participant in the epidermal response to barrier injury.
An Immature Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) Nasal Reveals Unexpected Complexity of Craniofacial Ontogeny and Integument in Pachyrhinosaurus

A new specimen attributable to an immature individual of Pachyrhinosaurus perotorum (Dinosauria, Ceratopsidae) from the Kikak-Tegoseak Quarry in northern Alaska preserves a mix of features that provides refinement to the sequence of ontogenetic stages and transformations inferred for the development of the nasal boss in Pachyrhinosaurus. The new specimen consists of an incomplete nasal that includes the posterior part of the nasal horn, the dorsal surface between the horn and the left-side contacts for the prefrontal and frontal, and some of the left side of the rostrum posteroventral to the nasal horn. The combination of morphologies in the new specimen suggests either an additional stage of development should be recognized in the ontogeny of the nasal boss of Pachyrhinosaurus, or that the ontogenetic pathway of nasal boss development in P. perotorum was notably different from that of P. lakustai. Additionally, the presence of a distinct basal sulcus and the lateral palisade texture on the nasal horn of the specimen described here indicate that a thick, cornified horn sheath was present well before the formation of a dorsal cornified pad. A separate rugose patch on the nasal well posterior to the nasal horn is evidence for a cornified integumentary structure, most likely a thick cornified pad, on the posterior part of the nasal separate from the nasal horn prior to the onset of nasal boss formation in P. perotorum.
Evaluation of 3D fluoroscopic image generation from a single planar treatment image on patient data with a modified XCAT phantom

Accurate understanding and modeling of respiration-induced uncertainties is essential in image-guided radiotherapy. Explicit modeling of the overall lung motion and interaction among different organs promises to be a useful approach. Recently, preliminary studies on 3D fluoroscopic treatment imaging and tumor localization based on principal component analysis motion models and cost function optimization have shown encouraging results. However, the performance of this technique for varying breathing parameters and under realistic conditions remains unclear and thus warrants further investigation. In this work, we present a systematic evaluation of a 3D fluoroscopic image generation algorithm via two different approaches. In the first approach, the model's accuracy is tested for changing parameters for sinusoidal breathing. These parameters include changing respiratory motion amplitude, period and baseline shift. The effects of setup error, imaging noise and different tumor sizes are also examined. In the second approach, we test the model for anthropomorphic images obtained from a modified XCAT phantom. This set of experiments is important as all the underlying breathing parameters are simultaneously tested, as in realistic clinical conditions. Based on our simulation results for more than 250 s of breathing data for eight different lung patients, the overall tumor localization accuracies of the model in left-right, anterior-posterior and superior-inferior directions are 0.1 ± 0.1, 0.5 ± 0.5 and 0.8 ± 0.8 mm, respectively. 3D tumor centroid localization accuracy is 1.0 ± 0.9 mm.
A simplified UV spectral scan method for the estimation of phenolic acids and antioxidant capacity in eggplant pulp extracts

Abstract The objective of this study was to determine if a simple UV spectral analysis method can be used as a screening tool to estimate the amount of phenolic acid and the antioxidant capacity of eggplant pulp extracts. Calibration curves for different concentrations of 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid standards were developed using UV spectral data, HPLC analysis, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Seven different freeze-dried eggplant pulp samples belonging to different cultivars or grown under different environmental conditions along with single peel sample were selected as model substrates for this study. HPLC results, simple UV spectral scan data, and quantification of antioxidant capacity by FRAP assay in seven eggplant pulp extracts showed a strong correlation ( R 2 > 0.9) between the three methods. These results suggest that the single absorption reading or a simple UV spectral scan can be used to estimate the concentration of phenolic acids and the antioxidant capacity in eggplant pulp extracts without peels. This screening tool can be potentially used to identify cultivars and growing conditions that influence phenolic acid content in eggplant samples.
Cortical vesicle breakdown in fertilized eggs of Fundulus heteroclitus

A scanning and transmission electron microscope study has been made of the cortical alveoli of the egg of Fundulus heteroclitus. The study includes both unactivated eggs and fertilized eggs fixed at intervals of 1 second to 10 minutes after insemination. The alveoli appear to vary considerably in size, in contents, and in morphological aspects of their breakdown. As it undergoes dehiscence, each vesicle may form one or several openings in the egg surface; dense granules and particulate, fibrous, or membranous material, apparently in any combination, are liberated to the nascent perivitelline space. It appears that much of the excess membrane externalized during the reaction is strung out in threads and probably lost to the perivitelline space. The evidence does not suggest that the excess membrane either “dissolves” or is retrieved by the egg cytoplasm. That part of the cortical vesicle membrane which remains continuous with the oolemma gradually becomes microvillous and loses its morphological identity. Granules and particulate matter, presumably liberated from the cortical alveoli, are seen adhering to the inner surface of chorions removed from activated eggs. The micropyle appears to be sealed with similar material. Supernumerary sperm are observed inside the chorion in some instances. The cortical reaction appears to play a secondary role in the prevention of polyspermy and to be somehow related to the subsequent formation of a normal embryonic blastodisc.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation: systematic analysis of communication from the biopsychosocial perspective.

AbstractPurpose: Communication is powerful predictor of health-related quality of life and overall well-being, yet its role in promoting rehabilitation outcomes in spinal cord injury (SCI) is rarely mentioned. This article systematically analyzes and synthesizes literature from multiple disciplines according to a biopsychosocial perspective, providing an evidence base for clinical practice and clear direction for future research. Method: Systematic literature review and analysis, incorporating mapping to International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) codes. Results: In total 4338 entries were retrieved from CINAHL, PsychInfo, Medline, PubMed and SpeechBite databases for the period 1990–2014. A total of 115 treatment and observational studies (quantitative and qualitative) detailed aspects of communication according to structure, function, activity, participation and environmental factors; evident of the complex interactions between communicative function with daily living after S...
Are Compliance-Gaining Strategies Dependent on Situational Variables?.

Previous research has apparently established that persuasive strategy use is heavily dependent on characteristics of the specific compliance‐gaining situation. Situational variables believed to have systematic effects on strategy choice include intimacy of the interpersonal relationship and duration of the consequences of compliance or noncompliance. This study, an attempt to replicate the prototype studies in the area, finds little support for many of the findings now accepted as general propositions. The likelihood that a strategy will be used in a given situation depends significantly on unanalyzed aspects of message content, so that generalizations about strategy types are problematic.
CARBON ECONOMY OF SOYBEAN–RHIZOBIUM–GLOMUS ASSOCIATIONS

Summary Carbon uptake and allocation in plants that were largely dependent on microbial symbionts for N and P was compared to that in plants given inorganic fertilizer. Soybeans (Glycine max L. Merr.) were grown in sterilized soil and were either left uninoculated, or were inoculated with Rhizobium japonicum (Kirschner), or both R. japonicum and Glomus fasciculatum (Thaxter sensu Gerd.). Uninoculated plants were given N and/or P fertilizer at rates required to produce plants similar in size to inoculated plants. Carbon flows to plant parts, root nodules and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizas were measured in six- and nine-week-old plants by determining the distributions of 14C after pulse labelling with 14CO2. Root nodules in non-mycorrhizal plants utilized 9% of total photosynthate; this was increased to 12% in nodulated, mycorrhizal plants. Mycorrhizas used 17% of the total photosynthate of six-week-old plants; this fell to 8% after nine weeks. Rates of 14CO2 fixation in leaves of nodulated or nodulated plus mycorrhizal plants were up to 52% higher than in plants without microbial symbionts. Part of the increase was due to higher specific leaf area in plants colonized by symbionts, but other factors such as source-sink relationships, starch mobilization and leaf P concentrations were also involved in the host-plant adaptations to the C demand of the microbial endophytes.
Computation of the fitness and functional response of Holling's “hungry mantid” by the WKB method

Abstract We derive a differential-difference equation for the fitness of a predatory insect such as a mantid. If the gut capacity of the mantid is large compared to individual prey items, the equation for fitness can be solved by the WKB method. We also compute the prey attack rate as a function of prey density.
The roles of the north-south component of the interplanetary magnetic field on large-scale auroral dynamics observed by the DMSP satellite

Abstract An extensive study of DMSP photographs and the simultaneous interplanetary magnetic field data suggests that the quantity defined by S=∫ τ 0 (Ф D − Ф N )dt has a fundamental importance in substorm processes, where ΦD and ΦN denote the production rate of merged (or open) field lines along the dayside X-line and of reconnected (or closed) field lines along the nightside X-line, respectively; t = 0 is measured from the time when the Bz component begins to decrease after a prolonged period of a large positive Bz value. It is shown, first of all, that substorms occur so long as S > 0, regardless of the sign of the Bz component and its changes (namely, the southward and northward turnings) and of its time derivative as well. Secondly, the intensity of substorms is proportional to S2. By introducing the quantity S, the recent confusion of the problem of the roles of the north-south component of the interplanetary magnetic field on substorm processes can be removed. Since S is equal to the amount of the open magnetic fluxes at a time reckoned from t = 0, it is proportional to (A1 − A0), where A0 denotes the minimum polar cap area (namely, the area bounded by the minimum auroral oval) and A1 the polar cap area at an arbitrary time t. Therefore, substorms can occur whenever the auroral oval is larger than its minimum size. Further, an intense substorm tends to occur along a large oval. The quantity S can also be considered as an excess flux, and thus the substorm can be considered as a process by which the magnetosphere tends to remove sporadically the excess energy associated with S.
Principal Leadership: A Primary Factor in School-Based Management And School Improvement:

There are two schools of thought on school-based management. One views it as a positive and successful vehicle of school improvement. The other argues that it has been minimally successful with respect to school improvement and the results do not justify all the time, energy, and effort expended in operationalizing the concept.
Optical Properties of Sugar Flavazoles

The absorption of glucose flavazole was measured in the ultraviolet and visible regions of the spectrum. Three maxima were observed: 267, 335, and 410 mmicro. The absorption at 410 mmicro follows Beer's law with 70 percent propanol or water as solvent. The molar absorptivities for glucose, maltose, and lactose flavazoles were the same and equal to 3.7 x 10(3).
Critical point of the two-dimensional Bose gas: An S-matrix approach

Abstract A new treatment of the critical point of the two-dimensional interacting Bose gas is presented. In the lowest order approximation we obtain the critical temperature T c ≈ 2 π n / [ m log ( 2 π / m g ) ] , where n is the density, m the mass, and g the coupling. This result is based on a new formulation of interacting gases at finite density and temperature which is reminiscent of the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz in one dimension. In this formalism, the basic thermodynamic quantities are expressed in terms of a pseudo-energy. Consistent resummation of 2-body scattering leads to an integral equation for the pseudo-energy with a kernel based on the logarithm of the exact 2-body S-matrix.
Numerical simulation of the 12 May 1997 interplanetary CME event

[1] Numerical three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic models are capable of predicting large-scale solar wind structures at Earth, provided that appropriate time-dependent boundary conditions are specified near the Sun. Since knowledge of such conditions is at present insufficient to directly drive the models, various approximations are used. In this paper, we introduce the main features and approximations of a numerical model where (1) the ambient solar wind is derived from coronal models utilizing photospheric magnetic field observations and (2) transient disturbances are derived from geometrical and kinematic fitting of coronagraph observations of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). We have chosen the well-defined halo-CME event of 12 May 1997 as our initial event because it is characterized by a relatively quiet solar and interplanetary background into which the ejecta was launched. The numerical simulation has enabled us to predict the arrival of the shock and ejecta and provided us with a global picture of transient disturbance interacting with a moderately fast solar wind stream.
Expectations and Realities: Education, the Discipline Gap, and the Experiences of Black Families Migrating to Small Cities

In this study, the authors examine the narratives of two African American mothers and grandmothers and two youths who migrated from under-resourced neighborhoods in a large urban city to a smaller Midwestern college town in hopes of gaining access to safe neighborhoods, employment opportunities, and better educational experiences. Using phenomenological case study methodology, the authors were participant observers in two community groups that included a coalition of African American working class mothers and grandmothers and a network for black male youth ages 14–18. The findings in this study ultimately demonstrate how these youth and their families discovered even more racial disparities in their new residence. This was especially true in the areas of education and juvenile justice. Ultimately, the authors argue that the “new migration” has yet to yield the opportunities these families hoped to gain.
Changes in Body-Surface Electrocardiograms From Geometric Remodeling With Obesity

Both diabetes and obesity cause cardiac dysfunction. To separate consequences of geometric changes due to obesity from electrophysiological ones, we investigated how changes in cardiac and torso geometry affected body-surface ECGs. For this study, we modified the realistic heart and torso models of the simulation package ECGSIM. ECGs were calculated from action potentials on the heart surface using our bidomain forward-problem solution. These ECGs were studied using spectral- and principal-component analyses and isopotential and energy maps. We found relative errors over the body-surface during the QT interval of 12%, 14%, and 68% for hypertrophy of the heart, extension of the abdomen, and heart displacement with obesity, respectively. The major change to the standard 12-lead set also occurred with heart displacement. The mean relative error over the QT interval in the precordial leads was 78% with heart displacement. These results demonstrate the limitations of using standard lead sets to characterize electrocardiographic changes in obese subjects and point to the need for more inclusive measures, such as body-surface mapping and inverse electrocardiography, to describe electrical remodeling in the presence of habitus changes due to obesity.
SIDR: structure-aware intelligent data routing in Hadoop

The MapReduce framework is being extended for domains quite different from the web applications for which it was designed, including the processing of big structured data, e.g., scientific and financial data. Previous work using MapReduce to process scientific data ignores existing structure when assigning intermediate data and scheduling tasks. In this paper, we present a method for incorporating knowledge of the structure of scientific data and executing query into the MapReduce communication model. Built in SciHadoop, a version of the Hadoop MapReduce framework for scientific data, SIDR intelligently partitions and routes intermediate data, allowing it to: remove Hadoop's global barrier and execute Reduce tasks prior to all Map tasks completing; minimize intermediate key skew; and produce early, correct results. SIDR executes queries up to 2.5 times faster than Hadoop and 37% faster than SciHadoop; produces initial results with only 6% of the query completed; and produces dense, contiguous output.
Hippocampal Short- and Long-Term Plasticity Are Not Modulated by Astrocyte Ca2+ Signaling

The concept that astrocytes release neuroactive molecules (gliotransmitters) to affect synaptic transmission has been a paradigm shift in neuroscience research over the past decade. This concept suggests that astrocytes, together with pre- and postsynaptic neuronal elements, make up a functional synapse. Astrocyte release of gliotransmitters (for example, glutamate and adenosine triphosphate) is generally accepted to be a Ca2+-dependent process. We used two mouse lines to either selectively increase or obliterate astrocytic Gq G protein-coupled receptor Ca2+ signaling to further test the hypothesis that astrocytes release gliotransmitters in a Ca2+-dependent manner to affect synaptic transmission. Neither increasing nor obliterating astrocytic Ca2+ fluxes affects spontaneous and evoked excitatory synaptic transmission or synaptic plasticity. Our findings suggest that, at least in the hippocampus, the mechanisms of gliotransmission need to be reconsidered.
Reaching Spanish-speaking smokers online: a 10-year worldwide research program

OBJECTIVE: To describe a 10-year proof-of-concept smoking cessation research program evaluating the reach of online health interventions throughout the Americas. METHODS: Recruitment occurred from 2002 - 2011, primarily using Google.com AdWords. Over 6 million smokers from the Americas entered keywords related to smoking cessation; 57 882 smokers (15 912 English speakers and 41 970 Spanish speakers) were recruited into online self-help automated intervention studies. To examine disparities in utilization of methods to quit smoking, cessation aids used by English speakers and Spanish speakers were compared. To determine whether online interventions reduce disparities, abstinence rates were also compared. Finally, the reach of the intervention was illustrated for three large Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas-Argentina, Mexico, and Peru-and the United States of America. RESULTS: Few participants had utilized other methods to stop smoking before coming to the Internet site; most reported using no previous smoking cessation aids: 69.2% of Spanish speakers versus 51.8% of English speakers (P < 0.01). The most used method was nicotine gum, 13.9%. Nicotine dependence levels were similar to those reported for in-person smoking cessation trials. Overall observed quit rate for English speakers was 38.1% and for Spanish speakers, 37.0%; quit rates in which participants with missing data were considered to be smoking were 11.1% and 10.6%, respectively. Neither comparison was significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: The systematic use of evidence-based Internet interventions for health problems could have a broad impact throughout the Americas, at little or no cost to individuals or to ministries of health.
The effects of pollen load size and donor diversity on pollen performance, selective abortion, and progeny vigor in Mirabilis jalapa (Nyctaginaceae)

The influence of pollen competitive environment on pollen performance (pollen germination, stigmatic penetration, and pollen tube growth rate), the maturation or abortion of initiated fruit, seed size, and seedling vigor was explored by manipulating the size and diversity of stigmatic pollen loads on Mirabilis jalapa. All aspects of pollen performance significantly increased with the number of pollen grains on a stigma or pollen tubes in a style, but was not influenced by the diversity of pollen donors. Plants tended to mature single-ovulate fruits that came from flowers where pollen load size and diversity were greatest and aborted those where these were lowest. No plants from seeds resulting from pollinations with a single pollen grain survived, but other fitness measures were mostly determined by maternal plant. The data suggest that pollen performance is influenced by pollen competitive environment, and both the genetic diversity of the pollen load and number of competing pollen tubes are important determinants of seed/fruit abortion.
Effects of Iron Oxidation State on the Specific Surface Area of Nontronite

The effect of Fe oxidation state on the specific surface area, Sin, ofnontronite was studied using the < 2-tzm, Na§ fraction of the SWa-1 and Garfield nontronite reference clays. The reduction of structural Fe 3+ in the octahedral sheet of the nontronite decreased Sm as measured by the adsorption of 2-ethoxyethanol (ethylene glycol-monoethyl ether, EGME). The swellability in water of the nontronite also decreased during reduction. The amount of nonexchangeable Na +, on the other hand, increased with increasing Fe 2+ content and was highly correlated with EGME adsorption (r = -.985). The relationship between Sm and Fe 2+ was attributed to the collapse of partially or fully expanded layers to unexpanded layers.