cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effect of training in minimalist footwear on oxygen consumption during walking and running.

The present study sought to examine the effect of 5 weeks of training with minimalist footwear on oxygen consumption during walking and running. Thirteen college-aged students (male n=7, female n=6, age: 21.7±1.4 years , height: 168.9±8.8 cm, weight: 70.4±15.8 kg, VO2max: 46.6±6.6 ml · kg -1 · min -1 ) participated in the present investigation. The participants did not have experience with minimalist footwear. Participants underwent metabolic testing during walking (5.6 km · hr -1 ), light running (7.2 km · hr -1 ), and moderate running (9.6 km · hr -1 ). The participants completed this assessment barefoot, in running shoes, and in minimalist footwear in a randomized order. The participants underwent 5 weeks of training with the minimalist footwear. Afterwards, participants repeated the metabolic testing. Data was analyzed via repeated measures ANOVA. The analysis revealed a significant (F 4,32= 7.576, ηp 2 =0.408, p≤0.001) interaction effect (time × treatment × speed). During the initial assessment, the minimalist footwear condition resulted in greater oxygen consumption at 9.6 km · hr -1 (p≤0.05) compared to the barefoot condition, while the running shoe condition resulted in greater oxygen consumption than both the barefoot and minimalist condition at 7.2 and 9.6 km · hr -1 . At post-testing the minimalist footwear was not different at any speed compared to the barefoot condition (p> 0.12). This study suggests that initially minimalist footwear results in greater oxygen consumption than running barefoot, however; with utilization the oxygen consumption becomes similar. CITATION: Bellar D, Judge LW. Effect of training in minimalist footwear on oxygen consumption during walking
Matrix-Isolation Infrared and Computer-Simulation Spectra (ν3 Bands) of GeCl4, GeBr4, and GeI4 in Argon Matrices

A tetrahedral MCl4 type molecule in which M is isotopically pure and Cl is in natural abundance consists of five isotopic species due to the mixing of the 35Cl (75.4%) and 37Cl (24.6%) isotopes. Table I lists their symmetry, percent natural abundances, and symmetry species of infrared active modes corresponding to the v3 vibration of the Td molecule. The v3 bands of CCl4 and 28SiCl4 in argon matrices exhibit "five-peak chlorine isotope patterns" due to overlap of the nine bands listed in Table I. The vertical lines shown in Fig. 1A' indicate such a pattern for 74GeCl4.
The new Fermilab main ring control system

Abstract The Fermilab Main Ring control system has been operational for over sixteen years. Aging and obsolescence of the equipment make maintenance difficult. Since the advent of the Tevatron, considerable upgrades have been made to the controls of all the Fermilab accelerators except the Main Ring. Modernization of the equipment and standardization of the hardware and software have thus become inevitable. The Tevatron CAMAC serial system has been chosen as a basic foundation in order to make the Main Ring control system compatible with the rest accelerator complex. New hardware pieces including intelligent CAMAC modules have been designed to satisfy unique requirements. Fiber-optic cable and repeaters have been installed in order to accommodate new channel requirements on a saturated communication system.
THE ROLE OF GESTURE IN DOCUMENT EXPLANATION BY EMBODIED CONVERSATIONAL AGENTS

We describe two empirical studies of how professionals explain documents to lay clients who have varying levels of knowledge about the domain under discussion. We find that hand gestures, and in particular deictic gestures by the professional at various parts of the document play a major role in explanations of documents with clients in face-to-face settings. We describe a preliminary computational model of document explanation by an embodied conversational agent, in which appropriate form and location of hand gestures are used by the agent in explaining a document to a user. Results from a pilot evaluation study indicate that individuals with low levels of domain knowledge prefer receiving explanations from such an agent rather than from a human. Examples are drawn from the healthcare domain, in which research consent forms and hospital discharge instruction forms are used as the documents being explained, and health literacy is used as the measure of client domain knowledge.
Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere: Requirements for Future Observations

Since the publication of Cosmic Rays in the Heliosphere in 1998 there has been great progress in understanding how and why cosmic rays vary in space and time. This paper discusses measurements that are needed to continue advances in relating cosmic ray variations to changes in solar and interplanetary activity and variations in the local interstellar environment. Cosmic ray acceleration and transport is an important discipline in space physics and astrophysics, but it also plays a critical role in defining the radiation environment for humans and hardware in space, and is critical to efforts to unravel the history of solar activity. Cosmic rays are measured directly by balloon-borne and space instruments, and indirectly by ground-based neutron, muon and neutrino detectors, and by measurements of cosmogenic isotopes in ice cores, tree-rings, sediments, and meteorites. The topics covered here include: what we can learn from the deep 2008–2009 solar minimum, when cosmic rays reached the highest intensities of the space era; the implications of ^(10)Be and ^(14)C isotope archives for past and future solar activity; the effects of variations in the size of the heliosphere; opportunities provided by the Voyagers for discovering the origin of anomalous cosmic rays and measuring cosmic-ray spectra in interstellar space; and future space missions that can continue the exciting exploration of the heliosphere that has occurred over the past 50 years.
Breakdown characteristics of helium and nitrogen at kHz frequency range in partial vacuum for point-to-point electrode configuration

Power devices operating in partial vacuum, such as aerospace systems or space environment are susceptible to partial discharges, corona, or volume discharges due to the partial vacuum conditions. These power systems also operate under frequencies and waveforms quite different from those studied and developed for earthbound power distribution systems. In this paper, we present our studies on the breakdown characteristics of helium and nitrogen gases under positive square-pulsed voltage at frequencies varying from 50 kHz to 200 kHz in partial vacuum, for a point-to-point electrode configuration. It is observed that high frequency breakdown voltage is lower than the dc breakdown voltage under the same experimental conditions and electrode geometry. Also, breakdown voltage versus pressure curves exhibited a Pashcen like behavior. Breakdown voltages of helium and nitrogen as a function of signal frequency are also presented.
Single‐word semantic judgements in semantic dementia: Do phonology and grammatical class count?

Background: Listeners make active use of phonological regularities such as word length to facilitate higher‐level syntactic and semantic processing. For example, nouns are longer than verbs, and abstract words are longer than concrete words. Patients with semantic dementia (SD) experience conceptual loss with preserved syntax and phonology. The extent to which patients with SD exploit phonological regularities to support language processing remains unclear. Aims: We examined the ability of patients with SD (1) to perceive subtle acoustic–phonetic distinctions in English, and (2) to bootstrap their accuracy of lexical‐semantic and syntactic judgements from regularities in the phonological forms of English nouns and verbs. Methods and Procedures: Four patients with SD made minimal pair judgements (same/different) for auditorily presented stimuli selectively varied by voice, place, or manner of the initial consonant (e.g., pa –ba). In Experiment 2 patients made forced‐choice semantic judgements (abstract or ...
Cross-Cultural Perceptions of Physical Attractiveness: Ratings of Photographs of Whites by Cruzans and Americans:

This study compared the attractiveness ratings of photographs of whites by 31 male and female Cruzan (indigenous residents of St. Croix, USVI) and American subjects, all residing on St. Croix. Over-all, the 15 women rated photographs significantly higher than the 16 men did and male photographs were rated significantly lower than female photographs. All interactions and the variable of race/culture were nonsignificant. Results are discussed as they relate to Cruzan culture.
Insulin pump therapy in toddlers and preschool children with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract Objective: To test whether glycemic control in young children could be achieved more effectively and safely by using continuous insulin infusions administered by insulin pumps. Study design: We analyzed the effects of pump therapy in nine toddlers in whom type 1 diabetes developed between the ages of 10 and 40 months. After a mean of 13.7 months of therapy with multiple daily injections, patients were treated with insulin pumps for periods ranging from 7 to 19 months (mean, 12.7 months). Results: Before initiation of pump therapy, HbA1c levels averaged 9.5% ± 0.4%, and patients had a mean of 0.52 episodes per month of severe hypoglycemia (uncontrolled shaking, inconsolable crying, disorientation, or seizures). After initiation of pump therapy, HbA1c levels declined to 7.9% ± 0.3% ( P P 80%, reflecting increasing parental confidence and independence in diabetic care. Subjective assessments revealed significant improvements in quality of life and high levels of satisfaction with pump therapy. Conclusions: Insulin pump therapy may provide an effective alternative for selected preschool children with type 1 diabetes. (J Pediatr 2002;141:490-5)
Sensitivity to syntax in visual cortex

One of the most intriguing findings on language comprehension is that violations of syntactic predictions can affect event-related potentials as early as 120 ms, in the same time-window as early sensory processing. This effect, the so-called early left-anterior negativity (ELAN), has been argued to reflect word category access and initial syntactic structure building (Friederici, 2002). In two experiments, we used magnetoencephalography to investigate whether (a) rapid word category identification relies on overt category-marking closed-class morphemes and (b) whether violations of word category predictions affect modality-specific sensory responses. Participants read sentences containing violations of word category predictions. Unexpected items varied in whether or not their word category was marked by an overt function morpheme. In Experiment 1, the amplitude of the visual evoked M100 component was increased for unexpected items, but only when word category was overtly marked by a function morpheme. Dipole modeling localized the generator of this effect to the occipital cortex. Experiment 2 replicated the main results of Experiment 1 and eliminated two non-morphology-related explanations of the M100 contrast we observed between targets containing overt category-marking and targets that lacked such morphology. Our results show that during reading, syntactically relevant cues in the input can affect activity in occipital regions at around 125 ms, a finding that may shed new light on the remarkable rapidity of language processing.
An ovary transcriptome for all maturational stages of the striped bass (Morone saxatilis), a highly advanced perciform fish

The striped bass and its relatives (genus Morone) are important fisheries and aquaculture species native to estuaries and rivers of the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico in North America. To open avenues of gene expression research on reproduction and breeding of striped bass, we generated a collection of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a complementary DNA (cDNA) library representative of their ovarian transcriptome. Sequences of a total of 230,151 ESTs (51,259,448 bp) were acquired by Roche 454 pyrosequencing of cDNA pooled from ovarian tissues obtained at all stages of oocyte growth, at ovulation (eggs), and during preovulatory atresia. Quality filtering of ESTs allowed assembly of 11,208 high-quality contigs ≥ 100 bp, including 2,984 contigs 500 bp or longer (average length 895 bp). Blastx comparisons revealed 5,482 gene orthologues (E-value < 10-3), of which 4,120 (36.7% of total contigs) were annotated with Gene Ontology terms (E-value < 10-6). There were 5,726 remaining unknown unique sequences (51.1% of total contigs). All of the high-quality EST sequences are available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Short Read Archive (GenBank: SRX007394). Informative contigs were considered to be abundant if they were assembled from groups of ESTs comprising ≥ 0.15% of the total short read sequences (≥ 345 reads/contig). Approximately 52.5% of these abundant contigs were predicted to have predominant ovary expression through digital differential display in silico comparisons to zebrafish (Danio rerio) UniGene orthologues. Over 1,300 Gene Ontology terms from Biological Process classes of Reproduction, Reproductive process, and Developmental process were assigned to this collection of annotated contigs. This first large reference sequence database available for the ecologically and economically important temperate basses (genus Morone) provides a foundation for gene expression studies in these species. The predicted predominance of ovary gene expression and assignment of directly relevant Gene Ontology classes suggests a powerful utility of this dataset for analysis of ovarian gene expression related to fundamental questions of oogenesis. Additionally, a high definition Agilent 60-mer oligo ovary 'UniClone' microarray with 8 × 15,000 probe format has been designed based on this striped bass transcriptome (eArray Group: Striper Group, Design ID: 029004).
Finite-difference simulation of the application of electrical flow through conductive contaminant plumes

The mathematical analogy between ground water flow and electrical flow has been recognized for decades. This analogy is used to illustrate how input data for the ground water flow model MODFLOW can be scaled and used to simulate the two-dimensional flow of electricity through conductive contaminant plumes in porous media. MODFLOW is used to simulate electrical potential fields generated at the land surface by mise-a-la-masse surveys for several simplified contaminant plumes. These simulations illustrate the degree of "visual" distortion in the electrical potential fields that can be expected for various plume conditions. In addition, the simulations show that a conductive contaminant plume will depress the electrical potential field below preplume baseline conditions near the plume. Depression of the electrical potential field near conductive, ground water contaminants is significant from the standpoint of early detection of leaks from waste disposal facilities.
Coefficients of the n-Fold Theta Function and Weyl Group Multiple Dirichlet Series

We establish a link between certain Whittaker coefficients of the generalized metaplectic theta functions, first studied by Kazhdan and Patterson [Kazhdan and Patterson, Metaplectic forms, Inst. Hautes Etudes Sci. Publ. Math., (59): 35–142, 1984], and the coefficients of stable Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series defined in [Brubaker, Bump, Friedberg, Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series. II. The stable case. Invent. Math., 165(2):325–355, 2006]. The generalized theta functions are the residues of Eisenstein series on a metaplectic n-fold cover of the general linear group. For n sufficiently large, we consider different Whittaker coefficients for such a theta function which lie in the orbit of Hecke operators at a given prime p. These are shown to be equal (up to an explicit constant) to the p-power supported coefficients of a Weyl group multiple Dirichlet series (MDS). These MDS coefficients are described in terms of the underlying root system; they have also recently been identified as the values of a p-adic Whittaker function attached to an unramified principal series representation on the metaplectic cover of the general linear group.
A high performance 1.5 dB low noise GaAss PHEMT MMIC amplifier for low cost 1.5-8 GHz commercial applications

State-of-the-art 0.15- mu m-gate PHEMT (pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor) devices, self-biasing current sources, source follower interstage, resistive feedback, and on-chip matching have been used to make an unique MMIC (monolithic microwave integrated circuit) LNA (low noise amplifier). Typical gain of 21 dB, VSWR (voltage standing wave ratio) of 2:1, and P-1-dB output power of 7 dBm have been measured. The die area is small (0.40 mm/sup 2/) and is compatible with surface mount packages. DC power requirements are low, consuming only 14 mA from a single +5-V supply. This MMIC LNA has the best combination of noise figure, gain. low current, match, wide bandwidth, and low cost of any advertised or published product known to the authors to date. >
Acute aflatoxicosis in genetically resistant and nonselected Japanese quail.

Abstract Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) was administered by either oral intubation or intravenous (IV) injection to two lines of Japanese quail selected for aflatoxin resistance (AR2.5 and AR3) and a nonselected control line (NS). Pretreatment feed consumption did not vary significantly between lines; however, normal water intake of AR quail was 25% greater than that of NS quail. Oral AFB1 dosing (1.0 mg/kg body wt) elicited 53 and 25% decreases in feed and water consumption of NS quail within 24 hr. The only postdose change detected in the selected lines was a 10% increase in AR2.5 water intake. Oral AFB1 dosing also caused a significant reduction in excreta dry matter of NS quail. Twenty-four hr after IV AFB1 injection (.75 mg/kg body wt), feed and water consumption of the NS line were depressed by 93 and 75%, respectively, but only feed intake was decreased (13%) in the AR2.5 line. Intravenously injected AFB1 did not affect 24-hr parameters in the AR 3 line. Body weight loss was noted in NS quail after both oral and IV dosing, while the AR lines maintained pretreatment body weights. Both AR lines also exhibited resistance to AFB,-induced hepatic lesions observed in NS birds. Biliary output was also studied during a 12-hr period following IV administration of AFB1. Cholecystic bile measurements taken at 1.5- and 3-hr after dosing averaged 34 and 50% higher in the AR lines than in the NS line. These results demonstrate the resistance of the selected quail to AFB1 whether administered orally or intravenously and therefore, indicate the AR line resistance is unrelated to intestinal absorption of the toxin. The biliary response of the three lines suggests that rapid toxin elimination via hepatobiliary excretion is an important process in aflatoxin resistance in the selected lines.
The hyperbolic singular value decomposition and applications

A new generalization of singular value decomposition (SVD), the hyperbolic SVD, is advanced, and its existence is established under mild restrictions. Two algorithms for effecting this decomposition are discussed. The new decomposition has applications in downdating in problems where the solution depends on the eigenstructure of the normal equations and in the covariance differencing algorithm for bearing estimation in sensor arrays. Numerical examples demonstrate that, like its conventional counterpart, the hyperbolic SVD exhibits superior numerical behavior relative to explicit formation and solution of the normal equations. (However, unlike ordinary SVD, it is applicable to eigenanalysis of covariances arising from a difference of outer products). >
HMFlow: Accelerating FPGA Compilation with Hard Macros for Rapid Prototyping

The FPGA compilation process (synthesis, map, place, and route) is a time consuming task that severely limits designer productivity. Compilation time can be reduced by saving implementation data in the form of hard macros. Hard macros consist of previously synthesized, placed and routed circuits that enable rapid design assembly because of the native FPGA circuitry (primitives and nets)which they encapsulate. This work presents results from creating a new FPGA design flow based on hard macros called HMF low. HMF low has shown speedups of 10-50X over the fastest configuration of the Xilinx tools. Designed for rapid prototyping, HMF low achieves these speedups by only utilizing up to 50 percent of the resources on an FPGA and produces implementations that run 2-4X slower than those produced by Xilinx. These speedups are obtained on a wide range of benchmark designs with some exceeding 18,000 slices on a Virtex 4 LX200.
Optimal sequential scalar quantization of vectors

Balasubramanian et al. (1993) proposed an efficient vector quantization method called sequential scalar quantization (SSQ). In this method, the scalar components of the vector are individually quantized in a sequence, with the quantization of each component utilizing conditional information from the quantization of previous components. It has been shown that SSQ performs far better than conventional independent scalar quantization, while offering significant computational advantage over conventional VQ techniques. However, the design technique was a greedy method. The present authors use asymptotic quantization theory to derive a globally optimal design procedure for SSQ. With this method, the quantization of a scalar depends not only on its marginal density conditioned on the previously quantized scalars, but also on the distribution of the unquantized scalars. They also present simulation results to illustrate the relative performance of these two design methods with a moderate number of quantization levels. >
Clinicians Are From Mars and Pathologists Are From Venus

Abstract Context.—Text reports convey critical medical information from pathologists, radiologists, and subspecialty consultants. These reports must be clear and comprehensible to avoid medical errors. Pathologists have paid much attention to report completeness but have ignored the corresponding issue of report comprehension. This situation presents an increasingly serious potential problem. As laboratories are consolidated and as reports are disseminated in new ways (eg, via the World Wide Web), the target audience becomes more diverse and less likely to have any contact with pathologists beyond the written reports themselves. Objective.—To compare clinician comprehension with pathologist intent in written pathology reports. Methods.—Typical surgical pathology reports relevant to surgeons and covering a range of specimen complexity were taken from our hospital files. Questionnaires based on these cases were administered open-book-examination style to surgical attending physicians and trainees during sur...
Histone Acetylation at Promoters Is Differentially Affected by Specific Activators and Repressors

We analyzed the relationship between histone acetylation and transcriptional regulation at 40 Saccharomyces cerevisiae promoters that respond to specific activators and repressors. In accord with the general correlation between histone acetylation and transcriptional activity, Gcn4 and the general stress activators (Msn2 and Msn4) cause increased acetylation of histones H3 and H4. Surprisingly, Gal4-dependent activation is associated with a dramatic decrease in histone H4 acetylation, whereas acetylation of histone H3 is unaffected. A specific decrease in H4 acetylation is also observed, to a lesser extent, at promoters activated by Hap4, Adr1, Met4, and Ace1. Activation by heat shock factor has multiple effects; H4 acetylation increases at some promoters, whereas other promoters show an apparent decrease in H3 and H4 acetylation that probably reflects nucleosome loss or gross alteration of chromatin structure. Repression by targeted recruitment of the Sin3-Rpd3 histone deacetylase is associated with decreased H3 and H4 acetylation, whereas repression by Cyc8-Tup1 is associated with decreased H3 acetylation but variable effects on H4 acetylation; this suggests that Cyc8-Tup1 uses multiple mechanisms to reduce histone acetylation at promoters. Thus, individual activators confer distinct patterns of histone acetylation on target promoters, and transcriptional activation is not necessarily associated with increased acetylation. We speculate that the activator-specific decrease in histone H4 acetylation is due to blocking the access or function of an H4-specific histone acetylase such as Esa1.
Two-Phase Cryogenic Heat Exchanger for the Thermodynamic Vent System

A two-phase cryogenic heat exchanger for a thermodynamic vent system was designed and analyzed, and the predicted performance was compared with test results. A method for determining the required size of the Joule-Thomson device was also developed. Numerous sensitivity studies were performed to show that the design was robust and possessed a comfortable capacity margin. The comparison with the test results showed very similar heat extraction performance for similar inlet conditions. It was also shown that estimates for Joule- Thomson device flow rates and exit quality can vary significantly and these need to be accommodated for with a robust system design.
Sources of nonmonotonic power when testing for a shift in mean of a dynamic time series

Sources of nonmonotonic power are uncovered for a wide variety of tests for a shift in the mean of a dynamic time series. Two main sources of nonmonotonic power are found. The first source is the behavior of the estimate of error variance under the alternative hypothesis of a shift in mean. In particular if the error variance is estimated under the null hypothesis, nonmonotonic power can result. The second source is the presence of a lagged dependent variable in the estimated regression.
Launching the germline in Caenorhabditis elegans: regulation of gene expression in early germ cells.

One hundred years after Weismann’s seminal observations, the mechanisms that distinguish the germline from the soma still remain poorly understood. This review describes recent studies in Caenorhabditis elegans, which suggest that germ cells utilize unique mechanisms to regulate gene expression. In particular, mechanisms that repress the production of mRNAs appear to be essential to maintain germ cell fate and viability. SUMMARY
A Model of Optimal Corporate Bailouts

We analyze incentive-efficient government bailouts within a canonical model of intra-firm moral hazard. Bailouts exacerbate the moral hazard of firms and managers in two ways. First, they make them less averse to failing. Second, the taxes to fund bailouts dampen their incentives. Nevertheless, if third-party externalities from keeping the firm alive are strong, bailouts can improve welfare. Our model suggests that governments should use bailouts sparingly, where social externalities are large and subsidies small; eliminate incumbent owners and managers to improve a priori incentives; and finance bailouts through redistributive taxes on productive firms instead of forcing recipients to repay in the future.
Observations on the diastase activity of the blood of infants.

In 1917 Myers and Killian1 described a new simple method for the measurement of the diastatic, or starch-splitting, activity of blood. In this method two samples of 2 cc. each of oxalated blood, diluted with a given amount of water, to one of which was added 1 cc. of a 1 per cent solution of soluble starch, were heated in a water bath for 15 minutes at 40° C. and at the end of the digestion period the sugar content of each sample was measured. The difference, representing the amount of glucose liberated from the starch by the blood diastase, was converted into per cent of the original amount of starch (10 mg.), and this percentage figure was spoken of as the diastatic index or as diastatic units. They reported a considerable number of findings from the examination of the blood of healthy and diseased individuals, and later DeNiord and Schreiner,2 Brill,3 Watanabe,4 and Lewis and Mason5 reported clinical studies in which this method was used with slight modification. None of the results reported, however, ...
The Truss: Body Form Reconstructions in Morphometrics

Strauss, R. E., and F. L. Bookstein (Museum of Zoology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109) 1982. The truss: body form reconstruction in morphometrics. Syst. Zool., 31:113-135.-In principle, any measured distances between landmarks of a form may serve as characters for morphometric analyses. Systematic studies typically are based on a highly biased and repetitious sample of these. But collections of landmarks and the distances among them must be homologous from form to form for comparisons to be meaningful, and an adequate character set should at least permit the full reconstruction of the original configuration of landmarks. We describe a geometric protocol for character selection, the truss network, which enforces systematic coverage of the form and which exhaustively and redundantly archives the landmark configuration. Reconstruction of the form from truss measures provides Cartesian coordinates for landmarks and allows estimation of, and compensation for, measurement error. Samples of forms may be averaged and standardized to one or more common reference sizes by regression of measured distances on a composite measure of body size, followed by reconstruction of the form using distance values predicted by the regression functions at some standard body size. Principal component loadings of distance measures may be indicated directly on the truss network to display patterns of within-group allometry or between-group shape differences. Because the truss enforces use of cross measurements, discrimination among groups may be enhanced. Composite mapped forms are useful in biorthogonal analyses of differences in shape because they allow the comparison of averaged forms among samples. Certain patterns of principal component loadings are concordant with, and provide an initial sampling of, the biorthogonal grids for these deformations. [Allometry; biorthogonal analysis; discriminant analysis; fishes; morphometrics; multivariate analysis; principal components; triangulation; truss.]
Cascaded modulator-chicane modules for optical manipulation of relativistic electron beams

A sequential arrangement of three pairs of modulators and dispersive sections that performs precise manipulation of a relativistic electron beam's longitudinal phase space is described. We show that using only a single laser wavelength, this scheme acts as a waveform synthesizer through linearization of local regions of phase space to generate sawtooth, triangular, and square wave-type distributions. It also acts as an optical analog of an rf function generator to generate intense coherent radiation that has periodic triangle and square field profiles at the optical wavelength. The same setup can also be used to improve the high-harmonic bunching factors in echo-enabled harmonic generation schemes up to 25% and to produce a bunching factor above 90% at the laser fundamental wavelength for high-efficiency capture in inverse free electron laser acceleration applications.
Managerial Cognition and Strategic Decision Making in Diversified Firms

The research reported here sought to identify top managers' mental models about the management of diversification and to determine whether these beliefs are associated with important strategic decisions. The study identified three broad sets of beliefs or orientations about the management of diversification that are commonly held by managers of large diversified firms. The study found that these management orientations are significantly associated with a number of key strategic choices, including decisions about the extent of diversification, divestment activity, new product development efforts, and research and development spending. The results offer empirical evidence of the influence of managerial cognition on strategic decision making.
The study about effect of combined disease-control measure by simulating the dynamic of pandemic influenza using SEIR model

Objective To simulate the attack rate of pandemic influenza in people,understand the effect of influenza vaccination in controlling the pandemic and anticipate the time at which vaccination begins(TL) and the time it takes to vaccinate the entire population(DV) for the justification of the vaccination program.Methods The dynamic of influenza was simulated using SEIR model based on the natural history of illness,and the attack rate(AR) was defined as the evaluating indicator.Results For pandemic influenza strains with R0being around 2 and All infected individuals will be symptomatic.The influence of the time at which vaccination begins(TL) on the AR will be greater than the time it takes to vaccinate the entire population(DV).If the worthness of vaccine is defined as the AR being kept below 50%,the largest combination of TL and DVis 40 days or the TL30 and DV90.Laboratory test could not buy the time for damage control,but if archive the required TL and DV value,laboratory test can still help to decrease the AR.Conclusion To mitigate the damage of pandemic,the vaccination program should focus on how to shorten the time at which vaccination begins(TL).
Higher Brain Perfusion May Not Support Memory Functions in Cognitively Normal Carriers of the ApoE ε4 Allele Compared to Non-Carriers.

Age-related changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF), which carries necessary nutrients to the brain, are associated with increased risk for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Whether the association between CBF and cognition is moderated by apolipoprotein E (ApoE) e4 genotype, a known risk factor for AD, remains understudied, with most research focusing on exploring brain regions in which there are diagnostic group differences in CBF (i.e., cognitively normal vs. MCI vs. AD). This study measured resting CBF via arterial spin labeling (ASL) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and verbal memory functions using a composite score in 59 older adults with normal cognition (38 e3; 21 e4). Linear mixed effect models were employed to investigate if the voxel-wise relationship between verbal memory performance and resting CBF was modified by ApoE genotype. Results indicated that carriers of the ApoE e4 allele display negative associations between verbal memory functions and CBF in medial frontal cortex, medial and lateral temporal cortex, parietal regions, insula, and the basal ganglia. Contrarily, e3 carriers exhibited positive associations between verbal memory functions and CBF in medial frontal cortex, thalamus, insula, and basal ganglia. Findings suggest that higher CBF was associated with worse verbal memory functions in cognitively normal e4 carriers, perhaps reflecting dysregulation within the neurovascular unit, which is no longer supportive of cognition. Results are discussed within the context of the vascular theory of AD risk.
Salisbury Plain and the Recuperation of Freedom

When Wordsworth returned to Britain in 1792, the marginality embodied by the homeless had come under unique and extreme pressure. Throughout the volatile 1790s, the crown would work to polarize all political discourse into the categories of radical or conservative – traitorous or loyalist. The Pitt ministry struggled to define virtually all government opposition as sedition or treason. Yet the government’s many critics advocated various shadings of change, ranging from parliamentary reform to revolution, that strained against the authorities’ simplifying agenda, and in key trials English juries defended the right to disagree with aspects of government policy or structure. Representations of the homeless in Wordsworth’s “Salisbury Plain” explore the polyvalent social and legal status, not only of vagrancy itself, but also of the varieties of political expression under attack during the poem’s composition. The female vagrant’s history underscores the injustice of laws labeling her a criminal vagabond by casting her as a victim of powerful political and economic forces. The vagrant and her male companion also indirectly defend an embattled political middle ground, criticizing a conservative government that would lump all reform with revolution. Ultimately the poem views radical and reactionary rhetoric alike with subtle skepticism, implying that these two agendas can be equally restrictive and dogmatic.1 The female vagrant’s homelessness further enables her to evade another kind of tyranny, identified through Burke with the Tory political program: the destructive submersion of individual identity in inflexible, gender-based roles that Wordsworth associates with domestic life.
Employee turnover forecasting for human resource management based on time series analysis

ABSTRACTIn some organizations, the hiring lead time is often long due to responding to human resource requirements associated with technical and security constrains. Thus, the human resource departments in these organizations are pretty interested in forecasting employee turnover since a good prediction of employee turnover could help the organizations to minimize the costs and impacts from the turnover on the operational capabilities and the budget. This study aims to enhance the ability to forecast employee turnover with or without considering the impact of economic indicators. Various time series modelling techniques were used to identify optimal models for effective employee turnover prediction. More than 11-years of monthly turnover data were used to build and validate the proposed models. Compared with other models, a dynamic regression model with additive trend, seasonality, interventions, and a very important economic indicator effectively predicted the turnover with training R2 = 0.77 and holdout...
The evolution of norms: American policy toward revolution in Iran and Egypt

ABSTRACTIs there a growing norm against violence towards civilians that constrains how the United States deals with its client states? This article examines two similar cases that suggest there is. In Iran in 1978 and in Egypt in 2011, the United States faced a possible revolution by a democratic/Islamist opposition, yet American policy makers gave their major regional ally opposite advice. In 1978, the White House urged the Shah to crack down on the opposition, and, in 2011, it pressed the Mubarak regime, as well as other regimes, to refrain from violence. This indicates that in situations where the American government is culpable for a potential bloodbath, policy makers are loath to take on that responsibility, which significantly shapes their policy toward revolution in a way that it did not when President Carter called the commitment to human rights “absolute.”
The chasmed gene

Mukherjee, S. The Gene: An intimate history.Scribner, NY.594 pages; ISBN: 978-1-4767-330-0; Price: $20.00.
Could Expansions in Directed Lending Programs Hurt Small Businesses? Evidence from a Policy Change in India

I study the impact of the expansion in a national-level directed lending program aimed at increasing institutional credit access of small firms in India. In 2006, the Government of India changed the criterion determining the small status of firms, thereby expanding the pool of small firms eligible for directed credit. Exploiting this expansion in the pool of firms eligible for directed lending, I analyze the crowding out of the previously eligible firms by the recently eligible firms. I find that the recently eligible firms disproportionately grew their bank credit stock relative to previously eligible firms, without substituting other forms of credit for bank loans. The recently eligible firms also experience a jump in investment and sales growth post the policy change, while there is no evidence of a similar improvement in the real outcomes for the previously eligible small firms. The study brings to light the unintended effects of policy expansions, resulting in hurting the smaller, more financially vulnerable firms, by distorting the lending incentives of institutional lenders.
The Consent Amendment: Restoring Meaningful Consent and Respect for Human Dignity in America's Civil Justice System

Arbitration agreements now appear throughout American society, in large part because of expansive, flawed decisions from the Supreme Court involving the Federal Arbitration Act, a 1925 statute designed to facilitate arbitration in limited situations. As a result, the courthouse door is blocked for consumers and employees trying to vindicate their rights. Sadly, many consumers and employees are unaware of the existence or significance of arbitration clauses in their contracts. Nevertheless, courts still compel many individuals to arbitrate, even when meaningful consent is lacking. But meaningful consent is the foundation for arbitration, consistent with the fundamental value of party autonomy in a democratic society. The current legal framework for arbitration is flawed and erodes public confidence in our legal system. This Article proposes an amendment to the Federal Arbitration Act, based on privacy rules recently adopted by the Federal Communications Commission. This Article’s proposed amendment, called the Consent Amendment, restores meaningful consent for consumers and employees, and in turn, promotes respect for party autonomy and human dignity in our civil justice system. Through three simple rules, based on transparency, choice, and respect for expectations, this proposal would incentivize businesses to develop fairer arbitration procedures. Among the several benefits of the proposal is that parties can still take advantage of the potential efficiencies of arbitration, provided that meaningful consent exists. This Article’s proposal, which solves an almost one-hundred-year-old puzzle in arbitration law, restores faith in both arbitration and our judiciary as legitimate institutions that respect party autonomy and serve the public good.
GPR attribute analysis for material property identification

Conservation of priceless cultural heritage is a pressing shared responsibility primarily assigned to archaeologists and materials scientists. Ironically, standard methods used to determine mechanical and material properties in these fields are actually destructive. Consequently, valuable non-destructive prospection methods, especially Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), have been embraced and expanded by conservators in an attempt to determine these physical properties. Attribute analysis is sometimes conducted in addition to standard GPR post-processing for feature detection and to extract and clarify information about a site. However, attribute analysis has not been applied to consider subtle differences between materials. This work aims to empirically explore the relationships between materials and their GPR attributes by surveying 8 concrete and cement paste cores of variable mechanical properties and 2 bricks and calculating a variety of amplitude based attributes. The outcomes of this work are preliminary indications of relative properties and classifications of attributes better equipped for certain properties. These results are promising for continued study of additional classes of attributes to ensure successful conservation efforts.
General, Auxiliary-Enabled Photoinduced Pd-Catalyzed Remote Desaturation of Aliphatic Alcohols

A general, efficient, and site-selective visible light-induced Pd-catalyzed remote desaturation of aliphatic alcohols into valuable allylic, homoallylic, and bis-homoallylic alcohols has been developed. This transformation operates via a hybrid Pd-radical mechanism, which synergistically combines the favorable features of radical approaches, such as a facile remote C–H HAT step, with that of transition-metal-catalyzed chemistry (selective β-hydrogen elimination step). This allows achieving superior degrees of regioselectivity and yields in the desaturation of alcohols compared to those obtained by the state-of-the-art desaturation methods. The HAT at unactivated C(sp3)–H sites is enabled by the easily installable/removable Si-auxiliaries. Formation of the key hybrid alkyl Pd-radical intermediates is efficiently induced by visible light from alkyl iodides and Pd(0) complexes. Notably, this method requires no exogenous photosensitizers or external oxidants.
Cost-effectiveness of malaria preventive treatment for HIV-infected pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa

Malaria is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa: at least 1 million pregnancies among HIV-infected women are complicated by co-infection with malaria annually, leading to increased risk of premature delivery, severe anaemia, delivery of low birth weight infants, and maternal death. Current guidelines recommend either daily cotrimoxazole (CTX) or intermittent preventive treatment with sulfadoxine–pyrimethamine (IPTp-SP) for HIV-infected pregnant women to prevent malaria and its complications. The cost-effectiveness of CTX compared to IPTp-SP among HIV-infected pregnant women was assessed. A microsimulation model of malaria and HIV among pregnant women in five malaria-endemic countries in sub-Saharan Africa was constructed. Four strategies were compared: (1) 2-dose IPTp-SP at current IPTp-SP coverage of the country (“2-IPT Low”); (2) 3-dose IPTp-SP at current coverage (“3-IPT Low”); (3) 3-dose IPTp-SP at the same coverage as antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the country (“3-IPT High”); and (4) daily CTX at ART coverage. Outcomes measured include maternal malaria, anaemia, low birth weight (LBW), and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Sensitivity analyses assessed the effect of adherence to CTX. Compared with the 2-IPT Low Strategy, women receiving CTX had 22.5% fewer LBW infants (95% CI 22.3–22.7), 13.5% fewer anaemia cases (95% CI 13.4–13.5), and 13.6% fewer maternal malaria cases (95% CI 13.6–13.7). In all simulated countries, CTX was the preferred strategy, with incremental cost-effectiveness ratios ranging from cost-saving to $3.9 per DALY averted from a societal perspective. CTX was less effective than the 3-IPT High Strategy when more than 18% of women stopped taking CTX during the pregnancy. In malarious regions of sub-Saharan Africa, daily CTX for HIV-infected pregnant women regardless of CD4 cell count is cost-effective compared with 3-dose IPTp-SP as long as more than 82% of women adhere to daily dosing.
Genesis of Femicidio: Does Violence Against Women Become Institutionalized and Legitimized? If So, How?

Currently in Guatemala and Mexico feminicide (killing of women because they are women) is granted impunity. According to the PDH, (Procuraduria de Derechos Humanos), thousands of women are murdered each year, and since 2002, there has been a 63.41% increase in women homicides in Guatemala alone. Research questions of this paper include: How is feminicide afforded impunity and why? Does violence against women become institutionalized and legitimized, if so, how? How is legitimacy fostered? Theoretical approaches to violence against women (VAW) or gender-based violence (GBV) do not go far enough by focusing on the belief system prevalent in relationships between women and men; neither do they account for the state perpetrators of such violence. I would suggest that in order to problematize the genesis of VAW/GBV, and more specifically feminicide, we need to construct a framework in which the underlying structure behind the social belief system is interrogated. Interrogation of the political and economic conditions that perpetuate the violence is urgent. Thus, my framework for problematizing the process in which violence becomes legitimized will address 1) the function and structure behind the bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes as well as 2) the neo-liberal model that appears to perpetuate many socio-economic inequalities. Furthermore, we need to 3) address if there is a relationship between the current global economic crisis and the increase in feminicide.
Does obesity affect the position of seat belt loading in occupants involved in real-world motor vehicle collisions?

Objective: Previous work has shown that the lap belt moves superior and forward compared to the bony pelvis as body mass index (BMI) increases. The goal of this project was to determine whether the...