cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Mate Choice and Reproductive Success in the American Kestrel: a Role for Blood Parasites?

Blood parasites of breeding American kestrels, Falco sparverius (40 males and 27 females), were investigated to determine their connections to male showiness, mating success and host fitness. The only haematozoan found in the blood films was Haemoproteus tinnunculi (overall prevalence of 74% for females and 53% for males). In adult (+ 1-year-old) males, the subterminal tail band (character apparently used in female mate choice) was wider in infected males than in non-infected males. This was consistent with the Hamilton—Zuk hypothesis of parasite-mediated sexual selection. Our results also suggest that reproductive effort may increase susceptibility to parasitism. In yearling males, the proportion of individuals infected with H. tinnunuli was higher among those tending a large than a small brood at the time of fledging. Hunting effort (proportion of time spent in flight-hunting and wind-hovering) was also higher for males tending large broods than for those tending small broods, and it was higher for yearling than adult males on a given brood size. Reproductive effort may result in greater exposure and/or decreased ability to control chronic latent infections. Parasitic infections, in turn, may have detrimental effects on host fitness.
Monitoring plasma voriconazole levels may be necessary to avoid subtherapeutic levels in hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND. Low voriconazole levels have been associated with a higher failure rate in patients with confirmed fungal infections. METHODS. Steady-state plasma trough voriconazole levels were measured after at least 5 days of therapy in 87 patients with hematologic malignancies on 201 separate occasions (1–5 levels per patient; median, 2). Most patients (90%) had undergone allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The daily voriconazole dose, administered in 2 divided doses, was 200 mg (n = 4), 400 mg (n = 151), 500 mg (n = 20), 600 mg (n = 18), and 800 mg (n = 8); corresponding to 2.0–16.3 (median, 5.4) mg/kg. Plasma voriconazole levels were 0–12.5 μg/mL (median, 1.2). Voriconazole was undetectable (<0.2 μg/mL) in 15%. RESULTS. The correlation between dose and levels was weak (r = 0.14; P = .045). The median absolute daily drug dose (400 mg) was identical in groups of patients with levels of 0, 0.2 to 0.5, >0.5 to 2.0, >2.0 to 5.0, and >5.0. Whereas the daily drug dose in mg/kg was significantly higher when the levels were >5.0 μg/mL, there was no consistent relation between dose and level below that threshold. In adult patients getting standard doses of voriconazole orally, the drug levels are highly variable. Based on limited available data, between a quarter and two-thirds of these levels could potentially be associated with a lower likelihood of response or a higher likelihood of failure. CONCLUSIONS. Future voriconazole studies should incorporate prospective therapeutic drug monitoring and consideration should be given to checking levels in patients receiving the drug for confirmed, life-threatening fungal infections. Cancer 2007. © 2007 American Cancer Society.
Comments on: Steady-state Availability of k-out-of-n:G System with Single Repair

The solution for steady-state availability is not new. Similar material was published over two decades ago.
Serpentinite Mud Volcanism: Observations, Processes, and Implications

Large serpentinite mud volcanoes form on the overriding plate of the Mariana subduction zone. Fluids from the descending plate hydrate (serpentinize) the forearc mantle and enable serpentinite muds to rise along faults to the seafloor. The seamounts are direct windows into subduction processes at depths far too deep to be accessed by any known technology. Fluid compositions vary with distance from the trench, signaling changes in chemical reactions as temperature and pressure increase. The parageneses of rocks in the mudflows permits us to constrain the physical conditions of the decollement region. If eruptive episodes are related to seismicity, seafloor observatories at these seamounts hold the potential to capture a subduction event and trace the effects of eruption on the biological communities that the slab fluids support, such as extremophile Archaea. The microorganisms that inhabit this high-pH, extreme environment support their growth by utilizing chemical constituents present in the slab fluids. ...
Advancing a Police Science Implications From a National Survey of Police Staffing

Data analysis can lead to innovative ways to address some of the most pressing criminal justice problems. Data collection and measurement, for example, supported the implementation of several succe...
NLT and extrapolated DLT: 3-D cinematography alternatives for enlarging the volume of calibration

Abstract This study investigated the accuracy of the direct linear transformation (DLT) and non-linear transformation (NLT) methods of 3-D cinematography/videography. A comparison of standard DLT, extrapolated DLT, and NLT calibrations showed the standard (non-extrapolated) DLT to be the most accurate, especially when a large number of control points (40–60) were used. The NLT was more accurate than the extrapolated DLT when the level of extrapolation exceeded 100%. The results indicated that when possible one should use the DLT with a control object sufficiently large as to encompass the entire activity being studied. However, in situations where the activity volume exceeds the size of one's DLT control object, the NLT method should be considered.
Feasible light fields in three-dimensional space

The author investigate the synthesis of light fields in 3D domains by means of a singular value decomposition of the objective signal. The number of effective 3D degrees of freedom determines the feasible fields.
Guiding diabetes screening and prevention: rationale, recommendations and remaining challenges

Advances made in diabetes management are not sufficient to reduce morbidity, mortality and cost without making prevention efforts at various levels imperative for substantial impact. Research has demonstrated the efficacy of lifestyle intervention and medications in preventing type 2 diabetes among diverse high-risk groups commonly identified with oral glucose tolerance testing. Efficacy, sustainability and safety data are most comprehensive for lifestyle and metformin, with other medications also demonstrating efficacy and potential in the pharmacoprevention of diabetes. Subsequent implementation studies have demonstrated feasibility of lifestyle intervention programs at health centers, communities, and at local and national government levels. Challenges remain in widespread translation and reaching and engaging at-risk individuals and populations.
Cancer and total mortality among active Mormons.

Based on Church records for 15,500 California Mormons during 1968 to 1975 and for 55,000 Utah Mormons during 1970 and 1975, the ratio of age-adjusted death rates for religiously active Mormon males compared with U. S. white males is 38% for ages 35 to 64 years and 50% for ages 35 years and above. The remaining life expectancy for active Mormon men at age 35 is about 44 years, over 7 years greater than for U. S. white males. Their standardized mortality ratio is 50% for all cancer, being 23% for smoking-related cancer sites and 68% for all other sites. Active Mormons, defined here to be High Priests and Seventies, abstain almost completely from the use of tobacco, alcohol, coffee, and tea, but appear to be fairly similar to other white males with regard to socioeconomic status, urbanization, and diet. Active Mormons are healthier than Mormons as a whole and rank among the lowest in mortality when compared with other groups of healthy males. Cancer 42:1943–1951, 1978.
Resource management for IP telephony networks

The two key resources in an IP telephony network are the Internet telephony gateways (ITGs) and the IP network. These resources must be effectively managed to simultaneously provide good QoS to calls and maximize network resource utilization. This paper presents two main contributions. First, we design a call admission policy based on congestion sensitive pricing. As the load increases, this policy preferentially admits users who place a higher value on making a call while simultaneously maintaining a high utilization of network resources. We derive the function mapping congestion to price for the admission policy that maximizes revenue. Second, we design a call redirection policy to select the best ITG to serve the call. The policy balances load to improve network efficiency and incorporates QoS sensitivity to improve call quality. Simulation results show the following: (i) congestion pricing based admission control lowers call blocking probability, increases provider revenue, and improves economic efficiency over a static flat-rate admission control scheme; (ii) congestion sensitivity in the redirection policy balances load across all the ITGs while QoS sensitivity improves call audio quality; and (iii) incorporating price sensitivity in the redirection policy improves the economic efficiency, i.e., ensures that users who pay more get higher QoS. The techniques studied in this paper can be combined into a single resource management solution that can improve network resource utilization, provide differentiated service, and maximize provider revenue.
Green scheduling: Scheduling of control systems for peak power reduction

Heating, cooling and air quality control systems within buildings and datacenters operate independently of each other and frequently result in temporally correlated energy demand surges. As peak power prices are 200–400 times that of the nominal rate, this uncoordinated activity is both expensive and operationally inefficient. While several approaches for load shifting and model predictive control have been proposed, we present an alternative approach to fine-grained coordination of energy demand by scheduling energy consuming control systems within a constrained peak power while ensuring custom climate environments are facilitated. Unlike traditional real-time scheduling theory, where the execution time and hence the schedule are a function of the system variables only, control system execution (i.e. when energy is supplied to the system) are a function of the environmental variables and the plant dynamics. To this effect, we propose a geometric interpretation of the system dynamics, where a scheduling policy is represented as a hybrid automaton and the scheduling problem is presented as designing a hybrid automaton. Tasks are constructed by extracting the temporal parameters of the system dynamics. We provide feasibility conditions and a lazy scheduling approach to reduce the peak power for a set of control systems. The proposed model is intuitive, scalable and effective for the large class of systems whose state-time profile can be linearly approximated.
Trend analysis using non-stationary time series clustering based on the finite element method

Abstract. In order to analyze low-frequency variability of climate, it is useful to model the climatic time series with multiple linear trends and locate the times of significant changes. In this paper, we have used non-stationary time series clustering to find change points in the trends. Clustering in a multi-dimensional non-stationary time series is challenging, since the problem is mathematically ill-posed. Clustering based on the finite element method (FEM) is one of the methods that can analyze multidimensional time series. One important attribute of this method is that it is not dependent on any statistical assumption and does not need local stationarity in the time series. In this paper, it is shown how the FEM-clustering method can be used to locate change points in the trend of temperature time series from in situ observations. This method is applied to the temperature time series of North Carolina (NC) and the results represent region-specific climate variability despite higher frequency harmonics in climatic time series. Next, we investigated the relationship between the climatic indices with the clusters/trends detected based on this clustering method. It appears that the natural variability of climate change in NC during 1950–2009 can be explained mostly by AMO and solar activity.
Changes in retinoic acid signaling alter otic patterning

Retinoic acid (RA) has pleiotropic functions during embryogenesis. In zebrafish, increasing or blocking RA signaling results in enlarged or reduced otic vesicles, respectively. Here we elucidate the mechanisms that underlie these changes and show that they have origins in different tissues. Excess RA leads to ectopic foxi1 expression throughout the entire preplacodal domain. Foxi1 provides competence to adopt an otic fate. Subsequently, pax8 , the expression of which depends upon Foxi1 and Fgf, is also expressed throughout the preplacodal domain. By contrast, loss of RA signaling does not affect foxi1 expression or otic competence, but instead results in delayed onset of fgf3 expression and impaired otic induction. fgf8 mutants depleted of RA signaling produce few otic cells, and these cells fail to form a vesicle, indicating that Fgf8 is the primary factor responsible for otic induction in RA-depleted embryos. Otic induction is rescued by fgf8 overexpression in RA-depleted embryos, although otic vesicles never achieve a normal size, suggesting that an additional factor is required to maintain otic fate. fgf3;tcf2 double mutants form otic vesicles similar to RA-signaling-depleted embryos, suggesting a signal from rhombomere 5-6 may also be required for otic fate maintenance. We show that rhombomere 5 wnt8b expression is absent in both RA-signaling-depleted embryos and in fgf3;tcf2 double mutants, and inactivation of wnt8b in fgf3 mutants by morpholino injection results in small otic vesicles, similar to RA depletion in wild type. Thus, excess RA expands otic competence, whereas the loss of RA impairs the expression of fgf3 and wnt8b in the hindbrain, compromising the induction and maintenance of otic fate.
A Neural Model of Smooth Pursuit Control and Motion Perception by Cortical Area MST

Smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEMs) are eye rotations that are used to maintain fixation on a moving target. Such rotations complicate the interpretation of the retinal image, because they nullify the retinal motion of the target, while generating retinal motion of stationary objects in the background. This poses a problem for the oculomotor system, which must track the stabilized target image while suppressing the optokinetic reflex, which would move the eye in the direction of the retinal background motion (opposite to the direction in which the target is moving). Similarly, the perceptual system must estimate the actual direction and speed of moving objects in spite of the confounding effects of the eye rotation. This paper proposes a neural model to account for the ability of primates to accomplish these tasks. The model simulates the neurophysiological properties of cell types found in the superior temporal sulcus of the macaque monkey, specifically the medial superior temporal (MST) region. These cells process signals related to target motion, background motion, and receive an efference copy of eye velocity during pursuit movements. The model focuses on the interactions between cells in the ventral and dorsal subdivisions of MST, which are hypothesized to process target velocity and background motion, respectively. The model explains how these signals can be combined to explain behavioral data about pursuit maintenance and perceptual data from human studies, including the Aubert–Fleischl phenomenon and the Filehne Illusion, thereby clarifying the functional significance of neurophysiological data about these MST cell properties. It is suggested that the connectivity used in the model may represent a general strategy used by the brain in analyzing the visual world.
Design and Analysis of Fiber Enhanced Viscoelastic Damping Polymers

A new composite damping material is investigated, which consists of a viscoelastic matrix and high elastic modulus fiber inclusions. This fiber enhanced viscoelastic damping polymer is intended to be applied to lightweight flexible structures as a surface treatment for passive vibration control. A desirable packing geometry for the composite material is proposed, which is expected to produce maximum shear strain in the viscoelastic damping matrix. Subsequently, a micromechanical model is established in which the effect of fiber segment length and relative motion between neighboring fibers are taken into account. Based on this model, closed form expressions for the effective storage and loss properties of the damping material are developed, and an optimal relation between design parameters, such as the length, diameter spacing, and Young's modulus of fibers and the shear modulus of viscoelastic matrix, is derived for achieving maximum damping performance. To address the verification of the development, the theoretical results are compared with NASTRANfinite element results. Upon comparison of an enhanced viscoelastic damping treatment with a conventionally constrained layer damping treatment, it is found that the enhanced polymer provides a significant improvement in damping performance.
Idiopathic recurrent branch retinal arterial occlusion

Recurrent multiple branch retinal arterial occlusions of unknown cause occurred in nine apparently healthy individuals. With the exception of three patients who developed associated auditory symptoms, none developed other signs or symptoms of systemic vascular disease. Ophthalmoscopic and fluorescein angiographic findings suggested focal arteritis and arteriolitis as the cause of the obstructions. Most patients retained good visual acuity.
Life History and Population Characteristics of the Mantid Stagmomantis carolina (Mantodea: Mantidae)

We investigated the life history and populations characteristics of the Carolina mantid,. Stagmomantis carolina (Johannson), in central Arkansas. Unlike several studies on other mantid species found in the United States, this species was found at very low densities in the field as measured by adult abundance and ootheca density. We found that mortality was high during the egg stage because of developmental failure or egg parasitism. In replicated field plots, mortality and emigration was high during the 1st and 2nd stadia, resulting in very low numbers of in-plot survivors (<1%) by the 3rd stadium of development. Synchronous versus asynchronous hatching had statistically significant effects on emigration and in-plot mortality but a nonsignificant effect on in-plot survival, although the trend was for increased survival in asynchronous plots. Although arthropod abundance tended to be lower in mantid plots, S. carolina had no significant effects on total arthropod abundance, total arthropod biomass, or the abundance and biomass of any arthropod order. Laboratory experiments indicated that this species has slower development during the egg stage and slower development during the nymph stages compared with related mantid species. This slow growth may in part explain the high mortality rate and therefore explain the low density of S. carolina found in this population. However, this growth strategy seems necessary for survival because it allows for proper timing of oviposition for a univoltine life cycle in central Arkansas. Comparative studies of this species in other portions of its range would be interesting in determining the generalities of our findings.
Vio: a mixed-initiative approach to learning and automating procedural update tasks

Today many workers spend too much of their time translating their co-workers' requests into structures that information systems can understand. This paper presents the novel interaction design and evaluation of VIO, an agent that helps workers trans late request. VIO monitors requests and makes suggestions to speed up the translation. VIO allows users to quickly correct agent errors. These corrections are used to improve agent performance as it learns to automate work. Our evaluations demonstrate that this type of agent can significantly reduce task completion time, freeing workers from mundane tasks.
Invasive Alien Species in an Era of Globalization

Globalization facilitates the spread of invasive alien species (IAS) as international commerce develops new trade routes, markets, and products. New technologies increase the pace at which humans and commodities can move around the world. Recent research on IAS at the global scale has examined commerce and travel in order to inform predictions, risk analyses, and policy. Due to limited data, regional-scale studies have primarily focused on invasion patterns rather than impacts. Local-scale experimental research can identify mechanisms and impacts of biological invasions, but the results may not be applicable at larger spatial scales. However, the number of information networks devoted to IAS is increasing globally and may help integrate IAS research at all scales, particularly if data sharing and compatibility can be improved. Integrating ecological and economic factors with trade analysis to explore the effectiveness of different approaches for preventing invasions is a promising approach at the global s...
Natural inactivation of Escherichia coli in anaerobic and reduced groundwater

AIMS Inactivation rates of Escherichia coli in groundwater have most often been determined in aerobic and oxidized systems. This study examined E. coli inactivation rates in anaerobic and extremely reduced groundwater systems that have been identified as recharge zones. METHODS AND RESULTS Groundwater from six artesian wells was diverted to above-ground, flow-through mesocosms that contained laboratory grown E. coli in diffusion chambers. All groundwater was anaerobic and extremely reduced (ORP 95% of the E. coli population being inactivated <11·0 h (mean k = 0·488 ±0·188 h(-1) ). CONCLUSIONS The groundwater geochemical conditions enhanced the inactivation of E. coli to rates approx. 21-fold greater than previously published inactivation rate in groundwater (mean k = 0·023 ± 0·030 h(-1) ). Also, mTEC agar inhibits E. coli growth following exposure to anaerobic and reduced groundwater. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY Aquifer recharge zones with geochemical characteristics observed in this study complement above-ground engineered processes (e.g. filtration, disinfection), while increasing the overall indicator micro-organism log-reduction rate of a facility.
System reform in integrated health systems.

As the debate progresses on health care reform and the ultimate form of the U.S. system, important lessons can be drawn from examinations of other health care systems. From the U.S. perspective, European health systems appear to have a certain homogeneity about them. Americans tend to look at all European arrangements as single-source financing systems. Because these systems all provide universal coverage, the assumption is that there must be a strong cohesion and similarity among them. Viewed from the European perspective, the reality appears to be rather different. In this article, the health cae systems of Nordic countries are analyzed in terms of their differences both from other European systems and from the United States approach.
Efficient partial order preserving unsupervised feature selection on networks

In the past decade, research on network data has attracted much attention and many interesting phenomena have been discovered. Such data are often characterized by high dimensionality but how to select meaningful and more succinct features for network data received relatively less attention. In this paper, we investigate unsupervised feature selection problem on networks. To effectively incorporate linkage information, we propose a Partial Order Preserving (POP) principle for evaluating features. We show the advantage of this novel formulation in several respects: effectiveness, efficiency and its connection to optimizing AUC. We propose three instantiations derived from the POP principle and evaluate them using three real-world datasets. Experimental results show that our approach has significantly better performance than state-of-the-art methods under several different metrics.
Population Growth, Migration, and Changes in the Racial Differential in Imprisonment in the United States, 1940–1980

The proportion of U.S. prison inmates who were black increased dramatically between 1940 and 2000. While about two-thirds of the increase occurred between 1940 and 1970, most recent research analyzes the period after 1970, focusing on explanations such as the war on drugs, law-and-order politics, discrimination, inequality, and racial threat. We analyze the growth in the racial difference in incarceration between 1940 and 1980, focusing on the role of demographic processes, particularly population growth, migration, and urbanization. We implement three analyses to assess the role of these demographic processes: (1) a simple accounting model that decomposes the national trend into population growth, changes in arrests, and changes in sentencing; (2) a model of state variation in incarceration that decomposes the racial difference in incarceration into population change, migration between states with different incarceration rates, and other processes; and (3) race-specific models of within-state variation in incarceration rates using state characteristics coupled with a decomposition of the role of changes in state characteristics.
Parental smoking and children undergoing anesthesia: Is there a role for pediatric hospitals in smoking cessation?

Purpose Pediatric hospitals within the Children's Hospital Association were surveyed to determine their tobacco cessation efforts for parents/patients. Design and Methods Electronic surveys were sent to 75 anesthesia providers and/or preoperative surgery specialists at 41 facilities. Results A total of 52 completed surveys were returned. The majority (97%) of facilities were smoke-free, and 68% included preoperative questions about parental smoking and secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure. Few offered cessation assistance. Practice Implications Pediatric hospitals have a role in parental smoking cessation. This article provides recommendations for pediatric hospitals to assist parents to overcome their addiction to tobacco as they strive to provide the best possible healthcare services for children.
Wind Loading on Free-Swinging Traffic Signals

Experimental results of wind loading tests on 15 configurations of standard stop-light traffic signals are presented. Both 8 in. and 12 in. lense signals were tested in one, two, three and four light set combinations with both standard and extended full circular hoods. All of the tests were performed on free-swinging lights and the signal was allowed to assume its natural orientation to the flow. The resulting wind loading data are plotted versus wind dynamic pressure. The effects of both damped and undamped oscillations of certain configurations are examined, and suggestions are presented for further work to optimize traffic signal design.
The Classical False Dichotomy Model

The previous chapters set out the basic elements of the neoclassical macroeconomic model. In this chapter, the equilibrium solutions to the simplest version of the model will be treated in detail. The purpose is not merely to reproduce what can be found in standard textbooks on macroeconomics. The intention of this and the next two chapters is to substantiate a previous assertion.
Sphingomyelin and ceramide in brain aging, neuronal plasticity and neurodegenerative disorders

Publisher Summary Sphingomyelin metabolites, particularly ceramide and sphingosine-l-phosphate, are becoming firmly established as mediators of neuronal plasticity and survival, and perturbations in sphingomyelin metabolism are increasingly recognized for its contributions to the pathogenesis of neurological disorders. Sphingolipid signaling mediates cellular responses to a remarkable array of growth factors, cytokines and neurotransmitters, but is also a prominent mediator of responses oxidative and metabolic stress. If alterations in sphingolipid do indeed play major roles in aging and age-related disease, then one goal of research on this fascinating signaling system is to identify ways to maintain the beneficial functions of sphingolipid metabolism, while preventing pathological alterations in this system. Accumulating data from analyses of postmortem tissues from patients, and experiments in animal and cell culture models, support involvement of perturbed sphingomyelin metabolism and ceramide signaling in several different neurodegenerative disorders. This chapter reviews the emerging evidence suggesting that sphingomyelin alterations play important roles in dysfunction and death of neurons in pathological conditions and that normalizing these alterations may prove effective in preventing and treating one or more of the diseases.
Surfactant-Only Stabilized Dispersions of Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes in High-Electrolyte-Concentration Brines

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) exhibit promising properties for potential applications in oil production. Because of their substantial surface area, they could be used as carriers for catalysts or chemicals into subsurface oil and gas zones to change the properties of reservoir fluids or rock. A prerequisite for utilizing the MWNT in reservoir applications is to generate stable aqueous-phase dispersions that are well-dispersed and able to propagate successfully through the reservoir medium. In this study, different types of surfactants were investigated for their ability to disperse MWNTs in high-ionic-strength solutions typical of oil reservoirs up to 10% American Petroleum Institute (API) brine (8 wt % NaCl and 2 wt % CaCl2). Stable nanotube dispersions in deionized water were achieved with the anionic surfactants evaluated. Compression of the electrical double layer, however, at high ionic strength, e.g., >3 wt % electrolytes, led to rapid aggregation of the anionic surfactant-aided nanotube disp...
W.H. Hamer (1906) and H. Soper (1929): Why diseases come and go

Two papers are discussed in this chapter, both examining the periodicity of infectious disease incidence in general and measles in particular. Hamer, in his 1906 paper, develops a quantitative argument, based on demographic data, in particular weekly births and recorded numbers of measles cases, to show that the periodicity of that disease was driven by the influx of susceptibles and their depletion. In 1929 Soper follows up on Hamer's hypothesis of disease periodicity. He introduces the concept of mass action to mathematical epidemiology and develops a differential equation model of disease transmission. From that he derives a formula for the period. He investigates the behavior of the period theoretically, but also with “synthetic epidemics”. Soper also examines the possible role of seasonally changing factors in the periodicity of infectious disease transmission. The reader is guided through all relevant derivations and calculations.
Curative radiation for orbital MZL: how much?

In this issue of Blood, Desai et al report a large retrospective analysis from the University of Miami including 182 patients with primary ocular adnexal mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma (orbital marginal zone lymphoma [MZL]).1 Most were at an early stage (82%), and 76% were treated successfully with orbital irradiation. Treatment and follow-up data spanned 31 years. This study reaffirms the excellent long-term control of orbital MZL with localized radiation therapy (RT; complete remission [CR] rate >97%); only 3 deaths were attributed to lymphoma, and 2 of those occurred following systemic transformation.
Relations between Dye Diffusion and Fiber Structure in Nylon 6

Diffusion rates of an acid dye into commercially drawn Nylon 6 yarns were measured and are discussed in relation to fiber structure. The yarn samples investigated were drawn at two different draw rates and various draw ratios up to 3times;. A four-fold decrease in dye diffusion was found as the draw ratio increased from 1X to 3×; this decrease was not monotonic, however. Maxima and inflections occurred in plots of the diffusion constant vs. draw ratio. The dynamic loss modulus E″, measured under the dyeing conditions, exhibited similar maxima; E″ is indicative of the mobility of the amorphous chain segments. Taken with birefringence measurements, the data are interpreted as indicating a structural breakup during drawing of the undrawn yarn, resulting in an overall less stable microstructure in draw-ratio regions where maxima or inflections occur in the diffusion rate. This instability is markedly affected by drawing rate.
A Relational Event Approach to Modeling Behavioral Dynamics

This chapter provides an introduction to the analysis of relational event data (i.e., actions, interactions, or other events involving multiple actors that occur over time) within the R/statnet platform. We begin by reviewing the basics of relational event modeling, with an emphasis on models with piecewise constant hazards. We then discuss estimation for dyadic and more general relational event models using the relevent package, with an emphasis on hands-on applications of the methods and interpretation of results. Statnet is a collection of packages for the R statistical computing system that supports the representation, manipulation, visualization, modeling, simulation, and analysis of relational data. Statnet packages are contributed by a team of volunteer developers, and are made freely available under the GNU Public License. These packages are written for the R statistical computing environment, and can be used with any computing platform that supports R (including Windows, Linux, and Mac).
Loving Eyes of My Own: Love, Particularity, and Necessity

Harry Frankfurt has argued that there is a kind of practical necessity that has not received sufficient attention—necessitation by what we care about or love. This kind of practical necessity differs in important ways from necessity connected with morality and rationality. It involves a normative claim, which can be specific to an individual rather than universal. And, love creates, rather than responds to, value. Something seems undeniably right about Frankfurt’s “necessity of love.” His analysis of this phenomenon has, however, been widely seen as problematic and vulnerable to troubling counterexamples. The main difficulties stem from his insistence that one can be autonomously compelled by love while judging the beloved to be “utterly bad” in itself. This chapter seeks to identify and salvage what is compelling in Frankfurt’s analysis. Through reflection on the salient characteristics of Luther’s stand against the church (which Frankfurt invokes as a defining instance of practical necessity) and an analysis of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s work on self-reliance, the chapter sketches a view in which autonomous necessitation by love rests on a particular kind of perception of intrinsic value in the beloved, which is not available to everyone. This means motivation by love requires a known assumption of a particular kind of epistemic and agential risk. This picture, it is argued, captures the special nature of love as a form of practical necessity without falling prey to the difficulties that beset Frankfurt’s view. The possible implications for more general issues in practical reasoning are also considered.
Unsupervised Query-Focused Multi-Document Summarization using the Cross Entropy Method

We present a novel unsupervised query-focused multi-document summarization approach. To this end, we generate a summary by extracting a subset of sentences using the Cross-Entropy (CE) Method. The proposed approach is generic and requires no domain knowledge. Using an evaluation over DUC 2005-2007 datasets with several other state-of-the-art baseline methods, we demonstrate that, our approach is both effective and efficient.
Apolipoprotein A-IV constrains HPA and behavioral stress responsivity in a strain-dependent manner

There is a critical gap in our knowledge of the mechanisms that govern interactions between daily life experiences (e.g., stress) and metabolic diseases, despite evidence that stress can have profound effects on cardiometabolic health. Apolipoprotein A-IV (apoA-IV) is a protein found in chylomicrons (lipoprotein particles that transport lipids throughout the body) where it participates in lipid handling and the regulation of peripheral metabolism. Moreover, apoA-IV is expressed in brain regions that regulate energy balance including the arcuate nucleus. Given that both peripheral and central metabolic processes are important modulators of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity, the present work tests the hypothesis that apoA-IV activity affects stress responses. As emerging data suggests that apoA-IV actions can vary with background strain, we also explore the strain-dependence of apoA-IV stress regulation. These studies assess HPA axis, metabolic (hyperglycemia), and anxiety-related behavioral responses to psychogenic stress in control (wildtype) and apoA-IV-deficient (KO) mice on either the C57Bl/6J (C57) or 129×1/SvJ (129) background strain. The results indicate that apoA-IV KO increases post-stress corticosterone and anxiety-related behavior specifically in the 129 strain, and increases stress-induced hyperglycemia exclusively in the C57 strain. These data support the hypothesis that apoA-IV is a novel factor that limits stress reactivity in a manner that depends on genetic background. An improved understanding of the complex relationship among lipid homeostasis, stress sensitivity, and genetics is needed to optimize the development of personalized treatments for stress- and metabolism-related diseases.
Individualism-Collectivism and Saving Face

This chapter discusses the cultural dimensions individualism and collectivism. In particular, the idea of how collectivism is related to favoring in-groups over out-groups, and how this is played out in the workplace is explained. Collectivism’s focus on harmony and status differences is also presented. Individualistic consultations as well as their need to self-promote is explained. The difference between collectivistic high-context and individualistic low-context communication is developed. Other concepts relating to business such as leadership, in particular, with reference to the GLOBE research are presented. Workplace concepts such as work-life balance and the need for feedback are expounded upon as well
Professors Practicing Mindfulness: An Action Research Study on Transformed Teaching, Research, and Service:

In this 2-year action research study, 33 university professors attended a 4-day faculty seminar titled “Mindfulness Meditation in Teaching,” which included guided insight meditation, dialogic inqui...
Grain boundary energy, disordering energy and grain growth kinetics in nanocrystalline MgAl2O4 spinel

Abstract An atomistic description and quantification of the individual contributions coming from the driving force and the grain boundary mobility to the phenomenon of grain growth can result in a better understanding and control of the microstructural evolution. The present work addresses these topics concerning nanocrystalline dense MgAl2O4. A systematic experimental investigation is performed on MgAl2O4 spinel using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) to determine the grain boundary energy as function of the grain size ranging from ∼8 nm to ∼150 nm to quantify the thermodynamic driving force for grain growth. The grain boundary energy displays a strong dependence on the grain size along with additional increase in excess energy with decreasing grain size as a result of a size-induced cation site disorder (inversion). A grain growth study is performed at temperatures ranging from 1100 to 1300 °C in order to determine both grain boundary mobility and activation energy. The results demonstrate faster growth behavior for smaller grains that can be related to a combined increase in excess energies and grain boundary velocities with decreasing grain size.
The Sale of Tax Credits Revisited: A CCA Consecrates (Most of) Tempel,

In a 2011 decision, Tempel v. Commissioner, the Tax Court had held, among other things. that gain on sales of state income tax credits was capital gain. In a Chief Counsel Advice released later in the same year, the IRS accepted the result, and most of the analysis, of Tempel, and it also provided guidance about the tax consequences to a purchaser of credits. This article analyzes the CCA, discusses the remaining disagreements between the Service and the Tempel court, and stresses that the CCA’s conclusions were explicitly limited to nonrefundable credits.
Relationships Between Adaptive Behavior and Impairment

Adaptive behavior generally refers to one's ability to meet daily living responsibilities and to respond to the needs of others. The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) defines adaptive behavior as “the collection of conceptual, social, and practical skills that have been learned by people in order to function in their everyday lives” (American Association on Mental Retardation [AAMR], 2002, p. 73). The AAIDD's 1992 definition cited the following 10 adaptive skills that constitute adaptive behavior: communication, community use, functional academics, home and school living, health and safety, leisure, self-care, self-direction, social, and work (Table 4.1). These 10 skills have been incorporated into either the conceptual, social, or practical domains. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) emphasizes the importance of these 10 skills in its diagnostic criteria for mental retardation (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2000).
Exploring hope as a mediator between religiosity and depression in adolescents

Multiple studies have found an inverse relationship between adolescent religiosity and adolescent depression. However, further research is needed to better understand the complexity of this relatio...
On the Use of Option Pricing Models for Insurance Rate Regulation

In the past decade, insurance regulatory authorities have witnessed the introduction of various economic or quasi-economic models for estimating the “fair” rate of return on equity. These models succeeded earlier rules of thumb such as the target of 5 percent underwriting profit. The economic model that has received most attention is the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). However, this model has serious flaws arising from its stylized treatment of taxes, its failure to consider the possibility of ruin, and the difficulties associated with measuring underwriting betas. More recently, models based upon option pricing theory have been applied to insurance pricing in an attempt to address at least some of the flaws of the CAPM. In this chapter, we discuss the use of option-based models for insurance pricing and will summarize two recent applications by the authors. We will then present specimen applications of these models using workers’ compensation data. For comparison, we show comparable results for the CAPM.
De Novo Short-Read Assembly

An imperative first step in the characterization of a species or individual is the sequencing and subsequent assembly and analysis of its genome. High-throughput sequencing technology has ushered in a new way of thinking about this fundamental undertaking. Next-generation sequencing machines produce reads through highly parallel operation and produce a much greater quantity of data per experiment, at drastically reduced cost per base, with the drawback of short-read length. A new generation of de novo assembly algorithms and applications has arisen to meet the challenges inherent to this new type of sequence data. Many de novo assembly algorithms have been implemented, each with its own set of assumptions, strengths, and weaknesses. While the details of each such assembler are unique, all of these assemblers share a common conceptual foundation and all must contend with the same set of complexities presented by next-generation sequencing data. This chapter discusses each type of de novo short-read assembly algorithm with emphasis on the similarities and differences between them.
Tinkering with the Tinker: Meeting Training Needs in the Informal Sector of Chad

Without wading into debates on cause and effect or on the transferability of models,1 it is widely asserted that where economic development has taken root, national rates of literacy, education and training are relatively high (Cummings & Dall, 1995, p. 5; Lockheed & Verspoor, 1990, p. 1). This occurs, particularly in developing countries, despite the custom of national TVET programmes to train to standards that have little in common with the true needs of the economic sector—in other words, the ‘supply-driven’ approach. The result is educated unemployment co-occurring with many unfilled technical positions or the presence of foreign skilled workers2 (Middleton, Ziderman & Van Adams, 1993, pp. 51–66). Many developing country governments, with their international donor partners, began to respond to this training ‘short-circuit’ in the 1990s with strategies and policies based on a ‘demand-driven’ approach (Middleton et al., 1993, p. 101; Wilson, 1996). They stimulated the ‘production’ of trainees who matched more precisely the worker profiles, in numbers and, especially, competencies, defined by the employment sector. In some countries, this has included greater attention—official or not—to training that occurs in the informal production, service and commercial sectors, albeit following different strategies. This phenomenon, notably the potential of the informal sector to contribute to the readjustment of national TVET strategies and policies, is the topic of the present chapter, drawing from research conducted in Chad in the mid-1990s. Formal TVET tends to be highly selective, a consequence of the few places and the high unit cost. In many countries, this situation results in recruiting graduates who have at least one more degree than that required for enrolment. By definition, this relegates a large portion of a country’s youth to unemployment or underemployment, while technical jobs remain unfilled. The TVET sector continues to suffer from criticism that its programmes are not adapted to the real needs of the workplace, that students are trained in theory but fail in practice and that the graduates lack both suitable workplace behaviours and acumen for independent employment. The study in Chad, as well as similar experiences in other countries, provides strong reasons to look to the informal sector to fill this gap. Quantitatively, the number of ‘spaces’ available is exponentially greater and the cost of training enormously