cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An examination of ensemble filter based adaptive observation methodologies

The type of adaptive observation (AO) schemes of interest in this paper are those which make use of an ensemble forecast generated at a given initial time. The ensemble forecast can be used to quantify the influence of hypothetical observational networks on forecast error covariances. The ensemble transform kalman filter (ETKF) scheme is an example of such a scheme and is used operationally at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). A Bayesian framework for ETKF schemes is developed in this paper. New ETKF AO schemes that make use of covariance localization (CL) are introduced. CL is a technique used to alleviate problems due to sampling errors when estimating covariances from finite samples. No previous study has developed ETKF schemes that make use of CL. A series of observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) in the non-linear Lorenz 1996 model are used to develop a fundamental understanding of ETKF methods. The OSSEs simulate the problem of choosing observations in a large data void region, to improve forecasts in a verification region located within the data void region. The results demonstrate the important role that techniques for alleviating problems due to sampling errors play in improving the performance of ensemble-based AO techniques.
New Spiders of the Family Agelenidae from Western North America

In the present paper are described a number of new genera and species of Agelenid spiders selected from many undescribed forms of this family that have been accumulating in our hands over the past several years. The species here considered are from the Western United States and Canada. Species of other genera and groups will be dealt with in subsequent papers.
Gifts of the Magi: "Chef," "Million Dollar Arm," and Cultural Mixtures.

When groups using different cultural systems encounter one another in diverse societies, their previous cultures are transformed into a merged, complex cultural picture. Some culture areas are preserved while others are adjusted, exchanged, and merged. In our society, introducing groups to the cooking of other groups is a form of contact which produces less resistance. In sports, as well, contact, and interaction occur with less friction. It is sometimes thought that groups that need each other for survival integrate socially and merge culturally out of practical necessity. However, the pursuit of pleasure and fun can also be an occasion for cultural mixing. Such merging is depicted in the recent movies Chef and Million Dollar Arm.
On the representation of weakly continuous stochastic processes

A novel approach to obtaining series representations in the stochastic mean for weakly, and therefore mean square, continuous stochastic processes is presented. Two distinct orthogonal series representations are derived for the entire class of weakly continuous stochastic processes over a broad class of Lebesgue sets of the real line, and a constructive procedure to obtain them explicitly is given. They include as particular cases all earlier representations. Also they are shown to converge almost surely in the norm of an L"2 space. Two general results, on which the development of this paper is based, are also presented.
Synthesizing systolic arrays with control signals from recurrence equations

We present a technique for synthesizing systolic arrays which have non-uniform data flow governed by control signals. The starting point for the synthesis is anAffine Recurrence Equation—a generalization of the simple recurrences encountered in mathematics. A large class of programs, including most (single and multiple) nested-loop programs can be described by such recurrences. In this paper we extend our earlier work (Rajopadhye and Fujimoto 1986) in two principal directions. Firstly, we characterize a class of transformations calleddata pipelining and show that they yield recurrences that havelinear conditional expressions governing the computation. Secondly, we discuss the synthesis of systolic arrays that have non-uniform data flow governed by control signals. We show how to derive the control signals in such arrays by applying similar pipelining transformations to theselinear conditional expressions. The approach is illustrated by deriving the Guibas-Kung-Thompson architecture for computing the cost of optimal string parenthesization.
Dark-processes following photoconversion of butterfly rhodopsins

Photoconversion of rhodopsin to metarhodopsin by a short actinic flash creates photochemical changes in the absorbance spectrum of the butterfly rhabdom, which are measurable as changes in the reflectance spectrum of the intact eye. The difference spectrum relaxes in the dark, but changes considerably in shape when doing so. The positive peak caused by the accumulation of metarhodopsin relaxes to zero much faster than the negative peak caused by the loss of rhodopsin. The positive peak actually undershoots zero absorbance-difference before its final asymptotic approach to zero, whereas the negative peak approaches zero monotonically. The entire temporal evolution of difference spectra can be quantitatively reproduced by only assuming different kinetics for the dark-processes of metarhodopsin's decay and of rhodopsin's recovery. A consequence of this analysis is that no long-lived, coloured intermediates can be detected in the rhabdom other than metarhodopsin. Metarhodopsin's decay is well approximated by a first-order process, but has a time-constant that depends strongly on temperature. Examples are 71 min at 12.5‡ C, 18 min at 23‡ C, and 4 min at 26.5‡ C. Rhodopsin's recovery is kinetically complex. The rate of recovery shortly after a small photoconversion is somewhat slower than the rate for metarhodopsin's decay. At later times, or for a large photoconversion, rhodopsin's recovery is very much slower than metarhodopsin's decay.
Relations between Psychopathy Facets and Externalizing in a Criminal Offender Sample

Antisocial behavior is a problem of enormous social importance that has been the focus of intensive psychological study. Two research traditions have been prominent in this area: (1) longitudinal, epidemiological studies examining precursors and predictors of criminality in the population at large, and (2) experimental psychopathology studies investigating the construct of psychopathic personality in incarcerated offender populations. The former has yielded evidence of a broad spectrum of externalizing problems, encompassing alcohol and drug abuse as well as child and adult antisociality, that arise from a common etiologic vulnerability (e.g., Krueger et al., 2002; Young, Stallings, Corley, Krauter, & Hewitt, 2000). The latter has produced evidence that there are distinct facets to psychopathy with differing external correlates (e.g., Cooke & Michie, 2001; Hall, Benning, & Patrick, 2004; Hare, 1991, 2003; Harpur, Hare, & Hakstian, 1989; Patrick, 1994; Widiger & Lynam, 1998) that may reflect separate etiologic processes (Fowles & Dindo, 2006; Patrick, 2001, in press). The current study bridges these research domains by demonstrating a link between the externalizing dimension of adult psychopathology and the social deviance factor of psychopathy, and illustrating how novel predictions can be generated through knowledge of this association.
Apeer: a peripheral interface to improve social awareness of brief topical discussions

INTRODUCTION A small but significant portion of online communication patterns can be characterized as brief, topical discussions. One example of a brief, topical discussion is sharing URLs. Most everyone sends and receives URLs, often sent to several people at once, on a daily basis. However, existing communication mediums do not effectively support this activity. Though it can be ignored or dismissed, receiving a link through instant messaging (IM) is interruptive and can require a typed acknowledgement to avoid seeming rude. Group chats within IM require a further degree of engagement not always justified by an individual’s interest in the link. Emails can be similarly intrusive, might also require an acknowledgement, and may lead to group discussions that can quickly overflow an inbox. Weblog posts support topic-based discussions, but do not effectively show new activity across a set of topics at a glance.
Radicals are required for thiol etching of gold particles

Etching of gold with an excess of thiol ligand is used in both synthesis and analysis of gold particles. Mechanistically, the process of etching gold with excess thiol is unclear. Previous studies have obliquely considered the role of oxygen in thiolate etching of gold. Herein, we show that oxygen or a radical initiator is a necessary component for efficient etching of gold by thiolates. Attenuation of the etching process by radical scavengers in the presence of oxygen, and the restoration of activity by radical initiators under inert atmosphere, strongly implicate the oxygen radical. These data led us to propose an atomistic mechanism in which the oxygen radical initiates the etching process.
Anxiety, arousal, and the self-concept.

Too often, theories of emotions in humans are simple extensions of theories of emotions in subhuman animals. Though it is reasonable to extend our knowledge of emotions from lower to higher order animals, there is one major difference between man and other animals that imposes a serious limitation on this procedure. The difference is that man has a highly developed conceptual system that not only structures the content of what he fears, but itself must be defended against threat. Expressed otherwise, fears in animals are primarily a consequence of threats to life and limb, while in humans they are primarily a consequence of threats to ego. There are essentially two basic types of threat to ego, threats to the assimilative capacity of an individual's conceptual system, and threats to his self-esteem.
Lateral Hypothalamic Serotonin Inhibits Nucleus Accumbens Dopamine: Implications for Sexual Satiety

Dopamine (DA) is released in several brain areas, including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), before and during copulation in male rats. DA agonists administered into this area facilitate, and DA antagonists inhibit, numerous motivated behaviors, including male sexual behavior. Serotonin (5-HT) is generally inhibitory to male sexual behavior. We reported previously that 5-HT is released in the anterior lateral hypothalamic area (LHAA) and that a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor microinjected into that area delayed and slowed copulation. Our present results, using high temporal resolution microdialysis, (1) confirm previous electrochemical evidence that extracellular levels of DA increase in the NAcc during copulation and decrease during the postejaculatory interval (PEI) and (2) reveal that LHAA 5-HT can inhibit both basal and female-elicited DA release in the NAcc. These findings suggest that the neural circuit promoting sexual quiescence during the PEI includes serotonergic input to the LHAA, which in turn inhibits DA release in the NAcc. These findings may also provide insights concerning the inhibitory control of other motivated behaviors activated by the NAcc and may have relevance for understanding the sexual side effects common to antidepressant medications.
Testing the Moderating Effect of Parent-Adolescent Communication on the Acculturation Gap-Distress Relation in Korean American Families.

Although the acculturation gap generally has been associated with poor mental health outcomes among Asian American children, some studies have failed to find a significant relationship between the gap and distress. Using two different methods of operationalizing the gap between mothers and their children, the current study addressed this tension in the literature by testing the following hypotheses in a sample of Korean American families. It was hypothesized that mother–adolescent discrepancies in acculturation and enculturation levels would be associated with youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms and that parent–adolescent communication would moderate the gap–distress relationship. Multi-informant questionnaires were administered to 77 Korean American mother–adolescent dyads from the Midwest. Surprisingly, results indicated that consonance in low levels of mother–adolescent enculturation was associated with the highest levels of externalizing symptoms (interaction term method). Adolescents’ perception of communication with their fathers significantly moderated the relationship between the enculturation gap and internalizing symptoms, such that in dyads with a greater enculturation gap, less perceived open communication with fathers was associated with more internalizing symptoms (difference score method). Clinically, the findings indicate a potential target (i.e., parent–adolescent communication) for treatment programs that aim to improve family relations and youth adjustment in immigrant families.
Classifying Very Large Data Sets with Minimum Enclosing Ball Based Support Vector Machine

Due to the fact that the training time and space complexities of SVMs are mainly dependent on the size of training set, SVMs are not suitable for classifying large data sets with several millions of examples. To solve this problem, we in this paper propose a new algorithm called minimum enclosing ball (MEB) based SVM (MEB-SVM). In MEB-SVM, the boundary of each class data set is first measured by several MEBs, and then an SVM is trained by the data locating on the two class boundaries. Experiments on the KDDCUP-99 intrusion detection data set with about five million examples, the Ringnorm artificial data set with one hundred million examples, and the NDC data set with two million examples show that the new algorithm has competitive performance in terms of running time, testing accuracy and number of support vectors.
Observation of a Possible Metallic State Induced by a Parallel Magnetic Field in Superconducting Au0.7In0.3 Samples With Very Low Normal-state Sheet Resistance

We report the observation of an apparent metallic state induced by a parallel magnetic field in Au0.7In0.3 samples with very low normal-state sheet resistance. These samples can be modeled as a random array of superconductor-normal metal-superconductor (SNS) junctions. For both the thin planar and cylindrical films, the magnetic field was applied parallel to the substrate of the sample and measurement currents. For the mesoscopic rings, however, a perpendicular field was used. Our electrical transport and tunneling measurements suggest that the samples consist of superconducting In-rich islands not linked by Josephson coupling in the metallic state. The physical origin of the metallic state is discussed.
Nonlinear Control for Reconfiguration of Unmanned-Aerial-Vehicle Formation

The design of a nonlinear controller to reconfigure a formation of a group of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is described. Reconfiguration of the formation might be needed to maintain the efficiency of the formation. Nonlinear six-degree-of-freedom, rigid-body, equations of motion developed in the virtual leader (VL)’s frame are used to model the UAVs in the formation. The formulation of the formation flight in VL frame enables the formationkeeping and formation reconfiguration to be treated in the same framework. The nonlinear equations of motion contain the wind effect terms and their time derivatives to represent the aerodynamic coupling involved in close formation flight. These wind terms are obtained by using an averaging technique that computes the effective induced wind components and wind gradients in the UAV’s body frame. Dynamics of the engine and the actuators are also included in the study. An algorithm that generates a safe and feasible trajectory, given the current position and the position to go to, has been developed. A combination of integral control, optimal LQR design, and nonlinear state feedback linearization is used in the design of the position-tracking controller. Simulation results demonstrate that the controller is capable of producing a smooth reconfiguration without using the information of the vortex-induced wind effects on the follower UAV.
Terascale Spectral Element Dynamical Core for Atmospheric General Circulation Models

Climate modeling is a grand challenge problem where scientific progress is measured not in terms of the largest problem that can be solved but by the highest achievable integration rate. These models have been notably absent in previous Gordon Bell competitions due to their inability to scale to large processor counts. A scalable and efficient spectral element atmospheric model is presented. A new semi-implicit time stepping scheme accelerates the integration rate relative to an explicit model by a factor of two, achieving 130 years per day at T63L30 equivalent resolution. Execution rates are reported for the standard shallow water and Held-Suarez climate benchmarks on IBM SP clusters. The explicit T170 equivalent multi-layer shallow water model sustains 343 Gflops at NERSC, 206 Gflops at NPACI (SDSC) and 127 Gflops at NCAR. An explicit Held-Suarez integration sustains 369 Gflops on 128 16-way IBM nodes at NERSC.
A global driver sizing tool for functional crosstalk noise avoidance

As coupling noise analysis and estimation is reaching a relative maturity with recent efforts, more effort is needed in correcting and/or avoiding failures that can be caused by coupling noise. In this paper, we present a global driver sizing tool which can be used in a complete noise avoidance tool along with other techniques such as wire spacing and wire sizing. The proposed approach is used along with ClariNet, which is a recent noise analysis tool, in a greater effort towards a total signal integrity solution. We first present the analytical, linear interconnect model used. We then show how this model is used to provide necessary information for global driver sizing along with our novel algorithm. We finally present results on two industrial circuits including a large high performance control block.
The Histone Acetylase PCAF Is a Phorbol-Ester-Inducible Coactivator of the IRF Family That Confers Enhanced Interferon Responsiveness

Transcription factors of the interferon regulatory factor (IRF) family bind to the type I interferon (IFN)responsive element (ISRE) and activate transcription from IFN-inducible genes. To identify cofactors that associate with IRF proteins, DNA affinity binding assays were performed with nuclear extracts prepared from tissue culture cells. The results demonstrated that the endogenous IRFs bound to the ISRE are complexed with the histone acetylases, PCAF, GCN5, and p300/CREB binding protein and that histone acetylase activities are accumulated on the IRF-ISRE complexes. By testing recombinant proteins, we show that PCAF directly binds to some but not all members of the IRF family through distinct domains of the two proteins. This interaction was functionally significant, since transfection of PCAF strongly enhanced IRF-1- and IRF-2-dependent promoter activities. Further studies showed that expression of PCAF and other histone acetylases was markedly induced in U937 cells upon phorbol ester treatment, which led to increased recruitment of PCAF to the IRF-ISRE complexes. Coinciding with the induction of histone acetylases, phorbol ester markedly enhanced IFN-a-stimulated gene expression in U937 cells. Supporting the role for PCAF in conferring IFN responsiveness, transfection of PCAF into U937 cells led to a large increase in IFN-a-inducible promoter activity. These results demonstrate that PCAF is a phorbol ester-inducible coactivator of the IRF proteins which contributes to the establishment of type I IFN responsiveness.
Medial axis extraction and shape manipulation of solid objects using parabolic PDEs

Shape skeletonization (i.e., medial axis extraction) is powerful in many visual computing applications, such as pattern recognition, object segmentation, registration, and animation. This is because medial axis (or skeleton) provides more compact representations for solid models while preserving their topological properties and other features. Meanwhile, PDE techniques are widely utilized in computer graphics fields to model solid objects and natural phenomena, formulate physical laws to govern the behavior of objects in real world, and provide means to measure the feature of movements, such as velocity, acceleration, change of energy, etc. Certain PDEs such as diffusion equations and Hamilton-Jacobi equation have been used to detect medial axes of 2D images and volumetric data with ease. However, using such equations to extract medial axes or skeletons for solid objects bounded by arbitrary polygonal meshes directly is yet to be fully explored. In this paper, we expand the use of diffusion equations to approximate medial axes of arbitrary 3D solids represented by polygonal meshes based on their differential properties. It offers an alternative but natural way for medial axis extraction for commonly used 3D polygonal models. By solving the PDE along time axis, our system can not only quickly extract diffusion-based medial axes of input meshes, but also allow users to visualize the extraction process at each time step. In addition, our model provides users a set of manipulation toolkits to sculpt extracted medial axes, then use diffusion-based techniques to recover corresponding deformed shapes according to the original input datasets. This skeleton-based shape manipulation offers a fast and easy way for animation and deformation of complicated solid objects.
Complications of Shock Wave Lithotripsy

Shockwave lithotripsy (SWL) was introduced to clinical urologic practice in the 1980s with Dornier’s HM3 lithotripter and has become a common first-line treatment modality for urolithiasis (Chaussy et al., J Urol 127:417–20, 1982). Initial SWL results were promising, and since that time, SWL has become the most commonly performed treatment for renal and ureteral stones (Chaussy and Fuchs, J Urol 92:339–43, 1986; Pearle, J Urol 173:848–57, 2005).
Hypofractionated intensity-modulated radiotherapy (70 Gy at 2.5 Gy per fraction) for localized prostate cancer: Cleveland Clinic experience.

Purpose: To study the outcomes in patients treated for localized prostate cancer with 70 Gy delivered at 2.5-Gy/fraction within 5 weeks. Methods and Materials: The study sample included all 770 consecutive patients with localized prostate cancer treated with hypofractionated intensity-modulated radiotherapy at the Cleveland Clinic between 1998 and 2005. The median follow-up was 45 months (maximum, 86). Both the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) biochemical failure definition and the alternate nadir + 2 ng/mL definition were used. Results: The overall 5-year ASTRO biochemical relapse-free survival rate was 82% (95% confidence interval, 79–85%), and the 5-year nadir + 2 ng/mL rate was 83% (95% confidence interval, 79–86%). For patients with low-risk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk disease, the 5-year ASTRO rate was 95%, 85%, and 68%, respectively. The 5-year nadir + 2 ng/mL rate for patients with low-, intermediate-, and high-risk disease was 94%, 83%, and 72%, respectively. The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group acute rectal toxicity scores were 0 in 51%, 1 in 40%, and 2 in 9% of patients. The acute urinary toxicity scores were 0 in 33%, 1 in 48%, 2 in 18%, and 3 in 1% of patients. The late rectal toxicity scores were 0 in 89.6%, 1 in 5.9%, 2 in 3.1%, 3 in 1.3%, and 4 in 0.1% (1 patient). The late urinary toxicity scores were 0 in 90.5%, 1 in 4.3%, 2 in 5.1%, and 3 in 0.1% (1 patient). Conclusion: The outcomes after high-dose hypofractionation were acceptable in the entire cohort of patients treated with the schedule of 70 at 2.5 Gy/fraction.
Lunar Farming: Achieving Maximum Yield for the Exploration of Space

A look at what it might be like on a lunar farm in the year 2020 is provided from the point of view of the farmer. Of necessity, the farm would be a Controlled Ecological (or Environment) Life-Support System (CELSS) or a bioregenerative life-support system. Topics covered in the imaginary trip through the farm are the light, water, gasses, crops, the medium used for plantings, and the required engineering. The CELSS is designed with four functioning parts: (1) A plant-production facility with higher plants and algae; (2) food technology kitchens; (3) waste processing and recycling facilities; and (4) control systems. In many cases there is not yet enough information to be sure about matters discussed, but the exercise in imagination pinpoints a number of areas that still need considerable research to resolve the problems perceived.
Inheritance of Resistance to Acarapis woodi (Acari: Tarsonemidae) in First-Generation Crosses of Honey Bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

The tendency of honey bees, Apis mellifera L, to become infested with tracheal mites, Acarapis woodi (Rennie), was measured in six different types of F1 colonies. The colonies were produced by mating a stock (Buckfast) known to resist mite infestation to each of five commercially available stocks and to a stock known to be susceptible to mites. Young uninfested bees from progeny and parent colonies were simultaneously exposed to mites in infested colonies, then retrieved and dissected to determine resultant mite infestations. Reduced infestations similar to but numerically greater than those of the resistant parent bees occurred in each of the six crosses made with resistant bees regardless of the relative susceptibility of the other parental stock. Reciprocal crosses between resistant and susceptible queens and drones proved equally effective in improving resistance. Therefore, allowing resistant stock queens to mate naturally with unselected drones, or nonresistant queens to mate with drones produced by pure or outcrossed resistant queens, can be used for improving resistance of production queens.
Central Nervous System

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia and central nervous system (CNS) tumors are the two most common pediatric malignancies, accounting for two-thirds of all pediatric cancers (SEER data 2002–2006). Overall survival rate has improved significantly in the last four decades with the advancement of multidisciplinary treatment. Currently, 1 in 570 young adults between the ages of 20 and 34 years is a childhood cancer survivor, and many of these survivors experience chronic severe medical conditions from previous CNS-directed therapy. Survivors are at risk for late mortality, second neoplasms, neurological and neurosensory deficits, growth failure, endocrinopathies, impaired neurocognitive function, psychological stress and poor social outcomes. In this chapter, the risk factors, clinical presentations, surveillance and intervention of delayed CNS toxicities will be reviewed and discussed.
Eating behaviors and related cultural attitudes of African American men and women

Cultural groups often participate in traditions and activities surrounding food and eating, which contribute to group differences in maladaptive eating-related patterns and outcomes. This study explored the relationships between cultural attitudes and eating behaviors of young adult African American men and women. Endorsing a strong orientation on various dimensions of African American culture were related to less dieting, bulimic, and anorexic behaviors and attitudes. This study extended our knowledge of the ways in which cultural attitudes were related to the physical and mental health of African Americans and recognized the significance of individual differences within this group.
A crowdfunding model for green energy investment

This paper studies a new renewable energy investment model through crowdfunding, which is motivated by emerging community solar farms. In this paper we develop a sequential game theory model to capture the interactions among crowdfunders, the solar farm owner, and an electricity company who purchases renewable energy generated by the solar farm in a multi-period framework. By characterizing a unique subgame-perfect equilibrium, and comparing it with a benchmark model without crowdfunding, we find that under crowdfunding although the farm owner reduces its investment level, the overall green energy investment level is increased due to the contribution of crowdfunders. We also find that crowdfunding can increase the penetration of green energy in consumption and thus reduce the energy procurement cost of the electricity company. Finally, the numerical results based on real data indicates crowdfunding is a simple but effective way to boost green generation.
Ontogenetic Shifts in the Costs of Living in Groups: Focal Observations of a Pholcid Spider (Holocnemus pluchei)

Abstract Holocnemus pluchei spiders (Family Pholcidae) facultatively live in groups: sometimes they live alone and sometimes they share webs. In the field groups vary in size and composition and include spiders of all ages and either sex. Group membership is flexible and individuals move frequently among groups. To understand group formation and maintenance it is necessary to understand the costs of group membership. We used focal animal sampling to investigate the cost of group living for spiders of different ages across a range of group sizes. Both spider age and group size affected the costs incurred by group-living spiders. There was no variation among groups of different sizes in the percentage of time focal small or large spiders spent in costly behaviors (moving, web maintenance, bouncing or interactions with conspecifics), but medium-sized spiders spent more time engaged in costly behaviors with increasing group size. Medium and large spiders also had more interactions with greater numbers of diff...
Emerging Technologies For Nde Of Aging Aircraft Structures

Several emerging technologies affording new opportunities for the nondestructive evaluation of aging aircraft structures. Among these technologies are ultrasonic attenuation detection of fatigue and corrosion damage; non-contact ultrasound including laser-laser, laser-EMAT, laser-air, and air-air; laser based acoustic emission source identification; full-field double-pulse holographic imaging; non-linear assessment of adhesive bond quality; x-ray diffraction topographic imaging of the quality of nickel based alloy single crystal turbine blades.
Mechanism of Action of Exonuclease III from Escherichia Coli

Reactive oxygen species such as hydrogen peroxide, superoxide radical, and hydroxyl radical are formed during aerobic respiration (1). These reactive oxygen species can react with vital cell components such as the cell membrane, protein, as well as DNA, potentially leading to mutagenesis and cell death (1). In Escherichia coli. repair endonucleases. such as exonuclease III (2, 4) and endonuclease IV (3) appear to be involved in the repair of oxidative damages in DNA. Further, endonuclease III was shown to recognize oxidative base damages (4).
The Struggle to Bury Pre-Existing Condition Consideration

As of January 1, 2014, applicants for comprehensive health insurance do not face questions about their health history. The ACA prohibits health insurers from considering an individual’s health history in determining whether to sell that person a comprehensive health insurance policy, the policy’s price, or its coverage terms. Pre-existing condition (PEC) consideration is, in this crucial context, dead. Few will mourn its passing. This legislative milestone marks a significant step towards the goal of a healthier population.While celebrating this achievement, however, in this article I argue that we ought to recall the context of PEC consideration, its practical application, and its continuing potential to infect other aspects of health care coverage. The “struggle for the soul of health insurance” continues, decades after its description in Deborah Stone’s influential article. With the ACA’s reliance on private insurance, albeit under a much different regulatory framework, competitive pressures to favor the healthy will persist. Moreover, enforcement of the new regulatory framework will be hampered by the ACA’s complex and contentious federalism dance. Vigilance will be required to ensure that those made vulnerable by illness or injury are not further disadvantaged by other key aspects of insurance, such as coverage exclusions, benefit decisions, and provider networks. Access to health insurance is only the beginning.
Positioning and configuration of key atoms influence the topology of [13]-macrodiolides.

Key atoms at specific positions along the ring govern the shape, or “topology” of a group of [13]-macrodiolides. Here we report the synthesis of these macrocycles and their characterization by functional and structural methods. The [13]-macrodiolides are organized by three four-atom planar units that help to rigidify them and one hinge atom that enables the planar units to orient themselves. The driving force for the organization of the structures is the minimization of steric strain on groups attached to the key atoms. When the key atom is a stereocenter, a macrocycle with planar chirality is observed. An alternative cup-like topology arises when the key atom bears two alkyl groups. Additionally, the key atoms can work in a coordinated fashion to guide one topology over another. The synthesis relied on an acylation-ring closing metathesis sequence. Rigidity was demonstrated by variable-temperature NMR experiments and diastereoselective epoxidation reactions. X-ray crystal structures of representative [13...
The Aquatic Hyphomycetes of Central New York

SUMMARYAquatic Hyphomycetes from 5 streams with different ecosystems, located in central New York were investigated by collecting samples biweekly from March to November, 1967. Their frequency of o...
EVOLUTIONARY ASPECTS OF ASCOSPORE AND CONIDIUM ONTOGENY IN SCOLECONECTRIA CUCURBITULA

Morphological changes and nuclear behavior during ascospore ontogeny in a collection of Scoleconectria cucurbitula with two-spored asci were characterized, and asexual states observed in artificial culture. Following meiosis, two single-celled, uninucleate ascospores were formed within the developing ascus; the other two post-meiotic nuclei did not take part in ascospore development. Ascospores progressed through two-celled, four-celled, and multi-celled stages, finally becoming highly elongate and transversely septate, with numerous uninucleate cells. While within the ascus, ascospore cells differentiated into phialides and produced numerous conidia. Synanamorphs formed in culture included a phialidic hyphomycetous state, a pycnidial state, and a state producing spores within hyphal cells by a process resembling free cell formation. It is suggested that intra-ascal germination obviates the need for greater numbers of ascospores, and that the two-spored form of S. cucurbitula likely arose from the four-spored form. Intra-ascal germination appears correlated with loss of ascus rings and possibly with loss of forcible spore discharge in certain Nectria species. The possible role of heterochrony in the evolution of phialidic ascospore germination in S. cucurbitula and allied fungi is discussed.
Single-Crystal Structural Study of La2Cu0.95Li0.05O4.

A large crystal of flux-grown La2CuO4, examined through single-crystal neutron diffraction, was found to have an orthorhombic superstructure derived from the K2NiF4 structure type with a=5.359(1), b=5.363(1), c=13.127(2) A. The pattern of systematically absent intensities indicated space group Pccn but meaningful refinement of thermal vibration parameters could not be obtained in this symmetry. Systematic examination of all possible orthorhombic subgroups of Fmmm yielded satisfactory refinement to R(F2)=2.57% only in space group Bmab. Incorporation in the crystal of Li derived from the flux results in an orthorhombic distortion smaller than found for pure La2CuO4. Refinement of the Cu site occupancy provided Cu0.95Li0.050(3), in excellent accord with a bulk chemical analysis. Reflections which violate the systematic absences of Bmab are attributed to a smaller volume fraction of domains in orientation twinned by 90° rotation about c. This interpretation is supported by transmission electron microscopy which revealed intergrown lamellae. Dark field imaging with a forbidden reflection illuminated only the twin lamellae.
The Postulational Method in Mathematics

(1934). The Postulational Method in Mathematics. The American Mathematical Monthly: Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 84-92.
Study on the Stability of Pigments from Black Rice

Through the research on the factors that may affect the stability of black rice pigment, the results showed that, in the acidic environment, below temperature 40 ℃, Na+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Zn2+environment, reducing agent, low concentration of preservatives, indoor natural light or dark environment, the black rice pigment has better stability;on the contrary, in alkaline environment, relatively long time high temperature, Fe3+, oxidant,high concentration of preservatives, sunlight or ultraviolet are not conducive to the stability of black rice pigment.
Laboratory examination of the thyroid. 2. In vivo tests. Last of a series.

The in vitro tests of thyroid function measure serum levels of the thyroid hormones and are widely used for both screening and diagnosis. Of these, determination of serum thyroxine by displacement, known as the Murphy-Pattee method, is virtually free of interference and therefore is probably the best single test of thyroid activity.
Standards and Standardization

Standards are practices established by authority, custom, or common consent. The practices embrace all activities of society including social, religious, educational, and technical practices. This paper deals with technical practices embodied in national or international engineering standards. A good engineering standard should: (1) stimulate competition and not restrict trade; (2) prescribe practices which conserve natural resources; (3) be abreast of technology and not be a deterrent to desirable change arising from new knowledge, new capabilities, or new environment; (4) be concise, explicit, and limited to essential provisions and requirements; and (5) be effective in achieving its purpose. Fusions and Due to the rapid increase in the number of standards both domestically and internationally, there is a movement to control proliferation through the development and use of international standards, primarily under the aegis of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Standards developed by ISO and IEC have now become sufficient in number to be a significant factor in international trade. Standards development has varied considerably from one industry to another, and U. S. participation in ISO and IEC has also varied from industry to industry. ISO Technical Committee 45 on Rubber and Rubber Products has been among the ten most active committees, and U. S. participation has been exceptionally effective in it. Nearly 80 percent of the 102 standards developed by ISO/TC 45 through 1972 are in accord with ASTM Standards. Recently, there has been a growing interest in standards for consumer products, both nationally and internationally. Eight of the 20 ISO committees most recently established deal with consumer products. There has also been a growing interest in ascertaining the ability of laboratories to obtain consistent results using standard methods, both nationally and internationally. The Standard Reference Materials issued by NBS and the NBS interlaboratory programs for testing were established for this purpose. Laboratory performance, international standardization, and the development of standards for consumer products are likely to become increasingly important in future standardization efforts.
Library technology conference, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, March 16–17, 2016

Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble, Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Studies in the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA, began the conference with a sobering review...
Radio-frequency radiation safety and health: Mobile-phone popularity, addiction, and funding for biological effects research

The popularity of mobile phones remains very high. Worldwide, there are more people who own and use mobile phones than any other electronic gadgets, regardless whether it is in a rich or poor, developed or developing country. Mobile phones provide instant connectivity: whenever one wants to talk or conduct business transactions, regardless of where.
Orientation of Graphs and Related Properties

A graph can be converted into a digraph by assigning a direction to each of its edges, i.e., by giving it an orientation. In this chapter, we discuss desirable properties of such orientations. These include the Eulerian orientation of multigraphs and strongly connected orientations of graphs. Related concepts are those of vertex basis, i.e., a minimal set of vertices from which it is possible to reach all vertices, and spanning trees. Various ways of constructing the latter are introduced; in particular, the greedy algorithm, which leads to spanning tree which is optimal in some cases. If the original graph is a weighted graph, this is optimal in the sense of minimum cost.
Early Detection on Students' Failing Open-Source based Course Projects using Machine Learning Approaches: (Abstract Only)

Open-source course projects offer students a glimpse of real-world projects and opportunities to learn about architectural design and coding style. While students often have more difficulties with these projects than with traditional "toy" projects, instructors are also spending excessive time on grading miscellaneous projects. There is an improvising need for means to help students and instructors with their difficulties. This poster presents our work on predicting which course projects are likely to fail at an early stage with machine learning approaches. We collected metadata from 247 course projects in a graduate-level Object-Oriented Design and Development course over the past 5 years, built models to fit the course projects and use the classifier to help instructors to identify potential failing projects, thus to help students to salvage their works. By assuming that the project acceptances are related to the working patterns of project teams, we made innovations of adding temporal-based patterns into the training data, and achieved 86.36% classification accuracy with the addition of those features. We also proved several observations, such as most of the rejected projects are those begun relatively late during the project period, and the projects which modified more files/code does not result in better possibility of being accepted. By contrast, accepted projects tend to deliver a volume of code that is neither very small nor very large, compared to rejected ones. Our results also suggest that setting milestone checkpoints at roughly a week before the submission deadlines would enable more students to succeed in their OSS projects.
Migration and Laws of Contagion: Cultivating Talent in Japanese Women’s Soccer

Even in 2018, a relatively small number of Japanese women play soccer; however, the Japan Football Association (JFA) and its affiliated leagues have played a central role in the development of the ...
Apocope of Late Old Chinese short *ă: Early Central Asian loanword and Old Japanese evidence for Old Chinese disyllabic morphemes

The morphophonology of Old Chinese has usually been reconstructed as an earlier version of the traditional reconstruction of Middle Chinese, with exclusively monosyllabic morphemes. For Old Chinese some scholars have posited syllabic morphemes with long or short vowels, or even polysyllabic morphemes, and other theories have been proposed, but it is still assumed that by Late Old Chinese any longer morphemes that once existed were already monosyllabic. However, Central Asian loans in Chinese suggest some disyllabic morphemes still existed in Late Old Chinese. They seem to be confirmed by a new study of little-noted Old Japanese transcriptions known as nigōgana. Thus the hitherto problematic Old Chinese and Old Japanese transcriptions of foreign words such as Saka and Buddha, and the monosyllabic theory of Old Chinese morphology, must be reconsidered. This paper’s new reconstructions conform to the data and have great implications for the reconstruction of Old Chinese as well as for the reconstruction of the early Chinese loans into Japanese.
Exact Renormalization Group for Gauge Theories

Renormalization group ideas have been extremely important to progress in our understanding of gauge field theory. Particularly the idea of asymptotic freedom leads us to hope that nonabelian gauge theories exist in four dimensions and yet are capable of producing the physics we observe — quarks confined in meson and baryon states. For a thorough understanding of the ultraviolet behavior of gauge theories, we need to go beyond the approximation of the theory at some momentum scale by theories with one or a small number of coupling constants. In other words, we need a method of performing exact renormalization group transformations, keeping control of higher order effects, nonlocal effects, and large field effects that are usually ignored.
What is computational toxicology

Computational toxicology is a vibrant and rapidly developing discipline that integrates information and data from a variety of sources to develop mathematical and computer-based models to better understand and predict adverse health effects caused by chemicals, such as environmental pollutants and pharmaceuticals. Encompassing medicine, biology, biochemistry, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, engineering, and other fields, computational toxicology investigates the interactions of chemical agents and biological organisms across many scales (e.g., population, individual, cellular, and molecular). This multidisciplinary field has applications ranging from hazard and risk prioritization of chemicals to safety screening of drug metabolites, and has active participation and growth from many organizations, including government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, private industry, and universities.
Salvaging Breast Reconstruction: Profunda Artery Perforator Flaps Using Thoracodorsal Vessels.

Background Over the years, the choice of recipient vessels for free flap autologous breast reconstruction has shifted from the thoracodorsal to the internal mammary vessels due to ease of flap inset and predictability of anatomy. However, thoracodorsal vessels are still great recipient vessels, and can be useful, especially in the previously failed or staged autologous breast reconstruction. In this study, we present our experience using thoracodorsal or serratus vessels for profunda artery perforator flaps. Methods Of the 792 autologous free flap breast reconstruction performed, we identified 12 patients (21 flaps) who underwent reconstruction using thoracodorsal or serratus vessels from 2012 to 2017. Flap, patient characteristics, and demographic data and perioperative details were collected. Results Twenty-one flaps were used to reconstruct 14 breasts in 12 patients. The mean age of patients was 49.6 years old (range, 42-54), the mean flap weight was 354.7 g (range, 170-540 g), the mean body mass index was 28 (range, 23.2-34.4), and the average operative time was 496.1 minutes (266-680). Majority of these patients underwent additional staged free flap reconstruction (following previous deep inferior epigastric perforator flaps) for severe breast contour defects (58%) and for failed previous breast reconstruction (42%). The anastomosis was performed using thoracodorsal (43%), serratus (43%), and profunda artery perforator side branch (14%) vessels. Conclusion Determining appropriate flap and recipient vessels in a previously failed or staged breast reconstruction is very challenging. Thoracodorsal and serratus vessels are excellent recipient vessels in patients who already have exhausted internal mammary vessels for previous breast reconstruction.
Book Review: Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy by Mary Hirschfeld

This is a book review of Mary Hirschfeld’s Aquinas and the Market: Toward a Humane Economy.