cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Impacts and Pathways of Mine Contaminants to Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) in an Idaho Watershed

Metals contamination from mining activities is a persistent problem affecting aquatic ecosystems throughout mining districts in the western USA. The Gold Creek drainage in northern Idaho has a history of mining within its headwaters and contains elevated sediment concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn. To determine system-wide impacts of increased metals, we measured concentrations of metals in water, sediment, and benthic macroinvertebrate tissues and related them to whole-body fish tissues and histopathological alterations in native salmonids. Water concentrations were higher than those in reference areas, but were below water quality criteria for protection of aquatic biota for most of the study area. Sediment and benthic macroinvertebrate tissue concentrations for all metals were significantly higher at all sites compared with the reference site. Fish tissues were significantly higher for all metals below mine sites compared with the reference site, but only Cd and Pb were higher in fish tissues in the furthest downstream reach in the Gold Creek Delta. Metals concentrations in benthic macroinvertebrate tissues and fish tissues were strongly correlated, suggesting a transfer of metals through a dietary pathway. The concentrations within sediments and biota were similar to those reported in other studies in which adverse effects to salmonids occurred. We observed histopathological changes in livers of bull trout, including inflammation, necrosis, and pleomorphism. Our study is consistent with other work in which sediment-driven exposure can transfer up the food chain and may cause adverse impacts to higher organisms.
Focal epithelial hyperplasia in Central and South American Indians and Ladinos

Abstract Eleven cases of focal epithelial hyperplasia are reported in addition to those reported by Archard, Heck, and Stanley.1 The total cases in these two reports number 40. All cases, with one possible exception (an Eskimo), have occurred in persons of American Indian ancestry. The disease occurs in North, Central, and South American Indians living under a variety of environmental conditions and in modern to primitive communities. All cases have been found in children less than 18 years of age.
Random sets technique for information fusion applied to estimation of brain functional images

A new mathematical technique for information fusion based on random sets, developed and described by Goodman, Mahler and Nguyen (The Mathematics of Data Fusion, Kluwer, 1997) can be useful for estimation of functional brian images. Many image estimation algorithms employ prior models that incorporate general knowledge about sizes, shapes and locations of brain regions. Recently, algorithms have been proposed using specific prior knowledge obtained from other imaging modalities (for example, Bowsher, et al., IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging, 1996). However, there is more relevant information than is presently used. A technique that permits use of additional prior information about activity levels would improve the quality of prior models, and hence, of the resulting image estimate. The use of random sets provides this capability because it allows seemingly non-statistical (or ambiguous) information such as that contained in inference rules to be represented and combined with observations in a single statistical model, corresponding to a global joint density. This paper illustrates the use of this approach by constructing an example global joint density function for brain functional activity from measurements of functional activity, anatomical information, clinical observations and inference rules. The estimation procedure is tested on a data phantom with Poisson noise.© (1999) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Contours of Continuity and Change: The Story of the Bonda Highlanders

Introduction Social History of Highland Orissa Subsistence Production The Demise of Domestic Community The Time Element The Parable of Corruption Pedagogy and Prescription Retrospect and Prospect
Raman behavior of bovine serum albumin

Abstract The resolved Raman spectra of crystallized bovine serum albumin molecule are presented for the first time. The Raman spectrum is found to vary extensively with the water content of the sample.
Sesquiterpene lactones from Carphochaete bigelovii

Abstract Five sesquiterpene lactones with C10-diester side-chains have been identified as major constituents of a leaf surface extract of Carphochaete bigelovii. The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods and are reported for the first time. Chemosystematic implications are discussed briefly.
Mutagenesis of the putative sterol-sensing domain of yeast Niemann Pick C–related protein reveals a primordial role in subcellular sphingolipid distribution

Lipid movement between organelles is a critical component of eukaryotic membrane homeostasis. Niemann Pick type C (NP-C) disease is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder typified by lysosomal accumulation of cholesterol and sphingolipids. Expression of yeast NP-C–related gene 1 (NCR1), the orthologue of the human NP-C gene 1 (NPC1) defective in the disease, in Chinese hamster ovary NPC1 mutant cells suppressed lipid accumulation. Deletion of NCR1, encoding a transmembrane glycoprotein predominantly residing in the vacuole of normal yeast, gave no phenotype. However, a dominant mutation in the putative sterol-sensing domain of Ncr1p conferred temperature and polyene antibiotic sensitivity without changes in sterol metabolism. Instead, the mutant cells were resistant to inhibitors of sphingolipid biosynthesis and super sensitive to sphingosine and C2-ceramide. Moreover, plasma membrane sphingolipids accumulated and redistributed to the vacuole and other subcellular membranes of the mutant cells. We propose that the primordial function of these proteins is to recycle sphingolipids and that defects in this process in higher eukaryotes secondarily result in cholesterol accumulation.
A Role for Nitric Oxide in the Development of the Ferret Retinogeniculate Projection

The ferret retinogeniculate projection segregates into eye-specific layers during the first postnatal week and into ON/OFF sublaminae, which receive inputs from either on-center or off-center retinal ganglion cells, during the third and fourth postnatal weeks. The restriction of retinogeniculate axon arbors into eye-specific layers appears to depend on action potential activity () but does not require activation of NMDA receptors (). The formation of ON/OFF sublaminae is also activity-dependent and is disrupted by in vivo blockade of NMDA receptors (). To investigate a possible mechanism whereby blockade of postsynaptic NMDA receptors in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) results in changes in the size and position of presynaptic axon arbors, we tested the role of the diffusible messenger nitric oxide (NO) in the development of the retinogeniculate pathway. We found previously that NO synthase (NOS) is transiently expressed in LGN cells during the refinement of retinogeniculate projections (). In this study, treatment with NG-nitro-L-arginine (L-NoArg), an arginine analog that inhibits NOS, during the third and fourth postnatal weeks resulted in an overall pattern of sublamination that was significantly reduced compared with normal and control animals. Single retinogeniculate axon arbors were located in the middle of eye-specific layers rather than toward the inner or outer half as in normal or control animals. The effect of NOS inhibition was not a consequence of the hypertensive effect of L-NoArg. In contrast to the effect of L-NoArg on the formation of ON/OFF sublaminae, treatment with L-NoArg during the first postnatal week did not disrupt the formation of eye-specific layers. Biochemical assays indicated significant inhibition of NOS during both treatment periods. These data suggest that NO acts together with NMDA receptors in activity-dependent refinement of connections during a specific phase of retinogeniculate development.
Localized and distributed creep along the southern San Andreas Fault

We investigate the spatial pattern of surface creep and off-fault deformation along the southern segment of the San Andreas Fault using a combination of multiple interferometric synthetic aperture radar viewing geometries and survey-mode GPS occupations of a dense array crossing the fault. Radar observations from Envisat during the period 2003-2010 were used to separate the pattern of horizontal and vertical motion, providing a high-resolution image of uplift and shallow creep along the fault trace. The data reveal pervasive shallow creep along the southernmost 50 km of the fault. Creep is localized on a well-defined fault trace only in the Mecca Hills and Durmid Hill areas, while elsewhere creep appears to be distributed over a 1-2 km wide zone surrounding the fault. The degree of strain localization is correlated with variations in the local fault strike. Using a two-dimensional boundary element model, we show that stresses resulting from slip on a curved fault can promote or inhibit inelastic failure within the fault zone in a pattern matching the observations. The occurrence of shallow, localized interseismic fault creep within mature fault zones may thus be partly controlled by the local fault geometry and normal stress, with implications for models of fault zone evolution, shallow coseismic slip deficit, and geologic estimates of long-term slip rates.
Baby Powder Use in Infant Skin Care Parental Knowledge and Determinants of Powder Usage

One hundred parents of infants aged 2 weeks to 6 months were surveyed at the time of routine well-child visits to assess parental knowledge about baby powder and to determine whether hospital policy of providing a free powder sample to newly delivered mothers was unwittingly promoting powder usage. Most parents (69%) reported regular baby powder use as part of routine infant skin care. Powder-users were significantly more likely than nonusers to attribute to baby powder the ability to kill bacteria and yeast and to prevent diaper rash (p less than 0.01). Even among nonusers, fewer than half were aware that aspiration/ingestion of baby powder was a potential health hazard. Almost all parents reported receiving a free sample of baby powder while in the hospital as part of a complimentary gift pack provided by the manufacturers. Most powder-users were currently using a brand they had received as a sample, and eight parents cited the receipt of a sample as the major determinant for selecting a particular brand of powder. The short- and long-term effects of distributing sample packs to newly delivered parents deserve further study.
An analysis of 45Ca fluxes in the rabbit lens

The uptake of 45Ca by the rabbit lens reached equilibrium within 20 hr; the steady state lens/medium ratio was 0.08. This ratio is similar to that found for the lens/medium distribution of extracellular markers. Efflux of 45Ca from the lens was rapid and insensitive to iodoacetate. Mathematical analysis of 45Ca efflux curves revealed that calcium efflux from the lens could be described solely upon the basis of passive movement from the extracellular space. It is concluded that the exchangeable calcium in the normal rabbit lens is predominantly located in the extracellular space.
Optical properties of nonlinear optical polymers: a method for calculation

Methods for calculating the optical properties as a function of wavelength for second-order nonlinear optical polymers are presented. By combining the optical properties of the individual components, that is, those of the polymer and those of the chromophore, one can determine the real and the imaginary parts of the index of refraction and the second hyperpolarizability as a function of wavelength for a composite polymer, for either a guest–host or a side-chain system. These properties are important for characterizing and applying nonlinear optical polymers to devices. The methods allow for an accuracy in index of 3%, if the wavelength range includes the main absorption band (with absorption maximum at λmax) of the chromophore, and of 0.2% for wavelengths 400 nm and more to the long-wavelength side of λmax. In addition, if the index of the composite polymer is known at one specific wavelength on the long-wavelength side of λmax, the dispersion in the index in this wavelength range can be predicted to within 0.1%.
Evaluation of Resistance of Four Strains of Commercial Laying Hens to Experimental Infection with Salmonella enteritidis Phage Type Eight

Four different strains of White Leghorn hens were orally infected with 1 x 10(8) cfu of Salmonella enteritidis phage Type 8 per bird. The birds were monitored for 10 wk postinfection for colonization of internal organs, fecal shedding of S. enteritidis, and the production of S. enteritidis-contaminated eggs. There was no difference among the four hen strains in regards to the probability of S. enteritidis isolation from liver and spleen, ovary, and cecal tissue within the first 30 d postinfection. However, during the first 14 d postinfection, S. enteritidis organisms were isolated in significantly higher rates from eggs and fecal samples of Strain A than from samples obtained from the other three hen strains. Results suggest that there may be inherent differences between strains of laying hens with regard to their response to infection with S. enteritidis.
CS Ed week showcase at UNC Charlotte

UNC Charlotte celebrated CS Ed Week this year with a showcase to over 100 computing students and teachers from three local high schools. The program started with a panel on what it's like to be a Computer Science college student. Next, high schoolers toured our labs and got excited about our head-mounted virtual reality displays, student-created games, and visualizations. During lunch we played Snag'em and Table Tilt, two games we built to promote social networking and team building.
Measuring Personal Chemical Exposures Through Biomonitoring: The Experiences of Research Participants

Using a technique called human biomonitoring, scientists can now measure hundreds of environmental chemicals and/or their metabolites in human body fluids and tissues. In this article, I examine the experiences of 28 women who participated in two different types of biomonitoring studies and received personal exposure results. I show that although the women's experiences of biomonitoring differed and were shaped by the contexts in which biomonitoring occurred, there were also remarkable similarities across contexts. Most notably, through the receipt of personal biomonitoring data, all of the women came to view themselves as partially, if not entirely, responsible for their chemical exposures (past, present, and future). These are novel findings, which suggest that as scientists increasingly measure individuals' exposures to environmental chemicals found in common consumer products and food, the distinctions between environmental and lifestyle risks are being blurred; that is, environmental risks are increasingly experienced as lifestyle risks.
Following the Behavior of the Flagellar Rotary Motor Near Zero Load.

At room temperature at stall, the flagellar motor of the bacterium Escherichia coli exerts a torque of ~1,300 pN nm. At zero external load, it spins ~330 Hz. A robust method for studying the motor near zero load is reviewed here.
Decadal-scale changes in abundance of non-scleractinian invertebrates on a Caribbean coral reef

article i nfo The benthic community structure of the shallow reefs of St. John, US Virgin Islands, was studied from 1992 to 2007 to test the hypotheses that the abundances of non-scleractinian invertebrates have changed, and further, that the changes are associated with variation in the percentage cover of scleractinian coral and macroalgae. The study utilized photoquadrats (0.25 m 2 ) from fringing reefs (7-9 m depth) characterized by igneous
A study of the air-sea interactions and associated Hurricane Gordon in the Gulf of Mexico

Under the NASA/FAR Program, a study has been established to investigate air-sea interactions associated with the formation and development of Hurricane Gordon in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Gordon first began as a weak disturbance off the eastern shore of the Yucatan Peninsula on September 10th, 2000. The area of disturbed weather moved onshore then offshore again on the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. The convection developed a surface low and was named Tropical depression number 11. It then strengthened, becoming a named tropical storm, Gordon, on September 15th and then a minimal hurricane on September 16th as it neared the Florida Panhandle. It weakened to tropical storm status late on September 17th, a few hours before it made landfall. NOAA buoy data from the National Data Buoy Center are used in this study. Remote Sensing GOES and AVHRR satellite data from NOAA are used as well. These data were used in the calculation of heat, momentum, and moisture fluxes. The study indicated that (a) average sea-surface temperatures over the Gulf of Mexico were about 29/spl deg/C, and (b) the air-sea inter phase was a maximum 3-4 days before the storm developed. We further investigate to development of predictive models including (i) a regression model, and (ii) a Hurricane Predictive Index, for forecasting the formation and development of Hurricane Gordon that occurred during September 11-20, 2000.
Domain decomposition for the fuzzy modeling of dynamic systems with periodic forced oscillations

This paper extends a product-space clustering algorithm for the fuzzy modeling of a chaotic regime of the periodically perturbed pendulum. Domain decomposition of the state space reduces the computational complexity of the algorithm and creates a temporal ordering of fuzzy rules. A functional decomposition of these rules becomes the model of an indirect adaptive fuzzy controller. The controller successfully trains the chaotic pendulum to follow a periodic reference trajectory.
Report of the Editor of Perspectives on Politics , 2003–2004

Perspectives on Politics opened for business on June 1, 2002, and has published two complete volumes of four issues each. My first full report as editor covered submissions and, where possible, their disposition from June 1, 2002, through July 31, 2003. This report covers the succeeding year, ending on July 31, 2004.
Gastrointestinal Sarcoidosis and Gastric Melanosis (Video)

Abstract Background Sarcoidosis is a multisystem non-caseating granulomatous disease, which commonly affects the skin, joints, heart, and nervous system. Gastrointestinal sarcoidosis is rare. Likewise, only a few cases of gastric melanosis and pseudomelanosis have been reported. Patient and methods In this video manuscript, the authors demonstrate endoscopic and pathological findings of gastrointestinal sarcoidosis and gastric melanosis in a 53-year-old African American woman with known systemic sarcoidosis who presented with recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding. Conclusions Internists and gastroenterologists need to be aware of potential gastrointestinal involvement in patients with sarcoidosis. Gastric melanosis is very rare and has unknown clinical significance or implications.
Integrating planning and acting in a case-based framework

This paper presents an outline of a theory of agency that seeks to integrate ongoing understanding, planning and activity into a single model of representation and processing. Our model of agency rises out of three basic pieces of work: Schank's structural model of memory organization (Schank, 1982), Hammond's work in case-based planning and dependency directed repair (Hammond, 1989d), and Martin's work in Direct Memory Access Parsing (Martin 1990). We see this paper as a first step in the production of a memory-based theory of agency: the active pursuit of goals in the face of a changing environment, that can exist within the computational constraints of a computer model.
Requirement for the NF-κB Family Member RelA in the Development of Secondary Lymphoid Organs

The transcription factor nuclear factor (NF)-κB has been suggested to be a key mediator of the development of lymph nodes and Peyer's patches. However, targeted deletion of NF-κB/ Rel family members has not yet corroborated such a function. Here we report that when mice lacking the RelA subunit of NF-κB are brought to term by breeding onto a tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR)1-deficient background, the mice that are born lack lymph nodes, Peyer's patches, and an organized splenic microarchitecture, and have a profound defect in T cell–dependent antigen responses. Analyses of TNFR1/RelA-deficient embryonic tissues and of radiation chimeras suggest that the dependence on RelA is manifest not in hematopoietic cells but rather in radioresistant stromal cells needed for the development of secondary lymphoid organs.
Springtime high surface ozone events over the western United States: Quantifying the role of stratospheric intrusions

[1] The published literature debates the extent to which naturally occurring stratospheric ozone intrusions reach the surface and contribute to exceedances of the U.S. National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone (75 ppbv implemented in 2008). Analysis of ozonesondes, lidar, and surface measurements over the western U.S. from April to June 2010 show that a global high-resolution (∼50 × 50 km2) chemistry-climate model (GFDL AM3) captures the observed layered features and sharp ozone gradients of deep stratospheric intrusions, representing a major improvement over previous chemical transport models. Thirteen intrusions enhanced total daily maximum 8-h average (MDA8) ozone to ∼70–86 ppbv at surface sites. With a stratospheric ozone tracer defined relative to a dynamically varying tropopause, we find that stratospheric intrusions can episodically increase surface MDA8 ozone by 20–40 ppbv (all model estimates are bias corrected), including on days when observed ozone exceeds the NAAQS threshold. These stratospheric intrusions elevated background ozone concentrations (estimated by turning off North American anthropogenic emissions in the model) to MDA8 values of 60–75 ppbv. At high-elevation western U.S. sites, the 25th–75th percentile of the stratospheric contribution is 15–25 ppbv when observed MDA8 ozone is 60–70 ppbv, and increases to ∼17–40 ppbv for the 70–85 ppbv range. These estimates, up to 2–3 times greater than previously reported, indicate a major role for stratospheric intrusions in contributing to springtime high-O3events over the high-altitude western U.S., posing a challenge for staying below the ozone NAAQS threshold, particularly if a value in the 60–70 ppbv range were to be adopted.
Comparisons of Juvenile Hormone Hemolymph and Octopamine Brain Titers in Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Selected for High and Low Pollen Hoarding

We measured circulating levels of juvenile hormone III (JH) and brain region levels of dopamine, serotonin, and octopamine in honey bees, Apis mellifera L., from artificially selected high and low pollen-hoarding strains that show differences in their rate of behavioral development. One-day-old bees from the high pollen-hoarding strain had significantly higher JH titers than 1-d-old bees from a low pollen-hoarding strain. Conversely, there were no differences in JH levels in 12-d-old preforager bees from the high and low strains. Brain region levels of all three amines increased with age, but there were no differences between high and low pollen-hoarding bees in any of the three amines in any region of the brain. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that endocrine events occurring early in adulthood influence honey bee behavioral development.
Blindness and children: Executive functions: memory, attention, and cognitive strategies

We consider now a set of interrelated cognitive processes that includes memory, attention, and cognitive strategies. These “executive functions” have not received much direct research attention in the visual impairment literature, particularly that with infants and children. However, many studies, some of which we have already mentioned in previous sections, bear at least indirectly on these issues. Infancy Several lines of innovative research with sighted infants have revealed that the neonate's attention is “captured” by certain perceptual events, and that the neonate has little if any volitional choice about which stimuli are actually attended. Initially involuntary, attention gradually comes under a degree of voluntary control. For example, early eye fixations are entirely determined by stimulus features but become largely volitional during the first year. Among the visual events that are particularly attention-commanding are moving stimuli, facelike stimuli, and areas within the visual field that contain a moderate degree of complexity. Moving stimuli are especially effective in eliciting visual attention. Complexity is an intriguing dimension of visual attention: the evidence supports the notion that as the infant's visual information-processing capacities develop, the infant prefers to look at progressively more complex stimulus arrays. The other sensory modalities have been far less completely studied, and the existence of analogs to these visual-developmental principles in other modalities is for the most part a hypothetical question at present. One of the most interesting lines of recent research in early perceptual and cognitive development has been in the area of memory. The use of ingenious research methods has revealed that by at least four months, infants begin to recognize and remember perceptual stimuli that they have encountered before.
Setting up Standards for Teaching Horseback Riding

(1946). Setting up Standards for Teaching Horseback Riding. The Journal of Health and Physical Education: Vol. 17, No. 9, pp. 527-574.
Identification and classification of geographically isolated wetlands in North Alabama using geographic object based image analysis (GeOBIA)

Due to recent Supreme Court rulings, there has been an increased interest in the isolated wetlands of the United States. These types of wetlands serve vital ecological roles such as water quality r...
Identity tensions among teachers as online professional development participants and novice bloggers

More and more teachers are turning to reading blogs in order to find web resources for education, and using blogs as pedagogical tools to encourage their students to write for a "real" audience (Martindale & Wiley, 2005; Williams & Jacobs, 2004). Yet research on teachers-as-bloggers is relatively rare. While a pioneering study by Luehmann (2008) examined the case of a highly competent and prolific teacher blogger, this study takes on a group of teachers as novice bloggers and uses Gee's identity theory (2001), to address the questions of what factors affect teachers' attitudes toward blogging, experiences with creating blogs, and meanings they make out of blogging as a social, educational, professional, and personal activity.
Glaucoma: a disease of early cellular senescence.

Coexistent with the age-related increase in the prevalence of glaucoma is the age-related decrease in anterior segment outflow facility. That is, the resistance to fluid flow across the trabecular meshwork (TM) increases with age in a linear fashion, and begins at a fairly young age. 11 This decreased outflow facility is largely responsible for the elevated IOP that is encountered in Western populations with increasing age. Markers of cellular senescence are found in the TM of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) to a much greater degree than in age-matched controls. It is thought that aging of these cells leads to their decreased function and therefore a consequent decreased outflow facility. 12 It is hypothesized that aging failure of the normal, regulatory proteolytic systems in the TM may be responsible for the observed pathophysiological alterations of the outflow pathway that may contribute to glaucoma. 13 Along with the decreased function of the outflow apparatus with age is a decreased population of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the retina. The RGC is the pivotal cell in the retina that electrically couples the retina with the brain; it is the cell that is primarily damaged by glaucoma. Pathological studies have shown a steady attrition of RGCs with normal aging, starting at a young age, in the amount of approximately 5000 cells per year. 14 Given that the average RGC population is approximately 1 million in the human eye, and that an individual can lose approximately half of that population before significant visual dysfunction occurs, every person would normally develop glaucoma by the age of 100! Glaucomatous loss of RGCs can be viewed as a premature aging effect, causing the typical and unique optic neuropathy that clinicians diagnose as glaucoma, and the consequent characteristic patterns of visual field loss. Clinical studies have also shown a decrease with age in the thickness of the nerve fiber layer in normal individuals. 15 The nerve fiber layer carries the axons of the RGCs to the optic nerve, where they exit the laminar cribrosa and connect to their targets in the central nervous system. Biomechanical factors within the optic nerve head have been hypothesized to play a central role in RGC physiology, and contribute to the optic neuropathy of aging and glaucoma. 16 The posterior sclera of old monkeys is significantly stiffer than that of younger individuals and leads to lower strains with the higher stresses associated with elevated levels of IOP. This agerelated stiffening of the sclera significantly influences the biomechanical properties of the optic nerve head and may contribute to age-related susceptibility to glaucomatous optic nerve damage. 17 Similar changes occur in humans, which may be an important underpinning of the age relationship with glaucoma. 18
India’s Export Horticulture Markets in Multispeed World Economies: Trends of Exports, Prices, Elasticities and Policies

We are living in multispeed world economies. The globe has initiated measures to support horticulture industry. India is the fruit and vegetable basket of the world. The vast production base offers India tremendous opportunities for exports. During 2011-12, India exported vegetable and fruits worth Rs. 4801.29 crores. The main objective of the study is to estimate exports, price trends, elasticity’s and identifies major destinations for India’s fruits, vegetables and flowers. The study period is 1990-91 to 2012-13. The sample size is the time series data of 23 years. The methodology adopted is compound annual growth rates and Coefficient variation of instability index. India is exporting these commodities to130 countries. The study found that fruits, vegetables, flowers quantity export growth rates positive and high except walnut and mushrooms. Whereas all commodities price growth rates in the export destinations were positive and high. The study found that all elasticity’s of fruits, vegetables and flowers are elastic except walnut and mushrooms (inelastic). Among fruits, banana has high export elasticity (4.38%) and among vegetables, green chilies have high (3.98%). Over 65-90% fruits and 50 to 65% vegetables of India’s exports in fresh products go to West Asia and East European markets. Exports of Gherkins Original Research Article Dastagiri; BJEMT, 5(4): 428-441, 2015; Article no.BJEMT.2015.036 429 (53%), Mushrooms (94%) going to the USA, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Israel and Russia. The major destinations for India’s Rose are Netherland, Ethiopia and UAE and for walnut are Nepal, UK and France (40%). The study strongly advocates that India should design multispeed strategies to boost horticultural exports, foreign earnings and develop modern export supply chains.
The Black South and White Appalachia

Observers seemed to be depicting slave conditions in the antebellum South. One minister found the people "the worst housed, worst fed, most ignorant, most immoral" of any he had encountered. Others stressed the presence of homes that were mere hovels, of windowless log cabins with only one or two rooms. They told of a religious people, but one who believed in spells and witchcraft. Some writers termed the food deplorable and the speech patterns difficult to understand. Lazy, shiftless men and hard-working women inhabited this world. Their melancholy folk songs with origins across the ocean helped to lighten the burdens of everyday life and served as an emotional outlet. It was a closed, "peculiar" society.' Yet these words were not written about blacks in slavery. Instead, these observers were describing Appalachian whites in the half-century following the end of Reconstruction. The fact that an important segment of the population viewed the two societies in a similar manner would have wideranging effects on both southern blacks and mountain whites. It would eventually result in the formation of an image that allowed many latenineteenth-century reformers to turn their backs on the ex-slaves, as they told themselves that Appalachia needed aid as well. To them, mountain society differed from black society in only one important respect -it was white. That, however, was the crucial difference. From 1870 to 1905 feuds stimulated interest in the Appalachian area. Family-oriented violence focused attention on the complex interplay of law and lawlessness, romance and sordidness, honor and deceit, and became eagerly read front-page copy. The region was "discovered" for the outside world by literary figures; then sociologists, folklorists, geographers, historians,
Popular Science as a Means of Emotional Engagement with the Scientific Community

This article explores a debate (and its origins) which is taking place around the issue of science popularization. Although the participants are all describing popularization in various ways, the heart is in what makes a good popularization. The notion of this has changed from the 19th century view, which called for a simple and easy-to-understand text, to a more modern view, which suggests a good popularization engages the reader emotionally. This discussion might also be seen in a context of a more profound debate of science experts versus general public and what science and scientific knowledge mean to each group. The exploration of this relationship suggests a shift in the role lay public plays in science.
Reflections on customer-based brand equity: perspectives, progress, and priorities

“Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity,” published in the Journal of Marketing in 1993, was one of the early thought pieces and review papers on branding in the field. Written to be a comprehensive bridge between the theory and practice of branding, it has received a large number of citations and several awards through the years. Here, I look back at that article and provide some perspective as to how it was developed, highlighting some of its main contributions. I also outline some of my subsequent related branding research, as well as that of others. Finally, I consider some future research priorities in branding, putting emphasis on the online and digital developments that have occurred since the publication of the article.
Online Group Work Design: Processes, Complexities, and Intricacies

This paper describes the challenges of designing and implementing online group work. We are responsible for a seven-and-a-half week’s online literacy and bi-literacy graduate course in a Bilingual/English as a Second Language (BLE/ESL) Master of Arts program. One of the tasks includes online literacy circle exchanges where students are encouraged to create discourse as joint dialogues and make substantive and meaningful contributions to topics. We offer three figures that visualize types of interactions and exchanges representing potential behavioristic, social interdependence, and constructivism tendencies. We discuss both practical and theoretical concerns to elicit students’ engagement in a learning process, not just students’ interactions in completing a task. Online collaborative group work is discussed and developed through critical aspects of salient literature providing potential for innovative implementation and further contemplation within the profession and online communities of learners.
Internal Factors Causing and Propagating Inflation: I

Many different factors and policies have been made responsible for inflation. Let me mention a few. Some say aggregate demand rising faster than aggregate supply ‘pulls up’ prices and wages. The rise in demand in turn may be due to a government deficit (government inflation) or to an expansion of bank credit for private investment (credit expansion) or rising demand from abroad (imported inflation) or an increase in gold production (gold inflation). Others say prices are being ‘pushed up’ by wage increases forced upon the economy by labour unions under threat of strike ; or costs may be raised by business monopolies (administered-price inflation). To these positive factors can be added negative ones — for example, the failure of over-all output to grow, or of savings to stay on their ‘normal’ level — factors for which, in turn, different causes can be found. It is not difficult to think of conditions under which one or the other of these hypotheses would be valid, or to provide actual examples of several of them from recent economic history.
Prevalence of in-hospital nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug exposure in patients with a primary diagnosis of heart failure.

AbstarctAim To determine the prevalence of in-hospital non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) exposure and associated outcomes in patients admitted with a primary diagnosis of heart failure. Methods: We performed a propensity-matched cohort analysis of patients admitted to Houston Methodist Hospital System with a primary diagnosis of heart failure according to the International Classification of Diseases–9–Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) from January 1st 2011 to December 31st 2014. Results Of the 9742 patients admitted with a primary diagnosis of heart failure, 384 patients (3.9%) were exposed to NSAID. After applying propensity scores we matched 305 NSAID exposed with 915 unexposed patients. Patients with in-hospital NSAID exposure had a longer length of stay (7.0 ± 8.8 days vs 6.1 ± 8.5; p = 0.003) and increased prevalence of worsening renal function (34.4% vs 27.9%; p = 0.030). There were not statically significant differences in in-hospital mortality rate or 30-day all cause readmission rate. Conclusion Exposure to NSAID in patients admitted with a primary diagnosis of heart failure was low but was associated with adverse outcomes including longer length of stay and higher prevalence or worsening renal function. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Laws, Stories and Beyond: A Comparison of Nine Influential Titles Using a Reconstructed Analytical Space

By analyzing nine influential titles in comparative politics, namely Polanyi’s The Great Transformation, Ertman’s Birth of the Leviathan, Gellner’s Nations and Nationalism, Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, Huntington’s Political Order in Changing Societies, Schumpeter’s Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, Dennett’s Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, King et al.’s Designing Social Inquiry, and Geertz’s The Interpretation of Cultures, this essay proposes a new method of analysis in a reconstructed theoretical space. I first categorize the nine titles into two provisional groups – “law-finders” and “storytellers.” This is done by examining the works along three analytical dimensions – structure-agency, dynamism-stationarity and epistemologically, positivism-interpretivism. Once recast on this new space, the nine titles reveal five subtle, surprising and potentially illuminating patterns that have been missing from the conventional law-story distinction. Some of these patterns have never been explicitly addressed in the relevant comparative politics or political theory literature and therefore deserve further inquiry.
Chapter 5 Retrovirus-Mediated Insertional Mutagenesis in Zebrafish

Publisher Summary There are several methods employed to insert DNA into the zebrafish genome, including DNA microinjection, or microinjection aided by retroviral integrases or a transposable element's transposase. However, the most efficient way to make a large number of independent insertions in the zebrafish genome is to use a pseudotyped retrovirus. When sufficiently high titer virus is used, a very high proportion of the germline of injected fish can be infected. Because more than one virus can infect a single cell, some germ cells contain multiple insertions, and thus offspring can be born with two, three, or even more independently segregating insertions. This remarkable transgenesis rate has made it possible to conduct a pilot insertional mutagenesis screen and should allow for large-scale screens capable of isolating hundreds of insertional mutants. This chapter illustrates the conduction of pilot screen, describes the phenotypes of the mutants, and describes the cloning of affected genes and the criteria used to establish that the correct genes had been cloned.
Pharmacological treatment of depression in geriatric chronic pain patients: a biopsychosocial approach integrating functional restoration.

ABSTRACTIntroduction: A recent literature review concluded that the comorbidity of chronic pain and depression in adults is approximately 50%-65%. Physical and cognitive declines, concurrent multiple health conditions, and complex medication regimens add to the unique and complex challenges of effectively treating pain in particularly geriatric populations. Interdisciplinary medical intervention and monitoring for psychiatric sequelae, such as depression, cognitive change, and synergistic physical side effects are necessary.Areas covered: This review covers an extensive multi-database wide search of the pharmacotherapy of pain and depression in older adults, including biopsychosocial approaches. One of these, on which this review focuses, is Functional Restoration, an interdisciplinary application of quantified physical rehabilitation, case management, and cognitive behavioral and educational therapies to achieve improved well- being and better physical functioning. The biopsychosocial model incorporates ...
A Component Analysis of Positive Practice Over-Correction: An Examination of Re-Educative Effects

The purpose of the present study was to examine two components of positive practice overcorrection in order to determine which, if either, is re-educative in terms of increasing positive behavior which is practiced. The two components were a command to practice the desired behavior and manual guidance in the desired behavior. A total of 32 preschool children were assigned to one of four groups: command, contingent manual guidance, noncontingent manual guidance, and a no-treatment control group. During pretreatment, all subjects were allowed to play with any of four toys. During treatment, children in the command group received commands to play with a designated toy whenever off-task behavior with the toy occurred. Subjects in the contingent manual guidance group were guided in appropriate toy play whenever off-task behavior with the designated toy occurred. Each subject in the noncontingent manual guidance group was yoked to a child in the contingent manual guidance group and received the treatment procedure at the same points in time and for the same durations as in the contingent application group. The control group simply was allowed to play with the toys as in baseline. A subsequent posttreatment condition was identical to the pretreatment condition. The results indicated an increase in on-task behavior during the treatment phase for the command and both manual guidance conditions. The contingent application of manual guidance resulted in a higher level of on-task behavior during treatment than the noncontingent application of manual guidance. Only the command condition was associated with more on-task behavior during posttreatment than pretreatment, suggesting that this component of overcorrection may be re-educative.
Applications of Supernovae to Other Areas of Astrophysics and Physics

In this chapter addresses various ways in which the study of supernovae informs other areas of physics and astrophysics. Principal among these is the determination of the extragalactic distance scale and the dramatic discovery of the acceleration of the Universe with the implication of a pervading dark energy. Supernovae also aid in the characterization of cosmic flows, peculiar velocities, and anisotropy related to the cosmic web. Constraints on cosmic opacity can, in principle, limit physics beyond the standard model. Observations of extinction and light echos provide information on the nature and distribution of dust in external galaxies. Future facilities should be able to detect the first supernovae in the Universe and hence give new information on the end of the cosmic dark ages, and on the first stars and their import for the ionization and chemical enrichment of galaxies and the intergalactic medium. Weak lensing by inhomogeneities in the cosmic matter distribution will contribute to the observed luminosity dispersion of supernovae. Studies of lensed supernovae probe the distribution of dark matter in clusters of galaxies. High-statistics observations of the time evolution of the energy spectra of each of the neutrino flavors from a core-collapse event would illuminate core-collapse physics, constrain the equation of state of dense matter, and provide information on neutrino properties and interactions. Supernova observations also might provide constraints on the constancy of the fundamental constants and even on extra dimensions.
Smoking cessation and outcome after ischemic stroke or TIA.

Objective: To assess whether smoking cessation after an ischemic stroke or TIA improves outcomes compared to continued smoking. Methods: We conducted a prospective observational cohort study of 3,876 nondiabetic men and women enrolled in the Insulin Resistance Intervention After Stroke (IRIS) trial who were randomized to pioglitazone or placebo within 180 days of a qualifying stroke or TIA and followed up for a median of 4.8 years. A tobacco use history was obtained at baseline and updated during annual interviews. The primary outcome, which was not prespecified in the IRIS protocol, was recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), or death. Cox regression models were used to assess the differences in stroke, MI, and death after 4.8 years, with correction for adjustment variables prespecified in the IRIS trial: age, sex, stroke (vs TIA) as index event, history of stroke, history of hypertension, history of coronary artery disease, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures. Results: At the time of their index event, 1,072 (28%) patients were current smokers. By the time of randomization, 450 (42%) patients had quit smoking. Among quitters, the 5-year risk of stroke, MI, or death was 15.7% compared to 22.6% for patients who continued to smoke (adjusted hazard ratio 0.66, 95% confidence interval 0.48–0.90). Conclusion: Cessation of cigarette smoking after an ischemic stroke or TIA was associated with significant health benefits over 4.8 years in the IRIS trial cohort.
Economic Entomology in the 21st Century, as Seen from a Bibliometric Analysis of Its Leading Journal, 2000–2015. Part III: Diptera, Blattodea, Acari, Hymenoptera, Thysanoptera, and Psocoptera, with Implications Drawn from all Three Parts for Science Librarians Seeking to Serve their Students

In Part III of our study of papers published in the Journal of Economic Entomology, 2000–2015, we focused on six orders of arthropods: Diptera, Blattodea, Acari, Hymenoptera, Thysanoptera, and Psoc...