cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Stable matchings in three-sided systems with cyclic preferences

We consider generalizations of the Gale-Shapley (Amer. Math. Monthly 69 (1962) 9) Stable Marriage Problem to three-sided families. Alkan (Math. Social Sci. 16 (1988) 207) gave an example which shows that in this case stable matchings do not always exist. Here we provide a simpler example demonstrating this fact. Danilov (NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Mathematical Theory of Allocation of Discrete Resources: Equilibria, Matching, Mechanisms, Sabanci University, Istanbul, Turkey, 16-19 December 2001; Math. Social Sci. 46(2) (2003) 145) proved that stable matchings always exist for the special case of certain acyclic preferences and he raised the problem for another special case involving cyclic preferences. Here we show that the answer is still negative by constructing a three-sided system with lexicographically cyclic preferences for which no stable matching exists. Finally, we also consider possible generalizations to s-sided families, for s>3.
A Unified Simple Predictive Model for High Fluence Ultra-Short Pulsed Laser Ablation of Metal, Semiconductor and Dielectric

A unified simple predictive model has been presented for high fluence ultrashort laser ablation of metal, semiconductor and dielectric, which has very low computational cost and is very easy to apply. Unlike many other simplified models, this model does not involve any free adjustable variables. The model predictions agree well with experimental measurements for femtosecond laser ablation, while the model is not very applicable for pulse durations more than ∼10 picosecond.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Autoradiography of L-[3H]aspartate binding sites

Abstract The distribution, pharmacology and binding properties of L-[ 3 H]aspartate were determined in sections from rat brain. No binding was detected in the absence of sodium ions. With the addition of sodium ions to the incubation medium, binding was found to be NMDA, AMPA and CNQX insensitive, but was potently inhibited by threo-β-hydroxyaspartate, D-aspartate and L-2,4 trans-pyrrolidine dicarboxylate; compounds which have been shown to be specific inhibitors of the sodium-dependent EAA transporter. Autoradiography of L-[ 3 H]aspartate closely resembled the pattern of sodium-dependent D-[ 3 H]aspartate binding. Cerebellar binding showed higher affinity and maximal levels of binding than forebrain, consistent with reports of heterogeneous populations of sodium-dependent EAA binding sites. These results suggest that under these conditions, L-[ 3 H]aspartate specifically labels the sodium- dependent EAA transporter.
In Praise of Paradox: A Social Policy of Empowerment over Prevention

The thesis of this paper is that the most important and interesting aspects of community life are by their very nature paradoxical; and that our task as researchers, scholars, and professionals should be to “unpack” and influence contemporary resolutions of paradox. Within this general theme I will argue that in order to do so we will need to be more a social movement than a profession, regain our sense of urgency, and avoid the tendency to become “one-sided.” I will suggest that the paradoxical issue which demands our attention in the foreseeable future is a conflict between “rights” and “needs” models for viewing people in trouble.
Development challenges of the New Europe

European nations are undergoing rapid and fundamental changesin response to social, political and economic eventsthat are occurring both within and outside the region.These changes are far-reaching in scope and,ultimately, are expected to result in a redefinitionof ``Europe'' and what it means to be ``European.''Using the author's extensively pre-tested Index ofSocial Progress (ISP), the research reported in thispaper: 1) identifies the major changes in socialdevelopment that have taken place in 36 European nationssince 1970; 2) contrasts Europe's recent socialdevelopment trends with those of other major world regions(including Asia, Africa, Latin and North America, andOceania); 3) using aggregate scores on the WeightedIndex of Social Progress (WISP), identifies Europe's``social leaders'' (SLs), ``middle performing countries''(MPCs), identifies Europe's ``social leaders'' (SLs),``middle performing countries'' (MPCs), and ``sociallyleast developing countries'' (SLDCs); 4) identifies themajor development challenges confronting Europe at theoutset of a new decade; and 5) provides baseline dataagainst which future developments in the region maybe assessed.
Formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in circumstellar envelopes

Production of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in carbon-rich circumstellar envelopes was investigated using a kinetic approach. A detailed chemical reaction mechanism of gas-phase PAH formation and growth, containing approximately 100 reactions of 40 species, was numerically solved under the physical conditions expected in cool stellar winds. The chemistry is based on studies of soot production in hydrocarbon pyrolysis and combustion. Several first-ring and second-ring cyclization processes were considered. A linear lumping algorithm was used to describe PAH growth beyond the second aromatic ring. PAH production using this mechanism was examined with respect to a grid of idealized constant velocity stellar winds as well as several published astrophysical models. The basic result is that the onset of PAH production in the interstellar envelopes is predicted to occur within the temperature interval of 1100 to 900 K. The absolute amounts of the PAHs formed, however, are very sensitive to a number of parameters, both chemical and astrophysical, whose values are not accurately known. Astrophysically meaningful quantities of PAHs require particularly dense and slow stellar winds and high initial acetylene abundance. It is suggested that most of the PAHs may be produced in a relatively small fraction of carbon-rich red giants.
Test of Aural and Oral Aptitude for Foreign Language Study

In the absence of means for testing aural and oral aptitude, there follow suggested ways in which this might be accomplished. At this time such a test could possibly help in selecting the students for the aural-oral type of training.
Rethinking the Music Industry

In January 2009, Europe's largest music industry tradeshow, MIDEM (which stands for Marche International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale), met in Cannes. The running joke? They already knew how ...
Congruence in Theory and Practice: The Convening Process and the Consensus Development Program

A consensual approach to the use of knowledge, called the "Convening Process, " was successfully used to improve practice by the National Institute of Education. The Convening Process and its effectiveness are described and compared to the well- established Consensus Development Program in NIH. Differences and similarities are seen in the conceptualization and operation of the two programs. Commonalities in sources of knowledge validation in the programs are discussed.
The relationship between a diagnosis of antisocial personality and hostility: Development of an antisocial hostility scale

An antisocial hostility scale was developed by correlating items of the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory with a diagnosis of antisocial personality (ASP) as determined by a computerized version of the DSM-III. Fifty-two male volunteers for drug-related studies at the Addiction Research Center were used for a preliminary test development sample. The scale developed thereby was related significantly to a diagnosis of antisocial personality in a cross-validation sample of 28 drug abusers. A final scale was developed by obtaining correlations between ASP and Buss-Durkee items using the subjects from both of these preliminary samples. Items that comprise the scale were predominantly behaviorally oriented hostility items covered by the Assault scale rather than affective items such as those in the Resentment scale. In a 122 cross-validation sample the scale was related significantly to a diagnosis of antisocial personality. The study confirms the generality of the criterion of overt aggression as a condition for meeting DSM-III criteria for antisocial personality.
PHOSPHORESCENCE IN MOLTEN TETRABUTYLAMMONIUM TRIBROMOMANGANATE

Abstract The absorption and phosphorescence spectra and the phosphorescence lifetimes were measured for a series of fused salt solutions whose composition ranged between those of tetrabutylammonium tri-bromomanganate and bis-tetrabutylammonium tetrabromomanganate. The set of absorption spectra displayed an isosbestic point but the set of emission spectra was more complex. In mixed systems only a single lifetime was observed for the two different phosphorescence spectra indicating interconversion of the excited state species which were identified as four- and three-coordinate respectively. The graph of lifetime versus composition displays a pronounced curvature which is attributed to “structural quenching”. A comprehensive kinetic scheme is proposed to represent the system.
Adverse reactions to radiopharmaceuticals

This review covers the side effects and adversereactions to radiopharmaceuticals that were reported in the literature over the past 25 years. The information published prior to 1970 is sporadic, but due to the increased utilization of nuclear medicine procedures and the recognition that radiopharmaceuticals may have pharmacologic side effects, a registry has existence since 1971 to tabulate information on such effects. This survey is medical, rather than pharmaceutical in emphasis and so the adverse reactions are classified according to the target-organ systems involved rather than according to the specific radionuclides or to pharmaceuticals. If any of the radiopharmaceuticals of present or past use are not mentioned in this review, it is because no reports on their side effects were retrieved by us. Hopefully, the organized registry system suggested by the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) will enable a more complete recording of side effects from radiopharmaceuticals in the future.
Mucosal modulation of immune responses to heat shock proteins in autoimmune arthritis

Induction of oral tolerance to antigens that are targets of self-reactive immune responses is an attractive approach to antigen-specific immune therapy of autoimmune diseases. Oral tolerization has indeed proven to be safe and effective in amelioration of autoimmune diseases in animal models. In humans, results have been somewhat controversial. The emphasis given to clinical outcome rather than to immunomodulation, and the difficulty in identifying appropriate candidate antigens contribute to the controversy. Heat shock proteins are promising targets for immune intervention. Immune reactivity to heat shock proteins has indeed been correlated with autoimmune arthritis in animal models, and abnormal immune responses to heat shock proteins have been described in human arthritis as well. Despite significant recent progress, little is known at a molecular level regarding the mechanisms which are responsible for a switch from autoimmunity to tolerance in humans. This is particularly true with respect to sequential analysis of several molecular and immunologic markers during both the course and treatment of disease. Novel approaches are currently under way to fill the gaps. We will briefly detail here the experience gained to date, and identify some of the avenues which future research will explore.
Offset transients modulate attentional capture by sudden onsets.

Recent research with visual search tasks has suggested that stimuli which appear as sudden onsets (new objects) have attentional priority over stimuli that are created by removing segments of premasks (non-onset stimuli). Attentional capture by sudden onsets occurs despite the fact that the appearance of these new objects predicts neither the identity nor the location of the target in the visual search task. In three experiments, we examined the extent to which attentional capture by sudden onsets could be modulated by offset transients used to create non-onset objects. To that end, we systematically manipulated the ratio of non-onset to onset stimuli in the display (display ratio) as well as the ratio of offset to onset segments between the stimulus types (stimulus ratio). Increases in either the stimulus ratio or the display ratio resulted in increases in the visual search slopes for the onset targets. These results suggest that the ability of sudden onsets (new objects) to capture attention is influenced by stimulusdriven factors, such as environmental change. Interestingly, the results also indicated that goal-directed or purposeful search for sudden-onset (new-object) targets was relatively uninfluenced by the amount of change in the visual display. Therefore, it would appear that environmental change has differential effects on goal-directed and stimulus-driven search. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for our understanding of attentional capture.
Assessment of Stage 6 object permanence

The sensorimotor intelligence of cats and dogs was tested via successive invisible displacement object-permanence tasks. Preferred foods were used as baits, and a deception technique was used to control for odor cues. Dogs tested in their homes solved the problems consistently, but cats were seldom successful. It appears that dogs have fully developed sensorimotor intelligence, at least as indicated by object permanence. There is as yet no good evidence that cats have advanced beyond the fifth stage.
Application of Taguchi Method to Investigate the Effects of Process Parameters on the Transesterification of Soybean Oil Using High Frequency Ultrasound

This paper utilizes the Taguchi optimization methodology (L9 orthogonal array) to optimize various parameters for the ultrasound-assisted, KOH-catalyzed transesterification of soybean oil with methanol. The statistical tool used in the Taguchi method to analyze the results is the analysis of variance (ANOVA), which gives the relative contribution of the factors varied to the change in the dependent variable (i.e., FAME or biodiesel yield). It is observed that catalyst loading is the most influential parameter, with ∼42.56% contribution toward variation in biodiesel yield, followed by ultrasonic power with ∼39.95%, and oil/methanol molar ratio with 11.40%. Ultrasonic frequency is found to have negligible influence on the biodiesel yield in the range of the present investigation. The optimum conditions are determined to be 581 kHz, 143 W, 0.75% (w/w) KOH loading at 1:6 oil/methanol molar ratio, resulting in more than 92.5% biodiesel yield in less than 30 min. Confirmation experiments have been performed to ...
BATSE Results on Observational Properties of Gamma-Ray Bursts

The Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) has observed over 600 gamma-ray bursts since its activation on 1991 April 21. We present here results on the global properties of the first 542 events. Their angular distribution is consistent with isotropy; their peak intensity distribution shows a depletion at low intensities, consistent with inhomogeneity in Euclidean space.
Acute Tumor Necrosis Factor-α-Induced Liver Injury in the Absence of Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-Associated Factor 1 Gene Expression

Pulmonary and serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), are elevated in many lung diseases, causing local inflammation, fever, and multiorgan, including hepatic, dysfunction. Cellular responses to TNF-α are determined by recruitment of specific proteins to intracellular receptor signaling complexes. One of these proteins, TNF receptor-associated factor 1 (TRAF1), is highly regulated in pulmonary cells. To determine the effect of reduced pulmonary TRAF1 expression, TRAF1-null (−/−) and control, BALB/c (wild-type), mice were treated intratracheally, intraperitoneally, or intravenously, with TNF-α. Despite relatively mild lung injury, intratracheal TNF-α-treated TRAF1−/− mice exhibited marked liver injury with an approximate fivefold increase in serum liver enzyme levels as compared to wild-type mice. In addition, serum TNF-α levels were strikingly elevated in TRAF1−/− mice. Pretreatment with neutralizing anti-TNFRI antibody significantly reduced liver injury and serum TNF-α. Cells isolated by bronchoalveolar lavage from intratracheally treated TRAF1−/− mice produced more TNF-α than cells from treated wild-type mice, suggesting that lung cells contributed to elevated serum TNF-α. These studies suggest that TRAF1 provides negative feedback for TNF-α synthesis and limits TNFRI-mediated systemic effects of TNF-α originating in the lung.
Survey of surface-active culture additives for growth of pathogenic human fungi.

Surface-active agents, and in particular cationic agents, have been used for their depressing or inhibiting effect on the growth of microorganisms for a number of years. Glassman (1948) presented a comprehensive review of the literature describing surface-active agents and their application in bacteriology. A lesser amount of research has been accomplished with the ability of certain surface-active agents, more frequently of the anionic type, to stimulate bacterial metabolism at low concentrations (Baker 1941, Dubos 1947). So far as the author has been able to determine, there have been no studies of the ability of these compounds to enhance the growth of fungi. The present study was undertaken to determine if any of a large group of surface-active compounds were capable of stimulating the growth of a number of genera and species of human pathogenic fungi in a manner similar to that observed with other microorganisms. Progress on this problem was reported by the author in a preliminary
Social interdependence, psychological adjustment, and marital satisfaction in second marriages.

Abstract Attitudes toward cooperative, competitive, and individualistic situations were correlated with measures of psychological health, orientation toward negative life stress, and marital satisfaction among 44 American stepcouples. Cooperativeness was unrelated to measures of wives' psychological pathology and orientation toward negative life stress but was positively related to wives' and husbands' marital satisfaction and husbands' overall psychological adjustment and positive orientation toward life events. Competitiveness was significantly related to wives' and husbands' psychological pathology and marital dissatisfaction, and was unrelated to orientation toward negative life stress. Individualistic attitudes were significantly related to wives' and husbands' psychological pathology and maladjustment, orientation toward negative life stress, and marital dissatisfaction. The results were stronger for the wives than for the husbands.
Nonprofit association CEOs how their context shapes what, how, and why they learn

This qualitative study explored the learning experiences of twelve national nonprofit membership association CEOs using a phenomenological research design. While the professional context of an organization's chief executive is considered unique from other executive positions, the impact of this context on what and how CEOs learned was unclear. The findings describe association CEO learning as being affected in significant ways by the politically charged context in which the nonprofit association CEO operates with his or her board of directors. Power imbalances with staff and the board make learning through traditional organizational dialogue a less useful learning process for the CEOs. Furthermore, the feelings of isolation and vulnerability that are generated from the nonprofit association CEO context often cause CEOs to use private reflection and dialogue with their spouse as primary learning mechanisms. The study concludes that the association CEO context uniquely and profoundly shapes what, how, and why CEOs learn. Perhaps lacking the financial security of lucrative severance payments, which are often specified in employment contracts of for-profit CEOs, the nonprofit association CEO will often temper his or her actions to avoid personal vulnerability with a politically charged board of directors.
Electronic and optical properties of amorphous GeSe2

The electronic and optical properties of amorphous germanium diselenide are investigated. The electronic densities-of-states and optical constants are calculated. Specific attention is focused on the nature of the dominant bonding conformations in the glass, and the electronic transitions that give rise to different structures in the optical spectra. Comparisons are made with experimental X-ray photoemission and dielectric response measurements. The results indicate that the structure of a-GeSe2 more closely resembles the structure of the high temperature crystalline phase. The principal features in the reported optical spectra in the 0–6 eV range are found to be accounted for in terms of transitions from the p-like region of the valence band to the s and p antibonding regions of the conduction band.
Occipital condyle syndrome.

Objective.—Review the clinical features of occipital condyle syndrome. Background.—Occipital condyle syndrome consists of unilateral occipital region pain associated with ipsilateral 12th cranial nerve paresis. It is typically due to metastasis to the skull base and is underdiagnosed. Design.—We report a retrospective case series of 11 patients (8 men, 3 women), aged 32 to 72 years. Results.—Eleven cases of occipital condyle syndrome were identified. All patients complained of severe occipital region pain. In addition, 2 patients complained of ipsilateral ear or mastoid pain, 2 noted associated vertex pain, and 2 had frontal region pain. Six of the 11 cases involved the right side. In all patients, the occipital pain was ipsilateral to the 12th nerve paresis. All patients were mildly dysarthric, and 3 had dysphagia. In 7 of the 11 patients, occipital region pain preceded the hypoglossal paresis by several days to 10 weeks. On examination, tenderness to palpation of the occipital region was noted in all patients. All 11 patients had unilateral hypoglossal paresis. Skull films were abnormal in 2 of 5 patients for whom they were obtained, and tomograms were abnormal in 1 of 2 patients. High-quality computed tomography, bone scanning, and magnetic resonance imaging were abnormal in all cases in which they were performed. Nine patients had a known primary malignancy. The most common malignancies were breast cancer in women (2 of 3) and prostate cancer in men (4 of 8). In 2 patients, occipital condyle syndrome was the initial manifestation of a metastatic lesion. Radiation therapy was the treatment of choice for the occipital region pain. Conclusion.—Occipital condyle syndrome is a rare, but stereotypic syndrome. Early detection has important therapeutic implications. Evaluation of the craniovertebral junction with special attention to the occipital condyles should be a routine part of all brain and cervical spine radiologic examinations, and the possibility of occipital condyle syndrome, particularly when patients have persistent occipital pain and a history of cancer, should be considered.
Density deconvolution based on wavelets with bounded supports

Under the assumption that both convolution densities, g and q, have finite degrees of smoothness, we construct a nonlinear wavelet estimator of the unknown density g based on wavelets with bounded supports. We show that this estimator provides local adaptivity to the unknown smoothness of g and, hence, performs better than the estimator based on Meyer-type wavelets if g has irregular behavior.
Aspects of Intracellular Transit of Serum and Lipid Phases of Milk

Abstract Intracellular sites of origin of constituents of milk and mechanisms by which milk constituents are compartmentalized and transported to the apical cell surface for release into alveolar lumina have been studied by microscopists, physiologists, and cell biochemists over the past 25 or more yr. Through the efforts of these many investigators much has been learned about formation, transport, and secretion of milk constituents. However, the pace at which knowledge about milk formation has accumulated has been modest, and we have much to learn about the processes leading to formation and cellular release of milk. In view of the signal importance of lactation to mammalian life, it is regretable that so much remains to be learned about the differentiated mammary epithelial cell.
Increased catecholamine excretion after labetalol therapy: A spurious effect of drug metabolites

Abstract Patients with essential hypertension were treated for four weeks with the alpha- and beta-adreno-receptor blocking agent labetalol. Urinary excretion of total catecholamines, metanephrine plus normetanephrine and vanillylmandelic acid was measured with various methods before and during treatment. An unidentified substance interfering with the fluorimetric method for catecholamines and the photometric assay for metanephrines caused falsely high values of those substances. Using appropriate methodology no changes of total catecholamines, metanephrine plus normetanephrine and vanillylmandelic acid excretion were found after labetalol therapy. Our findings are important in preventing errors in the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma as well as in the evaluation of the effects of labetalol on the sympathetic nervous system in man.
Adaptive Variable Structure Control of Linear Delayed Systems

This brief deals with the stabilization of a class of time-delay systems subject to external disturbance vectors whose bounds are not known. A continuous adaptive variable structure controller is synthesized to guarantee that the motions of the sliding surface are uniformly exponentially convergent to a ball with any prespecified exponential convergence rate towards it. Furthermore, the reduced-order sliding mode dynamics as well as the deviation from ideal sliding motion are uniformly exponentially convergent to a ball whose radius is minimized and the exponential convergence towards it is maximized. The problem is formulated as an optimization problem with LMI constraints. Finally, an example is included to illustrate the results developed in this brief.
Performance evaluation of non-porous versus porous ion-exchange packings in the separation of proteins by high-performance liquid chromatography

The performance of a non-porous, anion-exchange packing was evaluated and compared with a number of similar porous high-performance liquid chromatography packings. The non-porous columns were found to be equally efficient for proteins spanning a wide range of molecular weights, while the porous columns exhibited decreasing efficiency as the proteins became larger. The porous materials also exhibited size exclusion effects that were not seen with the non-porous materials, which partially accounts for the loss of efficiency with large proteins. When increasingly steep gradients were employed, the loss of resolution was less with the non-porous materials.
The basis of transfer in artificial grammar learning.

In two experiments, we examined the extent to which knowledge of sequential dependencies and/or patterns of repeating elements is used during transfer in artificial grammar learning. According to one view of transfer, learners abstract the grammar’s sequential dependencies and then learn a mapping to new vocabulary at test (Dienes, Altmann, & Gao, 1999). Elements that are repeated have no special status on this view, and so a logical prediction is that learners should transfer as well after exposure to a grammar without repetitions as after exposure to a grammar with them. On another view, repetition structure is the very basis of transfer (Brooks & Vokey, 1991; Mathews & Roussel, 1997). Learners were trained on grammars with or without repeating elements to test these competing views. Learners demonstrated considerable knowledge of sequential dependencies in their training vocabulary but did not use such knowledge to transfer to a new vocabulary. Transfer only occurred in the presence of repetition structure, demonstrating this to be the basis of transfer.
A Fugacity Model for Gas Hydrate Phase Equilibria

A classical thermodynamic model for the equilibrium pressures of different guests of structure I and II gas hydrates is proposed that removes the need for reference energy parameters used in the van der Waals and Platteeuw (vdWP) type models. The assumption of a constant crystal lattice for different guests within a structure, which is not in agreement with quantum chemistry calculations, is removed. This model uses published Kihara cell potential parameters determined from viscosity and second virial coefficient data, unlike previous models that fit these parameters to hydrate data. Quantum mechanical calculations were used to reduce the number of fitted parameters in the new model. This model greatly improves upon the accuracy of previous models and is applicable over a wide temperature range. Percent absolute average deviations in the predicted equilibrium pressures is 3.27% with two or three guest-hydrate specific parameters compared to more than 11% with three adjustable parameters in the vdWP type m...
Implementation and evaluation of control strategies for individualizing dosage regimens, with application to the aminoglycoside antibiotics

Three strategies are implemented for controlling serum concentrations by determining individualized dosage regimens. The methods incorporate, respectively, nonlinear least squares parameter estimation, Bayesian maximum a posterioriprobability estimation, and a stochastic control procedure that minimizes the expected value of an appropriate therapeutic cost. The performance of the three dose regimen calculation strategies was evaluated using Monte Carlo simulations of a typical therapeutic protocol for tobramycin.
Numerical Study of Forced Convection in a Partially Porous Channel With Discrete Heat Sources

A numerical study was performed to analyze steady laminar forced convection in a channel partially filled with a fluid-saturated porous medium and containing discrete heat sources on the bottom wall. Hydrodynamic and heat transfer results are reported for the configuration in which the porous layers are located above the heat sources while the rest of the channel is nonporous. The flow in the porous medium was modeled using the Brinkman-Forchheimer extended Darcy model. Parametric studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of variable heat source spacing and heat source width on heat transfer enhancement and pressure drop in the channel. The results indicate that when the heat source spacing was increased within the range considered, there was a negligible change in heat transfer enhancement while the pressure drop decreased significantly. When the heat source width was decreased, there was a moderate increase in heat transfer enhancement and a significant decrease in pressure drop.
Photoperiodic control of germination in the unicell Chlamydomonas

Photoperiodic time measurement is a well-documented adaptation of multicellular plants and animals to seasonal changes in the environment, but it is unclear whether unicellular organisms can exhibit bona fide photoperiodic responses. We demonstrate that the occurrence of zygospore germination of the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas is a genuine photoperiodic response. Germination efficiency is enhanced in long days as compared with short days. While the total amount of light exposure influences the efficiency of germination, the photoperiod is a significant cue for germination. The developmental stage that senses the photoperiod is just prior to mating and during the first days of zygospore development, so there may be a critical window of zygospore maturation that is regulated by photoperiod. Because zygospores are resistant to freezing injury, whereas vegetative cells are not, it is likely that the suppression of germination by short days is an adaptive response for overwintering of Chlamydomonas. Therefore, Chlamydomonas is a single-celled organism that is capable of photoperiodic responses.
Fast suboptimal state-space self-tuner for linear stochastic multivariable systems

A fast state-space self-tuner is developed for suboptimal control of linear stochastic multivariable systems. The suboptimal self-tuner is determined by utilising both the standard recursive-extended-least-squares parameter estimation algorithm and the recently developed matrix sign algorithm, which gives a fast solution of the steady-state discrete Riccati equation. The developed suboptimal state-space self-tuner can be applied to a class of stable/unstable and minimum/non-minimum phase linear stochastic multivariable systems, in which the pair (A, C) is block observable and the pair (A, B) is stablisable. Also, the pair (A, Q?) with Q?Q?T = Q is detectable where A, B and C are system, input and output matrices, respectively, and Q is a weighting matrix in a quadratic performance index.
Integration of a professional dancer into college

This paper evaluates the experience of integrating a professional dancer into a collegiate environment using a case study method of qualitative research. Interviews, focus groups, observation studies and document analysis techniques were used to gather qualitative data for this study. The innovation of diffusion theory was used to highlight the implications of this study for other professional dance and collegiate institutions.
Interaction of an Oscillating Control Surface with am Unsteady Separated Region

The results of experiments involving an airfoil with an oscillating fence-type spoiler are utilized in the development of a semiempirical flow model capable of describing the surface effects of a dynamically separating region. Founded on an extension of steady flow separation concepts, the model incorporates a prediction of growth lag and modifications to the pressure field of the separation "bubble" as its essential features. The model is employed in the equation of motion for a system involving a mechanically and aerodynamically coupled spoiler/control surface combination undergoing oscillations. Resultant system behavior was predicted adequately, as verified by subsequent experiments. Limit cycle motion, which may be thought of as a subsonic analog of control surface buzz, was observed to correlate with analytical estimates.
The automatic internal cardioverter defibrillator (AICD): Description and guidelines for interaction during cardiac arrest

The development and increasing use of the automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) represents a major therapeutic advance for management of recurrent ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation. However, the AICD sensing functions that determine appropriate energy discharge may complicate resuscitation from cardiac arrest. This case report illustrates a properly functioning AICD interfering with the resuscitation of a 67-year-old man. In the presence of persistent ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation or successful conversion to a supraventricular tachycardia with pulses that exceed the rate cutoff, it may be helpful to inactivate the AICD with a magnet to prevent unneeded discharges during resuscitation and stabilization.
Pseudohypoparathyroidism; report of a case with late manifestations.

IN 1942 Albright (1) and his co-workers first described a condition resembling hypoparathyroidism in which there appeared to be no deficiency of the parathyroid secretion but a failure of the body end-organs to respond to the hormone. Three patients were reported who presented certain characteristic physical features with histories of convulsions or other symptoms of parathyroid deficiency, and in whom the results of chemical studies were identical with those of hypoparathyroidism except for complete lack of response to administered parathyroid hormone. In one patient a biopsy revealed apparently normal parathyroid tissue. It was postulated that a normal amount of parathyroid hormone was secreted but that the tissue end-organs were refractory to the hormone. The name “pseudo-hypoparathyroidism” was given to this condition. It has also been called an example of the “Seabright-bantam syndrome.” The Seabright-bantam is a species of fowl in which the male shows female plumage and comb. Normal testes have been...
Collaboration, Legitimacy, and Awareness in Puget Sound MPAs

Previous studies suggest that collaboration between management agencies and the public has the potential to increase public approval of marine protected areas (MPAs). A social survey was conducted in seven communities near Puget Sound MPAs to (1) measure the degree of perceived collaboration between government agencies and the public at each site, (2) identify factors related to agency–public collaboration, and (3) test whether government agency–public collaboration is related to increased process legitimacy. Results show that two independent variables: (a) whether resource users perceived that adequate information was used and (b) whether all views were taken into consideration are key factors explaining variance in perceived collaboration across MPA sites. Both were significantly correlated with perceived collaboration with Spearman rho rank-order correlations of 0.56 and 0.64, respectively (p < .05). Perceptions of collaboration are also significantly correlated with a measure of process legitimacy. Pe...
A profile of self-care behaviors in emerging adults with type 1 diabetes

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to characterize daily diabetes self-care behaviors and to evaluate associations among self-care behaviors, psychosocial adjustment, and glycemic control in an understudied sample of emerging adults with type 1 diabetes.MethodsForty-nine emerging adults (65% women; ages 18-26 years) completed 2 diabetes interviews to assess self-care behaviors and self-report measures of psychosocial adjustment. Glycemic control was assessed via hemoglobin A1C.ResultsDiabetes self-care behaviors varied widely and were largely suboptimal; only a small percentage of participants demonstrated self-care behaviors consistent with national and international recommendations. Psychosocial adjustment was within normal limits and was unrelated to frequency of self-care behaviors in this sample. Mean glycemic control (8.3%) was higher than the recommended A1C level (< 7.0%) for this age group. Use of intensive (eg, multiple daily injections or pump) insulin regimens was related to better glycemic c...
Segment-specific prevention of pioneer neuron apoptosis by cell-autonomous, postmitotic Hox gene activity

In vertebrates, neurons often undergo apoptosis after differentiating and extending their axons. By contrast, in the developing nervous system of invertebrate embryos apoptosis typically occurs soon after cells are generated. Here, we show that the Drosophila dMP2 and MP1 pioneer neurons undergo segment-specific apoptosis at late embryonic stages, long after they have extended their axons and have performed their pioneering role in guiding follower axons. This segmental specificity is achieved by differential expression of the Hox gene Abdominal B, which in posterior segments prevents pioneer neuron death postmitotically and cell-autonomously by repressing the RHG-motif cell death activators reaper and grim. Our results identify the first clear case of a cell-autonomous and anti-apoptotic role for a Hox gene in vivo. In addition, they provide a novel mechanism linking Hox positional information to differences in neuronal architecture along the anteroposterior axis by the selective elimination of mature neurons.
Does exposure to childhood radiation influence the development of thyroid nodular disease and thyroid cancer risk

This Practice Point commentary discusses the findings and limitations of a retrospective analysis by Mihailescu and Schneider, in which the authors investigated the prevalence of thyroid nodular disease and thyroid cancer in a cohort of patients exposed to ionizing radiation during childhood. Thyroid nodular disease and thyroid cancer were both prevalent in this population. Contrary to previous hypotheses, however, multinodularity was not associated with a decreased risk of malignancy, as thyroid cancer was diagnosed in 30.7% of patients with two or more thyroid nodules, each larger than 1cm. In this commentary, I highlight strategies that are critical to effective patient care. When present, multiple thyroid nodules larger than 1cm must be evaluated by fine-needle aspiration cytology in order to reliably exclude thyroid cancer. Although retrospective in design, this investigation provides insight into the natural history of thyroid disease in a unique patient cohort.
A mechanism by which high-density lipoproteins may slow the atherogenic process.

There is a well-documented negative correlation between plasma concentrations of high-density lipoproteins (H.D.L.) and risk of clinically evident atherosclerosis. This may relate to the postulated role of H.D.L. in the transport of cholesterol out of cells. Studies of the metabolism of lipoproteins by arterial smooth-muscle cells suggest that a second mechanism also operates, H.D.L. binds to the surface of porcine arterial smooth-muscle cells as effectively as low-density lipoprotein (L.D.L.) but is internalised and degraded much more slowly. When incubated with L.D.L. these cells show a net increment in cholesterol content. However, cells incubated with equal or higher concentration of H.D.L. under comparable conditions show no cholesterol accumulation. The presence of H.D.L. in the medium partially inhibits uptake and degradation of L.D.L. and, most important, also partially suppresses the net increment in cell sterol content induced by L.D.L. The demonstrated interaction of H.D.L. and L.D.L. could be a second mechanism contributing to the apparent protective effect of high plasma-H.D.L. concentrations in relation to atherogenesis.
Enhancing Product Recommender Systems on Sparse Binary Data

Commercial recommender systems use various data mining techniques to make appropriate recommendations to users during online, real-time sessions. Published algorithms focus more on the discrete user ratings instead of binary results, which hampers their predictive capabilities when usage data is sparse. The system proposed in this paper, e-VZpro, is an association mining-based recommender tool designed to overcome these problems through a two-phase approach. In the first phase, batches of customer historical data are analyzed through association mining in order to determine the association rules for the second phase. During the second phase, a scoring algorithm is used to rank the recommendations online for the customer. The second phase differs from the traditional approach and an empirical comparison between the methods used in e-VZpro and other collaborative filtering methods including dependency networks, item-based, and association mining is provided in this paper. This comparison evaluates the algorithms used in each of the above methods using two internal customer datasets and a benchmark dataset. The results of this comparison clearly show that e-VZpro performs well compared to dependency networks and association mining. In general, item-based algorithms with cosine similarity measures have the best performance.
Management of grain stubble for conservation-tillage systems

Abstract Standing wheat stubble decreased seed-level soil temperature and mid-canopy photosynthetically-active radiation compared with burned plots. Plants within standing stubble had reduced main-stem leaf development, drastically reduced tillering and above-ground dry weights at late tillering, and had shorter stems at harvest. Because growing conditions from anthesis to maturity were highly favorable, depressed plant development and growth caused by standing stubble decreased grain and straw yield only slightly.
An Improved Mirex Bait Formulation for Control of Imported Fire Ants

A new method was developed for formulating mirex bait for control of Solenopsis richteri Forel and Solenopsis invicta Buren. The mirex is incorporated into the outer layer of soybean oil on the corncob grits and the bait is coated with an acrylic latex. The oil content of the formulation can be increased by one-third, thus more oil or food attractant is available to the ants. Incorporation of the mirex in the oil on the surface of the grits makes a greater percentage of the insecticide available to the ants (89 vs. 55% in the standard bait). Field tests in Georgia with aerial applications of the new formulation against S. invicta showed that the coated bait containing 0.1% mirex and applied at 1.0 1b per acre gave control comparable to standard bait containing 0.3 % mirex applied at a rate of 1¼ lb per acre (99.6 vs. 99.1%, respectively).
Increased insulin-like growth factor-1 after oophorectomy in postmenopausal women

IGF-1 levels increased, and IGF-2 and IGFBP-3 levels remained unchanged, in postmenopausal women following oophorectomy. The increase in IGF-1 likely results from decreased ovarian steroidogenic precursors resulting from removal of the hormonally active ovary. This finding raises concerns, given the association between increased IGF-1 and elevated colon cancer risk, and adds to the literature suggesting a potential benefit from ovarian preservation.
Development of Microwave-Assisted Extraction Procedure for Organic Impurity Profiling of Seized 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)

Keywords:forensic science;3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine;microwave-assisted extraction;headspace solid-phase microextraction;gas chromatography�mass spectrometry;impurity profiling Abstract: Organic impurity profiling of seized 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) tablets aims to link tablets to common production sources. Conventionally, organic impurities are extracted from tablets using a liquid�liquid extraction (LLE) procedure prior to analysis by gas chromatography�mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In this research, the development of an alternative microwave-assisted extraction/headspace solid-phase microextraction (MAE/HS-SPME) procedure is described. The optimal procedure used phosphate buffer (1 M, pH 8), with an HS-SPME extraction temperature of 70°C for 40 min, using a divinylbenzene/Carboxen�/polydimethylsiloxane (DVB/CAR/PDMS) fiber. Impurities were extracted from seized MDMA exhibits using the MAE/HS-SPME procedure, as well as HS-SPME alone, and a conventional LLE procedure. The HS-SPME procedure was deemed to be the most practical because of the affordability and need for less analyst involvement. Although the LLE was limited in the number of impurities extracted, the procedure is still useful for the extraction of less volatile impurities that are not extracted by HS-SPME.
PALAEOBIOLOGY OF THE CLIMACTICHNITES TRACEMAKER

Trace fossils such as Climactichnites offer rare insights into the palaeobiology of Cambrian soft-bodied ani- mals, especially those that inhabited emergent sand flats and are not known from body fossils. Analysis of field and museum Climactichnites, together with experiments on the preservation of similar modern trails, indicates that the trace- maker was an elongate, bilaterally symmetrical, dorsoven- trally flattened, soft-bodied animal with a muscular foot. These characteristics are consistent with the tracemaker being a primitive mollusc or mollusc-like animal. Unlike most Neoproterozoic and Cambrian molluscs, the tracemaker could reach considerable size; at up to c. 69 cm long, it was one of the largest Cambrian animals of its time. When mov- ing on the sediment surface, locomotion resulted from mus- cular waves generated along the sole of its flexible foot; the foot was extended and then clamped onto the substrate. Contraction of pedal muscles then pulled the body forward. Sedimentary structures associated with Climactichnites wil- soni, such as polygonal desiccation cracks, raindrop impres- sions, adhesion structures and gas escape structures demonstrate that the animal inhabited intermittently subaeri- ally exposed environments. The tracemaker's method of locomotion is similar to that employed by modern intertidal gastropods, which make Climactichnites-like trails on exposed sand flats. However, these modern trails are not preserved because of erosion by wind, waves, tides and subsequent bioturbation. Abundant microbial sedimentary structures are associated with C. wilsoni, and together with low levels of vertical bioturbation, intimate that microbial binding may have mediated the preservation of these early mollusc trails.