cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Faces in the Office: Racial Employment Segregation among Congressional Staff

Does racial employment segregation exist among staff in the U.S. House of Representatives? To investigate, I use a Dirichlet-multinomial likelihood analysis on a novel dataset that includes data on every staff member employed in the offices of over 200 U.S. representatives during the 108th Congress. I find that members of Congress disproportionately employ black and Hispanic staffers in district offices and constituent service positions rather than in the Washington D.C. office and policy advisory positions. Minority staffers also hold fewer high level office positions which suggests that they have less influence with their members of Congress. These disparities in staff responsibility raise questions about the extent to which minorities can impact the legislative decision making process of members of Congress.
An empirical method of measuring CO2 recycling by isotopic enrichment of respired CO2

An empirical method to measure respiratory CO2 recycling using a fast growing agricultural cover crop as a model system was tested and compared with a theoretical method which uses a variation of the Keeling plot. Both methods gave values which were high and similar to each other. The theoretical method gave a value of respiratory based CO2 recycling of 0.41, while the empirical method gave a value of 0.49. Therefore close to half of the respired CO2 is refixed during daytime photosynthesis in this densely planted cover crop. Refixation of respired CO2 during the day should lead to an isotopic enrichment of the remaining respired CO2 leaving the canopy of the cover crop. Therefore, calculations of gross respiration and photosynthesis using isotopic mass balance equations that do not take this isotopic fractionation into account could be in error. We tested this premise by using isotopic mass balance equations to estimate average gross photosynthesis and respiration in this cover crop under two scenarios: (1) no recycling and (2) recycling of respired CO2. Values of gross photosynthesis and respiration were unrealistically low when it was assumed that no recycling occurs. On the other hand, realistic values similar to previous publications were observed when recycling was taken into account. # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
A multiscale model for polymer crystallization. I: Growth of individual spherulites

In this two-part paper, we present a model for the solidification of semicrystalline thermoplastic polymers that links the microscopic and macroscopic length scales. The model accounts for the important physical phenomena occurring during spherulitic cyrstallization and predicts microstructural evolution. In this first part, we concentrate on the growth of individual spherulites. We present a fast and accurate model that predicts the shape of a spherulite as well as the path of its constitutive lamellae in any thermal situation. In part II of this paper we shall couple this new model for spherulite growth with a nucleation law and a macroscopic heat flow computation, thus enabling us to model realistic crystallization conditions.
Review: Analysis of the evolutionary convergence for high performance swimming in lamnid sharks and tunas.

Abstract Elasmobranchs and bony fishes have evolved independently for more than 400 million years. However, two Recent groups, the lamnid sharks (Family Lamnidae) and tunas (Family Scombridae), display remarkable similarities in features related to swimming performance. Traits separating these two groups from other fishes include a higher degree of body streamlining, a shift in the position of the aerobic, red, locomotor muscle that powers sustained swimming to a more anterior location in the body and nearer to the vertebral column, the capacity to conserve metabolic heat (i.e. regional endothermy), an increased gill surface area with a decreased blood–water barrier thickness, a higher maximum blood oxygen carrying capacity, and greater muscle aerobic and anaerobic enzyme activities at in vivo temperatures. The suite of morphological, physiological, and biochemical specializations that define ‘high-performance fishes’ have been extensively characterized in the tunas. This review examines the convergent features of lamnid sharks and tunas in order to gain insight into the extent that comparable environmental selection pressures have led to the independent origin of similar suites of functional characteristics in these two distinctly different taxa. We propose that, despite differences between teleost and elasmobranch fishes, lamnid sharks and tunas have evolved morphological and physiological specializations that enhance their swimming performance relative to other sharks and most other high performance pelagic fishes.
Knowledge discovery for evolutionary systems

The issues addressed include using a database query to discover a new rule, using not only positive examples (answer to a query) but also negative examples to discover new rules, and harmonizing a new rule and previous rules to remove inconsistencies. The main contribution is the development of a new tool for characterizing the exceptions in databases and evolving knowledge as a database evolves. >
Concordance and discordance between brain perfusion and atrophy in frontotemporal dementia

The aim of this study was to determine if a dissociation between reduced cerebral perfusion and gray matter (GM) atrophy exists in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The study included 28 patients with FTD and 29 cognitive normal (CN) subjects. All subjects had MRI at 1.5 T, including T1-weighted structural and arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion imaging. Non-parametric concordance/discordance tests revealed that GM atrophy without hypoperfusion occurs in the premotor cortex in FTD whereas concordant GM atrophy and hypoperfusion changes are found in the right prefrontal cortex and bilateral medial frontal lobe. The results suggest that damage of brain function in FTD, assessed by ASL perfusion, can vary regionally despite widespread atrophy. Detection of discordance between brain perfusion and structure in FTD might aid diagnosis and staging of the disease.
The Poetics of “Divine Chit‐Chat”: Rethinking the Conversation Poems

This article focuses on the Romantic genre, pioneered by Coleridge in the 1790s, of the “conversation poem.” It provides a survey of influential twentieth-century critics and criticism of the form; more to the point, however, it seeks to problematize our inherited ideas about the conversation poem by examining some of the assumptions (and mischaracterizations) that have informed the critical construction of this genre. In short, this article argues that the conversation poem's generic relationship to conversation has not been explained in sufficient depth. It attempts, in a preliminary way, to redress this insufficiency by outlining what its author calls a poetics of conversation – that is, the compositional techniques whereby a poet works out a fully-realized conversational form – through a reading of the “original” conversation poem: Coleridge's “The Nightingale: A Conversational Poem” of 1798.
Symbolic identification for fault detection in aircraft gas turbine engines

This article presents a robust and computationally inexpensive technique of component-level fault detection in aircraft gas-turbine engines. The underlying algorithm is based on a recently developed statistical pattern recognition tool, symbolic dynamic filtering (SDF), that is built upon symbolization of sensor time series data. Fault detection involves abstraction of a language-theoretic description from a general dynamical system structure, using state space embedding of output data streams and discretization of the resultant pseudo-state and input spaces. System identification is achieved through grammatical inference based on the generated symbol sequences. The deviation of the plant output from the nominal estimated language yields a metric for fault detection. The algorithm is validated for both single- and multiple-component faults on a simulation test-bed that is built upon the NASA C-MAPSS model of a generic commercial aircraft engine.
Spatial phase shaping in nonlinear microscopy

The contrast in nonlinear coherent microscopy is improved by using spatial phase shaping of the incident laser beams. This approach exhibits promising applications for biomedical imaging studies.
Deligne’s Conjecture and Congruence Relations

In this Sect. we summarize some properties of the etale cohomology groups with compact support needed for our study of the action of the Hecke operators and the Galois group on them. This is a rather selective summary, and not a complete exposition. For an introductory textbook to the subject see. The shorter exposition of , Arcata, Rapport, is very useful, and so are the fundamental results of SGA, Exp. XVII, XVIII, and SGA, Exp. III.
Fuzzy finite element approach for analysis of fiber-reinforced laminated composite beams

The modeling, analysis, and design of large and complex composite structures involve the use of the finite element approach. In most practical applications the structural and material parameters vary considerably and are subject to uncertainties, mainly because of the uncontrollable aspects associated with the manufacturing and assembly of composite materials. In many cases, the probabilistic methods cannot be applied because the probability distributions of the uncertain parameters are not usually known. Also, in some situations the parameters are known only in linguistic form. In this work, the uncertainties encountered in composite structures, which can be described in linguistic terms or in imprecise form, are modeled as fuzzy parameters. A fuzzy finite element analysis technique is developed for the analysis of laminated beams, involving fuzziness, possibly in the boundary conditions as well. The fuzzy beam element can undergo axial, bending, and transverse shear deformations. Using the basic concepts of the deterministic finite element theory, as well as fuzzy computations and fuzzy matrix operations, a fuzzy beam element is developed. The fuzzy beam element is used for the static and eigenvalue analysis of beams involving imprecise data and/or information. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of the methodology presented.
Myocardial infarction following brief convulsive seizures.

The CNS influences the electrical and mechanical functions of the heart.1 Seizures can produce EKG repolarization abnormalities, arrhythmias, and perhaps myocardial injury.2,3⇓ Acute coronary insufficiency leading to myocardial infarction (MI) has been reported with status epilepticus and occurs rarely in association with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).4,5⇓ MI has not been reported after self-limited spontaneous convulsions. We present two cases of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) with MI after generalized tonic-clonic (GTC) seizure. ### Patient 1. A 69-year-old man with a history of right frontal and occipital infarcts came to the emergency room after two witnessed GTC seizures that began with leftward eye deviation. He denied antecedent chest pain or dyspnea. After a period of postictal somnolence, he reported retrosternal chest pain. EKG showed 2-mm ST-segment depressions in leads V3 to V6. Troponin I peaked at 86 ng/mL. Nuclear stress …
Murder-suicide in workplace violence

In an analysis of 105 incidents of workplace violence in the USA from 1982 to 2002, the murderers who killed themselves after the incident killed more victims than those arrested. The workplace violence occurring at schools resulted in significantly more injured victims, but not more deceased victims.
Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus Induces HO-1 during De Novo Infection of Endothelial Cells via Viral miRNA-Dependent and -Independent Mechanisms

ABSTRACT Kaposi sarcoma (KS) herpesvirus (KSHV) infection of endothelial cells (EC) is associated with strong induction of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), a stress-inducible host gene that encodes the rate-limiting enzyme responsible for heme catabolism. KS is an angioproliferative tumor characterized by the proliferation of KSHV-infected spindle cells, and HO-1 is highly expressed in such cells. HO-1 converts the pro-oxidant, proinflammatory heme molecule into metabolites with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and proliferative activities. Previously published work has shown that KSHV-infected EC in vitro proliferate in response to free heme in a HO-1-dependent manner, thus implicating virus-enhanced HO-1 activity in KS tumorigenesis. The present study investigated the molecular mechanisms underlying KSHV induction of HO-1 in lymphatic EC (LEC), which are the likely spindle cell precursors. In a time course analysis of KSHV-infected cells, HO-1 expression displays biphasic kinetics characterized by an early transient induction that is followed by a more sustained upregulation coincident with the establishment of viral latency. A viral microRNA miR-K12-11 deletion mutant of KSHV was found to be defective for induction of HO-1 during latency. A potential mechanism for this phenotype was provided by BACH1, a cellular HO-1 transcriptional repressor targeted by miR-K12-11. In fact, in KSHV-infected LEC, the BACH1 message level is reduced, BACH1 subcellular localization is altered, and miR-K12-11 mediates the inverse regulation of HO-1 and BACH1 during viral latency. Interestingly, the data indicate that neither miR-K12-11 nor de novo KSHV gene expression is required for the burst of HO-1 expression observed at early times postinfection, which suggests that additional virion components promote this phenotype. IMPORTANCE While the mechanisms underlying KSHV induction of HO-1 remain unknown, the cellular mechanisms that regulate HO-1 expression have been extensively investigated in the context of basal and pathophysiological states. The detoxifying action of HO-1 is critical for the protection of cells exposed to high heme levels. KS spindle cells are erythrophagocytic and contain erythrocyte ghosts. Erythrocyte degeneration leads to the localized release of heme, creating oxidative stress that may be further exacerbated by environmental or other cofactors. Our previous work showed that KSHV-infected cells proliferate in response to heme and that this occurs in a HO-1-dependent manner. We therefore hypothesize that KSHV induction of HO-1 contributes to KS tumor development via heme metabolism and propose that HO-1 be evaluated as a therapeutic target for KS. Our present work, which aimed to understand the mechanisms whereby KSHV induces HO-1, will be important for the design and implementation of such a strategy.
Accuracy of Marine Heat‐Flow Instrumentation: Numerical Studies On the Effects of Probe Construction and the Data Reduction Scheme

SUMMARY The thermal response of a marine heat flow probe has been modelled in detail by a semi-analytic solution for a 1-D multi-layered cylinder. The simulation was done for the probe used for measurements reported by Lister et al. (1990). These measurements were reduced by the conventional method of subtracting a time delay to maximize the linearity of temperature plotted against Bullard's (1954) F( a, z) function. The frictional heating from entry into the sea-floor could be extrapolated to equilibrium by the use of small, but rather variable, time delay. However, the decays from a calibrated heat pulse, used to calculate thermal conductivity, required large time delays that increased up the probe. We have found that the heater-pulse decays are correctly reproduced by a multi-cylindrical model corresponding to the measured dimensions and materials of probe construction, except for some super heating at early times due to the non-cylindrical nature of the heater spiral. The increase in delay up the probe is modelled well by the increasing thermal resistance of incomplete oil fill between probe contents and metal probe, and not by any plausible disturbed sediment layer outside that tube. On the other hand, the only way to reduce the fitted time delays for the heat of probe entry was to inject that heat into a sheared layer of sediment around the probe about 1 mm thick. The extrapolations of dissipating frictional heat were all accurate to within 1 millikelvin; the poor fits at the top of the probe coincide with very little frictional heating, and so the errors remain small. The situation regarding conductivities is more complex, with the best fits by the delay-time method deviating by between -1 per cent and +1.5 per cent, depending on details of the model and the time interval of synthetic data used for the reduction. This appears to be the limit of reliability for this method of reduction for a probe of conventional construction and the usual time range of data. Using data from large time is theoretically advantageous, but in reality would lose accuracy due to the limited remaining rise from a heat pulse of practical size, and to the onset of mechanical disturbance to the instrument on the sea-floor. Only a substantial shortening of the response time of probe temperature sensors to changes in the outer metal tube could improve the accuracy of conductivity measurement beyond this level.
Epidemiology and Prevention of Neonatal Candidiasis: Fluconazole for All Neonates?

The epidemiology and prevention of invasive Candida infections (ICI) depends largely on risk factors and the role they play in infection control and identifying high-risk patients for prevention. Prevention of ICI is critical, as there is significant mortality and even with successful eradication, neurodevelopmental impairment occurs in 57% of survivors weighing less than1000 g (Stoll et al., 2004 Benjamin et al., 2006). It is important to know local invasive fungal infection data in your unit, as the incidence in available literature lacks important key information regarding practices that may increase or decrease the incidence.
Pattern Of Short-Term Volatility Accentuation Within The Trading Day: An Investigation Of The U.S. And European Equity Markets

Trading friction leads into accentuated stock price volatility over the short term. As such, short-term accentuated volatility can be viewed as symptomatic of a market with increased inefficiencies in the price discovery process. If price discovery is marked by price swings, runs and reversals, then short period (intra-day) volatility is heightened in that market. In this study, we use return series with various differencing intervals that are as short as half-hour and as long as two weeks to investigate the short-term volatility accentuation in five different equity markets: the Nasdaq Stock Market and the New York Stock Exchange in the US, and the London Stock Exchange, Deutsche Boerse and Euronext Paris in Europe. In all these markets, we investigate the individual stocks that make up a major index during the calendar year 2000. Variance-ratio statistics are employed to investigate the quality of these five markets. Results confirm an intra-day reverse J-shaped pattern of half-hour volatility in these markets. The evidence also suggests an accentuation of volatility during longer periods, such as 24-hour intervals. This accentuation appears to subside when we extend our differencing interval to longer periods such as one-week or two-week returns.
The brain, aggression, and public policy

Investigational, conceptual, and interventional advances in the neurosciences strain consensus in research ethics, clinical ethics, legal ethics, and jurisprudence and demand innovative adaptation in public policy. I review these advances, ask how they might change a range of policies, and conclude that their implications — particularly relating to aggression — are likely to have been underestimated.
Effective absorption cross sections and photolysis rates of anthropogenic and biogenic secondary organic aerosols

Abstract Mass absorption coefficient (MAC) values were measured for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) samples produced by flow tube ozonolysis and smog chamber photooxidation of a wide range of volatile organic compounds (VOC), specifically: α-pinene, β-pinene, β-myrcene, d-limonene, farnesene, guaiacol, imidazole, isoprene, linalool, ocimene, p-xylene, 1-methylpyrrole, and 2-methylpyrrole. Both low-NOx and high-NOx conditions were employed during the chamber photooxidation experiments. MAC values were converted into effective molecular absorption cross sections assuming an average molecular weight of 300 g/mol for SOA compounds. The upper limits for the effective photolysis rates of SOA compounds were calculated by assuming unity photolysis quantum yields and convoluting the absorption cross sections with a time-dependent solar spectral flux. A more realistic estimate for the photolysis rates relying on the quantum yield of acetone was also obtained. The results show that condensed-phase photolysis of SOA compounds can potentially occur with effective lifetimes ranging from minutes to days, suggesting that photolysis is an efficient and largely overlooked mechanism of SOA aging.
Liquid Wetting, Transport, and Retention Properties of Fibrous Assemblies Part I: Water Wetting Properties of Woven Fabrics and Their Constituent Single Fibers

An expcrimental protocol is described for simultaneous measurements of liquid wetting and retention characteristics in woven fabrics. Dynamic measurements of the liquid-fabric interaction between the lower edge of a vertically hung fabric and a liquid are done with an electronic microbalance. A decoupling method is proposed and tested for separating the liquid wetting and retention components of the measurements. The wetting characteristics of cotton fabrics are not affected by fabric configurations, including length, fabric-water interface depth, and direction. The cosine contact angles obtained on the woven cotton fabrics are identical to those measured on the constituent single cotton fibers. Similar wetting properties between fabrics and their constituent single fibers are also verified on other 100% woven fabrics containing polyester, Nomex, acetate, or rayon fibers. This study demonstrates that the wettability of any fabric containing a single fiber type is the same as its constituent single fibers. The experimental protocol and decoupling approach permit convenient measurement of the intrinsic wetting property of any fibcr in its woven form.
RE: “BREAST CANCER BEFORE AGE 45 AND ORAL CONTRACEPTIVE USE: NEW FINDINGS”

I was asked by a representative of a pharmaceutical company to review a prepublication draft of the paper by Miller et al. which reports an increased risk of breast cancer in users of oral contraceptives. The prepublication draft and the published paper are notable in that the findings are in striking contrast with those of an earlier study by the same group in which no association of breast cancer with OC use in women aged less than 45 was found. In the earlier negative study 827 women with breast cancer were eligible as cases and 5104 women with no history of cancer and with nongynecologic nonmalignant conditions judged to be unrelated to OC use were eligible as controls. In the more recent study 407 women with breast cancer were eligible as cases but only 424 women with no history of cancer and with nongynecologic nonmalignant conditions judged to be unrelated to OC use were eligible as controls. Correspondence from the 2nd author (L.R.) dated 12/07/88 stated that the ratios of cases to controls were different in the 2 studies because "there were many more nurse-interviewers" in the earlier study and because the nurse-interviewers worked from different lists of diagnoses. As a result "the diagnostic distributions were not the same in the early and later years." In this regard it is important to note that only 14% of controls had acute infection as the admitting diagnosis in the earlier study whereas 31% of controls in the later study had this diagnosis. The claims by Miller et al. that the methods were almost identical and the distributions of diagnoses in the control series of the 2 studies were very similar making it "unlikely that methodological differences explain the discordant findings" are not in my opinion supportable. (full text)
Nitrogen in Crystalline Si

Use of N doping, N gas ambients and N implantation in Si processing has stimulated study of the incorporation and behaviour of N in Si. Studies of N-implanted Si and comparisons with melt-doped Si have shown that N pairing is the dominant mode for bonding of N into crystalline Si for a wide range of processing conditions. Studies have also shown that laser annealing quenches a small percentage of implanted N into a substitutional site. Nitrogen diffusion and aggregation have been shown to occur in N-implanted Si upon furnace annealing at temperatures >700°C and there is a simultaneous formation of shallow donors. Interactions between N and other impurities occur in both as-grown and ion-implanted Si. Additional studies are needed to describe more fully the electrical and structural consequences of N-N, Nimpurity and N-defect interactions in Si.
High throughput analysis at microscale: performance of ionKey/MS with Xevo G2-XS QTof under rapid gradient conditions

In this paper, high throughput analysis with 3 minute, rapid gradient conditions is described using the ionKey/MS™ System with an integrated ACQUITY UPLC® M-Class System and the Xevo® G2-XS QTof Mass Spectrometer. Extensive testing of representative small molecules and a peptide shows that the system is well-tolerated and exhibits excellent reproducibility and linear response. The iKey™ HSS T3 Separation Device used is robust, withstanding ~2200 injections of prepared human plasma with excellent peak shape and system pressure profile. A 99% solvent savings was realized when compared with an analytical system using a 2.1 mm column with flow rate ranging from 0.6 mL/min to 1.5 mL/min. These data, coupled with examples from the literature, illustrate that the ionKey/MS System with Xevo G2-XS QTof can be used as a full service platform for high throughput analysis and high sensitivity analysis to support all phases of drug discovery and development.
Application of control theory in the quality management of inspection department

It has carried on systematically,comprehensive discussion about the concrete process of quality management of control theory in inspection department.It analyses the feedforward control,on-site control and feedback con- trol of three types of control and the quality control management before inspection,during inspection and after inspection of the inspection department.It may provide reference and guidance for continuous quality improvement of the inspection department.
Evidence that enzyme-generated aromatic Michael acceptors covalently modify the nucleotide-binding site of 3α-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase

Abstract The non-steroidal allylic and acetylenic alcohols 1-(4'-nitrophenyl)prop-2-en-1-ol (I) and 1-(4'-nitrophenyl)prop-2-yn-1-ol (II) are oxidized by homogeneous 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase to the corresponding alpha beta-unsaturated ketones 1-(4'-nitrophenyl)prop-2-en-1-one (III) and 1-(4'-nitrophenyl)prop-2-yn-1-one (IV), which then inactivate the enzyme selectively with high affinity; low effective partition ratios are observed for the parent alcohols [Ricigliano & Penning (1989) Biochem. J. 262, 139-149]. Inactivation of 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase by compound (I) displays an NAD+ concentration optimum. Scavenging experiments indicate that the enzyme-generated inactivators (III) and (IV) alkylate the enzyme via a release-and-return mechanism. Several lines of evidence suggest that compounds (III) and (IV) covalently modify the NAD(P)(+)-binding site. First, micromolar concentrations of NAD(P)H offer substantial protection against enzyme inactivation mediated by Michael acceptors (III) and (IV). In these protection studies Kd measurements for NAD(P)H approached those measured by fluorescence titration of free enzyme. Secondly, under initial-velocity conditions compounds (III) and (IV) act essentially as competitive inhibitors of NAD+ binding, and as mixed competitive or non-competitive inhibitors against androsterone binding. Thirdly, enzyme inactivated with either compound (III) or compound (IV) fails to bind to NAD+ affinity columns (e.g. Affi-gel Blue). Under the same conditions of chromatography native enzyme and enzyme affinity-labelled at the steroid-binding site with 17 beta-bromoacetoxy-5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone is retained on the affinity column. A kinetic scheme that represents the inactivation of the homogeneous dehydrogenase by the enzyme-generated alkylators (III) and (IV) is presented.
Peptide Recognition of Cholesterol in Fluid Phospholipid Bilayers

N-Acetyl-LWYIKC-amide, a cholesterol recognition/interaction amino acid consensus (CRAC) peptide, has been found capable of recognizing an exchangeable form of cholesterol in liquid-disordered (ld) bilayers derived from 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC). In sharp contrast, such recognition is barely detectable in analogous cholesterol-rich, liquid-ordered (l0) bilayers. These findings represent the first evidence for a peptide favoring a sterol as a nearest-neighbor in fluid bilayers. They also reveal that such recognition can be strongly dependent on the degree of compactness of the membrane.
Aortofemoral Bypass via Transperitoneal Approach

The transperitoneal route remains the most widely used approach to the infrarenal abdominal aorta. The specific indications and techniques are reviewed in full detail. Special circumstances that require modifications of the standard operative approach are presented. Finally, current and expected results of aortofemoral bypass are discussed.
A literature review of the market effects of federal biofuel policy and recommendations for future policy

The United States has had a federal biofuels policy since the 1970s. The purpose of this policy was to help the development of a biofuel industry during a time of high fuel prices in order to provide a domestic alternative to expensive foreign oil. Later the policy was changed to help lower the environmental impact caused by conventional fuels. Since that time the industry has grown and currently produces around 15 billion gallons of biofuels every year. The current federal biofuel policy is largely based on one program, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which mandates the production and blending of several different classes of biofuels and provides a form of subsidy to the biofuel industry. This paper examines the market effects of the federal biofuel policy and provides recommendations for improving the policy to counteract any negative effects. Federal biofuel policy has many far-reaching market effects. Some are easily calculable through expenditures and lost revenues, while others are harder to quantify because their full effects are not yet known. By evaluating these market effects, this paper will provide ample evidence that the federal biofuels policy needs to change, and will show what effects these changes could induce. The biofuels industry largely owes its existence to government policies, however as the research shows the industry can now stand on its own. This paper will examine what will happen if the federal policy is eliminated and what the future of the biofuels industry could hold. Based on these examinations, it is unlikely that the industry needs further government support and policies should be adjusted in light of this.
The evolution of market share among the U.S. options market platforms

Abstract The U.S. equity options market has shown rapid growth, characterized by increased trading volume and new entrants in recent years. As competition in the options market has intensified, each trading venue has attempted to differentiate itself with a unique value proposition aimed at gaining market share. Using a sample that covers key events including the introduction of two new trading venues, we analyze the competition for trading volume, investigate the characteristics of trades and execution costs on the exchanges and examine the evolution of market share in the options industry. We find that exchange market share is positively related to execution quality and quote competition indicators and negatively related to execution costs, while exchanges that use the maker–taker model as their primary pricing model account for, on average, a lower market share than exchanges that use alternative pricing models. Given that exchanges increasingly compete using innovative methods involving market structure such as different order types, fee structures, pricing methods, and priority rules for matching orders, our finding that higher market quality in the form of higher execution quality, lower execution costs, and competitive quotes translates into higher market share is especially noteworthy.
What Can We Learn from Developmental Neuropathology

With this chapter, I hope to invite the interested reader with the special talents of the neuropathologist and a sense of curiosity to follow a pathway seldom trod— the systematic investigation in donor material of aspects of the developing visual system that might further elucidate the anatomical nature of the lesion in strabismus. Although a singular path, I can point to at least one contemporary area of study of this sort that has added greatly to our knowledge of a problem in some respects not unlike strabismus. Dyslexia has probably been with us since language above a grunt emerged in the human, though it has not been recognized as such. Spoken language has been in existence on the order of 100,000 years; written language, limited to a few scholars at first who were self selected for facility with spoken and written language and against dyslexia for perhaps 10,000 years. Reading and writing skills were not acquired by the majority of the population until the printing press and mass public education and have probably been in existence for several hundred years at most. The medical definition of dyslexia was not formulated until the late 19th/early 20th century by Pringle- Morgan and Hinshelwood; the latter defined it as “congenital word blindness” because of its similarity to acquired “wort blindheit” contemporaneously described by Kussmaul. Hinshelwood, a Scottish ophthalmologist, speculated that a lesion in the language area of the brain recently described by Paul Broca might account for the syndrome. There the matter lay for more than half a century while dyslexia literally became a pedagogical “football”; theories, speculations, and abstractions by educators, psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, child developmentalists, and other interested parties accumulated until somebody had the good sense to look at anatomy first in the normal person and then in the abnormal person.
On Kristjánsson on Aristotelian character education

AbstractI pursue three of the many lines of thought that were raised in my mind by Kristjansson’s engaging book. In the first section, I try to get clearer on what exactly Aristotelian character education (ACE) is, and suggest areas where I hope the view is developed in more detail. In the second and longest section, I draw some lessons from social psychology about the pervasive role of what I call ‘Surprising Dispositions,’ and invite Kristjansson to take up the difficult challenge of clarifying how ACE would help to address their influence on our thought and action. Finally, in section three I consider whether there is any robust empirical support for ACE, and if not, where that leaves us.
Franz Werfel’s Mission

(1947). Franz Werfel’s Mission. The Germanic Review: Literature, Culture, Theory: Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 117-125.
Design patterns for helping students to learn to represent math problems in online learning systems

Online learning systems have been gaining popularity, but are not without their challenges. For example, enrollment in MOOCs has slowed down, which is attributed to the lack of sustainability. The success of online learning systems is heavily influenced by how they were designed. For example, results from a recent study showed that the incorporation of learning activities to instruction increased learning gains as much as six times. Although there are many design patterns that may be applied in the design of learning activities, they usually operate at a higher level. There is a need for design patterns that address problems in implementing learning activities in online learning systems. Specifically, the goal of the four design patterns presented is to help students learn to represent math problems. The patterns presented in this paper are part of a pattern language for creating math problems and corresponding learning support in online learning systems.
Abstract 390: Perilipin 1 (plin1) Genotype and Not Gpr109a Associated with Free Fatty Acid Rebound Following Niacin Administration

Niacin has been used for decades as a lipid lowering agent. Stimulation of a G-protein coupled receptor (GPR109A) on adipocytes by niacin results in the anti-lipolytic effect of the drug and reduct...
Illness-related parenting stress among parents of adolescents and young adults with inflammatory bowel diseases

ABSTRACTIllness-related parenting stress in parents of adolescents/young adults (AYA) with inflammatory bowel diseases (n = 51) was compared with parents of younger youth (n = 48), using the Pediatric Inventory for Parents. Parents and AYA self-reported psychological functioning. Physicians rated disease activity. Parents of AYA and younger youth experienced comparable levels and types of parenting stress. Parents most commonly endorsed items within the emotional distress domain. Poorer parent psychological functioning explained additional variance in parenting stress beyond that of AYA disease activity and psychological functioning. Parents of AYA with greater disease activity and parents with poorer psychological functioning may benefit from behavioral health involvement.
Household labor supply and intermarriage of immigrants: differences by gender

Intermarriage between a native and immigrant can affect the household’s supply of labor hours. Spouse selectivity on the basis of human capital, distribution of bargaining power, and labor supply coordination within the household can differ by type of marriage and gender of the immigrant—and, consequently, affect how spouses supply labor to the market. Using the 2010 American Community Survey, a household labor market specialization index is created. Raw two-limit Tobit estimates show lower specialization in intermarried households for both genders, compared to their intra-married counterparts. The finding for intermarried female households is reversed, and gender-based specialization increases, when controls for human capital are introduced. The role of immigrant education for both intermarried men and women is underscored—specialization differences, by type of marriage, are insignificant when the immigrant has post-college education. At lower levels of immigrant education, native spouses supply more market labor. Intermarriage may also skew bargaining power in favor of native husbands in immigrant female households.
Yellow- and brown-seeded canola (Brassica napus), camelina (Camelina sativa) and Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata) in practical diets for rainbow trout fingerlings.

Rainbow trout (initial body weight 2.5 ± 0.3 g; 30 fish/tank; 4 tanks/treatment) were offered either the control diet or one of four test diets. The test diets contained brown seed coat canola (BSC; Brassica napus), yellow seed coat canola (YSC; Brassica rapa), Brassica carinata (Ethiopian mustard; EM), or Camelina sativa (CAM), which were added to their respective diets at a 15% dietary inclusion level. Final weight of fish fed the control (101.0 g) was higher than that of fish fed BSC (80.7 g) and CAM (85.3 g) (P < 0.05). Fish fed the control also gained more weight (98.4g) than fish fed BSC (78.2 g) and CAM (83.0 g) (P < 0.05). Fish fed YSC and EM at a 15% dietary inclusion level had a final body weight and gain that was more similar to the control than fish fed BSC and CAM. Considering the fact that there was no significant difference among treatments for SGR and FCR for the entirety of the trial, all four oilseeds have potential for use in rainbow trout feeds.
Autocorrelation of the Seismic Wavefield at Newberry Volcano: Reflections From the Magmatic and Geothermal Systems

We show that seismic autocorrelations provide new depth constraints on upper crustal magmatic systems. Autocorrelations of both ambient noise recorded on seismometers and geophones and teleseismic earthquake coda recorded on seismometers elucidate the structure of Newberry Volcano. These autocorrelations result in the two-way, body wave Green's function beneath a station. Within the caldera, a reproducible, coherent P wave reflection is inferred to come from the top of a magma body at ~2.5 km depth and maps with the lateral extent of an anomalously low-velocity body imaged tomographically. On the west flank of the volcano, a reflection that deepens with distance from the caldera is inferred to result from a temperature-dependent change in metamorphic facies and may map the thermal structure of the edifice. Our results show that the autocorrelation of diffuse seismic energy reconstructs reflections from seismically sharp boundaries associated with the upper crustal magmatic structure.
OSCILLATION OF SODIUM TRANSPORT ACROSS A LIVING EPITHELIUM

Publisher Summary Oscillations of ion flux have been observed across the mitochondrial membrane. Sodium transport across the bladder of the toad, Bufo marinus, can be easily and continuously monitored in vitro. The toad bladder serves in vivo as a reservoir of salt and water, drawn upon as needed under the influence of the hormones aldosterone and vasopressin. Its in vitro preparation is hardy and remains responsive to these hormones. Thus, it has served as one of the major tools in the investigation of the basic mechanism of action of these hormones. A layer on the urinary side of the bladder one cell thick is responsible for the salt and water transport. This cell layer is located on a connective tissue backing in which blood vessels, nerves, and an occasional smooth muscle bundle are located. On the serosal side of the membrane, there is a thin discontinuous layer of peritoneal lining cells.
Bamgbose, Ayo (b. 1932)

In 1963, Ayo Bamgbose wrote the first ever dissertation on Yoruba grammar. Since then, the linguistics professor and internationally acclaimed scholar has committed most of his teaching and research efforts to the study of Linguistics and Nigerian languages. He has worked on languages such as Yoruba, Mbe, Hausa, and Igbo.
A signal-to-noise analysis of multifocal VEP responses: an objective definition for poor records.

Sixty local VEP records, called the multifocal VEP (mfVEP), can be obtained over a wide retinal area. From subject-to-subject, from day-to-day, and from location-to-location, these records can vary in quality presenting a challenge to quantitative analyses. Here three procedures are described for specifying the quality of mfVEP recordings in terms of signal-to-noise ratios. Monocular mfVEPs were recorded in two, 7-min runs. A ‘2-run signal-to-noise ratio’ (2rSNR) was obtained as {[RMS(RunA+RunB)]/[RMS(RunA–RunB)]}–1, where RMS is the root-mean-square amplitude of the response over the period from 45 to 150 ms (signal window). Two ‘noise-window signal-to-noise ratios’ were obtained with the same numerator as the 2rSNR but with the denominators based upon the RMS of a signal-free window from 325 to 430 ms. In one case, inSNR, the denominator was the RMS of the record's noise window and in the other case, mnSNR, the denominator was the mean of the RMS amplitudes of all the signal-free noise windows for the subject. The SNRs were related to false-positive rates (i.e., detecting a signal when none was present) by recording mfVEPs with some of the sectors of the display occluded. In particular, the outer three rings (36 sectors) of the display were occluded so that only noise was recorded; false-positive rates for different values of SNR were calculated. The 2rSNR had the highest false-positive rate largely due to alpha in the records of some subjects. The mnSNR had a lower false-positive rate than did the inSNR because there was little correlation between the RMS of the noise in the signal-free window and the RMS of the noise within the signal window. Use of the mnSNR is recommended over the 2rSNR, especially where alpha contamination can not be eliminated. Ways to improve the SNR of the records are discussed.
Towards an Integrated Understanding of Speaking Rate in Conversation

We investigate factors that affect speaking rate in conversation, using large corpora of conversational telephone speech in English and Chinese. We find that speaking rate as a function of “turn” length rises rapidly for turns from one to seven words; remains level (when final words are included) or falls gradually (if final words are excluded) for turns of medium length; and rises slowly for longer turns. When talking with strangers or discussing certain topics, people tend to use longer turns but slower speech rates. In general older people have a slower speech, and males tend to speak slightly faster than females. Finally, we find that the effect of L1 (native language) on L2 (second language) speaking rate is L1 dependent. Index Terms: speaking rate, speech rate, conversational speech
Human Brain Myelination Trajectories Across the Life Span: Implications for CNS Function and Dysfunction

Publisher Summary In this chapter, changes in human brain myelination are discussed in the context of development and degeneration over the life span with a focus on implications for brain function as well as brain dysfunction. Postmortem data and in vivo imaging evidence suggest that the process of myelin production and subsequent breakdown may be directly relevant to deepening understanding of the biology and function of the human brain. The inverted-U-shaped trajectories of myelination that occur over the life span may help explain the patterns of cognitive, behavioral, and emotional changes that define our everyday lives from the impulsiveness of youth to the wisdom of older ages. More importantly the focus on myelination trajectories of the human brain may help explain many of the unique but highly prevalent and devastating diseases that plague our species at various phases of life. The myelin model of human brain function posits that the uniquely pervasive and protracted myelination process renders a continuum of vulnerability that culminates in the later-developing oligodendrocytes. Genetic and/or environmental effects that impact myelin development and breakdown will manifest as risk factors (or protective factors) for developmental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, as well as aging-related disorders such as AD and Parkinson disease.