cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exploring the effects of nitrogen fertilization management alternatives on nitrate loss and crop yields in tile-drained fields in Illinois

Abstract It is vital to manage the excessive use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer in corn production, the single largest consumer of N fertilizer in the United States, in order to achieve more sustainable agroecosystems. This study comprehensively explored the effects of N fertilization alternatives on nitrate loss and crop yields using the Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) in tile-drained fields in central Illinois. The RZWQM was tested for the prediction of tile flow, nitrate loss, and crop yields using eight years (1993–2000) of observed data and showed satisfactory model performances from statistical and graphical evaluations. Our model simulations demonstrated the maximum return to nitrogen (MRTN) rate (193 k g h a − 1 ), a newly advised N recommendation by the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (INLRS), can be further reduced. Nitrate loss was reduced by 10.3% and 29.8%, but corn yields decreased by 0.3% and 1.9% at 156 and 150 k g h a − 1 of N fertilizer rate in the study sites A and E, respectively. Although adjustment of N fertilization timing presented a further reduction in nitrate loss, there was no optimal timing to ensure nitrate loss reduction and corn productivity. For site A, 100% spring application was the most productive and 40% fall, 10% pre-plant, and 50% side dress application generated the lowest nitrate loss. For site E, the conventional N application timing was verified as the best practice in both corn production and nitrate loss reduction. Compared to surface broadcast placement, injected N fertilizer in spring increased corn yield, but may also escalate nitrate loss. This study presented the need of an adaptive N fertilizer management due to the heterogeneity in agricultural systems, and raised the importance of timing and placement of N fertilizer, as well as further reduction in fertilizer rate to devise a better in-field N management practice.
7.11 – Molecular Electron Transfer

This chapter summarizes the observations on electron transfer reactions of transition metal complexes. Bimolecular, outer-sphere, self-exchange electron transfer reactions conform reasonably well to the classical theory that their rate differences are largely a function of their differences in nuclear reorganizational energies. However, some allowance for electronic contributions is necessary. A range of covalently linked electron transfer systems is surveyed and the reorganizational energy contributions are diminished in most of them relative to their outer-sphere analogs. Donor/acceptor electronic mixing, including that of the linker, accounts for many of the physical properties of the linked systems. Extensions to more extended systems are considered.
Rapid Integration of Multi-copy Transgenes Using Optogenetic Mutagenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans

Stably transmitted transgenes are indispensable for labeling cellular components and manipulating cellular functions. In Caenorhabditis elegans, transgenes are generally generated as inheritable multi-copy extrachromosomal arrays, which can be stabilized in the genome through a mutagenesis-mediated integration process. Standard methods to integrate extrachromosomal arrays primarily use protocols involving ultraviolet light plus trimethylpsoralen or gamma- or X-ray irradiation, which are laborious and time-consuming. Here, we describe a one-step integration method, following germline-mutagenesis induced by mini Singlet Oxygen Generator (miniSOG). Upon blue light treatment, miniSOG tagged to histone (Histone-miniSOG) generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) and induces heritable mutations, including DNA double-stranded breaks. We demonstrate that we can bypass the need to first establish extrachromosomal transgenic lines by coupling microinjection of desired plasmids with blue light illumination on Histone-miniSOG worms to obtain integrants in the F3 progeny. We consistently obtained more than one integrant from 12 injected animals in two weeks. This optogenetic approach significantly reduces the amount of time and labor for transgene integration. Moreover, it enables to generate stably expressed transgenes that cause toxicity in animal growth.
Distributed Mean-Field-Type Filters for Traffic Networks

Traffic surveillance plays an important role in the development of a smart city, and it is a fundamental part in many applications such as security monitoring and traffic analysis. People are thrilled by the abundant data generated from the huge traffic networks but have difficulty in using them. In this paper, we propose a distributed mean-field-type filtering (DMF) framework to handle those noisy, partial-observed, and high-dimensional data. The filter incorporates a mean-field term into the system model and decomposes the state space into highly independent parts; filtering is performed in each part and then integrated. Our approach iterates through four operations: sampling, prediction, decomposition, and correction. Theoretical analysis provides a linear bound for the global error, which is independent of the network’s cardinality. We implemented DMF in aircraft and vehicle tracking scenarios. Performance evaluation on synthetic and real-world data demonstrates the advantage of our approach over traditional mean-field free filters.
Nonnormative Sources of Anger and Aggression

In considering the legal treatment of crimes of passion we focused primarily on the criteria for attributing anger to a defendant and on the often complementary relationship between anger and the law. We should not lose sight of the fact, however, that crimes of passion are still crimes, and hence they cannot be completely explained in terms of social norms or rules. The same is true of the many “misdemeanors” of everyday life. On occasion, we all become angry when we shouldn’t. Perhaps the car won’t start, and we swear and kick the tire. Or perhaps the children are playing loudly, and we angrily snap at them. How can we account for such episodes? An appeal to social norms is of only limited help, for the behavior in question exceeds accepted standards. We must therefore look to nonnormative factors for an explanation. Similar considerations apply even when anger is legitimate. All behavior is overdetermined. The person who does not feel well, for example, may be more sensitive to provocation than the person who is in good health. Drugs such as alcohol may also lower the threshold for anger, as may a wide variety of environmental factors (e.g., noise, heat, and crowded conditions).
A Power Mean Based Algorithm for Combining Multiple Alignment Tables

Most existing techniques for combining multiple alignment tables can combine only two alignment tables at a time, and are based on heuristics (Och and Ney, 2003), (Koehn et al., 2003). In this paper, we propose a novel mathematical formulation for combining an arbitrary number of alignment tables using their power mean. The method frames the combination task as an optimization problem, and finds the optimal alignment lying between the intersection and union of multiple alignment tables by optimizing the parameter p: the affinely extended real number defining the order of the power mean function. The combination approach produces better alignment tables in terms of both F-measure and BLEU scores.
Reconsidering the age limits on pill use.

This article reports on an advisory committee of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which recommended the removal of age limits on the use of oral contraceptives by healthy nonsmoking women. The factors that weighed on this "judgement call" which is unusual for the FDA were: previous studies that set an upper age limit for nonsmoking women of 40 years were done in the mid-1970s with high dose oral contraceptives which are a much higher health risk than todays low dose pills; women older than 40 often choose sterilization and the committee felt that their decision was affected by the lack of highly effective alternatives; the ability to conceive is a very real possibility for women 35-49 (e.g. 86% for women age 35-39 78% for ages 40-44 and 69% for ages 45-49) and pregnancy for this age group is believed to be much more dangerous than the low dose pills health risk. The committee did consider evidence of the pills implications in increasing breast cancer and cervical cancer but found the data inconclusive or not an added health burden when considering the potential health benefits of a lowered risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer. The FDA committee urges further research on the risks and benefits or oral contraception. The evidence of increased risk of cardiovascular disease from pill use among smoking women especially those over 40 was incontrovertible and the committee adhered to an upper age limit of 35 years for using oral contraceptives for smoking women.
CHEMISTRY, ELECTROCHEMISTRY, AND ELECTROCHEMICAL APPLICATIONS | Platinum Group Elements

Electronic structures of the second and third row Group VIII metals (the platinum group) are correlated to their physical and chemical properties. All show more or less noble behavior in the absence of complexing agents (aqueous halides, cyanides, amines, etc.), but otherwise they are passive in much of the pH range because of the formation of insoluble oxides. However, ruthenium and osmium show dissolution in base at under the theoretical oxygen electrode potential, while palladium and to a lesser extent platinum show some dissolution in acid. In contrast, rhodium and Iridium are very insoluble throughout the entire pH range. They show varying degrees of reaction with aqua regia, other mixed acids, and molten salts. They have important electrocatalytic properties in electrochemical power sources. platinum is of primary interest for the acid oxygen and hydrogen electrode reactions, whereas palladium is used with platinum for alkaline hydrogen oxidation, and in formic acid oxidation. Ruthenium is used as a co-electrocatalyst with platinum for acid methanol oxidation, whereas rhodium, iridium, and ruthenium have found applications in dioxygen evolution. The preparation and properties of the most important platinum and alloy electrocatalysts on high-surface-area carbons for aqueous dioxygen reduction is reviewed.
Improving Resource Utilization through Demand Aware Process Scheduling

Traditional process scheduling in the operating system focuses on high CPU utilization while achieving fairness among the processes. However, this can lead to an inefficient usage of other hardware resources, e.g., the caches, which have limited capacity and is a scarce resource on most systems. This paper extends a traditional operating system scheduler to schedule processes more efficiently against hardware resources. Through the introduction of a new concept, a progress period, which models the variation of resource access characteristics during application execution, our scheduling extension dynamically monitors the changes in resource access behavior of each process being scheduled, tracks their collective usage of hardware resources, and schedules the processes to decrease overall system power consumption without compromising performance. Testing this scheduling system on programs on an Intel(R) Xeon(R) E5-2420 CPU with twelve kernels from the BLAS suite and five applications from the SPLASH-2 benchmark suite yielded a 48% maximum decrease in system energy consumption (average 12%), and a 1.88x maximum increase in application performance (average 1.16x).
Freud’s Direct Arguments Against the Consciousness Criterion

Freud provides a number of arguments directly against the consciousness criterion—the view that mind equals consciousness. In this chapter, I evaluate these critical arguments and argue that, although many understand these to be the primary arguments Freud marshals for his positive position, they fail to do the stand-alone work that they are claimed to do. The problem, I argue, is that to argue against Cartesianism one cannot directly attack the consciousness criterion. Rather, one must start by understanding consciousness and identifying its mental-relevant essence.
State minimum wage laws and newly diagnosed cases of HIV among heterosexual black residents of US metropolitan areas

Abstract This ecologic cohort study explores the relationship between state minimum wage laws and rates of HIV diagnoses among heterosexual black residents of U.S metropolitan areas over an 8-year span. Specifically, we applied hierarchical linear modeling to investigate whether state-level variations in minimum wage laws, adjusted for cost-of-living and inflation, were associated with rates of new HIV diagnoses among heterosexual black residents of metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs; n=73), between 2008 and 2015. Findings suggest that an inverse relationship exists between baseline state minimum wages and initial rates of newly diagnosed HIV cases among heterosexual black individuals, after adjusting for potential confounders. MSAs with a minimum wage that was $1 higher at baseline had a 27.12% lower rate of newly diagnosed HIV cases. Exploratory analyses suggest that income inequality may mediate this relationship. If subsequent research establishes a causal relationship between minimum wage and this outcome, efforts to increase minimum wages should be incorporated into HIV prevention strategies for this vulnerable population.
The Bleeding Physician of Philadelphia: Libel, Defamation, and Our Founding Fathers

Dr. Benjamin Rush filed one of the first professional libel lawsuits in the United States, incited by the writings of William Cobbett, a British journalist, concerning his treatment of yellow fever during the 1793 Philadelphia epidemic. The historical setting is described and the lawsuit dissected, with particular attention to the applicability of the tenets of their debate and its relevance to professional medical libel. Although Dr. Rush won his lawsuit based on the medical dogma, legal principles and political climate of his time, a similar lawsuit today would very likely fail, as recent courts have recognized the media’s right to far broader First Amendment protections against libel suits brought by public figures such as world-famous physicians.
Role of sortilin in lipid metabolism

Purpose of review Sortilin, encoded SORT1 gene at chromosome 1p13.3, is a multiligand receptor that traffics protein from the Golgi to the endosomes, secretory vesicles, and the cell surface. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) revealed an association between sortilin and reduced plasma LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) as well as reduced coronary artery disease (CAD). This review explores the various lipid metabolism pathways that are affected by alterations in sortilin expression. Recent findings The effects of increased hepatic sortilin on plasma LDL-C levels are mediated by increased clearance of LDL-C and decreased very LDL (VLDL) secretion because of increased autophagy-mediated lysosomal degradation of apolipoproteinB100. Sort1 knockout models have shown opposite VLDL secretion phenotypes as well as whole body lipid metabolism in response to diet challenges, leading to confusion about the true role of sortilin in the liver and other tissues. Summary The regulation of VLDL secretion by hepatic sortilin is complex and remains incompletely understood. Further investigation to determine the specific conditions under which both hepatic sortilin and total body sortilin cause changes in lipid metabolism pathways is needed.
Duration of chemotherapy prior to chemoradiation affects survival outcomes for resected stage I-II or unresected stage III pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND For resected early stage pancreatic cancer, RTOG 9704 evaluated the outcome of 3 weeks of postoperative chemotherapy (C) followed by chemoradiation (CRT) and further C. For unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer, a recent literature review of prospective studies showed that the duration of induction C prior to CRT can impact survival. However, the ideal duration of C prior to CRT remains unclear for these patient cohorts. This National Cancer Database (NCDB) study was performed to compare the outcome of various durations of C prior to CRT. METHODS The NCDB was queried for resected primary stage I-II, cT1-3N0-1M0, and unresected stage III, cT4N0-1M0 pancreatic adenocarcinoma treated with C + CRT (2004-2015). Cohorts I-II and III included stage I-II and stage III cases, respectively. Patients were stratified by short (short C) and long duration (long C) of chemotherapy based on their median durations. Baseline patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics were examined. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier analysis, multivariable Cox proportional hazards method, and propensity score matching were used. RESULTS Among 1577 patients, cohort I-II had 839 patients and cohort III had 738 patients. The longer duration of chemotherapy prior to CRT showed improved OS in the multivariate analysis in both cohort I-II (hazards ratio [HR] 0.72, P < 0.001) and cohort III (HR 0.83, P = 0.03). Using 1:1 propensity score matching, 610 patients for cohort I-II and 542 patients for cohort III were matched. After matching, long C remained statistically significant for improved OS compared with short C in both cohort I-II (median OS 26.1 vs 21.9 months; P = 0.003) and cohort III (median OS 16.7 vs 14.2; P = 0.02). CONCLUSION Our NCDB study using propensity score-matched analysis showed a survival benefit for using the longer duration of chemotherapy compared to the shorter duration for both resected stage I-II and unresected stage III pancreatic cancer.
Evidence of recombination in coronaviruses implicating pangolin origins of nCoV-2019

A novel coronavirus (nCoV-2019) was the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness detected in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December of 2019. Genomic analyses of nCoV-2019 determined a 96% resemblance with a coronavirus isolated from a bat in 2013 (RaTG13); however, the receptor binding motif (RBM) of these two genomes share low sequence similarity. This divergence suggests a possible alternative source for the RBM coding sequence in nCoV-2019. We identified high sequence similarity in the RBM between nCoV-2019 and a coronavirus genome reconstructed from a viral metagenomic dataset from pangolins possibly indicating a more complex origin for nCoV-2019.
A Systematic Review of Clinical Characteristics and Histologic Descriptions of Acute Tubular Injury

Abstract Introduction The term acute tubular injury (ATI) represents histopathologic renal tubular injury and often manifests clinically as acute kidney injury (AKI). Studies systematically summarizing the clinical presentation and histological changes in human ATI are limited. Methods We used a comprehensive search strategy to search human studies of ATI from 1936 to July 2019. We extracted study characteristics, clinical characteristics and histologic descriptions of ATI by bright field, immunofluorescence, electron microscopy (EM) and by immunohistochemistry. We compared ATI histology as a function of tissue procurement type, timing and etiologies. Results We included 292 studies comprising of 1987 patients. The majority of studies (222/292, 76%) were single-center case reports. The mean age of included patients was 47 years old. In native kidney biopsy cases, baseline, peak and latest creatinine were 1.3 mg/dL, 7.19 mg/dL and 1.85 mg/dL respectively, and biopsy was mostly performed after peak creatinine (86.7%, 391/451). We identified 16 histologic descriptions of tubular injury, including tubular cell sloughing (115/292, 39.4%), tubular epithelial flattening/simplification (110/292, 37.7%), tubular dilatation (109/292, 37.3%) and tubular cell necrosis (93/292, 31.8%). There was no difference in tubular injury histology between different tissue procurement types (native kidney biopsy, transplant kidney biopsy and autopsy), between different etiologies or between different tissue procurement timing (before or after creatinine peaks in native kidneys). EM and immunohistochemistry were used in minority of studies. Conclusions ATI manifests with diverse histologic changes. Efforts to establish protocols to harmonize biopsy practices, handle kidney biopsy for tissue interrogation and report results across clinical practice are needed to improve our understanding of this complex disease.
A Deep Brain Stimulation Trial Period for Treating Chronic Pain

Early studies of deep brain stimulation (DBS) for various neurological disorders involved a temporary trial period where implanted electrodes were externalized, in which the electrical contacts exiting the patient's brain are connected to external stimulation equipment, so that stimulation efficacy could be determined before permanent implant. As the optimal brain target sites for various diseases (i.e., Parkinson's disease, essential tremor) became better established, such trial periods have fallen out of favor. However, deep brain stimulation trial periods are experiencing a modern resurgence for at least two reasons: (1) studies of newer indications such as depression or chronic pain aim to identify new targets and (2) a growing interest in adaptive DBS tools necessitates neurophysiological recordings, which are often done in the peri-surgical period. In this review, we consider the possible approaches, benefits, and risks of such inpatient trial periods with a specific focus on developing new DBS therapies for chronic pain.
Leisure activity for dementia prevention: More work to be done

Dementia prevention is a worldwide priority because of the aging population, devastating consequences for patients and families, and the drain on societal resources. In the absence of disease-modifying therapies, there is interest in lifestyle factors that might prevent or delay the onset of dementia. Chief among these is leisure activity, conceptualized as pursuits undertaken for relaxation or pleasure after completion of essential chores and occupational responsibilities. Leisure activity invokes the cornerstones of cognitive reserve: mental activity, physical activity, and social engagement.1
Comparing the Incidence of Buccal Mucosa Cancer in South Asian, White, and Black Populations Residing in the United States: A Cross-Sectional Analysis.

Background Recreational use of the betel nut, which is common among the South Asian population, is a known risk factor for developing Head and Neck cancer. As South Asians comprise a significant proportion of the United States population, we seek to determine if those living within the country experience a higher rate of head and neck cancers compared to other races. Methods Data of patients diagnosed with head & neck cancers from 2010-2016 was collected from the National Cancer Database® and compared to race-matched US census data for each corresponding year to calculate incidence. Pairwise comparisons were performed between the incidence for South Asians versus Whites and South Asians versus Blacks using one sided Chi-square tests. Results South Asians experienced a significantly higher incidence of buccal mucosa/vestibule cancers when compared to Whites or Blacks for every year between 2010-2016, but a comparatively lower incidence of larynx or oropharynx cancers. Conclusions South Asians residing within the United States have a higher incidence of buccal mucosa/vestibule cancers, but a lower incidence of more common cancers, such as larynx or oropharynx cancer. This may suggest that the etiology behind the high buccal mucosa/vestibule cancer incidence is due to a social habit, as opposed to an inherent racial susceptibility.
Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement Outcomes in Non-Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Centers: Implications for Tier-Based Systems of Care.

Abstract Background With wide expansion of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and dissemination of multidisciplinary-based approaches to care, societies are discussing the implementation of a tier system to valve centers. This study explores the impact of tier-based systems of care on surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) outcomes at institutions that perform SAVR only. Methods Medicare beneficiaries undergoing SAVR procedures from 2012 to 2015 were included. The SAVR hospitals were stratified into either tier A, valve centers with a TAVR program; or tier B, valve centers without a TAVR program. Adjusted survival, assessed by multivariable Cox regression, controlled for program type and patient risk profile. Time-dependent analysis accounted for hospitals that initiated a TAVR program during the study period. Results Overall, there were 562 tier A and 485 tier B SAVR hospitals. Tier A hospitals had significantly higher comorbidity burden compared with tier B hospitals (all P Conclusions Low-risk patients can safely undergo SAVR in both tier level hospitals without compromising outcomes. Establishment of quality of care measures, especially in the SAVR-only hospitals, remains paramount and should be closely integrated when designing tier-based systems for aortic valve replacement care.
Derivative-Free Optimization of a Rapid-Cycling Synchrotron

We develop and solve a constrained optimization model to identify an integrable optics rapid-cycling synchrotron lattice design that performs well in several capacities. Our model encodes the design criteria into 78 linear and nonlinear constraints, as well as a single nonsmooth objective, where the objective and some constraints are defined from the output of Synergia, an accelerator simulator. We detail the difficulties of the 23-dimensional simulation-constrained decision space and establish that the space is nonempty. We use a derivative-free manifold sampling algorithm to account for structured nondifferentiability in the objective function. Our numerical results quantify the dependence of solutions on constraint parameters and the effect of the form of objective function.
Factors associated with changes in serum transthyretin after treatment with tafamidis and outcomes in transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis.

Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CA) is a progressive, invariably fatal cause of heart failure resulting from misfolded monomers or oligomers of the transthyretin (TTR) protein, depositing a...
Transformation-based probabilistic clustering with supervision

One of the common problems with clustering is that the generated clusters often do not match user expectations. This paper proposes a novel probabilistic framework that exploits supervised information in a discriminative and transferable manner to generate better clustering of unlabeled data. The supervision is provided by revealing the cluster assignments for some subset of the ground truth clusters and is used to learn a transformation of the data such that labeled instances form well-separated clusters with respect to the given clustering objective. This estimated transformation function enables us to fold the remaining unlabeled data into a space where new clusters hopefully match user expectations. While our framework is general, in this paper, we focus on its application to Gaussian and von Mises-Fisher mixture models. Extensive testing on 23 data sets across several application domains revealed substantial improvement in performance over competing methods.
Unconventional arid land plants as biomass feedstocks for energy

As supplies of non-renewable fossil fuels decrease and their costs increase, the need for identification and production of renewable energy resources becomes more urgent. Biomass production from terrestrial plants is renewable, and it could contribute significantly to the world’s energy needs. The concept of biomass production involves ‘energy plantations’ which produce crops that are used: (a) directly in combustion to replace coal in industrial plants or provide fuel wood for heating and cooling, or (b) used indirectly as biochemically-transformed fuels such as alcohol or methane.
An optimization framework for role mining

Role Based Access Control RBAC is accepted as the de facto access control model for organizations of all sizes. However, engineering the right set of roles is crucial to enable the correct deployment of RBAC within an organization. Indeed, discovering an optimal and correct set of roles from existing permission assignments, referred to as the role mining problem RMP, has gained significant attention in recent years. Role Mining is itself an instantiation of Boolean matrix decomposition --wherein a Boolean matrix is decomposed into two Boolean matrices giving a set of basis vectors and their appropriate combination. In fact, such decompositions are useful in a number of application domains beyond role engineering, including text mining as well as knowledge discovery. While a Boolean matrix can be decomposed in many ways, however, certain decompositions better characterize the semantics associated with the original matrix in a succinct but comprehensive way. Indeed, one can find different decompositions that are optimal with respect to different criteria that may match various semantics. In this paper, we first present a number of variants of the optimal Boolean matrix decomposition problem, including usage RMP, basic RMP, δ-approximate RMP, and edge RMP, that have pragmatic implications in the context of role mining. We then present a unified framework for modeling the optimal Boolean matrix decomposition and its variants using integer linear programming ILP. Such modeling allows us to directly adopt the huge body of heuristic solutions and tools developed for integer linear programming. We also develop efficient heuristics and solutions for each RMP variant, and validate them by a comprehensive experimental evaluation.
Electron density profiles of the topside ionosphere

The existing uncertainties about the electron density profiles in the topside ionosphere, i.e., in the height region from h,F2 to - 2000 km, require the search for new data sources. The ISIS and Alouette topside sounder satellites from the sixties to the eighties recorded millions of ionograms but most were not analyzed in terms of electron density profiles. In recent years an effort started to digitize the analog recordings to prepare the ionograms for computerized analysis. As of November 2001 about 350000 ionograms have been digitized from the original 7-track analog tapes. These data are available in binary and CDF format from the anonymous ftp site of the National Space Science Data Center. A search site and browse capabilities on CDAWeb assist the scientific usage of these data. All information and access links can be found at http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/space/isis/isis- status.htm1. This paper describes the ISIS data restoration effort and shows how the digital ionograms are automatically processed into electron density profiles from satellite orbit altitude (1400 km for ISIS-2) down to the F peak. Because of the large volume of data an automated processing algorithm is imperative. The TOPside Ionogram Scaler with True height algorithm TOPIST software developed for this task is successfully scaling - 70% of the ionograms. An > is available to manually scale the more difficult ionograms. The automated processing of the digitized ISIS ionograms is now underway, producing a much-needed database of topside electron density profiles for ionospheric modeling covering more than one solar cycle.
Spectroscopic studies on organometallic compounds—VIII. Infrared spectra of some perfluoroalkyi and perfluoroacyl metal carbonyl compounds

Abstract The infrared spectra of a variety of compounds in which fluorocarbon and carbonyl groups are bonded to transition metals have been recorded in the region 3500–3650 cm −1 . Most of the observed absorption frequencies have been assigned, and are compared with those shown by related complexes of the transition metals.
Confirming Antiquity in the Americas

Monte Verde A Late Pleistocene Settlement in Chile, Vol. 2: The Archaeological Context and Interpretation. Tom D. Dillehay. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, 1997. 1071 pp. $155. ISBN 1-56098-680-8. Dillehay and his co-workers present a comprehensive description and analysis of the evidence for a pre-Clovis human presence at a site 16,000 kilometers south of the Bering Land Bridge some 12,500 years before the present. Among the topics the contributors consider are Monte Verde9s setting and stratigraphy, radiocarbon data, artifacts, and possible structures.
ENCOUNTERS AT THE IMAGINAL CROSSROADS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN IN ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

ENCOUNTERS AT THE IMAGINAL CROSSROADS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN IN ROLE-PLAYING GAMES By Christopher J. Dyszelski This study was a critical, archetypal, feminist ethnography and psychological inquiry into the experiences of women in tabletop role-playing gaming and its culture. Informed by performance ethnographic practice and the spirit of these games, it is written as an adventurous journey into and encounter with these experiences based on participant observation, interviews with gaming professionals, an online questionnaire of 428 gamers, and series of interviews with female gamers. Ethnographically, this study documents the history and experiences of women in the culture of gaming. It presents profiles of a diversity of female gamers and explores historically the ways that women have established themselves as members of this culture and shaped this traditionally male dominated hobby. It also examines a multiplicity of opinions about and experiences of sexism, prejudice, and discrimination of women in gaming. While demonstrating the progress in the games and their culture to become more inclusive and welcoming to women, it shows there is still far to go. It also demonstrates how despite the possibility and creative potential for gaming and its culture to imagine completely new social worlds, the same power dynamics and social structures are recreated in the games, groups, and culture. Psychologically, the study uses archetypal, relational, and pluralistic models of the self to demonstrate the complex imaginal relationship between self and character and the notion that role-playing games can be transformational liminoid spaces. The study explored the multiplicity of three participants, through a series of interviews, one series with the player, one interacting with each participant in role as one of their characters, and then a final series reflecting on the experience of the two previous interviews, the process, and the themes that were discussed. These interviews demonstrate three different relationships between self and character, as well as the ways that those imaginal relationships have impacted the lives of these women in powerful ways that reach beyond just fun and games. ENCOUNTERS AT THE IMAGINAL CROSSROADS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE EXPERIENCES OF WOMEN IN ROLE-PLAYING GAMES
A Comparison of Auditor and Client Negotiation Decisions

This study examines the negotiation decisions made by professional auditors and clients when facing a revenue recognition conflict. Specifically, we investigate the degree of flexibility inherent in auditor and client negotiation decisions, whether auditors and clients accurately perceive the other negotiating party's positions, and the types of negotiation tactics used by both parties. The results indicate that auditors and clients approach conflict resolution in very different ways. Clients were more flexible (i.e., exhibited a greater difference between their revenue recognition goals and limits), determined the auditor's goals and limits more accurately, and were more likely to use negotiation tactics such as bid high/concede later and trade-off one reporting issue for another. These data are consistent with the view that auditors are hired to provide independent, accurate judgments on financial reporting matters, and may therefore consider their accounting decisions to be less open for negotiation as compared to clients. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
Inhibitory Receptors on Lymphocytes: Insights from Infections

Costimulatory and inhibitory receptors are critical regulators of adaptive immune cell function. These pathways regulate the initiation and termination of effective immune responses to infections while limiting autoimmunity and/or immunopathology. This review focuses on recent advances in our understanding of inhibitory receptor pathways and their roles in different diseases and/or infections, emphasizing potential clinical applications and important unanswered mechanistic questions. Although significant progress has been made in defining the influence of inhibitory receptors at the cellular level, relatively little is known about the underlying molecular pathways. We discuss our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms for key inhibitory receptor pathways, highlight major gaps in knowledge, and explore current and future clinical applications.
Field efficacy and safety of an oral formulation of the novel combination anthelmintic, derquantel-abamectin, in sheep in New Zealand

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the novel anthelmintic combination, derquantel-abamectin, against gastrointestinal nematode populations in sheep, under field-use conditions. METHODS: Controlled faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT) were conducted in New Zealand in 14 trials, covering a range of geographic locations, farming enterprises, breeds, nematode populations, and anthelmintic-resistance profiles. Enrolled animals were naturally infected with mixed populations of gastrointestinal nematodes. All trials included a group treated with derquantel-abamectin, and a negative control group. Nine trials included additional groups each treated with a single- or dual-active oral reference anthelmintic, selected from albendazole, levamisole, albendazole-levamisole, ivermectin, abamectin and moxidectin. A total of 838 animals were enrolled across all trials, and were randomly allocated to treatment groups within blocks defined by faecal nematode egg counts (FEC) pre-treatment. On Day 0 derquantel-abamectin was administered orally at 1 ml/5 kg bodyweight (2 mg/kg derquantel, 0.2 mg/ kg abamectin), and each reference anthelmintic was given at the recommended label dose. Faecal samples were collected on Day 14 (± 1 day), to determine the percentage reduction in mean FEC for each anthelmintic tested. Larval differentiation was also performed post-treatment, to estimate efficacy at the genus level. Animals were weighed on or before Day 0, and on Day 14 (± 1 day) in 13 trials. RESULTS: The efficacy of derquantel-abamectin against mixed strongyle populations was ≥99.2%, based on the percentage reduction in geometric mean FEC. Nematodirus sp. was present in six trials at a level sufficient for efficacy calculations to be conducted; in all cases, the efficacy of derquantel-abamectin was 100%. In those trials where the efficacy of at least one reference anthelmintic was <95% against strongyles and/or Nematodirus sp., derquantel-abamectin was 100% effective. In five trials, the mean gain in bodyweight was significantly greater in the derquantel-abamectin group than the negative controls. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: When administered orally at 1 ml/5 kg bodyweight, derquantel-abamectin is highly effective for the treatment of gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep, including populations of strongyles and Nematodirus sp. with resistance to one or more single- or dual-active anthelmintics. Derquantel-abamectin presents sheep producers with a unique opportunity to introduce a new class of anthelmintic to their nematode control programmes, with the added benefits offered by a combination anthelmintic.
System identification methods for dynamic structural models of electronic packages

In this paper we discuss two methodologies for system identification of structure models. Finite element software is coupled with optimization and estimation software to implement the techniques. Both methods update physical parameters in the finite element model and utilize iterative solution techniques. The first method integrates MSC/NASTRAN with a Bayes estimation software tool which is being developed for use with general finite element models. The second method utilizes a math programming optimization technique. Both methods were applied to a finite element model of an electronics package using both simulated and measured data. Results are presented using both eigenvalue and eigenvector data. The results showed the importance of using both eigenvalue and eigenvector data for the model of the electronics package. A discussion of the features of each method is included. 24 refs., 8 figs., 5 tabs.
Examination and neurologic assessment of children with orofacial trauma

Oro-facial fractures, displacement of teeth and various other traumatic dental injuries may possibly be associated with damage to various aspects of the cranial nervous system. When evidence of these injuries is presented, it is the dentist's responsibility to make a thorough assessment. This paper presents a brief, yet adequate neurologic evaluation of the child patient with oro-facial trauma which can be accomplished in five minutes. It includes a review of history, mental status, evaluation of gait, use of extremities, eye and facial movements, gag and facial sensations. When positive findings arc noted it is recommended that the patient be referred to a neurologist or an oral-maxillofacial surgeon for further evaluation and treatment.
Blood alcohol level estimation and controlled drinking by chronic alcoholics

Four chronic alcoholic subjects were trained over a 10-day period by feedback, social reinforcement, and token reinforcement methods to estimate their own blood alcohol levels (BALs). During a subsequent 3-week period, three of these subjects were then trained to maintain BAL within circumscribed limits of 70–90 mg/100 ml. Three converging strategies were employed in this effort: (1) locus of control of drinking was gradually shifted from external (stimulus) control to self-regulation; (2) the acceptable range of BALs was successively narrowed via target behavior-shaping, while (3) reinforcement, feedback, and other cues to accuracy were gradually faded out. Subjects successfully learned to estimate BAL though accuracy of estimationdiminished substantially whenever feedback on accuracy was withdrawn. Consistent with these findings was the fact that subjects also learned to maintain their BALs within the narrow target range, but failed to maintain this control whenever external BAL feedback was withdrawn. The implications of these findings for viewing alcoholism as a “loss-of-control” phenomenon and social drinking as a realistic treatment goal for alcoholics are discussed.
A Ring-Expansion Approach to Roseophilin

Preparation of a cyclopentenone-fused pyrrolophane, which serves as a model for the tricyclic core of roseophilin (1), is described. The synthetic scheme features a palladium-catalyzed annulation and oxidative cleavage sequence to provide a macrocyclic ketoester (17). Modified Paal−Knorr pyrrole synthesis and Friedel−Crafts acylation complete the pyrrolophane model system (20).
The effect of microstructural and rheological heterogeneity on porphyroblast kinematics and bulk strength in porphyroblastic schists

Abstract The kinematic record and bulk viscous strength of polyphase rocks depend in part upon the relative strengths and distributions of rheologically distinct fabric elements. Here, we explore the effects of microstructural and rheological heterogeneity in porphyroblastic schists. Electron backscatter diffraction and petrographic analyses reveal asymmetric microboudinage of staurolite, indicating relative rotation of staurolite porphyroblasts synchronous with bulk non-coaxial strain. Boudinage and relative rotation both require porphyroblast–matrix shear coupling. Based on 2D optical observations, the extent of the coupling appears related to the initial and boudinaged staurolite grain shape and orientation as well as the geometry of heterogeneities such as mica domains or shear bands. We designed 2D finite element numerical models to assess the role of microstructural variation and rheological heterogeneity on the degree of porphyroblast–matrix shear coupling and bulk viscous strength. Model results indicate that the bulk strength of a three-phase system comprising inclusion, weak domain, and matrix is sensitive to the relative proximity of weak and strong domains, particularly at high viscosity contrasts (i.e. ηmatrix/ηweak > 10). The threshold for bulk weakening below the matrix strength occurs over a narrow range of weak domain viscosities (ηmatrix/ηweak = 2.6–5.5), regardless of the relative abundance and spatial distribution of weak domains. Kinematic decoupling of porphyroblasts occurs at low viscosity contrasts when weak domains are proximal (ηmatrix/ηweak = 2–5), but for all other spatial distributions and modal abundances investigated, kinematic decoupling occurs at viscosity contrasts of ηmatrix/ηweak = 15–20. These data indicate that bulk weakening due to rheological heterogeneity is not necessarily coincident with kinematic decoupling.
Electroconvulsive shock disrupts both information storage and retrieval

Abstract Rats were given ECS either 5 min or 24 hr after receiving a shock contingent on a bar-press. They were retested for memory of the shock either 3 or 24 hr after the ECS treatment. The BS-5 min-ECS group showed permanent amnesia (amnesia at the 3 and 24 hr retests), while the BS-24 hr-ECS group showed temporary amnesia (amnesia only at the 3 hr retest). Recovery from this temporary amnesia occurred between 18 and 24 hr after the ECS treatment.
Thermal evolution of sedimentary basin formation with variable thermal conductivity

Understanding the thermal evolution of sedimentary basins is crucial for the geosciences and petroleum genesis. A recent model of thermal conductivity, based on microscopic physics, has shown that the variations of thermal conductivity depend nonlinearly on the temperature, pressure and mineralogy. The time-dependent temperature equation takes on a nonlinear diffusive character with the temperature-dependent portion of the thermal conductivity. We have compared the numerical solutions of the temperature fields, following a lithospheric stretching event between constant thermal conductivity and variable thermal conductivity. There is a great sensitivity of the thermal signatures to the parameter governing the influence of mineralogy on the phonon contribution to the thermal conductivity. For an olivine-like lithosphere, differences on the order of 5% or 60 to 70K in the interior temperature between the two models can be expected. For times younger than 150 Myr, the topography for the variable conductivity model is shallower by around 5 to 10% than for the constant conductivity model, while the surface heat flow remains always lower for variable conductivity and the departure between the two conductivity models can reach 20% in the early stage. Variable thermal conductivity may play a non-trivial role in thermal-chemical reactive processes under basins.