cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Urban Heritage, Representation and Planning: Comparative Approaches in Habana Vieja and Trinidad, Cuba

Cultural patrimony is a resilient feature in portraying “cubanness” (cubanidad) in contemporary Cuba. The government enlists socialist slogans, domestic and foreign personalities, and selected built environments in its arsenal for defining cubanidad. This paper examines the architectural and planning features of two Cuban World Heritage Sites: Habana Vieja (1982) and Trinidad (1988). I begin with a review of how cubanidad has been expressed through travel writings and landscape architects of the nineteenth century. I then briefly turn to key semiotic features associated with the colonial (1511–1898), Republican (1902–1958) and Socialist (1959–present) periods as a backdrop to the workings of urban heritage planning in these two cities. Each city has developed unique strategies to balance the need for tourist revenues, on the one hand, with residential housing needs, on the other. I conclude that there is no clear association between a centrally planned economy and the diversity of approaches to urban heritage, representation and planning in contemporary Cuba. Rather, elements of scale, personal leadership, and relative location better explain the differences in these planning strategies and the representation of cubanidad.
Dermal disposition of Tetrabromobisphenol A Bis(2,3-dibromopropyl) ether (TBBPA-BDBPE) using rat and human skin.

Abstract Tetrabromobisphenol A Bis(2,3-dibromopropyl) ether (TBBPA-BDBPE) is a high production volume brominated flame retardant (BFR) used in consumer products, resulting in ubiquitous human exposure. Although the major route of exposure for this chemical is believed to be via ingestion, dermal contact is likely via contaminated dust. Independent trials of a single dose of 100 nmol/cm2 (∼1 μCi [14C]/cm2) of [14C]-radiolabeled TBBPA-BDBPE was applied to whole rat skin (in vivo) or split-thickness human and rat skin (ex vivo) to estimate in vivo human percutaneous uptake. [14C]-radioactivity was quantified to determine dermal absorption (dose retained in dosed skin) and penetrance (dose recovered in receptor fluid [ex vivo] or tissues/excreta [in vivo]) over 24 h. In vivo absorption and penetration for rat skin was 26% and 1%, with a maximum flux of 44 ± 9 pmol/cm2/h. In ex vivo rat skin, absorption and penetration and absorption values were 23% and 0.3% (flux = 26 ± 8 pmol/cm2/h). In ex vivo human skin, 53% was absorbed and penetration was 0.2% with a maximal flux of 16 ± 12 pmol/cm2/h. Computed maximal flux for in vivo human skin was 21 ± 9 pmol/cm2/h with expected total absorption of ∼80% and a penetration of
Racial regimes, comparative politics, and the problem of judgment

ABSTRACTThis review essay examines the practice of judgment that characterized the subfield of comparative politics from its origins in openly racist ideas of the capacity for self-rule through to its twentieth-century behavioralist and positivist iterations. Though continually faced with new political phenomena that called into question its inherited criteria of judgment, comparative politics tended to practice determinative rather than reflective judgment, that is, to subsume the particulars of other cultures under known rules. Further, the essay examines the racialized conception of self-rule described by Michael Hanchard as embedded in a larger problem of Western political thinking: the flight from action into rule and tendency to think of politics wholly in terms of ruling and being ruled.
Selection and Application of Models for Nonpoint Source Pollution and Resource Conservation

Abstract Some guidelines are given for consideration in selecting a model for evaluating nonpoint source pollution and for resource conservation. An example application of the CREAMS model is presented to indicate how the model might be used to analyze pesticide losses in runoff and with sediment for two different soils with pesticides of different characteristics.
Syndromic immune disorder caused by a viable hypomorphic allele of spliceosome component Snrnp40.

We report a new immunodeficiency disorder in mice caused by a viable hypomorphic mutation of Snrnp40, an essential gene encoding a subunit of the U5 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP) complex of the spliceosome. Snrnp40 is ubiquitous but strongly expressed in lymphoid tissue. Homozygous mutant mice showed hypersusceptibility to infection by murine cytomegalovirus and multiple defects of lymphoid development, stability and function. Cell-intrinsic defects of hematopoietic stem cell differentiation also affected homozygous mutants. SNRNP40 deficiency in primary hematopoietic stem cells or T cells or the EL4 cell line increased the frequency of splicing errors, mostly intron retention, in several hundred messenger RNAs. Altered expression of proteins associated with immune cell function was also observed in Snrnp40-mutant cells. The immunological consequences of SNRNP40 deficiency presumably result from cumulative, moderate effects on processing of many different mRNA molecules and secondary reductions in the expression of critical immune proteins, yielding a syndromic immune disorder. Beutler and colleagues identify skywarp (swp) mice, which exhibit a hypomorphic variant of the U5 splicing protein SNRNP40 and aberrant mRNA splicing specifically in lymphocytes and hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells, suggesting alternative splicing influencing immune cell function.
Democracies in Peril: Taxation and Redistribution in Globalizing Economies

Globalization is triggering a 'revenue shock' in developing economies. International trade taxes - once the primary source of government revenue - have been cut drastically in response to trade liberalization. Bastiaens and Rudra make the novel argument that regime type is a major determinant of revenue-raising capacity once free trade policies have been adopted. Specifically, policymakers in democracies confront greater challenges than their authoritarian counterparts when implementing tax reforms to offset liberalization's revenue shocks. The repercussions are significant: while the poor bear the brunt of this revenue shortfall in democracies, authoritarian regimes are better-off overall. Paradoxically, then, citizens of democracies suffer precisely because their freer political culture constrains governmental ability to tax and redistribute under globalization. This important contribution on the battle between open societies and the ability of governments to help their people prosper under globalization is essential reading for students and scholars of political economy, development studies and comparative politics.
Operative Mortality and Morbidity in Ruptured Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in the Endovascular Age.

Background Controversy exists about technique of repair for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (rAAA). We studied rAAA treated at a single tertiary center from 2005 to 2015 to determine operative morbidity and mortality in open and endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) of rAAA. Methods All rAAA (n = 144) treated from 2005 to 2015 were reviewed using an IRB-approved database. “EVAR first” strategy was used after 2010. rAAA treatment was open (rAAA began with open surgery); EVAR (rAAA began with EVAR and included EVARs converted to open); and EVAR only (successful EVAR). Preoperative, intraoperative and outcome variables were analyzed with t-test, chi-square and logistic and multivariate regression using SAS. Results One hundred forty-four rAAAs were treated from 2005 to 2015. Seventy-five percent (108/144) began with open surgery. Twenty-five percent (36/144) began with EVAR. After 2010, 54.5% began with EVAR. Eleven percent of EVARs (4/36) converted to open and 89% (32/36) had EVAR only. Fifty-nine percent (83/144) had preoperative systolic blood pressure (SBP) Conclusions Operative mortality in ruptured AAA was associated with hypotension, ASA status 5, uncontrolled hemorrhage, cardiac events, and respiratory failure but not with type of repair. EVAR and open surgery also had comparable cardiac and respiratory morbidity. Selection was critical in EVAR for rAAA because mortality of unsuccessful EVAR was very high. There was no difference in mortality between LA and GA for EVAR.
Kinetic Theory of Gases

The purpose of this chapter is to convey that certain aspects of the macroscopic theory called thermodynamics do admit simple statistical models that point towards a microscopic, mechanical theory; one of the first successful examples of the latter was [Boltzmann, 1896–1898] kinetic theory of gases, which we review and assess in Sect. 3.3. Before we do that, however, we present — in Sect. 3.1 — a simple stochastic model for diffusion, and — in Sect. 3.2 — the derivation of Maxwell’s equilibrium velocity distribution in a gas. Finally, we try and capture in Sect. 3.4 the light thrown by the Ehrenfest urn model — affectionately known as the “dog-flea” model — on the controversies raised by Boltzmann’s work. The common language of routine probability praxis is used throughout this chapter, as is the underlying concept of randomness. An approach, more careful with conceptual matters, is presented in the following chapters; the present chapter is therefore to be considered as a motivational primer. It also shows a procession of models — from simple and frankly unrealistic to somewhat more complex and realistic, and back — which gives illustrations to the process of model building in the search for a microscopic theory of macroscopic phenomena.
Impact of channel fluctuations on channel estimation errors in underwater acoustic communications

Channel estimation is critical to achieve high data rate acoustic communications in the ocean. Channel estimates are often utilized to address the distortions induced by multipath propagation in various communication receivers. Therefore, accurate channel estimation is often the prerequisite for reliable coherent acoustic communications. Many efforts have been devoted to either characterizing the acoustic channel or developing high-performance channel estimation algorithms. However, limited work has been directed to investigate effect of channel fluctuations on estimation performance. Here we seek to quantify the impact of channel fluctuations on least squares channel estimators. A new metric, channel variation ratio, is used to describe the rate of fluctuations in the acoustic impulse responses. We investigate the relationship between the mean squared error (MSE) of the channel estimates and the channel variation ratio. We show the new metric can be used to predict channel estimation MSE for least squares channel estimators. Numeric results also show that there exists an optimal channel length with the minimum estimation error for fluctuating acoustic channels. Both computer simulations and experimental data have been used to validate the findings. [Work supported by the National Science Foundation CNS# 1704076.]
Towards the Selection of Best Machine Learning Model for Student Performance Analysis and Prediction

Educational Data Mining (EDM) has become one of the most important fields now a day because with the development of technology, student's problems are also increasing. In order to tackle these problems and help students, educational data mining has come into existence. In this research paper, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) has been carried out to get 20 studies (2012–2019) in the field of EDM. From these studies, 11 highly advanced machine learning models have been obtained and we have implemented them on 2 public student databases in order to predict their future outcomes. Feature extraction techniques have been applied and then models have been trained based on these databases to get the required results. Results of different machine learning models have been compared in order to find out the best model among them based on. With these experiments, weak students can be easily identified and proper precautions can be taken in order to help them.
Binary Superlattices of Infrared Plasmonic and Excitonic Nanocrystals.

Self-assembled superlattices of nanocrystals offer exceptional control over the coupling between nanocrystals, similar to how solid-state crystals tailor the bonding between atoms. By assembling na...
Promoting cultural sensitivity with the ethical and professional use of social media during global pharmacy experiences

Abstract Introduction While the use of social media and blogging is an attractive and rapidly growing method to disseminate student reflections and information, the use of digital online methods of learning also require professional and ethical accountability. This commentary describes two approaches to using a checklist to promote the culturally sensitive, professional, and ethical use of social media platforms when students are expected to share their global pharmacy experiential experiences. Commentary Social media sites and online blogs have the potential to enhance student experiences and promote intercultural competence of participants due to their ease of use and familiarity. If social media applications are used by students as a means of gaining self-awareness of cultural differences or promotion of cultural knowledge and attitudes, a framework for how to approach this process methodically should be employed by educators. E-professionalism criteria, such as self-evaluation of implicit biases, appropriateness of visual images, and timing of online posting can be used to set expectations as part of pre-departure training and to ensure ethical dissemination of online student reflections. Implications Pharmacy educators can assist students during global experiences abroad by improving their cultural competence when sharing reflections online. To ensure postings are culturally sensitive, ethical, and professional, consideration should be given to the deliberate use of a checklist that can assist with ensuring appropriateness of content and student reflections as part of a formal educational experience.
Mechanisms for Hopeful Employee Career Development in COVID-19: A Hope-Action Theory Perspective

The ProblemUnder the pandemic, employees face unique career challenges depending on their contexts and situations. For example, essential workers need to find ways for themselves and their families...
Remapping Global Politics: History's Revenge and Future Shock

Preface 1. Post-international politics 2. Theory and method 3. Political space and time 4. States and other politics 5. Identities in a post-international world 6. A post-international world economy 7. War in a post-international world 8. Technology and change 9. The future.
Motivating Healthy Diet Behaviors: The Self-as-Doer Identity

We investigated whether the experimental manipulation of a self-as-doer identity predicted improved healthy food consumption immediately and one month post-intervention. Women (N = 124), 18–53 years old (M = 22.1, SD = 5.8) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (i.e., control, education, or education and self-as-doer activity) and recorded their diets over six weeks. Repeated measures ANCOVAs were performed to determine if the self-as-doer intervention created change in healthy food consumption. Self-as-doer participants ate more healthy foods one month post-intervention than did other participants. Self-as-doer participants maintained overall healthy eating behaviors while education and control participants decreased these behaviors over the six-week period. Findings demonstrate initial evidence of an intervention effect on healthy food consumption and we discuss ways to advance research on the self-as-doer identity construct.
Psychological and physiological characteristics of patients with severe idiopathic constipation.

This study prospectively evaluated psychological profiles and selected parameters of colonic and anorectal sensorimotor function in 25 consecutive patients who were referred for severe idiopathic constipation. Measurement of colonic transit of radiopaque markers divided patients into those with normal transit (n = 10) and those with slow transit (n = 15). As measured by the Hopkins Symptom Checklist, patients with normal transit constipation demonstrated significantly higher scores for psychological distress in the global symptoms index and nine clinical subscales than did those with slow transit constipation and gastrointestinal control subjects (n = 25). Both groups with constipation had decreased rectal sensation compared with controls but there was no relationship to rectal compliance or threshold of internal sphincter relaxation. There was also no relation between abnormalities of anorectal parameters, including expulsion dynamics, and psychological profiles in the two groups. Measurement of colonic transit and psychological profiles in patients with severe idiopathic constipation identify two groups of patients with respect to possible pathogenesis of symptoms. Accordingly, different therapeutic approaches may be required, one behaviorally and psychologically based and the other focused on the possible modification of disordered colonic transit.
Surface peptides on intact Ehrlich ascites tumor cells. Identification by a method not requiring subcellular fractionation.

Abstract Lactoperoxidase catalysed iodination of tyrosyl residues was used to label the exposed plasma membrane proteins in intact Ehrlich ascites tumor cells. Autoradiography of 125 I-labeled intact cells revealed that the label was predominantly associated with the plasma membrane. When whole cells were solubilized and subjected to gel electrophoresis, two major labeled peptide classes of 100 000 and 80 000 D along with 4 minor labeled classes were found. An identical labeling pattern was obtained when plasma membranes isolated from labeled cells were solubilized and subjected to gel electrophoresis. These results demonstrate that the number of exposed plasma membrane peptides and their molecular weights can be determined without first isolating the membrane by subcellular fractionation procedures, a standard approach in most studies.
Expression of NADH-Specific and NAD(P)H-Bispecific Nitrate Reductase Genes in Response to Nitrate in Barley

Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) has two, differentially regulated, nitrate reductase (NR) genes, one encoding the NADH-specific NR (Nar1) and the other encoding the NAD(P)H-bispecific NR (Nar7). Regulation of the two NR genes by nitrate was investigated in wild-type Steptoe and in an NADH-specific NR structural gene mutant (Az12). Gene-specific probes were used to estimate NADH and NAD(P)H NR mRNAs. The kinetics of induction by nitrate were similar for the two NR genes; expression was generally below the limits of detection prior to induction, reached maximum levels after 1 to 2 h of induction in roots and 4 to 8 h of induction in leaves, and then declined to steady-state levels. Derepression of the NAD(P)H NR gene in leaves of the NADH-specific NR gene mutant Az12 did not appear to be associated with changes in nitrate assimilation products or nitrate flux. Nitrate deprivation resulted in rapid decreases in NADH and NAD(P)H NR mRNAs in seedling roots and leaves and equally rapid decreases in the concentration of nitrate in the xylem sap. These results indicate that factors affecting nitrate uptake and transport could have a direct influence on NR expression in barley leaves.
Malware characterization using behavioral components

Over the past years, we have experienced an increase in the quantity and complexity of malware binaries. This change has been fueled by the introduction of malware generation tools and reuse of different malcode modules. Recent malware appears to be highly modular and less functionally typified. A side-effect of this "composition" of components across different malware types, a growing number of new malware samples cannot be explicitly assigned to traditional classes defined by Anti-Virus (AV) vendors. Indeed, by nature, clustering techniques capture dominant behavior that could be a manifestation of only one of the malware component failing to reveal malware similarities that depend on other, less dominant components and other evolutionary traits. In this paper, we introduce a novel malware behavioral commonality analysis scheme that takes into consideration component-wise grouping, called behavioral mapping. Our effort attempts to shed light to malware behavioral relationships and go beyond simply clustering the malware into a family. To this end, we implemented a method for identifying soft clusters and reveal shared malware components and traits. Using our method, we demonstrate that a malware sample can belong to several groups (clusters), implying sharing of its respective components with other samples from the groups. We performed experiments with a large corpus of real-world malware data-sets and identified that we can successfully highlight malware component relationships across the existing AV malware families and variants.
The Academic Honesty Expectations Gap: An Analysis of Student and Faculty Perspectives

Responding to calls for increased scholarship involving ethics in the wake of corporate scandals, this research analyzes accounting student and faculty views toward academic honesty. An instrument presenting vignettes involving potential academic dishonesty was administered to 458 accounting students and 177 accounting faculty. Participants assessed the extent to which the characters described in the situations behaved in an academically honest manner and the extent to which they should be penalized. Results indicate that students and faculty view many situations involving academic honesty differently, implying that an academic honesty expectations gap exists. Results also show that both students and faculty are aware of the gap. Results indicate that there were no significant differences between students and faculty regarding behaviors that were more clearly honest or dishonest. The biggest gap exists for "gray area" situations. These results suggest the importance of establishing a dialogue involving academic honesty and faculty expectations.
Amplifier and Transistor Noise‐Parameter Measurements

Methods for measuring the noise parameters of amplifiers and on-wafer transistors are reviewed. After some preliminary background information and conventions are presented, noise parameters are defined and the most common measurement strategies are presented, both for packaged amplifiers and for on-wafer transistors (or amplifiers). The uncertainty analysis for such measurements is reviewed, and check and verification methods are presented. Keywords: amplifier noise; noise figure; noise parameters; noise-parameter uncertainty analysis; transistor noise; uncertainty analysis; verification methods
Composite ganglioneuroma-paraganglioma of the filum terminale

Extraadrenal paragangliomas are most commonly found in the carotid body and are also found with lower frequency in the CNS. These lesions are derived from the sympathoadrenal lineage of neural crest cells. Here, the authors report a rare case of a composite paraganglioma with ganglioneuromatous components found at the filum terminale in a patient who presented with a brief history of low-back pain and paresthesias in the inguinal region. Immunohistochemical analysis of the resected lesion revealed admixed elements of neuroendocrine and neuroblastoma lineages, indicating the presence of divergent differentiation of sympathoadrenal progenitor cells. This case represents a unique opportunity to understand the cell fate of sympathoadrenal progenitor cells. Here, the authors propose that paragangliomas at the filum terminale can revert to a neural crest cell precursor fate, giving rise to divergent neoplastic populations.
Capillary Forces in Nanoparticle Adhesion: A Review of AFM Methods

This review focuses on the experimental determination and interpretation of capillary forces in the nanoparticle regime via atomic force microscopy (AFM), including an in-depth comparison of 28 AFM studies investigating the dependency of the capillary force between hydrophilic surfaces on the relative humidity of the system. Both colloidal probe experiments and experiments conducted with sharp AFM probes are considered. The dependence of the capillary forces on roughness, deformability, hydrophilicity, shape, and size, kinetics of meniscus formation and the relative humidity is discussed. These factors should be carefully considered in any experimental study in order to accurately determine the influence of capillary forces in nanoparticle adhesion.
Tri-state neural networks for time series prediction

Inspired by the physiology of natural neurons which exhibit a third state in their action potential known as hyperpolarization, the tri-state neuron utilizing the double sigmoid nonlinearity was developed to produce faster converging solutions with no loss in performance of the converged multilayer perceptron artificial neural network. The authors apply the traditional bi-state network and the tri-state network to the one-step forward prediction problem. The performance of the neural network predictor structures is examined for three different time series models: a linear auto-regressive model, a nonlinear Volterra model, and a deterministic chaotic model. Results illustrate the increased convergence speed attainable from the tri-state network for both the linear model and Volterra nonlinear model without a loss in performance when tested. Results from the chaotic model are mixed but, in some respects, the tri-state network is superior. >
Towards a Study of Low-Complexity Graphs

We propose the study of graphs that are defined by low-complexity distributed and deterministic agents. We suggest that this viewpoint may help introduce the element of individual choice in models of large scale social networks. This viewpoint may also provide interesting new classes of graphs for which to design algorithms. We focus largely on the case where the "low complexity" computation is AC 0. We show that this is already a rich class of graphs that includes examples of lossless expanders and power-law graphs. We give evidence that even such low complexity graphs present a formidable challenge to algorithms designers. On the positive side, we show that many algorithms from property testing and data sketching can be adapted to give meaningful results for low-complexity graphs.
AERODYNAMIC STABILITY AND MANEUVERABILITY OF THE GLIDING FROG POLYPEDATES DENNYSI

SUMMARY Gliding has evolved independently in two families of tree frog. Tree frogs glide to descend rapidly to mating sites over temporary pools on the forest floor or to escape predators. The physical mechanisms used by frogs to glide and maneuver were investigated using a combination of observations of live frogs ( Polypedates dennysi ) gliding in a tilted wind-tunnel and aerodynamic forces and torques measured from physical models of tree frogs in a wind-tunnel. Tree frogs maneuvered in the tilted wind-tunnel using two different turning mechanisms: a banked turn (the frog rolls into the turn) and a crabbed turn (the frog yaws into the turn). Polypedates dennysi possessed overall weak aerodynamic stability: slightly stable about the pitch and roll axis, slightly unstable about the yaw axis. The maneuverability of gliding tree frogs was quantified using a maneuverability index. The maneuverability of tree frogs was roughly equivalent for tree frogs performing a banked turn and performing a crabbed turn. The maneuverability of tree frogs was approximately one-third of the maneuverability of a falcon ( Falcon jugger ).
Differences in lumbopelvic rhythm between trunk flexion and extension

Abstract Background Trunk flexion and extension have already been found to have different characteristics, such as those in lumbopelvic rhythm. Although a more advanced method of quantifying such rhythm, lumbopelvic continuous relative phase and phase variability have not been used to explore the differences between trunk flexion and extension motions. This information is important since abnormal lumbopelvic coordination patterns increase the risk of low back pain. The current study investigated the differences in lumbopelvic rhythm between trunk flexion and extension, and how the rhythm changed within each of the two motions. Methods Thirteen subjects performed pace-controlled trunk flexion/extension motions in the sagittal plane while lumbar and pelvis kinematics data were recorded, such that the lumbopelvic continuous relative phase and phase variability could be calculated to quantify lumbopelvic rhythm. Findings Trunk extension motion had significantly smaller lumbopelvic continuous relative phase and phase variability than flexion motion, which indicated a more in-phase and stable rhythm. Additionally, the lumbopelvic rhythm within trunk extension motion changed from a more in-phase and stable pattern to a more out-of-phase and unstable pattern; by contrast, the opposite change (from out-of-phase and unstable to in-phase and stable) was observed in trunk flexion. Interpretation Findings of the current study provided important information about the differences in lumbopelvic rhythm between trunk flexion and extension motions. Quantifying these patterns provides the means for identifying abnormal patterns in a clinical setting, and could serve as normative benchmarks during low back pain rehabilitation plans.
The Reach and Influence of DOT Twitter Accounts: A Case Study in Florida

Over the last decade, social networks have emerged as an important tool which helps communicate vital information on to the public. Especially the involvement of federal, state and other regional agencies in the social media can enable us to determine new and fast ways to provide sufficient information to the public in the case of emergencies. This paper evaluates the influence of state DOT Twitter accounts and suggests GIS-based approaches to understand the spatial reach of the disseminated information. This helps DOT accounts determine efficient ways to disseminate information to the public. Results are presented with a case study application set on the District 3 of the State of Florida, as identified by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). Accessibility, reach, quality and influence of the FDOT District 3 Twitter account are analyzed, and several future research directions are identified.
Evidence for the climatic role of marine biogenic sulphur

Oceanic dimethylsulphide (DMS) emissions and atmospheric aerosol particle populations (condensation nuclei, CN), resolved by latitude and season, appear to be directly correlated, in that CN, as measured with a condensation nucleus counter, are high (or low) in regions where DMS fluxes and incident solar radiation are high (or low). Although it has been previously hypothesized that CN are produced from DMS1,2, we report the first attempt to correlate DMS flux and CN. As the population of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in marine air is a subset of the CN population3,4, and CCN in turn control the albedo of marine clouds5,6, DMS could be involved in climate control through a cloud albedo feedback mechanism.
The circadian system is a target and modulator of prenatal cocaine effects.

National Institutes of Health (DA1541801, MH 065528); National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA-4-7733)
DIFFERENCES IN RESISTANCE TO LOW TEMPERATURES SHOWN BY CLOVER VARIETIES.

Differences shown by clover varieties in ability to withstand low temperatures are of great economic importance in the northern part of the United States. In this region the relative hardiness of a variety will often determine whether or not it is suitable for a given locality and whether or not it will endure average winter temperatures. The temperature limits for many crop plants can be determined best by field trials. Under field conditions, however, it is impossible to regulate or to control many conditions under which such tests are carried out and consequently the importance of a number of factors cannot be determined. Temperature is one of these factors. By mechanical control of temperatures it is possible to determine the response of varieties to different temperatures and the conditions under which the freezing of plant tissue occurs. The aim of this work was to determine if relative hardiness of clover varieties could be determined under conditions where temperature could be controlled. Tests were carried out at different stages of growth with a number of varieties of clover and a few varieties of alfalfa. Differences in exposure of plants were eliminated as far as possible by air circulation. Care was taken to obtain uniform conditions during periods of hardening and exposure to low temperature. The following points were considered in this group of tests: (1) Effect of low temperature on germination of clover seeds before planting; (2) Effect of low temperatures on the germination of seeds which had imbibed various amounts of water; (3) Effects of low temperatures on plants of different ages; (4) Differences in resistance to low temperatures shown by a number of varieties in the seedling and mature stages of growth.
Using Transjugular Intrahepatic Portosystemic Shunts to Control Variceal Bleeding before Liver Transplantation

Abstract ▪Objective:To determine the safety and efficacy of transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (TIPS) in controlling bleeding from esophageal varices in patients awaiting liver transpla...
Nanoscale imaging of dense fiber morphology and local electrical response in conductive regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene)

We present a thermal annealing method for producing micrometer long and dense semi-crystalline fiber structures in poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) films. The thin film topology and local electrical properties are investigated by conductive atomic force microscopy (c-AFM), and three-dimensional device models are used to illustrate the effects of current spreading, anisotropic mobility and traps. In-plane current flow along high mobility fibers provides a mechanism for c-AFM contrast in fibrous films. The comparison of c-AFM results between the annealed and non-annealed P3HT films suggests that trap effects are pronounced in disordered P3HT thin films prior to thermal annealing. The methodologies we demonstrate here on the archetypal P3HT film can be generalized for understanding the correlation between structure and local electrical properties in a variety of polymer and polymer nanocomposite systems.
New agents for AML and MDS

The heterogeneity of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) has led to a multiplicity of treatments, from cytotoxic agents to signal transduction modulators, cell-cycle inhibitors and epigenetic therapies. While some have shown promising initial results, the outlook for AML patients, particularly older and relapsed patients, as well as patients whose cells exhibit certain adverse chromosomal abnormalities or mutant oncoproteins, continues to be grim. Combination chemotherapy using new agents that act at a number of different levels may provide the greatest potential for successful future therapies. A select number of new agents, approaches and combinations are reviewed here.
Role of frontal cortex in differentiation of conditioned stimuli

1. The “classification” of relatively simple stimuli in the form of picture contours and planar geometric figures differing in color, shape, and size was accessible to animals after extirpation of the proreate gyrus. 2. The possibility of transferring previous learning experience (generalization with respect to quality) to new stimuli with the same alternative trait (generalization with respect to quantity) and generalization with elements of abstraction from concrete objects suffered sharply during frontal pathology in cats. 3. The frontal cortex is the most important component in the mechanisms of mental processes associated with a transition from the systematization of specific information to processes of formation of broad concepts requiring a high degree of abstraction.
Software is data too: how should we deal with it?

Software systems are designed and engineered to process data. However, software is data too. The size and variety of today's software artifacts and the multitude of stakeholder activities result in so much data that individuals can no longer reason about all of it. Software evolution is no longer just about writing code, it is becoming an information management problem.Analysis and management of the software data are activities that software engineers are not trained to do. We have to look for solutions outside software engineering, adopt them, and make them our own. These solutions can come from data mining, information retrieval, machine learning, statistical analysis, etc. This is not the first time software engineers are looking at such solutions. It has been going on for about two decades, in a form or another. The results so far indicate that software engineering is facing a paradigm shift, where more and more software engineering tasks are reinterpreted as optimization, search, retrieval, or classification problems. Despite this experience, applications of data analysis, data integration, and data mining in software engineering are in their infancy by comparison with other research fields. New research is needed to adapt existing algorithms and tools for software engineering data and processes, and new ones will have to be created. This research has to be supported by integration with software development processes and with education as well. More than that, in order for this type of research to succeed, it should be supported with new approaches to empirical work, where data and results are shared globally among researchers and practitioners.The talk will focus on arguing for and mapping out (part of) this research agenda, while looking back at (some of) the existing work in the area.
Some considerations for using approximate optimal queries

An optimal query has been defined as one which will recover all the known relevant documents of a query in their best probability of relevance ranking. We have slightly modified the definition so that it also allows one to trace its evolution from the original to the optimal via the various feedback stages. Such a query can be constructed by modifying the original query with terms from the known relevant documents. It is pointed out that such a term addition strategy differs materially from other approaches that add terms based on term association with all query terms, and calculated from the whole document collection. The effect of viewing a document as constituted of components, and hence affecting the weighting and retreival results of of the optimal query, is also discussed.
Income and support during transition from a military to civilian career

This study examined experienced military members (N= 136, average age 51 years) transitioning to a 2nd occupation, specifically K–12 teaching, and revealed correlations between the length of their transition to both perceived support and income. Perceived support from family and friends had a small, positive correlation with transition time (r= .31), while income had a small, negative correlation with transition time (r=−.28). The Career Transitions Inventory (Heppner, 1991), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), demographic questions, and open-ended questions were used. Implications for career counselors working with transitioning military members are discussed, along with future implications for research and practice.
Optimal tolerance allotment using a genetic algorithm and truncated Monte Carlo simulation

As is typical of stochastic-optimization problems, the multivariate integration of the probability-density function is the most difficult task in the optimal allotment of tolerances. In this paper, a truncated Monte Carlo simulation and a genetic algorithm are used as analysis (i.e. multivariate-integration) and synthesis (i.e. optimization) tools, respectively. The new method has performed robustly in limited experiments, and was able to provide a significant reduction in optimal cost when compared with results published in a previous study.
Early Affiliation and Social Engagement With Peers: Prospective Risk and Protective Factors for Childhood Depressive Behaviors

The authors of this article sought to determine how poor peer social relationships are related to children's future depressive behaviors. They used direct observations of disengagement in a peer social setting, a peer nomination measure of peer affiliates, and teacher reports of depressive behaviors during kindergarten and first grade to model risk for depressive behaviors in the third/fourth grades. Dependable and enduring peer affiliations in kindergarten were significantly negatively associated with a multi-informant construct of depressive behaviors at the higher grade for both girls and boys. Disengagement was positively related to depressive behaviors for girls but not for boys.
Smart Materials for Gossamer Spacecraft - Performance Limitations

Smart polymeric materials, such as piezoelectric polymers which deform by application of an electric field, are of interest for use in controllable mirrors as large, lightweight space optics. An important consideration when using any organic material in a space application is their extreme vulnerability to the space environment. In LEO the presence of atomic oxygen, large thermal extremes, hard vacuum, short wavelength ultraviolet and particulate radiation can result in erosion, cracking and outgassing of most polymers. While much research has been performed examining the physical and chemical changes incurred by polymers exposed to actual and simulated LEO environments, little work has focused on the effects of the space environment on the performance of piezoelectric polymers. The most widely used piezoelectric polymers are those based on poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and include copolymers synthesized from vinylidene fluoride and trifluoroethylene, hexafluoropropylene or chlorotrifluoroethylene. The presence of a comonomer group can greatly influence on the crystalline phase, melting point, Curie point, modulus and processing required for piezoelectricity. After a rigorous pre-selection process only two polymers, namely the PVDF homopolymer and a TrFE copolymer (80% comonomer content), satisfied most of the requirements for operation in the temperature/radiation environment of LEO. Based on this initial materialsmore » selection, we have now performed a detailed study of the effects of temperature, atomic oxygen and vacuum UV radiation simulating low Earth orbit conditions on these two polymers. Both polymers exhibited diminished but very stable piezoelectric performance up to 130 C despite the upper use temperatures suggested by industry of 80 C (PVDF) and 100 C (P(VDF-TrFE)). We believe that the loss of piezoelectric response in samples conditioned at 130 C compared with non-exposed samples is partly due to the depoling process which occurs when the highly stressed films undergo contraction via relaxation. The TrFE copolymer, which does not need to be stretched for the polar phase to be present, has better retention of piezoelectric properties at 130 C compared with the highly oriented homopolymer. AO/VUV exposure caused significant surface erosion and pattern development for both polymers. Erosion yields were 2.8 x 10{sup -24} cm{sup 3}/atom for PVDF and 2.5 x 10{sup -24} cm{sup 3}/atom for P(VDF-TrFE). The piezoelectric properties of the residual material for both polymers were largely unchanged after exposure, although a slight shift in the Curie transition of the P(VDF-TrFE) was observed. A lightly crosslinked network was formed in the copolymer, presumably due to penetrating VUV radiation, while the homopolymer remained uncrosslinked. These differences were attributed to different levels of crystallinity and increased VUV absorption by P(VDF-TrFE) over PVDF. In this paper a summary of the performance limiting effects of temperature, radiation, atomic oxygen and VUV on the piezoelectric response of PVDF based polymers will be presented.« less
Argon as a Tracer of Cross-Isopycnal Mixing in the Thermocline

Abstract Noble gases such as argon are unaffected by chemical reactions in the ocean interior, but a number of physical mechanisms can lead to measurable sea level atmospheric disequilibrium in subsurface waters of the ocean. One such mechanism is the mixing of waters of different temperatures, which can lead to supersaturation in the ocean interior. The authors simulate the supersaturation mixing signature in the thermocline in a global ocean general circulation model, Parallel Ocean Program model, version 1.4 (POP 1.4). In contrast to existing mixing diagnostics such as dye tracers or microstructure measurements, which yield the local, recent rate of diabatic mixing, argon disequilibrium traces an integrated lifetime history of subsurface mixing. A theoretical model of the subtropical Atlantic Ocean gyre is built, based on the competing time scales of horizontal and vertical mixing, that agrees well with the full general circulation model argon supersaturation gradient in the thermocline. These results ...
Effect of Thyroid Hormones on Growth Hormone Secretion in Broiler Chickens

Plasma concentrations of growth hormone (GH) were observed to be significantly elevated following the administration of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) in young (4- to 12-week-old) but not in adult (20-week-old) broiler chickens. However, adult sex-linked (dw) dwarf hens did respond to TRH. Treatment with triiodothyronine (T3) but not thyroxine (T4) (at 1 ppm in the diet from hatch) consistently and significantly reduced the growth rate and decreased the plasma concentrations of GH following TRH injection in normal (DwDw males or Dw-females), hemizygous dwarf (dw-) female, and heterozygous (Dwdw) male lines of broiler chickens. Similarly, T3 was significantly more effective than T4 in inhibiting the increase in plasma concentrations of GH following TRH injection in broiler chicks made hypothyroid by methimazole administration.
On the Representation of Complex Turbulent Flows: Representation of Large Data Fields on the Internet

Full-field, time-resolved, velocity vector information is often needed for the analysis of fluid process problems. However, the reporting and analysis of such information are not simple. Publishers place a premium price on authors who use color. The use of a series of pictures to represent variation with time is poor at best. It would be advantageous to be able to provide a more thorough presentation by using color, stereoscopic viewing, and dynamic representations. The only present solution is to reference Internet locations for such representations or use dynamic links in the online journals currently available. The present paper discusses such efforts that we have used for an experimental database that provides full-field, time-resolved velocity vector information for an opposed jet reactor configuration. The key driving force is to understand and represent complex three-dimensional (3D) flows efficiently, simply, and at a minimal cost. The same procedures would apply for results from direct numerical ...