cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Unique Challenges for Modeling Defect Dynamics in Concentrated Solid-Solution Alloys

Recently developed concentrated solid solution alloys (CSAs) are shown to have improved performance under irradiation that depends strongly on the number of alloying elements, alloying species, and their concentrations. In contrast to conventional dilute alloys, CSAs are composed of multiple principal elements situated randomly in a simple crystalline lattice. As a result, the intrinsic disorder has a profound influence on energy dissipation pathways and defect evolution when these CSAs are subjected to energetic particle irradiation. Extraordinary irradiation resistance, including suppression of void formation by two orders of magnitude at an elevated temperature, has been achieved with increasing compositional complexity in CSAs. Unfortunately, the loss of translational invariance associated with the intrinsic chemical disorder poses great challenges to theoretical modeling at the electronic and atomic levels. Based on recent computer simulation results for a set of novel Ni-containing, face-centered cubic CSAs, we review theoretical modeling progress in handling disorder in CSAs and underscore the impact of disorder on defect dynamics. We emphasize in particular the unique challenges associated with the description of defect dynamics in CSAs.
Child and parent perspectives on healthier side dishes and beverages in restaurant kids’ meals: results from a national survey in the United States

Children frequently consume foods from restaurants; considering the quick-service sector alone, 1/3 of children eat food from these restaurants on a given day, and among these consumers, 1/3 of their daily calories come from fast food. Restaurant foods and beverages are second only to grocery store foods and beverages in their contribution to total energy intake of U.S. 4- to 11-year-olds. Shifting their restaurant consumption in healthier directions could have a positive impact on child health. In 2014 this study examined self-reported child receptivity and parent awareness of child receptivity to ordering a fruit or vegetable side dish instead of French fries; and milk, water, or flavored water instead of soda/pop with a kids’ meal when eating out. Child receptivity to side dishes was compared between 2010 and 2014. An online survey was administered by Nielsen via their Harris Poll Online to a national panel of 711 parents and their 8- to 12-year-old child, as part of a larger study. Frequencies, logistic regressions, t-tests, chi-square tests, and percent agreement were used to evaluate child likelihood of ordering certain side dishes; receptivity to healthier side dish and beverage alternatives; changes in receptivity to healthier sides across years; and parent awareness. A majority of children said they were likely to order a meal with a vegetable (60%), fruit (78%), or French fry (93%) side dish. They were receptive to receiving a fruit or vegetable (FV) side dish instead of French fries (68%); or milk, water, or flavored water instead of soda (81%) with their restaurant kids’ meal. Liking/taste was the most common reason for children’s feelings. Child receptivity to a FV side dish instead of French fries was high in both years and significantly higher in 2014 (t = −2.12, p = 0.034). The majority of parent and child reports of child receptivity were concordant (85%). These national survey results indicate that children are receptive to FV side dishes and healthier beverage options with their restaurant meals. Their receptivity has remained high in the recent past, and parents are aware of child receptivity. An opportunity exists for restaurants to leverage child receptivity to healthier sides and beverages by providing and promoting healthy options.
Sometimes updates are circumscription

Model-based revision of knowledge bases expressed as first-order theories was shown in [Winslett 88b] to be useful as a means of describing and reasoning about the effects of actions. This paper shows that model-based theory revision is actually expressible as a form of circumscription. This shows that in certain applications, the cumbersome conceptually machinery of circumscription can be replaced by the intuitively simpler ideas of model-based theory revision. Where theory revision techniques are insufficient to capture the semantics of change in an application, circumscription will offer a more flexible environment. In addition, future advances in computing circumscription can be mapped to improvements in computing theory revisions, and vice versa.
In defense of low-level structural features and SVMs for facial attribute classification: Application to detection of eye state, Mouth State, and eyeglasses in the wild

The current trend in image analysis is to employ automatically detected feature types, such as those obtained using deep-learning techniques. For some applications, however, manually crafted features such as Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) continue to yield better performance in demanding situations. This paper considers both approaches for the problem of facial attribute classification, for images obtained “in the wild.” Attributes of particular interest are eye state (open/closed), mouth state (open/closed), and eyeglasses (present/absent). We present a full face-processing pipeline that employs conventional machine learning techniques, from detection to attribute classification. Experimental results have indicated better performance using RootSIFT with a conventional support-vector machine (SVM) approach, as compared to deep-learning approaches that have been reported in the literature. Our proposed open/closed eye classifier has yielded an accuracy of 99.3% on the CEW dataset, and an accuracy of 98.7% on the ZJU dataset. Similarly, our proposed open/closed mouth classifier has achieved performance similar to deep learning. Also, our proposed presence/absence eyeglasses classifier delivered very good performance, being the best method on LFWA, and second best for the CelebA dataset. The system reported here runs at 30 fps on HD-sized video using a CPU-only implementation.
An Introduction to Reliability and Maintainability Engineering

(1999). An Introduction to Reliability and Maintainability Engineering. Journal of Quality Technology: Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 464-466.
On Extensions of the Cournot-Nash Theorem

This paper is devoted to a problem that occupies a central position in economic theory and whose origins lie in Augustin Cournot’s Recherches sur les Principles Mathematiques de la Theorie des Richesses. The setting is that of a group of players each of which pursues his self-interest as reflected in an individual pay-off function defined on an individual strategy set. What makes the problem interesting is that the optimum choice of any player depends on the actions of all the other players, this dependence being reflected in the pay-off function or in the strategy set or both. As such, this is a problem par excellence in what is now termed non-cooperative game theory.
Compound Metaoptics for Amplitude and Phase Control of Wave Fronts.

Metasurfaces allow tailored control of electromagnetic wave fronts. However, due to local conservation of power flow, passive, lossless, and reflectionless metasurfaces have been limited to imparting phase discontinuities---and not power density discontinuities---onto a wave front. Here, we show how the phase and amplitude profiles of a wave front can be independently controlled using two closely spaced phase-discontinuous metasurfaces. The two metasurfaces, each designed to exhibit spatially varying refractive properties, are separated by a wavelength-scale distance and together form a compound metaoptic. A method of designing the compound metaoptic is presented, which enables transformation between arbitrary complex-valued field distributions without reflection, absorption, polarization loss, or active components. Such compound metaoptics may find applications in the optical trapping of particles, displaying three-dimensional holographic images, shrinking the size of optical systems, or producing custom (shaped and steered) far-field radiation patterns.
Increasing the Communication Distance Between Nano-Biosensing Implants and Wearable Devices

Significant progress in the fields of electronics, photonics and wireless communications have enabled the development of compact wearable devices, with applications in diverse domains such as fitness, wellness and healthcare. In parallel, nanotechnology is facilitating the development of nano-biosensors, i.e., miniaturized sensors that can be implanted subcutaneously and measure various types of biological events at the nanoscale with unprecedented accuracy. The majority of nano-biosensing systems consist of an external optical excitation and measurement device that can induce and measure the response of implanted optical resonant nano-biosensors. However, the high path-loss of the human body at optical frequencies and the weak response of nano-biosensors would compromise the communication between the body-mounted optical excitation/measurement system and the intra-body implant. In this paper, mechanisms are proposed to overcome the high intra-body path-loss and enable wireless communications with deeper implants. More specifically, the combination of analog beam-forming with optical nano-antenna arrays together with light-guiding hydrogel implants is studied to overcome the spreading loss and to increase the intra-body wireless communication distance. The proposed scheme is analytically modeled and validated through simulations to benchmark its performances against the traditional methods.
Optimization of Bathymetry Estimates for Nearshore Hydrodynamic Models Using Bayesian Methods

A Bayesian inverse framework is developed to optimize the skill of a predictive numerical model via interpolation of bathymetric measurements to provide the most probable bathymetric surface. The nu cmerical model is a coupled wave flow model and predicts wave and hydrodynamic information (e.g., significant wave height and longshore velocity). The Bayesian method, coupled with Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) optimization, is used to find the bathymetric field, which serves to minimize the residual errors between measured data and the corresponding numerical model results. By using a Bayesian approach, the range of probable model parameters is inferred from the observed data. Monte Carlo simulation is also applied to this numerical model to perform the uncertainty analysis of the model output fields (wave height and flow velocity). This analysis is performed by taking random samples from the probability distribution function (PDF) of inputs and running the model as required until the desired precision (±0.05 m for significant wave height) in output fields is achieved. The case study used in this analysis is the DUCK94 experiment, which was conducted at the US Army Field Research Facility at Duck, North Carolina, in the fall of 1994. The unknown model parameters for the hydrodynamic model involve those controlling bathymetric resolution. Furthermore, the ability of the statistical model to estimate the observed data is tested by running the forward model for two sets of input parameters: the estimated input parameters updated by the previously mentioned statistical model and the prior (noninformative) parameters. Using the model parameters estimated from the Bayesian analysis leads to improved comparisons to data. Using the presented method, the relative errors between the model outputs and the observed data for significant wave height at nearshore gauges is reduced by 30%.
Skin Adnexal Tumors in Plain Language: A Practical Approach for the General Surgical Pathologist

Context.— Skin adnexal tumors, those neoplasms deriving from hair follicles and sweat glands, are often a source of confusion amongst even experienced pathologists. Many well-described entities hav...
Decolonial Methodology as a Framework for Localization and Social Justice Study in Resource-Mismanaged Context

This chapter turns to and proposes the use of decolonial methodology and its accompanying methods of grounded theory and rhetorical–cultural analysis. Decolonial methodology seeks to recover the lost identities of colonized people by championing self-determination, empowerment, decolonization, and social justice. The author sees decolonial methodology as the appropriate approach to conduct research that seeks to advance user localization strategies for two reasons: (1) users’ ways of knowing have been marginalized and colonized by discourses that favor designers. This means we need to recover the lost voices of users; and (2) the context of study, Ghana, is a colonized context so it is necessary to use an approach which will help to demystify colonialism. Because decolonial is a flexible methodology, the author combines it with grounded theory method.
Domestic Violence Through a Caribbean Lens: Historical Context, Theories, Risks and Consequences

Studies show that increasing and escalating rates of violence prominently exist among Caribbean family and intimate relationships. As known to many, the social and cultural norms that underscore ge...
Progress in SAR Metadata Standards

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is one of the several major remote sensing modalities readily available. Unfortunately, its use is hampered by sensor-specific data and metadata formats and content. The resulting steep learning curve keeps many analysts from using the data. To help address this problem, the IEEE GRSS society is sponsoring a working group to standardize this data. The working group is working within the IEEE Standards Organization in order to produce a standard that can be used for many different kinds of currently-available SAR data as well as what can be foreseen in the near future. The hope is that this standard can be used by the data providers in order to make it easier to use this data.Currently, the SAR Working Group is concentrating on standards for metadata related to single-look complex SAR data. Other standards will be added as needed. The actual data format is not being standardized with this standard. Instead, the group is concentrating on what metadata is needed in order to completely describe the SAR data, regardless of the format used to store it. Since the metadata will include a section that describes the storage format, it is expected that the metadata standard will be sufficient to make the data easy to use while enabling the data providers to choose the best storage format for their data.This paper presents recent efforts to use the best of the relevant ISO standards in combination with an existing US government standard, SICD, in order to devise a standard that is both consistent with other international standards for spatial data, as well as providing complete processing and instrument details for SAR data.
Programming van der Waals interactions with complex symmetries into microparticles using liquid crystallinity.

Asymmetric interactions such as entropic (e.g., encoded by nonspherical shapes) or surface forces (e.g., encoded by patterned surface chemistry or DNA hybridization) provide access to functional states of colloidal matter, but versatile approaches for engineering asymmetric van der Waals interactions have the potential to expand further the palette of materials that can be assembled through such bottom-up processes. We show that polymerization of liquid crystal (LC) emulsions leads to compositionally homogeneous and spherical microparticles that encode van der Waals interactions with complex symmetries (e.g., quadrupolar and dipolar) that reflect the internal organization of the LC. Experiments performed using kinetically controlled probe colloid adsorption and complementary calculations support our conclusion that LC ordering can program van der Waals interactions by ~20 kBT across the surfaces of microparticles. Because diverse LC configurations can be engineered by confinement, these results provide fresh ideas for programming van der Waals interactions for assembly of soft matter.
Virtual Theme Collection: Body Politics: Making Black Lives Matter:

Few journals in the social sciences have published as much over the past twenty years on the reality of racial, cultural, and social inequality in law and practice as the Journal of Black Studies. ...
Examining the electron transport in chalcogenide perovskite BaZrS3

Orthorhombic BaZrS3 is a potential optoelectronic material with prospective applications in photovoltaic and thermoelectric devices. While efforts exist on understanding the effects of elemental substitution and material stability, fundamental knowledge on the electronic transport properties are sparse. We employ first principles calculations to examine the electronic band structure and optical band gap and interrogate the effect of electron transport on electrical and thermal conductivities, and Seebeck coefficient, as a function of temperature and chemical potential. Our results reveal that BaZrS3 has a band gap of 1.79 eV in proximity of the optimal 1.35 eV recommended for single junction photovoltaics. An absorption coefficient of 3 × 105 cm−1 at photon energies of 3 eV is coupled with an early onset to optical absorption at 0.5 eV, significantly below the optical band gap. The carrier effective mass being lower for electrons than holes, we find the Seebeck coefficient to be higher for holes than electrons. A notable (≈1.0 at 300 K) upper limit to the thermoelectric figure of merit, obtained due to high Seebeck coefficient (3000 μV K−1) and ultra-low electron thermal conductivity, builds promise for BaZrS3 as a thermoelectric.
Evaluation of the Cepheid Xpert SA Nasal Complete for direct detection of Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in nasal swabs from pediatric patients.

Abstract Nasal carriers of Staphylococcus aureus (SA) are at increased risk for health-care associated infections with this organism. Timely detection of SA and Methicillin-resistant SA (MRSA) and subsequent decolonization are important components of infection control. While performance of nucleic acid amplification-based tests for detection of SA/MRSA in adults has been well-described, limited data are available in children. Our objective was to evaluate the performance of the Xpert SA in pediatric patients. Overall, for detection of SA, Xpert SA demonstrated a sensitivity and specificity of 95.1% and 93.5%, respectively and 87.8% sensitive and 98.1% specific for detection of MRSA. Performance in different age groups was similar but neonates had the lowest sensitivity and highest invalid rates. The Xpert SA is a rapid, reliable test to detect MSSA and MRSA nasal colonization in pediatric patients. Depending on the potential clinical impact, culture may be considered as a companion test to improve sensitivity.
WALANT Hand and Upper Extremity Procedures Performed With Minor Field Sterility Are Associated With Low Infection Rates

Background:The use of minor field sterility in hand/upper extremity cases has been shown to improve workflow efficiency while maintaining patient safety. As this finding has been limited to specifi...
Using the LSS adjoint for simultaneous plant and control optimization of chaotic dynamical systems

Chaotic dynamical systems are ubiquitous in engineering applications and, in order to help inform the design of such systems, we are interested in optimizing their performance using both plant and control parameters. Given the complex nature of such systems we focus on the use of gradient-based optimization algorithms, since the number of states and design parameters in practical engineering applications can easily exceed the capabilities of gradient-free approaches. Furthermore, optimal design and control of chaotic systems is challenging for gradient-based algorithms, because conventional sensitivity analysis methods (tangent and adjoint) produce unusable gradients. To address this challenge, we present a plant-control optimization framework that uses the least-squares shadowing method to estimate the objective gradient. We illustrate the effectiveness of the optimization framework by applying it to the plant-control design of potential vortices in a box, and demonstrate the robustness of the design process as well as the robustness of the optimized system to perturbations on its initial states and design parameters.
Ethnic Composition, Legibility and the Conditional Effect of War on Fiscal Capacity

There has been substantial debate on whether the argument that warfare enhances state capacity can be applied to contexts other than Western Europe. The argument in this paper is that the relationship between war and fiscal capacity is conditional on the ethnic composition of the population. More specifically, ethnic heterogeneity and ethnic dissimilarity should result in higher illegibility of the society to the state. This illegibility should make the returns from investment in fiscal capacity lower and consequently ethnically heterogeneous and dissimilar populations should hinder state's investment and increases in fiscal capacity during wartime. These expectations are tested and confirmed with an original local-level fiscal revenue data set in the late Ottoman Empire. Wartime changes in local-level fiscal revenues are higher in ethnically more homogeneous and also in ethnically more similar provinces.
Two new species of Bimastos (Oligochaeta, Lumbricidae) from the Southern Appalachian Mountains, North America.

Two new species of Bimastos Moore are described based on morphological and molecular data. Bimastos nanae n. sp. resembles B. lawrenceae Fender, B. zeteki (Smith and Gittins) and B. welchi (Smith). Bimastos nanae n. sp. differs from these species in the position of the clitellum, size and number and position of thickened septa. Bimastos magnum n. sp. is similar to B. schwerti Csuzdi & Chang and B. palustris Moore in having a fully annular clitellum and male pores on huge porophores. Bimastos magnum n. sp. differs from both species by having a more posterior position of the clitellum (in xxiv-xxxiii, xxxiv) and larger body size. With the description of these new species, the number of Bimastos species is raised to 14.
On the importance of microstructure information in materials design: PSP vs PP

Abstract The focus of goal-oriented materials design is to find the necessary chemistry/processing conditions to achieve the desired properties. In this setting, a material’s microstructure is either only used to carry out multiscale simulations to establish an invertible quantitative process-structure-property (PSP) relationship, or to rationalize a posteriori the underlying microstructural features responsible for the properties achieved. The materials design process itself, however, tends to be microstructure-agnostic: the microstructure only mediates the process-property (PP) connection and is—with some exceptions such as architected materials—seldom used for the optimization itself. While the existence of PSP relationships is the central paradigm of materials science, it would seem that for materials design, one only needs to focus on PP relationships. In this work, we attempt to resolve the issue whether ‘PSP’ is a superior paradigm for materials design in cases where the microstructure itself cannot be (directly) manipulated to optimize materials’ properties. To this end, we formulate a novel microstructure-aware closed-loop multi-fidelity Bayesian optimization framework for materials design and rigorously demonstrate the importance of the microstructure information in the design process. The problem considered here involves finding the right combination of chemistry and processing parameters that maximizes a targeted mechanical property of a model dual-phase steel. Our results clearly show that an explicit incorporation of microstructure knowledge in the materials design framework significantly enhances the materials optimization process. We thus prove, in a computational setting, and for a particular representative problem where microstructure intervenes to influence properties of interest, that ‘PSP’ is superior to ‘PP’ when it comes to materials design.
Cassida stevensi, a new species from India (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae: Cassidini)

Cassida stevensi sp. nov., a member of C. triangulum group, is described and figured from NE India (Darjeeling).
Base-specific binding of copper(II) to Z-DNA. The 1.3-A single crystal structure of d(m5CGUAm5CG) in the presence of CuCl2.

The single crystal structure of d(m5CGUAm5CG) soaked with copper(II) chloride was solved to atomic (1.3 A) resolution to study the base specificity of copper binding to double-stranded DNA. In the present copper(II) chloride-soaked structure, four crystallographically unique copper(II) complexes were observed bound to five of the six purine bases in the hexamer duplex. Covalent copper(II) binding occurred at N-7 of all four guanine bases and at one of the two adenine bases in the DNA duplex. Copper binding was not observed at the position (Ade4) located in an open solvent channel, whereas the second adenine site (Ade10) shared a complex with a guanine residue (Gua12) of a neighboring symmetry-related hexamer. The coordination geometries and distribution of these copper(II) complexes at the guanine bases in the crystal were comparable to the analogous sites in the isomorphous copper(II) chloride-soaked d(CGCGCG) crystal (Kagawa, T., Geierstanger, B. H., Wang, A. H.-J., and Ho, P.S. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 20175-20184). Thus, the decreased copper(II) binding affinity for Ade4 was not an artifact of crystal packing, but is intrinsic to the chemical properties of this purine base in duplex DNA. This suggests that the adenine bases in dilute solutions of Z-DNA and more generally other duplex DNA conformations are not susceptible to copper(II) modification. Thus, preferential copper(II) binding at guanine bases over adenine bases in double-stranded DNA may explain the observed specificity of copper(II)-induced oxidative DNA damage near guanine residues (Yamamoto, K., and Kawanishi, S. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 15435-15440; Sagripanti, J.-L., and Kraemer, K. H. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 1729-1734). The sharing of a single copper(II) complex by Ade10 and Gua12 of an adjacent hexamer suggests that additional and perhaps specific DNA-DNA interactions, as may be found in the densely packed environment of the nuclear matrix in the cell, may render N-7 of adenine bases prone to copper(II) modification.
Multilateral Trade Liberalization in Services

We examine the importance of various characteristics of services for the modelling of the effects of trade liberalization in services. We consider first the characteristics that our own computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling framework has been designed to address: variety, scale, and competition. Modifying it somewhat so as to distinguish the separate roles of these characteristics, we find the characteristics to be relatively unimportant for the conclusions that one reaches about the effects of trade liberalization on the economy. We then consider other characteristics that may distinguish services from goods, and ask whether these also need to be taken into account in such modelling exercises. With one exception we conclude that these characteristics are unlikely to play an important role in future models of trade liberalization. The one exception is a characteristic identified by Ethier and Horn (1991), who saw producers of services as specializing their products to the particular needs of their customers. While it does not seem feasible at this time to incorporate this feature into a manageable CGE framework, we believe that it could have interesting and important implications for our understanding of the effects of trade liberalization if it were ever done.
Temperature Probabilities and the Bayesian No Data' Problem

Weather constitutes an exogenous factor in agriculture which may have considerable influence on production and marketing. For a particular commodity, weather may influence quantity produced, quality of the commodity marketed, and consequently influence prices received (or paid) by various firms associated with that commodity system. Although some has been written about the influence of weather on agriculture, little economic analysis is available which attempts to integrate estimated probabilities of some weather phenomenon (a notable exception is McQuigg and Doll). This latter situation may be attributed, at least partially, to the complexities of such an integrative analysis.
Angular Power Spectrum Estimation using High Performance Reconfigurable Computing

Angular power spectra are an important measure of the angular clustering of a given distribution. In Cosmology, they are applied to such vastly different observations as galaxy surveys that cover a fraction of the sky and the Cosmic Microwave Background that covers the entire sky, to obtain fundamental parameters that determine the structure and evolution of the universe. The calculation of an angular power spectrum, however, is complex and the optimization of these calculations is a necessary consideration for current and forthcoming observational surveys. In this work, we present preliminary results of implementing angular power spectrum estimation scheme on a high-performance reconfigurable computing platform.
An Old Approach to a Revolutionary Regime

Science and Polity in France. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Years. By Charles Coulston Gillispie. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2004. 763 pp. $80, £52.95. ISBN 0-691-11541-9. In this sequel to his earlier book on science in France at the end of the old regime, the author offers a densely documented account of scientific institutions, personalities, and developments in France between the 1770s and 1820s.
Melting behavior of H2O at high pressures and temperatures

Water plays an important role in the physics and chemistry of planetary interiors. In situ high pressure-temperature Raman spectroscopy and synchrotron x-ray diffraction have been used to examine the phase diagram of H{sub 2}O. A discontinuous change in the melting curve of H{sub 2}O is observed at approximately 35 GPa and 1040 K, indicating a triple point on the melting line. The melting curve of H{sub 2}O increases significantly above the triple point and may intersect the isentropes of Neptune and Uranus. Solid ice could therefore form in stratified layers at depth within these icy planets. The extrapolated melting curve may also intersect with the geotherm of Earth's lower mantle above 60 GPa. The presence of solid H{sub 2}O would result in a jump in the viscosity of the mid-lower mantle and provides an additional explanation for the observed higher viscosity of the mid-lower mantle.
Associations between two gene markers and traits affecting Fresh and Dry-Cured Ham Processing Quality

Two genetic markers were examined for their associations with fresh and dry-cured ham processing characteristics. The PRKAG3 gene marker denoted as RN199 had no affect on dry-cured ham processing characteristics. The CAST gene marker was a significant source (P<.05) variation for cured ham moisture content and tended to be a significant source (P<.10) of variation for yield, ham weight loss, salt and Minolta color change. The beneficial allele is likely different depending whether you are viewing the results from a processors or consumers perspective. The CAST 11 genotype appears to have beneficial affects for processing yield. This genotype would be preferred by processors as they would have more salable ham when compared to hams having CAST genotypes 12 or 22. However, if you are a consumer looking for a drier ham with a more traditional flavor, then the CAST genotype 22 is likely the most preferred. This demonstrates that the benefit of a particular CAST genotype that is most favorable can be dependent on which portion of the pork chain being discussed.
Making drug addicts out of yeast.

Yeast has been engineered so that the binding of small-molecule ligands to a target protein can be simply detected by changes in growth.
Modeling Citation and Download Data in Legal Scholarship

Impact factors among law reviews provide a measure of influence among these journals and the schools that publish them. Downloads from the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) serve a similar function. Bibliometrics is rapidly emerging as a preferred alternative to more subjective assessments of academic prestige and influence. Law should embrace this trend.This paper evaluates the underlying mathematics of law review impact factors and per-author SSRN download rates by institution. Both of these measures follow the sort of stretched exponential distribution that characterizes many right-skewed distributions found in the natural and social sciences. Indeed, an ordinary exponential distribution — that is, a stretched exponential distribution with an exponent of 1 — generates strikingly accurate, even beautiful, models of both phenomena. Mindful of physicist Hermann Weyl's admonition that any choice between truth and beauty should favor beauty, I freely admit to sacrificing some marginal improvement in the descriptive accuracy of my model in order to develop the elegant mathematics of the ordinary exponential distribution.Further elaboration of this model of law review impact factors as an exponential distribution yields the Gini coefficient of the secondary legal literature, to the extent that each journal's influence is expressed by its impact factor. An identical analysis applies to law school prestige as measured by per-author download rates on SSRN. The remarkable result of this inequality computation is that the Gini coefficient of legal academia, when prestige in this field is modeled according to an ordinary exponential distribution, is exactly 1/2. That outcome that is determined analytically rather than empirically. The inverse Simpson index similarly reflects an exact twofold reduction in the second-order diversity of law review publishing and academic prestige as measured through SSRN downloads. I conclude that modeling law review impact factors and SSRN download rates according to ordinary exponential distributions gives rise to a powerful mathematical tool for assessing influence among law journals and law schools.
The effect of changes in cardiac output on middle cerebral artery mean blood velocity at rest and during exercise.

Cerebral autoregulation maintains cerebral blood flow constant over a range of arterial pressures from 60 to 150 mmHg (Paulson et al. 1990). In humans, measurements of middle cerebral artery mean blood velocity (MCA Vmean) provide an index of the cerebral blood flow (Ide & Secher, 2000; Van Lieshout et al. 2003). In conditions where MCA Vmean was reduced or increased by 30 Torr lower body negative pressure (LBNP) (Zhang et al. 1998b) and head-up tilt (Jorgensen et al. 1993), or mild and moderate exercise (Brys et al. 2003; Ogoh et al. 2005b), respectively, central blood volume and cardiac output were also decreased or increased, respectively. These changes in MCA Vmean occurred without changes in arterial carbon dioxide tension (Pa,CO2) or cerebral autoregulation. Van Lieshout et al. (2001) confirmed the relationship between , MCA Vmean and central blood volume when they demonstrated that the MCA Vmean was decreased in association with the reduction in that occurs when changing postural positions from supine to standing. This reduction in MCA Vmean was present even though mean arterial pressure (MAP) was increased. During exercise the competition for perfusion between active and inactive skeletal muscle, brain and other organ beds is regulated by the sympathetic nervous system (Rowell, 1993). For example, during progressive changes in exercise workloads, from rest to maximal exercise, progressive sympathoexcitation occurs (Hartley et al. 1972) resulting in an increasing proportional distribution of the to the active skeletal muscles (Rowell, 1993). It was found that when healthy subjects performed one-legged exercise MCA Vmean was increased by 20% and was maintained when they performed two-legged exercise (Hellstrom et al. 1997). However, in patients with heart failure, one-legged exercise did not increase MCA Vmean and two-legged exercise resulted in a decreased MCA Vmean (Hellstrom et al. 1997). When the increase in was reduced by β1-blockade (Ide et al. 1998, 2000; Dalsgaard et al. 2004), or atrial fibrillation (Ide et al. 1999), the increase in MCA Vmean during bicycling exercise was reduced. These findings further indicate that is an important factor in establishing the MCA Vmean to be regulated by cerebral autoregulation. We hypothesized that the MCA Vmean that is regulated by cerebral autoregulation is directly related to at rest and during exercise. We further hypothesized that the relationship established between MCA Vmean and at rest is reduced during exercise. To test these hypotheses, we manipulated at rest and during exercise by using LBNP of 8 and 16 Torr and infusions of albumin to decrease and increase central blood volume, respectively.
A Long‐Term Comparison of Hydrology and Plant Community Composition in Constructed Versus Naturally Occurring Vernal Pools

Successful restoration of ephemeral wetlands worldwide is particularly challenging, given the often-precise relationship between hydrological features and plant community dynamics. Using a long-term experiment in vernal pool restoration, we compare hydrological and vegetative characteristics of constructed pools with those of adjacent, naturally occurring reference pools. Although constructed and reference pools were similar in maximum water depth and duration of inundation at the beginning of our experiment in 2000, constructed pools were shallower and inundated for shorter periods by 2009. Native vernal pool species were able to establish populations in many constructed pools, and seeding sped their establishment. Comparing seeded plots in constructed pools with unseeded plots in reference pools, we found no significant difference in the cover of seeded species, native species, or exotic species in most years. In recent years, however, native species have declined in both constructed and reference pools. Finally, the cover of native vernal pool species was positively and non-linearly associated with both water depth and seeding treatment. We conclude that the establishment of appropriate hydrological conditions was necessary, but not sufficient to promote successful performance of vernal pool species in constructed pools. Constructed pools with hydrologic conditions similar to those of reference pools were more likely to support populations of native vernal pool plant species, but only seeded pools were similar to reference pools in abundance of native cover. Most importantly, hydrological conditions in experimental pools have worsened since their construction, which may hamper persistence of native species in this restoration effort.
Bayesian and Non-Bayesian Estimation Using Balanced Loss Functions

Balanced Loss Functions (BLFs) which reflect both goodness of fit and precision of estimation are described. Optimal estimates relative to BLFs are derived for estimation of a scalar mean, a vector mean and a vector of regression coefficients. Properties of these estimates are compared with those of maximum likelihood (ML) estimates and Bayesian posterior means. Sampling properties, or average operating characteristics, of optimal BLF estimates, ML estimates and posterior means are compared. The robustness of these estimates’ and estimators’ performance with respect to departures from the loss functions for which they are optimal is analyzed. It is concluded that BLFs and their associated optimal estimates will probably be useful in many estimation problems.
Effects of Convective Microphysics Parameterization on Large-Scale Cloud Hydrological Cycle and Radiative Budget in Tropical and Midlatitude Convective Regions

AbstractA two-moment microphysics scheme for deep convection was previously implemented in the NCAR Community Atmosphere Model version 5 (CAM5) by Song et al. The new scheme improved hydrometeor profiles in deep convective clouds and increased deep convective detrainment, reducing the negative biases in low and midlevel cloud fraction and liquid water path compared to observations. Here, the authors examine in more detail the impacts of this improved microphysical representation on regional-scale water and radiation budgets. As a primary source of cloud water for stratiform clouds is detrainment from deep and shallow convection, the enhanced detrainment leads to larger stratiform cloud fractions, higher cloud water content, and more stratiform precipitation over the ocean, particularly in the subtropics where convective frequency is also increased. This leads to increased net cloud radiative forcing. Over land regions, cloud amounts are reduced as a result of lower relative humidity, leading to weaker clo...
Variational formulation of stable discrete k·p models

The longstanding problem of spurious states in k·p models of semiconductor nanostructures has been shown to be an artifact of the use of the centereddifference approximation to the gradient, and it has been shown that stable models may be constructed on the basis of lower-order one-sided differences. The present paper demonstrates how the resulting bulk bandstructure models may be applied to heterostructures without introducing anomalies in the wavefunction behavior. This is done by constructing a variational functional in which the desired wavefunction continuity and boundary values are explicitly inserted, and then deriving the discrete Hamiltonian from that functional.
The Retirement Consumption Gap: Evidence from the HRS

Research on post-retirement asset decumulation shows that many retired households are consuming from their financial assets at a very slow rate or not at all. Factors commonly associated with this phenomenon are the complexity of decumulation decisions, uncertain longevity and medical costs, home production, and bequest motives. Using a product allocation framework and data from the Health and Retirement Study we provide evidence of a retirement consumption gap for those with financial assets in the third, fourth, and fifth quintiles. In comparison to previous studies that focus on changes in financial asset values over time to examine post-retirement consumption, our methodology provides a more dynamic evaluation of consumption behavior and quantifies the consumption available to and forgone by retirees under a variety of asset allocation strategies. When incorporating the effects of uncertain longevity, uncertain medical costs, and bequests we find that retirees with median wealth have a consumption gap of approximately 8% on average and that retirees with higher levels of wealth have a consumption gap as high as 45.6%. We discuss the implications of these findings and considerations for future research addressing this topic.
Infrared frequency-modulation probing of product formation in alkyl + O2 reactions. Part IV. Reactions of propyl and butyl radicals with O2.

The time-resolved production of HO2 in the Cl-initiated oxidation of iso- and n-butane is measured using continuous-wave (CW) infrared frequency modulation spectroscopy between 298 and 693 K. The yield of HO2 is determined relative to the Cl2/CH3OH/O2 system. As in studies of smaller alkanes, the branching fraction to HO2 + alkene in butyl + O2 displays a dramatic rise with increasing temperature between about 550 and 700 K (the “transition region”) which is accompanied by a qualitative change in the time behavior of the HO2 production. At low temperatures the HO2 is formed promptly; a second, slower production of HO2 is responsible for the bulk of the increased yield in the transition temperature region. In contrast to reactions of smaller alkyl radicals with O2, the total HO2 yield in the butyl radical reactions appears to remain significantly below 1 up to 700 K, implying a significant role for OH-producing channels. The slower HO2 production in butane oxidation displays an apparent activation energy similar to that measured for smaller alkyl + O2 reactions, suggesting that the energetics of the HO2 elimination transition state are similar for a broad range of R + O2 systems. A combination of QCISD(T) based characterizations of the propyl and butyl + O2 potential energy surfaces and master equation based characterization of the propyl + O2 kinetics provide the framework for explanation of the experimentally observed HO2 production in Cl-initiated propane and butane oxidation. These calculations suggest that the HO2 elimination channel is similar in all reaction systems, and that hydroperoxyalkyl (QOOH) species produced by internal H-atom abstraction in RO2 can provide a path to OH formation. However, the QOOH formed by the energetically favorable 1,5 isomerization (ia a six-membered ring transition state) generally experiences significant barriers (relative to the radical + O2 reactants) to the production of an oxetane + OH. In contrast, the barriers to forming OH + an oxirane or an oxolane, ia 1,4 or 1,6 isomerizations, respectively, are generally below reactants.
Control of Colloid Surface Chemistry through Matrix Confinement: Facile Preparation of Stable Antibody Functionalized Silver Nanoparticles

Here we describe a simple yet efficient gel-matrix-assisted preparation method that improves synthetic control over the interface between inorganic nanomaterials and biopolymers and yields stable biofunctionalized silver nanoparticles. Covalent functionalization of the noble metal surface is aided by the confinement of polyethylene glycol acetic acid functionalized silver nanoparticles in thin slabs of a 1% agarose gel. The gel-confined nanoparticles can be transferred between reaction and washing media simply by immersing the gel slab in the solution of interest. The agarose matrix retains nanoparticles but is swiftly penetrated by the antibodies of interest. The antibodies are covalently anchored to the nanoparticles using conventional cross-linking strategies, and the resulting antibody functionalized nanoparticles are recovered from the gel through electroelution. We demonstrate the efficacy of this nanoparticle functionalization approach by labeling specific receptors on cellular surfaces with functi...
Succession of woody species in derelict sites in Central Europe

Abstract Successional seres (17) are compared as to the extent of the participation of woody species during succession, expressed as change in cover degrees. No simple trends are recognized; however, participation of woody species seems to be low in dry and in wet, nutrient-rich sites. The former instance suggests physiological limitations; the latter, limitations by competition from the herb layer. The most successful colonizers (24) among woody species are selected and briefly characterized: they are insect (63%) and/ or wind (50%) pollinated; endozoochorous (33%) or anemochorous (67%); some of them, moreover, are capable of intense vegetative spread (21%). The role of the spontaneous succession of woody species in derelict sites is discussed in relation to the reclamation of habitats. In many cases, spontaneous succession can clearly serve as a successful and inexpensive means of reclamation.
Infant mortality and economic status in metropolitan Ohio, total and cause-specific: 1979-81 and 1989-91.

Abstract This paper presents the results of an ecological analysis of the relationship between infant mortality and economic status in a metropolitan aggregate comprised of six of the larger cities in Ohio covering the years 1979–81 and 1989–91. The primary analytical unit was the census tract of mother's usual residence. The independent variable was defined as the percentage of low-income families in each tract at the censuses of 1980 and 1990; the dependent variable data were counts of the number of deaths under age one in the three years centering on the censuses and counts of the number of live births during the census years. Results of the analysis revealed, first of all, that there continues to be a clear and pronounced inverse association between the aggregate economic status of an area and the probability that a newborn infant will not survive the first year of life. There are, however, some noteworthy race-cause differences. In general, the differential is much more marked for whites than for non...