cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
When are optimal rates of presentation optimal (for learning)

It has been shown previously that with total time held constant, several relatively brief presentations of a simple verbal item (e.g., four presentations at a 2-sec rate) produce better associative learning than does one lengthy presentation (e.g., one presentation at an 8-sec rate). In two experiments, we examined the generality of this effect. In Experiment 1, presentation rate was examined in relation to the ability of the learner (good and poor associative learners) and the difficulty level of to-be-learned items (hard and easy items). In Experiment 2, the effect of presentation rate was examined as a function of the retention interval (immediate or delayed). The results indicate that the effect is robust, and apparently independent of ability of learner, type of item, and time of testing. Implications for planning optimal learning strategies, especially those that might be employed for acquiring new vocabulary, are discussed.
Defoliation of the annual herb Abutilon theophrasti: mechanisms underlying reproductive compensation.

A number of studies have shown that under some conditions plants may fully or partially compensate for leaf tissue loss; however, the mechanisms underlying compensatory responses are not well understood. Previous work demonstrated that the annual herb Abutilon theophrasti fully compensated for 75% defoliation, but only when grown in the absence of stem competition. We examined potential mechanisms of compensatory response and how they are influenced by resource limitation (i.e., competition for light). Full compensation for these annual plants was defined as equal final reproductive output in defoliated and control plants. In the current study we observed substantial compensation in defoliated plants growing at low density, despite losing 75% of leaf area prior to the onset of flowering. Plant responses associated with compensation included (1) increased reproductive efficiency, which may in turn may have resulted from increased canopy light penetration and transient increases in leaf-level photosynthetic rates; (2) greater allocation to reproduction (RA); (3) changes in biomass allocation from roots to shoots; (4) lower leaf longevity, and (5) increased percent fruit set. Although some of these responses were also observed in defoliated plants grown at high density, the inability of high-density plants to compensate appeared to result from competition for light; these plants delayed reproduction and continued to produce new leaves late in the growing season after low-density, defoliated plants had shifted allocation of resources to reproduction.
Phononic engineered materials and devices

Disorder in hydrogenated amorphous silicon leads to short electronic diffusion lengths and poor electronic lifetimes relative to crystalline silicon. Interestingly this same disorder can lead to longer phonon diffusion lengths and lifetimes. These properties suggest disorder-induced truncation of the Brillouin zone results in fewer phonon decay possibilities thereby reducing Umklapp scattering. Phonon propagation speed is a function of the mechanical properties of the matrix and therefore a function of hydrogen content. Therefore, it is possible to engineer structures to guide phonons using methods previously developed to pattern the refractive index. Taken together these properties offer a means of explaining observed phononic behavior of amorphous silicon and offer a platform for engineering devices.
Comparative study of the development of enzymes involved in carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism from brain, heart, liver and kidney of chick embryo.

Abstract 1. 1. At successive stages of development carbohydrate metabolism is due to the action of different complements of enzymes; some are peculiar to the pentose phosphate cycle, others to glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle. 2. 2. The enzymatic activity during development seems closely related to its metabolic function such as lactate dehydrogenase in glycolysis, and glucose-6-phosphatase in gluconeogenesis. 3. 3. The fluctuating enzymatic activities observed during various developmental stages do not appear to be protected by added substrates, nor related to the activators or inhibitors, but are due to the release of bound enzymes.
Method of stochastic normal forms

Abstract —The method of normal forms, originally developed for deterministic non-linear dynamical systems, is extended to include stochastic excitations, with the objective of obtaining an optimal reduction of dimensionality of the system while retaining its essential dynamic characteristics. Similar to the deterministic case, the crucial step in the normal-form computation is to find the so-called resonant terms which cannot be eliminated through a non-linear change of variables. Subsequent to the reduction of dimensionality, the associated stochastic normal form is obtained using a Markovian approximation. It is shown that the second order stochastic terms must be retained, in order to capture the stochastic contributions of the stable modes to the drift terms of the critical modes. Furthermore, for a specific class of non-linear systems, the results obtained from the stochastic normal form analysis are the same as those obtained from an extended stochastic averaging procedure. Thus, for this particular class, the two methods are equivalent.
Prolonged ABP synthesis by Sertoli cells cultured in defined medium.

Abstract Sertoli cells from 20 day old rats are stimulated to secrete ABP in culture by a number of hormones and Vitamin A. Maximum ABP secretion in prolonged serum-free culture is seen when FSH, Testosterone, Insulin and Retinol are added to the medium. The plating conditions and type of medium used also affect the total ABP secretion. The decline of ABP secreted into medium by hormone stimulated cultures in prolonged incubations correlates with the detachment of the cells from the culture flask.
P-361 - Sex difference in neural correlates of theory of mind

Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to predict behaviors of others in terms of their underlying mental states. Impairments in ToM have been found in many psychiatric/neurological disorders including schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Previous research has indicated that females score higher on standard tests of ToM, social sensitivity, and empathy than males do. To examine possible sex differences in the neural mechanisms associated with ToM, 16 female and 16 male adults were examined with fMRI while performing verbal (story) and nonverbal (cartoon) false-belief tasks. During the ToM condition, female participants showed significantly greater activity in the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG)/medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and left ventral prefrontal cortex (vPFC). In contrast, males showed greater activation in the TPJ and greater deactivation in the insula during the ToM cartoon, relative to the ToM story condition. These results suggest that males and females employ different brain regions for ToM depending on the modality involved in the ToM task. Implications of these results on the cognitive and affective neural bases of ToM and the aforementioned psychiatric disorders are discussed.
The immunohistochemical application of three anti-GFAP monoclonal antibodies to formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded, normal and neoplastic brain tissues

The intermediate filament, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) has proven to be an important glial marker in diagnostic neuropathology. We report the histochemical application of three monoclonal antibodies (Mab) produced in this laboratory, 1B4, 2E1, and 4A11, which are monospecific to GFAP by radioimmunoassay, immunoblot electrophoresis, and immunoperoxidase histochemistry. The goal of this study was to compare the specificity and sensitivity of these Mab to GFAP on surgical brain biopsy specimens which had been routinely processed for diagnostic neuropathology with that of a high titer, highly specific, reference polyvalent anti-GFAP antiserum. The Mab stained astrocytes specifically in normal brain. When combined in a "cocktail" preparation, the quality of the immunoperoxidase detection of GFAP by these Mab closely approached that of the reference serum in 71 intracranial and intraspinal neoplasms. As these three Mab represent a continuous supply of a well defined, monospecific reagent, the monoclonal "cocktail" represents a standard reagent for large multi-institutional studies and for studies extending over a period of time.
Genetic variation in maternal investment patterns in platyfish Xiphophorus maculatus.

Maternal investment in offspring is constrained by a variety of trade-offs, and the investment pattern expressed by an individual can have important fitness consequences. The authors investigate two maternal investment tradeoffs in the southern platyfish, Xiphophorus maculatus: investment in offspring size versus number, and investment in sons versus daughters. Variation in maternal age and size often confound measurements of investment patterns. Because allelic variation at a single locus in platyfish has a major effect on age and size at sexual maturation, investment patterns within a single age and size genotype could be examined, minimizing the influence of these factors on investment patterns. In addition, the platyfish sex determination system allows experimental investigation of relative investment in sons and daughters because different mating types produce different brood sex ratios. Total investment in broods did not differ among sibships, but the investment pattern did; some produced larger but...
Breaking up is hard to do: An evaluation of automated assume-guarantee reasoning

Finite-state verification techniques are often hampered by the state-explosion problem. One proposed approach for addressing this problem is assume-guarantee reasoning, where a system under analysis is partitioned into subsystems and these subsystems are analyzed individually. By composing the results of these analyses, it can be determined whether or not the system satisfies a property. Because each subsystem is smaller than the whole system, analyzing each subsystem individually may reduce the overall cost of verification. Often the behavior of a subsystem is dependent on the subsystems with which it interacts, and thus it is usually necessary to provide assumptions about the environment in which a subsystem executes. Because developing assumptions has been a difficult manual task, the evaluation of assume-guarantee reasoning has been limited. Using recent advances for automatically generating assumptions, we undertook a study to determine if assume-guarantee reasoning provides an advantage over monolithic verification. In this study, we considered all two-way decompositions for a set of systems and properties, using two different verifiers, FLAVERS and LTSA. By increasing the number of repeated tasks in these systems, we evaluated the decompositions as they were scaled. We found that in only a few cases can assume-guarantee reasoning verify properties on larger systems than monolithic verification can, and in these cases the systems that can be analyzed are only a few sizes larger. Although these results are discouraging, they provide insight about research directions that should be pursued and highlight the importance of experimental evaluation in this area.
Heating a solid by solar radiation

Abstract The solution is developed for the differential equation that describes the time-temperature relationship of a solid of infinite conductivity that is being heated by solar radiation and is simultaneously losing heat by convection and radiation to the surroundings. The solution is given in terms of the parameters of the first order, nonlinear, first-degree differential equation and the real roots of a fourth-degree polynomial that occur in the differential equation.
Gadolinium enhanced MRI (G-MRI): a radiological tool to stratify pediatric Crohn's disease (CD)

Gadolinium enhanced MRI (G-MRI): a radiological tool to stratify pediatric Crohn's disease (CD)
Measurement of interfacial charge-transfer rate constants at n-type InP/CH3OH junctions

Steady-state current density vs potential methods have been used to measure interfacial electron-transfer rate constants at n-type indium phosphide/liquid junctions. n-InP/CH3OH-1,1‘-dimethylferrocene+/0, n-InP/CH3OH-ferrocene+/0, n-InP/CH3OH-tetrahydrofuran-decamethylferrocene+/0, and n-InP/CH3OH-1,1‘-diphenyl-4,4‘-dipyridinium2+/+• contacts displayed bimolecular kinetic behavior in which the observed current density was first order in the concentration of electrons at the semiconductor surface and in the concentration of acceptors in the solution. Differential capacitance potential measurements were used to determine the energetics for the charge-transfer process as well as to determine the concentration of electrons at the semiconductor surface as a function of applied potential. These measurements indicated that the voltage dropped across the semiconductor space charge region varied linearly with changes in the Nernst potential of the solution, as expected for an ideally behaving semiconductor/liquid ...
The role of the pyridine nucleotide cycle in the biosynthesis of ricinine

Abstract Competitive feeding experiments were performed using castor bean seedlings to determine the effect of NAD on the incorporation of radioactive quinolinic acid into the alkaloid ricinine. The exogenous NAD did not cause a decrease in the total radioactivity incorporated into the ricinine as expected, but instead caused an increase. Data previously presented by other investigators was re-examined in light of this new finding. It was concluded that the existing evidence supports the hypothesis that NAD and ricinine are made from quinolinic acid by separate pathways.
Prediction of vaporization efficiencies for multicomponent mixtures by use of existing correlations for the vapor and liquid film coefficients

Abstract A formula for the prediction of vaporization efficiencies by use of the number of transfer units for the liquid and vapor phases is developed and its use is demonstrated. This formula provides a simple and accurate method of making use of the vast body of existing data in the form of Murphree efficiencies for binary mixtures for the prediction of the efficiencies for multicomponent mixtures.
THE EFFECTS OF ENERGY PRICE ESCALATIONS ON URBAN TRANSIT BALANCE

Abstract The forthcoming shortages in transit fuels and electricity resources were the basis for forecasts that bus fuel prices will quadruple by 1980, while transit electricity willhave doubled in cost. One effect of these energy price escalations on urban transit planning is to shift downward the economic balance between buses-on-busways and trains-on rails, from the current 12, 000 passengers per hour to half of this value by the beginning of the 1980's. A program is proposed to achieve better balanced, all-electric bus/rail urban transit systems that minimize capital and energy consumption.
Three-electron quantum dot in a magnetic field

Three electrons confined by a parabolic well in a two-dimensional quantum dot and interacting via a logarithmic potential in a magnetic field are treated in the framework of the hyperspherical functions (HF) method by expanding the wave function in terms of the three-body symmetrized HF and the hyperradial functions of noninteracting trapped electrons. The binding energies and pair correlation function are calculated.
Capitalization and proximity to agricultural and natural lands: Evidence from Delaware

Abstract This paper offers an applied study assessing the price impacts of proximity to open space in a residential property market. Data are collected in an urban-influenced region of Delaware, USA, which has experienced rapid population growth—an 85 percent increase in number of households and 92 percent increase in population between Census 1990 and Census 2000—but also maintains substantial agricultural land use. In agreement with previous literature the results show the protection of agricultural and natural lands is capitalized into the value of neighboring properties. Surprisingly however, in this rapidly growing region the open space that is not protected from development offers no distinguishable effect on property values. This is likely because in a rapidly developing region all unprotected land is seen as potentially developable.
A new approach to the traveling salesman problem

A new technique for combinatorial optimization is proposed. It is a combination of several variations on existing themes. Specifically it makes combined use of evolutionary programming and simulated annealing in novel ways. Simulation results are reported for 10 city and 50 city tours for the traveling salesman problem. The results show that the authors' proposed (GESA) approach can discover a very good near-optimum solution after examining an extremely small fraction of possible solutions.
The impact of crawl policy on web search effectiveness

Crawl selection policy has a direct influence on Web search effectiveness, because a useful page that is not selected for crawling will also be absent from search results. Yet there has been little or no work on measuring this effect. We introduce an evaluation framework, based on relevance judgments pooled from multiple search engines, measuring the maximum potential NDCG that is achievable using a particular crawl. This allows us to evaluate different crawl policies and investigate important scenarios like selection stability over multiple iterations. We conduct two sets of crawling experiments at the scale of 1~billion and 100~million pages respectively. These show that crawl selection based on PageRank, indegree and trans-domain indegree all allow better retrieval effectiveness than a simple breadth-first crawl of the same size. PageRank is the most reliable and effective method. Trans-domain indegree can outperform PageRank, but over multiple crawl iterations it is less effective and more unstable. Finally we experiment with combinations of crawl selection methods and per-domain page limits, which yield crawls with greater potential NDCG than PageRank.
The Dy-Er (Dysprosium-Erbium) system

The phase equilibria for the Dy-Er system was studied by Spedding et al. [73Spe]. The metals used in the investigation were prepared by the calcium reduction of the fluoride of these metals. The reduced metals were then purified by sublimation. Impurities present in their Dy (in at. ppm) were: 581 O, 189 C, 161 H, 46 N, 41 Fe, 20 each Cu and Ho, 17 F, 15 Er, 12 A1, 11 each Nd and Ni, and smaller amounts of Mg, Si, Sc, Ca, Cr, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Sm, Gd, Tb, Tin, Yb, Lu, and Ta. Impurities in their Er (also in at. ppm) were: 368 O, 331 H, 145 Cu, 97 C, 60 Ta, 28 Y, 26 F, 15 each Dy and Ho, 13 Cr, 12 each A1 and Fe, 11 each Sc and Si, and smaller amounts of Mg, Ca, Ni, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sin, Gd, Tb, Tm, Yb, and Lu. Great care was taken in the design of experimental equipment and research techniques to avoid error in the determination of melting points and transition temperatures.
Secondary ion yields produced by keV atomic and polyatomic ion impacts on a self-assembled monolayer surface

A suite of keV polyatomic or ‘cluster’ projectiles was used to bombard unoxidized and oxidized selfassembled monolayer surfaces. Negative secondary ion yields, collected at the limit of single ion impacts, were measured and compared for both molecular and fragment ions. In contrast to targets that are orders of magnitude thicker than the penetration range of the primary ions, secondary ion yields from polyatomic projectile impacts on self-assembled monolayers show little to no enhancement when compared with monatomic projectiles at the same velocity. This unusual trend is most likely due to the structural arrangement and bonding characteristics of the monolayer molecules with the Au(111). Copyright # 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Field Introgression of Diabrotica barberi and Diabrotica longicornis (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) Based on Genetic and Morphological Characters

ABSTRACT Diabrotica barberi Smith & Lawrence and Diabrotica longicornis (Say) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) are considered to be sister species, and it has been proposed that the two species may hybridize under field conditions. The objective of this study was to examine genetic and morphological characters of D. barberi and D. longicornis for evidence of field introgression. Both species were collected from sympatric and allopatric areas. Amplified fragment length polymorphisms and morphological characters (color and head capsule width) were used to examine variation within and among populations of D. barberi and D. longicornis. Relatively little of the overall genetic variation was explained by the putative species designation, and most of the genetic variation, both between and within species, was found within populations. In addition, genetic differences were not correlated with geographic location. Beetle color did differ significantly between putative species, with the darkest individuals occurring at...
An extended fourth order blind identification algorithm in spatially correlated noise

An eigenstructure-based method called extended fourth-order blind identification (EFOBI) is presented for the problem of blind decomposition of multiple source signals in spatially correlated noise. Estimates of the source signals and the unknown model parameters are computed by the algorithm. The method is applied to a speech enhancement problem and to the direction-of-arrival problem in array signal processing under sensor gain uncertainties and shows improved performance over traditional methods such as MUSIC. >
Levels of Germination Proteins in Dormant and Superdormant Spores of Bacillus subtilis

Bacillus subtilis spores that germinated poorly with saturating levels of nutrient germinants, termed superdormant spores, were separated from the great majority of dormant spore populations that germinated more rapidly. These purified superdormant spores (1.5 to 3% of spore populations) germinated extremely poorly with the germinants used to isolate them but better with germinants targeting germinant receptors not activated in superdormant spore isolation although not as well as the initial dormant spores. The level of β-galactosidase from a gerA-lacZ fusion in superdormant spores isolated by germination via the GerA germinant receptor was identical to that in the initial dormant spores. Levels of the germination proteins GerD and SpoVAD were also identical in dormant and superdormant spores. However, levels of subunits of a germinant receptor or germinant receptors activated in superdormant spore isolation were 6- to 10-fold lower than those in dormant spores, while levels of subunits of germinant receptors not activated in superdormant spore isolation were only ≤2-fold lower. These results indicate that (i) levels of β-galactosidase from lacZ fusions to operons encoding germinant receptors may not be an accurate reflection of actual germinant receptor levels in spores and (ii) a low level of a specific germinant receptor or germinant receptors is a major cause of spore superdormancy.
Nonischaemic heart failure and diabetes mellitus

This editorial refers to “Impact of diabetes mellitus on long-term survival in patients with congestive heart failure”1 by de Groote et al. on page 656. Knowledge about the impact of diabetes mellitus on prognosis in patients with heart failure continues to grow. As reported in this issue, de Groote et al.1 used coronary angiography to stratify diabetics with systolic heart failure into ischaemic and nonischaemic aetiologies. The hypothesis tested was that diabetic status may be used as a prognostic indicator in heart failure patients. The study also sought to analyse the impact of diabetes on survival according to the aetiology of heart failure. Although diabetic heart failure patients in the study had a significantly higher cardiovascular mortality rate, the finding was not as conclusive as in previous studies. Multivariate analysis of the combined ischaemic and nonischaemic study population did not show diabetes as an independent predictor of cardiovascular mortality. Importantly, in this study only 45% of the patients were classified as ischaemic. When the 45% with ischaemic aetiology were analysed separately, the results were again consistent with previously published findings. Diabetes mellitus was indeed an independent predictor of increased cardiovascular mortality in patients with heart failure of ischaemic aetiology. The study … E-mail address: shindler{at}umdnj.edu
The Influence of Diethylstilbestrol on Fat Deposition and Meat Quality in Chickens

Abstract THAT estrogens influence the fat metabolism of birds has been established previously (Lorenz et al., 1938; Zondek and Marx, 1939; Entenman et al., 1940). Until recently the expense of estrogenic preparations precluded commercial application of these materials in the poultry industry. When diethylstilbestrol appeared on the market, however, and supplied for the first time an inexpensive estrogen of high potency, the feasibility of using its action to hasten or improve the fattening of market cockerels seemed worth exploring. Preliminary experiments (Lorenz, 1943) were encouraging; the additional studies reported here were designed to answer a number of specific questions of interest in developing a process suitable for commercial use. MATERIALS AND METHODS Single-Comb White Leghorn cockerels were used in all of the experiments. For each experiment the birds were divided into the test groups by a method of partially controlled randomization on the basis of body weight. All treated birds received . . .
Hypofractionation: What Does It Mean for Prostate Cancer Treatment?

Purpose Using current radiobiologic models and biologic parameters, we performed an exploratory study of the clinical consequences of hypofractionation in prostate cancer radiotherapy. Methods and Materials Four hypofractionated treatment regimens were compared with standard fractionation of 2 Gy × 39 for prostate carcinoma using a representative set of anatomical structures. The linear-quadratic model and generalized equivalent uniform dose formalism were used to calculate normalized equivalent uniform dose (gEUD2), from which tumor control probability and normal tissue complication probability were calculated, as well as “complication-free tumor control probability” (P+). The robustness of the results was tested for various tumor α/β values and broad interval of biologic parameters such as surviving fraction after a dose of 2 Gy (SF2). Results A 2.5% and 5.8% decrease in NTCP for rectum and bladder, respectively, was predicted for the 6.5 Gy/fraction regimen compared with the 2 Gy/fraction. Conversely, TCP for hypofractionated regimens decreased significantly with increasing SF2 and α/β. For tumor cells with SF2 = 0.4−0.5, P+ was superior for nearly all hypofractionated regimens even for α/β values up to 6.5 Gy. For less responsive tumor cells (SF2 = 0.6), hypofractionation regimens were inferior to standard fractionation at much lower α/β. Conclusion For a sample set of anatomical structures, existing radiobiologic data and models predict improved clinical results from hypofractionation over standard fractionation not only for prostate carcinoma with low α/β but also for high α/β (up to 6.5 Gy) when SF2
Testability insertion in behavioral descriptions

A new synthesis-for-testability approach is proposed that uses control points at branch conditions to improve testability. Hard-to-control loops are identified through analysis of the control-data flow graph, and control points are added at the exit conditions of these loops. Test statements are also inserted if necessary to allow hard-to-control variables to be directly controllable from existing primary inputs. Implementation of the proposed techniques using the HLSynth92 and HLSynth95 benchmark circuits results in significant improvements in fault coverage and reductions in test set size and test generation time. Furthermore, the impact on area and performance is minimal, and the ability to do at-speed testing is not affected.
Marcus Garvey and African Unity: Lessons for the Future From the Past

This article primarily considers African unity via the insights and struggle of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and African Communities League (ACL) in the 1920s. Garvey provided a blueprint in relation to the psychological welfare of peoples of African descent globally. The UNIA had chapters in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas, espousing the ideology of psychological betterment that would lead to “Africa for the Africans at home and abroad.” There are many lessons that African independence leaders learned from Marcus Garvey, and in the 21st century there is the need for greater cooperation between Black peoples of African descent on the continent, who continue to cope with, among other things, the legacy of European colonialism and dysfunctional African leadership in the postcolonial era. Crucially, the present maladies of HIV/AIDS, sporadic civil war, and poor distribution of health services make the notion of African unity an imperative.
Aspects of Potato Leafhopper (Homoptera: Cicadellidae) Biology on Solanum berthaultii and Other Potato Genotypes

Survival of nymphs and adult males and females of potato leafhopper, Empoasca fabae (Harris), on six potato (Solanum spp.) genotypes with varied levels of resistance was evaluated and related to type, density, and droplet/head size of foliar glandular trichomes. Survival was greater on Solanumtuberosum cultivars (OAlleganyO and OElbaO) compared with accessions of the wildS.berthaultii (PI 473331 and PI 473334). The barrier provided by glandular trichomes may affect survival ofE.fabae by restricting nymph and adult feeding. PI 473331 was the most pubescent host, bearing type A and type B trichomes and the most unsuitable host for E. fabae. Allegany possesses leasets with low trichome densities and small gland diameter and was the most suitable host for adult E.fabae survival. Females generally had higher survival rates than males. Nymphal and adult leafhoppers differed greatly in their survival rates, particularly onS.tuberosumS.berthaultii hybrids (Q174-2 and NY123). Interestingly, nymphs had longer (190 d) mean lethal time (LT50) than adults (31 d) when held on Q174-2, and a lower LT50 (19 d) when held on NY123 compared with adults (104 d). Starvation, dehydration, or both were likely associated with mortality of nymphs conÞned on PI 473331 and PI 473334. Nymphs on these accessions died at a comparable rate to those conÞned on a starvation treatment and more rapidly than those supplied with water only, sucrose solution or other potato genotypes. Darkened trichome exudates were observed on insects held on PI 473331 and PI 473334, consistent with previous reports that glandular trichomes of S. berthaultii contain phenolic oxidation chemistry. This study aids in the identiÞcation of the probable mechanisms of resistance to E. fabae used by S. berthaulti and its hybrids with S. tuberosum.
Beclouded Work in Historical Perspective

The Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal is publishing a collection of papers on the “gig” economy and labor law, edited by Valerio De Stefano of the International Labor Organization. This paper places what is seen as an innovation in a larger historical context. It compares “gig” work to the putting-out system that was a feature of manufacture from early modern Europe forward to modern times. It explores the economic, social, and technological basis of both and teases out the larger implications of what seems to be genuinely new by virtue of the global reach of information technology.
National Rulemaking Through Trial Courts: The Big Case and Institutional Reform

Institutional reform lawsuits - big cases involving the structural reform of local government entities such as prisons and housing authorities - have traditionally been analyzed in two ways: either as unique exercises of judicial power or as party-driven examples of small-scale government by negotiation. To these traditional descriptive approaches, this article adds a third. If examined through a wider lens, institutional reform litigation has national, systemic implications, and, indeed, can create uniform federal law. This law is not imposed vertically, by appellate tribunals, but rather spreads horizontally, from trial court to trial court, like nodes in a nationwide network. The article accordingly focuses on the structural character of institutional reform litigation from a national perspective. As it turns out, the system operates through information exchanges by repeat players who participate in multiple institutional reform cases, most commonly as counsel or expert witnesses, but also as parties (or, occasionally, judges) involved in multiple lawsuits. These participants facilitate the adoption of common standards by preferring familiar remedies, by valuing interoperability between cases, and by succumbing to the inertial momentum that these preferences, when placed in the context of the system, can create. The result is a different kind of law, one low on reasoned elaboration and high on best-practices-style copying. The article describes the phenomenon and analyzes it through two qualitative case studies. It also reviews the prior literature on institutional reform litigation and compares the network to other examples of regulatory standardization from below. Although principally descriptive, the article concludes with a brief evaluation of the implications of ad hoc standardization through trial court litigation.
On Total Price Uncertainty and the Behavior of a Competitive Firm

In this paper, a general model of the competitive firm's behavior under output and factor (total) price uncertainty is developed to evaluate the role of market interdependencies in analyzing long-run equilibrium conditions and comparative statics analysis of increased uncertainty in output and input prices. It is demonstrated that the results shown in the literature are a special case of the findings reported here and market interdependencies play a central role in determining the firm's long-run equilibrium under uncertainty.
Mindfulness-Based Approaches in the Treatment of Disordered Gambling A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background and Aims:To examine the effects of mindfulness-based interventions on gambling behavior and symptoms, urges, and financial outcomes.Method:Systematic review and meta-analytic procedures were employed to search, select, code, and analyze studies conducted between 1980 and 2014, assessing the effects of mindfulness-based interventions in the treatment of disordered gambling with adults.Results:Thirteen studies met criteria for this review and seven met criteria for meta-analysis. Effects were moderate to large for gambling behaviors/symptoms (g = 0.68, 95% CI = [0.39, 0.98], p < .01), gambling urges (g = 0.69, 95% CI = [0.18, 1.20], p < .01), and financial outcomes (g = 0.75, 95% CI = [0.24, 1.26], p < .01). Heterogeneity was low and nonsignificant.Conclusions:The findings provide support for mindfulness-based interventions in the treatment of disordered gambling. However, these results are necessarily tentative, limited by the number and quality of eligible studies, and differing conceptualizati...
Regulatory T-Cell-Mediated Suppression of Conventional T-Cells and Dendritic Cells by Different cAMP Intracellular Pathways

Regulatory T-cells (Tregs) mediate their suppressive action by acting directly on conventional T-cells (Tcons) or dendritic cells (DCs). One mechanism of Treg suppression is the increase of cyclic adenosine 3’,5’-monophosphate (cAMP) levels in target cells. Tregs utilize cAMP to control Tcon responses such as proliferation and cytokine production. Tregs also exert their suppression on DCs, diminishing DC immunogenicity by down-modulating the expression of co-stimulatory molecules and actin polymerization at the immunological synapse. The Treg-mediated usage of cAMP occurs through two major mechanisms. The first involves the Treg-mediated influx of cAMP in target cells through gap junctions. The second is the conversion of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) into adenosine by the ectonucleases CD39 and CD73 present at the surface of Tregs. Adenosine then binds to receptors on the surface of target cells, leading to increased intracellular cAMP levels in these targets. Downstream, cAMP can activate the canonical protein kinase A (PKA) pathway and the exchange protein activated by cyclic AMP (EPAC) non-canonical pathway. In this review, we discuss the most recent findings related to cAMP activation of PKA and EPAC, which are implicated in Treg homeostasis as well as the functional alterations induced by cAMP in cellular targets of Treg suppression.
Identification of a Halogenase Involved in the Biosynthesis of Ochratoxin A in Aspergillus carbonarius

ABSTRACT Aspergillus carbonarius is the main responsible fungus of ochratoxin A (OTA) contamination of grapes and derived products. To date, the biosynthetic mechanism of this mycotoxin has been partially elucidated. Availability of genome sequence of A. carbonarius has allowed the identification of a putative gene cluster involved in OTA biosynthesis. This region hosts the previously characterized AcOTAnrps and AcOTApks genes encoding two key enzymes of the biosynthetic pathway. At about 4,400 nucleotides downstream of these loci, a gene encoding a putative flavin dependent-halogenase came out from the annotation data. Its proximity to OTA biosynthetic genes and its sequence analysis have suggested a role in the biosynthesis of OTA, directed to the introduction of the chlorine atom in the C-5 position of the final molecular structure of this mycotoxin. The deduced protein sequence of the halogenase gene, we designated AcOTAhal , shows a high similarity to a halogenase that is located in the OTA cluster of A. niger. The deletion of the halogenase gene completely eliminated the production of ochratoxin A in A. carbonarius and determined a significant increase of ochratoxin B, as confirmed by mass spectrometry analysis. Moreover, its expression profile was similar to the two biosynthetic genes previously identified, AcOTApks and AcOTAnrps , indicating a strong correlation of the AcOTAhal gene with the kinetics of OTA accumulation in A. carbonarius. Therefore, experimental evidence confirmed that the chlorination step which converts OTB in OTA represents the final stage of the biosynthetic pathway, supporting our earlier hypothesis on the order of enzymatic steps of OTA biosynthesis in A. carbonarius. IMPORTANCE Ochratoxin A is a potent mycotoxin classified as a possible carcinogen for humans, and Aspergillus carbonarius is the main agent responsible for OTA accumulation in grapes. We demonstrate here that a flavin-halogenase is implicated in the biosynthesis of OTA in A. carbonarius. The encoding gene, AcOTAhal , is contiguous to biosynthetic genes that we have already described ( nrps and pks ), resulting as part of the biosynthetic cluster. The encoded protein is responsible of the introduction of chlorine atom in the final molecular structure and acts at the last step in the pathway. This study can be considered a continuation of an earlier study wherein we started to clarify the molecular basis of OTA biosynthesis in A. carbonarius, which has not been completely elucidated until now. This research represents an important step forward to a better understanding of the production mechanism, which will contribute to the development of improved control strategies to reduce the risk of OTA contamination in food products.
Hepatocellular carcinoma detection: diagnostic performance of a simulated abbreviated MRI protocol combining diffusion-weighted and T1-weighted imaging at the delayed phase post gadoxetic acid

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a “simulated” abbreviated MRI (AMRI) protocol using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and T1-weighted (T1w) imaging obtained at the hepatobiliary phase (HBP) post gadoxetic acid injection alone and in combination, compared to dynamic contrast-enhanced (CE)-T1w imaging for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Covered in ink: tattoos, women, and the politics of the body

‘My first tattoo was nothing special; it was regrettable, even.’ (1). For those of us with tattoos, the first sentence of Beverly Yuen Thompson’s book may strike an all too familiar and resounding ...
Investigating ecosystem dynamics at a watershed level

In the winter of 1995-1996, the Soil and Water Conservation Society established an Issue Survey Task Force to identify natural resource issues that should be addressed and activities that would be appropriate to achieve the Society's mission. One issue identified was that “Improvements are needed in capabilities to identify and to address natural resource management issues in a holistic manner (ecosystem/watershed/whole farm/new partnerships) with an objective of sustainable resource use.” The task force recommended that an interdisciplinary cadre of scientists and practitioners be assembled to (i) review what is known about ecosystem dynamics as it relates to the sustainability of soil and water resources, (ii) determine what needs to be understood so that soil and water resources can be effectively managed to sustain ecological integrity while maintaining economic livelihoods, and (iii) develop a white paper for distribution to policy makers and research and education institutions. The staff of the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Watkinsville, GA, proposed to the board of directors to organize and host a conference “Interactions: Investigating Ecosystem Dynamics at a Watershed Level” in collaboration with the Society. The conference goals were to: 1) Provide a forum …
The third dimension of nutraceuticals: Adding value through innovative agriculture

The agriculture industry is recognized as the third axis upon which the nutraceuticals sector should be mapped, along with the pharmaceutical and food industries. Insights into the contributory rol...
Structural complexity and fish body size interactively affect habitat optimality

Predator–prey interactions are strongly influenced by habitat structure, particularly in coastal marine habitats such as seagrasses in which structural complexity (SC) may vary over small spatial scales. For seagrass mesopredators such as juvenile fishes, optimality models predict that fitness will be maximized at levels of SC that enhance foraging but minimize predation risk, both of which are functions of body size. We tested the hypothesis that in eelgrass (Zostera marina) habitat, optimal SC for juvenile giant kelpfish (Heterostichus rostratus), an abundant eelgrass mesopredator in southern California, changes through ontogeny. To do this, we quantified eelgrass SC effects on habitat associations, relative predation risk, and foraging efficiency for three size classes of juvenile giant kelpfish. We found that habitat selection differed with fish size: small fish selected dense eelgrass, whereas larger fish selected sparse eelgrass. Small kelpfish experienced the lowest relative predation risk in dense eelgrass but also had higher foraging efficiency in dense eelgrass, suggesting that dense eelgrass is selected by these fish because it minimizes risk and maximizes potential for growth. Surprisingly, larger kelpfish did not experience lower predation risk than small kelpfish. However, larger kelpfish experienced higher foraging efficiency in sparse eelgrass vs. dense eelgrass, suggesting that they select sparse eelgrass to maximize foraging efficiency. Our study highlights that trade-offs between predation risk and foraging can occur within a single habitat type, that studies should consider how habitat value changes through ontogeny, and that seagrass habitat value may be maximal when within-patch variability in SC is high.
Reply to Zaborowski, Furlane and Maibom, Kauppinen, Green, and Hardy

Zaborowski, Furlane and Maibom, Kauppinen, Green, and Hardy have all commented on my “The Many Faces of Empathy.” Some of their discussions help clarify the issues at stake in that paper and in other parts of my work, but in other cases their objections involve misunderstandings or can be answered in terms of relevant considerations the objections fail to take into account. Sentimentalism as applied to ethics, epistemology, and (especially) speech act theory emerges largely unscathed and represents a plausible position in all three fields.
The Oncostatic Activity of Serotonin

Pukhalskaya et al. (1957) of the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Oncology, Moscow, reported the isolation of an agent from the bark of an Asiatic plant, Hippophae rhamnoides, which inhibited Ehrlich mouse carcinoma. Pukhalskaya (1958) furthermore described that an alcoholic extract of the bark, after elimination of tannic acid, with the total dose of 750 mg/kg/rat resulted in LD50. A total dose of 400 mg/kg/rat of the factor inhibited up to 80–90% of Guerin carcinoma, sarcoma 45 and sarcoma M-1, but no complete regression of the tumors was observed. The oncostatic activity of the factor, called hippophainum, was much less pronounced in regard to mouse hepatoma C3HA, Ehrlich carcinoma, Passy melanoma and Walker rat carcinoma. Petrova et al. (1959) by further chemical purification of hippophainum were able to increase its biological activity up to LD50 250 mg/kg. Pukhalskaya et al. (1960) identified the active factor as 5-hydroxytryptamine. They obtained it in the form of a hydrochloride. Daily doses of 10 mg/kg.wt./mouse and 5 mg per kg.wt./rat were found of low toxicity. Larger doses of hippophainum caused renal injury, affecting the blood forming system, however, little if at all. A total dose 60 mg/kg.wt./mouse, given for 12 days, inhibited Ehrlich carcinoma by 42%. The same dose inhibited Guerin carcinoma by 67%. No inhibiting effect was observed on rat lymphosarcoma, nor was the complete inhibition or resorption of any tested tumor recorded. Pukhalskaya (1960), in her review of the pharmacology of hippophainum, which was identified by her as a hydrochloride serotonin, stressed its role in anaphylactic shock and as a vasoconstrictor. Petrova and Menshikov (1961) described in detail the method of producing 5-HT from the bark of Hippophae rhamnoides.