cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Book Review: Historical Origins of International Criminal Law: Volumes 1–5

This book review examines a five-volume set published by the Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher and edited by Morten Bergsmo, Cheah Wui Ling, Yi Ping, Song Tianying, and Klaus Rackwitz. The first three volumes retell the genesis story of international criminal law from stereoscopic perspectives. In addition to new research on Nuremberg and Tokyo, Volume 1 includes some of the less celebratory accounts from the post-WWII period and provides visibility into the hundreds of less salient trials that took place in the European and Pacific theaters before domestic authorities, military tribunals, and people’s courts. Volume 2 of the series presents rich accounts of national efforts at enforcing international criminal law around the world, including trials in China and the then-Soviet Union, where a prolific history of postwar prosecutions belies contemporary reticence about the project of international criminal justice. Contributions by national criminal law experts in Volume 3 reinforce the centrality of complementarity in the ICC system. Volume 4 takes up intersecting questions of criminal procedure and investigative methodologies, such as the use of demographic analysis to prove international crimes and the contributions of fact-finding commissions to accountability exercises. Volume 5 is devoted to the capstone event in the modern history of international criminal law: the establishment of the ICC. This volume contains copies of, or adaptations from, a series of memoranda solicited by the series main editor from a range of experts as the ICC was being created. These contributions track the myriad logistical, strategic, and legal decisions — from the sublime to the mundane — that must be resolved to build and operate an entirely new judicial system virtually from scratch. This final volume also features more praxis-oriented chapters, touching upon best-practice methodologies for war crimes investigations, including evidentiary analysis and forensics, by some of the world’s great international criminal law practitioners. The series will be an essential resource for both academics and practitioners interested in the history of international criminal law as a distinct field and also of the early days of the ICC, the world’s first permanent international criminal court.
Beyond symbolic policy making: The Copenhagen School, migration, and the marked-unmarked analogue

This article problematizes the securitization of migration through symbolic policy discourse. Policy as discourse is not innocent. It creates not only instrumental outcomes, but can also signal deeply ideological and profound, symbolic meanings. This study discusses Germany’s controversial ANKER Center policy as a form of such symbolic signaling. Distinguishing between negative and positive securitization, this article then brings into focus the non-linear, non-fixed, political, and social construction of these two forms of securitization in the context of migration. Framed in part by the author’s ongoing field work with migrant organizations and volunteer groups in southern Germany, this article draws specific attention to a discursive marked-unmarked asymmetry. It then applies the sociologists’ method of ‘marking everything’ as a strategy to ‘write against’ securitization’s negative logic—toward a positive, more inclusive migration agenda.
Accelerated seeding for genome sequence alignment with enumerated radix trees

Read alignment is a time-consuming step in genome sequencing analysis. The most widely used software for read alignment, BWA-MEM, and the recently published faster version BWA-MEM2 are based on the seed-and-extend paradigm for read alignment. The seeding step of read alignment is a major bottleneck contributing ~40% to the overall execution time of BWA-MEM2 when aligning whole human genome reads from the Platinum Genomes dataset. This is because both BWA-MEM and BWA-MEM2 use a compressed index structure called the FMD-Index, which results in high bandwidth requirements, primarily due to its character-by-character processing of reads. For instance, to seed each read (101 DNA base-pairs stored in 37.8 bytes), the FMD-Index solution in BWA-MEM2 requires ~68.5 KB of index data. We propose a novel indexing data structure named Enumerated Radix Tree (ERT) and design a custom seeding accelerator based on it. ERT improves bandwidth efficiency of BWA-MEM2 by 4.5X while guaranteeing 100% identical output to the original software, and still fitting in 64 GB DRAM. Overall, the proposed seeding accelerator implemented on AWS F1 FPGA (f1.4xlarge) improves seeding throughput of BWA-MEM2 by 3.3X. When combined with seed-extension accelerators, we observe a 2.1X improvement in overall read alignment throughput over BWA-MEM2. The software implementation of ERT is integrated into BWA-MEM2 (ert branch: https://github.com/bwa-mem2/bwa-mem2/tree/ert) and is open sourced for the benefit of the research community.
Biomarker characterization of the North Water Polynya, Baffin Bay: Implications for local sea ice and temperature proxies

Abstract. The North Water Polynya (NOW, Greenlandic Inuit: Pikialasorsuaq), Baffin Bay, is the largest polynya and one of the most productive regions in the Arctic. This area of thin to absent sea ice is a critical moisture source for local ice sheet sustenance and coupled with the inflow of nutrient-rich Arctic Surface Water, supports a diverse community of Arctic fauna and indigenous people. Although paleoceanographic records can provide critical insight into the NOW’s past behavior, it is critical that we fully understand the modern functionality of the paleoceanographic proxies beforehand. In this study, we analyzed lipid biomarkers, including algal highly-branched isoprenoids and sterols for sea ice extent and pelagic productivity, and algal alkenones and archaeal GDGTs for ocean temperature, in a suite of modern surface sediment samples from within and around the NOW. Our data show that all highly-branched isoprenoids exhibit strong correlations with each other and show highest concentrations within the NOW, which suggests a spring/autumn sea ice diatom source rather than a combination of sea ice and open water diatoms as seen elsewhere in the Arctic. Sterols are also highly concentrated in the NOW and exhibit an order of magnitude higher concentration here compared to sites south of the NOW, consistent with the order of magnitude higher primary productivity observed within the NOW relative to surrounding waters in spring/summer months. Finally, our temperature calibrations for alkenones, GDGTs and OH-GDGTs reduce the uncertainty present in global temperature calibrations, but also identify some additional variables that may be important in controlling their local distribution, such as salinity, nutrients, and dissolved oxygen. Collectively, our datasets provide new insight into the utility of these lipid biomarker proxies in high-latitude settings and will help provide a refined perspective on the Holocene development of the NOW with their application in downcore reconstructions.
Healthy Eating Index-2015 Is Associated with Grip Strength among the US Adult Population.

The Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) was designed to reflect adherence to the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). The study aims to examine the association between HEI-2015 and grip strength in a nationally representative sample of the U.S. adult population. This cross-sectional study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys of 2011–2014. Low grip strength was defined as <35.5 kg for men and <20 kg for women. HEI-2015 was computed from two days of 24-h dietary recalls and comprised 13 components. Each component was scored on the density out of 1000 calories and summed to a total score divided into quartiles. Weighted logistic regressions examined the study aim while controlling for associated covariates. The sample included 9006 eligible participants, of those, 14.4% (aged 20+ years), and 24.8% (aged ≥50 years) had low grip strength. Mean (±SD) HEI-2015 total score was 54.2 ± 13.6 and in the lowest and highest quartiles 37.3 ± 5.1 and 72.0 ± 6.5, respectively. In the multivariable model, participants in the highest vs. lowest HEI-2015 quartile had 24% lower odds of having low grip strength (Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.60–0.96). Specifically, participants who met the DGA for protein intakes, whole grains, greens and beans, vegetables, or whole fruits had 20–35% lower odds of having low grip strength than those who did not. Higher compliance to the DGA might reduce the risk for low grip strength as a proxy measure for sarcopenia among U.S. adults, particularly adequate intakes of proteins, whole grains, greens and beans, vegetables, and whole fruits.
Effects of Backscattered Electrons in Multipactor Discharges with Parallel Magnetic Fields

Contrary to single particle analysis of multipactor discharges, experimental results show that application of a magnetic field parallel to the RF electric field can result in a significant reduction of the breakdown threshold voltage1. One explanation is that diffusion of electrons out of the region of interest results in higher breakdown thresholds without a confining magnetic field. However, the size of the reduction experimentally observed is not typically duplicated in numerical simulations. While these simulations take into account electromagnetic field structure and device geometry, precise secondary electron behavior is difficult to match and general curves for secondary electron yield and emission energies are typically used.
Wilson Loop Expectations for Non-Abelian Gauge Fields Coupled to a Higgs Boson at Low and High Disorder.

We consider computations of Wilson loop expectations to leading order at large $\beta$ in the case where a non-abelian gauge field interacts with a Higgs boson. By identifying the main order contributions from minimal vortices, we can express the Wilson loop expectations via an explicit Poisson random variable. This paper treats multiple cases of interests, including the Higgs boson at low and high disorder, and finds efficient polymer expansion like computations for each of these regimes.
Preserving electronic records: Not the easiest task

The National Archives and Records Administration has had a program for accessioning, describing, preserving and providing reference service to the electronic records (machine-readable records) created by Federal agencies for more than twenty years. Although there have been many changes in the name of the office, its basic mission has remained the same: to preserve and make available those records created by Federal agencies that the National Archives has determined to have value beyond the short-term need of the originating agency. A phrase that was once coined for a preservation conference still applies: the National Archives, when it decides to accept the transfer of records into its custody, is committing itself to preserving these records for perpetuity.
Academic Enterprises: Drivers Of The Economic Engine

As I was browsing through various articles and position papers, I thought that emerging contributions by India’s political and academic leadership to promote innovation shows remarkable improvements and presents a better vision for the country. Therefore, I thought I must present my thoughts as a sheer expression of optimism since I am encouraged that the predicted outcomes in promoting the welfare of a large mass of people is becoming real and technological innovations in India is beginning to serve her people well despite many implementable challenges. Entrepreneurial India has its ancient roots where indigenous products of India were a major attraction to foreign traders from Arab countries, China and Greece. After independence in 1947, India invested heavily to improve its economic conditions through several fi ve year plans. The policy makers made necessary reforms for India to succeed today as the second fastestgrowing economy in the world. During this reform, India embraced private ownership, innovation and trade as key components for its economic prosperity. India’s commitment to diversity, religious freedom, promoting innovation and free enterprise are additional components to its future economic success. Through this meticulous planning, good leadership, practicable, realistic and adaptable policies, India is poised to become the third largest economy by the year 2025. Outsourcing to India has changed the landscape of urban India. In the global Received Date : 20-07-2012
Effects of Nanoparticle Size on Multilayer Formation and Kinetics of Tethered Enzymes.

Despite numerous applications, we lack fundamental understanding of how variables such as nanoparticle (NP) size influence the activity of tethered enzymes. Previously, we showed that biomimetic oriented immobilization yielded higher specific activities versus nonoriented adsorption or carboxyl-amine binding. Here, we standardize NP attachment strategy (oriented immobilization via hexahistidine tags) and composition (Ni-NTA coated gold NPs), to test the impact of NP size (⌀5, 10, 20, and 50 nm) on multilayer formation, activity, and kinetic parameters (kcat, KM, kcat/KM) of enzymes representing three different classes: glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI), an isomerase; Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase S (GAPDHS), an oxidoreductase; and pyruvate kinase (PK), a transferase. Contrary to other reports, we observed no trend in kinetic parameters for individual enzymes when found in monolayers (<100% enzyme coverage), suggesting an advantage for oriented immobilization versus other attachment strategies...
Croquet learning environments: extending the value of campus life into the online experience

Croquet is a broadband communications platform with a 3D user interface and peer-to-peer network architecture that provides educators with a new expressive meta-medium that is capable of replicating - and in certain ways, surpassing - the most valuable features of campus life. By comparing the campus to a collaborative "information space" where we are free to roam and "interoperate" at will, we underscore the role that proprietary restrictions - operating systems, applications, and formats - have played in making online learning a remote, cramped, and emotionally "flat" experience. From there, we examine the technical hurdles that must be overcome before our online learning experiences can approximate the vitality of campus-based, socially contextualized education.
Robust Adaptive Control using Direct and Indirect Methods

Direct, Indirect and Combined Methods of Adaptive Control are used for the robust adaptive control of a first order plant with increasing levels of uncertainty. The latter include external disturbances, time delays, unmodeled dynamics and sensor noise.
Engaging Families into Child Mental Health Treatment: Updates and Special Considerations

Objective: The current paper reviews recent findings regarding how to conceptualize engagement and factors influencing engagement, treatment attendance rates, and interventions that work. Method: Research related to the definition of engagement, predictors of engagement and treatment termination, attendance rates, and engaging interventions are summarized as an update to the McKay and Bannon (2004) review. Results: Despite ongoing advances in evidence-based treatments and dissemination strategies, engaging families into mental health treatment remains a serious challenge. Within the last several years, a number of technological advances and interventions have emerged to address this problem. Families with children who present disruptive behavior challenges and symptoms of trauma are considered in terms of the unique barriers they experience regarding engagement in treatment. Conclusions: Potential solutions to increase treatment utilization and further research in this area are discussed.
Pitch accent prediction: effects of genre and speaker.

To build a robust pitch accent prediction system, we need to understand the effects of speech genre and speaker variation. This paper reports our studies on genre and speaker variation in pitch accent placement and their effects on automatic pitch accent prediction. We find some interesting accentuation pattern differences that can be attributed to speech genre, and a set of textual features that are robust to genre in accent prediction. We also find that although there is significant variation among speakers in pitch accent placement, speaker dependent models are not needed in accent prediction. Finally, we show that after taking speaker variation into account, there is little room to improve for state-of-the-art classifiers on read news speech.
Nuclear Uptake and Retention of Androgen by the Accessory Organs in the Male Golden Hamster

The nuclear uptake and retention of 3H-dihydrotestosterone (3H-DHT) were studied in the reproductive organs of the male hamster by autoradiography. Castrated adult male hamsters were infected with 0.2/μg of 3H-DHT (107 Cl/mmole/100 g body weight) and sacrificed 1 1/2 hours later. The epididymides, prostate glands, and seminal vesicles were removed and processed for autoradiography. Localization of the androgen was observed in the nuclei of the secretory cells of all three organs. The nuclei of the smooth muscle cells of the muscularis and the connective tissue cells of these organs also demonstrated varying degrees of nuclear labeling. In addition, nuclear uptake was observed in the smooth muscle of the tunica media of the blood vessels of all three organs. In comparison to other studies, the results demonstrate species variation in the uptake of androgens in the accessory reproductive organs and support recent data that suggest that the cardiovascular system is a target organ for androgens.
Structure and composition of the Pt(s) [6(111) × (111)] step-terrace surface vs. pH and potential in aqueous Br− solutions: Studies by LEED and Auger spectroscopy

Abstract Experiments were performed in which a well-characterized Pt(s) [6(111)×(111)] surface (consisting of terraces five atoms wide separated by steps of one atom height) was immersed into aqueous CaBr 2 solutions at controlled potential, after which the surface was removed from solution, evacuated and characterized by LEED and Auger spectroscopy. Adsorption of Br was strongest from acidic solutions, displaying a maximum of θ Br = 0.5 (Br per surface Pt atom) near 0.2 V (vs. Ag/AgCl reference). At packing densities near the maximum, the Br layer displayed Pt(s) [6(111)×(111)](3×T) LEED patterns, which were relatively diffuse, indicating imperfect long-range order with a repeat distance of three PtPt distances parallel to the steps. Chemisorbed oxides or hydroxides were formed at relatively positive potentials. A streaked Pt(s) [6(111)×(111)] (9×NT) LEED pattern was found at potentials where oxidation led to similar Br and O/OH packing densities, indicating the presence of a seven-unit repeat distance parallel to the Pt steps and a variable multiple of the terrace width perpendicular to the steps. Retention of Ca 2+ ions by the surface was potential dependent, with a minimum which coincided with the Br maximum, θ Ca = 0.02. Water was retained by the surface due to interaction with Ca 2+ to the extent of 5–15 water molecules per Ca 2+ ion, depending upon the pH and potential. Comparison of these data with similar results for atomically smooth Pt (111) surfaces revealed that bromide was not selectively adsorbed at steps of the Pt surface.
The Constitution Free Zone in the United States: Law and Life in a State of Carcelment

Residents of South Texas live in a “Constitution free zone,” as one of our informants explained. Court rulings have declared that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution does not apply at checkpoints and spaces up to 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border. This article draws upon Agamben's arguments about “states of exception” and Foucault's notion of the “carceral state” to show that border residents live in a state of legal exception, in which the modalities characteristic of mass incarceration are extended from prison, where search and seizure is always classified as “reasonable,” into everyday life. We introduce the concept “state of carcelment” to describe how these modalities operate on the ground, through mass incarceration and internal checkpoints, to inter, so to speak, an entire region. With the potential diffusion of this “state of carcelment” beyond the border region, anthropologists are poised to critically engage its legal and cultural normalization. [State of exception, border security, Mexican American, Constitution free zone, prisons, checkpoints, race, gender, carcelment]
Dynamics of dissolved iron and other bioactive trace metals (Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn) in the Amundsen Sea Polynya, Antarctica

The Amundsen Sea Polynya is experiencing large increases in glacial meltwater input and hosts an extremely productive and long-lasting summer phytoplankton bloom, suggesting a crucial role for natural Fe fertilization. Early summer distributions and dynamics of the dissolved bioactive metals Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and Ni were investigated during a three week period in 2010–2011, using GEOTRACES-compliant methods. Dissolved Fe was very low (0.06–0.12 nmol kg−1) in the upper 20 m of the central polynya, suggesting that the sub-maximal rates of in situ primary productivity reported previously for this growth phase of the bloom are attributable to insufficient Fe availability. Weeks after the sampling period, phytoplankton biomass accumulated to peak bloom conditions, implying a continuous supply of bioavailable Fe to the euphotic zone. The dominant biologically-relevant Fe source was meltwater-enriched seawater flowing from the Dotson Ice Shelf cavity and delivering Fe at 0.7 nmol kg−1 to the broader polynya. The modest Fe content of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW; 0.3 nmol kg−1), invading through cross-shelf troughs, was strongly augmented by benthic Fe inputs, which may combine with glacial meltwater dFe in the Dotson outflow. Sea ice melting provided a modest local Fe flux, insufficient to drive large annual blooms. Dissolved Mn was strongly reduced in surface waters, but displayed a subsurface maximum likely advected through the region from shallow coastal sediments. Nutrient-type elements Zn, Cu and Ni had large to small dynamic ranges, respectively, and increasing concentrations with depth, indicating uptake and remineralization within the polynya system. Surface water drawdown ratios of metals and nutrients provided novel estimates of metal quotas (metal/P) for the dominant bloom phytoplankton, Phaeocystis antarctica. At one unique mature bloom station, Zn and Cu were scavenged to low concentrations throughout the 350 m water column, a possible result of intense removal onto sinking Phaeocystis biodetritus. The Amundsen Sea appears to be a model region for studying the biogeochemical consequences of increased glacial meltwater inputs.
Adams Andrew McConnell (1884–1972): Pioneer of Irish neurosurgery

Adams Andrew McConnell (1884-1972) is widely credited as the first neurosurgeon in Ireland. He was largely self-taught but also learned his craft by observing the work of other early neurosurgeons like Harvey Williams Cushing and Walter Dandy in the United States or Sir Geoffrey Jefferson and Sir Hugh Cairns in the Great Britain. He introduced the technique of ventriculography to Europe, having learned it from Dandy. He was a founder member of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons in 1926 and served as its president from 1936 to 1938. He was also president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He published papers on a wide variety of topics, including one of the first descriptions of suboccipital decompression for Chiari malformation in 1938. He contributed to surgical education in Ireland as Professor of Surgery at RCSI and later at his alma mater, Trinity College Dublin, and by training a large number of assistants who went on to become important Irish surgeons in the twentieth century. As a doctor, Adams Andrew McConnell was a pioneering figure. For many years, he was the only neurosurgeon in Ireland and his legacy still lives on at the National Neurosurgical Centre at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin where one of the neurosurgical wards bears his name. This article recounts his life and numerous achievements.
Gentamicin and Neuromuscular Blockade

Excerpt Neuromuscular blockade is a major toxicity of amino-glycoside antibiotics (1, 2). Yet gentamicin has only rarely been associated with blockade (3, 4). Warner and Sanders (3) reported on a p...
Jaundice and hepatitis B antigen-antibody in hemophilia.

Overt hepatitis was found in 11.7 per cent of the hemophiliac population studied. In those who had received fractions prepared from pooled plasma, the incidence was 22 per cent. Concentrates of factor IX were associated with hepatitis about three times as often as were factor VIII fractions. Blood samples obtained during the acute phase of hepatitis were available from 12 of the 14 patients treated with factor VIII fractions and eight of the ten treated with factor IX concentrates. Two of the 12 samples from factor VIII deficient patients and seven of the eight from factor IX deficient patients were positive for HB Ag. Antibody (HB Ab) was found in six factor VIII deficient and one factor IX deficient patient with hepatitis. Severe diffuse intravascular coagulation (DIC) occurred in a factor IX deficient man who had been treated with factor IX fractions and who expired in hepatic coma. Multiple serum samples were available from 89 patients who had not had overt hepatitis but had received fraction therapy. Antigenemia was found in one hemophiliac and one afibrinogenemic. Antibody was found in 24 per cent of the factor VIII and 17 per cent of the factor IX deficient patients. Usually HB Ab appeared following therapy with plasma fractions and lessened or disappeared during quiescent periods only to recur after additional exposure to pooled plasma fractions. Remarkably, of the 113 patients who have received fraction therapy, 66 (58%) have not had hepatitis or developed circulating HB Ag or HB Ab.
Failure-aware workflow scheduling in cluster environments

The goal of workflow application scheduling is to achieve minimal makespan for each workflow. Scheduling workflow applications in high performance cluster environments is an NP-Complete problem, and becomes more complicated when potential resource failures are considered. While more research on failure prediction has been witnessed in recent years to improve system availability and reliability, very few of them attack the problem in the context of workflow application scheduling. In this paper, we study how a workflow scheduler benefits from failure prediction and propose FLAW, a failure-aware workflow scheduling algorithm. We propose two important definitions on accuracy, Application Oblivious Accuracy (AOA) and Application Aware Accuracy (AAA), from the perspectives of system and scheduling respectively, as we observe that the prediction accuracy defined conventionally imposes different performance implications on different applications and fails to measure how that improves scheduling effectiveness. The comprehensive evaluation results using real failure traces show that FLAW performs well with practically achievable prediction accuracy by reducing the average makespan, the loss time and the number of job rescheduling.
The use of computer decision support systems for the critical care environment.

Abstract : As the workload of primary care providers continues to increase, the use of automation in the intensive care unit (ICU) environment has been touted as a way to increase effectiveness of patient care and standardize practice, while reducing the number of complications associated with the use of manually implemented approaches.1 4 Medical computer decision support (CDS), or computer decision assist, applications are a type of information technology system that embed the expertise of experienced care providers and/or standards of care into a computerized system. They can be implemented at any care level including prehospital, emergency departments, operating rooms, and ICUs. These systems provide information on patient care issues as an adjunct to standard treatments used during the patient s stay. For example, a typical CDS system may provide alerts when a combination of patient parameters fall out of range and recommend changes in drug rates to the care provider to bring the patient parameters within acceptable limits. By providing clinicians with these types of applications, patient care is improved in 2 ways. First, they provide a tool for learning and quality improvement. These systems provide the ability to push the expertise of more experienced care providers to clinicians who may not be fully trained or may be unfamiliar with current evidence based practice (EBP) guidelines. Second, as a decision support adjunct, these systems provide additional information that may not be otherwise available or easily obtainable to experienced care providers. Computer decision support systems improve the provider s ability to manage multiple sources of data, allow for trending analysis, and provide the ability to fuse data from multiple sources. Furthermore, these tools allow for advanced information processing that can be used in predictive modeling of patient outcomes.
Automatic feed device for laboratory‐size glass circulating evaporator

A simple, rugged and compact automatic feed control attachment for the laboratory-size glass circulating evaporator has been designed and constructed. Experience has demonstrated that this apparatus operates satisfactorily with a variety of aqueous biological extracts and solutions having resistivity values of 50,000 ohm-in. or less. The device in adaptable to other evaporators and stills.
Epigenetic variation and cellular Darwinism

The human genome contains large areas with hypervariable DNA methylation that are associated with deregulation of gene expression. This epigenetic variation may be necessary for differentiation, but it also provides a mechanism for Darwinian evolution at the cellular level that may underlie age-related diseases such as cancer.
Reef fish and habitat relationships in a Caribbean seascape: the importance of reef context

Marine protected area (MPA) effectiveness is contingent on understanding key ecological patterns and processes at appropriate spatial scales and may depend upon maintaining critical linkages among essential habitat patches to conserve reef-fish communities. Hypotheses were tested to investigate the importance of habitat linkages in the US Virgin Islands. As expected, reef context (the spatial pattern of surrounding habitat patches) was a strong predictor of reef fish assemblage structure. Specific relationships were functionally consistent with the ecology of the fishes of interest. For example, reefs with large amounts of seagrass nearby harbored the greatest numerical abundance of fishes, particularly mobile invertebrate feeders and the exploited fish families of Haemulidae (grunts) and Lutjanidae (snappers). Species richness for the entire fish community and within these fish groups was also strongly associated with reef context. Furthermore, reef fish mobility influenced how fishes related to reef context. Fish-habitat relationships were detected as far as 1 km from study reefs, suggesting that fish movements result in habitat encounter rates that may influence their patterns of distribution. Consequently, functional habitat connectivity of habitat patches appears important in structuring reef-fish assemblages, and suggests that landscape-scale metrics may provide insights useful to managers in the design of MPAs.
Disease modification in multiple sclerosis: Issues with relevance to clinical trial designs in Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract The last 13 years have witnessed introduction of disease-modifying drugs (DMDT) in the multiple sclerosis (MS) field. This remarkable occurrence has not only ushered in an era of therapeutic optimism, it has stimulated change in how the pathogenesis of MS is viewed, how clinical studies should be conducted, and how outcome should be measured. These issues are in a stage of evolution at the time of this writing, but many have great relevance to development of DMDT in Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center: Forty Years of Supercomputing Leadership

The oil embargo of the early 1970s stalled cars but began a supercomputing story that continues to this day. The National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, the state-of-the-art national facility that serves government, industry, and academic users today, celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2014. The guest editors of this special issue document that history and describe the articles they selected to highlight it.
Electrodynamics of the Josephson vortex lattice in high-temperature superconductors

We studied response of the Josephson vortex lattice in layered superconductors to the high-frequency c-axis electric field. We found a simple relation connecting the dynamic dielectric constant with the perturbation of the superconducting phase, induced by oscillating electric field. Numerically solving equations for the oscillating phases, we computed the frequency dependences of the loss function at different magnetic fields, including regions of both dilute and dense Josephson vortex lattices. The overall behavior is mainly determined by the c-axis and in-plane dissipation parameters, which is inversely proportional to the anisotropy. The cases of weak and strong dissipation are realized in $\mathrm{Bi_{2}Sr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{x}}$ and underdoped $\mathrm{YBa_{2}Cu_{3} O_{x}}$ correspondingly. The main feature of the response is the Josephson-plasma-resonance peak. In the weak-dissipation case additional satellites appear in the dilute regime mostly in the higher-frequency region due to excitation of the plasma modes with the wave vectors set by the lattice structure. In the dense-lattice limit the plasma peak moves to higher frequency and its intensity rapidly decreases, in agreement with experiment and analytical theory. Behavior of the loss function at low frequencies is well described by the phenomenological theory of vortex oscillations. In the case of very strong in-plane dissipation an additional peak in the loss function appears below the plasma frequency. Such peak has been observed experimentally in underdoped $\mathrm{YBa_{2}Cu_{3} O_{x}}$. It is caused by frequency dependence of in-plane contribution to losses rather then a definite mode of phase oscillations.
Intrinsic alteration of the reactive properties of arteries during hypothermia.

Abstract This study compares the reactive and contractile properties of helical strips of femoral arteries taken from normothermic rabbits and rabbits that were anesthetized with pentobarbital and cooled to 25 °C. The purpose of this comparison was to see if previous exposure to whole body hypothermia would alter vascular muscle responsiveness to norepinephrine. We found that, after 2 h of in vivo hypothermia, the hypothermic-derived vascular strips contracted more slowly, but required from 10 to 100 times less norepinephrine to have a detectable contractile response. This continued while the tissue was in vitro for at least 12 h. Although the maximal tension developed by the strips was equivalent, the ED 50 values for the hypothermic-derived arteries were lower than those of the normothermic tissue. This study has identified prolonged alterations in in vitro vascular responsiveness attributable to previous exposure to whole body hypothermia, which may help to explain the disruptions of blood pressure during and following exposure of the whole body to cold.
The mechanism of action of ethanolamine ammonia-lyase, an adenosylcobalamin-dependent enzyme Evidence that carbon-cobalt bond cleavage is driven in part by conformational alterations of the corrin ring

Previous work has shown that the interaction between ethanolamine ammonia-lyase (ethanolamine ammonia-lyase, EC 4.3.1.7) and adenosylcobalamin weakens the C-Co bond of the cofactor with respect to homolytic cleavage. To obtain information concerning the mechanism by which this is accomplished, a study was conducted in which optical and circular dichroism spectroscopy were used to explore the interaction between ethanoloamine ammonia-lyase and a series of adenosylcobalamin analogs composed of an adenyl residue attached to the cobalt atom of cobalamin by a methylene chain whose length varies from 2 to 6 carbons. These studies indicated that the binding of a cobalamin to the active site activates forces which tend to alter the conformation of the enzyme, and with it that of the corrin ring, but that these conformational changes are blocked by bulky Co-beta substituents which restrict corrin ring flexibility. We postulate that at least one element of the force which weakens the C-Co bond of the enzyme-bound cofactor is the relief of conformational strain which occurs when C-Co bond cleavage, by releasing the interfering adenosyl group, permits the enzyme and the corrin ring to assume the energetically favored conformation.
Structure and permeability relationships in polymer nanocomposites containing carbon black and organoclay

Abstract Highly anisotropic organoclays and relatively isotropic carbon black particles are both nanoscale fillers widely used to enhance polymer properties. Nanocomposites formed through incorporation of organoclay can result in various morphologies including intercalated and exfoliated structures, while carbon black can also be dispersed in polymeric material and form a network structure. In this study, we illustrate a synergistic effect of having both organoclay and carbon black dispersed in the polymer matrix with different functionality. To evaluate the structure and property (permeability) relationships in these nanocomposites, multi-directional small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and complementary transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements were carried out to characterize the organoclay structure and orientation. It was found that the addition of carbon black greatly enhances the tortuosity by the joining of carbon black and organoclays leading to reduced permeability and enhanced barrier properties.
The Predictive Validity of Selected Admissions Variables Relative to Grade Point Average Earned in a Master of Business Administration Program

Results of a study undertaken to determine the predictive validity of admission variables used to screen applicants for graduate study in business at a medium sized university are reported. Stepwise linear regression analysis was utilized to identify the variables which explain significant amounts of variance in graduate grade point average (GGPA)—the criterion variable. The study revealed that the following variables explained slightly less than 21 percent of the total variance in GGPA: (1) junior/senior undergraduate grade point average (GPA), (2) Graduate Management Aptitude Test (GMAT) score, (3) full/part-time attendance in the graduate program, (4) number of credit hours required in the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program, (5) undergraduate major, (6) age and (7) pursuance of the MBA at the same institution where the student received the undergraduate degree. Junior/senior GPA, GMAT score, and full vs. part-time attendance in the MBA program were significant at the .01 level.
UV microspot irradiator at Columbia University

The Radiological Research Accelerator Facility at Columbia University has recently added a UV microspot irradiator to a microbeam irradiation platform. This UV microspot irradiator applies multiphoton excitation at the focal point of an incident laser as the source for cell damage, and with this approach, a single cell within a 3D sample can be targeted and exposed to damaging UV. The UV microspot’s ability to impart cellular damage within 3D is an advantage over all other microbeam techniques, which instead impart damage to numerous cells along microbeam tracks. This short communication is an overview, and a description of the UV microspot including the following applications and demonstrations of selective damage to live single cell targets: DNA damage foci formation, patterned irradiation, photoactivation, targeting of mitochondria, and targeting of individual cardiomyocytes in a live zebrafish embryo.
Nutritional modulation of human immune status

Abstract Modulation of the immune status by a nutritionally balanced diet containing different levels of the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), with total fat porviding 25–30 energy % (en %), was examined in 8 healthy men (29–44 years) living in a metabolic unit. For the first two weeks all subjects were fed a stabilization diet (PUFA 6 en %), and for the next 11 weeks the level of PUFA calories was 3.5 en % for 4 subjects and 12.9 en % for the other 4 subjects. The level of PUFA in the diet did not affect any of the indices of the immune status tested. In both dietary groups, several indices of the immune status including the numbers of circulating T and B lymphocytes and their in vitro proliferation in response to T as well as B cell specific mitogens increased significantly with time. The numbers of circulating neutrophils and the serum concentration of complement fraction C3 decreased significantly in both the groups. Blood leukocyte count, serum contcentrations of IgA, IgE, IgG, IgM, and C4 remained unchanged in both groups. The immune status of these men was improved during the experimental period. Possible reasons for this improvement might include reduction in calories from fat or balanced and adequate supply of other nutrients.
Quantum hydrodynamic analysis of decoherence: quantum trajectories and stress tensor

Abstract Quantum trajectories, obtained by integrating equations of motion for elements of the probability fluid, are used to analyze decoherence in a model two-mode system. Analysis of trajectories, flux maps, and the stress tensor for two composite systems, in one of which the system is uncoupled from the environment, leads to a hydrodynamic interpretation of the decoherence process.
Development of isolated perfused whole stomach for motility study in rat and cat.

An isolatedex vivo perfused mammalian stomach preparation is an ideal model for the study of motility avoiding central nervous influence and circulating humoral factors. In this paper, we describe the technique of such preparation in two different species: rat and cat, and its implication for motility study. While the isolated stomach was perfused with Krebs-Ringer solution via celiac artery, motility of the antrum was recorded using an open-tip tube in rats and a bipolar platinum electrode and a strain gauge in cats. The spontaneous antral motility and its response to drugs, such as dopamine and domperidone proved that the preparation would be a useful model to study motility devoid of influences of the central nervous system and circulating humoral agents.
Role of Lipids in the Permeabilization of Membranes by Class L Amphipathic Helical Peptides

We studied the mechanism of membrane permeabilization by the 18L model peptide (GIKKFLGSIWKFIKAFVG), which features the consensus class L sequence averaged from the number of naturally occurring lytic peptides. Two aspects of membrane lipid composition significantly affected peptide-membrane interactions: the presence of acidic lipids and, in zwitterionic membranes, and the presence of nonbilayer forming lipids. In zwitterionic membranes, 18L peptide destabilizes the membrane, leading to a transient formation of large defects in the membrane which result generally in contents leakage, but in the presence of bilayer−bilayer contact can alternatively lead to vesicle fusion. In membranes containing acidic lipids (DOPC:DOPG, DOPG), 18L caused leakage but not fusion, probably due to mutual repulsion of acidic vesicles. While the extent of contents leakage was approximately the same as for zwitterionic membranes, the kinetics of leakage could be resolved only by using stopped-flow, leakage being essentially co...
Detection of diffusion-weighted MRI abnormalities in patients with transient ischemic attack: correlation with clinical characteristics.

Background and Purpose— Although diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) has demonstrated clear superiority over other conventional imaging modalities in the detection of hyperacute cerebral ischemia, its value in the evaluation of patients with transient symptoms has received only limited attention. We assessed the utility of DWI in patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) to further evaluate the usefulness of this technique in these individuals. Methods— A retrospective analysis was performed on all patients entered in the Stanford Stroke Center database during 1997–2001 who were clinically diagnosed with a TIA and who had also undergone a DWI scan ≤3 days after symptom onset. The relationship between DWI-detected findings and patients’ clinical presentation was then analyzed. Results— Seventy-five patients experiencing 78 TIAs who also underwent DWI within 3 days of symptom onset were identified. DWI-detected abnormalities were present in 16 of 78 cases (21%). Patients with positive DWI scans were 9.6 times ...
Different binding orientations for the same agonist at homologous receptors: a lock and key or a simple wedge?

Using unnatural amino acid mutagenesis, the binding site for serotonin at the novel Caenorhabditis elegans receptor MOD-1 has been probed. As with the closely related serotonin receptor 5-HT_3, MOD-1 makes use of a strong cation−π interaction between the ammonium of serotonin and the indole side chain of a tryptophan. However, the specific Trp used by MOD-1 is different from that used for 5-HT_3 (and the nAChR), aligning with a residue more than 40 amino acids distant in sequence space and on a different “loop” of the agonist binding site. This suggests a significant rearrangement of the ligand on binding these two closely related receptors. It is suggested that, unlike enzymes, receptors and other signaling molecules may need only to deliver an agonist to a general binding region, rather than establishing precise drug−receptor interactions.
The use of HMQC-TOCSY experiments for elucidating the structures of bicyclic lactams: Uncovering a surprise rearrangement in the synthesis of a key prophe building block

Abstract HMQC-TOCSY experiments were used to unequivocally assign the ring skeletons of several bicyclic lactams. This work demonstrated the power of these techniques for establishing the complete carbon connectivity of peptide building blocks with closely overlapping protons. In addition, it has led to the discovery of a surprise rearrangement reaction and allowed for the correction of a previously misassigned Pro-Phe building block ring skeleton.
Optimizing Safety and Efficiency in the Mining Industry

This paper discuss the optimization of safety, schedule efficiency and cost effectiveness of delivering projects for the mining industry through implementation of pre-assemblies and modularization. This approach helps with reduction of the required on-site labor force by transferring a portion of the required effort-hours off-site. Projects in the mining industry are typically remotely located and therefore require additional effort hours dedicated to building workforce accommodations, camps and associated support infrastructures. All the required additional efforts combined with the project's remote location tends to impose additional constraints on safety, productivity and project delivery schedule.