cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Technology-Enhanced Surveillance by Law Enforcement Officials

Over the past thirty years, new surveillance technologies have provided law enforcement officials with valuable tools in investigating and prosecuting crime, but have also unavoidably raised questions about the need to protect Fourth Amendment rights and privacy generally. This comment gives a general overview of the different areas in which law enforcement has been using these technologies. The comment divides surveillance technology into three rough categories: virtual surveillance (technologies such as thermal imagers that are used to gather information in ways that may or may not be a search), "hyper-intrusive searches" (technologies such as wiretaps that gather extraordinarily personal or private information and thus require extra restrictions on their use), and high volume collection (technologies such as facial recognition that collect massive amounts of data from various sources, and subsequently sift through the information to find the tiny percentage that is relevant to law enforcement). The comment reviews and evaluates the various constitutional rules and restrictions that have been placed on these different types of surveillance technologies.
Tolerability, toxicity, and temporal implications of transoral robotic surgery (TORS) on adjuvant radiation therapy in carcinoma of the head and neck.

Objectives:Overall treatment package time (from surgery to radiotherapy [RT] completion) > 100 days can portend poor outcomes in head and neck cancer. Faster postoperative recovery seen with transoral robotic surgery may decrease treatment duration and toxicity for adjuvant RT and chemoradiation.Methods:We retrospectively reviewed all patients treated with transoral robotic surgery (n = 124) and adjuvant RT and chemoradiation (n = 33) at our institution for head and neck cancer from April 2007 to December 2011 to determine treatment duration, acute toxicity, and long-term percutaneous gastric tube rates.Results:The median overall treatment time was 86 days and from surgery to RT start was 41 days; median RT duration was 44 days. No wound breakdown or infection occurred during or after RT. Two-year actuarial locoregional control, distant metastasis–free survival, and overall survival rates were 93%, 96%, and 97%, respectively.Conclusions:Adjuvant RT after transoral robotic surgery for head and neck cancer ...
Whetzelinia, a New Generic Name for Sclerotinia Sclerotiorum and S. Tuberosa

A new genus, Whetzelinia Korf & Dumont, is proposed for that portion of the genus Sclerotinia Fuckel which includes the economically important plant pathogen W. sclerotiorum (Lib.) Korf & Dumont and also W. tuberosa (Hedw. per Merat) Korf & Dumont. Characters differentiating the new genus from Sclerotinia (= Ciborinia Whetzel) and from Myriosclerotinia Buchw. are noted. Though many species have recently been placed in synonymy with W. sclerotiorum, the detailed anatomical studies necessary to evaluate such synonymies have never been done.
Effect of Phenergan (N-Dimethylamioo-2-Propyl-1-Thiodiphenyla-mine, 3277 RP) on the Arthus Reaction in Rabbits

SummaryThe effect of phenergan on the Arthus reaction was investigated, employing a quantitative method for the induction of the reaction. In large but non-lethal doses, the drug was found to inhibit appreciably the development of the more severe Arthus reactions. It is suggested that the action of the drug on the Arthus reaction is related to its effect on capillary permeability. A limited study of the inhibition by phenergan of the toxic effect of a large quantity of streptococcal erythrogenic toxin appears to support this view.
Effects of Morphine Sulphate on Hypothalamus of the Gat

ConclusionIn the cat, the local injection of from 1 to 10 mg of morphine sulphate in Locke's solution or the intraperitoneal administration of from 30 to 100 mg of the drug does not affect the reactivity of either the cruciate cortex or the hypothalamus to faradic stimulation, except that in animals which receive more than 60 mg intraperitoneally the hypothalamic responses are limited to the duration of the stimulus.
Comparison on Diurnal Course of Photosynthetic Characteristics of Pigeonpea Hybrids and Pure Line Cultivars

Diurnal course of photosynthesis of 6 early maturing hybrids,6 middle maturing hybrids and 3 medium maturing pine line cultivars of pigeonpea were studied.The results were as follows:(1) The change of diurnal net photosynthetic rate of all the tested pigeonpea cultivars had been showed by one peak curve,without obvious midday depression.The Pn's decline after peak was influenced mainly by no-stoma factors.There was no significant difference among cultivars in daily average values of Pn,however the difference between early maturing and medium maturing cultivars was significant.(2) Daily average values of Tr of middle maturing hybrid and pure line cultivars were higher than that of early maturing hybrid,the difference between middle maturing hybrid and pure line cultivars was not significant.(3) Daily average values of WUE and drought tolerance ability in early maturing varieties were higher than pure line cultivars,there were no significant differences among the three groups.(4) The results of correlation analysis showed that the primary factor affecting Pn was PAR.
Brief Report: A Cytogenetic Study of Acute Erythroleukemia in Children

Three children with acute erythroleukemia were studied for chromosomal changes. Two of them had persistently normal karyotypes despite relapse. The third patient was missing a C chromosome, and had 45/46 mosaicism in the bone marrow and a dichotomy between blood (mode of 46) and bone marrow (mode of 45). All of these abnormalities were only evident when he was in relapse. Following partial remission induced with cytosine arabinoside, all subsequent analyses were normal. This is the third case reported of a child with erythroleukemia with aneuploidy in the C group of the chromosomes.
Effect of Oligomer Length on Photophysical Properties of Platinum Acetylide Donor–Acceptor–Donor Oligomers

We report a systematic study that explores how the triplet excited state is influenced by conjugation length in a series of benzothiadiazole units containing donor–acceptor–donor (DAD)-type platinum acetylide oligomers and polymer. The singlet and triplet excited states for the series were characterized by an array of photophysical methods including steady-state luminescence spectroscopy and femtosecond–nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. In addition to the experimental work, a computational study using density functional theory was conducted to gain more information about the structure, composition, and energies of the frontier molecular orbitals. It is observed that both the singlet and triplet excited states are mainly localized on a single donor–acceptor–donor unit in the oligomers. Interestingly, it is discovered that the intersystem crossing efficiency increases dramatically in the longer oligomers. The effect is attributed to an enhanced contribution of the heavy metal platinum in the fro...
Revenue Reliance and Adjustment Costs

In this paper I develop a model of government revenue reliance where there are two alternative revenue sources and an intergovernmental transfer. The government must choose the combination of taxes necessary to generate a desired overall revenue level. Then, a shock alters the efficiency of raising revenue by one of the tax sources and the government must respond optimally. The replacement or substitution takes an optimal tax approach and incorporates adjustment costs that are based on efficiency costs of raising revenue. The results are described in a series of five propositions that give insight on the optimal response of a government to tax base shocks and changes in intergovernmental transfers. Testable implications are discussed.
Cycles and Bifurcation

This chapter focuses on cycles and bifurcation. If the equilibrium of a linear dynamical system in R 2 is unstable, then any orbit not on its stable manifold moves increasingly toward infinity. Instability is essentially a global affair. An unstable equilibrium forces most orbits to move away in the vicinity of the rest point. The chapter explains the concept of a Hopf bifurcation with the help of examples based on the population growth models. The possibility of a limit cycle means that the prey population can fluctuate cyclically to levels below that it would have if μ 0. To keep the engine running at a constant angular speed in the face of varying loads, which have a tendency to speed up or slow down the engine, a feedback control device is installed known as the centrifugal governor. When becomes unstable as μ increases past the bifurcation point, the governor begins to oscillate, a motion that has been called hunting and suggests that a stable limit cycle exists for μ > 0.
Montagovian Paradoxes and Hyperintensional Content

A number of authors have taken a family of paradoxes, whose members trace back to theorems due either in whole or in part to Richard Montague, to pose a serious, possibly fatal challenge to theories of fine-grained, hyperintensional content. These paradoxes all assume that we can represent attitudes such as knowledge and belief with sentential predicates, and this assumption is at the heart of the purported challenge: the thought is that we must reject such predicates to avoid the paradoxes, and that hyperintensionality precludes such a rejection. In this paper I examine in more detail both parts of this thought. I first argue that while there are relatively few satisfactory alternatives to rejecting sentential attitude predicates, we cannot conclusively rule them all out--there are, at least, bullets that proponents of hyperintensionality can bite. I then argue that while most forms of hyperintensional content do in fact guarantee the existence of sentential attitude predicates, one relatively underexplored sort of content, due to Max Cresswell, does not. I thus conclude that while these Montagovian paradoxes present a serious challenge to nearly every popular theory of hyperintensionality, they do not on their own require that we retreat all the way to a familiar, coarse-grained, possible-worlds account of propositions.
Hunter-gatherer residential mobility and the marginal value of rainforest patches.

The residential mobility patterns of modern hunter-gatherers broadly reflect local resource availability, but the proximate ecological and social forces that determine the timing of camp movements are poorly known. We tested the hypothesis that the timing of such moves maximizes foraging efficiency as hunter-gatherers move across the landscape. The marginal value theorem predicts when a group should depart a camp and its associated foraging area and move to another based on declining marginal return rates. This influential model has yet to be directly applied in a population of hunter-gatherers, primarily because the shape of gain curves (cumulative resource acquisition through time) and travel times between patches have been difficult to estimate in ethnographic settings. We tested the predictions of the marginal value theorem in the context of hunter-gatherer residential mobility using historical foraging data from nomadic, socially egalitarian Batek hunter-gatherers (n = 93 d across 11 residential camps) living in the tropical rainforests of Peninsular Malaysia. We characterized the gain functions for all resources acquired by the Batek at daily timescales and examined how patterns of individual foraging related to the emergent property of residential movements. Patterns of camp residence times conformed well with the predictions of the marginal value theorem, indicating that communal perceptions of resource depletion are closely linked to collective movement decisions. Despite (and perhaps because of) a protracted process of deliberation and argument about when to depart camps, Batek residential mobility seems to maximize group-level foraging efficiency.
Large sample size, significance level, and the effect size: Solutions to perils of using big data for academic research

Abstract The increasing availability of and attention to big data accumulated on different aspects of demand and supply side of industries has resulted in utilization of large samples for academic publications as well. Using large samples, however, creates the issue of guaranteed statistical significance and thus demands reporting the practical significance by using effect size measures. This manuscript is a guide to inform tourism and hospitality academia of the effect size measures for the most commonly used statistical tests.
Yogurt Consumption and Impact on Bone Health

Fermented milk products like yogurt provide calcium, phosphorus, and protein, all nutrients influencing bone growth and bone loss. Prebiotics like inulin, which may be added to yogurt, as well as probiotics contained in yogurt, can modulate intestinal calcium absorption and/or bone metabolism. On the other hand, yogurt consumption may ensure a more regular ingestion of milk products and higher compliance, because of various flavors and sweetness. Bone mass accrual, bone homeostasis, and attenuation of sex hormone deficiency–induced bone loss appear to benefit from pre- or probiotics ingestion, which modifies microbiota composition and metabolism. One yogurt a day is cost-effective in the general population above the age of 70 years and in all age groups in women with low bone mineral density or prevalent vertebral fracture.
Sharing Cities: A Case for Truly Smart and Sustainable Cities

Ever since President George W. Bush withdrew the U.S. from the Kyoto Protocol in 2001, many have feared that it was simply too late to save the planet from catastrophic climate change. The election...
Emotions and Social Structure: Toward A General Sociological Theory

Publisher Summary Positive emotional arousal leads individuals to emit positive sanctions to others and, reciprocally, receive positive emotional responses from others through interaction rituals that charge up group symbols and cause individuals to become committed to each other and the encounter. Positive emotions have a proximal bias, causing individuals to make self-attributions and to see the immediate situation as responsible for their success in meeting transactional needs. But, as the propositions specify, there are structural conditions that increase the likelihood that positive emotions will be extended to meso structures and the macro-level structures in which encounters are embedded. This chapter presents a more general theory of emotions and social structure, which incorporates the useful elements from existing theories and cumulative research findings. Social structures and their attendant cultures are sustained or changed by people's emotional reactions to their circumstances. Since the 1970s, however, new theories and research programs have emerged; and some of these programs have addressed the linkage between social structure and emotions but typically within a rather narrow theoretical tradition.
Can we build it? Yes we can, but should we use it? Assessing the quality and value of a very large phylogeny of campanulid angiosperms.

Premise of the study The study of very large and very old clades holds the promise of greater insights into evolution across the tree of life. However, there has been a fair amount of criticism regarding the interpretations and quality of studies to date, with some suggesting that detailed studies carried out on smaller, tractable scales should be preferred over the increasingly grand syntheses of these data. Methods We provided in detail our trials and tribulations of compiling a large, sparsely sampled matrix from GenBank data and inferring a well-supported, time-calibrated phylogeny of Campanulidae. We also used a simulation approach to assess tree quality and to study the value of using very large, comprehensive phylogenies in a comparative context. Key results A robust and well-supported phylogeny can be produced as long as automated procedures are supplemented with some human intervention. In the case of campanulids, the overall topology may be driven not only by particular genes, but also particular sequences for a gene. We also determined that estimates of divergence times should be fairly robust to issues related to clade-specific heterogeneity. Finally, we demonstrated how relying on results from smaller, younger clades are prone to produce biased interpretations of tropical to temperate evolution across campanulids as a whole. Conclusions While we were both surprised and encouraged by the robust and fairly well-resolved, comprehensive phylogeny of campanulids, challenges still remain. Nevertheless, large phylogenies are inherently valuable in a comparative context if only to attenuate the issue of ascertainment bias.
Training Less Threatening Interpretations Over the Internet: Impact of Priming Anxious Imagery and Using a Neutral Control Condition

Cognitive Bias Modification to reduce threat interpretations (CBM-I) is a computer-based paradigm designed to train a less negative interpretation bias that has shown some success in the lab, but results for web-based CBM-I are often mixed. To test possible explanations for the poorer results online, participants high in social anxiety (N = 379) were recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to complete a single-session, proof-of-principle study to investigate: (1) whether web-based CBM-I can shift interpretations of social situations to be less negative and reduce anticipatory social anxiety, (2) whether a common “control” condition used in CBM-I studies is in fact inert by incorporating an alternate control condition, and (2) whether priming anxious imagery prior to training moderates CBM-I’s effects. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three training conditions: all positive, half positive/half negative, or neutral unemotional scenarios. Participants also received an anxious or neutral imagery prime before training. Although results were somewhat mixed across outcome measures, findings generally suggested that participants exhibited less negative interpretations of ambiguous social scenarios following positive training with an anxious imagery prime. There was also some evidence that the neutral training condition was associated with less negative interpretations, and evidence that the half positive/half negative training condition led to the least anticipatory anxiety, especially when paired with anxious imagery. Findings are discussed in light of different training effects for near- and far-transfer outcomes.
SCA-Net: A Sensation-Cognition-Action Network for Speech Processing

Two related questions posed to biology-inspired cognitive robotics are: (1) what form might a motor plan take in the brain, and (2) how might such a plan be converted into coordinated motor behavior? One approach to modeling the motor plan is to assume a stream of discrete instructions. This conceptualization has been attractive in cognitive science because it allows theorists to discuss motor planning (and perception) in terms of notation systems. However, many brain and robotics researchers have come to view the idea of the discrete motor plan to be wanting. SCA-Net provides a concrete alternative based on established brain circuitry. The approach allows for the coding of perception and production representations in a way that is useful to notation-oriented cognitive architectures.
Reclaiming Malintzin: Healing and Preventing Latina Depression and Suicide

The epidemic of Latina adolescent depression and suicide has not abated in 30 years, and today, there are still no Latina-specific prevention or treatment programs that are evidence-based. We offer in this chapter a summary of cutting-edge research findings and specific recommendations for researchers, clinicians, and schools. Latina young women are active and engaged in, reacting to, transforming, and subverting the world around them, as they have been doing for many generations. Clearly, the mental health of Latina young women is complex and influenced by many factors including those that might increase risks and those that are protective. In this book, we support a call to action that includes teens, parents, schools, service providers, clinicians, and policy makers to work together to address this issue through innovative prevention and intervention strategies.
p-Coumaric acid improves oxidative and osmosis stress responses in Caenorhabditis elegans

Background: Stress-response pathways in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) were found to be closely related to human diseases and aging. Research on stress responses in C. elegans can therefore significantly facilitate understanding of related human diseases. p-Coumaric acid is present in peanuts, carrots, and garlic, and exerts many biological effects, however, its responses to various environmental stressors remain unknown. Thus, in the current study, we employed C. elegans as the in vivo animal model to examine the function of p-coumaric acid under various stressed conditions.; Results: Treatment of C. elegans with p-coumaric acid resulted in a significant reduction in the intercellular reactive oxygen species levels, which suggests the in vivo antioxidant capacity of p-coumaric acid. Moreover, p-coumaric acid significantly increased the worms' survival under oxidative and osmosis stressed conditions but had no effect under normal or heat-stressed conditions. The increased oxidative resistance induced by p-coumaric acid was mediated by skn-1, an ortholog of the Nrf2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2) transcriptional factor. Downregulation of the osmosis regulatory gene, osr-1, might contribute to p-coumaric acids' effect on increased resistance to high osmolarity.; Conclusion: Taken together, our results suggest that p-coumaric acid, an antioxidant agent, ameliorated oxidative and osmosis stresses in C. elegans. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.; © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.
An Experimental Economics Investigation of the Land Value Tax: Efficiency, Acceptability, and Positional Goods

This research offers the first economic experiment investigating the land tax, where landowners invest under different property tax regimes. A voting treatment assesses the relative acceptability of land value taxation. Results show a land tax produced greater overall welfare in only 37.5% of the experiment sessions. Systematic overinvestment arises from the positional-good characteristic of residential land investment, but this effect vanishes when the positional-good indicator is removed. The experiments show that the participants unexpectedly voted in favor of the land tax, suggesting that the efficiency and acceptability of the land tax may be more complex than in nonbehavioral economics modeling.
On skew polynomial rings over locally nilpotent rings

We will show that skew polynomial rings in several variables over locally nilpotent rings cannot contain nonzero idempotent elements. We will also prove that such rings are Brown–McCoy radical.
Feed Efficiency Calculator

The Feed Efficiency Calculator, a product from the National Program for Genetic Improvement of Feed Efficiency in Beef Cattle provides a tool to researchers and producers interested in calculating residual feed intake (RFI), residual gain (RG) and adjusted feed to gain values on tested animals.
The Brazilian Forest Code and riparian preservation areas: spatiotemporal analysis and implications for hydrological ecosystem services

The Brazilian Forest Code (BFC) requires the preservation and restoration of forests in riparian preservation areas (RPAs). The total area in RPAs and the impacts of changes in the BFC on RPA requirements are uncertain due to lack of clarity about how RPAs are defined in practice. We reconstruct the history of the RPA rule, use a recent cadastral database (CAR) of the state of Rondonia to quantify the area of RPA by stream size and to document the impact of the 2012 changes in RPA requirements, and review the literature on hydrological ecosystem services (HES) in light of RPA rules. We find that most (64%) of the area in RPAs in the state of Rondonia was illegally deforested by 2017, and the 2012 regulations require restoration of only half of that cleared area. Most of the RPA is located along small streams ( 200 m wide) was forested. Current restoration requirements (5 m regardless of stream width) for very small properties (< 60 ha) are likely inadequate to restore HES. Preservation of forest along large streams remains important, but policy and management should also emphasize the preservation and restoration of forest along small streams because they account for most of the riparian preservation area, with important implications for humans and ecosystems.
Prediction of cognitive progression in Parkinson's disease using three cognitive screening measures

Abstract Introduction Cognitive impairment is a common complication of Parkinson's disease (PD) and identifying risk factors for progression to Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) is important. However, little research has been done comparing the utility of commonly used cognitive screening tests in predicting cognitive progression in PD. Methods We retrospectively reviewed data from patients with PD enrolled in the Pacific Udall Center who had baseline and longitudinal neuropsychological and global cognitive screening tests. The diagnostic accuracies of 3 common screening tests were compared: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (DRS-2), and Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE). Cognitive diagnoses of PD with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) and PDD were based on full neuropsychological testing and established Movement Disorder Society criteria. Logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine predictors of cognitive decline. Results Four hundred seventy patients for whom scores on all 3 screening tests were available from the same assessment were included in a cross-sectional analysis. The MoCA demonstrated the best overall diagnostic accuracy for PD-MCI (AUC = 0.79, sensitivity = 76.4%) and for PDD (AUC = 0.89, sensitivity = 81.0%) compared to the DRS-2 and MMSE. A longitudinal analysis was performed on the subset of patients (316/470; 67.2%) who were nondemented at baseline and had undergone two or more assessments. After controlling for covariates, the MoCA was the only test associated with progression to PDD (OR = 1.27 95% CI 1.1–1.5, p = 0.001) and faster time to dementia (HR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.1–1.4, p Conclusions This study provides additional support for the use of the MoCA as a primary screening tool for cognitive impairment in PD and is the first to show that the MoCA is a predictor of conversion to PDD.
Commemorating and Othering: a Study of Japanese Public Opinion on Prime Minister Abe’s 2013 Yasukuni Pilgrimage

The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, once the symbolic center of national commemoration of war dead in pre-War years, is now regarded as one of the critical conservative symbols of Japan’s imperial past. While the Yasukuni study is expanding, not much has been explored on the nature of public reactions to the controversy. This study explores Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s Yasukuni pilgrimage in 2013 and delves into Japanese public opinion on and around it. Overall, the Japanese public is relatively composed and prefers cautious approach; yet, at the same time, more people now support the official Yasukuni visits in general. This study also reveals discernible, yet nuanced, disagreements among PM Abe’s Yasukuni policies, the public perceptions of them, and the narratives of major newspaper editorials on this issue. The coverage of public opinion polls by the major national newspapers uncovers the public opinion on (1) the official Yasukuni visit, (2) the idea of building an alternative non-religious national memorial, and (3) the Japanese public’s decreasing sense of affinity toward China and South Korea (and their implications on understanding the Yasukuni issue and the sense of nation). The study will also examine the newspaper narratives on the controversy, which should help exemplify the overall public mood over the years.
Evanescent coupling to silicon waveguides using surface plasmon polaritons.

In this work, we discuss evanescent light coupling to silicon waveguides using surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in the Otto configuration. The setup for excitation of SPPs includes a fused-silica prism, a 100 nm silver layer with a 650 nm airgap between them, and a tapered silicon waveguide located across from the silver layer. A $p$p-polarized light of 1550 nm wavelength is incident at plasmonic angle of 44° to the interface of the fused silica–airgap to excite the SPP. A 2D Lumerical FDTD Solutions simulation shows a coupling efficiency of 54%. The fabricated device on a silicon-on-insulator substrate shows 10% light transmission for $p$p-polarized light.
Health Care Spending Projections and Policy Changes: Recognizing the Limits of Existing Forecasts

Many projections for health care spending growth do not incorporate the impact of changing labor market regulations. In this paper, I show that changing one such regulation – raising the federal minimum wage – would significantly increase the cost of several important types of care. I do this using data on the cost of long-term care from thousands of providers from 2012-2018. Using these data, I show that costs, which include home health aides and nursing home care, are highly correlated with changes in state level minimum wages. This relationship is statistically robust. Forecasts that ignore the risk of a federal minimum wage increase will understate this element of expected medical spending growth.
Data mining for faster, interpretable solutions to inverse problems: A case study using additive manufacturing

Abstract Solving inverse problems, where we find the input values that result in desired values of outputs, can be challenging. The solution process is often computationally expensive and it can be difficult to interpret the solution in high-dimensional input spaces. In this paper, we use a problem from additive manufacturing to address these two issues with the intent of making it easier to solve inverse problems and exploit their results. First, focusing on Gaussian process surrogates that are used to solve inverse problems, we describe how a simple modification to the idea of tapering can substantially speed up the surrogate without losing accuracy in prediction. Unlike block tapering, which approximates the covariance matrix by diagonal blocks, our approach divides the data itself into blocks. Both approaches reduce the computational cost by replacing the Cholesky decomposition of the full matrix by the decomposition of multiple smaller matrices, but our approach gives accurate predictions despite the approximation as we identify hyperparameters optimal for each block. Second, we demonstrate that Kohonen self-organizing maps can be used to visualize and interpret the solution to the inverse problem in the high-dimensional input space. For our data set, as not all input dimensions are equally important, we show that using weighted distances results in a better organized map that not only makes the relationships among the inputs obvious, but also indicates the location of the solution in the input space so an additive manufacturing engineer can control the inputs appropriately for a desired output.
Are consumers or fuel economy policies efficient

This chapter describes how recent increases in oil prices, concern about energy security, and apprehension over global climate change have turned attention to fuel economy policy in the United States (U.S.). The primary mechanism to reduce oil use in the U.S. is the set of corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards. Paralleling current concerns of more than three decades ago, the U.S. Congress was worried in 1975 about increasing imports on crude oil, especially from politically and militarily unstable parts of the world. One response was the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975, in which Congress mandated for the first time that passenger cars and so-called light-duty trucks—pickup trucks, minivans, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs)—had to meet fleetwide CAFE fuel economy standards. Working in concert with sharply increasing gasoline prices in the early years of the program, the CAFE standards resulted in significant improvements in fuel economy for both passenger cars and light-duty trucks. In evaluating the costs and benefits of these policy actions regarding fuel economy, the key question is whether consumers or fuel economy policies are economically efficient. If policies to address the problems associated with fuel consumption are inefficient, they can be altered for improvement. Moreover, if consumers exhibit inefficient behavior in their choice of fuel economy in vehicles, those inefficiencies have important effects on the efficiency of fuel economy policies. Either way, the value of the current approach in regulating fuel economy in new vehicles as a cost-effective policy depends on whether or not consumers make inefficient choices.
Sensitive Search For HI in E and SO Galaxies

Do elliptical and SO galaxies in which type I supernovae (SNI) were detected contain more gas than those without SNI detections? Thirteen E and SO galaxies in the Virgo and Pegasus I clusters, seven with SNI detections and six without, were mapped well beyond the optical image at the 21-cm neutral hydrogen line. No HI was detected. In Virgo, the upper limit to MHI/LB is between 0.0005 and 0.0024.
Competency Based Teacher Education: The Other Side.

(1977). Competency Based Teacher Education: The other Side. Journal of Physical Education and Recreation: Vol. 48, No. 1, pp. 26-27.
The Exosphere and Geocorona

This paper reviews the observational evidence on the hydrogen geocorona including its density, vertical structure, and the nature of its diurnal and other solar-related variability. The relationship of observationally-derived models of the exosphere and geocorona to the thermosphere is indicated. The hydrodynamic and kinetic descriptions of the origin of the polar wind, the outward supersonic ion flow over the poles, are briefly reviewed. Observations of vertical ion distributions, of the supersonic flow of ionized atomic hydrogen, and of the polar depletion of atomic hydrogen are cited as evidence for the polar wind. These results are interpreted as clues to the geographical extent of the polar wind and its correlation with the plasmapause.
International relations in space: A US view

Abstract A Task Force of the NASA Advisory Council was recently asked to assess whether the changing global context for space activities required any adjustments in NASA's approach to its international activities. This article presents the Task Force's major findings and conclusions. The USA must reinvigorate its civil space programme, with responsibility clearly assigned, and long-term goals and directions established. Through cooperation, it must bring other nations to share those goals and move in the same directions.
Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology

Iron Technology in East Africa: Symbolism, Science, and Archaeology Peter Schmidt. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1997. 328 pp.
Does Mandatory Disclosure Reduce the Cost of Capital? Evidence from Bonds

I examine whether the cost of debt is lower in states that have mandated the adoption of GAAP disclosure, compared to those with unregulated disclosure. I study municipal bond issuers because many states have unregulated disclosure, while others require GAAP, allowing an examination of the value of disclosure regulation in a relatively controlled experiment. Using a sample of municipal-level yield data, I find that mandatory disclosure is associated with a reduction of 15 basis points. Further, I find that the reduction in bond yields is the greatest among those organizations with relatively higher information asymmetry: those issuing unrated bonds, and small municipalities. In particular, unrated issues in GAAP states are associated with a yield reduction of 34 basis points, and small municipalities a yield reduction of 21 basis points. From this evidence, it is tempting to infer that municipalities benefit from mandatory disclosure, without consideration of the costs. However, prior research finds that the imposition of mandatory disclosure changes managers' use of alternate mechanisms, such as bond insurance, that also reduce the cost of debt. In further analysis, I find evidence consistent with regulation constraining the use of bond insurance among municipalities with relatively higher levels of information asymmetry. I conclude that disclosure regulation both provides benefits and imposes costs.
BROKERAGE COMMISSIONS AND MUTUAL FUND PERFORMANCE

In this article we analyze fund-level data on brokerage commissions paid by diversified U.S. equity mutual funds from 2001 to 2011. We find that brokerage commission per dollar traded has a positive and significant impact on mutual fund performance, indicating that funds paying premium brokerage commissions were able to improve performance net of all expenses. The positive impact of premium brokerage services (better execution quality, timely research reports, etc.) purchased through higher commissions is more pronounced during volatile market times.
Green Tea Extract Inhibits the Lymphatic Absorption of Cholesterol and α-Tocopherol in Ovariectomized Rats

Evidence indicates that green tea consumption lowers the serum level of cholesterol (CH). This study was conducted to determine whether green tea lowers the intestinal absorption of CH and other lipids in ovariectomized (OX) rats. OX rats with lymph duct cannulae were infused at 3.0 mL/h for 8 h via an intraduodenal catheter with a lipid emulsion containing (14)C-cholesterol ((14)C-CH) and alpha-tocopherol (alphaTP) without (GT0) or with green tea extract standardized to 42.9 mg (GT1) or 120.5 mg (GT2) of total catechins in PBS (pH 6.5). Green tea extracts dose-dependently reduced (P < 0.05) the lymphatic absorption of (14)C-CH. The cumulative absorptions of (14)C-CH in rats infused with GT0, GT1 and GT2 were 36.3 +/- 1.1, 20.7 +/- 4.3 and 4.8 +/- 4.1% dose, respectively. The percentage distribution of esterified CH did not differ between rats infused with GT0 and GT1 (80.2 +/- 2.3% vs. 79.0 +/- 1.7%), but was significantly lower in those given GT2 (69.1 +/- 6.8%). The absorption of alphaTP also was significantly reduced by GT1 (736.5 +/- 204.9 nmol, 20.8 +/- 5.8% dose) and GT2 (281.0 +/- 190.8 nmol, 7.9 +/- 5.4% dose) compared with GT0 (1048.8 +/- 174.9 nmol, 29.6 +/- 4.9% dose). The absorption of fat was significantly increased by GT1 (862.6 +/- 151.1 micromol) but lowered by GT2 (557.9 +/- 252.2 micromol) relative to GT0 (717.7 +/- 39.1 micromol). The findings provide direct evidence that green tea has a profound inhibitory effect on the intestinal absorption of CH and alphaTP in OX rats. Whether the inhibitory effect of green tea extract is attributable to a specific catechin(s) and other components in green tea remains to be determined.
Quantitative LC–MS for water-soluble heterocyclic amines in fine aerosols (PM2.5) at Duke Forest, USA

Abstract A quantitative liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) technique was developed to measure the concentrations of heterocyclic nitrogen compounds in ambient fine aerosols (PM 2.5 ). Quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) MS technology was used to provide both accurate-mass and MS/MS data for confirmation of chemical formula and nitrogen compound structure. The fine aerosol was collected over the winter and summer seasons at an experimental monitoring station at Duke Forest in North Carolina U.S.A. 3-Hydroxypyridine and two β-carbolines, harmane, and norharmane, were observed in both campaigns at concentrations lower in summer (sum = 332 pg m −3 ; N = 27) than winter (554 pg m −3 ; N = 31). Aminopyridines, dimethylpyrazoles, and hydroxymethyl-pyridines were observed in the winter aerosols with a total estimated average concentration of 779 pg m −3 . These results demonstrate the possibility of enhanced speciation and provide a first glance at heterocyclic amines in the water-soluble organic nitrogen (ON) fraction of fine aerosols collected from a forest atmosphere.
Dried blood spot glucose measurement in hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia

A retrospective analysis of dried blood spot glucose profiles found them to provide useful information about the progress of a child with hyperinsulinism due to nesidiodysplasia. The potential for their use in the management of such cases is discussed.
High-temperature fast-flow reactor study of Sn/N2O chemiluminescence

Abstract The Sn/N 2 O reaction at 1000 K produces intense chemiluminescence belonging to the A, B, C, D-X systems of SnO. The number of photons emitted per Sn atom reacted is on the order of 0.5. New A-X bands at λ ≫ 550 nm have been identified. The overall reaction proceeds with a rate coefficient of ≈ 5 × 10 −13 ml molecule −1 s −1 .
Military Spending and Income Inequality

While volumes have been written on the individual topics of military economics and income distribution, only scant attention has been paid to the potential impact of military spending on the distribution of a nation's income. The traditional academic focus on the military has centered on issues such as spending impacts on employment, income and inflation, or on whether industrialized countries, in particular the United States, have become too dependent upon the military for their economic well being. Above and beyond these concerns, there is evidence that military spending is associated with increasing income inequality. Among other reasons this association exists because of pay differentials in civilian vs. military related work (including direct armed forces activities as well as military contract work), because of fewer opportunities for women and minorities among military contractors, which then exacerbates existing gender and race pay differentials, and, lastly, because of the profitability of military related contracts relative to commercial production. The relationship between military spending and the distribution of income is examined for the United States during the post-Vietnam War period using time-series data. Empirical estimates reveal that military spending is indeed associated with increasing income inequality, after controlling for macro-economic variables such as taxes, economic growth, interest rates, inflation and non-military spending. The results are generally robust to alternative definitions of both the military spending and income distribution measures.
The ViscousDisplay: adaptive transient interfaces in public space

The ViscousDisplay explores the exchange of social information through transient public interfaces. Shaped by principles of 'underground public art', the ViscousDisplay is conceived as a novel mobile communication medium, where messages can be shared in public spaces. Inspired by biological learning systems; the ViscousDisplay learns gestural motions and colors that form along traces of a participant's movements and maps this information onto a flexible display. Because it is made up of inexpensive materials, the ViscousDisplay is also a disposable artifact which may be collected in public spaces. It combines multi-modal sensing, learning algorithms, and a pliable silicone display.
Genetic control of alcohol dehydrogenase isozymes in Triticum dicoccum.

By means of the zymogram technique, two types of electrophoretic patterns were found for the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) in Triticum dicoccum, a tetraploid species of wheat. Each strain examined showed three bands of ADH activity. The two types of patterns found differed with respect to the relative electrophoretic mobilities and staining intensities of the bands. Evidence that the variation between the patterns is controlled at a single gene locus by two codominant alleles was obtained from appropriate genetic crosses. Heterozygotes for the allelic difference have five bands of ADH activity. These probably represent six different forms of the enzyme, two of which have coincident electrophoretic mobilities. These observations support the hypothesis that ADH exists as a dimer in T. dicoccum. It is probable that the enzyme subunits are coded for by duplicated ADH gene loci, each of which was contributed to the original tetraploid wheats by one of the two diploid progenitors of that group.
Resolution property in generalized k-spaces

Abstract We show that a T 1 space X is resolvable if the set of limit points λ ( X ) of various simultaneously separated subsets of X is dense in X . Moreover, if λ ( X ) is open also, then X is ω-resolvable. It follows that a self-dense, Hausdroff space satisfying a generalized k -space (sequential space) condition is resolvable (respectively, ω-resolvable).
Electron Irradiation of NPN Bipolar Transistors with Silicon Nitride Passivation

The effect of silicon nitride passivation on the performance of bipolar transistors under ionizing radiation was investigated. Three groups of silicon planar epitaxial npn transistors with silicon nitride, silicon dioxide and composite silicon dioxide-silicon nitride insulating layers were subjected to irradiation by 20 keV and by 1.5 MeV electrons. The base and collector currents were measured as a function of base-emitter voltage. The results show that silicon nitride and silicon dioxide passivated transistors possess identical properties, after irradiation by low energy electrons to saturation, even though the preirradiation d. c. gain of the standard devices was much greater. Irradiation by 1.5 MeV electrons caused channel formation in all three groups.
Student perceptions toward flipped learning: New methods to increase interaction and active learning in economics

Abstract The “flipped classroom” has begun to revolutionize the way that students receive information from their teachers and is ushering in a new era of active and creative thinkers. Although flipping the classroom has gained popular attention, very little research has focused on flipping the classroom at the collegiate level. This paper documents the implementation of a “partially-flipped” class over one semester of a large enrollment microeconomics course, as well as presents results of students’ perception toward flipped learning. I find that students respond positively to flipped learning, and that it is an instructional design that is beneficial across student groups.
Resource allocation models with risk aversion and probabilistic dependence: offshore oil and gas bidding

Bidding for offshore U.S. oil and gas leases is a major corporate resource allocation problem involving enormous uncertainties and very high stakes. This paper presents two new, operationally useful decision analysis models to aid in bidding for oil and gas leases. They are unique in that they consider risk aversion and probabilistic dependence among the values of the leases, with both bid levels and partnership shares as continuous decision variables. They are suitable for use in evaluating proposed bidding policies or as objective functions in optimization formulations. Practicality of their data requirements is evidenced by use of one of the models for several years in a major oil company. Comparison of optimal solutions to these models on a small example, using actual oil-company data, demonstrates the importance of taking risk aversion and probabilistic dependence into account, and provides insight into the adequacy of independence and conditional dependence as approximations for dependence. These results are pertinent to other real-world allocation problems that share many of the characteristics of bidding problems, such as R&D funds allocation.