cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Functionalization of Syndiotactic Polystyrene via Superacid-Catalyzed Friedel–Crafts Alkylation

Crystalline syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) was functionalized by superacid-catalyzed Friedel–Crafts alkylation. Once a tertiary carbocation is generated by the reaction of tertiary alcohols and triflic acid, it subsequently reacted with aromatic ring of sPS, forming alkyl functionalized sPS. Various functional groups were incorporated into the phenyl ring of sPS using different substrates of tertiary alcohols including tertiary butanol, 2-methyl-2-butanol, and 2-methyl-2-hexanol. Degree of functionalization was conveniently tunable by changing the ratio of tertiary alcohol to styrene unit, and a maximum 80% of styrene rings was functionalized. Thermal properties of the functionalized sPSs were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. Glass transition temperature and melting temperature of sPS were reduced after the modification.
Florid cystic endosalpingiosis with uterine preservation and successful assisted reproductive therapy

Endosalpingiosis is a benign condition characterized by the presence of ectopic, cystic glands lined with ciliated epithelium similar to that found in the fallopian tube (Clement and Young 1999). It is most commonly found on pelvic organs such as the uterine serosa, fallopian tube serosa, ovaries, round ligament, and bladder, but has been documented in many other abdominal peritoneal and subperitoneal surfaces, including in retroperitoneal lymph nodes (Burmeister et al. 1969; Cajigas and Axiotis 1990, and Chen 1981). It was first described by Sampson in 1930 when epithelium resembling the fallopian tube was noted in the pelvises of women who had previously undergone salpingectomies or tubal sterilization (Prentice et al. 2012). While endosalpingiosis can have a similar appearance to endometriosis, usually yellow-white punctate cystic lesions, it differs in that there is no endometrial stroma noted and it does not elicit the inflammatory response associated with pelvic pain and infertility (deHoop et al. 1997). However, the pathogenesis of both diseases are similar in that they results from műllerianosis, where either multipotent peritoneal mesothelium undergoes metaplasia into oviduct epithelium or developed műllerian tissue is ectopically displaced (Ong et al. 2004, and Batt and Yeh 2013). While endosalpingiosis is often asymptomatic and an incidental intraoperative finding, florid cystic endosalpingiosis usually presents clinically with pelvic pain, a mass noted on physical examination, or multiple cystic tumors seen on imaging and is very rare (Clement and Young 1999).
Autolysis of glycoproteins in rat kidney lysosomes in vitro. Effects on the isoelectric focusing behaviour of glycoproteins, arylsulphatase and β-glucuronidase

1. Rat kidney lysosomal glycoproteins, prelabelled in the N-acetylneuraminic acid and polypeptide portions with N-acetyl[3H]mannosamine and [14C]lysine, or with N-acetyl-[14C]glucosamine, were incubated under various conditions. Autolytic cleavage of labelled N-acetylneuraminic acid and peptide was maximum at pH5.0. 2. N-Acetylneuraminic acid was released more rapidly than peptide during incubation at 37° or 4°C at pH5. p-Nitrophenyloxamic acid, an inhibitor of bacterial neuraminidase (Edmond et al., 1966), inhibited the cleavage of N-acetylneuraminic acid and peptide, and also inhibited cathepsin D activity. 3. Galactono-, mannono-, and glucono-lactone, inhibitors of the corresponding glycosidases, blocked the autolytic cleavage of N-acetyl[14C]glucosamine and protein without inhibiting β-N-acetylhexosaminidase or cathepsin D activity. These findings suggest that the carbohydrate side chains protect the polypeptide portion of the lysosomal glycoproteins against proteolytic attack by lysosomal cathepsins. 4. In electrofocusing experiments, autolysis was minimized by adding 0.1% p-nitrophenyloxamic acid to the media used for extraction and electrofocusing, and by maintaining an alkaline pH (pH8.8–9) during extraction and dialysis. Arylsulphatase occurred in two forms with pI values of 4.4 and 6.4–6.7, and β-glucuronidase in two forms with pI values of 4.4 and 6.1. When [14C]lysine and N-acetyl[3H]mannosamine were given to rats 1.5 and 1 h before killing, 14C and 3H were largely restricted to highly acidic glycoprotein species with pI values of 2.1–5.1. 5. When a lysosomal extract was adjusted to pH5 and incubated at 20°C for 16h and then at 37°C for 1 h before electrofocusing, 32 and 58% of the labelled peptide and N-acetylneuraminic acid was cleaved and the pI values of the labelled glycoproteins were markedly increased. About 80% of the acidic form of arylsulphatase and β-glucuronidase was recovered with the basic form, and the pI of the basic form of both enzymes rose to 7.0. Similar, though less marked changes, were observed when a lysosomal extract was kept at pH5 for 2h at 4°C before electrofocusing. 6. When an acidic lysosomal fraction (pI4.2–4.6) was incubated at pH5 for 2.5h and refocused, 80% of the arylsulphatase now occurred in two forms with pI values of 5 and 6.4. When a basic lysosomal fraction (pI5.8–6.4) was similarly incubated, the pI of arylsulphatase increased from 6.4 to 7.2. The relative increase in pI of arylsulphatases was accompanied by a proportional loss of N-acetylneuraminic acid from the glycoprotein associated with these forms. 7. These experiments show that lysosomal glycoproteins and two representative hydrolases, when exposed to a mildly acidic pH, readily undergo autolytic degradation and their pI values increase. These observations may have a bearing on the origin of the molecular heterogeneity of the lysosomal enzymes.
Evaluation of Prostate Needle Biopsies.

The introduction of Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) screening has caused a stage shift in diagnosis of prostate cancer and an increasing number of patients receiving early diagnosis. This has led to early detection of limited foci of cancer on prostate biopsy, and clinically insignificant prostate cancer at radical prostatectomy. Therefore, current methods for sampling, diagnosing and managing prostate cancer have significantly evolved in recent years. In light of recent management changes and conservative surveillance protocols prompting new handling, grading and staging guidelines, the evaluation of prostate biopsy in contemporary practice has become pivotal. It is therefore critical to recognize minor foci of cancer or atypical glands, and distinguish these from benign mimics that could lead to a false positive diagnosis.
What if online students take on the responsibility: Students’ cognitive presence and peer facilitation techniques

The purpose of this study was to investigate: (a) the characteristics of online students’ cognitive presence in a peer-facilitated discussion environment, and (b) the peer facilitation techniques that enhance cognitive presence development. In this study, we examined 738 discussion messages. Analytic methods included both qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The findings revealed that although cognitive presence was detected in most discussion messages, they aggregated at a lower level. The involvement of peer facilitators was found to correlate with students’ higher-level cognitive presence. In addition, we found that types of initiating questions asked by peer facilitators positively affected the level of cognitive presence. We also explored the facilitation techniques used by peer facilitators that aim to promote students’ cognitive presence.
Exploring co-occurrence patterns between organic micropollutants and bacterial community structure in a mixed-use watershed

Complex mixtures of low concentrations of organic micropollutants are commonly found in rivers and streams, but their relationship to the structure of native bacterial communities that underlie critical ecological goods and services in these systems is poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we used correlation-based network analysis to explore co-occurrence patterns between measured micropollutant concentrations and the associated surface water and sediment bacterial communities in a restored riparian zone of the Des Plaines River (DPR) in Illinois that is impacted by both wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent and agricultural runoff. Over a two year period, we collected 55 grab samples at 11 sites along the DPR and one of its tributaries (48 surface water samples) and from WWTP effluent (7 samples), and screened for 126 organic micropollutants. In parallel, we used high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to characterize the bacterial community in sediment and surface water. Our results revealed quantifiable levels of 102 micropollutants in at least one surface water or WWTP effluent sample, 85 of which were detected in at least one surface water sample. While micropollutants were temporally and spatially variable in terms of both presence and concentration, 21 micropollutants were measured in over 75% of the 48 surface water samples. 16S rRNA gene sequencing documented diverse bacterial communities along the DPR transect, with highly distinct community structures observed in sediment and water. Bacterial community structure in surface water, but not in sediment, was significantly associated with concentrations of micropollutants, based on a Mantel test. Correlation-based network analyses revealed diverse strong and significant co-occurrence and co-exclusion patterns between specific bacterial OTUs and both micropollutant groups (defined based on k-means clustering on chemical substructure) and individual micropollutants. Significantly more associations were documented between micropollutants and bacterial taxa in the water compared to the sediment microbiomes. Taken together, our results document a significant link between complex mixtures of micropollutants commonly found in aquatic systems and associated bacterial community structure. Furthermore, our results suggest that micropollutants may exert a more significant impact on water-associated than on sediment-associated bacterial taxa.
Minimization of spin tune spread for preservation of spin polarization at RHIC

The spin structure of the proton is one of the unsolved problems in physics. The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) Spin Physics Program has been conducting research to investigate the spin structure by colliding high energy polarized proton beams. Maintaining high spin polarization while achieving high luminosity is critical for this program. Two of the challenges related to the program are to maintain spin polarization during spin flipping, a process designed to reduce systematic errors in spin asymmetry measurements, and during beam acceleration from the low energy source to the high energy collision experiment. Recently, a modification of the accelerator's magnet configuration (optics) was developed for reducing the spin tune spread. With the new optics implemented, higher spin flipping efficiency was achieved at both injection and top beam energies. The spin tune spread was also minimized during beam acceleration and the transmission efficiency of spin polarization was evaluated. In this report the modifications needed for minimizing the spin tune spread and their impact on the global beam optics are described.
Ecological momentary assessment studies of comorbid PTSD and alcohol use: A narrative review.

Abstract Introduction PTSD and harmful alcohol use, including alcohol use disorder (AUD), frequently co-occur. Recent research has used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine the associations between PTSD symptoms and alcohol-related variables, such as craving for alcohol, alcohol use, and the presence of alcohol-related problems. The overall purpose of this narrative review is to summarize this emerging literature. Methods Inclusion criteria for studies were: 1) Use of ecological momentary assessment as the method for gathering data on alcohol use and/or craving in populations with both problematic alcohol use and PTSD, and the inclusion of an assessment of both PTSD symptoms and at least one alcohol use variable during EMA; and 2) At screening, participants were required to meet study criteria for a) elevated PTSD symptoms or trauma exposure, and b) alcohol use. Results The pertinent extant literature is reviewed in terms of four underlying themes: Methodological considerations of EMA research in a population with PTSD symptoms and harmful alcohol use; Associations between PTSD symptoms and alcohol use variable/s; Moderators of PTSD-alcohol use associations; Mediators of PTSD-alcohol use associations. Conclusions Collectively, studies provide support for the self-medication hypothesis. Several variables were found to moderate association between PTSD symptoms and alcohol-related variables. EMA data may ultimately be useful in identifying when individuals are at risk for harm due to increased symptoms or alcohol misuse and may inform treatment approaches administered remotely.
Delayed M50/M100 evoked response component latency in minimally verbal/nonverbal children who have autism spectrum disorder.

Abnormal auditory neuromagnetic M50 and M100 responses, reflecting primary/secondary auditory cortex processing, have been reported in children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Some studies have reported an association between delays in these responses and language impairment. However, as most prior research has focused on verbal individuals with ASD without cognitive impairment, rather little is known about neural activity during auditory processing in minimally verbal or nonverbal children who have ASD (ASD-MVNV)—children with little or no speech and often significant cognitive impairment. To understand the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying auditory processing in ASD-MVNV children, magnetoencephalography (MEG) measured M50 and M100 responses arising from left and right superior temporal gyri during tone stimuli in three cohorts: (1) MVNV children who have ASD (ASD-MVNV), (2) verbal children who have ASD and no intellectual disability (ASD-V), and (3) typically developing (TD) children. One hundred and five participants (8–12 years) were included in the final analyses (ASD-MVNV: n = 16, 9.85 ± 1.32 years; ASD-V: n = 55, 10.64 ± 1.31 years; TD: n = 34, 10.18 ± 1.36 years). ASD-MVNV children showed significantly delayed M50 and M100 latencies compared to TD. These delays tended to be greater than the corresponding delays in verbal children with ASD. Across cohorts, delayed latencies were associated with language and communication skills, assessed by the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale Communication Domain. Findings suggest that auditory cortex neural activity measures could be dimensional objective indices of language impairment in ASD for either diagnostic (e.g., via threshold or cutoff) or prognostic (considering the continuous variable) use.
Mindfulness, Interoception, and the Body: A Contemporary Perspective.

Mindfulness is often used as an umbrella term to characterize a large number of practices, processes, and characteristics. Critics argue that this broad definition has led to misinformation, misunderstanding, and a general lack of methodologically rigorous research. Some of the confusion surrounding mindfulness is also believed to stem from an undifferentiated use of the term mindfulness and meditation. Mindfulness and all other forms of meditation have been shown to modulate the insula which is the primary hub for interoception. Some have argued that interoception is foundational to mindfulness and may be the primary mechanism by which one benefits from the practice. However, much like the mindfulness literature, interoception remains broadly defined often without precision and with domain-specific meanings and implications. Research demonstrates that the insula and surrounding neural circuits are believed to be responsible for a number of other functions beyond interoception including attention, awareness, and all subjective experiences, much of which has been linked to the mindfulness literature. It has been assumed that mindfulness produces these neuroplasticity and functional effects. There is evidence that mindfulness and some of its benefits may be better described as increased interoception as a result of the neuroplasticity changes in the insula, and the development of the insula and surrounding neural circuits may cultivate dispositional mindfulness. The purposes of this paper are to (1) highlight that it may be more accurate to link many of the identified benefits in the mindfulness literature to interoception and its neurological correlates, and (2) propose attentional style as a means to clarify some of the confusion surrounding mindfulness, interoception, and meditation. Different meditations and require different attentional styles. Attention can be analogous to a focal point with each focal point providing a unique perspective. Given that all meditative techniques modulate the insula, each meditation can provide a unique perspective from which to investigate complex interoceptive signals that may be unavailable from other meditative traditions. It may prove more useful to anchor scientific findings in the concrete body as a means to investigate those rather than a set of abstract, broadly defined meditative techniques.
Outcomes of surgery versus chemoradiotherapy in patients with clinical or pathologic stage N3 non-small cell lung cancer.

Abstract Background Because surgery is rarely recommended, there is minimal literature comparing the outcomes of surgery and chemoradiation in stage N3 non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We examined the outcomes of definitive chemoradiation versus multimodality therapy, including surgery, for patients with clinical and pathologic stage N3 NSCLC. Methods The National Cancer Database was used to identify patients with clinical stage T1 to T3 N3 M0 NSCLC and clinical stage T1 to T3 Nx M0 with pathologic stage N3 NSCLC who were treated with either definitive chemoradiation or surgery between 2004-2015. A 1:1 propensity score-matched analysis was used to compare outcomes for both treatment groups in each analysis. The primary outcome was overall survival. Results In 935 matched patient pairs with clinical stage N3 NSCLC, surgery was associated with worse survival (hazard ratio, 1.52; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-2.05) compared with chemoradiation at 6 months, but was associated with a significant survival benefit after 6 months (hazard ratio, 0.54; confidence interval, 0.47-0.63) in multivariable analysis. In 281 pairs of patients with pN3 NSCLC, surgery had similar survival compared with chemoradiation at 6 months (hazard ratio, 1.71; 95% confidence interval, 0.92-3.19), but was associated with improved survival after 6 months (hazard ratio, 0.76; 95% confidence interval, 0.58-0.99). The complete resection rate was 80% and 73% for patients with clinical stage N3 and pathologic stage N3 disease, respectively. Conclusions In patients with clinical or pathologic stage N3 NSCLC, surgery is associated with similar or worse short-term but improved long-term survival compared with chemoradiation. In a selected group of patients with stage N3 NSCLC, surgery may have a role in multimodal therapy.
A Title: A Patient with Severe Bradycardia Five Years After Copperhead Snake Bite

Introduction: Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix) snakes are responsible for approximately 40% of all pit viper envenomations in the US. Case Presentation: A 14-year-old girl was bitten by a copperhead snake bite. Electrocardiogram taken approximately one hour after envenomation showed sinus rhythm with no acute ST or T wave changes. She was not administered anti-venom but was monitored, treated with antibiotics and discharged without any significant complications after 2 days time. Approximately 5 years after the incident, she began having issues of refractory constipation. Subsequently, she suffered from numerous episodes of recumbent and ambulatory syncope outside of any acute gastrointestinal distress and occurring without warning. A dual-chamber pacemaker (Medtronic™), programmed for “rate-drop” response, was inserted in the patient. Conclusion: Delayed sequelae from a copperhead snakebite appears to be possible given our patient’s presentation. However, the mechanism of delayed autonomic dysfunction and/or possible direct cardiac effect remains unclear.
SoMEF: A Framework for Capturing Scientific Software Metadata from its Documentation

Scientific software has become a key asset to reproduce and understand the products of scientific research in many disciplines. However, scientific software is becoming increasingly complex and, as a result, researchers need to spend a significant amount of time finding, reading and understanding software documentation to set it up. In this paper we describe SoMEF, a Software Metadata Extraction Framework designed to help highlighting the most important parts of scientific software documentation. SoMEF processes the README files in GitHub repositories to automatically extract which parts of their text refer to the description, installation, invocation, or citation of a software component. Despite its simple features, SoMEF successfully categorizes README excerpts with a minimum 0.92 precision and 0.90 ROC AUC. These results, tested on a corpus of over 70 scientific software repositories, are a promising start towards automatically generating knowledge graphs of scientific software metadata.
Molecular Mechanism of ISC Iron–Sulfur Cluster Biogenesis Revealed by High-Resolution Native Mass Spectrometry

Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are ubiquitous protein cofactors that are required for many important biological processes including oxidative respiration, nitrogen fixation, and photosynthesis. Biosynthetic pathways assemble Fe-S clusters with different iron-to-sulfur stoichiometries and distribute these clusters to appropriate apoproteins. In the ISC pathway, the pyridoxal 5'-phosphate-dependent cysteine desulfurase enzyme IscS provides sulfur to the scaffold protein IscU, which templates the Fe-S cluster assembly. Despite their functional importance, mechanistic details for cluster synthesis have remained elusive. Recent advances in native mass spectrometry (MS) have allowed proteins to be preserved in native-like structures and support applications in the investigation of protein structure, dynamics, ligand interactions, and the identification of protein-associated intermediates. Here, we prepared samples under anaerobic conditions and then applied native MS to investigate the molecular mechanism for Fe-S cluster synthesis. This approach was validated by the high agreement between native MS and traditional visible circular dichroism spectroscopic assays. Time-dependent native MS experiments revealed potential iron- and sulfur-based intermediates that decay as the [2Fe-2S] cluster signal developed. Additional experiments establish that (i) Zn(II) binding stabilizes IscU and protects the cysteine residues from oxidation, weakens the interactions between IscU and IscS, and inhibits Fe-S cluster biosynthesis; and (ii) Fe(II) ions bind to the IscU active site cysteine residues and another lower affinity binding site and promote the intermolecular sulfur transfer reaction from IscS to IscU. Overall, these results support an iron-first model for Fe-S cluster synthesis and highlight the power of native MS in defining protein-associated intermediates and elucidating mechanistic details of enzymatic processes.
Toward a Transformative African Curriculum for Higher Education

Africans have inherited a Pan European Academy that has occupied almost all of the intellectual space in schools and universities. This Pan European Academy dominates theories, philosophies, and at...
ProtoTeams: Supporting Team Dating in Co-Located Settings

Team dating, or small-group interactions, can expose people to diverse perspectives and inform the potential for longer-term collaboration. However, rapidly configuring groups and facilitating interactions among strangers can be difficult, especially in co-located settings. We present ProtoTeams, a system that leverages personal mobile devices to support rapid group formation, to facilitate group activities, and to collect data about the potential for future collaboration. We report on a field study where 406 students in eight different project-based classes used ProtoTeams to interact with classmates through multiple rounds of brief discussion activities before selecting teammates for a term project. We found that the system enables groups to form in about one minute, allows for meaningful interactions with a diverse range of peers, and can significantly influence subsequent teammate selection. We discuss design implications and challenges for in-person team dating in classrooms and other contexts.
Respondent Biases in Household Surveys

Respondent biases introduce measurement error into household statistics. There are two components of respondent bias in household surveys: asymmetric information between proxy respondent and the individual on whom they report and aggregation bias when a proxy respondent reports on a household-level outcome across multiple individuals. We estimate the effects of respondent biases in a randomized control trial in Burkina Faso. Survey treatments vary who reports for the household including a self-report, the household head and a randomly chosen adult proxy. We find no effects of respondent type on total landholdings reported for the household, but statistically significant effects of area cultivated by random proxy reports relative to self-reported land data (11% of the standard deviation). Household heads over-report production of cereals, but under-report labor relative to self-reported labor. Female respondents report lower levels of fertilizer and higher frequencies of crops including legumes and vegetables that women traditionally produce relative to male respondents. Across all production variables, respondent biases are not solely attributable to asymmetric information. Aggregation bias is an important component of proxy misreporting for household production variables which can be addressed through survey design choices. These causal estimates of respondent biases underscore the importance of proxy reporting protocols in surveys and improved reporting of proxy descriptive statistics in empirical work.
Aspergillus fumigatus biofilms: Toward understanding how growth as a multicellular network increases antifungal resistance and disease progression

Aspergillus fumigatus is a saprophytic, filamentous fungus found in soils and compost and the causative agent of several pulmonary diseases in humans, birds, and other mammals. A. fumigatus and other filamentous fungi grow as networks of filamentous hyphae that have characteristics of a classic microbial biofilm. These characteristics include production of an extracellular matrix (ECM), surface adhesion, multicellularity, and increased antimicrobial drug resistance. A. fumigatus biofilm growth occurs in vivo at sites of infection, highlighting the importance of defining mechanisms underlying biofilm development and associated emergent properties. We propose that there are 3 distinct phases in the development of A. fumigatus biofilms: biofilm initiation, immature biofilm, and mature biofilm. These stages are defined both temporally and by unique genetic and structural changes over the course of development. Here, we review known mechanisms within each of these stages that contribute to biofilm structure, ECM production, and increased resistance to contemporary antifungal drugs. We highlight gaps in our understanding of biofilm development and function that when addressed are expected to aid in the development of novel antifungal therapies capable of killing filamentous fungal biofilms.
An Experimental Study of Competition Between the Native Sacramento Perch (Archoplites interruptus) and Introduced Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

The Sacramento perch (Archoplites interruptus), a sunfish (Centrarchidae) native only to the Central Valley of California, has been eliminated from most of its native range. To examine the role of interspecific competition in this decline, a series of experiments were conducted to assess the growth, aggressive behavior, and habitat use of Sacramento perch in the presence of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), an introduced centrarchid. The experiments indicate that (1) Sacramento perch gain less weight and show reduced growth when placed with bluegill, but that this interaction only occurs with food limitation, and is not affected by overall fish density; (2) Sacramento perch demonstrate less aggressive behavior than bluegill, but become more aggressive when they are conspicuously larger than bluegill; (3) Sacramento perch shift their habitat use in the presence of bluegill. Overall the results imply that Sacramento perch and bluegill exhibit interspecific competition where the mechanism of interaction is aggressive dominance by bluegill. It is suggested that long term persistence of Sacramento perch may require a habitat that is free of introduced centrarchid fishes, or one controlled by a naturally variable hydrological regime.
Graphite paste electrodes

Abstract A new understanding of the nature of electrode reactions at graphite paste electrodes has been obtained by studying electron-transfer rates of redox systems under conditions of carefully controlled electrode composition and pretreatment. Dry graphite gives electron-transfer rates which give an almost Nernstian response and approach those obtained with platinum. The addition of any pasting liquid decreases these rates materially. Both electrochemical and chemical oxidative pretreatments of such pastes increase the electron transfer in the direction of the “dry” graphite limit. This effect appears to correlate with the increased hydrophilic nature of the electrode surface and concomitant removal of organic layers from the electrode surface.
Reconceptualizing Legal Pluralism in Afghanistan

Legal pluralism, properly understood, offers a rich analysis of Afghanistan’s legal system. The limited analysis of legal pluralism in current scholarship on Afghanistan may be due in part to the fuzziness that surrounds the very concept of legal pluralism itself. Charting through the apparent fuzziness, by recognizing the diversity of legal pluralism theories, as well as their inconsistencies and shortcoming, can provide a new approach to analyzing Afghanistan’s complex legal system. Part one of this paper will review the present scholarship on legal pluralism, covering some of the approaches taken by leading scholars in the field. Of key importance is the need to distinguish the so-called notions of “state” legal pluralism and “deep” legal pluralism, as well as to identify some of the major criticisms levied against the legal pluralism project. Part two will analyze some of the current scholarship on Afghanistan’s legal system. In light of the discussion on legal pluralism, it will become clear that most of this scholarship is confined to the notion of state legal pluralism. Part three of this paper will explore the possibility of examining Afghanistan’s legal system through the lens of deep legal pluralism, thus providing novel insights into how the country’s legal system could be structured.
Wine Wars: The 21st Amendment and Discriminatory Bans to Direct Shipment of Wine

This essay is actually a series of posts from the Volokh Conspiracy weblog that discusses the policy and constitutional issues surrounding a question that the Supreme Court will hear this term, whether discriminatory barriers to the interstate direct shipment of wine are constitutional. Because of the timeliness of the issue, the essay is presented in this unusual and informal format so as to be available to the public more rapidly than through the traditional law review format. This "essay" reviews the historical evidence and ratification history of the 21st Amendment, and concludes that the answer is unambiguously no. The purpose of the 21st Amendment was to reverse the 18th Amendment's disastrous experiment with federal Prohibition, and thereby to restore the balance between state and federal power that had existed prior to the 18th Amendment. It did this in two ways. First, Section 1 of the Amendment repealed Prohibition, restoring to the States their exclusive police power authority to regulate the local sale and distribution of alcohol. Second, Section 2 of the Amendment constitutionalized certain federal laws that allowed the States to enforce their police power on equal terms against alcohol shipped in interstate commerce as against alcohol manufactured or sold within the State. Section 2's purpose was to nullify a line of Supreme Court decisions that compelled some States to "reverse discriminate" in favor of out-of-state vendors. As a result, the 21st Amendment removed the federal government from meddling in local affairs, but did not cede a novel and unnecessary power to the States to meddle in the federal government's traditional control over interstate commerce. In other words, the 21st Amendment enabled dry States to remain dry if they so chose, but it did not empower wet states to engage in economic warfare against the products of other wet States.
Analysis and modification of a 500kV transmission line overvoltage problem

The power frequency resonance overvoltage problem of a 500kV transmission line under non-full phase operation after installation of high voltage shunt reactor is analyzed. It is pointed out that the overvoltage problem is the result of the simultaneous action of higher compensation degree of high voltage shunt reactor, untransposition of the transmission line and improper neutral reactor value of high voltage shunt reactor. Technical measure that the transmission line should be transposed and the neutral reactor value should be rechosen is proposed. An equivalent model of tower is used to ensure the accuracy of simulation. Test results after the accomplishment of the modification project show that the proposed technical measure is effective.
Uncertainty assessment of hydrologic model states and parameters: Sequential data assimilation using the particle filter

[1] Two elementary issues in contemporary Earth system science and engineering are (1) the specification of model parameter values which characterize a system and (2) the estimation of state variables which express the system dynamic. This paper explores a novel sequential hydrologic data assimilation approach for estimating model parameters and state variables using particle filters (PFs). PFs have their origin in Bayesian estimation. Methods for batch calibration, despite major recent advances, appear to lack the flexibility required to treat uncertainties in the current system as new information is received. Methods based on sequential Bayesian estimation seem better able to take advantage of the temporal organization and structure of information, so that better compliance of the model output with observations can be achieved. Such methods provide platforms for improved uncertainty assessment and estimation of hydrologic model components, by providing more complete and accurate representations of the forecast and analysis probability distributions. This paper introduces particle filtering as a sequential Bayesian filtering having features that represent the full probability distribution of predictive uncertainties. Particle filters have, so far, generally been used to recursively estimate the posterior distribution of the model state; this paper investigates their applicability to the approximation of the posterior distribution of parameters. The capability and usefulness of particle filters for adaptive inference of the joint posterior distribution of the parameters and state variables are illustrated via two case studies using a parsimonious conceptual hydrologic model.
Holography in information systems

Summary form only given. Holography is probably best known for its application in 3D displays. The unique ability of holography to record and reproduce the amplitude and phase of optical wavefronts has also been used for storage, processing, communication, and sensing of information. In this tutorial will focus primarily on the application of holography in information systems with emphasis on devices for telecommunications. The primary use of holography in telecommunications has been for the recording of gratings in fibers, waveguides and bulk media. We will review some of these devices and discuss how the properties of the holographic recording medium determines device performance.
A simulation as a service cloud middleware

Many seemingly simple questions that individual users face in their daily lives may actually require substantial number of computing resources to identify the right answers. For example, a user may want to determine the right thermostat settings for different rooms of a house based on a tolerance range such that the energy consumption and costs can be maximally reduced while still offering comfortable temperatures in the house. Such answers can be determined through simulations. However, some simulation models as in this example are stochastic, which require the execution of a large number of simulation tasks and aggregation of results to ascertain if the outcomes lie within specified confidence intervals. Some other simulation models, such as the study of traffic conditions using simulations may need multiple instances to be executed for a number of different parameters. Cloud computing has opened up new avenues for individuals and organizations with limited resources to obtain answers to problems that hitherto required expensive and computationally-intensive resources. This paper presents SIMaaS, which is a cloud-based Simulation-as-a-Service to address these challenges. We demonstrate how lightweight solutions using Linux containers (e.g., Docker) are better suited to support such services instead of heavyweight hypervisor-based solutions, which are shown to incur substantial overhead in provisioning virtual machines on-demand. Empirical results validating our claims are presented in the context of two case studies.
Induced Chemical Defense in Plants.

Surprising parallels exist between the chemical defense mechanisms of plants and animals. The biosynthesis of defensive substances in plants can be induced by microbial or herbivoral attack. Recent results demonstrate that the chemical defense of plants is mediated by lipid-based signaling systems. Volicitin (1) acts as a chemical signal in a tritrophic interaction of plants and insects. Derivatives of jasmonic acid (2) play a key role in directing the chemical defense response.
Gynandromorphism in the Greater Wax Moth, Galleria mellonella

Other than one earlier brief reference (Smith 1938) there seem to be no instances on record of gynandromorphis occurring in the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella (L.), although sex mosaics occur in insects generally. In my work with this insect, sex mosaics have been found several times. Three recent instances are reported here.
Laterally biased attention with concurrent verbal load: multiple failures to replicate.

Abstract The attentional bias hypothesis states that visual field asymmetries emerge when the activation of a lateralized processor drives attention in the contralateral direction. Support for the hypothesis comes from experiments in which holding words in memory produces a right visual field superiority in recognition, where no asymmetry otherwise exists. Three experiments failed to replicate this work, even when the original methodology was closely duplicated. In conjunction with other published results, it appears that extreme caution should be observed in proposing the attentional bias viewpoint as an explanation for lateral asymmetries.
Gradient estimates for the heat equation under the Ricci flow

The paper considers a manifold M evolving under the Ricci flow and establishes a series of gradient estimates for positive solutions of the heat equation on M.
High-Performance Spatial Query Processing on Big Taxi Trip Data Using GPGPUs

City-wide GPS recorded taxi trip data contains rich information for traffic and travel analysis to facilitate transportation planning and urban studies. However, traditional data management techniques are largely incapable of processing big taxi trip data at the scale of hundreds of millions. In this study, we aim at utilizing the General Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units (GPGPUs) technologies to speed up processing complex spatial queries on big taxi data on inexpensive commodity GPUs. By using the land use types of tax lot polygons as a proxy for trip purposes at the pickup and drop-off locations, we formulate a taxi trip data analysis problem as a large-scale nearest neighbor spatial query problem based on point-to-polygon distance. Experiments on nearly 170 million taxi trips in the New York City (NYC) in 2009 and 735,488 tax lot polygons with 4,698,986 vertices have demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed techniques: the GPU implementations is about 10-20X faster than the host system and completes the spatial query in about a minute by using a low-end workstation equipped with an Nvidia GTX Titan GPU device with a total equipment cost of below $2,000. We further discuss several interesting patterns discovered from the query results which warrant further study. The proposed approach can be an interesting alternative to traditional MapReduce/Hadoop based approaches to processing big data with respect to performance and cost.
Ultraviolet light activation of insect nuclear polyhedrosis virus

IRRADIATION within the ultraviolet (190.0–380.0 nm) range is an effective means of virus inactivation. We report the effects of short exposures of ultraviolet light at 320.0 nm on Autographa californica (Lepidoptera) nuclear polyhedrosis virus. In this case, ultraviolet light has an activating effect on the virus produced in vitro.
Fractal Assessment of the Surface Texture of Pavements

Fractal analysis was employed to evaluate the texture of profile tracers obtained from three different pavement surfaces. Fractal analysis uses the concept of the fractal dimension, D, as a way to evaluate the texture of simple and complex profiles. In this study it was determined that the fractal dimension, D, of the profiles of the pavement surfaces increased as the roughness of the texture profiles increased. For example, the smoothest of the three profiles had a fractal dimension, D, equal to 1.047; the roughest of the surface profiles had a fractal dimension, D, equal to 1.578. In addition, a good correlation was found to exist between the skid resistance of the pavement surfaces analyzed and their respective fractal dimension values. Thus, it is suggested that the fractal dimension can be used as a measure not only of the degree of roughness of the texture of the pavement surfaces but to relate surface texture to skid resistance (friction) on pavements as well.
Fundamental limitations on the detectability of electromagnetic signals

The detection of signals in an ideal receiver is considered as a decision between quantum-mechanical density operators describing the field in the receiver, respectively when thermal radiation alone is present and when besides this background there is a signal field present. The detectability of the signal is assessed by the minimum probability of error attainable in such a decision. Coherent signals of known and unknown phase are treated. The theory is shown to reduce to conventional detection theory in the classical limit.
Preparation of Bimodal Aluminas and Molybdena/Alumina Extrudates

Abstract Methods for preparing bimodal alumina supports and molybdena/alumina catalysts by extrusion techniques were examined. The methods used to produce bimodal pore structure in the extrudates were (1) partial peptization, (2) coextrusion of salt/boehmite mixtures, and (3) incorporation of combustible fiber such as Avicel or filter pulp. The study was limited to Conoco's Catapal SB alumina. The effects of solid content of the mixture, pH of the peptizing solution, and degree of mixing on the consistency of the extrusion mixture and the pore size distribution of the resulting extrudates were examined. The type of cellulose fiber and its loading was found to affect the nature of the macropores produced in the extrudates. The extrudates were thermally treated to develop mesopores in the range needed for coal liquefaction catalysts (80–180 A with an average pore diameter of 120 A).
The Metabolism of Tolamolol* in the Mouse, Rat, Guinea-pig, Rabbit and Dog

1. [3H, 14C]Tolamolol was well absorbed after oral administration to mice, rats, guinea-pigs, rabbits and dogs.2. The major route for excretion of. radioactivity by mice, rats and guineapigs was the faeces; in rabbits the major route was the urine. Dogs excreted similar amounts of radioactivity by both routes. Biliary excretion of radioactivity by the rat and guineapig was demonstrated.3. Tolamolol was extensively metabolized by all five species. The major metabolite in mice, rats, guinea-pigs and rabbits was the product of hydroxylation of the tolyl ring, which was excreted as such and as the glucuronide and sulphate conjugates.4. In the dog the major metabolite was the acid resulting from hydrolysis of the carbamoyl group. This acid was also excreted by the rabbit, but was only a minor metabolite in the other species studied.
Lipopolysaccharide-induced changes in monoamines in specific areas of the brain: blockade by interleukin-1 receptor antagonist.

The purpose of this study was to examine the specificity in the effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on monoamine concentrations in different areas of the brain and the involvement of interleukin-1 (IL-1) in the LPS-induced effects. Adult male rats were injected i.p. with saline, 10 micrograms/kg body weight of LPS, or treated with 250 micrograms of IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) 5 min before and 2 h after LPS. Several brain areas including the hippocampus (HI), caudate putamen (CP), the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), arcuate nucleus (AN), median eminence (ME) and the medial preoptic area (MPA) were microdissected and analyzed for neurotransmitter concentrations by HPLC-EC. LPS treatment produced marked increases in the concentrations of norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT) and its metabolite 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) in the PVN. In the AN, it increased DA concentrations and was without any effect on the MPA, ME, CP and HI. Treatment with IL-1ra in combination with LPS completely blocked the LPS-induced effects. It is concluded that LPS produces highly specific changes in monamine metabolism in the hypothalamus and that these effects are mediated at least in part by IL-1beta.
Determinants and Consequences of Perceived Complexity in Human-Computer Interaction*

A number of recently published studies on human-computer interface variables report contradictory results. A lack of underlying theory may be the cause. This study investigates the usefulness of employing an intermediate variable–perceived complexity–in examining the impact of two information system (IS) variables on performance: the mode of presentation, which has been extensively studied; and the number of windows, which has scarcely been studied. The study demonstrates the usefulness of understanding the role of perceived complexity in human-computer interaction. The specific results support past findings with regard to graphs vs. tables and reveal new findings on the role of windows. Most interesting is the interaction between the two IS variables. The use of more windows is significantly more beneficial for tabular, rather than graphical, presentation. The realization that perceived complexity is affected by task complexity and by IS variables has important implications for the design of flexible information systems. These implications are discussed.