cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Photorefractivity and Optical Wave Mixing Effects in Nematic Liquid Crystals Doped with Fullerene Derivatives and Dyes

The photorefractive effect has been observed and documented for decades1,2. This effect is typically observed in impurity doped electrooptic crystals. When the crystal is illuminated, charge carriers are excited from occupied donor states to the conduction band. These excited charge carriers migrate under the influence of diffusion, and any internal or external electric fields, until they are trapped by empty donors thereby causing a space-charge field to be formed within the crystal. The electric field that results from the charge separation acts to modulate the index of refraction through the electrooptic Pockels effect.
Variation in mental illness and provision of public mental health services

By providing affordable healthcare to many Americans for the first time, the Affordable Care Act increases demand for public mental health services. It is, however, unclear if states’ provision standards for supply of mental health services will be able to accommodate this demand increase. Both the demand and supply of public mental health services vary within states; it is necessary to measure both locally. In this paper, we estimate the prevalence of mental illness within 30 geographical regions in the state of Virginia, a representative example of how many states organize their public mental health systems and how mental illness prevalence can be measured locally. Our methodology extends the analysis in Stern (Health Serv. Outcomes Res. Methods 14:109–155, 2014) by covering an entire state and accounting for peoples’ insurance status. The latter allows us to compare estimates of demand for public mental health services among those 30 geographical regions. We find that over 66,000 uninsured and Medicaid-insured individuals in Virginia are not provided with public mental health services. The deficit varies locally, with several regions having no deficit and others having 5000 or more untreated people. We also estimate that a large portion of the unserved people with mental illness are uninsured but would be insured for mental health services through Medicaid if Virginia were to accept the Medicaid expansion associated with the Affordable Care Act. These results provide evidence that there is significant variation in the demand for and public health systems’ ability to supply mental health services within states. This implies states can better serve populations relying on mental health care by allocating scarce public mental health dollars to localities reflecting their need.
Student Responsible Learning: Getting Students to Read Online Discussions.

ABSTRACTDesigning courses for optimal level student learning is dependent upon student participation. This study examined one way to encourage further student participation in online discussions. Of specific importance was how to encourage students to read their student-colleagues' online discussion responses: not just a minimum number of responses but the majority of the responses. Results illustrate that the method utilized, Thematic Analysis, is effective in increasing reading rates among students. But possibly even more interesting are the students' reports that the use of this learning tool encouraged them to think critically and that their learning occurred primarily through many of the tenets of social constructivist theory. Furthermore, students reported enjoying this process of learning.
The Effect of Plastic Deformation on the Corrosion Susceptibility of Casing and Tubing Steels in Synthetic Formation Water and Sweet Environment

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of plastic deformation on the corrosion susceptibility of casing and tubing steels; i.e., K-55 and P-110. The steels were cold-rolled to obtain a reduction in thickness of 10%, 20% and 30%, and tested in synthetic formation water purged with CO2 gas. The corrosion behavior and the evolution of interfacial layers were investigated using linear polarization resistance (LPR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Corrosion products morphologies, structures and compositions were evaluated using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results show that when the amount of cold work increased, K-55 steel exhibited an increased corrosion rate, and P-110 steel showed a decreased corrosion rate when compared to the as received values. The mechanisms are characterized based on the impedance response that shows a one-time constant for K-55 steel and two time-constants for P-110 steel which was attributed to different scale developments. The induced plastic deformation enhanced the corrosion rate and altered the evolution of the covering layers with time.
An Attempt to Improve Fairness, Efficiency, and Access in the Financial Markets: The W.R. Hambrecht and Co Open IPO Process

This paper is an exploratory case study of the WR Hambrecht Co and their experience in attempting to reorient the IPO market roles and practices to improve access, efficiency, and fairness. WRH Co's OpenIPO process attempts to minimize “underpricing” in the IPO event, which is referred to as “leaving money on the table” from the issuing company’s perspective. While the original concept was a boutique investment bank, the success of the Google and Morningstar IPO events has implications for large scale IPO transactions. In addition to secondary data analysis, interviews were conducted with industry professionals and WRH staff. This paper also discusses auction methods. Since this paper was written, there have been major upheavals in the financial markets so some of the companies mentioned (Lehman Bros., Bear Stearns, etc.) are not in the same form as they were in 2006 when the research was done. Still, the author hopes that some of the data and stories offered here will give insight into one aspect of the financial markets.
Visibility in Industrial Research

(1967). Visibility in Industrial Research. Research Management: Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 293-299.
Melanoma Metastatic to the Duodenum.

An 87-year-old man presented with a 3-week history of nausea, emesis, anorexia, and weight loss. Upper endoscopy identified three pigmented lesions, and melanoma was confirmed on biopsy.
Moral Principles: Hedonism

We have seen that moral principles are principles used as criteria when we are called upon to make moral decisions. A next step in the understanding of moral decisions, therefore, is to find out what the moral principles are to which people do as a matter of fact appeal.
Xyleborus bispinatus Reared on Artificial Media in the Presence or Absence of the Laurel Wilt Pathogen (Raffaelea lauricola)

Like other members of the tribe Xyleborini, Xyleborus bispinatus Eichhoff can cause economic damage in the Neotropics. X. bispinatus has been found to acquire the laurel wilt pathogen Raffaelea lauricola (T. C. Harr., Fraedrich & Aghayeva) when breeding in a host affected by the pathogen. Its role as a potential vector of R. lauricola is under investigation. The main objective of this study was to evaluate three artificial media, containing sawdust of avocado (Persea americana Mill.) and silkbay (Persea humilis Nash.), for rearing X. bispinatus under laboratory conditions. In addition, the media were inoculated with R. lauricola to evaluate its effect on the biology of X. bispinatus. There was a significant interaction between sawdust species and R. lauricola for all media. Two of the media supported the prolific reproduction of X. bispinatus, but the avocado-based medium was generally more effective than the silkbay-based medium, regardless whether or not it was inoculated with R. lauricola. R. lauricola had a neutral or positive effect on beetle reproduction. The pathogen was frequently recovered from beetle galleries, but only from a few individuals which were reared on inoculated media, and showed limited colonization of the beetle’s mycangia. Two media with lower water content were most effective for rearing X. bispinatus.
Courting the Visual Image: The Ability of Digital Graphics and Interfaces to Alter the Memory and Behaviour of the Viewer

An intrinsic connection exists between humans and the memories they create; they define who we are, where we came from and our accomplishments and failures. However, decades of research has shown how fragile human memory can be. Almost all human computer interfaces involve vision and most rely on vision as the primary means of passing information to the user [1]. It is worth considering that perhaps this specific form of media interaction requires special care and attention due to its inherently persuasive nature, and the undue reliance that the viewer may place on information presented through a (potentially photorealistic) visualisation medium. Their influence on human memory and behaviour cannot be underestimated.
The Google Book Search Settlement: Ends, Means, and the Future of Books

For the past four years, Google has been systematically making digital copies of books in the collections of many major university libraries. It made the digital copies searchable through its web site - you couldn't read the books, but you could at least find out where the phrase you're looking for appears within them. This outraged copyright owners, who filed a class action lawsuit to make Google stop. Then, last fall, the parties to this large class action announced an even larger settlement: one that would give Google a license not only to scan books, but also to sell them. The settlement tackles the orphan works problem, but through the judicial process. Laundering orphan works legislation through a class action lawsuit is both a brilliant response to legislative inaction and a dangerous use of the judicial power. Many of the public interest safeguards that would have been present in the political arena are attenuated in a seemingly private lawsuit; the lack of such safeguards is evident in the terms of the resulting settlement. The solution is to reinsert these missing public interest protections into the settlement.
Beyond the ID in RFID

Wireless sensing devices are increasingly utilized to gather information about the environment of deployment. In this chapter, we analyze the requirements of an idealized wireless sensing node and discuss how effective battery powered wireless sensors are, in addressing these requirements. We also evaluate the advantages and shortcomings of alternative passive wireless sensing approaches emphasizing an emerging paradigm of RFID tag antenna-based sensing that offers great potential for the development of ultra low cost, long-lasting wireless sensors.
MUNICIPAL WATER REUSE IN TUCSON, ARIZONA, USA

Arizona's Groundwater Management Act limits the use of groundwater to meet growing demand for water by the municipal sector. The state's recharge and recovery program allows for water reuse through aquifer recharge and later recovery inside or out of the area of hydrologic impact. The paper discusses water reuse within the municipal sector in Arizona, with a special focus on the Tucson metropolitan area. Increased effluent utilization is playing a more prominent role in long-range planning efforts. The paper focuses on the role of reclaimed water in water management planning. It explains how the use of effluent is influenced by water quality considerations and institutional/legal arrangements.
Glucose repression of xylitol production in Candida tropicalis mixed-sugar fermentations

Glucose repressed xylose utilization inCandida tropicalis pre-grown on xylose until glucose reached approximately 0–5 g l−1. In fermentations consisting of xylose (93 g l−1) and glucose (47 g l−1), xylitol was produced with a yield of 0.65 g g−1 and a specific rate of 0.09 g g−1 h−1, and high concentrations of ethanol were also produced (25 g l−1). If the initial glucose was decreased to 8 g l−1, the xylitol yield (0.79 g g−1) and specific rate (0.24 g g−1 h−1) increased with little ethanol formation (<5 g l−1). To minimize glucose repression, batch fermentations were performed using an aerobic, glucose growth phase followed by xylitol production. Xylitol was produced under O2 limited and anaerobic conditions, but the specific production rate was higher under O2 limited conditions (0.1–0.4 vs. 0.03 g g−1 h−1). On-line analysis of the respiratory quotient defined the time of xylose reductase induction.
The Use of Classical Solutions in Quantum Optics

The problem I propose to consider is that of a number of identical two-level-systems coupled to the entire radiation field, which is represented by a large number of modes. I will discuss both the phenomenon of free decay of the systems from initial excited states, and the forced oscillation by the systems under an external resonant driving field. It will be seen that the classical results play an important role in supplementing the quantum mechanical analysis.
The Anchoring Effect in Decision-Making with Visual Analytics

Anchoring effect is the tendency to focus too heavily on one piece of information when making decisions. In this paper, we present a novel, systematic study and resulting analyses that investigate the effects of anchoring effect on human decision-making using visual analytic systems. Visual analytics interfaces typically contain multiple views that present various aspects of information such as spatial, temporal, and categorical. These views are designed to present complex, heterogeneous data in accessible forms that aid decision-making. However, human decision-making is often hindered by the use of heuristics, or cognitive biases, such as anchoring effect. Anchoring effect can be triggered by the order in which information is presented or the magnitude of information presented. Through carefully designed laboratory experiments, we present evidence of anchoring effect in analysis with visual analytics interfaces when users are primed by representation of different pieces of information. We also describe detailed analyses of users’ interaction logs which reveal the impact of anchoring bias on the visual representation preferred and paths of analysis. We discuss implications for future research to possibly detect and alleviate anchoring bias.Index Terms: K.6.1 [Management of Computing and Information Systems]: Project and People Management-Life Cycle, K.7.m [The Computing Profession]: Miscellaneous-Ethics
Hydatidiform moles: differential diagnosis, diagnostic reproducibility, genetics and ancillary techniques to refine diagnosis

Abstract Distinction of hydatidiform moles from non-molar specimens and sub-classification of hydatidiform moles as complete hydatidiform mole (CHM) versus partial hydatidiform mole (PHM) are important. Risk of persistent gestational trophoblastic disease and clinical management differ for these entities. Diagnosis based on morphology is subject to interobserver variability. The unique genetics of CHMs, PHMs, and non-molar specimens allow for certain techniques, including immunohistochemical analysis of p57 expression and PCR-based DNA genotyping, to refine diagnosis. p57 immunostaining identifies CHMs, which lack p57 expression due to lack of maternal DNA, but does not distinguish PHMs from non-molar specimens since both express p57 due to the presence of maternal DNA. Genotyping distinguishes purely androgenetic CHMs from diandric triploid PHMs and both of these from biparental non-molar specimens by comparing villous and decidual DNA patterns to determine the parental source and ratios of polymorphic alleles. An algorithmic approach using these ancillary techniques is advocated.
Wasserstein Contraction of Stochastic Nonlinear Systems

We suggest that the tools of contraction analysis for deterministic systems can be applied towards studying the convergence behavior of stochastic dynamical systems in the Wasserstein metric. In particular, we consider the case of Ito diffusions with identical dynamics but different initial condition distributions. If the drift term of the diffusion is contracting, then we show that the Wasserstein distance between the laws of any two solutions can be bounded by the Wasserstein distance between the initial condition distributions. Dependence on initial conditions exponentially decays in time at a rate governed by the contraction rate of the noise-free dynamics. The choice of the Wasserstein metric affords several advantages: it captures the underlying geometry of the space, can be efficiently estimated from samples, and advances a viewpoint which begins to bridge the gap between somewhat distinct areas of the literature.
Broadband Pulse Delays in Ultracompact Footprints Enabled through Nonreciprocity

We demonstrate large broadband pulse delays in subwavelength structures, enabled through nonreciprocal topologically protected edge states. We develop an equivalent model to study buffer dynamics and accurately predict delays, and demonstrate a new optical resonance. © 2019 The Author(s)
Epiglottopexy for the treatment of epiglottic retroversion in 2 horses.

Objective To report an epiglottopexy technique for the treatment of epiglottic retroversion (ER) in 2 horses. Study design Case report. Animals A 2-year-old thoroughbred gelding and a 6-year-old standardbred gelding, both with ER. Methods Epiglottic retroversion was diagnosed via exercising endoscopic examination in both horses. Epiglottopexy technique was performed in both cases. Results Both horses returned to previous racing class within 1 year after surgery. Repeat exercising endoscopy of 1 horse 6 months postoperatively revealed resolution of the ER. Conclusion Epiglottopexy should be considered for treatment of ER in the equine athlete. Clinical significance Previously reported surgical techniques for ER in the equine athlete have not resulted in horses returning to previous performance level. The technique reported here resulted in both horses achieving athletic status.
Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Toxicities

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are molecules that increase the endogenous immune response against tumors. They have revolutionized the field of oncology. Since their initial approval for the treatment of advanced melanoma, their use has expanded to the treatment of several other advanced cancers. Unfortunately, immune checkpoint inhibitors have also been associated with the emergence of a new subset of autoimmune-like toxicities, known as immune-related adverse events. These toxicities differ depending on the agent, malignancy, and individual susceptibilities. Although the skin and colon are most commonly involved, any organ may be affected, including the liver, lungs, kidneys, and heart. Most of these toxicities are diagnosed by excluding other secondary infectious or inflammatory causes. Corticosteroids are commonly used for treatment of moderate and severe immune-related adverse events, although additional immunosuppressive therapy may occasionally be required. The occurrence of immune-related toxicities may require discontinuation of immunotherapy, depending on the specific toxicity and its severity. In this article, we provide a focused review to familiarize practicing clinicians with this important topic given that the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors continues to increase.
Targeting Heat Shock Proteins in Multiple Myeloma

The heat shock proteins (Hsp), the family of molecular chaperons, are key proteins in protein folding and maturation. The client proteins of Hsp are critical in number of biological processes including cellular proliferation, differentiation, survival, metastasis, invasion, and angiogenesis. Thus, Hsp family becomes one of the desirable targets for cancer treatment. It has been demonstrated that Hsp overexpress in multiple myeloma and linked in poor prognosis and relapse. This chapter describes about the Hsp and their possible link with the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma. It addresses the advancement and challenges in the development of Hsp inhibitors.
Meniscus repair five-year results are influenced by patient pre-injury activity level but not age group.

Abstract Background The purpose of the study is to determine whether patient age group (≥ 40 years versus Methods Two hundred and twenty-five patients (n = 61, age ≥ 40 years; n = 164, age Results Repair failure was 20% overall with no association with age group ( Conclusions Meniscal repair failure rates and patient-reported outcomes do not differ substantially between older or younger patients of similar pre-injury activity level. Sedentary patients regardless of age have worse self-reported subjective outcomes compared with active patients.
Select Healthcare Transformation Library

The Select Healthcare Transformation Library is drawn from the Associate Editor of Book Reviews' 5000-book personal home collection and is divided into eight categories: (1) Human Intelligence and ...
Design of coupled Andronov–Hopf oscillators with desired strange attractors

This paper develops a design method for the interconnections of a network of Andronov–Hopf oscillators such that the system exhibits a desired strange attractor. Because of the structure of the oscillators, the desired behavior can be achieved via weak linear coupling, which destabilizes the oscillators’ phase difference. First, a set of sufficient conditions are established that result in phase destabilization, and thus instability, of a desired periodic solution. Then, an additional condition is determined to ensure that all harmonic periodic orbits will be unstable. Finally, additional numerical properties are assessed, where tuning of a small parameter can result in chaos.
Sex and pedagogy influences in physics learning-related reorganization of brain activation

ABSTRACT Physics is a challenging academic pursuit in which university students regularly struggle to achieve success. Female students tend to perform negatively on introductory physics conceptual assessments compared to their male peers; however, active-learning classroom curricula are known to broadly improve performance on these tests. Here, we used fMRI to delineate physics-related brain activity in 107 students and probed for changes following a semester of active-learning or lecture-based physics instruction. Large-scale reorganization of brain activity accompanying learning occurred in a mixed frontoparietal and default mode network. Sex differences were observed in frontoparietal, default mode, and primary visual areas before and after instruction. Regions showing significant pedagogy, sex, and time interactions were revealed during physics retrieval, suggesting the type of class students complete may influence sex differences in how students retrieve information. These results reveal potentially elucidating sex and pedagogy differences underlying the neural mechanisms supporting physics learning.
Critical Relational Community Building in Neoliberal Times

Scholars face a paradox: How to engage in critical community building when the nature of academic engagement in neoliberal times encourages academic entrepreneurship? Competition is encouraged amon...
Valorization of cherry pits: Great Lakes agro-industrial waste to mediate Great Lakes water quality.

Abstract To meet human food and fiber needs in an environmentally and economically sustainable way, we must improve the efficiency of waste, water, and nutrient use by converting vast quantities of agricultural and food waste to renewable bioproducts. This work converts waste cherry pits, an abundant food waste in the Great Lakes region, to biochars and activated biochars via slow pyrolysis. Biochars produced have surface areas between 206 and 274 m2/g and increased bioavailability of Fe, K, Mg, Mn, and P. The biochars can be implemented as soil amendments to reduce nutrient run-off and serve as a valuable carbon sink (biochars contain 74–79% carbon), potentially mitigating harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes. CO2-activated biochars have surface areas of up to 629 m2/g and exhibit selective metal adsorption for the removal of metals from simulated contaminated drinking water, an environmental problem plaguing this region. Through sustainable waste-to-byproduct valorization we convert this waste food biomass into biochar for use as a soil amendment and into activated biochars to remove metals from drinking water, thus alleviating economic issues associated with cherry pit waste handling and reducing the environmental impact of the cherry processing industry.
Virtual Reality Simulation for Pediatric Airway Intubation Readiness Education.

Background The objective of this study was to provide education to inexperienced trainees regarding preparation for airway intubation using virtual reality (VR) tutorial and comparison of performance with that of experienced trainees without VR training. We hypothesized that after the VR tutorial, junior fellows and residents will have comparable recall of the proper steps as experienced trainees. Methods This project was initiated in the pediatric intensive care unit from July 1, 2019, to July 30, 2019. Volunteer residents and pediatric critical care medicine fellows participated. The VR group completed a 19-minute immersive tutorial and then demonstrated learned skills with a traditional manikin. Non-VR group fellows listed steps to prepare for airway intubation from memory with scoring on a 24-point timed checklist. Results Seventeen subjects participated; two residents were excluded. The VR group had seven trainees (47%) and scored similarly to the other group based on checklist items (50.5% vs 50.8%, P=1). Conclusion VR technologies can be used for education in preparation for pediatric airway intubation. There was no difference in the performance accuracy between the two groups. Larger studies are essential to study benefits of VR in preparation and performance of airway intubation.
Single-Cell RNA Sequencing of Tocilizumab-Treated Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells as an in vitro Model of Inflammation

COVID-19 has posed a significant threat to global health. Early data has revealed that IL-6, a key regulatory cytokine, plays an important role in the cytokine storm of COVID-19. Multiple trials are therefore looking at the effects of Tocilizumab, an IL-6 receptor antibody that inhibits IL-6 activity, on treatment of COVID-19, with promising findings. As part of a clinical trial looking at the effects of Tocilizumab treatment on kidney transplant recipients with subclinical rejection, we performed single-cell RNA sequencing of comparing stimulated PBMCs before and after Tocilizumab treatment. We leveraged this data to create an in vitro cytokine storm model, to better understand the effects of Tocilizumab in the presence of inflammation. Tocilizumab-treated cells had reduced expression of inflammatory-mediated genes and biologic pathways, particularly amongst monocytes. These results support the hypothesis that Tocilizumab may hinder the cytokine storm of COVID-19, through a demonstration of biologic impact at the single-cell level.
Close-Packed PEDOT:PSS-Coated Graphene Microelectrodes for High-Resolution Interrogation of Neural Activity

Graphene microelectrode arrays (MEAs) have emerged as a viable neurointerfacing tool for their combined benefits in mechanical, electrical, and optical properties. To evaluate their promise for high-resolution neurointerfacing applications, here we presented a 28- $\mu \text{m}$ pitched, poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)-coated graphene MEA that can achieve one order higher spatial resolution than previous graphene MEAs in both neurostimulation and optogenetic electrophysiology. The electroplated PEDOT:PSS layer improved the impedance and the charge-injection capacity of the graphene electrodes by 40–60 times (sub-100 $\text{k}\Omega $ , >1.31 mC/cm2 and maintained low light-induced artifacts among them (sub-3 $\mu$ V). As a result, our MEA was able to stimulate neuronal ensemble with single electrodes and record optogenetically evoked neural spikes with high signal-to-noise ratios. These results shed light on the possible use of PEDOT:PSS-coated graphene MEAs toward high-resolution interrogation of neural activity.
Relaxed Clustered Hawkes Process for Student Procrastination Modeling in MOOCs

Hawkes processes have been shown to be efficient in modeling bursty sequences in a variety of applications, such as finance and social network activity analysis. Traditionally, these models parameterize each process independently and assume that the history of each point process can be fully observed. Such models could however be inefficient or even prohibited in certain real-world applications, such as in the field of education, where such assumptions are violated. Motivated by the problem of detecting and predicting student procrastination in students Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) with missing and partially observed data, in this work, we propose a novel personalized Hawkes process model (RCHawkes-Gamma) that discovers meaningful student behavior clusters by jointly learning all partially observed processes simultaneously, without relying on auxiliary features. Our experiments on both synthetic and real-world education datasets show that RCHawkes-Gamma can effectively recover student clusters and their temporal procrastination dynamics, resulting in better predictive performance of future student activities. Our further analyses of the learned parameters and their association with student delays show that the discovered student clusters unveil meaningful representations of various procrastination behaviors in students.
Loss of Stk11 in basolateral amygdalar projection neurons impairs taste aversion learning by altering the temporal pattern of taste response plasticity in gustatory cortex

Abstract Gustatory cortex (GC) responds to tastes on the tongue with dynamic ensemble activity that represents first the presence, then the identity, and finally the hedonic value (palatability) of tastes. This final state of the taste response is uniquely altered by conditioned taste aversion (CTA) – a powerful one-trial learning paradigm in which a taste becomes aversive after association with gastric malaise – a process requiring coordination between GC and basolateral amygdala (BLA). Previously, we found that one key requirement for learning in this circuit is expression of the serine/threonine kinase 11 (Stk11) gene (a tumor suppression gene which has only recently been associated with learning; Levitan et al., 2020). When Stk11 is knocked out in BLA projection neurons (BLApn), CTA learning fails to occur. Here we have examined how learning-related response plasticity in GC taste responses is impacted by the knockout of Stk11 in BLApn. Contrary to the commonly held assumption that a lack of learning means a lack of such plasticity, but consistent with the fact that Stk11KO has been shown to increase the excitability of BLApn, our data reveal that the knockout of Stk11 in BLApn does not eliminate plasticity; rather, it shifts the impact of CTA training on GC taste responses to an earlier, learning-inappropriate epoch. Even naive taste representations are altered—specifically, the pattern of similarities and differences among the different taste responses are rendered abnormal by Stk11 KO, and these relationships fail to change with training. Finally, the latency of behavior-related dynamic ensemble features of the GC taste response, which is also abnormal in naive KO mice, is rendered disorganized by CTA. Together, these results suggest that Stk11 plays a role in governing the coordination of GC activity by BLA, and demonstrate that alterations in the function of BLApn caused by Stk11KO inhibit learning not by inhibiting plasticity but by changing its temporal properties.
Hopeful Innovation in Teaching and Learning

This paper lays the foundation for experiential learning to be identified as an innovative practice in student learning. Additionally, the inclusion of certain components of experiential learning bring about the natural settings in which a Freirian hope exists for teachers and students alike during and after the learning process. We draw upon these five common approaches to experiential learning: active learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, service-learning, and place-based learning. We explore how these experiential learning approaches develop innovative thinking in students and teachers, bringing about hope for improvement in education. Specifically, we provide an analysis of the strengths of three specific components common to all of these approaches: roles of teachers and students, inquiry, and reflection. We acknowledge oppositions to our arguments by offering counter-arguments and solutions to these points of view that point towards a better system of accountability for public education. We share current research supporting experiential learning in order to make the connection between innovation and Freire’s idea of radical hope. With innovative practices in student learning comes the development of innovative thinkers, and this results in a more hopeful future for education and society overall because the students of today solve the societal and environmental problems of today and tomorrow. Our hope as authors is that readers will be aware of their own state of unfinishedness as they consider our suggestions.
Interference, Scattering, and Transmission of Acoustic Phonons in Si Phononic Crystals

ABSTRACT The transient processes of phonon scattering and transmission in Si phononic crystals with periodic pores are simulated using the concurrent atomistic-continuum method. The nature of phonon transport is demonstrated to be dependent on the relation between the phonon wavelength, λ, the period length, p, and the neck width, n, of the phononic crystal. Three distinct regimes have been observed: (1) phonons with wavelengths equal to 2.9p or larger propagate predominantly ballistically, which is accompanied by specular reflection of varying extents, depending on the wavelength of the phonons; the properties of these phonons are consistent with the phonon dispersion relations of the phononic crystal modelled as a homogenous and harmonic system; (2) phonons with wavelengths
The Living Cosmos: THE UNFINISHED REVOLUTION

There are infinite worlds both like and unlike this world of ours. … [W]e must believe that in all other worlds there are living creatures and plants and other things we see in this world. –Epicurus (341–270 B.C.E.), letter to Herodotus The young scholar clutches the book to his chest as he works his way through the crowd. Campo dei Fiori is packed; it's a jubilee year, and Rome teems with pilgrims, beggars, and pickpockets. He edges forward, brushing aside the vendors who tug at his sleeve. Days earlier, a small item in a local broadsheet caught his eye. A Dominican monk from Nola was to be put to death, having exhausted the patience and goodwill of the authorities. The scholar sighs. His heart is heavy at the prospect. It is not yet a century since the death of Leonardo, but enlightenment has dimmed so much that it seems like eons . With difficulty, the scholar climbs scaffolding behind a merchant stall so he can see over the heads of the mob. Yelling at the far side of the square tells him that Bruno has arrived, having been paraded naked through the streets of Rome. He is bound to the stake with thick rope while a local functionary reads the charges. The scholar can only catch fragments: “impenitent heretic … failure to recant … persistent follies.”
Theoretical and Empirical Strategies for the Study of the Labeling of Mentally Retarded Persons

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses theoretical and empirical strategies for the study of labeling of mentally retarded persons. Labeling refers to a number of phenomena that needs to be clarified and empirically explored. There is the concern that a child who is labeled retarded is seen less favorably than before he was labeled. It is held to be likely that a child so labeled is treated in a less pleasant or less appropriate way than if he were not so labeled and this behavior by others would have negative consequences for the achievement and adjustment of the retarded. There has been inadequate analysis of the variables entering into the labeling process. Labeling of the retarded has been of great practical concern and has led to a number of investigations; an understanding of the phenomena involved by the overly simplified models has been used to think about and study the process. The chapter presents some suggestions that can lead to more appropriate theoretical models and empirical strategies for studying and describing labeling phenomena in the field of mental retardation.
Using linearly-constrained adaptive beamforming to reduce interference in hearing aids from competing talkers in reverberant rooms

Adaptive beamforming techniques can be applied to the problem of reducing interference in monaural hearing aids from sound sources that are spatially separated from a target source. We implemented a two-microphone Griffiths-Jim [1] beamformer in simulated reverberant environments (anechoic space, living room, and conference room) in which target sentences originated straight-ahead of the array and interfering speech babble originated 45° off-axis. We evaluated the system with intelligibility tests administered to normal-hearing subjects. Compared to listening through a single microphone, the two-microphone beamformer reduced the target-to-interference ratio required for 50% keyword intelligibility by 30, 14, and 0 dB in the anechoic, living-room, and conference-room conditions, respectively.
Towards Structural Marxism as a Hermeneutic of Early Christian Literature, Illustrated with Reference to Paul’s Spectacle Metaphor in 1 Corinthians 15:30-32

This essay explores the potential of the structural Marxist theory of Louis Althusser to provide a path beyond the mechanistic and expressive models of causality that have dominated comparative studies of early Christianity in the Greco-Roman environment. The essay analyses representational forms of the self in the “society of the spectacle” that characterized imperial Rome, drawing upon the work of Guy Debord. The potential of a structural Marxist hermeneutic is illustrated by a comparison of Paul's spectacle metaphor in 1 Corinthians 15:30-32 with the eighth discourse of Dio Chrysostom.
10.6 – Face Recognition from Still Images and Videos

Face recognition with its wide range of commercial and law enforcement applications has been one of the most active areas of research in the field of computer vision and pattern recognition. Personal identification systems based on faces have the advantage that facial images can be obtained from a distance without requiring cooperation of the subject, as compared to other biometrics such as fingerprint, iris, etc. Face recognition is concerned with identifying or verifying one or more persons from still images or video sequences using a stored database of faces. Depending on the particular application, there can be different scenarios, ranging from controlled still images to uncontrolled videos. Since face recognition is essentially the problem of recognizing a 3D object from its 2D image or a video sequence, it has to deal with significant appearance changes due to illumination and pose variations. Current algorithms perform well in controlled scenarios, but their performance is far from satisfactory in uncontrolled scenarios. Most of the current research in this area is focused toward recognizing faces in uncontrolled scenarios. This chapter is broadly divided into two sections. The first section discusses the approaches proposed for recognizing faces from still images and the second section deals with face recognition from video sequences.
Taxing Property Transactions versus Taxing Property Ownership

Few studies have examined the use and effects of real property transfer taxes, especially in the U.S. This paper examines the variety of transfer tax programs currently in use in the U.S. and compares them to property taxes in terms of equity, efficiency, and revenue potential and stability. The next section examines the widespread use of property transfer taxes in the U.S. and other countries and compares them in terms of tax rates, tax base, tax authority, and use of revenues. In Section 3 we discuss the distributional impact of property transfer taxes including who ultimately bears the burden of the tax and whether the tax is regressive or progressive with respect to income. Section 4 looks at the efficiency effects of transfer taxes including the excess burden of the tax and its effect on household mobility. Section 5 examines the revenue potential of transfer taxes and their volatility, and Section 6 summarizes and concludes.
Pharmacokinetics of [18F]fleroxacin in patients with acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis and complicated urinary tract infection studied by positron emission tomography.

The pharmacokinetics of fleroxacin, a new broad-spectrum fluoroquinolone, were measured by positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]fleroxacin in five patients with acute bacterial exacerbations of chronic bronchitis and in five patients with symptomatic, complicated urinary tract infection. Two studies were performed with each patient, one within 24 h of the initiation and one within 24 h of the completion of a 7-day course of fleroxacin, 400 mg/day. For each study, the patient received an infusion of that day's therapeutic dose of fleroxacin (400 mg) supplemented with approximately 740 MBq of [18F]fleroxacin, and serial PET images and blood samples were collected for 6 to 8 h starting at the initiation of the infusion. Between studies, the drug was administered orally. In all infected tissues, there was rapid accumulation of radiolabeled drug, with stable levels achieved within 1 h after completion of the infusion. In kidneys, accumulation was greater in the presence of active infection (P 30 micrograms/g), prostate glands (> 11 micrograms/g), and lungs (> 14 micrograms/g). Plateau concentrations (2 to 8 h; given as mean micrograms per gram +/- standard error of the mean) of drug in kidneys (15.11 +/- 0.55), prostate glands (5.08 +/- 0.19), and lungs (5.75 +/- 0.22) were also well above the MIC90 for most relevant pathogens. All patients had a good therapeutic response to fleroxacin.
An Intelligent Agent that Learns How to Tutor Students: Design and Results

In this paper, we describe an intelligent agent that presents different learning content such as tutorials, examples, and problems adaptively to individual students and learns from its interaction with the students how to improve its performance. We have built an end-to-end intelligent tutoring system, premised on the above goal, with a graphical user interface (GUI) front-end, an agent powered by case-based reasoning (CBR), and a mySQL database backend. We use a casebase to store the pedagogical strategies, embedded in the individual cases and the similarity retrieval and adaptation heuristics. Each case has situation, solution and outcome parameters. The situation parameters include the students' static and dynamic profiles and the instructional content's characteristics while the solution parameters specify the characteristics of the example or problem to be delivered to the student. We developed a set of CS1 content that includes five topics and deployed our system in the laboratories. Our results show that when the machine learning mechanism is activated, our agent is able to learn to tutor students more efficiently.
The New Color is Green: Social Work Practice and Service-Learning

Attention to saving the environment is gaining momentum daily. Citizens have a fundamental right to protect the environment from harm due to human activities. The profession of social work has a role to play in greening and sustaining the environment. The inclusion of this content in social work courses is a natural fit given the profession’s person-in-environment perspective which emphasizes the relationship between individuals, their behavior and the environment and advocacy for preservation of human welfare and human rights. Participatory environmentalism considers the role of community members in demonstrating their civic responsibility toward preservation of the natural environment and resources. Social work students must be encouraged to accept vital leadership roles that address environmental concerns in addition to serving client populations. A community practice course which includes a service-learning requirement chose “greening” as a theme. Students worked with communities to identify and implement semester-long “green” projects.
The interaction of lanthanide and calcium salts with phospholipid bilayer vesicles: The validity of the nuclear magnetic resonance method for determination of vesicle bilayer phospholipid surface ratios

Abstract Contrary to a recent report (B. Sears et al., Biochemistry 15 (1976) 1635), it has been determined that the ratio of the number of phospholipids on the inner and outer surfaces of phospholipid bilayer vesicles can be accurately determined by NMR paramagnetic ion shift reagent studies of vesicles. It is concluded that the metal interacts with all of the phospholipid on the exposed bilayer surface. A ratio of outer phospholipid to inner surface phospholipid of 2.1 ± 0.1 is obtained regardless of the nucleus studies, position of the nucleus relative to the metal ion binding site, molar ratio of metal to phospholipid over three orders of magnitude, or location of the metal ion on the inside or outside of the vesicle. Additionally, P-31 NMR studies using LaCl3 and CaCl2 indicate that Ca2+ weakly interacts with egg PC vesicles and than the lanthanides are adequate substitutes for Ca2+ since neither metal is found to perturb measurably the average polar head group conformation.
Polarization discrimination for satellite communications

It appears feasible for satellite relay systems to provide polarization discrimination of 20 to 30 dB (or more with adaptive antennas) in the antenna main beam. Thus if the systems are designed to operate with smaller wanted to unwanted signal ratios than those provided by polarization discrimination, it should be possible to double the effective spectrum available by using it independently on two orthogonal polarizations.
Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography as a noninvasive method to assess damaged and regenerating adult zebrafish retinas.

Purpose. These experiments assessed the ability of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) to accurately represent the structural organization of the adult zebrafish retina and reveal the dynamic morphologic changes during either light-induced damage and regeneration of photoreceptors or ouabain-induced inner retinal damage.
The Four Most Expensive Words

In the literature on financial crises, it has become a familiar meme to scour the history books and dig up unfortunately timed quotes on the rosiness of conditions on the eve of economic collapse. ...