cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Multistep Lyapunov Approach for Finite-Time Analysis of Biased Stochastic Approximation.

Motivated by the widespread use of temporal-difference (TD-) and Q-learning algorithms in reinforcement learning, this paper studies a class of biased stochastic approximation (SA) procedures under a mild "ergodic-like" assumption on the underlying stochastic noise sequence. Building upon a carefully designed multistep Lyapunov function that looks ahead to several future updates to accommodate the stochastic perturbations (for control of the gradient bias), we prove a general result on the convergence of the iterates, and use it to derive non-asymptotic bounds on the mean-square error in the case of constant stepsizes. This novel looking-ahead viewpoint renders finite-time analysis of biased SA algorithms under a large family of stochastic perturbations possible. For direct comparison with existing contributions, we also demonstrate these bounds by applying them to TD- and Q-learning with linear function approximation, under the practical Markov chain observation model. The resultant finite-time error bound for both the TD- as well as the Q-learning algorithms is the first of its kind, in the sense that it holds i) for the unmodified versions (i.e., without making any modifications to the parameter updates) using even nonlinear function approximators; as well as for Markov chains ii) under general mixing conditions and iii) starting from any initial distribution, at least one of which has to be violated for existing results to be applicable.
The role of semantic predictability in adaptation to non-native-accented speech

Non-native-accented speech is more difficult for native listeners to understand than native-accented speech. However, listeners can improve their abilities to understand nonnative—accented speech through exposure and training. The goal of this project is to explore whether exposing native listeners to different sentence types affects listeners' adaptation to non-native speech. Listeners will be trained on high predictability sentences (e.g., “The color of a lemon is yellow”), low predictability sentences (e.g., “Mom said that it is yellow”), or semantically anomalous sentences (e.g., “The green week did the page”). Previous research has demonstrated that semantic predictability impacts speech perception, but its influence on adaptation to nonnative speech is unknown. Will training with low predictability or anomalous stimuli require listeners to focus more attention on the acoustic-phonetic properties of the accent and thus lead to greater adaptation and generalizable learning? Or will training with high predictability stimuli provide valuable semantic information that will allow listeners to create a better framework for improving perception? The data from this experiment will shed light on perceptual mechanisms, including how semantic predictability interacts with adaptation and learning.Non-native-accented speech is more difficult for native listeners to understand than native-accented speech. However, listeners can improve their abilities to understand nonnative—accented speech through exposure and training. The goal of this project is to explore whether exposing native listeners to different sentence types affects listeners' adaptation to non-native speech. Listeners will be trained on high predictability sentences (e.g., “The color of a lemon is yellow”), low predictability sentences (e.g., “Mom said that it is yellow”), or semantically anomalous sentences (e.g., “The green week did the page”). Previous research has demonstrated that semantic predictability impacts speech perception, but its influence on adaptation to nonnative speech is unknown. Will training with low predictability or anomalous stimuli require listeners to focus more attention on the acoustic-phonetic properties of the accent and thus lead to greater adaptation and generalizable learning? Or will training with high ...
Executive Compensation and Organizational Performance in Nonprofit Hospitals

Executive compensation in nonprofit hospital can be structured in ways that attract talented senior managers and provide appropriate incentives for them to balance the trade-off between financial and social benefits that hospitals produce. This article studies the incentives of senior management in all nonprofit hospitals in the U.S. and examines whether hospital compensation patterns are consistent with their committed social mission and value. On average, in each year between 2011 and 2016, nonprofit hospitals pay $381 thousand to their senior executives including presidents, CEOs, CFOs, VPs, etc. Bonus and pension (deferred and nontaxable benefits) account for 11% and 12% of total compensation respectively. The level of total compensation depends heavily on hospital size (beds, workforce, total assets, and patient service revenue). While executive pay is not related to operating margin, suggesting that nonprofit hospitals do not provide explicit incentives for their managers to focus on financial performance, there is cross-sectional link between executive compensation and altruistic activities that benefit their patients and community (service process quality and uncompensated care).
Group-specific human granulocyte antigens on a chronic myelogenous leukemia cell line with a Philadelphia chromosome marker

Group-specific human granulocyte antigens are serologically detectable with granulocytotoxic-positive human alloantisera on a cell line, K562, of chronic myelogenous leukemia origin which bears a Philadelphia chromosomal marker. The same cell line lacks serologically detectable HLA, B2 microglobulin, and B-lymphocyte antigens. Granulocyte antigens are important cell markers for cell lines of suspected myeloid lineage.
[Recent Research Efforts to Achieve Neuroprotection, Progression and Treatment of Glaucoma].

Das Glaukom ist eine neurodegenerative Erkrankung, die mit der Zeit zu irreversibler Erblindung fuhrt. Als bestimmendes Merkmal hier gilt der Verlust von retinalen Ganglienzellen (RGZ) im Auge und ihrer Axone im Sehnerv. Ein erhohter Augeninnendruck (intraokularer Druck, IOD) gilt als Hauptrisikofaktor fur die Entstehung eines Glaukoms, jedoch zeigt sich, dass dieser weder notwendig noch ausreichend fur die Entstehung und das Fortschreiten der Erkrankung ist. Dies hat die Forschung und Entwicklung neuer Strategien zur Erkennung und Behandlung von Glaukomen mit dem Schwerpunkt auf Neuroprotektion – dem Schutz von RGZs vor dem Sterben – motiviert. Zusatzlich ist es im Bereich der Diagnose und Behandlung durch eine Reduktion des IOD in den letzten Jahren zur Entwicklung neuer Herangehensweisen gekommen. Dieser Artikel gibt einen Uberblick uber die zurzeit gangigen Theorien der pathophysiologischen Mechanismen, die einer Entstehung eines Glaukoms zugrunde liegen, sowie neuester Forschungsbemuhungen mit Fokus auf Neuroprotektion und aktueller praklinischer und klinischer Studien, um eine Diagnose und Therapie des Glaukoms zu verbessern.
Condensation tendency of connected contractile tissue with planar isotropic actin network

It has been found that many types of cells form nematic symmetry on confined planar substrates. Such observation has been satisfactorily explained by modeling cells as crowded self-propelled rods. In this work, we report that rat embryonic fibroblast (REF) cells when confined in circular mesoscale patterns, form a new type of symmetry where cells align radially at the boundary. Unlike NIH-3T3 and MDCK monolayers, the REF monolayer presents a supracellular actin gradient with isotropic meshwork. In addition, the contractile REF cells present strong adhesive interactions with neighboring cells, which confers the monolayer with significant condensation tendency. We found the loss of condensation tendency by inhibiting the cell contractility or disrupting cell-cell adhesion led to the disappearance of the radial alignment. In theory, we found the prestretch due to condensation tendency with differential cell stiffness is sufficient to explain the new symmetry within a confined tissue continuum.
Deep learning-based survival analysis for brain metastasis patients with the national cancer database.

Purpose Prognostic indices such as the Brain Metastasis Graded Prognostic Assessment have been used in clinical settings to aid physicians and patients in determining an appropriate treatment regimen. These indices are derivative of traditional survival analysis techniques such as Cox proportional hazards (CPH) and recursive partitioning analysis (RPA). Previous studies have shown that by evaluating CPH risk with a nonlinear deep neural network, DeepSurv, patient survival can be modeled more accurately. In this work, we apply DeepSurv to a test case: breast cancer patients with brain metastases who have received stereotactic radiosurgery. Methods Survival times, censorship status, and 27 covariates including age, staging information, and hormone receptor status were provided for 1673 patients by the NCDB. Monte Carlo cross-validation with 50 samples of 1400 patients was used to train and validate the DeepSurv, CPH, and RPA models independently. DeepSurv was implemented with L2 regularization, batch normalization, dropout, Nesterov momentum, and learning rate decay. RPA was implemented as a random survival forest (RSF). Concordance indices of test sets of 140 patients were used for each sample to assess the generalizable predictive capacity of each model. Results Following hyperparameter tuning, DeepSurv was trained at 32 min per sample on a 1.33 GHz quad-core CPU. Test set concordance indices of 0.7488 ± 0.0049, 0.6251 ± 0.0047, and 0.7368 ± 0.0047, were found for DeepSurv, CPH, and RSF, respectively. A Tukey HSD test demonstrates a statistically significant difference between the mean concordance indices of the three models. Conclusion Our results suggest that deep learning-based survival prediction can outperform traditional models, specifically in a case where an accurate prognosis is highly clinically relevant. We recommend that where appropriate data are available, deep learning-based prognostic indicators should be used to supplement classical statistics.
Spatio-Temporal Coverage Enhancement in Drive-By Sensing Through Utility-Aware Mobile Agent Selection

In recent years, the drive-by sensing paradigm has become increasingly popular for cost-effective monitoring of urban areas. Drive-by sensing is a form of crowdsensing wherein sensor-equipped vehicles (aka, mobile agents) are the primary data gathering agents. Enhancing the efficacy of drive-by sensing poses many challenges, an important one of which is to select non-dedicated mobile agents on which a limited number of sensors are to be mounted. This problem, which we refer to as the mobile-agent selection problem, has a significant impact on the spatio-temporal coverage of the drive-by sensing platforms and the resultant datasets. The challenge here is to achieve maximum spatiotemporal coverage while taking the relative importance levels of geographical areas into account. In this paper, we address this problem in the context of the SCOUTS project [1], the goal of which is to map and analyze the urban heat island phenomenon accurately.
“A center for trans women where they help you:” Resource needs of the immigrant Latinx transgender community

Immigrant Latinx transgender people often migrate to the United States because of a desire for increased safety and more opportunities. However, after migrating to the United States, immigrant Lati...
Stress Tracker-Detecting Acute Stress From a Trackpad: Controlled Study.

Background: Stress is a risk factor associated with physiological and mental health problems. Unobtrusive, continuous stress sensing would enable precision health monitoring and proactive interventions, but current sensing methods are often inconvenient, expensive, or suffer from limited adherence. Prior work has shown the possibility to detect acute stress using biomechanical models derived from passive logging of computer input devices. Objective: Our objective is to detect acute stress from passive movement measurements of everyday interactions on a laptop trackpad: (1) click, (2) steer, and (3) drag and drop. Methods: We built upon previous work, detecting acute stress through the biomechanical analyses of canonical computer mouse interactions and extended it to study similar interactions with the trackpad. A total of 18 participants carried out 40 trials each of three different types of movement—(1) click, (2) steer, and (3) drag and drop—under both relaxed and stressed conditions. Results: The mean and SD of the contact area under the finger were higher when clicking trials were performed under stressed versus relaxed conditions (mean area: P=.009, effect size=0.76; SD area: P=.01, effect size=0.69). Further, our results show that as little as 4 clicks on a trackpad can be used to detect binary levels of acute stress (ie, whether it is present or not). Conclusions: We present evidence that scalable, inexpensive, and unobtrusive stress sensing can be done via repurposing passive monitoring of computer trackpad usage.
How Do Peers Shape Mental Health Clinicians' Attitudes Toward New Treatments?

Through everyday interactions, mental health clinicians are exposed to their colleagues’ views toward new treatments, which can influence clinicians’ own attitudes and implementation especially in high-stress environments. This study examines how exposure to peers’ attitudes in the workplace through three common workplace interactions (advice sharing, discussion, and friendship) shapes clinicians’ (n = 163) own attitudes toward measurement-based care (MBC). Clinicians tended to have more positive attitudes toward MBC with greater exposure to peers with positive attitudes through advice-sharing and informal workplace discussions, but not through friendships. Results highlight the importance of strong workplace relationships for implementation.
Genome-Wide Sex and Gender Differences in Cancer

Despite their known importance in clinical medicine, differences based on sex and gender are among the least studied factors affecting cancer susceptibility, progression, survival, and therapeutic response. In particular, the molecular mechanisms driving sex differences are poorly understood and so most approaches to precision medicine use mutational or other genomic data to assign therapy without considering how the sex of the individual might influence therapeutic efficacy. The mandate by the National Institutes of Health that research studies include sex as a biological variable has begun to expand our understanding on its importance. Sex differences in cancer may arise due to a combination of environmental, genetic, and epigenetic factors, as well as differences in gene regulation, and expression. Extensive sex differences occur genome-wide, and ultimately influence cancer biology and outcomes. In this review, we summarize the current state of knowledge about sex-specific genetic and genome-wide influences in cancer, describe how differences in response to environmental exposures and genetic and epigenetic alterations alter the trajectory of the disease, and provide insights into the importance of integrative analyses in understanding the interplay of sex and genomics in cancer. In particular, we will explore some of the emerging analytical approaches, such as the use of network methods, that are providing a deeper understanding of the drivers of differences based on sex and gender. Better understanding these complex factors and their interactions will improve cancer prevention, treatment, and outcomes for all individuals.
Series Representation of Jointly S$\alpha$S Distribution via Symmetric Covariations.

We introduce the notion of symmetric covariation, which is a new measure of dependence between two components of a symmetric $\alpha$-stable random vector, where the stability parameter $\alpha$ measures the heavy-tailedness of its distribution. Unlike covariation that exists only when $\alpha\in(1,2]$, symmetric covariation is well defined for all $\alpha\in(0,2]$. We show that symmetric covariation can be defined using the proposed generalized fractional derivative, which has broader usages than those involved in this work. Several properties of symmetric covariation have been derived. These are either similar to or more general than those of the covariance functions in the Gaussian case. The main contribution of this framework is the representation of the characteristic function of bivariate symmetric $\alpha$-stable distribution via convergent series based on a sequence of symmetric covariations. This series representation extends the one of bivariate Gaussian.
Improving the variability of urban traffic microsimulation through the calibration of generative parameter models

The calibration of urban traffic microsimulation models is addressed in this paper, focusing on the multivariate distribution of traffic features. This allows to take into account day-to-day variab...
Universal precautions: the case for consistently trauma-informed reproductive healthcare

In the United States, about 1 in 5 women have experienced childhood sexual abuse, and a similar proportion experience rape as adults. Childhood sexual abuse and other forms of trauma have serious impacts on our patients' reproductive health. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends universal screening for a history of sexual abuse and universal application of a trauma-informed approach to care. Despite these recommendations, universal screening is far from universally practiced, and trauma-informed care, despite being the standard of care, is far from standard. Given the high prevalence of trauma in the United States, its impact on perinatal outcomes, the sensitive nature of reproductive healthcare, and the likelihood that many patients may not disclose their trauma history, we advocate for trauma-informed reproductive healthcare as the standard of care.
Staging the Folk: Choreographic Issues of National Representation

This article looks at the multiple ways that folk dance has been staged in both the nineteenth century when character or national (the two terms were used interchangeably) dance was widely used in ...
Functional divergence and spectral tuning of microbial rhodopsins from an ancestral proton pump

For billions of years, life has continuously adapted to dynamic physical conditions near the Earth s surface. Fossils and other preserved biosignatures in the paleontological record are the most direct evidence for reconstructing the broad historical contours of this adaptive interplay. However, biosignatures dating to Earth s earliest history are exceedingly rare. Here, we combine phylogenetic inference of primordial rhodopsin proteins with modeled spectral features of the Precambrian Earth environment to reconstruct the paleobiological history of this essential family of photoactive transmembrane proteins. Our results suggest that ancestral microbial rhodopsins likely acted as light-driven proton pumps, and were spectrally tuned toward the absorption of green light, which would have enabled their hosts to occupy depths in a water column or biofilm where UV wavelengths were attenuated. Subsequent diversification of rhodopsin functions and peak absorption frequencies track the diversification of surface ecological niches induced by the accumulation of atmospheric oxygen. Inferred ancestors retain distinct associations between extant functions and peak absorption frequencies. Our findings suggest that novel information encoded by biomolecules can be used as paleosensors for conditions of ancient, inhabited niches of host organisms not represented elsewhere in the paleontological record. The coupling of functional diversification and spectral tuning of this pervasive protein family underscores the utility of rhodopsins as universal testbeds for inferring remotely detectable biosignatures on inhabited planetary bodies.
Should pharmacologists care about alternative splicing? IUPHAR Review 4.

Alternative splicing of mRNAs occurs in the majority of human genes, and most differential splicing results in different protein isoforms with possibly different functional properties. However, there are many reported splicing variations that may be quite rare, and not all combinatorially possible variants of a given gene are expressed at significant levels. Genes of interest to pharmacologists are frequently expressed at such low levels that they are not adequately represented in genome-wide studies of transcription. In single-gene studies, data are commonly available on the relative abundance and functional significance of individual alternatively spliced exons, but there are rarely data that quantitate the relative abundance of full-length transcripts and define which combinations of exons are significant. A number of criteria for judging the significance of splice variants and suggestions for their nomenclature are discussed.
Endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation of mutant rhodopsin disrupts protein homeostasis in photoreceptor cells during retinal degeneration (558.3)

Rhodopsin is a G-protein coupled receptor that is expressed exclusively by rod photoreceptors of the retina and is essential for phototransduction and vision. Over 150 missense mutations in rhodops...
Control and application of cooling path after rolling for hot strip based on ultra fast cooling

Hot rolled strip requires diverse and flexible control of cooling path in order to take full advantages of strengthening mechanisms such as fine grain strengthening, precipitation strengthening, and transformation strengthening, adapting to the development of advanced steel materials and the requirement of reduction-manufacturing. Ultra fast cooling can achieve a great range of cooling rate, which provides the means that the hardened austenite obtained in high temperature region can keep at different dynamic transformation temperatures. Meanwhile, through the rational allocation of the UFC (ultra fast cooling) and LFC (laminar flow cooling), more flexible cooling path control and cooling strategy of hot rolled strip are obtained. Temperature distribution and control strategies under different cooling paths based on UFC are investigated. The process control temperature can be limited within 18 °C, and the mechanical properties of the steels get a great leap forward due to the cooling paths and strategies, which can decrease costs and create great economic benefits for the iron and steel enterprises.
Optimal parallel evaluation of tree-structured computations by raking (extended abstract)

We show that any arithmetic expression of size n can be evaluated on an EREW PRAM with O(n/log n) processors in O (log n) steps. A major contribution is the simplicity of the algorithm. In contrast with existing algorithms which require independent RAKE and COMPRESS operations, our algorithm combines the RAKE and COMPRESS into one simple operation. In fact, our algorithm can be viewed as avoiding COMPRESSes entirely and simply performing RAKEs. The algorithm can be modified easily to evaluate every subexpression of the original arithmetic expression. We also show how it can be applied to the following problem: Given a positive constant λ and a tree with weighted nodes, partition the tree into minimal components subject to the constraint that the sum of the node weights in each component is at least λ.
Designing a cell phone adaptor for biological waveform transmission

The cell phone is a powerful and plentiful tool which can be wielded to transmit data for biological monitoring and diagnosis, in addition to its usual functions, without requiring modification. This paper discusses the benefits, obstacles, and methods of using cell phones to transmit biological waveforms.
Faith in Empire: Religion, Politics and Colonial Rule in French Senegal, 1880–1940: Foster, Elizabeth A. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press 288 pp., $60.00, ISBN 978-0-8047-8380-4 Publication Date: March 2013

In her well-researched study of the complicated relationship between Catholic missions and the colonial administration in Senegal from 1880 to 1940, Elizabeth Foster sets out to challenge existing ...
Implied ontological representation within the levels of conceptual interoperability model

The Levels of Conceptual Interoperability Model LCIM has been developed to provide both a metric of the degree of conceptual representation that exists between interoperating systems and also as a guide showing what is necessary to accommodate a targeted degree of conceptual representation between systems. The model was originally developed to support the interoperability of simulation systems, but has been shown to be useful for other domain areas. The model is stratified into seven general levels, and these are introduced and defined. Implied within the model is that the information and processes of one system should be described and that description is then made available to another system. This description of information and processes can take many forms, but is generally an ontological representation. The components of an ontological representation are defined in form and also as elements for the various layers of the LCIM.
Elevating concentrations of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin in hot peppers using recycled waste

Five Capsicum accessions (PI 435916 and PI 438614 from Capsicum chinense; PI 370004 and Grif 9354 from C. baccatum and PI 438649 from C. annuum) were selected from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Capsicum germplasm collection to study the impact of four soil management practices: yard waste (YW), sewage sludge (SS), chicken manure (CM) and no-mulch (NM) bare soil on fruit concentrations of capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin, yield, plant size and mature fruit characteristics (fruit weight, length, width, and wall-thickness) of plants grown under these practices. Regardless of soil treatments, PI 438614 and PI 435916 contained the greatest concentrations of total capsaicinoids (capsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin). Fruits of plants grown in soil mixed with SS contained the greatest concentrations of total capsaicinoids. Fruits of plants grown in SS or CM contained the greatest fruit weight. PI 438649 produced the greatest fruit weight, length and wall-thickness. The total marketable...
Seafood Processing: Technology, Quality and Safety

The work, part of the Institute of Food Science and Technology IFST Advances in Food Science Book Series, opens with a short overview of the series objectives, lists future series publications, int...
Historical and future land use effects on N2O and NO emissions using an ensemble modeling approach: Costa Rica's Caribbean lowlands as an example

[1] The humid tropical zone is a major source area for N2O and NO emissions to the atmosphere. Local emission rates vary widely with local conditions, particularly land use practices which swiftly change with expanding settlement and changing market conditions. The combination of wide variation in emission rates and rapidly changing land use make regional estimation and future prediction of biogenic trace gas emission particularly difficult. This study estimates contemporary, historical, and future N2O and NO emissions from 0.5 million ha of northeastern Costa Rica, a well-documented region in the wet tropics undergoing rapid agricultural development. Estimates were derived by linking spatially distributed environmental data with an ecosystem simulation model in an ensemble estimation approach that incorporates the variance and covariance of spatially distributed driving variables. Results include measures of variance for regional emissions. The formation and aging of pastures from forest provided most of the past temporal change in N2O and NO flux in this region; future changes will be controlled by the degree of nitrogen fertilizer application and extent of intensively managed croplands.
: what do we know, and what do we still need to know?

Maximal oxygen uptake is a physiological characteristic bounded by the parametric limits of the Fick equation: (left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic volume − LV end-systolic volume) × heart rate × arterio-venous oxygen difference. ‘Classical’ views of emphasize its critical dependence on convective oxygen transport to working skeletal muscle, and recent data are dispositive, proving convincingly that such limits must and do exist. ‘Contemporary’ investigations into the mechanisms underlying peripheral muscle fatigue due to energetic supply/demand mismatch are clarifying the local mediators of fatigue at the skeletal muscle level, though the afferent signalling pathways that communicate these environmental conditions to the brain and the sites of central integration of cardiovascular and neuromotor control are still being worked out. Elite endurance athletes have a high due primarily to a high cardiac output from a large compliant cardiac chamber (including the myocardium and pericardium) which relaxes quickly and fills to a large end-diastolic volume. This large capacity for LV filling and ejection allows preservation of blood pressure during extraordinary rates of muscle blood flow and oxygen transport which support high rates of sustained oxidative metabolism. The magnitude and mechanisms of cardiac phenotype plasticity remain uncertain and probably involve underlying genetic factors, as well as the length, duration, type, intensity and age of initiation of the training stimulus
Suppression of puberty in rats by exercise : effects on hormone levels and reversal with GnRH infusion

In an effort to better understand the effects of prolonged exercise on the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis, we made a variety of comparisons between young female rats in two treatment groups: 1) prolonged exercise, in which growth and reproductive development were arrested at a peripubertal stage by requiring rats to run for long periods of time in order to obtain food; and 2) voluntary exercise, in which same-aged control rats were fed ad libitum and given free access to a running wheel. The pulsatile secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH) and growth hormone were completely suppressed by the prolonged exercise treatment. Mean levels of follicle-stimulating hormone, prolactin, and thyroid-stimulating hormone were not affected. Prolonged exercise elevated corticosterone titers, and the secretory pattern of this steroid was changed out of phase with running activity. Tissue levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) in the hypothalamus and LH in the pituitary were enhanced, not suppressed, by prolonged exercise. Most importantly, pulsatile infusions of GnRH reinstated normal pubertal development and ovulation in rats still growth restricted by the prolonged exercise treatment. The results of this study indicate that the suppressive effects of prolonged exercise somehow affect the production of the hypothalamic GnRH-pulse generator signal.
Early childhood education—teacher education

Early childhood education, like all other aspects of education, has passed through a number of stages in its development. There seems to be no question as to the importance of placing young children in learning environments. There is also ample evidence as to the importance of the teacher in the learning environment. It is the importance of the teacher that provides the basis for discourse. How can we provide teachers that are knowledgeable about the needs of children and at the same time have the skills to guide them in learning situations? The problem of how to assure competent teachers is the same at all levels of education. This paper will focus on one attempt to train teachers to be knowledgeable, caring, and capable of designing instructional activities that promote desirable learning in young children. Discussions of early childhood education and training programs for the teachers of young children often lose their substance because of semantics. In an effort to avoid having the reader assume definitions that the authors do not assume, these definitions are offered. Early childhood for the purpose of this paper is defined as the child from ages four to eight. This definition seems to offer a way to limit the scope to that range generally used by state departments of education for certification purposes. This is not to say that all certification is structured this way but that most certificates labeled early childhood fall somewhere within this range. Our second definition concerns teacher
Real-Time Synchronization of Interprocess Communications

Abstract : This paper considers a fixed (possibly infinite) set of distributed asynchronous processes which at various times are willing to communicate with each other. We describe probabilistic distributed algorithms for synchronizing processes so that they can handshake at will. The means of synchronization are boolean flag variables, each of which can be written by only one process and read by at most one other process. The use of flag variables seems as to require the fewest assumptions possible without considering specific systems. A process is considered to be tame over a time interval delta if its speed varies within certain arbitrarily fixed nonzero bounds. We show our synchronization algorithms have real time response: If a pair of processes are mutually willing to communicate within a time interval delta of length at least a given constant and the pair are tame on delta, then they establish communication within delta with high likelihood (for the worst case behavior of the system and the expected time for establishment of communication is also constant. We feel the term real time is merited, for the actual time needed for establishment of communication is upper bounded by a constant with overwhelming probability; furthermore, violations of this property occur with vanishingly low likelihood. We have very few assumptions: (1) Tameness is required of a process only during the interval it is willing to communicate; and (2) the processes may be willing to communicate with a time varying set of processes which are only bounded in number.
Transport Model for the Adsorption of Oxyanions of Selenium (IV) and Arsenic (V) from Water onto Lanthanum- and Aluminum-Based Oxides

A model for the adsorption of oxyanions of selenium (IV) and arsenic (V) as a function of time and pH was developed and tested on LA (10% lanthanum oxide/90% activated {gamma}-alumina mixed-oxide), lanthanum oxide, activated {gamma}-alumina, and activated {alpha}-alumina. A good correlation between the transport model and experimental results were observed. The model showed strong evidence that the adsorption of oxyanions of selenium and arsenic at the oxide-water interface is governed by three gradients: concentration, potential, and ionic size. Lanthanum oxide was observed to be a better absorbent for selenium than activated {gamma}-alumina and {alpha}-alumina. At the same initial selenium concentration, {gamma}-alumina was a better adsorbent for selenium as compared to {alpha}-alumina.
Evaluating the Emergence of Reverse Intraverbals in Children with Autism

Verbal behavior plays a fundamental role in the development of complex social and communication skills. Many children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder exhibit profound deficiencies in intraverbal repertoires and the development of social relationships. Recent studies that investigated the effects of intraverbal training on the emergence of reverse intraverbals produced mixed results (e.g., Perez-Gonzalez et al., Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 40:697–701, 2007)). In the current study, a multiple-probe design across four participants with autism was used to evaluate the effects of intraverbal training on the emergence of reverse intraverbals. Intraverbal training consisted of multiple exemplars taught concurrently, bidirectional stimulus-response teaching formats, general case analysis, reinforcement, and a constant prompt delay (CPD) procedure. Participants were trained on intraverbal targets and probes were conducted to assess emergence of untaught reverse intraverbals. Three participants demonstrated the emergence of reverse intraverbals as a result of the intraverbal training procedures. Social validity and maintenance of target responses and emergent reverse intraverbals were assessed.
Naturally occurring NS gene variants in an avian influenza virus isolate.

Abstract The A/Turkey/Wisconsin/68 (H5N9) isolate of avian influenza (AI) consists of two virus populations which have different NS genes and differ in their biological responses in chicken embryos. They were classified as being either rapidly embryo-lethal (REL) or slowly embryo-lethal (SEL), (Avian Dis., 33 (1989) 695–706). In this study, sequence analysis identified only two nucleotide differences between the two NS genes, creating single amino acid differences in both the NS1 and the NS2 protein. The difference in the NS1 protein appears to be neutral, while the difference in the NS2 places a phenylalanine at position 48. This amino acid has not been previously demonstrated at this position in an NS2 sequence and its presence results in a distinct hydrophobic shift in the region. The sequence specifying the phenylalanine also creates an EcoRI site in the cDNA of the REL NS gene. Analysis of several clones showed that this site appears to co-segregate with the REL characteristic. Molecular differences between the two NS gene variants were reflected by differences in the kinetics of early protein synthesis in infected cells. In particular, the NS2 protein is in higher concentration (relative to the NS1) in SEL-infected cells than in REL-infected cells. No differences were detectable, however, in the rates of viral replication, either in cell culture or in embryos. Also, the REL or SEL rate was established early during infection of the embryo and could not be competed out by the other variant population 3 h after inoculation. Thus, these two natural NS gene variants appear to specify early differences which influence the time of death of an infected embryo but the differences do not appear to influence virus replication.
Spectral and spatial statistics of Raphael paintings

In the late 19th Century the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB) was constructed adjacent to the White House. Over the years it has housed many of the departments of the executive branch of the U.S. Government. By the turn of the century most of the original painted designs on its walls had been covered over with various `institutional' wall paints. In recent years there has been a move to restore may of the private and public rooms in the OEOB to their original appearance. In the case of the Office of the Vice President during a brief period when the office was vacant, the overpaints were removed in small areas to reveal glimpses of the original wall designs. These design fragments were then photographed and digitally scanned. The techniques of digital computer image enhancement were next employed to clarify, extend, replicate, and rotate these designs. An image of the office was then restored to show its original appearance. Subsequently, the office itself was restored. Before and after images of the office are presented along with the computer-generated reconstruction that guided the restoration work.
Observations of detrainment signatures from non-precipitating orographic cumulus clouds

Abstract This study uses aircraft in-situ data, airborne mm-wavelength radar data, time lapse photography, and close-proximity radiosonde data to describe the signature of a lifecycle of non-precipitating moist convection left onto the ambient free tropospheric air. The data were collected as part of the 2006 Cumulus Photogrammetric, In-situ and Doppler Observations (CuPIDO-06) campaign, which was centered over the Santa Catalina Mountains, a natural laboratory for the study of the formation and decay of cumulus clouds. This study focuses on one case study, on 8 August 2006, when a series of Cu mediocris formed on the upwind side of the mountain, and decayed on the downwind side. Because these clouds were not precipitating, convective downdrafts were too weak to significantly affect the boundary-layer air downwind of the mountain. The layer containing orographic cumuli clearly became enriched with moist static energy immediately downwind of the mountain. This enrichment was due to the transport of boundary-layer air by moist convection, and not an artifact of stratified flow over a mountain, since it was mostly caused by an increase in water vapor. Some downwind plumes contained over 50% of the water vapor and moist static energy excess found in orographic cumuli over base values in the upstream environment in the orographic cumulus layer. This enrichment reduces potential instability but increases ambient humidity. This may facilitate successive cumulus growth, although this process of convective conditioning is unlikely to be important for meso-γ scale (~ 20 km) orographic convection.
First-principles data for solid-solution strengthening of magnesium: From geometry and chemistry to properties

Abstract Solid-solution strengthening results from solutes impeding the glide of dislocations. Existing theories of strength rely on solute/dislocation interactions, but do not consider dislocation core structures, which need an accurate treatment of chemical bonding. Here, we focus on strengthening of Mg, the lightest of all structural metals and a promising replacement for heavier steel and aluminum alloys. Elasticity theory, which is commonly used to predict the requisite solute/dislocation interaction energetics, is replaced with quantum-mechanical first-principles calculations to construct a predictive mesoscale model for solute strengthening of Mg. Results for 29 different solutes are displayed in a “strengthening design map” as a function of solute misfits that quantify volumetric strain and slip effects. Our strengthening model is validated with available experimental data for several solutes, including Al and Zn, the two most common solutes in Mg. These new results highlight the ability of quantum-mechanical first-principles calculations to predict complex material properties such as strength.
A universal graphic character writer

A major barrier to the human communication is attributed to the fact that there is no compatible typewriter, as in the Western World, for anynon-alphabetic language outside of the Western World. This paper will describe how a plotter can be used through programming, as a universal graphic character writer for all nonalphabetic as well as alphabetic languages in place of the typewriter. This is economically feasible since the plotter is not expensive and can be driven by a small computer on-line, or offline using a plotter and tape unit.Each character is treated as a single independent graph and decomposed into line segments within a 16 × 16 grid for non-alphabetic languages, and a 5 × 8 grid for alphabetic languages. Therefore, the graphic character can be represented by the coordinates which indicate the beginning and the ending points of the line segments.To take the most complicated Chinese language as an example, the character for "BRAVE" can be represented by twenty-three pairs of coordinates and packed into four 48-bit computer words. Taking this as a basis for estimation, the overwhelmingly numerous 10,000 Chinese characters can be decomposed and packed into 40K of memory. Thus, a computer with 65K memory will be able to keep them in core for direct access and processing.On the other hand, an English letter "M" can be represented by five pairs of coordinates and packed into one 48-bit computer word. In other words, the whole set of the English alphabet, including upper and lower cases, will need only II0 words of memory. The output on the plotter is itself a good hard copy to keep, and certainly it can be used as an original for further dupllcating, photographing and photoengraving.
Numerical Investigation for Inner Flow Fields and Structure Improvements of Medium Speed Mill

The numerical model for ZGM95 medium speed mill is built and the inner flow fields are simulated by employing the commercial code of FLUENT. The results show that the distributions of the static pressure and the flow rate are not uniform for 36 nozzle rings due to the primary air entering the mill only from one side. Two modified structures are assumed to improve the mills performances and the corresponding models are simulated further. The flow fields are still not good enough and the pressure drop increases sharply in the mill when blocking several nozzle rings, and this structure is not recommended if the amount of pulverizer rejects is not extremely huge. The structure with double-inlet can improve the distribution of the flow fields effectively in the mill and few pressure drops of the mill increase. However, the feasibility of the double-inlet structure is also depends on the field conditions. The pressure drop will be less and the flow fields will be better when adopting the horizontal inlet duct instead of the inclined one.
The Hierarchical Logistic Regression Model for Multilevel Analysis

Abstract A hierarchical logistic regression model is proposed for studying data with group structure and a binary response variable. The group structure is defined by the presence of micro observations embedded within contexts (macro observations), and the specification is at both of these levels. At the first (micro) level, the usual logistic regression model is defined for each context. The same regressors are used in each context, but the micro regression coefficients are free to vary over contexts. At the second level, the micro coefficients are treated as functions of macro regressors. An empirical Bayes estimation procedure is proposed for estimating the micro and macro coefficients. Explicit formulas are provided that are computationally feasible for large-scale data analyses; these include an algorithm for finding the maximum likelihood estimates of the covariance components representing within— and between—macro-equation error variability. The methodology is applied to World Fertility Survey data...
Acid-base analysis of individuals following two weight loss diets

To examine the effects of low-carbohydrate, ketogenic (LCKD) and low-fat (LFD) diets on acid-base status. Prospective analysis of volunteers from two clinical trials. Subset of 39 volunteers from a randomized trial comparing the effects of an LCKD with an LFD, and a single-arm trial of an LCKD. Outpatient research clinic. LCKD (initially <20 g of carbohydrate daily) or LFD (<30% of energy from fat, 500–1000 kcal energy reduction) instruction. Arterial blood gas analysis, serum chemistries (electrolytes, urea nitrogen/creatinine, glucose, ketone bodies, lactate), anion gap, and urine ketone bodies measured at weeks 0, 2, 8, and 24. Participants had a mean (±standard deviation) age of 43.5±9.3 years; 28 (72%) were female, 29 (74%) were Caucasian. Using linear mixed-model analysis to examine blood test changes from baseline to 24 weeks, the LFD group experienced a decrease in arterial blood pH from a mean of 7.43 at week 0 to 7.40 at week 24 (P=0.03), and the LCKD group experienced a decrease from 7.42 at week 0 to 7.40 at week 24 (P=0.01). The lowest pH measurements observed were 7.34 in the LFD group and 7.37 in the LCKD group. Although serum bicarbonate appeared to decrease from baseline at weeks 2 and 8 in the LCKD group, the change at 24 weeks was not statistically significant in either diet group, and only four of 131 (two of 92 from the LCKD group) measurements were less than 22 mmol/l. The proportion of participants with elevated urine and serum ketone body levels rose in the LCKD group only, was highest at week 2, and decreased over the subsequent time points. In individuals following an LCKD or an LFD, blood pH decreased mildly and the LCKD group experienced a small, transient decrease in serum bicarbonate in conjunction with mild ketosis. This suggests that an LCKD induced a mild compensated metabolic acidosis, but no individual showed evidence of significant metabolic derangement.