cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thyroid Disorders and Pregnancy

Publisher Summary Gender-based differences in the evaluation and management of thyroid disorders principally stem from considerations that arise in the setting of pregnancy. Interactions may be viewed from different perspectives. On one hand, it must be recognized that thyroid autoimmunity and functional disorders that persist as untreated conditions may have a significant impact on fertility, fetal development, and maternal outcomes. At the same time due consideration must be given to the extent to which approaches to the evaluation and management of functional disorders and neoplastic changes identified during pregnancy must be guided by an understanding of (a) physiologic adaptations in thyroid function that occur during the course of gestation, and (b) limitations imposed by the potential teratogenicity of agents commonly used to diagnose and treat thyroid disorders. An informed appreciation of these interactions is particularly important in light of the estimated prevalence of readily diagnosed thyroid disorders in women of reproductive age. During the course of gestation, increased renal blood flow and glomerular filtration act to increase clearance and excretion of iodide. The net effect is to increase dietary iodine requirements. Current recommendations specify that pregnant women maintain an average iodine intake of 250 μg daily. Women who live in iodine-sufficient regions are usually able to achieve this goal through a combination of dietary supplementation and daily ingestion of specifically formulated prenatal vitamins.
A Mössbauer Effect And Magnetic Study of Fe2(SO4)3 and Fe2(MoO4)3, Two L-Type Ferrimagnets

In his 1948 classification1,2 of magnetic interactions Neel proposed that a material which was basically antiferromagnetic could show ferrimagnetic behavior, perhaps over a limited temperature range, if the moments of the magnetic ions on the antiferromagnetically coupled sublattices were slightly different. He classified this type of magnetic behavior as L-type ferrimagnetism. The different moments on the magnetic ions might arise from inequivalent exchange coupling pathways in the different sublattices. This difference could occur if the magnetic ions, which may be in quite similar chemical environments, are on crystallographically distinct lattice sites. The different moments on the antiferromagnetically coupled sublattices would lead to ferrimagnetism with a spontaneous magnetization and a large susceptibility. If the chemical environments of the crystallographically distinct magnetic ions are quite similar, then the moments should saturate at low temperatures to similar values. At these low temperatures the material would exhibit normal antiferromagnetic behavior. Hence the magnetic susceptibilty would exhibit a field dependent peak at the temperature with the maximum difference in the magnetic moments, and would fall to a low value at low temperature. This type of behavior is shown schematically in Figure 1.
El papel moderador de los congresos locales sobre el ciclo político presupuestal oportunista en los estados mexicanos

Los estudios sobre el ciclo politico presupuestal oportunista en los estados mexicanos comparten la limitacion de que la politica presupuestal es percibida como una decision unilateral del Ejecutivo y omiten considerar las restricciones politicas e institucionales que estos enfrentan. El proposito de este trabajo es relajar este supuesto y confirmar la teoria de que el aumento del nivel de competencia en las elecciones para diputados locales juega un papel moderador en el ciclo politico oportunista. La evidencia empirica presentada ratifica que los congresos locales ejercen un papel moderador e inhiben el ciclo politico oportunista cuando existe un alto grado de competencia en las elecciones para diputados locales
1996 The Molecular Basis of Learning

A molecular mechanism for long-term storage learned information involves protein synthesis and structural changes in the neurons required to maintain the information. This is true of both explicit memory—information about events and locations—and implicit memory—learned procedures and associations. This mechanism is evolutionarily conserved and remarkably similar in form in all animals.
Bone mineral density and content are differentially impacted by aerobic and resistance training in the colon-26 mouse model of cancer cachexia

Cancer cachexia is a debilitating paraneoplastic syndrome featuring unintended weight loss and skeletal muscle atrophy. Evidence suggests that bone health may also be compromised, further limiting mobility and quality of life. Aerobic and resistance training was recently reported to differentially affect skeletal muscle adaptations in cancer cachectic mice. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effects of aerobic and resistance training on bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) in mice with colon-26 (C26) tumor-induced cachexia. Twelve-month old Balb/c mice were aerobic-trained (wheel running 5 days/week) or resistance-trained (weighted ladder climbing 3days/week) for 8 weeks prior to C26 cell injection, followed by an additional three weeks of exercise. BMD and BMC were assessed pre- and post-training by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry. Resistance-trained C26 mice lost total BMD by 7% (p = 0.06), which did not occur in aerobic-trained C26 mice. In terms of pelvic bone, both resistance- and aerobic-trained C26 mice had significantly lower BMD values (−12%, p = 0.01 and −6%, p = 0.04, respectively), albeit to a lesser degree in aerobic-trained C26 mice. Furthermore, resistance-trained C26 mice tended to lose total BMC (−12%), whereas aerobic-trained C26 mice maintained total BMC. In mice without C26 tumors, resistance training significantly increased total BMD (+13%, p = 0.001). Aerobic and resistance training may differentially affect bone status in C26 cancer cachexia, with high resistance loading possibly being detrimental to total and pelvis BMD, a region expected to bear significant loading stress and contribute substantially to overall mobility. Because resistance training improved BMD in tumor-free mice, the C26 tumor burden appeared to impair the beneficial effect of resistance training on bone mass.
Geometric gait optimization beyond two dimensions

Locomotion for many articulated mechanical systems and animals is achieved through cyclic changes in shapes called gaits. In this paper we extend the geometric variational algorithm introduced in [1] to optimize gaits for kinematic systems with three shape variables. We then obtain optimal gaits for a variety of systems including the four-link swimmer (an extension of Purcell's swimmer). We then compare the efficiency of optimal gaits for these systems, which highlights the benefits of a using a basis that allows for continuous curvature (serpenoid swimmer) over a discrete basis (Purcell's swimmer).
Preemergence and Early Postemergence Control of Selected Container Nursery Weeds with BroadStar, OH2, and Snapshot TG

Abstract Preemergence and early postemergence control of three common nursery weeds with BroadStar (flumioxazin), OH2 (oxyfluorfen + pendimethalin), and Snapshot TG (isoxaben + trifluralin) was compared in greenhouse and outdoor experiments. Hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta), spotted spurge (Chamaesyce maculata), and common groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) were container-grown in the absence of ornamental crops and each herbicide was applied preemergence (labeled application) or postemergence to plants either at the cotyledon to one-leaf stage or at the two- to four-leaf stage. Each of the herbicides controlled hairy bittercress and spotted spurge preemergence and when applied to plants at the cotyledon to one-leaf stage. The herbicides were less effective on hairy bittercress and spotted spurge at the two- to four-leaf stage, yet control was 60 to 89%. Common groundsel was controlled preemergence by each herbicide; however, only BroadStar and OH2 controlled common groundsel ≥ 81% when applied at the coty...
Comments on “On the Excitation of Neutron Flux Waves in Reactor Core Transients”

(1987). Comments on “On the Excitation of Neutron Flux Waves in Reactor Core Transients”. Nuclear Science and Engineering: Vol. 97, No. 3, pp. 257-257.
POSITRON ANNIHILATION EXPERIMENT ON V3Si

Publisher Summary The A15 intermetallic compound V3Si belongs to the class of materials that is characterized by a high transition temperature and anomalies in other electronic properties. The band structure of V3Si is complicated because of the large number of atoms per unit cell, yielding 38 conduction electrons. The common feature to all band structure calculations is the presence of very flat 3d bands in the close vicinity of the Fermi level. Therefore, experiments in which k-dependent properties are measured are needed for the accurate determination of the band structure. A positron annihilation measurement is such an experiment. In this technique momentum distribution is measured. Preliminary positron measurement on V3Si demonstrates anisotropy in the momentum distribution. This chapter explains the FS topology. The broad distribution that represents the Fourier transform is considered as a background. The Fourier transform is determined by computing the average value of the experimental distribution on concentric circles of increasing radius centered at the origin.
A Community of True Believers: Learning as Process among “The Emigrants”

ABSTRACTThis paper applies the concept of “communities of practice” to al-Muhajiroun (“the Emigrants”), an outlawed activist network that seeks to create an Islamic caliphate in Britain and the Wes...
A Tale of Two Campaigns

Bitecofer conducts an examination of the Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton campaign organizations revealing a significant talent gap between the two campaign’s management teams. Bitecofer shows in the 2016 presidential election the Trump campaign trailed the Clinton campaign in every metric: fund-raising, television ad buys, talent, endorsements, and infrastructure yet was victorious on Election Day. The chapter continues by analyzing the major mistakes made by each campaign and the impact they had on the race.
Child and Family Outcomes: A Comparison under Two Systems of Care in New York State

Since the development of the child and Adolescent Service System Program (CASSP) in the United States, there has been a concerted effort in the field of children’s mental health to develop systems ...
PharmGKB: A worldwide resource for pharmacogenomic information.

As precision medicine becomes increasingly relevant in healthcare, the field of pharmacogenomics (PGx) also continues to gain prominence in the clinical setting. Leading institutions have begun to implement PGx testing and the amount of published PGx literature increases yearly. The Pharmacogenomics Knowledgebase (PharmGKB; www.pharmgkb.org) is one of the foremost worldwide resources for PGx knowledge, and the organization has been adapting and refocusing its mission along with the current revolution in genomic medicine. The PharmGKB website provides a diverse array of PGx information, from annotations of the primary literature to guidelines for adjusting drug treatment based on genetic information. It is freely available and accessible to everyone from researchers to clinicians to everyday citizens. PharmGKB was found over 17 years ago, but continues to be a vital resource for the entire PGx community and the general public. This article is categorized under: Translational, Genomic, and Systems Medicine > Translational Medicine.
Simulation of the Accumulative Roll-Bonding process through warm torsion test

Abstract The objective of this work was simulating the process of severe plastic deformation, specifically the Accumulative Roll-Bonding process (ARB) in low carbon steel, by warm torsion test, using the typical ARB process parameters. The torsion test was performed at 500 °C, using a total equivalent strain of 4.0, with increment of 0.8 per pass and keeping the constant strain rate of 0.1 s −1 , as well as intermediate strains of 0.8, 1.6, 2.4 and 3.2. Along with the reduction of the average grain size there was an increase in the hardness of 43%. Torsion test was performed until failure, increasing the yield stress by about 380 MPa. After processing, the average grains size with 0.93 μm were obtained showing that the torsion test is an efficient tool for simulating ARB process.
Generalized Survivability Models for Many-to-Many Communication

Network resources are imperfect and vulnerable to failure from a wide variety of sources. Current survivability models guarantee protection against these failures, but at the cost of inflexibility in terms of applicability to different routing standards and in how many additional resources are consumed to provide protection against those failures. We propose several generalized models that utilize the flexibility of many-to-many communication which, when implemented, can solve a large number of existing survivability and routing problems. A key component of these models is a flexible source and destination set with which communication between any number of endpoints can be established. These connections can be adjusted through changes to a flexible failure set to have either end-to-end or partial protection against the failures of both nodes and links. With these models, a framework can be built to tackle the complex survivability problems of an evolving Internet. 11This work has been supported by the Department of Energy (DOE) PROPER project under grant DE-SC0012115TDD and by the National Science Foundation (NSF) CARGONET project under grant CNS-1406370.
Field Emission, Field Ion Microscopy, and the Atom Probe

With the rapid development of scanning tunneling microscopies in the last decade, several older techniques from which they sprang have been nearly ignored. Yet these techniques offer similar resolution and data that are valuable in themselves. Field electron emission, which dates to the 1930s, is recognized today as a phenomenon inherent to STM or it is associated with very bright electron sources for electron microscopes (SEMs and TEMs). Recently, field electron emission has also been linked to a generation of “new” devices for vacuum microelectronics (although this is hardly a new application). If field electron emission is a relatively obscure, but useful phenomenon, field electron microscopy (FEM) is viewed as a technique for aficionados which has little to offer that can’t be better measured in other ways. The related technique of field-ion microscopy (FIM) and the atom probe (AP) are recognized as having highly specialized applications, at best.
Comparing Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Tax Policies in Generation Expansion Planning

Cap-and-trade and carbon taxes are two types of environmental policies that differ in their goals and approaches but both have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote renewable energy. We compare the effectiveness and efficiency of these policies in the context of generation capacity expansion. Game theoretic models are used to integrate the environmental policies in a generation expansion planning framework. The most efficient tax policies and variations are obtained using the inverse equilibrium models. We compare cap-and-trade and carbon taxes with respect to five criteria: carbon price and tax, renewable energy portfolio, total energy generation, generation companies’ and grid owner’s total profit, and government revenue. Numerical experiments show the relative advantages, disadvantages, similarities, differences, and limitations of the policies.
The extent of pediatric orthopaedic research in low- and middle-income countries and the impact of academic collaboration on research quality: a scoping review

This review aims to (1) assess the breadth of pediatric orthopaedic research in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and (2) determine the impact of academic collaboration (an LMIC and a non-LMIC investigator) in published LMIC research. Pediatric orthopaedic clinical studies conducted in LMICs from 2004 to 2014 were extracted from Embase, Cochrane, and Pubmed databases. Of 22,714 searched studies, 129 met inclusion criteria. 85% generated low-quality evidence (level IV or lower). 21% were collaborative, and these were more likely than non-collaborative papers to generate level III evidence or higher (25% vs 13%, p = 0.141). Pediatric orthopaedic research produced by LMICs rarely achieves level I–III evidence, but collaborative studies are associated with higher levels of evidence. Level of evidence: N/A.
12 – Resonant and Soft-Switching Converters

Advances in power electronics in the last few decades have led to not only just improvements in power devices but also new concepts in converter topologies, modulations, and control strategies. In the 1970s, conventional pulse-width modulation (PWM) power converters were operated in a switched-mode operation. Due to the nonideal switching characteristics, power switches have to switch their currents within the turn-on and turn-off times under the hard-switching conditions, causing undesired voltage and current stresses. More importantly, hard switching would cause high power and heat dissipation, introducing many reliability problems. In order to reduce the switching losses and improve the conversion efficiency, various resonant and soft-switching techniques have been proposed and widely used in various power electronic applications. The basic concept is to introduce an extra circuit, utilize parasitic elements, and/or timing control to profile switching trajectories, so that the switches are switched softly. This chapter gives an overview of various resonant and soft-switching techniques, such as zero-voltage switching, zero-current switching, zero-voltage transition, series resonance, and parallel resonance. It will start from describing the basic principles of those techniques to their applications to various systems, such as DC-DC power conversion and DC-AC power conversion. The electromagnetic compatibility performance will also be addressed. The emphasis is placed on the basic operating principle and practicality of the converters without using much mathematical analysis.
Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry Method for Ticagrelor and its Active Metabolite Determination in Human Plasma: Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study

Background: Ticagrelor is a highly recommended new antiplatelet agent for the treatment of patients with acute coronary syndrome at moderate or high ischemic risk. There is a real need for rapid and accurate analytical methods for ticagrelor determination in biological fluids for pharmacokinetic studies. In this study, a sensitive and specific LC-MS method was developed and validated for quantification of ticagrelor and its active metabolite (AM) in human plasma over expected clinical concentrations. Methods: Samples were handled by liquid-liquid extraction (LLE). A linear gradient was applied with a mobile phase composed of formic acid 0.1% and acetonitrile with 0.1% of formic acid using a C18 reversed-phase column. MS spectra were obtained by electrospray ionization in negative mode and optimized at 521.4→360.9 m/z, 477.2→361.2 m/z and 528.1→367.9 m/z transitions for ticagrelor, AM and ticagrelor-d7, respectively. Results: This method allowed rapid elution, in less than 4 minutes, and quantification of concentrations as low as 2 ng/mL for ticagrelor and 1 ng/mL for AM using only 100 μL of human plasma. LLE using hexane/ethyl acetate (50/50) was an optimal compromise in terms of extraction recovery and endogenous compounds interference. Trueness values of 87.8% and 89.5% and precisions of 84.1% and 93.8% were obtained for ticagrelor and AM, respectively. Finally, the usefulness of the method was assessed in a clinical trial where a single 180 mg ticagrelor was orally administered to healthy male volunteers. Pharmacokinetic parameters of ticagrelor and its active metabolite were successfully determined. Conclusion: A sensitive and specific quantification LC-MS-MS method was developed and validated for ticagrelor and its active metabolite determination in human plasma. The method was successfully applied to a clinical trial where a single ticagrelor 180 mg dose was orally administered to healthy male volunteers. The described method allows quantification of concentrations as low as 2 ng/mL of ticagrelor and 1 ng/mL of the metabolite using only 100 μL of plasma.
Pathways to the Future: A Tale of Two Programs

When comprehensive efforts to select and implement evidence-based practice bridge academic programs and community services, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts. Evidence-based practices can be selected and implemented in a sustainable manner while simultaneously developing an evidence-based and implementation-informed workforce. This chapter addresses how community-based service organizations and academic programs can develop complementary and interwoven supports that integrate implementation science and evidence-based practice. A final allegorical tale sets the stage for a brief presentation of two current examples that demonstrate the feasibility of such an integrated and collaborative approach.
DNA Probes in the Diagnosis of Parasitic Infections

Parasitic diseases remain major causes of morbidity and mortality throughout the tropical world. Diagnosis of many parasitic diseases is cumbersome and often has inherent difficulties such as serological cross-reactivity with other infections. People living in endemic areas often have more than one infection simultaneously and it is necessary to have accurate diagnostic techniques for specific infections. In addition to diagnosis of overall infection, it is now desirable to be able to distinguish parasites with a particular characteristic, for example, drug resistance.
Short- and Long-term Outcomes of Kidney Transplants From Very Small (≤15 kg) Pediatric Donors With Acute Kidney Injury.

Background Kidneys from small deceased pediatric donors with acute kidney injury (AKI) are commonly discarded owing to transplant centers' concerns regarding potentially inferior short- and long-term posttransplant outcomes. Methods We retrospectively analyzed our center's en bloc kidney transplants performed from November 2007 to January 2015 from donors ≤15 kg into adult recipients (≥18 y). We pair-matched grafts from 27 consecutive donors with AKI versus 27 without AKI for donor weight, donation after circulatory death status, and preservation time. Results For AKI versus non-AKI donors, median weight was 7.5 versus 7.1 kg; terminal creatinine was 1.7 (range, 1.1-3.3) versus 0.3 mg/dL (0.1-0.9). Early graft loss rate from thrombosis or primary nonfunction was 11% for both groups. Delayed graft function rate was higher for AKI (52%) versus non-AKI (15%) grafts (P = 0.004). Median estimated glomerular filtration rate was lower for AKI recipients only at 1 and 3 months (P 4 years follow-up were not significantly different. Conclusions Small pediatric donor AKI impacted early posttransplant kidney graft function, but did not increase risk for early graft loss and decreased long-term function. The presently high nonutilization rates for en bloc kidney grafts from very small pediatric donors with AKI appear therefore unjustified. Based on the outcomes of the present study, we infer that the reluctance to transplant single kidneys from larger pediatric donors with AKI lacks a rational basis as well. Our findings warrant further prospective study and confirmation in larger study cohorts.
Review of Interfaces for Industrial Human-Robot Interaction

The review presents an overview of research approaches on human-robot interfaces in industrial and service robotics. Research approaches address especially speech and gesture recognition in both fields but are more explored in service robotics. However, the importance of interfaces in industrial robots increases. The development of human-robot interfaces is leading towards intuitive interfaces, especially using speech and gesture recognition and combining them to multimodal interfaces.
Ignatian Spirituality and Career Development: New Evidence for Age-Old Practices:

Given the importance of career discernment in emerging adulthood, we evaluated an understudied career development approach for higher education students. Specifically, we tested the relationship be...
Mechanics of the cell: Interaction mechanisms and mechanobiological models.

Abstract The importance of cell mechanics has long been recognized for the cell development and function. Biomechanics plays an important role in cell metabolism, regulation of mechanotransduction pathways and also modulation of nuclear response. The mechanical properties of the cell are likely determined by, among many others, the cytoskeleton elasticity, membrane tension and cell-substrate adhesion. This coordinated but complex mechanical interplay is required however, for the cell to respond to and influence in a reciprocal manner the chemical and mechanical signals from the extracellular matrix (ECM). In an effort to better and more fully understand the cell mechanics, the role of nuclear mechanics has emerged as an important contributor to the overall cellular mechanics. It is not too difficult to appreciate the physical connection between the nucleus and the cytoskeleton network that may be connected to the ECM through the cell membrane. Transmission of forces from ECM through this connection is essential for a wide range of cellular behaviors and functions such as cytoskeletal reorganization, nuclear movement, cell migration and differentiation. Unlike the cellular mechanics that can be measured using a number of biophysical techniques that were developed in the past few decades, it still remains a daunting challenge to probe the nuclear mechanics directly. In this paper, we therefore aim to provide informative description of the cell membrane and cytoskeleton mechanics, followed by unique computational modeling efforts to elucidate the nucleus-cytoskeleton coupling. Advances in our knowledge of complete cellular biomechanics and mechanotransduction may lead to clinical relevance and applications in mechano-diseases such as atherosclerosis, stem cell-based therapies, and the development of tissue engineered products.
Impact of health literacy on health practices in the working life of young Japanese nurses and care workers

To continue to work healthily, health practices are necessary. This study assessed the impact of health literacy (HL) on health practices in the working life of young Japanese nurses and care workers, occupations with heavy physical and psychological burdens. A web-based survey was conducted with 500 women (330 nurses and 170 care workers) under the age of 30 in 2019. Data regarding their demographic characteristics, HL and health practices in their working life were collected. A significant association was found between high HL and better health practices, such as being likely to rest when tired, working at their own pace maintaining a good work-life balance and regularly performing self-check-ups, which were common to nurses and care workers. In addition, sub-analysis among the high-HL group revealed that the attendance of lectures regarding working life and health for new employees was effective for taking rest when needed, working when not overtired and a good work-life balance. The results of this study suggest that high HL relates to healthy practices in the working life of young Japanese nurses and care workers. Increasing HL or fundamentally enhancing attitudes towards their own health or both may, therefore, have some benefits for healthy working practices.
Toward Synthesis, Analysis, and Certification of Security Protocols

Implemented security protocols are basically pieces of software which are used to (a) authenticate the other communication partners, (b) establish a secure communication channel between them (using insecure communication media), and (c) transfer data between the communication partners in such a way that these data only available to the desired receiver, but not to anyone else. Such an implementation usually consists of the following components: the protocol-engine, which controls in which sequence the messages of the protocol are sent over the network, and which controls the assembly/disassembly and processing (e.g., decryption) of the data. the cryptographic routines to actually encrypt or decrypt the data (using given keys), and t,he interface to the operating system and to the application. For a correct working of such a security protocol, all of these components must work flawlessly. Many formal-methods based techniques for the analysis of a security protocols have been developed. They range from using specific logics (e.g.: BAN-logic [4], or higher order logics [12] to model checking [2] approaches. In each approach, the analysis tries to prove that no (or at least not a modeled intruder) can get access to secret data. Otherwise, a scenario illustrating the t and proof-carrying code, this goal is within practical reach, since all the important technologies for such an approach actually exist and only need to be assembled in the right way.
Early detection of illicit drug use in teenagers.

The illicit use of drugs, including alcohol, by teenagers has been extensively studied and documented. It is not uncommon for teenagers to be involved in illicit drug use before exhibiting signs and symptoms of drug use. Unsuspecting parents may be unaware of drug use in their children. The authors’ objective in this article is to review the literature on illicit drug use in teenagers and highlight the risk factors for teen involvement. The authors also review the warning signs that a teen is using illicit drugs. The aim of this article is to assist parents and healthcare workers involved in substance use intervention programs to be more aware of these risk factors and warning signs in order to adopt early screening and intervention measures.
Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System

This is the second essay in a two-part series exploring the relationships between mental illness, criminal behavior, and the criminal justice system. The number of mentally ill persons in prisons and jails has increased substantially over the last several decades, and there are currently more people with mental illness behind bars than there are in mental hospitals. In this essay, we place these trends within a broader historical context of the social control of mental illness in the United States. We identify how and why mentally ill persons have come to be overrepresented in the criminal justice system and highlight the unique challenges this population poses for police, courts, and correctional facilities. Finally, we review several recent innovations in policy and practice that may help alleviate that burden of criminal justice involvement on mentally ill offenders, as well as the burden of mentally ill offenders on the criminal justice system.
On evolvability: the swapping algorithm, product distributions, and covariance

Valiant recently introduced a learning theoretic framework for evolution, and showed that his swapping algorithm evolves monotone conjunctions efficiently over the uniform distribution. We continue the study of the swapping algorithm for monotone conjunctions. A modified presentation is given for the uniform distribution, which leads to a characterization of best approximations, a simplified analysis and improved complexity bounds. It is shown that for product distributions a similar characterization does not hold, and there may be local optima of the fitness function. However, the characterization holds if the correlation fitness function is replaced by covariance. Evolvability results are given for product distributions using the covariance fitness function, assuming either arbitrary tolerances, or a non-degeneracy condition for the distribution and a size bound on the target.
Selenium status and cancer mortality in subjects residing in four Canadian provinces

The objective of this study was to measure selenium status in maleand female Canadian subjects relative to cancer mortality in their respectiveprovinces. Toenail specimens from 755 subjects, 377 males and 378 females,living in Vancouver (186), Edmonton (188), Toronto (197) and Montreal (184)were analyzed by instrumental neutron activation analysis giving means of0.968±0.177, 0.950±0.148, 0.932±0.135 and 0.896±0.127ppm Se, respectively. The effect of selenium determinants such as gender,selenium supplementation and smoking on selenium status is presented. Detailsof the observed inverse relationship of selenium status and cancer mortalityare discussed.
Using Scopus to Study Researchers’ Citing Behavior for Local Collection Decisions: A Focus on Psychology

ABSTRACTIn recent years, the University of Houston has engaged in a campus-wide effort to raise the university to Tier-One status. The initiative has led to a significant increase in faculty's research output in the field of psychology. This dynamic change inspired the Psychology Librarian and Collection Coordinator to embark on a citation analysis to investigate two questions: how has faculty been using information for their research and how does the library's collection meet the research needs of faculty? In addition to reporting these findings, the article also describes how to use features in Scopus to simplify the data collection process.
Force Feedback in Adaptive Trusses for Vibration Isolation in Flexible Structures

This paper addresses the transmission of unwanted vibrations in flexible structures by actively minimizing dynamic forces seen at critical locations within the structure. An adaptive truss serves as an active interface between the two isolated sides of the structure, and force-feedback within individual links of the truss is the governing control law. The use of an adaptive truss allows the problem to be viewed as a set of localized control problems with collocated sensors and actuators. This paper first discusses the ideal capabilities of force feedback for active vibration isolation, and then presents the analytical and experimental results of a case study which shows significant reduction in transmitted vibrations.
The Imperial Wye

What was the relationship between the picturesque and British colonial violence at the turn of the nineteenth century? Kim Ian Michasiw anticipated such a query in a footnote to his 1992 essay, ‘Nine Revisionist Theses on the Picturesque’, wherein he pondered a ‘troubling possibility’: that the ‘vocabulary units’ and ‘something of the discourse’s syntax may well have determined the approach of certain specific imperial agents to their tasks’ – tasks that resulted in damage. Michasiw implicated class in the matter of colonial violence, but here damage itself is the primary concern, produced and observed firsthand by British amateur artists in the forms of epistemic and material violence. Like Michasiw, I have been considering the ideas of eighteenth-century clergyman and schoolmaster William Gilpin relative to the colonial picturesque. It is, of course, widely acknowledged that Gilpin revealed his desire to take a mallet to Tintern Abbey in Observations on the River Wye in order to make it a more aesthetically satisfying ruin. As such, he has provoked scholars to consider a relationship between the picturesque and material violence. But more than this, Gilpin’s Observations on the River Wye encouraged domestic as well as colonial travellers to view land and people in ways that stretched well beyond the aesthetic and into historical, political, and economic realms. In this brief, exploratory essay, which is part of a larger project engaged in theorising violence in colonial Ceylon and postcolonial Sri Lanka, Gilpin’s book is considered vis-a-vis text and imagery by practitioners of the picturesque who lived, worked in, or travelled to Ceylon during the period of British conquest, from 1796 through 1818. I argue that Gilpin’s published musings along the Wye provided an effective lens through which his imitators could envision an expanding empire as the British contended with the Dutch and Sinhalese for political, economic, and cultural dominance of the island. Extant accounts by British soldiers, civil servants, artists, missionaries, and Orientalists produced during the period of British conquest reveal a preoccupation with material violence on the island. Death as a result of war dominates such descriptions, but these accounts are replete as well with references to corporal punishment and military execution, rape, spousal abuse, civilian impressment and harassment, the killing of animals, destruction of provisions and property, and the alteration of landscape. Not surprisingly, interwoven with this discursive fabric of violence are numerous rhetorical strategies of comfort. These rely on metropolitan ideals of liberation, national honour, security, property, civic improvement, sport, and picturesque beauty. The last of these – the picturesque – is the strategy of
Monoterpene Syntheses via a Palladium Catalyzed Isoprene Dimerization

Bei der reduktiven Dimerisierung von Isopren (I) mit Ameisensaure/Triathylamin in Gegenwart von Pd-Katalysatoren entstehen unterschiedliche Anteile an den dimerisierten Dienen (II)-(V), deren Anteile in zahlreichen tabellarisch wiedergegebenen Versuchen aufgezeigt bzw. auch optimiert werden.
Variation among rheumatologists in the use of prednisone and second‐line agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. To test for and estimate variation among rheumatologists in their prescribing of prednisone and second-line agents for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), after taking into account the characteristics of their patients. Methods. Multiple logistic regression incorporating random effects for rheumatologists, with adjustment for patient characteristics. Results. Values for the likelihood-ratio statistic provided strong evidence of such variation. Random-effect variance estimates showed that the variation is of great magnitude. Conclusion. Even after patient characteristics have been taken into account, the data show that the rheumatologist may strongly influence the use of prednisone and second-line agents by a patient.
On-line microdialysis sample cleanup for electrospray ionization mass spectrometry of nucleic acid samples.

A major limitation of electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) for oligonucleotide analysis arises due to sodium adduction, a problem that increases with molecular weight. Sodium adduction can preclude useful measurements when limited sample sizes prevent off-line cleanup. A novel and generally useful on-line microdialysis technique is described for the rapid (∼1−5 min) DNA sample cleanup for ESI-MS. Mass spectra of oligonucleotides of different size and sequence showing no significant sodium adduct peaks were obtained using the on-line microdialysis system with sodium chloride concentrations as high as 250 mM. Signal-to-noise ratios were also greatly enhanced compared to direct infusion of the original samples. By using ammonium acetate as the dialysis buffer, it was also found that the noncovalent association of double-stranded oligonucleotides could be preserved during the microdialysis process, allowing analysis by ESI-MS.
Dynamical Response to Pulse Excitations in Large Space Structures

Finite dimensional approximations of large space structures as distributed parameter systems may lead to a loss of contribution of high frequencies to the dynamic response in case of impulsive or concentrated loads. It is shown that the unmodelled part of this response can be represented by a system of thin pulses which propagate as characteristic waves. It is demonstrated that the dynamical response to such a system of pulses can be modelled by a system of equations with delay argument. Fundamental dynamical properties of this system such as Liapunov stability, structural stability, loss of periodicity and transition to ergodicity are analyzed in this study. The results are illustrated by examples.
Business Education for College Prep Students Part 2

Abstract “… a combination course can be successful—sufficient skill in typewriting is developed—a notetaking skill can be learned—and most of all essential business knowledge has been presented.”
Immunocytochemical localization of an imidazoline receptor protein in the central nervous system

Imidazoline (I) receptors have been implicated in the regulation of arterial blood pressure and behavior although their distribution in the central nervous system (CNS) remains in question. Presumptive I- receptor sites were detected in the rat central nervous system with a polyclonal antibody to an imidazoline receptor protein (IRP) with binding characteristics of the native receptor. IRP-like immunoreactivity (LI) was detected in neurons and glia by light and electron microscopy. Spinal cord: processes were heavily labeled in superficial laminae I and II of the dorsal horn, lateral-cervical and -spinal nuclei and sympathetic cell column. Medulla: label was concentrated in the area postrema, rostral, subpostremal and central subnuclei of nucleus tractus solitarii, spinal trigeminal nucleus caudalis, and inferior olivary subnuclei. Visceromotor neurons in the dorsal vagal and ambigual nuclei were surrounded by high concentrations of immunoreactive processes. In reticular formation, label was light, though predominant in the intermediate reticular zone and ventrolateral medulla. Pons: label was detected in the neuropil of the periventricular gray, concentrated in the dorsal- and external-lateral subnuclei of lateral parabrachial nucleus, and present intracellularly in the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus. Midbrain: IRP-LI was most heavily concentrated in the interpeduncular nucleus, nuclei interfascicularis and rostral-linearis, the subcommissural organ, central gray, and in glia surrounding the cerebral aqueduct. Diencephalon: high densities were detected in the medial habenular nucleus, nucleus paraventricularis thalami, other midline-intralaminar thalamic nuclei, the supramammillary and mediobasal hypothalamic nuclei. In the median eminence, immunolabeled processes were restricted to the lamina interna and lateral subependymal zone. Telencephalon: IRP-LI was concentrated in the central amygdaloid nucleus, bed nucleus of stria terminalis and globus pallidus, followed by moderate labeling of the medial amygdaloid nucleus, amygdalostriatal zone and caudoputamen, the hilus of the dentate gyrus, and stratum lacunosum-moleculare of field CA1 of Ammon's horn. The subfornical organ and organum vasculosum lamina terminalis were filled with diffuse granular immunoreactivity. Ultrastructural studies identified IRP-LI within glia and neurons including presynaptic processes. I-receptor(s) localize to a highly restricted network of neurons in the CNS and circumventricular regions lying outside of the blood-brain barrier. Putative imidazoline receptors have a unique distribution pattern, show partial overlap with alpha 2 adrenoreceptors and are heavily represented in sensory processing centers and the visceral nervous system.
Building the bionic woman.

I was shielded from stereotypes during my young and impressionable years. I didn't realize they existed until maybe middle school, and by then, I'd already decided I wanted to build the Bionic Woman. ¶ I was always drawn to ‘techy’ stuff, but I also liked what people would consider typical
Gas chromatographic determination of tocopherols and sterols in soya sludges and residues--an improved method.

An improved method is described for determining the tocopherol and sterol content of soya sludges and residues. Samples are saponified and the extracted unsaponifiables are derivatized prior to gas chromatography to eliminate interferences. Data are presented to demonstrate the improvements realized.
The identification of O-phosphoserine in the soluble anionic phosphoproteins of bone.

Abstract Soluble, anionic proteins, containing organically bound phosphate, have previously been isolated in the EDTA extracts of bovine and chicken bone. In the present study, the major portion of the organic phosphate has been identified as O -phosphoserine.
An adaptive error penalization method for training an efficient and generalized SVM

A novel training method has been proposed for increasing efficiency and generalization of support vector machine (SVM). The efficiency of SVM in classification is directly determined by the number of the support vectors used, which is often huge in the complicated classification problem in order to represent a highly convoluted separation hypersurface for better nonlinear classification. However, the separation hypersurface of SVM might be unnecessarily over-convoluted around extreme outliers, as these outliers can easily dominate the objective function of SVM. This situation eventually affects the efficiency and generalization of SVM in classifying unseen testing samples. To avoid this problem, we propose a novel objective function for SVM, i.e., an adaptive penalty term is designed to suppress the effects of extreme outliers, thus simplifying the separation hypersurface and increasing the classification efficiency. Since maximization of the margin distance of hypersurface is no longer dominated by those extreme outliers, our generated SVM tends to have a wider margin, i.e., better generalization ability. Importantly, as our designed objective function can be reformulated as a dual problem, similar to that of standard SVM, any existing SVM training algorithm can be borrowed for the training of our proposed SVM. The performances of our method have been extensively tested on the UCI machine learning repository, as well as a real clinical problem, i.e., tissue classification in prostate ultrasound images. Experimental results show that our method is able to simultaneously increase the classification efficiency and the generalization ability of the SVM.
Novel layered scalable video coding transmission over MIMO wireless systems with partial CSI and adaptive channel selection

In this paper, we present a novel layered scalable video transmission scheme over multi-input multi-output (MIMO) wireless systems. The proposed layered scalable video transmission scheme is able to adaptively select the MIMO sub-channels for prioritized delivery of layered video signals based on only estimated partial channel state information (CSI). This scheme is fundamentally different from open loop (OL)-MIMO systems such as V-BLAST in which the CSI is only available at the receiver side. Without CSI at the transmitter, data sequences in OL-MIMO are transmitted simultaneously with equal power via multiple antennas. Therefore, OL-MIMO systems are not appropriate for transmitting compressed video data that need prioritized transmission. In this research, we assume that partial CSI, or the ordering of each sub-channel's SNR strength, is available at the transmitting end through simple estimation and feedback. The adaptive channel selection (ACS) algorithm we developed in this research shall switch the bit-stream automatically to match the ordering of SNR strength for the sub-channels. Essentially, we will launch higher priority layer bit-stream into higher SNR strength sub-channel by the proposed ACS algorithm. In this fashion, we can implicitly achieve unequal error protection (UEP) for layered scalable video coding transmission over MIMO system. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme is able to achieve UEP with partial CSI and the reconstructed video PSNRs demonstrate the performance improvement of the proposed system as compared with OL-MIMO system.
Accurate molecular ionization potentials from the electron propagator

A brief account is given of the content of the superoperator formalism for a systematic treatment of the electron propagator and the particular restrictions proposed in order to make the computations tractable. Applications to the valence ionization potentials of the nitrogen molecules are used as illustrative examples of how the third-order theory and the present one compare. Results from the application of Koopmans' theorem, and ''delta-SCF'' are also given for comparison. (JFP)