cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparing the environmental impacts of uranium- and thorium-based fuel cycles with different recycle options

Abstract This article addresses the comparative environmental impacts of possible future implementations of several uranium- and thorium-based fuel cycles at steady-state. After carefully defining an appropriate, meaningful, and consistent reference set of fuel cycles for both thorium- and uranium-based options--along with varied extents of recycle--material flow analyses are conducted to determine the mass throughputs in the constituent steps of the fuel cycles. These mass flows are combined with mass-normalized environmental metrics encompassing safety, waste (both low- and high-level) management, and resource sustainability to provide overall perspectives on the environment, health, and safety performance of these fuel cycles. The results indicate that the extent of recycle is generally a more important predictor of environmental metric performance than whether the fuel cycle uses uranium or thorium, although there are still some differences between uranium and thorium for certain metrics. Different fuel cycles perform better with regards to certain metrics, and there is no “best” fuel cycle with regards to environmental impact; the varying relative performance is discussed.
A New Species of Turbinella (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the Pliocene of Mexico, with a Revision of the Geologic History of the Line

In the 20 years since the writer reviewed the genus Turbinella in the New World (Vokes, 1964; 1966) there have been many changes in the age assignments of the formations in which the various species occur.
Drone Relays for Battery-Free Networks

Battery-free sensors, such as RFIDs, are annually attached to billions of items including pharmaceutical drugs, clothes, and manufacturing parts. The fundamental challenge with battery-free sensors is that they are only reliable at short distances of tens of centimeters to few meters. As a result, today's systems for communicating with and localizing battery-free sensors are crippled by the limited range.To overcome this challenge, this paper presents RFly, a system that leverages drones as relays for battery-free networks. RFly delivers two key innovations. It introduces the first full-duplex relay for battery-free networks. The relay can seamlessly integrate with a deployed RFID infrastructure, and it preserves phase and timing characteristics of the forwarded packets. RFly also develops the first RF-localization algorithm that can operate through a mobile relay.We built a hardware prototype of RFly's relay into a custom PCB circuit and mounted it on a Parrot Bebop drone. Our experimental evaluation demonstrates that RFly enables communication with commercial RFIDs at over 50 m. Moreover, its through-relay localization algorithm has a median accuracy of 19 centimeters. These results demonstrate that RFly provides powerful primitives for communication and localization in battery-free networks.
Informativeness of Self-Reports of ADHD Symptoms in Monitoring Response to Stimulant Treatment in Clinically Referred Adults With ADHD.

Objective: To investigate the informativeness of self-reports of ADHD symptoms in adults with ADHD in the clinical setting. Method: Subjects were clinically referred adults aged 19 years to 67 year...
Context-based Instruction: What Traditional Social Science Disciplines Offer to Nonprofit Management Education

What can traditional social science disciplines offer to contemporary nonprofit management education? We argue that the focus on context provided by traditional disciplines contrasts with operation...
The Relationship of DCCD-Membrane Interaction to Coupling Factor Function in the Proton Pump

The experiments of MCCARTY and RACKER showed that the protein (CF1) extracted from spinach chloroplasts by EDTA-washing is functional as a Ca++ ATPase and their immunochemical experiments showed that this protein is identical to the grana-bound Mg+ + ATPase and the enzyme responsible for coupling ATP synthesis to electron flow. Their work implicated this protein in the proton uptake reaction; however, their results and subsequent investigations on energy transfer inhibition have shown that the transphosphory1 at ion function of this protein is not essential to the proton pump (MCCARTY & RACKER 1965, IZAWA & HIND 1967, URIBE 1970). The experiments reported by URIBE and JAGENDORF demonstrated that CF1 is not essential to the physical properties of the grana membranes as determined by osmotic response (URIBE & JAGENDORF 1968); thus the CF1-membrane interaction was thought to be specifically related to the proton permeability of the grana membrane. Coupling factor (CF1) binding could reduce proton permeability thereby producing or maintaining and energetic state which could be expressed as proton accumulation and phosphorylation under appropriate experimental conditions.
Dynamic Elastic Model of Ceramic Stock Removal

Considerable work has been done on stock removal processes in metals; and on the failure properties of ceramics under ballistics impact. The former is dominated by plastic deformation prior to fracture, whereas the latter is. dominated by the propagation of a shock front which causes brittle fracture. For the process of ceramic stock removal as encountered in practice, neither of these mechanisms play dominant roles, i. e., neither the ceramic sample is expected to manifest plastic flow, nor do the practical machining techniques generate shock fronts. The theoretical model is thus different from commonly accepted theories of “cutting” and “brittle fracture in ceramics”. We shall describe a model where the cutting tool is a single diamond point as shown in Fig. 1. The conical diamond rotates with an effective radius R and is set to cut a V-shaped groove of depth r. The total length of the groove l is traversed by the cutting point in a large number of passes as the sample is fed with a velocity v.
Mechanisms Controlling Airway Ciliary Activity

The principal activity of respiratory tract cilia, in conjunction with mucus secretion, is the expulsion of contaminating material from the airways. Without mucociliary clearance, the airways would remain exposed to infectious agents or reactive substances — a situation that often results in chronic obstructive lung disease. The conditions that predispose mucociliary clearance to failure are not well established, but if therapies are to be designed to counter obstructive lung disease, a better understanding of mucociliary activity is required. In comparison with other cilia, the mechanisms that drive airway ciliary activity have not been extensively investigated a consequence of poor accessibility to airway tissue and the incompatibility of mucosal tissue with microscopy. From an experimental viewpoint, flagella have the advantage that they are readily obtained and easilyobserved with microscopy. Consequently, our understanding of ciliary activity relies on a significant amount of information derived from studies of flagella. With the exception of length, the structure of flagella is almost indistinguishable from cilia. In addition, airway cilia display a slidingmicrotubule mechanism of motility and dynein structure that are similar to flagella or cilia of other eukaryotes. In this chapter, the structure of the mucociliary interface, the mechanics and coordination of ciliary activity, and the intra-and intercellular mechanisms that regulate airway ciliary activity will be briefly reviewed. Limited space necessitates that reference to many original studies is directed through reviews and recent reports [1-7].
Recognizing Project Management as an Abstract Science

Researchers indicate a shift in scholarly focus from a systems perspective, to one of leadership and organizational behavior. To address increasing project failure rates, leadership theories are being implemented to improve project performance by improving organizational cultures. The practice of Project Management, however, does not offer a framework for developing theories to improve project success rates, and then tracking them to prove their validity. This paper suggests that project management is really an abstract science and practitioners should act like scientists and develop project success theories. It concludes by assessing central research paradigms tailored for project management.
Metrics-Driven Evaluation of Cybersecurity for Critical Railway Infrastructure

In the past couple of years, railway infrastructure has been growing more connected, resembling more of a traditional Cyber-Physical System [1] model. Due to the tightly coupled nature between the cyber and physical domains, new attack vectors are emerging that create an avenue for remote hijacking of system components not designed to withstand such attacks. As such, best practice cybersecurity techniques need to be put in place to ensure the safety and resiliency of future railway designs, as well as infrastructure already in the field. However, traditional large-scale experimental evaluation that involves evaluating a large set of variables by running a design of experiments (DOE) may not always be practical and might not provide conclusive results [2]. In addition, to achieve scalable experimentation, the modeling abstractions, simulation configurations, and experiment scenarios must be designed according to the analysis goals of the evaluations. Thus, it is useful to target a set of key operational metrics for evaluation and configure and extend the traditional DOE methods using these metrics. In this work, we present a metricsdriven evaluation approach for evaluating the security and resilience of railway critical infrastructure using a distributed simulation framework. A case study with experiment results is provided that demonstrates the capabilities of our testbed.
Growth response of Hydrangea macrophylla and Ilex crenata cultivars to low-phosphorus controlled-release fertilizers

Abstract In containerized nursery-crop production, conventional phosphorus (P) fertilization amounts are reported to be in excess of plant needs which has resulted in poor P use efficiency (PUE) and subsequent P leaching from containers. Phosphorus leaching can be reduced and PUE improved without affecting plant growth by reducing P fertilization. The objective of this study was to identify the lowest controlled-release fertilizer (CRF)-P content and subsequent pour-through-extracted substrate pore-water P (PWP) concentration that produces maximal shoot growth of two common container-grown nursery crop species, Hydrangea macrophylla ‘PIIHM-II’ (hydrangea) and Ilex crenata ‘Helleri’ (holly), in a pine bark substrate. Hydrangea and holly liners were potted into 3.8-L containers containing a pine bark substrate and grown simultaneously in two different Virginia ecoregions, Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain (MACP) and Ridge and Valley (RV). Plants were fertilized with one of five CRF formulations, each containing equal nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) and 0.4%, 0.9%, 1.3%, 1.7% or 2.6% (control) P to supply containers with 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 or 0.6 g P, respectively. In both ecoregions, hydrangea shoot dry weight (SDW) and growth index [i.e., (widest width + perpendicular width + height) ÷ 3, GI] values were maximal in plants fertilized with 0.3 to 0.4 g P or the control. The lowest CRF-P rate needed for maximal SDW and GI of holly was 0.2 g P at the RV site and 0.4 g P at the MACP site. Mean PWP concentrations that corresponded with highest SDW were as low as 0.8 and 1.2 mg L−1 for hydrangea and holly, respectively. Results from this research suggest hydrangea requires approximately half the P rate supplied by recommended rates of conventional CRFs. Since the growth response of holly to CRF-P rate at the MACP site was inconsistent with results observed at the RV site and findings in scientific literature, further research is needed to determine the minimum required CRF-P rate for this taxon.
Spatial bias in figure placement in representational drawing: Associations with handedness and script directionality

Spatial biases in graphomotor production tasks such as figure drawing may reflect biological (cerebral lateralization), biomechanical (limb movement), and/or cultural (reading/writing direction) influences. The present study examined sources of bias in the placement in graphic space of a symmetrical drawn figure (a tree). A previous study using a child sample found an overall leftward placement bias, independent of participants' reading/writing direction experience [Picard & Zarhbouch, 2014. Leftward spatial bias in children's drawing placement: Hemispheric activation versus directional hypotheses. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 19(1), 96-112]; moreover, the left-side bias was greater in right handers. Using an adult sample, the present study also found an overall left placement bias. This effect was significantly greater in right-handed than left-handed participants. Importantly, a left placement bias was significantly greater in left-to-right readers (English) than in participants whose first learned language was from right-to-left (Urdu, Arabic or Farsi). The fact that script directionality is associated with figure placement in our study but not in the previous study suggests that a certain threshold of experience in reading/writing in a given direction may be needed for scanning biases to exert a demonstrable effect on representational drawing. These findings suggest that biomechanical and cultural factors offer a more parsimonious account of spatial biases in drawing.
A Newton Method for Faster Navigation in Cluttered Environments

Navigation functions are a common alternative to navigate cluttered environments. The main idea is to combine repulsive potentials from the obstacles and an attractive potential with minimum at the desired destination. By following the negative gradient of the navigation function convergence to the destination while avoiding the obstacles is guaranteed. Rimon-Koditschek artificial potentials are a particular class of potentials that can be tuned to be navigation functions in the case of focally admissible obstacles. While this provides a large class of problems in which they can be used, they suffer from the drawback that by design unstable manifolds of the saddle points have associated Hessian eigenvalues that are smaller than those associated to the stable manifold. This makes the escape from the saddle point to take a large time. To tackle this issue, we propose a second-order method that pre-multiplies the gradient by a modified Hessian to account for the curvature of the function. The method is shown to escape saddles exponentially with base 3/2 independently of the condition number of the Hessian.
Historical Collective Identity

This chapter describes the significant impact of historically-constructed concepts of national identity on the politics of jus soli and territorial citizenship in general in Moldova, Azerbaijan and Georgia. It could be even argued that these concepts stretch back into pre-modern times. They testify to the degree that history matters greatly for the politics of both national identity and citizenship, even in such new states with practically no history of independent statehood, such as Moldova and Azerbaijan. In all three cases, it is clear that historical concepts of national identity weigh heavily on today’s politics of national identity and citizenship. The history of collective identity in Georgia predisposed it to the rejection of territorial nationalism and jus soli while the lack of differentiated ethnic consciousness in Moldova and Azerbaijan have led, directly or indirectly, to the opposite results – widely-accepted territorial concepts of the nation and unconditional jus soli.
I Am Not What I Write: Privacy Preserving Text Representation Learning

Online users generate tremendous amounts of textual information by participating in different activities, such as writing reviews and sharing tweets. This textual data provides opportunities for researchers and business partners to study and understand individuals. However, this user-generated textual data not only can reveal the identity of the user but also may contain individual's private information (e.g., age, location, gender). Hence, "you are what you write" as the saying goes. Publishing the textual data thus compromises the privacy of individuals who provided it. The need arises for data publishers to protect people's privacy by anonymizing the data before publishing it. It is challenging to design effective anonymization techniques for textual information which minimizes the chances of re-identification and does not contain users' sensitive information (high privacy) while retaining the semantic meaning of the data for given tasks (high utility). In this paper, we study this problem and propose a novel double privacy preserving text representation learning framework, DPText, which learns a textual representation that (1) is differentially private, (2) does not contain private information and (3) retains high utility for the given task. Evaluating on two natural language processing tasks, i.e., sentiment analysis and part of speech tagging, we show the effectiveness of this approach in terms of preserving both privacy and utility.
Paravertebral Nerve Block With Liposomal Bupivacaine for Pain Control Following Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery and Thoracotomy.

Abstract Background Some surgeons have adopted the use of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) or robotic surgery to perform resections for lung cancer. VATS is associated with less pain and a decrease in pulmonary complications compared with open thoracotomies. Long-acting liposomal bupivacaine (LB) intercostal nerve blocks are reported to provide superior pain relief compared with epidural catheters in the first 3 d after a thoracotomy. This study examined whether LB improves pain after VATS and if it provides effective analgesia after a thoracotomy. Materials and methods A retrospective review was performed on 151 consecutive patients undergoing a VATS or thoracotomy who received paravertebral nerve blocks. VATS patients received paravertebral nerve blocks with LB (VATS-LB) or 0.25% bupivacaine with epinephrine (BE; VATS-BE). Thoracotomy patients received paravertebral nerve blocks via LB injections. Pain scores, narcotic utilization, complications, and hospital length of stay were examined. Results Fifty patients underwent a VATS-LB, 53 underwent a VATS-BE, and 32 underwent a thoracotomy. Thoracotomy and VATS-LB patients had pain scores lower than VATS-BE patients in the first 48 h after surgery (P Conclusions LB paravertebral blocks significantly improve postoperative pain in comparison with 0.25% BE blocks in VATS patients. LB paravertebral blocks also provide effective analgesia in patients undergoing thoracotomies.
Educational Preparation and Experiences in the Clinical Setting: Entry-Level Clinical Athletic Trainers' Perspectives

Context: The clinical job setting: (Outpatient/Ambulatory/Rehabilitation Clinic) should no longer be referred to as a nontraditional setting as it employs the greatest percentage of certified members. Understanding the experiences, knowledge, and skills necessary to be successful in the clinical setting as entry-level certified athletic trainers (ATs) is critical information for future Athletic Training Education Program (ATEP) curriculums, continuing education, and post-graduate fellowships. Objective: To gain an understanding of the general experiences encountered and perceived educational preparation necessary for entry-level ATs in the clinical setting. Design: Online questionnaire. Setting: Clinical. Participants: 15 entry-level clinical ATs. Main Outcome Measures: Experiences and educational preparation in the clinical setting as perceived by clinical ATs using an inductive content analysis strategy. Results: Most subjects entered the clinical setting upon graduation and were attracted by fewer hour...
Joining of thermoset carbon fiber reinforced polymer and AZ31 magnesium alloy sheet via friction stir interlocking

Friction stir interlocking (FSI), a new derivative friction stir welding, was used to lap join AZ31 magnesium sheet and thermoset carbon fiber reinforced polymer (TS-CFRP) sheet. Instead of directly joining AZ31 and TS-CFRP, a series of magnesium interlocks were used to friction stir weld with AZ31 sheet to enable joining with TS-CFRP. Microstructural characterization of joint cross sections showed that a tool rotation rate of 800 rpm produced incomplete mixing of magnesium interlocks and the top AZ31 sheet, while 1200 rpm achieved sufficient material mixing to avoid unwelded regions. Mechanical property characterization showed that AZ31/TS-CFRP dissimilar joints failed through the magnesium interlock shanks during lap shear tensile testing, with a maximum normalized joint strength reaching ~ 100 MPa. Finite element analysis of the joints helped elucidate the presence of high stress region around the narrow band of the interlock shank providing pathway of fracture.
Expert Consensus to Finalize a Universal Evaluator Rubric to Assess Pharmacy Students' Patient Communication Skills.

Objective. To use an expert consensus-building process to develop a rubric used by multiple evaluator types to assess Doctor of Pharmacy students’ patient communication skills. Methods. Faculty and staff members from six schools and colleges of pharmacy collaborated on a multi-step expert consensus-building process to create the final version of a communication rubric. First, faculty and patient content experts evaluated each item in the rubric for its relevance, criticality, and global comprehensiveness using a five-point Likert scale (0=not at all, 4=to a high extent). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the resulting data. Faculty members evaluated the results and came to a consensus on the second version of the rubric. A corresponding codebook was developed and refined through a two-phase process. Results. The initial communication rubric was evaluated by 13 expert reviewers. Mean global comprehensiveness on the rubric was 3.83 for faculty experts and 3.5 for patient experts. After evaluating results from the expert consensus-building process, 14 items on the rubric did not change, five items were revised, three items were removed, and two items were added. The second version of the instrument included 20 items in six topic areas. A codebook was finalized to increase scoring consistency for the 20 communication items. Conclusion. Overall, content experts concluded that the rubric had high global comprehensiveness. Collaboration involving faculty members from multiple schools of pharmacy resulted in a 20-item communication rubric and codebook that can be used to increase consistency in scoring student pharmacists’ patient communication skills.
The Nature of Faint Companions to G-Type Stars from Adaptive Optics

High spatial resolution (030) near-IR photometric observations using the adaptive optics of the Mount Wilson 100 inch (2.5 m) telescope and the Penn State IR Imager and Spectrograph have revealed faint companions to HD 190067 and HIP 13855. HD 190067B is found to be of mass 0.075–0.1 M⊙ with an age from 0.5 Gyr to a few gigayears. HIP 13855B is a low-mass star (age 100–500 Myr) of mass between 0.1 and 0.2 M⊙. Further near-IR spectroscopic observations will be necessary to classify their spectral types precisely.
Polynomial-time solution of prime factorization and NP-complete problems with digital memcomputing machines

We introduce a class of digital machines, we name Digital Memcomputing Machines, (DMMs) able to solve a wide range of problems including Non-deterministic Polynomial (NP) ones with polynomial resources (in time, space, and energy). An abstract DMM with this power must satisfy a set of compatible mathematical constraints underlying its practical realization. We prove this by making a connection with the dynamical systems theory. This leads us to a set of physical constraints for poly-resource resolvability. Once the mathematical requirements have been assessed, we propose a practical scheme to solve the above class of problems based on the novel concept of self-organizing logic gates and circuits (SOLCs). These are logic gates and circuits able to accept input signals from any terminal, without distinction between conventional input and output terminals. They can solve boolean problems by self-organizing into their solution. They can be fabricated either with circuit elements with memory (such as memristors) and/or standard MOS technology. Using tools of functional analysis, we prove mathematically the following constraints for the poly-resource resolvability: (i) SOLCs possess a global attractor; (ii) their only equilibrium points are the solutions of the problems to solve; (iii) the system converges exponentially fast to the solutions; (iv) the equilibrium convergence rate scales at most polynomially with input size. We finally provide arguments that periodic orbits and strange attractors cannot coexist with equilibria. As examples, we show how to solve the prime factorization and the search version of the NP-complete subset-sum problem. Since DMMs map integers into integers, they are robust against noise and hence scalable. We finally discuss the implications of the DMM realization through SOLCs to the NP = P question related to constraints of poly-resources resolvability.
Case 3-2021: A 48-Year-Old Man with Transient Vision Loss.

A Man with Transient Vision Loss A 48-year-old man presented with acute vision loss that lasted 1 hour. His history included fatigue and weight loss of 4.5 kg in the past year, as well as bilateral...
In-depth analyses of unified virtual memory system for GPU accelerated computing

The abstraction of a shared memory space over separate CPU and GPU memory domains has eased the burden of portability for many HPC codebases. However, users pay for the ease of use provided by systems-managed memory space with a moderate-to-high performance overhead. NVIDIA Unified Virtual Memory (UVM) is presently the primary real-world implementation of such abstraction and offers a functionally equivalent testbed for a novel in-depth performance study for both UVM and future Linux Heterogeneous Memory Management (HMM) compatible systems. The continued advocation for UVM and HMM motivates the improvement of the underlying system. We focus on a UVM-based system and investigate the root causes of the UVM overhead, which is a non-trivial task due to the complex interactions of multiple hardware and software constituents and the requirement of targeted analysis methodology. In this paper, we take a deep dive into the UVM system architecture and the internal behaviors of page fault generation and servicing. We reveal specific GPU hardware limitations using targeted benchmarks to uncover driver functionality as a real-time system when processing the resultant workload. We further provide a quantitative evaluation of fault handling for various applications under different scenarios, including prefetching and oversubscription. We find that the driver workload is dependent on the interactions among application access patterns, GPU hardware constraints, and Host OS components. We determine that the cost of host OS components is significant and present across implementations, warranting close attention. This study serves as a proxy for future shared memory systems such as those that interface with HMM.
Investigation of ensemble models for sequence learning

While ensemble models have proven useful for sequence learning tasks there is relatively fewer work that provide insights into what makes them powerful. In this paper, we investigate the empirical behavior of the ensemble approaches on sequence modeling, specifically for the semantic tagging task. We explore this by comparing the performance of commonly used and easy to implement ensemble methods such as majority voting, linear combination and stacking to a learning based and rather complex ensemble method. Next, we ask the question: when models of different learning methods such as predictive and representation learning (e.g., deep learning) are aggregated, do we get performance gains over the individual baseline models. We explore these questions on a range of datasets on syntactic and semantic tagging tasks such as slot filling. Our findings show that a ranking based ensemble model outperforms all other well-known ensemble models.
A knowledge engineering approach to speech processing using a blackboard model: Application to automatic labelling

Abstract In many applications related to speech processing various types of knowledge are often combined to try to solve a particular problem. This comes mainly from the fact that our knowledge about speech in one particular domain is very limited. This paper focuses on the automatic segmentation and labelling of speech with a method which uses several knowledge sources. We propose a new segmentation and labelling approach which relies on the co-operation between multi-knowledge sources (heuristic, phonetic, suprasegmental) through a blackboard model controlled by a hierarchical strategy. The blackboard model allowed us to develop the system in a modular way in order to facilitate its adaptation to different applications as the automatic segmentation of a speech database or automatic labelling in the case of speech recognition. The blackboard is composed of instances of speech objects hierarchically organized into levels of analysis. A knowledge consistency verification module has been developed to deal with hypothetical cases and data dependency.
Membrane Rafts and Caveolae

The plasma membrane does more than serve as a barrier between the contents of the cell and the extracellular space. It is a highly organized structure which contains fatty acids, cholesterol and a variety of proteins and is functionally important in trafficking cellular signals. The concept of organized structures or domains within the plasma membrane has proven invaluable to understanding how the plasma membrane interacts with the surrounding environment. One class of these domains is lipid rafts which have been shown to organize and regulate signalling platforms. Caveolae are a subset of lipid rafts which contain specific proteins and lipids that aid in the regulation of signalling processes differently from other domains. Purification techniques have made it possible to study the biochemistry of lipid rafts and caveolae and to gain a better understanding of their roles in signal transduction. Keywords: lipid rafts; caveolae; signalling; cholesterol; membranes
Fate of Isotopic Carbon in Kidney Mitochondria Synthesizing Precursors for Glucose from Pyruvate and Bicarbonate

Abstract Rat kidney mitochondria in the presence of ATP, orthophosphate, and magnesium ions convert pyruvate and bicarbonate primarily to malate, fumarate, and citrate. Pyruvate carboxylase activity was estimated by measuring the incorporation of radioactive bicarbonate into tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates. In the presence of added α-ketoglutarate or glutamate, the incorporation of 14CO2 into organic acids was greatly increased. The addition of both glutamate and α-ketoglutarate, while greatly increasing 14CO2 incorporation, led to the inhibition of aspartate formation. The low specific radioactivity of malate and citrate obtained from carboxylation of pyruvate with radioactive bicarbonate indicates that some of the radioactive bicarbonate is again lost during metabolism of the tricarboxylic acid cycle and suggests that the unlabeled CO2, derived from oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate, may be used preferentially for carboxylation. When pyruvate-1-14C instead of radioactive bicarbonate was labeled, the specific radioactivity of isolated malate and citrate was considerably higher. On the basis of these findings, pyruvate carboxylase activity is significantly higher than that previously reported in the literature based on the incorporation of radioactive bicarbonate into organic acids. Oxalacetate also exerts a regulatory effect on carboxylation of pyruvate as evidenced by the large increase in the 14CO2 incorporation in the presence of added glutamate.
Multi-scale vessel boundary detection

In this paper, we present a robust and accurate method for the segmentation of cross-sectional boundaries of vessels found in contrast-enhanced images. The proposed algorithm first detects the edges along 1D rays in multiple scales by using mean-shift analysis. Second, edges from different scales are accurately and efficiently combined by using the properties of mean-shift clustering. Third, boundaries of vessel cross-sections are obtained by using local and global perceptual edge grouping and elliptical shape verification. The proposed algorithm is stable to (i) the case where the vessel is surrounded by other vessels or other high contrast structures, (iii) contrast variations in vessel boundary, and (iii) variations in the vessel size and shape. The accuracy of the algorithm is shown on several examples.
Existence of Stable Exclusive Bilateral Exchanges in Networks

In this paper we show that when individuals in a bipartite network exclusively choose partners and exchange valued goods with their partners, then there exists a set of exchanges that are pair-wise stable. Pair-wise stability implies that no individual breaks her partnership and no two neighbors in the network can form a new partnership while breaking other partnerships if any so that at least one of them improves her payoff and the other one does at least as good. We consider a general class of continuous, strictly convex and strongly monotone preferences over bundles of goods for individuals. Thus, this work extends the general equilibrium framework from markets to networks with exclusive exchanges. We present the complete existence proof using the existence of a generalized stable matching in \cite{Generalized-Stable-Matching}. The existence proof can be extended to problems in social games as in \cite{Matching-Equilibrium} and \cite{Social-Games}.
The effects of rate of responding on retention, endurance, stability, and application of performance on a match-to-sample task

Fluent performance has been described as the retention, endurance, stability, and application of the material learned. Fluent performers not only respond quickly during training, they also make many correct responses during training. The current study used a within-subject design to analyze the effects of increased response rates on Retention, Endurance, Stability, and Application tests. Number of correct responses and number of unprompted, correct responses in error correction procedures were yoked for individual participants across an Accuracy-plus-Rate training condition and an Accuracy-Only training condition. One participant scored better in tests that followed the Accuracy-Only condition. One participant showed results that slightly favor the Accuracy-plus-Rate training condition. The two participants whose response rates were successfully reduced in the Accuracy-Only condition performed better on all tests that followed the Accuracy-plus-Rate condition.
A Systematic Review of Total Dislocation of the Talus

This review summarizes the treatment and resulting outcomes for total talar dislocation. The PubMed database was searched for articles about humans with total talar dislocation published in the English language in the last twenty years. The following data were entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet: type of dislocation, nature of associated fractures (if any), type of reduction/fixation utilized, immobilization, weight-bearing status, outcome, complications and average follow-up time. Thirty-nine articles reporting a total of 86 cases of total talar dislocation are included in this review. Seventy-three of these were open injuries and 13 closed. Forty-three cases had an associated foot or ankle fracture, 32 of those cases specifically having a fracture of the talus. The talus was preserved in the initial management of 74 cases, whereas the remaining 12 cases were managed by primary talectomy. The mean duration of follow-up was 32 months. Twenty-two cases required a secondary arthrodesis or another additional procedure. A good outcome was achieved in 35% of cases, a fair outcome in 37% and a poor outcome in 27%. The complication of avascular necrosis (AVN) occurred in 22 cases and 14 subjects developed clinically significant osteoarthritis. Generally, the outcome of current treatments associated with total talar dislocation is not ideal, only 1/3 of cases achieving good outcomes. So far, preservation of the talus is the best treatment option. AVN is still a relatively common complication even in the absence of fracture or postoperative infection.
Rotationally resolved electron-photon coincidence study of H2(d 3 Pi u) excitation

The three normalized Stokes' parameters characterizing the decay of the electron impact excited d 3 Pi u (V1=O, N1=1) rotational level of H2 were determined in an electron-photon coincidence experiment at 25 eV impact energy and 60 deg scattering angle. The low degree of polarization (coherence) which was observed could be caused by both the averaging over the magnetic sublevels of the ground state of the target and the fine and hyperfine relaxation process. The average angular momentum transfer perpendicular to the scattering plane from the electrons to the molecules was found to be near zero in this excitation process.
Some potentiometric studies in propylene carbonate: Application of hydrogen and quinhydrone electrodes and evaluation of proton medium effect from ferrocene assumption

Abstract Results of standardization of Hg/HgCl2(s) electrode in propylene carbonate (vs. NHE) are presented for possible use of the sytem in routine potentiometric measurements in the particular solvent. Also, using suitable cells along with the said Hg/HgCl2(s) reference electrode standard potentials of the reactions Fc++eFc and quinone + 2 H++2ehydroquinone have been determined. The proton medium effect on the basis of the ferrocene assumption is found to be 5.5.
Magnetic flux ropes in the ionosphere of Venus

The Pioneer Venus Orbiter has shown that the ionosphere of Venus is often filled with filamentary magnetic fields. These magnetic flux tubes apparently are created at the ionopause in the subsolar region and sink to low altitudes. As they sink they twist and compress, maintaining about the same magnetic flux, 2 to 3 Webers, until they sink below 175 km. Ropes also appear to become kink unstable at about 200 km generating spatial helices. These 3-dimensional structures can lead to increased interaction between flux ropes.
Using the Student Model to Control Problem Difficulty

We have created a student model which dynamically collects information about a student’s problem solving ability, acquisition of new topics and retention of earlier topics. This information is provided to the tutor and used to generate new problems at the appropriate level of difficulty and to provide customized hints and help. Formative evaluation of the tutor with 20 students provides evidence that the student model constructs problems at the correct level of difficulty. The problem generation technique is extensible for use in other problem-based domains. This paper describes the design and implementation of the student model and illustrates how the tutor adjusts the difficulty of a problem based on the student model.
Experiencing aspects of games programming in an introductory computer graphics class

Our computer graphics (CG) programming class uses games development as a means to help students understand CG concepts. Many students mistakenly thought this CG class was a games programming class. We present a simple frame-work for discussing games programming classes. Based on the framework, the paper describes our efforts in integrating competencies associated with games programming into our CG programming class. Our results show that the resulting class maintains the integrity of the original CG class while allowing students to develop projects with more interesting games features.
Molecular Genetic Risk Screening

Under the impetus of the Human Genome Project, new disease-associated genes are being discovered at a rapid pace. Mutations in many of these genes are present in a high enough proportion of the general population, or of particular ethnic groups, that global or targeted population screening can be contemplated. If performed early enough, identification of these mutations by molecular genetic testing can be used not merely to diagnose disease but to predict risk of future disease, either in the individual being tested or in his or her offspring. In some cases this knowledge can be the rationale for heightened surveillance and/or preventive or therapeutic interventions. Mass screening has already commenced for cystic fibrosis mutations and has been discussed for such diverse diseases as hereditary hemochromatosis, thrombophilias, familial cancer predispositions, and pharmacogenetic risk factors. However, implementation of such programs is often impeded by the complexity of the gene mutations, by incomplete penetrance, and by thorny ethical and social issues. This chapter reviews the basic criteria to be considered before embarking on population genetic risk screening, and examines multiple disease-screening examples representing a variety of modes of inheritance and technical challenges.
Scaling: A general framework

Scaling is a general technique used in transforming the complexity of a linear program from pseudopolynomiality to fully polynomiality. This is done by applying a pseu-dopolynomial algorithm to a polynomial number of smaller subproblems of the original problem. Here, our aim is to give an exposition of the basic ideas underlying the scaling method. We review Edmonds-Karp [14] solution for the transportation and max flow-min cost problem. In this context- we also review the recent application of the scaling in Maurras-Truemper-Akgul [25] for the polynomial algorithm for totally unimodular problems. We also show that the blossom algorithm for optimum b-matching problem, which is a pseudopolynornial algorithm, can be turned into a fully polynomial algorithm by scaling. The primal algorithm of Balinski-Gomory [3] for transportation problem also turns into a polynomial algorithm by scaling. We discuss ideas to transform the Primal Algorithm for perfect matching of Cunningham-Marsh [5] to a polynomial algorithm...
Nitrogen-doped plasma-enhanced CVD amorphous carbon: processes and properties

In this work we discuss thin film amorphous carbon which is deposited in a dual frequency plasma enhanced CVD system with a nitrogen-containing ambient. Unlike most carbon films deposited using PECVD, the films in this study were deposited on the grounded electrode and therefore subject to little energetic bombardment during growth. Methane was used as the carbon-containing precursor. We illustrate some potential applications for this type of film and discuss the effect of various process parameters on resulting film properties, such as optical constants, stoichiometry, and chemical bonding and structure.
Mononuclear phagocytes in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases

Brain mononuclear phagocytes (MP, bone marrow monocyte-derived macrophages, perivascular macrophages, and microglia) function to protect the nervous system by acting as debris scavengers, killers of microbial pathogens, and regulators of immune responses. MP are activated by a variety of environmental cues and such inflammatory responses elicit cell injury and death in the nervous system. MP immunoregulatory responses include secretion of neurotoxic factors, mobilization of adaptive immunity, and cell chemotaxis. This incites tissue remodelling and blood-brain barrier dysfunction. As disease progresses, MP secretions engage neighboring cells in a vicious cycle of autocrine and paracrine amplification of inflammation leading to tissue injury and ultimately destruction. Such pathogenic processes tilt the balance between the relative production of neurotrophic and neurotoxic factors, leading to disease progression. The ultimate effects that brain MP play in disease revolve “principally” around their roles in neurodegeneration. Importantly, common functions of brain MP in neuroimmunity link highly divergent diseases (for example, human immunodeficiency virus type-one associated dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease). Research from our own laboratories and those of others seek to harness MP inflammatory processes with the intent of developing therapeutic interventions that block neurodegenerative processes and improve the quality of life in affected people.
Supporting biological information work: research and education for digital resources and long-lived data

New practices are emerging in all stages of biological research, from data collection through dissemination of results. Through a series of cooperative projects with biologists working in data-intensive and informatics-based domains, we have documented requirements for digital libraries, tool development, and data management techniques to support contemporary scientific practice. This research is now serving as the foundation for a new biological informatics master's program to train scientific information specialists to manage and integrate scientific information and tools to support scientific problem solving and communication.
On the margins of two professions: Job satisfaction and stress among post-secondary correctional educators

This paper examines how individuals in the unique, doubly marginal, environment of prison-based college faculty draw from both component professions to construct positive educational experiences. Based on qualitative interviews and participant observation, the processes by which correctional higher educators construct experiences are explored. Job satisfaction is constructed from two fabrics, social compensations (of interactional and intimate forms) and structural compensations. Balanced against the experiential rewards are the mitigating elements of interactional, institutional and organizational stresses. The integration of compensations and stresses are shown to form the foundation upon which positive professional experiences are constructed.
Caenorhabditis elegans: purification of isocitrate lyase and the isolation and cell-free translation of poly(A+)RNA.

Abstract Isocitrate lyase (EC 4.1.3.1) from mixed larval populations of Caenorhabditis elegans was stabilized in crude extracts by centrifugation over a 0.2–0.6 M sucrose gradient for 2.5 hr in a vertical rotor (VTi 50) at 210,000g.The peak fractions from this sucrose gradient showed a half-life of 33 hr at 30 C and 225 hr at 4 C in contrast to 2.5 and 52 hr, respectively, for the crude extract. A purification scheme involving (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 precipitation and chromatography on Sepharose 6B and diethylaminoethyl-cellulose yielded isocitrate lyase that gave one band after electrophoresis in a sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel polymerized from 12% acrylamide. The purified enzyme with a molecular weight of 250,000 and subunit molecular weight of 61,600, had a specific activity of 2 μmoles glyoxylate formed min −1 mg protein −1 , and was obtained in a 4% yield. Isocitrate lyase from C. elegans lost 80–85% of its activity in the precipitation by 33–55% (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 , but this step appeared to be necessary for purification to homogeneity. The use of fast protein liquid chromatography appeared to be promising in that it provided an enzyme preparation that was about 50% pure with a specific activity as high as 3 μmoles glyoxylate formed min −1 mg protein −1 . Poly(A+)RNA was isolated from C. elegans and translated in wheat germ cell-free system. Analysis on a 10% sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel showed varied translation products including one or more 60,000-Da polypeptides.
Helping student teachers become reflective practitioners

Abstract Although reflection is a much desired practice in teacher education, the student teacher must often develop this practice on his or her own. The goal of this study was to aid student teachers in developing the long‐term inclination toward reflection. The affective objective of this study was for nine student teachers—during the student teaching phase of their education—to become practicing reflective teachers who were aware of their own thinking and valued reflection as something they did for their own self‐understanding and improvement.