cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preweaning stimulation with urinary chemosignals and age of puberty in female mice.

Six experiments were conducted to assess the effects of preweaning stimulation with urinary chemosignals from four different sources on the age of sexual maturation in young female mice. The urinary chemosignals tested were those in male urine, urine from females in estrus, urine from pregnant or lactating females, and urine from females housed in groups. The split-litter technique was used for assignig mice to particular treatments. When treatments were applied during the period from 2 to 11 days postpartum, none of the chemosignals exerted any detectable influence on the age of first vaginal estrus. All 4 chemosignal treatments were effective in altering the age of puberty when treatment was applied daily from Days 12 to 21 postpatrtum. For urine from males and urine from estrous females, 3 days of treatment during the last 10 days prior to weaning at 21 days of age were sufficient to produce an acceleration of puberty. For urine from pregnant or lactating females, 5 days of treatment just prior to weaning were necessary to produce an acceleration of sexual development. For urine from grouped females, delays in puberty were produced only when the treatment lasted for 7 of the last 10 days prior to weaning. These findings suggest that the preweaning stimulus environment of young female mice may be important for their later sexual development. Further, use of the split-litter technique permitted the determination that variation in the age of puberty was smaller within than between litters; inheritance and/or maternal influences are clearly important factors affecting the age of sexual maturation.
A study of (n,p) and (n,α) reactions in NaI(Tl) using a pulse-shape-discrimination method

Abstract The events due to (n, p), (n, α) and (n, nγ) reactions produced by monoenergetic neutrons incident of a NaI(Tl) scintillator are distinguished using pulse-shape-discrimination. Cross section measurements for the 23 Na(n,p) 23 Ne and 23 Na(n,α) 20 F reactions are presented for neutron energies between 5.5 and 8.5 MeV.
Issues of Power in Collaborative Research With Dignity Village

In this article, the author will utilize her fieldnotes and videotaped interviews to reconstruct and reflect on her experiences and some of the ethical dilemmas she faced as a community partner in participatory action research with a self-governed homeless encampment called Dignity Village. The author’s yearlong facilitation utilized a democratic, collaborative, and inclusive process. Following the final stages of the research, an abrupt shift of power occurred in the community. She explores questions about her involvement in this power shift and whether the change was problematic or healthy for the community.
Simplified gamma-variate fitting of perfusion curves

Most methods that fit gamma-variate functions to perfusion curves suffer from convergence problems and lengthy processing times. In this paper, a technique that robustly and feasibly fits perfusion curves with a simplified form of the gamma-variate function is presented. The performance of the technique, as measured by its sensitivity to noise and tracer recirculation, was assessed by Monte Carlo methods with simulated curves. The algorithm was also applied to perfusion curves from 20 glioma patients and evaluated based on the fitting error during the first-pass phase. This technique may elucidate the clinical role of perfusion-weighted imaging in the future.
Fetal Rat Hyperinsulinism and Hyperglucagonism: Effects on Hepatic Ketogenesis, Lipogenesis, and Gluconeogenesis

To study the direct effects of hyperglucagonism and hyperinsulinism (both with glucose excess) on fetal intermediary metabolism, rat liver explants from 19-day-gestated fetuses were maintained in culture for 48 h. The liver cubes were exposed to 0, 250, or 500 mU/ml porcine insulin or 5 micrograms/ml glucagon. In addition, lipogenesis from 3H2O was cumulated throughout the 48 h. Chronic hyperinsulinism in the fetal rat doubled hepatic lipogenesis and curtailed hepatic gluconeogenesis and ketogenesis by 80% and 50%, respectively. Chronic hyperglucagonism was without effect; however, the fetal liver did yet respond to 1 mM (Bu)2cAMP.
A Multi-dimensional Coalescent Process Applied to Multi-allelic Selection Models and Migration Models

For a sample of two genes from a population divided into an arbitrary number of allele classes, a general mathematical framework is developed to address the expectation and variance of the time of the most recent common ancestor. Depending on the meaning of allele classes and the manner in which genes can change among them, this framework can be applied to a diversity of population genetic models. By adoption of the infinite sites model, the effect on heterozygosity is modelled for balancing selection among allele classes, mutation between allele classes, migration among populations, and gene conversion between loci. Most results are described for a continuous time approximation to a discrete generation model. It is also shown how the discrete generation model can be used to study the hitch-hiking effect of favorable mutations.
A posteriori subgrid-scale model tests based on the conditional means of subgrid-scale stress and its production rate

Traditional a posteriori tests of subgrid-scale (SGS) models often compare large eddy simulation (LES) profiles of various statistics with measurements. In this study we propose and employ a new a posteriori test to study SGS model performance. We compare the conditional means of the LES-generated SGS stress and stress production rate conditional on the resolvable-scale velocity with measurements. These statistics must be reproduced by the SGS model for LES to correctly predict the one-point resolvable-scale velocity joint probability density function. Our tests using data obtained in convective atmospheric boundary layers show that the a posteriori results are consistent with our a priori tests based on the same conditional statistics. The strengths and deficiencies of the models observed here were also identified in our a priori tests. The remarkable consistency between the two types of tests suggests that statistical model tests based on the conditional SGS stress and its production rate are a highly capable approach for identifying specific model deficiencies and for evaluating SGS model performance in simulations.
Maternal encouragement of infant locomotion in pigtail macaques,Macaca nemestrina

Abstract This study investigated whether pigtail macaque mothers encourage their infants' independent locomotion by increasing distance from them and displaying a retrieval signal, the pucker face. Fifteen mother–infant pairs living in a large captive social group were focally observed during the first 12 weeks of infant life. Mothers puckered to their infants only when out of contact with them, and the pucker was followed by reduction in distance by the mother or the infant. The pucker was significantly associated with an increase in distance initiated by the mother, and mothers that frequently puckered to their infants were also those that frequently left them. Multiparous mothers puckered to their infants more than primiparous mothers. The infant's initiative in reducing distance after the pucker increased with its age, and the latency of its response gradually decreased in the first 6–7 weeks of life. Infants that received more puckers from their mothers spent less time in contact with them and approached and left them more frequently than infants that received fewer puckers. The evidence is insufficient to assess unequivocally whether developmental changes in infant responses to the pucker reflect social learning or maturation of motor skills.
Open Grid Computing Environment's Workflow Suite for E-Science Projects

E-Science users will want to construct, share, execute and monitor sequence of tasks. These tasks may execute on machines ranging from their local workstations to high-end, grid-enabled compute resources. Often, these tasks are legacy applications written in various programming and scripting languages and are designed to be run in a single user environment rather than as a Web application. These tasks often need to be tied together into composite applications that need to span multiple computing resources. The majority of the scientific experiments in E-Science involve orchestrating multiple tasks in the correct fashion to produce scientific computational experiments. Scientific workflows have proven to be a coherent and abstract framework that is capable of capturing such scientific experiments and hence have gained popularity among the scientific community. Many of the current E-Science projects have adopted different workflow systems and consequently have adopted custom workflow execution and description standards. We argue that the core of the execution semantics used by most scientific workflows can be expressed as a small common set, and we further investigate the possibility of having a higher level workflow description language that is capable of capturing and possibly bridging these different workflow systems. In this demonstration we present a set of E-Science development tools for managing these problems: a high level workflow composition monitoring and enactment tool, a toolkit that is capable of providing Web service interfaces for command line scientific applications, and a service registry that is used as a repository for sharing. This domain independent workflow suite will allow users from wide verity of environments to selectively and securely share their applications as Web services and construct workflows with these services. The suite also features on-demand service creation, workflow orchestration and monitoring. Furthermore, these components can be used individually or collectively to build a small to large-scale E-Science infrastructures.
Teaching Thermodynamics and Kinetics to Advanced General Chemistry Students and to Upper-Level Undergraduate Students Using PV Diagrams

We describe how complex concepts in macroscopic chemistry, namely, thermodynamics and kinetics, can be taught at considerable depth both at the first-year undergraduate as well as upper levels. We begin with a careful treatment of PV diagrams, and by pictorially integrating the appropriate area in a PV diagram, we introduce work. This starting point allows us to elucidate the concept of state functions and nonstate functions. The students readily appreciate that for a given transition, the area enclosed by the PV curve (work) depends on the path taken. It is then argued that heat, within this chosen framework, is a consequence of energy conservation and the fact that work is not a state function. This leads to a visual introduction of all the components involved in the first law of thermodynamics. The PV diagrams are then used to introduce entropy as being related to the maximum possible work to be done by the system. This macroscopic description of entropy is then related to the usual microscopic view of...
All learning is Local: Multi-agent Learning in Global Reward Games

In large multiagent games, partial observability, coordination, and credit assignment persistently plague attempts to design good learning algorithms. We provide a simple and efficient algorithm that in part uses a linear system to model the world from a single agent's limited perspective, and takes advantage of Kalman filtering to allow an agent to construct a good training signal and learn an effective policy.
Crystal Structure of the BIR1 Domain of XIAP in Two Crystal Forms

X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP) is a potent negative regulator of apoptosis. It also plays a role in BMP signaling, TGF-β signaling, and copper homeostasis. Previous structural studies have shown that the BIR2 and BIR3 domains of XIAP interact with the IAP-binding-motifs (IBM) in several apoptosis proteins such as Smac and caspase-9 via the conserved IBM-binding groove. Here, we report the crystal structure in two crystal forms of the BIR1 domain of XIAP, which does not possess this IBM-binding groove and cannot interact with Smac or caspase-9. Instead, the BIR1 domain forms a conserved dimer through the region corresponding to the IBM-binding groove. Structural and sequence analyses suggest that this dimerization of BIR1 in XIAP may be conserved in other IAP family members such as cIAP1 and cIAP2 and may be important for the action of XIAP in TGFβ and BMP signaling and the action of cIAP1 and cIAP2 in TNF receptor signaling.
Space-efficient finger search on degree-balanced search trees

We show how to support the finger search operation on degree-balanced search trees in a space-efficient manner that retains a worst-case time bound of O(log d), where d is the difference in rank between successive search targets. While most existing tree-based designs allocate linear extra storage in the nodes (e.g., for side links and parent pointers), our design maintains a compact auxiliary data structure called the "hand" during the lifetime of the tree and imposes no other storage requirement within the tree.The hand requires O(log n) space for an n-node tree and has a relatively simple structure. It can be updated synchronously during insertions and deletions with time proportional to the number of structural changes in the tree. The auxiliary nature of the hand also makes it possible to introduce finger searches into any existing implementation without modifying the underlying data representation (e.g., any implementation of Red-Black trees can be used). Together these factors make finger searches more appealing in practice.Our design also yields a simple yet optimal in-order walk algorithm with worst-case O(1) work per increment (again without any extra storage requirement in the nodes), and we believe our algorithm can be used in database applications when the overall performance is very sensitive to retrieval latency.
Predatory Lending and Housing Disinvestment

This paper develops a model of predatory lending within the context of refinance mortgages. The primary objective is to determine analytically the extent to which predatory lenders may decrease home equity in the refinance mortgage market. The model characterizes an individual borrower's decision to refinance or not refinance, and with whom to refinance. There exist two types of refinance applicants - prime and subprime, and three types of lenders - prime, good (i.e. non-predatory) subprime, and predatory subprime. Applicants cannot distinguish with certainty a legitimate lender from a predatory lender; they infer a lender's type via a signal. Predatory lenders are distinguished from legitimate lenders by higher lending costs and their attempts to misrepresent themselves as good subprime lenders. The model is able to address questions concerning the most desirable structure of policies designed to lower the prevalence of predatory lenders and to improve consumer awareness of predatory practices. In particular, it shows that both types of policies can experience diminishing returns, and that effective policies to combat predatory lending will be most effective when they aim to achieve both goals. In addition, policy simulations are conducted that estimate the expected change in borrower equity effected by changes in policy parameters representing the level of intensity in predatory lending and the degree of successful predatory lender deception. Using reasonable parameter values, the simulation estimates a potential annual loss in homeowner equity resulting from predatory lending of more than $9 billion.
Managerial decision making regarding alternative work arrangements

Alternative work arrangements that offer employees flexibility in the time and place of work have been found to be both popular with employees and beneficial for organizations. However, alternative work arrangement programmes that are implemented by organizations are likely to be ineffective unless they are supported by first-line managers. In this policy-capturing study, participants with managerial experience responded to vignettes in which they were asked to make decisions about whether to approve various subordinates’ requests for alternative work arrangements. As a group they tended to make decisions in accordance with their own short-term self-interest. Requests that were expected to be more disruptive to the conduct of work (e.g. requests from subordinates who were working on more critical tasks and possessed more special skills, requests for an unpaid leave of absence over requests for varying the work site) received less favourable decisions. However, cluster analysis revealed four distinct clusters of managers who employed fundamentally different decision policies. The results suggest that organizations need to take actions to ensure equity, consistency and a long-term orientation in managerial decisions about alternative work arrangements.
Spanish L2 Students’ Perceptions of Service-Learning: A Case Study from Ecuador

This article examines students’ perceptions of the relationship between the service-learning component of a four-week study-abroad program in Ecuador and the development of their linguistic and cultural competency. The data come from two sources: (1) students’ responses to a survey composed of Likert-scale and rank-order items and (2) student journals written for an introductory translation course after the completion of several service projects relative to dental care and hygiene. The quantitative survey solicited students´ perceptions of the effectiveness of the service-learning component and other characteristics typical of study-abroad programs. In general, students perceived a positive relationship between their participation in service-learning projects while abroad in Ecuador and the development of their linguistic and cultural proficiency. Analysis of students’ reflective journals concerning the service-learning experience resulted in the identification of several themes within the areas of language-related and culture-related learning, contributing to the discussion around the complexities of acquiring linguistic and cultural knowledge through International Service-Learning (ISL).
JUXTAPOSITION: A NEW WAY TO COMBINE LOGICS

This paper develops a new framework for combining propositional logics, called \juxtaposition". Several general metalogical theorems are proved concerning the combination of logics by juxtaposition. In particular, it is shown that under reasonable conditions, juxtaposition preserves strong soundness. Under reasonable conditions, the juxtaposition of two consequence relations is a conservative extension of each of them. A general strong completeness result is proved. The paper then examines the philosophically important case of the combination of classical and intuitionist logics. Particular attention is paid to the phenomenon of collapse. It is shown that there are logics with two stocks of classical or intuitionist connectives that do not collapse. Finally, the paper briey investigates the question of which rules, when added to these logics, lead to collapse.
Shortening and lenthening the chin

Summary Methods of altering the vertical dimension of the chin by subtraction or addition of bone are discussed. Results of chin lengthening have improved with the use of miniplate fixation, and the technique currently preferred utilizes an interpositional bone graft from outer table calvarium.
Secular trends in preadult orthodontic care in the United States: 1942-2002.

Introduction: The goals of this study were to describe secular trends in preadult orthodontic care for people in the United States born between 1942 and 1972, and to estimate the number of new preadult orthodontic treatment starts in 2006. Methods: Orthodontic care experience in this group was ascertained by 2 questions in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Results: Of those in the 1942 birth cohort, 4.6% (SE 1.5) and, of those in the 1972 birth cohort, 29.7% (SE 3.8) received preadult orthodontic care. These increasing secular trends were more pronounced for people of higher socioeconomic positions ( P P = .04). If the orthodontic care prevalence continues to increase yearly by 0.7 percentage point (SE 0.08), there will be 1.62 million new preadult patient starts in 2006, an increase of 26,000 over 2005. Conclusions: The prevalence of preadult orthodontic care has steadily increased for successive birth cohorts between 1942 and 1972, particularly for girls and those at higher socioeconomic positions. Linear extrapolations extending to 2006 reasonably agree with survey data, suggesting linear growth in orthodontic treatment use by those born in the latter half of the 20th century.
A comparison of the natriuretic/diuretic effects of rat vs. human leptin in the rat.

Intrarenal artery infusions of low-dose human, but not mouse, leptin cause diuresis/natriuresis in rats [E. K. Jackson and P. Li. Am. J. Physiol. 272 (Renal Physiol. 41): F333–F338, 1997]. The lack...
Corrosion and Crack Growth in 33% Na2O-67% SiO2 and 33% Li2O-67% SiO2 Glasses

Environmentally enhanced crack growth data for 33% Na2O-67% SiO2 and 33% Li2O-67% SiO2 (mol%) were obtained. Corrosion data for the same glasses as determined by infrared reflection spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectroscopy were also measured. It was determined that, of the tested environments, those and only those environments which caused surface corrosion also enhanced crack growth. Crack growth curves were more complicated for these materials than for fused silica. Water-dominated regions occurred even in environments which are known to enhance crack growth.
Grid Harvest Service: a system for long-term, application-level task scheduling

With the emergence of Grid computing environment, performance measurement, analysis and prediction of non-dedicated distributed systems have become increasingly important. In this study, we put forward a novel performance model for non-dedicated network computing. Based on this model, a performance prediction and task scheduling system called Grid Harvest Service (GHS), has been designed and implemented. GHS consists of a performance measurement component, a prediction component and a scheduling component. Different scheduling algorithms are proposed for different situations. Experimental results show that the GHS system provides satisfactory solution for performance prediction and scheduling of large applications and that GHS has a real potential.
Steal Tree: low-overhead tracing of work stealing schedulers

Work stealing is a popular approach to scheduling task-parallel programs. The flexibility inherent in work stealing when dealing with load imbalance results in seemingly irregular computation structures, complicating the study of its runtime behavior. In this paper, we present an approach to efficiently trace async-finish parallel programs scheduled using work stealing. We identify key properties that allow us to trace the execution of tasks with low time and space overheads. We also study the usefulness of the proposed schemes in supporting algorithms for data-race detection and retentive stealing presented in the literature. We demonstrate that the perturbation due to tracing is within the variation in the execution time with 99% confidence and the traces are concise, amounting to a few tens of kilobytes per thread in most cases. We also demonstrate that the traces enable significant reductions in the cost of detecting data races and result in low, stable space overheads in supporting retentive stealing for async-finish programs.
Robust stabilization of 'diamond' plants

For continuous-time systems the robust stability problem according to which coefficients of a characteristic polynomial vary in a diamond can be considered as a dual problem to Kharitonov's (1978, 1979) theorem on interval polynomials. The authors study the problem of the robust-stabilization of such a family of diamond polynomials. It is shown that to stabilize a family of polynomials whose coefficients of numerator and denominator lie in two diamonds is equivalent to stabilizing simultaneously sixty-four one-dimensional edges of the diamond polynomials. The result obtained is sufficient and necessary. When the variation of the coefficients is limited to denominator (or numerator) the number of edges to be checked will reduce to eight. >
Prostatic specific antigen

PSA is a 34-kDa 240-amino-acid glycoprotein produced exclusively by prostatic epithelial cells. PSA is a serine protease, is a member of the kallikrein gene family, and has a high sequence homology with human glandular kallikrein. It has chymotrypsin-, trypsin-, and esterase-like activities. In the serum it is present mainly in a complex form with alpha 1-antichymotrypsin. It is secreted in the seminal plasma and is responsible for liquefaction of the seminal coagulum. The production of PSA proteins appears to be under the control of circulating androgens acting through the androgen receptors. The PSA gene is up-regulated predominantly by androgens at both the protein and mRNA levels. DRE causes minimal changes in the PSA level, while prostate massage, ultrasonography, systoscopic examination, and prostate biopsy can all cause clinically significant elevations. Other conditions, such as prostatitis, prostate intraepithelial neoplasia, acute urinary retention, and renal failure can also elevate the PSA level. The value of PSA as a screening tool is questionable because of the great deal of overlap in PSA levels between BPH and prostate cancer. However, if used in men over 50, in conjunction with DRE and/or ultrasonography, it may become a vital part of the early detection program. PSA's role in determining the clinical and pathological stage is also limited, in spite of the direct correlation between the pathological stage and the PSA level, because of great overlap in the PSA levels in various stages. The most important clinical utility of PSA is in monitoring patients after definitive therapy. PSA is most sensitive and reliable in the detection of a residual tumor, possibly recurrence, or disease progression following treatment, irrespective of the treatment modality. PSA can accurately predict the tumor status and can detect recurrence several months before its detection by any other method. PSA is also a very sensitive and specific immunohistochemical marker for tumors of prostatic origin. Compared to PAP, PSA is a more precise and meaningful marker in all clinical situations. With the development of ultrasensitive assays and the adoption of an international standard PSA calibrator, so that results from multicenter studies can be compared, PSA could become one of the most useful tumor marker in cancer biology.
MT1-MMP dependent repression of the tumor suppressor SPRY4 contributes to MT1-MMP driven melanoma cell motility.

// Khvaramze Shaverdashvili 1 , Keman Zhang 1 , Iman Osman 2 , Kord Honda 3 , Rauli Jobava 4 , Barbara Bedogni 1 1 From the Department of Biochemistry, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA 2 From the Departments of Dermatology, Urology and Medicine, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA 3 From the Department of Pathology and Dermatology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA 4 From the Department of Genetics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH, USA Correspondence to: Barbara Bedogni, e-mail: barbara.bedogni@case.edu Keywords: cell migration, melanoma, SPRY4, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) Received: July 01, 2015 Accepted: August 31, 2015 Published: September 12, 2015 ABSTRACT Metastatic melanoma is the deadliest of all skin cancers. Despite progress in diagnostics and treatment of melanoma, the prognosis for metastatic patients remains poor. We previously showed that Membrane-type 1 Matrix Metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) is one of the drivers of melanoma metastasis. Classically, MT1-MMP regulates a verity of cellular functions including cell-to-cell interaction and cell-to-matrix communication. Recently, MT1-MMP has been found to also modulate gene expression. To specifically assess MT1-MMP dependent gene regulation in melanoma, microarray gene expression analysis was performed in a melanoma cell line whose metastatic properties depend on the activity of MT1-MMP. We identified the tumor suppressor gene SPRY4 as a new transcriptional target of MT1-MMP that is negatively regulated by the protease. Knockdown of MT1-MMP enhances SPRY4 expression at the mRNA and protein level. SPRY4 expression inversely correlates with that of MT1-MMP in melanoma samples and importantly, correlates with melanoma patient survival. SPRY4 modulates MT1-MMP dependent cell migration such that inhibition of SPRY4 rescues cell migration that has been impaired by MT1-MMP knock down. MT1-MMP decreases SPRY4 in part through an MMP2/RAC1 axis we previously show promotes cell motility downstream of MT1-MMP. These results identify the tumor suppressor SPRY4 as a novel molecular effector of MT1-MMP affecting melanoma cell motility.
Review of Daniel L. Dreisbach: ‘Religion and Politics in the Early Republic: Jasper Adams and the Church-State Debate’

Jefferson’s axioms of separation of church and state and discouragement of public religion are well known. However, they are more nuanced than typically stated, and were controversial even during his time. Daniel L. Dreisbach explains that Jasper Adams held another nineteenth century view, far from that of Jefferson. Adams insisted on disestablishment of religion and freedom of religion. Adams still believed that America needed a fund of common religious values, such as honesty, diligence, patriotism, etc. Jasper Adams viewed these traits as essential to the preservation of liberty, morality, and rule of law. Dreisbach’s work on Jasper Adams is essential reading and an enduring contribution to any library.
OKF-Ref: Using the Object Knowledge Framework to Understand the Reference Experience

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to offer a platform for thinking about the reference interaction experience by borrowing from museum studies literature, particularly from a holistic understanding of the museum visitor’s experience. Design/methodology/approach – The goal of this paper is to offer a platform for thinking about the reference interaction experience by borrowing from museum studies literature, particularly from a holistic understanding of the museum visitor’s experience. Findings – Object knowledge framework-reference (OKF-Ref) enables reference staff to connect patrons with resources to enable deeper thinking and research. Practical implications – OKF-Ref seeks to permit reference transactions as experiences rooted in synchronous individual, group and material potential connections made between resources and information seekers. Originality/value – New considerations in lived reference experience encourages reference librarians to think about the whole experience of reference interactions,...
The Reformed Welfare State as the Radical Humanist Republic: An Enthusiastic (If Qualified) Endorsement of Matthew Adler's Beyond Efficiency and Procedure

I am happy to find myself in very broad and deep agreement with Professor Adler's thoroughly thought-provoking paper. He sets out a plausible normative basis for just the kind of administrative system I want to have, what I would call a reformed welfare state. Adler offers his welfarist model of bureaucracy as an alternative to two competing schools of liberalism, a right-liberal school he calls the Neoclassical and a fellow left-liberal school he calls the "Proceduralists." I agree with Professor Adler's critique of the former school but disagree with his critique of the latter. Here we shall see a kind of double irony: In what we generally think of as administrative law, process is not valuable in the way the Proceduralists seem to believe; there, again, Adler is right. But, as to several important kinds of procedures about which Adler's Proceduralists have relatively little to say (criminal procedure, for example), Adler himself, and all of us who are liberals, right-wing or left, find procedure itself fundamentally important. I then examine his own welfarist notion of both process and substance. Next, I follow his lead into the stratosphere that philosophers call meta-ethics, literally, that which lies above and beyond ethics. That meta-move, I'm convinced, is a snare and a delusion, if not a hunt for the snark. Finally, I say a bit about what all this means for administrative law.
Natural Disasters and the Size of Nations

ABSTRACTWhat is the relationship between natural disasters and country size? Is an increasing likelihood of environmental shocks linked to political integration or secessionism? We argue that natural disasters are associated with a decline in country size. This relationship arises because costs generated by disasters are higher for citizens located farther away from the political center of a country, and costs are amplified as disasters affect a larger area in a country, which in turn makes it less desirable for citizens in remote regions to remain part of a larger country. Our empirical results show that greater risks of environmental shocks are indeed associated with smaller countries, as well as smaller administrative units.
Political Solutions to Market Problems

For some, market failures serve as a rationale for public intervention. However, the fact that self-interested market behavior does not always produce felicitous social consequences is not sufficient reason to draw this conclusion. It is necessary to assess public performance under comparable conditions, and hence to analyze self-interested political behavior in the institutional structures of the public sector. Our approach emphasizes this institutional structure—warts and all—and thereby provides specific cautionary warnings about optimistic reliance on political institutions to improve upon market performance.
A New Iolinid Mite from the Galapagos Islands (Acarina: Iolinidae)

A new genus and species of Iolinid, mite, ANOLINA lineata , from the Galapagos Islands is described. The species was collected from a grasshopper, Schistocerca sp., upon which it presumably is parasitic. The species is compared with the only other species known from this family, Iolina nana Pritchard. Superfamily and family characteristics are discussed.
Absence of p53 and FasL has sexually dimorphic effects on both development and reproduction.

Reproduction and development are highly dependent on apoptosis to balance the proliferation that necessarily occurs during these processes. How the absence of two apoptotic factors in mice would affect reproduction and development was examined. Given previous reports of increased neural tube defects in p53–/– female fetuses, decreased fertility in gld female mice, and altered spermatogenesis in both p53 and gld male mice, the possibility that these phenotypes might be enhanced by the elimination of a second apoptotic factor was investigated. The reproductive vigor and the health of offspring were monitored during the production of the new double-deficient strain (FasL–/–p53–/–) for any changes from the reported phenotypes. Thus, any unusual phenotypes that could lead to new models for studying mechanisms of health and disease would be identified. Double-deficient male offspring appeared healthy and occurred at expected frequencies. Additionally, spermatogenesis and male fertility were unaffected by the ge...
The Region’s Place in the Digital World: A Tale of Three Divides

The concept of “digital divide” has evolved over time. The term appeared in the 1990s in conjunction with the greater commercial availability of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The unequal diffusion of new technologies across and within countries raised concerns that the advantages of these technologies might be limited to those countries and individuals that were already privileged in terms of economic resources—and thus would worsen preexisting inequalities.
Simulation Studies of Plasma Transport at Earth, Jupiter and Saturn

In this chapter we present a review of plasma transport in the magnetospheres of the rapidly rotating outer planets Jupiter and Saturn with emphasis on the effects of magnetic reconnection. Unlike the Earth’s magnetosphere where reconnection is the dominant transport mechanism, atmospherically driven corotation dominates at Jupiter and Saturn. However, there is both observational and theoretical basis for reconnection at the outer planets. Since observations at the outer planets are sparse we have used numerical simulations to give an overall view of transport. For northward IMF, reconnection can erode the dayside Jovian magnetopause position by as much as 10 % while the simulations at Saturn indicate very little erosion. In the magnetotail, reconnection at Jupiter can become quasi-periodic in both Jupiter and Saturn simulations. There is observational evidence for this at Jupiter but the observational evidence is not as clear at Saturn. Solar wind dynamic pressure controls whether or not periodic reconnection occurs at Saturn while both dynamic pressure and the IMF are important at Jupiter. Both outflow-driven reconnection in which flux tubes reconnect as they convect from the dayside to the tail and solar-wind-driven reconnection are found in the simulations. One simulation study indicates that a pulse of increased dynamic pressure can trigger reconnection at Saturn. Large scale plasmoids do not remove enough plasma from the magnetospheres of either outer planet to account for loss of plasma from the inner magnetosphere sources. There is evidence in the Saturn simulations of Kelvin–Helmholtz waves driving transport.
Authenticity and Ethics in Ghostwriting

Knapp and Hulbert explore the concept of authenticity in relation to ghostwritten communications, and discuss the potential for personal authenticity to be compromised by a practice often seen as inherently deceptive. They then explore the sometimes-ambiguous concept of authorship, examining why it is important to this study and how academic disciplines vary in ascribing it. Finally, the authors propose a framework for further ethical analysis that is used throughout the book, emphasizing the potential effects of ghostwriting, the ethical principles that may be at stake, and the ways in which the use of a ghostwriter may impact the named author of a communication.
Uterine Prolapse and Preservation Methods: a Literature Review

The purpose of review is to elucidate the role of uterine-sparing surgery in the treatment of uterine prolapse. Hysterectomy with additional compartment-specific repairs has been the traditional surgical approach in women who are finished with childbearing. However, uterine-sparing approaches are continuing to evolve, and their implementation has not just been limited to women who desire to maintain childbearing potential. Uterine-sparing surgical approaches may be categorized by approach (vaginal, abdominal, laparoscopic, or robotic), origin of attachment (uterus, cervix, or uterosacral ligaments), location of attachment (sacrum, sacrospinous ligament, pectineal ligament, or abdominal wall), and whether sutures or mesh is used. Furthermore, an obliterative option (partial colpocleisis) is available for women who are no longer considering intercourse. Although surgical outcomes are typically good and complications are low, most studies are associated with short-term follow-up and retrospective cohort design. Each procedure should be evaluated on its own merit, and randomized trials are welcome.
Toxic Christmas and New Year Holiday Plants...or Are They

Background: Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima), holly (Ilex opaca) and mistletoe (Phoradendron flavescens) adorn homes during the Christmas and New Year holiday season and create the potential for curious children to sample their colorful leaves and enticing berries. This study was aimed to review the American Association of Poison Control Centers National Poison Data System (AAPCC NPDS) to describe the epidemiologic profile of ingestion of these plants and to determine whether there was associated morbidity and mortality. Methods: All plant ingestion exposures reported to American poison centers (PCs) from 2000-2009 were analyzed to identify all exposures to E. pulcherrima, I. opaca and P. flavescens. The data analysis included ingestions by age, gender, patient management site, symptoms, intention and outcome. Results: The AAPCC NPDS database included 668,111 plant ingestions during 2000 to 2009. E. pulcherrima (19,862; 3.0%), I. opaca (5,432; 0.8%) and P. flavescens (1,138; 0.2%) exposures accounted for 26,632 (4.0%) of all plant ingestion exposures. Children younger than six years were responsible for majority of ingestions (88.0%). Ingestions were more likely to occur unintentionally (P < 0.001). Most cases (96.1%) were asymptomatic. When clinical effects developed (1,046 cases), the most frequent reported signs were gastrointestinal in nature (59.8%) including abdominal pain, diarrhea and/or vomiting. Moreover, the development of gastrointestinal signs was higher in patients who ingested P. flavescens compared to the other two species. Most exposures (96.1%) were managed at home with the guidance from PC experts. When the outcome was known, the majority of exposures (89.2%) experienced no adverse effects. Moderate effects occurred in only 28 ingestions (0.1%), and one major effect was recorded in a patient who ingested poinsettia. Conclusion: These holiday plants were associated with extremely low morbidity and no mortality. Home management along with expert guidance can be adequate intervention in the majority of these exposures.
Associations of LEP, CRH, ICAM-1, and LINE-1 methylation, measured in saliva, with waist circumference, body mass index, and percent body fat in mid-childhood

Genetics explains a small proportion of variance in body mass index at the population level. Epigenetics, commonly measured by gene methylation, holds promise for understanding obesity risk factors and mechanisms. Participants were 431 adolescents aged 10–15 years. BMI z-score, waist circumference z-score, and percent body fat were measured. Saliva samples were collected and methylation of promoter regions of four candidate genes or sequences (LEP, ICAM-1, CRH, and LINE-1) were measured in 3–4 CpG sites each. Linear regression was used to identify associations of methylation with obesity-related outcomes. After adjusting for age, in sex-stratified analysis, the three obesity-related outcomes were negatively associated with LEP methylation in obese boys only. There were no associations of methylation of the other genes or sequences and the obesity-related outcomes. Our results are consistent with prior studies that reported sex differences in associations of obesity-related outcomes with LEP methylation, and also as would be expected in adipose tissue, the source of circulating leptin. The findings suggest that saliva might be an acceptable tissue for epigenetics studies in adolescents.
Decision making about antibiotic use: examining the role of antibiotic resistance knowledge, concern, and previous inappropriate antibiotic use

Antibiotic resistance has become a major public health threat due, in part, to inappropriate antibiotic use. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of antibiotic resistance knowledge,...
Effects of memory and sleep on functional status in cancer survivors.

e20642 Background: Cognitive functioning (e.g., memory performance) is important to an individual’s functional abilities. Sleep impairments have implications for both cognitive function and sleep. ...
Class participation as a pedagogical tool in social work education

Class participation is an essential part of the social work pedagogy. However, active student engagement in classes is inconsistent and varies based on factors such as social backgrounds, education...
KINETICS OF BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES AS A BASIS OF AUTOMATIC REGULATION

This chapter discusses the kinetics of biological processes as a basis of automatic regulation. In the future, for many fermentation processes to compete successfully with chemical synthesis, it would be necessary to operate them in a continuous manner. A continuous fermentation has three economic advantages over bath fermentation: (1) it results in higher volumetric productivities, (2) its process demands, such as steam and power, are more uniform, and (3) it is more susceptible to automatic control. Characteristic of a continuous fermentation is its automatic regulation of the cell growth rate and concentration through regulation of the growth limiting substrate concentration and feed rate. In turn, the rate and concentration to which cells are grown can be used to regulate the yield of product in the continuous fermentation. The chapter discusses the kinetic basis upon which cell growth rate and concentrate exert a control on product yield in a continuous fermentation. Growth rate and cell concentration control have been elaborated.
Use of Boxplots for Process Evaluation

The use of boxplots in place of single points in a quality control chart can provide an effective display of the information usually given in X-bar and R charts, show the degree of compliance with specifications and identify outliers. An example from a ..
Histologic correlates of angiographic chronic total coronary artery occlusions: influence of occlusion duration on neovascular channel patterns and intimal plaque composition

AbstractObjectives. Age-related changes in histologic composition and neovascular channel (NC) pattern of angiographic chronic total coronary artery occlusions (CTOs) were studied to define histolo...