cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The water, food, energy and climate nexus : challenges and an agenda for action

The water, food, energy and climate nexus : challenges and an agenda for action , The water, food, energy and climate nexus : challenges and an agenda for action , کتابخانه مرکزی دانشگاه علوم پزشکی تهران
A phase II trial of an oral CDK 4/6 inhibitor, PD0332991, in advanced breast cancer.

519 Background: The G1/S checkpoint of the cell cycle is frequently dysregulated in breast cancer (BC). Initial efficacy of PD0332991, a potent oral inhibitor of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) 4/6...
Small non-coding RNA and cancer

The ENCODE project has reported that at least 80% of the human genome is biologically active, yet only a small part of human DNA encodes for protein. The massive amount of RNA transcribed but not translated into protein can be classified as housekeeping RNA (such as rRNA, tRNA) and regulatory RNA (such as miRNA, piRNA, lncRNA). Small non-coding RNAs, in particular, have been the focus of many studies in the last 20 years and their fundamental role in many human diseases is currently well established. Inter alia, their role in cancer development and progression, as well as in drug resistance, is being increasingly investigated. In this review, focusing our attention on recent research results, we provide an overview of the four large classes of small non-coding RNAs, namely, miRNAs, piRNAs, snoRNA and the new class of tRNA-derived fragments, highlighting their fundamental role in cancer and their potential as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.
Out of many, one: challenges in teaching multilingual Kenyan primary students in English

Using a large-scale, standardised English language proficiency test (TOEFL® PrimaryTM), this study examined Kenyan primary school students’ English reading and listening proficiency and explored ch...
Multi-scale characterization of the effect of wax on intermolecular interactions in asphalt binder

Abstract This paper investigates the effect of paraffinic wax (commonly found in bio-oils produced from bio-mass) on the properties of asphalt binder as a commonly used additive in warm mix asphalt technologies. A comprehensive series of laboratory experiments combined with computational analysis was performed on an asphalt binder doped with four different percentages (1%, 3%, 5%, and 10%) of paraffin wax. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to study the effect of wax on physical properties of asphalt binder. Furthermore, rheological characteristics and fracture energy of each wax-doped specimen at sub-zero temperatures was measured to study the effect of wax crystallization on asphalt binder properties. To study intermolecular interactions, molecular dynamics simulation was performed on the wax-asphaltene assembly to study molecular conformation and packing of asphaltene molecules in the presence of wax. The results of molecular simulations provided insights into underlying intermolecular interactions that control rheological behavior. This was further reflected in a reduction of self-association of asphaltene molecules; as the wax concentration increased, the average size of asphaltene aggregates reduced. However, the number of clusters of asphaltene increased as wax concentration increased from 1% to 10% in asphaltene matrix. Accordingly, simulations results combined with laboratory characterization contributed to the understanding of the effects of different concentrations of paraffin wax on asphalt rheological properties.
Daniel Leonard and the Modern British Empire

In 1775 Adams engaged in polemical combat with Daniel Leonard , Massachusettensis, who defended Parliament’s claims. For Leonard, subordination of the colonists to Parliament was a fact of political life, a fundamental element of any effective government This debate raised the issue of what constituted the British Empire, and questioned whether there really was such a constitutional entity. Adams responded with the Novanglus essays, denying the existence of a British Empire. These two sets of essays are the best expositions of the conflicting positions on the constitutional issues involved in the Revolution.
The intracellular ratio of cysteine and cystine in various tissues

1. The cysteine-cystine ratio was measured in rat kidney cortex, diaphragm, jejunum, liver and brain. 2. This ratio was determined by incubating these tissues in buffer containing [(35)S]cystine and then homogenizing the tissue in a buffered solution of N-ethylmaleimide. The products of this reaction were separated by high-voltage electrophoresis and the radioactivity in the cystine and 2-(l-2'-amino-2'-carboxyethylthio)-N-ethylsuccinimide regions was determined. 3. In these tissues cyst(e)ine was mainly present in the reduced form. 4. After incubation of [(35)S]cystine with rat jejunal segments it was found that 36% of the cystine in the medium has been reduced. 5. Anaerobiosis, Na(+)-free media, glucose and high concentrations of cystine and lysine were found not to affect significantly the cysteine-cystine ratio in rat kidney-cortex slices.
Physiological Correlates of Habituation in Stentor Coerelius

Habituation in contractile protozoa, and Stentor in particular, is a behavioral modification which has been known since the end of the nineteenth century. In his well-known book, The Behavior of the Lower Organisms, H. S. Jennings summarized in 1906 the results of his earlier studies on Stentor and included a description of a phenomenon he called “acclimitization”. Jennings noted that individual Stentor generally contracted in response to the first of a series of mechanical stimuli delivered by a hand-held glass needle, but that subsequent stimuli presented with rather short interstimulus intervals became progressively less effective in eliciting contractions. It is this progressive decrement in response probability during the course of iterated stimuli of constant amplitude the Jennings called “acclimitization” and I refer to as habituation.
Impacts of wintering redhead ducks (Aythya americana) on seagrasses in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Abstract While it has been well established that waterfowl can sometimes control the distribution and abundance of seagrasses, relatively little is known about their effects in the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM). Seagrass meadows provide critical habitat for commercially important finfish and shellfish and as winter waters continue to warm, the nGOM will likely become increasingly appealing for wintering waterfowl. We measured the impact of redhead duck ( Aythya americana ) foraging on mixed shoalgrass (Halodule wrightii) and widgeon grass ( Ruppia maritima ) beds using caging experiments (1.5 × 1.5 m) at three locations in the nGOM. Time-lapse photography provided estimates of the abundance and feeding activities of the birds. Redhead ducks actively and regularly fed in all experimental areas; however, flock sizes were significantly smaller than previously recorded in Texas and south Louisiana. In general, there was little evidence of grazing effects on R maritima biomass . H. wrightii biomass followed expected seasonal patterns in both grazed and ungrazed treatments, and while both grazed and ungrazed biomass increased over the two years of the study, greater biomass increases occurred in ungrazed treatments. Similar to conclusions from previously conducted studies, we found no evidence that waterfowl were overexploiting their seagrass food resources.
Vitamin B12 Added as a Fortificant to Flour Retains High Bioavailability when Baked in Bread.

Abstract Vitamin B12 deficiency and depletion are common world-wide, particularly in populations that consume low amounts of animal source foods. WHO and the Food Fortification Initiative recommend that wheat flour be fortified with vitamin B12 in regions where intake of B12 is low. The purpose of this pilot study in five participants was to determine if fortification of flour with B12 produced a bread product with intact B12 still present and to determine if healthy elderly absorb sufficient B12 from bread fortified in this manner. High-purity crystalline 14C-B12 was dissolved in water and added to flour (2 µg B12/100 g flour) in a bread maker and made into rolls (average 1.17 kBq (31.5 nCi) 14C-B12 in a total of 0.8 µg B12 per roll). Excess 14C first appeared in plasma 4 h after ingestion of the 14C fortified bread and plasma levels returned almost to background by 72 h. Measurement of 14C in plasma verified that the dose was absorbed into the systemic circulation. The cumulative % dose recovered in urine was 4.8–37.0% (mean = 20.1%). Most of the 14C label in the stool appeared by day 4, and the cumulative % dose recovered in stool was 24.5–43.0% (mean = 31.8%). Bioavailability among the 5 participants, calculated by subtracting the sum of urinary and fecal 14C excretion from the administered dose, was 28.4–63.7% (mean = 48.0%). This study showed that when B12 is added as a fortificant to flour it survives the fermentation and baking processes, and retains ∼50% bioavailability when fed in small doses to healthy subjects. The Recommended Dietary Allowance of B12 for adults is 2.4 µg/d. This recommendation assumes that usual bioavailability of low doses of the vitamin in the crystalline form is 60%, while for the same amount in foods such as meat and fish it is 50%. Our pilot study shows that B12 added to bread as a fortificant in flour was absorbed as well as it is from endogenous food sources such as meat and fish.
Comoviruses: Transmission, Epidemiology, and Control

Most comoviruses have been shown to be transmitted efficiently by leaf-feeding beetles in the families Chrysomelidae, Coccinellidae, Curculionidae, or Meloidae. Table I lists the comoviruses, with acronyms used in this chapter, and the beetle species that have been shown to transmit them. Beetle transmission of glycine mosaic virus (GMV), pea mild mosaic virus (PMiMV), and ullucus virus C (UVC) has not been demonstrated. Comoviruses can be acquired or transmitted by beetles immediately upon initiation of feeding, although higher frequencies of transmission occur with prolonged feeding. It was once thought that virus transmission by beetles is a simple mechanical process involving contamination of the mouthparts of the beetle (Smith, 1965). More recent evidence, however, indicates a complex type of interaction between plant viruses and their beetle vectors (Fulton et al., 1980; Gergerich and Scott, 1991). The interaction between beetles and the viruses they transmit has been characterized as circulative because many beetle-transmitted viruses move into the hemolymph of their vectors after ingestion (Freitag, 1956; Slack and Scott, 1971). In vector species such as the bean leaf beetle (Cerotoma trifurcata) and the spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi), southern bean mosaic sobemovirus (SBMV) moves from the digestive system into the circulatory system through the midgut (Wang et al., 1994). However, the comovirus bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) does not enter the hemolymph of these species, although it is efficiently transmitted by them (Wang et al., 1992). Moreover, neither SBMV nor BPMV move into the hemolymph of the Mexican bean beetle (Epilachna varivestis), an efficient vector of these viruses (Wang et al., 1992). As SBMV and BPMV are similar in size and shape, this selective movement through the midgut wall suggests a specific interaction between the virus and some component of the midgut that is required for virus movement through the midgut wall. Because ingested comoviruses are not always found in the hemolymph of their beetle vectors, it appears that virus circulation in the beetle is not invariably an important part of the transmission process, and that in some cases the relation between the beetle and the virus is similar to that found in the foregut-borne type of transmission described for viruses transmitted in the semipersistent manner by aphids (anthriscus yellows virus; Murant et al., 1976) and leafhoppers (maize chloro-tic dwarf virus; Nault and Ammar, 1989). The gradual decrease in the amount of BPMV in beetles during test feeding following virus acquisition (Ghabrial and Schultz, 1983) is taken to indicate that the virus does not multiply in the beetle.
Nuclear Remodeling and Nuclear Reprogramming for Making Transgenic Pigs by Nuclear Transfer

A better understanding of the cellular and molecular events that occur when a nucleus is transferred to the cytoplasm of an oocyte will permit the development of improved procedures for performing nuclear transfer and cloning. In some cases it appears that the gene(s) are reprogrammed, while in other cases there appears to be little effect on gene expression. Not only does the pattern of gene expression need to be reprogrammed, but other structures within the nucleus also need to be remodeled. While nuclear transfer works and transgenic and knockout animals can be created, it still is an inefficient process. However, even with the current low efficiencies this technique has proved very valuable for the production of animals that might be useful for tissue or organ transplantation to humans.
Waste Auditing Sensor Technology to Enhance the Reduction of Edible Discards in University Cafeterias & Eateries

Food availability and food waste are significant global problems. Current monitoring methods require manual data collection and are implemented infrequently, providing imprecise information. Smart service systems offer real-time, continuous monitoring, plus feedback to influence human behaviors. This paper presents a smart services approach to automating food waste measurement, and to influencing associated human behaviors. The work is presented in the context of a case study conducted in a university cafeteria.
Three-dimensional imaging of the developing human fetal urogenital-genital tract: Indifferent stage to male and female differentiation.

Recent studies in our lab have utilized three imaging techniques to visualize the developing human fetal urogenital tract in three dimensions: optical projection tomography, scanning electron microscopy and lightsheet fluorescence microscopy. We have applied these technologies to examine changes in morphology and differential gene expression in developing human external genital specimens from the ambisexual stage ( 13 weeks fetal age). This work outlines the history and function of each of these three imaging modalities, our methods to prepare specimens for each and the novel findings we have produced thus far. We believe the images in this paper of human fetal urogenital organs produced using lightsheet fluorescence microscopy are the first published to date.
Opportunities Diverted: Intake Diversion and Institutionalized Racial Disadvantage in the Juvenile Justice System

The overrepresentation of youth of color in the juvenile justice system is well documented, but researchers know less about the mechanisms that produce these disparities. In this paper, we focus on an understudied point of contact between youth and the criminal justice system: intake diversion. Based on a multivariate analysis of court records, we find that racial disparities in diversion are strongly mediated by family structure. We suggest that assumptions about the role of family in the completion of diversion requirements create indirect disadvantages by race. Specifically, African American youths are denied diversion opportunities largely because they disproportionately live in alternative family arrangements. Importantly, however, our analysis also reveals that such assumptions about family are incorrect. Family structure in our data has no relationship to the successful completion of diversion. We conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for understanding institutionalized racial disadvantage in juvenile justice.
Anatomic Site-Specific Complication Rates for Central Venous Catheter Insertions.

Background:Central venous catheter (CVC) complication rates reflecting the application of modern insertion techniques to a clinically heterogeneous patient populations are needed to better understa...
Use of an Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile, Semiochemical to Deliver an Acute Toxicant.

The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, is an invasive nuisance, agricultural, and ecological pest from South America. In the United States, its primary distribution is in California and the Southeast. The structural pest control industry responds to property owner complaints when this ant’s populations become problematic and a persistent nuisance. Actions taken to control Argentine ants in the urban and suburban environment are typically complaint-driven, and often involve the application of insecticide sprays applied to the outdoor environment by professional pest managers. In California, and elsewhere, spray treatments of various residual insecticides by property owners and pest management professionals has resulted in significant runoff and in subsequent surface water contamination. As a result, an immediate need exists to develop alternative methods of ant control targeted at reducing environmental contamination. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential for the development of an alternative method of toxicant delivery focused on the Argentine ant’s behavior modifying cuticular chemistry. In short, methanol and hexane washes of Argentine ant pupae applied to paper dummies were handled significantly more by worker ants than the paper dummies that did not contain the solvent extracts. Additionally, paper wicks soaked in a methylene chloride wash from Argentine ant cadavers, air dried, and then treated with fipronil, were removed by worker ants and placed on a midden pile at the same rate (≈86% to 99% removal at 1 h) as untreated and fipronil-treated ant cadavers. The paper wicks that did not contain the methylene chloride extract were ignored by the worker ants. After three days, the mortality of the ants exposed to the fipronil-treated wicks or the ant cadavers were dose-related. In conclusion, our study suggests that there is potential for the use of ant semiochemicals for the delivery of acute toxicants.
Characteristics Associated with Household Purchases of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in US Restaurants.

Objective This study aimed to describe beverages purchased in restaurants among a nationally representative sample of US households. Methods Data were obtained from the US Department of Agriculture National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase Survey, 2012 to 2013. Survey-weighted multiple regressions assessed correlates of purchasing a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB), purchasing a low-calorie beverage, and per capita beverage calories and grams of sugar among purchases from US restaurants (n = 14,669). Results Dining at a top fast-food chain (odds ratio = 1.9 [95% CI = 1.6, 2.3] vs. small chain or independent restaurants) and ordering a combination meal (2.8 [1.3, 3.3]) or from the kids' menu (2.1 [1.2, 3.4]) were positively associated with purchasing an SSB. Age (young adult and adolescent vs. older adult; 0.7 [0.5, 0.9] and 0.4 [0.3, 0.7], respectively), race (Black vs. White; 0.4 [0.3, 0.6]), ethnicity (Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic; 0.8 [0.6, 0.9]), and household food security (very low vs. high; 0.7 [0.5, 0.8]) were associated with purchasing a low-calorie beverage. Caloric beverage purchases contained the most calories and grams of sugar per capita when purchased by Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black adolescents. Conclusions US households purchase a considerable amount of SSBs from the nation's largest chain restaurants, particularly when combination meals or kids' menu items are ordered, and there are disparities by age, race/ethnicity, and household food security.
Integrating information from heterogeneous networks on social media to predict post-disaster returning behavior

Abstract With the recent rise in frequency and intensity of severe disasters, increasing the resilience of urban systems is an urgent challenge. Local governments need to accurately predict the demand of public services such as gas, water and power after disasters in order to effectively allocate resources for recovery, and also to prevent secondary disasters. In practice, post-disaster surveys and interviews have been used to grasp the returning dynamics of evacuees. Here we propose a novel method for integrating information obtained from heterogeneous networks on social media that can be used to improve the predictability of returning behavior of evacuees after severe disasters. We validate our proposed method using a large Twitter dataset from Hurricane Sandy and verify that the model is capable of predicting 86% of the returning behavior of evacuees correctly, increasing the performance by 21% compared to conventional methods. Results imply that tweets posted near the individual's residential location and posts of online connected peers have significant marginal effect on predicting individuals’ returning behavior. The proposed method and gained insights could help decision makers in various agencies to predict the demand of public services in affected regions immediately after the disaster, enabling them to plan effective and efficient infrastructure repairing strategies given time and budget constraints.
Establishing a regulatory framework for distributed antenna systems

The regulatory treatment of Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) has received scant academic attention despite DAS' growing commercial viability and widespread use. This paper analyzes regulatory classifications for wireless deployments involving DAS. It emphasizes that DAS deployments are not monolithic and, particularly, that the existing regulatory framework fails to satisfactorily account for the diversity in practical implementations of DAS networks. This paper explores three instances of problematic application of conventional regulations upon unique DAS designs. DAS antennas differ from traditional cell sites because of design intricacies such as limited on site processing and a smaller form factor. Accordingly, the FCC should revisit its decision to impose a back up power rule on DAS antenna nodes at the federal level. Second, this paper questions the wisdom of state regulations that uniformly impose common carrier obligations upon DAS providers. Third, this paper also propounds that the current state of DAS-level municipal regulations is fractured and suggests a unified regulatory approach extended to all municipalities. The case studies investigated in this paper suggest modifications to the existing regulatory framework to achieve essential policy goals without hindering the growth of the incipient DAS technology.
The SEVerESt Of Them All: Inference Attacks Against Secure Virtual Enclaves

The success of cloud computing has shown that the cost and convenience benefits of outsourcing infrastructure, platform, and software resources outweigh concerns about confidentiality. Still, many businesses and individuals resist moving private data to cloud providers due to intellectual property and privacy reasons. A recent wave of hardware virtualization technologies aims to alleviate these concerns by offering encrypted virtualization features that support data confidentiality of guest virtual machines (e.g., by transparently encrypting memory) even when running on top untrusted hypervisors. We introduce two new attacks that can breach the confidentiality of protected enclaves. First, we show how a cloud adversary can judiciously inspect the general purpose registers to unmask the computation that passes through them. Specifically, we demonstrate a set of attacks that can precisely infer the executed instructions and eventually capture sensitive data given only indirect access to the CPU state as observed via the general purpose registers. Second, we show that even under a more restrictive environment - where access to the general purpose registers is no longer available - we can apply a different inference attack to recover the structure of an unknown, running, application as a stepping stone towards application fingerprinting. We demonstrate the practicality of these inference attacks by showing how an adversary can identify different applications and even distinguish between versions of the same application and the compiler used, recover data transferred over TLS connections within the encrypted guest, retrieve the contents of sensitive data as it is being read from disk by the guest, and inject arbitrary data within the guest. Taken as a whole, these attacks serve as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when the state of registers (e.g., in AMD's SEV) and application performance data (e.g. in AMD's SEV-ES) are left unprotected. The latter is the first known attack that was designed to specifically target SEV-ES.
How to Maintain Excellent Clinical Documentation

Clinical documentation is an important part of clinical care. It serves as a record of the care provided and the excellence in clinical service. Documentation should be clear, concise, thorough, and well organized to meet the clinical standard of care for your patients as well as the needs of your colleagues, institution, and governing compliance and financial agencies. The use of the electronic health record (EHR) can aid in documentation efficiency, particularly when it is personalized to your clinic workflow patterns, but can also create burden and contribute to work burnout when not optimized. Team-based models of care and additional advances in technology can also improve efficient documentation practices. Finally, challenges to maintaining documentation standards and solutions are discussed.
Motivations, design, and preliminary testing for a 360° vision simulator

Contemporary virtual reality systems enable academics to more efficiently explore and analyze complex three-dimensional (3D) content, but their utility is limited by visual short-term memory. Janus, a geometry agnostic shader script, circumvents this cognitive limitation by automatically rendering complex object meshes to fit entirely within the field-of-view of consumer head-mounted displays. The resulting 360° vision experience represents an advantage over existing scientific data visualization tools, which have sought to replicate real-world viewing experiences but have inadvertently replicated associated limitations as well. By presenting data in such a way so as to effectively circumvent cognitive loads associated with body (or object) movement, academics can use the Janus shader to more readily engage in the exploratory analysis of complex 3D data sets, thereby facilitating scientific insight. This paper explores the motivations and design of the Janus shader and describes preliminary results from user testing conducted under controlled conditions. For the 24 study participants (N = 24), statistically significant time-to-completion decreases were observed for spatial analysis tasks taking place in intervention (Janus-enabled) VR scenes of low-to-moderate complexity.
Tunable permittivity of La-doped BaSnO3 thin films for near- and mid-infrared plasmonics

We report tunable permittivity of La-doped BaSnO3 (LBSO) epitaxial films in the near- and mid-infrared range. The structural, electrical transport, and optical properties of the LBSO thin films can be effectively modified by controlling oxygen concentration during film growth. The permittivity of the LBSO films can be modified as a function of the oxygen pressure and temperature during deposition allowing tuning their epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) wavelength from 2 µm to 5.6 µm. The ability to tune the permittivity in this infrared range enables the use of LBSO films as active components in infrared plasmonic devices.
Estimating Training Data Influence by Tracing Gradient Descent

We introduce a method called TracIn that computes the influence of a training example on a prediction made by the model. The idea is to trace how the loss on the test point changes during the training process whenever the training example of interest was utilized. We provide a scalable implementation of TracIn via: (a) a first-order gradient approximation to the exact computation, (b) saved checkpoints of standard training procedures, and (c) cherry-picking layers of a deep neural network. In contrast with previously proposed methods, TracIn is simple to implement; all it needs is the ability to work with gradients, checkpoints, and loss functions. The method is general. It applies to any machine learning model trained using stochastic gradient descent or a variant of it, agnostic of architecture, domain and task. We expect the method to be widely useful within processes that study and improve training data.
Social network influences on new mothers' infant sleep adjustments

Despite public awareness campaigns, some parents continue to engage in infant sleep practices that are considered risky by health experts, such as bedsharing or placing their infants on their stomachs. This study examines the role their social networks play in shaping parents' responsiveness to new information and/or suggestions about how they should place their infants for sleep, paying attention to the respective effects of health professionals and their close interpersonal ties. We collected data from a sample of 323 new mothers in Washington, D.C., who described their infant sleep practices and perceived personal social networks. We find evidence that mothers' social networks play a significant role in the likelihood that they adjust their infant sleep practices within the first few months of their infants' lives. Mothers are more likely to change sleep practices when health professionals and/or (lay) family members advise them to do so. The influence of network members is not always positive. For mothers who initially follow safe practices, their probability of change increases if their network members substantially espouse unsafe practices. Among mothers with initially unsafe practices, network members' level of support for safe sleep practices is not predictive of the likelihood of sleep practice change. Implications for potential interventions are discussed.
Antimonide based avalanche photodiodes

There is a lot of interest in developing low noise avalanche photodiodes (APDs) in the short wave infrared (1.5-3 microns) and mid-wave infrared (3-5 microns). State of the art APDs are are based on based on interband transitions in mercury cadmium telluride (MCT, HgCdTe) with large multiplication gains and low excess noise factors due to the favorable bandstructure that promotes single carrier impact ionization. However, their dark currents are high (3-5e-4A/cm2 at a gain of 10 at 125K) that requires cryogenic cooling. We have investigated the multiplication characteristics of three different multipliers on InP substrate (AlGaInAs (M1), AlGaAsSb (M2) and AlInAsSb (M3)). We have demonstrated decrease in the excess noise factors using ternary superlattices and extremely low excess noise factors (k~0.01) and low dark current density (~10 A/cm2) at 300K. We will discuss the research challenges associated with the design, growth, fabrication and radiometric characterization of these APDs
Family Culture as Context for Learning through Inquiry

Prior research shows that participation within communities of practice shapes children’s development of repertoires of practice—ways of engaging in activities within a cultural community. Families ...
Radial hexadehydro-Diels-Alder reactions

Summary Polycyclic, highly fused, and, perforce, highly conjugated aromatic organic compounds have been of interest to chemists since the discovery of naphthalene in 1821. In modern decades these have attracted ever-growing attention because of their architectures, properties, and wide-ranging practical applications. Given the unabated interest in such molecules, the development of new methods and strategies for the practical synthesis of PACs having new structural motifs is important. Here, we describe one-pot, purely thermal cyclizations of substrates containing sets of independent triynes, each arrayed upon a common core structure. This produces topologically unique products through sequential generation/trapping of a series of benzyne intermediates. More specifically, these all conform to processes that can be considered as radial-hexadehydro-Diels-Alder (HDDA) reactions. The late-stage and de novo creation of multiple arenes in these multibenzyne processes constitutes a fundamentally new synthetic strategy for constructing novel molecular topologies.
A Historical Overview and Discussion of Computer-Aided Materials Testing

Consistency of test data has always been a key concern in any materials testing application. Test technique or method, operator skill and experience, and capabilities of the apparatus are all parameters that affect the consistency of the desired information. The arrival of testing automation has contributed significantly to improving the consistency of materials testing apparatus, modifying existing test methods, creating new test methods due to enhanced capability, and improving the productivity of testing systems. This paper surveys the development of computer-aided testing over the last 20 to 25 years and includes a discussion of current systems implementations and the emerging area of laboratory-wide automation. The rapid development of materials testing automation capability has generally tracked the trends in the computer industry. Advances in microprocessor hardware technology have driven testing automation by allowing for embedded intelligence in key test system components and by allowing for high-performance supervisory computer subsystems to control or supervise the overall test rig. Software technology advances in concert with expanding hardware capability have provided truly useful real-time operating environments, more efficient applications development tools, and higher productivity through more intuitive user interface technology. All together, these technology improvements have allowed for more sophisticated, consistent, and higher performance testing automation. Further improvements will be realized through the true utilization of the emerging digitally based systems architectures and emerging networking technology. This discussion concludes with a brief look at where emerging capabilities such as these will allow for new types of experiments to be performed and where information management will be enhanced, thus allowing for greater productivity in the test laboratory.
Clonogenic assay of gastric adenocarcinoma stem cells--clonogenic assay, stomach cancer.

Clonogenic assay is the culturing of tumor stem cells, which are responsible for tumor growth by self renewal and differentiation to tumor end cells. Elimination of the malignant stem cells or their self renewal will lead cure of the tumor. Thus, the behavior of the stem cells by clonogenic assay has been correlated with prognosis and outcome of therapy. We studied clonogenic assay by means of double agar system for 21 patients with advanced stomach cancer. The colony formation evaluted on 14th day of the culture was grown from 14 of 19 malignant effusions plated and 1 of 2 tumor nodules plated. The number of the colonies ranged from 5 to 96 per petri dish, and the median number was 20. The plating efficiency ranged from 0.001 to 0.036%, and the median was 0.003%. In the morphologic studies, the colonies made of tightly packed cells were grown from the poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, whereas the colonies made of loosely packed cells with mucin formation were grown from the mucin secreting adenocarcinoma of stomach. The chemosensitivity in vitro tests to cisplatin were performed in 5 patients, and the results showed 4 sensitive and 1 resistant patient. The result of in vivo study with instillation of intraperitoneal cisplatin revealed that 3 patients “in vitro sensitive” were “responsive in vivo”, and 1 patient “in vitro resistant” was “non-responsive in vivo”. We conclude that clonogenic assay of stomach cancer is useful method to understand the biology of the stem cell pool and select proper chemotherapy according to the chemosensitivity test.
Geometric location problems and their complexity

In this paper we discuss a collection of geometric location problems in the plane and their associated time complexity. These problems can be formulated as optimization problems. However, geometric properties are exploited to obtain efficient solutions. Among the problems considered are minimum enclosing circle, largest empty circle, fixed circle placement, and their variations. Most of the algorithms mentioned are asymptotically optimal to within a constant factor under the algebraic computation tree model. Finally, a geometric competitive location problem is discussed and some open problems suggested.
Isolation and Composition of a Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex from Rhodopseudomonas spheroides

Abstract A photosynthetic reaction center complex has been isolated from the blue-green mutant strain R-26 of Rhodopseudomonas spheroides by Triton X-100 treatment, sucrose density gradient centrifugation, and gel filtration. In this complex, the only bacteriochlorophyll is the specialized reaction center component, P870, and the associated P800. The reaction center preparations appear nearly homogeneous by gel filtration and polyacrylamide gel disc electrophoresis. Gel filtration indicates a particle weight near 6.5 x 105, and the particle contains approximately 35% lipid-extractable material. Other components of the complex and their approximate ratios are: 1 P870, 2 P800, 13 ubiquinone, 2 cytochrome b562, 1 cytochrome c552, 16 total iron, and 9 copper. The light-induced absorbance changes of this complex are indistinguishable from those which have been associated with the primary photochemical reactions of bacterial photosynthesis.
Rotating liquid blanket with no first wall for fusion reactors

A toroidal vortex of liquid FLiBe (LiF + BeF2) is suggested for the blanket of a fusion reactor. Because this reactor chamber has no solid first wall, it might avoid many of the problems that accom...
Birmingham, Addis Ababa and the Image of America: Managing the Impact of Civil Rights on Foreign Affairs During the Kennedy Administration

When Birmingham, Alabama Police Commissioner Bull Connor unleashed police dogs and fire hoses on civil rights demonstrators in the spring of 1963, his brutality shocked the nation. News reports with graphic photos also blanketed the international press, reinforcing international concern about racial justice in America. As it had during the Truman and Eisenhower years, the Soviet Union took advantage of the propaganda value of these images, and greatly increased its focus on American racial problems in anti-American broadcasts and print media. President John F. Kennedy was highly attuned to the impact of racial incidents on the U.S. image abroad. Birmingham created a crisis of greater magnitude for the Administration than had the Freedom Rides or James Meredith's admission to the University of Mississippi. Birmingham hit the international press as African leaders convened for a unity conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. As African heads of state turned their attention to Birmingham, contemplating whether such incidents might cause a break in U.S.-African relations, the Kennedy Administration focused on damage control. The stakes were high. Protecting the image of American democracy had national security implications during the cold war years. In the early 1960s, following admission of newly independent African states to the U.N., it had important consequences for U.N. politics as well. Civil rights activists risked their lives to put racial justice on the nation's agenda in the 1960s, and civil rights reform during those years was certainly influenced by factors having nothing to do with diplomacy. Yet this paper argues that Kennedy Administration civil rights policy, even as it was pushed by the movement, was framed with the impact of civil rights on foreign affairs among the Administration's most pressing concerns.
Toward a Privacy Agent for Information Retrieval

In this paper, we tackle the private information retrieval (PIR) problem associated with the use of Internet search engines. We address the desire for a user to retrieve information from the Web without the search provider learning about it. Traditional PIR protocols present two main shortcomings for their application: (i) They assume cooperation by the database, which is not affordable for a real-world search engine like Google and (ii) their computational complexity is linearinthesizeofthedatabase,whichisunfeasibleinthecaseoftheWeb.Morerecentapproaches relax PIR conditions to overcome these limitations and present some level of privacy. Mostly, they aim to distort server logs regardless of the loss of information that is involved. Server logs are used by search engines for profiling and, thereby, provide personalized results. This becomes a user’s need given the growth of the Web and can also be used for targeted advertising. This study focuses on a noncooperative agent for private search that considers profiling as valuable data used for both sides of the search process. It is based on the assumption that the user’s identity is formed by the union of various areas of interests or facets. Managing the HTTP connections properly, submitted queries are mapped to different server logs according to these facets. The rationale is that these logs cannot be used for tracing the user while they are still helpful for profiling. We present a personalized query classification approach based on the user’s browsing history and to provide empirical results; we developed an attacking algorithm against the agent that shows that the disclosure risk is reduced. C
In-Situ Chemical and Isotopic Measurements of the Atmosphere of Jupiter

Insights into both the detailed composition of Jupiter’s atmosphere and unexpected local meteorological phenomena were revealed by in-situ measurements from the Galileo Probe Neutral Mass Spectrometer taken on December 7, 1995. Measurements of the neutral atmospheric composition from a pressure of 0.5 bar to approximately 21 bar revealed the mixing ratios of the major species helium and hydrogen as well as numerous minor constituents including methane, water, ammonia, ethane, ethylene, propane, hydrogen sulfide, neon, argon, krypton, and xenon. This instrument measured the isotope ratios 3He/4He, D/H, and 13C/12C as well as the isotopes of neon, argon, krypton, and xenon. A summary is given of progress that has been made in refining preliminary estimates of the abundances of condensable volatiles and noble gases as a result of an ongoing laboratory study using a nearly identical engineering unit. The depletion of simple condensable species to depths well below their expected condensation levels is explained by a local downdraft in the region of the probe entry. The mass spectrometer data suggests that different species may recover at different depths and this may be due to lateral mixing of Jovian air.
Black Boxes of Bureaucracy: Transparency and Opacity in the Resettlement Process of Congolese Refugees

To qualify for third-country resettlement, refugees must convince aid representatives that they have been individually persecuted and continue to fear such persecution. This article focuses on the official documents Congolese refugees collect as evidence of their persecution to bolster their resettlement claims before their refugee camp in Tanzania closes. To illuminate the creation, collection, and circulation of such documents, I trace one Congolese family's story as it is folded, literally and metaphorically, into an envelope that I hand-delivered to a United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) resettlement official. Following this envelope led me to an investigation of the bureaucratic institutions involved, which both produce and then later receive the documents. I argue that the apparent transparency of the resettlement process facilitates and justifies its concomitant opacity.
Pleasant Events-Based Behavioral Intervention for Depression in Nursing Home Residents: A Conceptual and Empirical Foundation

ABSTRACT In this theoretical/review article, we set forth a conceptual model and empirical evidence as the foundation for a behavioral intervention in nursing homes involving pleasant events. The risk for depression is nearly twice as great among nursing home residents as it is for community-residing elders, with up to 50% of nursing home residents affected by significant depressive symptoms. Although we now have a good understanding of the epidemiology and manifestations of depression in late life, and are beginning to apply effective treatments to some groups of elders, the benefits of the past decade of research have yet to reach the frailest elders living in nursing homes. The health and cognitive multiple comorbidity of this population makes treatment extremely challenging. The behavioral model we describe is based on the work of Lewinsohn and others. The intervention would adapt work already completed by Teri and her colleagues with elderly dementia patients and their families. We make specific reco...
Sex Work, Migration, and the United States Trafficking in Persons Report: Promoting Rights or Missing Opportunities for Advocacy?

While the feminist debate on commercial sex reflects strong theoretical differences, all sides acknowledge the importance of studying women’s experiences in particular situations.1 Post-colonial feminist theory has sharpened the analysis of sex work by demonstrating the dangers of assuming a single narrative of victimization.2 Women’s accounts of sex work are affected by a multitude of factors, including economic inequality; the presence or absence of legal rights; and gender, ethnic, and class discrimination.3 The state plays an important role as it largely determines whether sex workers (both migrant and domestic) are viewed as victims, criminals, or working persons.4 In addition to domestic politics, the treatment of sex work is also increasingly affected by the global anti-trafficking movement and
The effect of growth in foreign born population share on county homicide rates: A spatial panel approach

type="main" xml:lang="es"> Este estudio examina el impacto de los cambios en la proporcion de la poblacion extranjera sobre los cambios en las tasas de homicidios a escala de condado por medio de datos de mortalidad por homicidio a escala de condado en Estados Unidos y un modelo de regresion espacial de Durbin que representa la aglutinacion espacial de las muertes por homicidio y la heterogeneidad no observada entre condados. Los aumentos en la proporcion de poblacion extranjera se asocian a reducciones en la tasa de homicidios; un proceso observado mas claramente en el sur de los Estados Unidos. Esta reduccion es en gran medida el resultado de un efecto de spillover, explicado como el efecto indirecto del crecimiento de la poblacion inmigrante en un condado en las tasas de homicidio en otros condados.
Syntax and prosodic consequences in ASL: Evidence from multiple WH-questions

This study investigates three different multiple wh-question types in American Sign Language (ASL). While the three are strikingly similar, subtle but systematic differences in their prosody make them semantically distinct. I derive these distinctions from their syntax, via extensions of Koopman and Szabolcsi’s (2000) remnant movement and Sportiche’s (1988) stranded movement, and I propose that multiple wh-questions in ASL involve Parallel Merge structures of the kind proposed by Citko (2005). I also present new generalizations to characterize their prosody, whereby A-bar movement gives rise to prosodic breaks and ‘prosodic resets’.