cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Does wage differential driven migration continue to exist? Tests on the role of regional economic structure in wage differential driven migration

This paper explores the role of regional economic structure in the wage differential driven migration among the US Metropolitan Statistical Areas for three discrete time periods from 1993 to 2004. Rapidly increasing interregional trade attributes to the restructuring process of production internationally and interregionally. Both trade and migration can contribute to the equilibrium conditions in regional labor markets. When fragmentation increases intra-industry trade (IIT) in interregional trade, do we expect to see the increasing roles of interregional trade toward the equilibrium condition in regional labor markets? Fragmentation may force some production stages to the other regions, in other words, firms may benefit from relocating to the regions where they can minimize labor costs with cheaper wage rates. In this restructuring process, similarities in regional economic structures may increase the volumes of IIT and as a result, we may expect to see the increasing complementary role of trade in factor price equalization to migration. In contrast, when regional economic structures are quite different, migration rather than trade plays more important role in factor price equalization. Consequently, the main flows of interregional migration caused by wage differentials are more likely to be found among the regions where regional economic structures are dissimilar.
Role of solid-state skeletal sintering during processing of Mo-Cu composites

Mo-Cu composites with Mo contents up to 85 wt pct can be processed by either infiltration of a presintered Mo skeleton with liquid Cu or by liquid-phase sintering of mixed Mo and Cu powders. For both cases, the effects of particle size, sintering temperature, and sintering time on densification and microstructural evolution are compared. The effects of transition metal additions on the densification of Mo-Cu are also investigated. The liquid-phase sintering densification rate of Mo-Cu is much slower than in traditional liquid-phase sintering and is similar to the solid-state densification rate of elemental Mo. Furthermore, the poor densification behavior and absence of slumping for compositions up to 50 vol pct Cu indicate that the high dihedral angle of the Mo-Cu system stabilizes the formation of a rigid Mo skeleton during liquid-phase sintering. Results from a computer simulation that takes into account mass transport via both solid-state and liquid-phase mechanisms show that the solubility of Mo in Cu is sufficient for rapid densification, but confirm that the sintering behavior of Mo-20 vol pct Cu is best described by solid-state skeletal sintering. In this case, the liquid phase promotes microstructural coarsening by solution reprecipitation but contributes little to densification because of the rigid Mo skeleton.
Cation-ratio dating: A new rock varnish age-determination technique

Rock varnish coats many surfaces of geomorphic and archaeologic interest in arid lands. All varnish dating techniques are limited by the time lag between the exposure of a surface to subaerial processes and the onset of varnishing. They are valid only where manganese is not remobilized after deposition, for example, in most arid environments. The premise of a new age-determination method, cation-ratio dating, is that the ratio of the more mobile cations (e.g., K and Ca) to titanium in varnish decreases with time. Although there are many inherent assumptions and potential limitations, cation-ratio dating has been verified on relative age-sequences from a Death Valley debris cone, Negev Desert talus flatirons, and prehistoric lake levels at Searles Lake in California. Varnish cation ratios have been calibrated to independently dated surfaces in the Coso volcanic field and vicinity in California. Tentative absolute dates have been assigned to geomorphic surfaces in the Coso area. Cation ratios have been used to distinguish relative ages of archaeologic artifacts in southwestern North America and to demonstrate that varnish at the South Stoddard locality, Mojave Desert, did not form in 25 yr.
Racial/Ethnic Minorities Ineligible for Direct Access Colonoscopy (DAC): Identifying Patients Who Fall Through the Cracks.

Objective Patients ineligible for direct access colonoscopy (DAC) are typically referred for a pre-colonoscopy consultation with gastroenterology (GI). However, the referral from primary care to GI creates the potential for patients to drop out of treatment. The primary objective of the current study was to examine the proportion of participants deemed ineligible for DAC that (1) attended an appointment with GI and (2) completed a screening colonoscopy. The second aim of the study was to examine predictors of screening colonoscopy adherence.
Call-cost directed register allocation

Choosing the right kind of register for a live range plays a major role in eliminating the register-allocation overhead when the compiled function is frequently executed or function tails are on the most frequently executed paths. Picking the wrong kind of register for a live range incurs a high penalty that may dominate the total overhead of register allocation. In this paper, we present three improvements, storage-class analysis, benefit-driven simplification, and preference decision that are effective in selecting the right kind of register for a live range. Then we compare an enhanced Chaitin-style register allocator (with these three improvements) with priority-based and optimistic coloring.
Delineating the Polarized and Unpolarized Parton Structure of the Nucleon

Reports on our latest extractions of parton distribution functions of the nucleon are given. First an overview of the recent JR14 upgrade of our unpolarized PDFs, including NNLO determinations of the strong coupling constant and a discussion of the role of the input scale in parton distribution analysis. In the second part of the talk recent results on the determination of spin-dependent PDFs from the JAM collaboration are reported, including a careful treatment of hadronic and nuclear corrections, as well as reports on the impact of present and future data in our understanding of the spin of the nucleon.
Classification of Buried Underwater Objects Using the New BOSS and Multichannel Canonical Correlation Feature Extraction

Developing an effective detection and classification system for use with buried underwater objects is a challenging problem. In this paper, multichannel canonical correlation analysis (MCCA) is used for feature extraction from multiple sonar returns of buried underwater objects using data collected by the new generation Buried Object Scanning Sonar (BOSS) system. Comparisons are made between the classification results of features extracted by the proposed algorithm and those extracted by the two-channel canonical correlation analysis (CCA) algorithm on the SAX '04 data set. Extracted features are subsequently used in the development of classification systems able to differentiate between mine-like and non-mine-like objects. This study compares different feature extraction algorithms and classification schemes, and the results are presented in terms of classification rates and overall detection/classification performance. The results show that, for the SAX '04 data set, the features extracted via MCCA yield higher correct classification rates than feature extracted using CCA while simultaneously reducing structural complexity.
Gentrification, Discourse, and the Body: Chicago's Humboldt Park

Gentrification today spreads and deepens in US cities. In this paper we examine the progentrification rhetoric and tactics confronted by the second largest Puerto Rican community in the United States, Chicago's Humboldt Park. Three points are documented in this current case. First, real-estate capital and the media now target and script Puerto Rican youth bodies to communicate a new gentrification-sanitizing theme: a disgust for ‘ghetto’ morals and social order. Second, this coding of bodies involves a key process, taking readers to imaginary spaces in discourse. Third, possibilities to thwart gentrification exist but organizing strategies are ineffective in that they fail to confront the politics of youth bodying. The results shed light on one of the ascendant strategies of capital to restructure Spanish-speaking neighborhoods and a subset of them, Puerto Rican communities.
Sugar, fat, and protein: New insights into what T cells crave

T cell activation and differentiation is a complex process that has evolved beyond the two-signal model to a number of varied and opposing inputs that must be interpreted to make a cell fate decision. While stimulation through the TCR, costimulatory, and cytokine receptors is required, metabolic signaling has emerged not only as an activation signal, but also one that can influence and shape differentiation. Recent findings have revealed unappreciated roles for glucose, fatty acids, and salt in the function of many T cell subsets. In this review, we will highlight the latest advances in the burgeoning field of immunometabolism, focusing on how the menu of T cell fuels has expanded.
Fermion mass hierarchy as a consequence of the spontaneous breakdown of the four-flavor symmetry.

We study the fermion mass matrix in the case of four fermionic flavors u, d, c, and s. The original Lagrangian of the effective gauge theory respects the full four-flavor symmetry and fermions are massless. We analyze a vacuum expectation pattern of the elementary Higgs-field multiplet ${\ensuremath{\Phi}}_{\mathrm{ab}}$ [(a,b)=u,d,c,s]. Nonzero vacuum expectation values of \ensuremath{\Phi} spontaneously break the original flavor symmetry with fermionic masses being directly proportional to these vacuum expectation values. In the Higgs potential, hard terms in \ensuremath{\Phi} respect the global symmetry SU${(4)}_{L}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU${(4)}_{R}$ of four flavors while soft terms in \ensuremath{\Psi} break this symmetry down to the effective anomaly-free gauge group SU${(2)}_{L}^{e+\ensuremath{\mu}}$\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}SU(2${)}_{\mathrm{R}}^{\mathrm{e}+\mathrm{\ensuremath{\mu}}}$. These soft terms are due to radiative as well as nonperturbative effects. Such a symmetry structure of the Higgs potential can be motivated by the underlying preonic dynamics. The desired solution, i.e., the proper interfamily and intrafamily hierarchy as well as the desired Cabibbo mixing angle, can emerge as a consequence of a subtle interplay between the soft terms and certain hard terms of the Higgs potential. Although quantitative values of the fermionic masses depend on the parameters of the Higgs potential, the important outcome of the analysis is a result that once the magnitude of the Cabibbo mixing angle is chosen to be ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{C}$=O(\ensuremath{\epsilon}) (e.g., \ensuremath{\epsilon}=0.2), the interfamily hierarchy ratio is necessarily determined to be ${m}_{u}$/${m}_{c}$=O(${\ensuremath{\epsilon}}^{2}$), which is in agreement with experiments.
Twisting and piezochromism of phenylene-ethynylenes with aromatic interactions between side chains and main chains

This paper describes a series of three-ring phenylene-ethynylenes (PEs) in which specific, non-covalent arene–arene interactions control conformation in the solid-state. As determined by single crystal X-ray structures, edge-face interactions between benzyl ester side chains and conjugated main chains are observed. In contrast, perfluorobenzyl ester side chains interact cofacially with main chains, resulting in ∼60° torsional angles between neighboring aryl rings in crystalline PEs. Absorbance and fluorescence spectra of films of these compounds reflect these conformational effects, with the spectra of perfluorobenzyl-substituted compounds shifting hypsochromically from solution- to solid-state. In a demonstration of how balancing non-covalent interactions can open the way to new responsive materials, a main chain twisted derivative with octyloxy substituents displayed significant piezochromic behavior.
Curcumin is a non-competitive and selective inhibitor of phosphorylase kinase

Recently, we reported that curcumin (diferuloylmethane) inhibits the growth of several different kinds of tumor cells. In order to investigate the mechanism of this inhibition, we examined the effects of curcumin on different protein kinases: highly purified protein kinase A (PkA), protein kinase C (PkC), protamine kinase (cPK), phosphorylase kinase (PhK), autophosphorylation-activated protein kinase (AK) and pp60c-src tyrosine kinase. While all kinases tested were inhibited by curcumin, only PhK was completely inhibited at relatively lower concentrations. At around 0.1 mM curcumin, PhK, pp60c-src, PkC, PkA, AK, and cPK were inhibited by 98%, 40%, 15%, 10%, 1%, and 0.5%, respectively. Lineweaver-Burk plot analysis indicated that curcumin is a non-competitive inhibitor of PhK with a Ki of 0.075 mM. Overall, our results indicate that curcumin is a potent and selective inhibitor of phosphorylase kinase, a key regulatory enzyme involved in the metabolism of glycogen. This has important implications for the anti-proliferative effects of curcumin.
Distigmine bromide and post-prostatectomy voiding.

Summary— Distigmine bromide (Ubretid) is a long-acting anticholinesterase which is thought to improve detrusor function, restoring normal voiding patterns which may have been disturbed by autonomic overactivity, particularly after surgery. Ninety-three patients entered a double-blind study of the effect of distigmine bromide versus placebo on voiding after prostatectomy. The results demonstrated that there was a trend towards improvement but no statistically significant increase in post-operative flow rates, in reduction in bladder volume, and in the incidence of re-catheterisation in the patients treated with distigmine bromide.
On criticality and sensitivity in activity networks

Abstract A review of the issues related to activity criticality and the sensitivity of the mean and variance of project completion time to changes in the mean and variance of individual activities is presented. The methodologies proposed range over the analytical, Monte Carlo sampling, and statistical sampling, in particular the use of Taguchi orthogonal arrays.
Race Differences in Congregational Social Service Activity

This article uses data from the 1998 National Congregations Study, a survey of a representative sample of 1,236 religious congregations in the United States, to examine the social service activity of African-American congregations. The first goal is to explore the question of whether African-American religious congregations participate more (or less) than other congregations in social service provision in general. Then, the focus shifts to specific types of social service programs in order to determine if African-American congregations tend to specialize in the provision of certain types of services. The rates at which congregations support nine different types of social service programs are reported, and participation in programs is then subjected to logistic regression analysis. Significant race effects for African-American congregations exist for four types of programs: clothing, substance abuse, tutoring/mentoring, and nonreligious education. These findings, particularly the effect on education and mentoring programs, counter the assertion by Lincoln and Mamiya (1990) that African-American congregations are not doing enough in areas that are critical to African-American youth.
Low temperatures enhance organic nitrate formation: evidence from observations in the 2012 Uintah Basin Winter Ozone Study

Abstract. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and total alkyl nitrates (ΣANs) were measured using thermal dissociation laser-induced fluorescence during the 2012 Uintah Basin Winter Ozone Study (UBWOS) in Utah, USA. The observed NO2 concentration was highest before sunrise and lowest in the late afternoon, suggestive of a persistent local source of NO2 coupled with turbulent mixing out of the boundary layer. In contrast, ΣANs co-varied with solar radiation with a noontime maximum, indicating that local photochemical production combined with rapid mixing and/or deposition was the dominant factor in determining the ΣAN concentrations. We calculate that ΣANs were a large fraction (~60%) of the HOx free radical chain termination and show that the temperature dependence of the alkyl nitrate yields enhances the role of ΣANs in local chemistry during winter by comparison to what would occur in the warmer temperatures of summer.
Dual-rotor, radial-flux, toroidally-wound, permanent-magnet machines

A novel machine family-dual-rotor, radial-flux, toroidally wound, permanent-magnet (RFTPM) machines-is proposed in order to substantially improve machine torque density and efficiency. After the principles of operation, configurations, and features are discussed, the machine design and optimization guidelines are given. A prototype has been designed, built, and tested. The measured torque density of the prototype, which well matches the design value, is almost three times of that of the induction machine with the same power of 3 hp and speed. Meanwhile the efficiency is still kept high and the material cost is kept low by using ferrite magnets. Three novel approaches are proposed to reduce the cogging torque in the RFTPM machines, whose validity is verified by finite-element analysis results and experimental measurements.
Vector quantization-lattice vector quantization of speech LPC coefficients

Two-stage vector quantization-lattice vector quantization (VQ-LVQ) is used to encode the speech line spectrum pair (LSP) parameters. VQ-LVQ has the advantages of lower implementational complexity and less required memory than split vector quantization (SVQ) and multi-stage vector quantization (MSVQ) with unstructured codebooks. Based on the authors' speech data base and the same spectral measure, VQ-LVQ can save about 3 bits/frame compared to SVQ, and has advantages of about 2 to 3 bits/frame compared to unstructured codebook MSVQ, depending on the number of stages and the survivor path search complexity. The paper also provides a discussion on some factors influencing the evaluation of the LSP encoding performance. >
"Why in This Bilingual Classroom … Hablamos Más Español?" Language Choice by Bilingual Science Students.

This qualitative sociolinguistic research study examines Latino/a students’ use of language in a science classroom and laboratory. This study was conducted in a school in the southwestern United States that serves an economically depressed, predominantly Latino population. The object of study was a 5th-grade bilingual (Spanish/English) class. The findings demonstrate the students’ awareness of their own bilingualism, their preference for speaking Spanish, and their conceptualization of English as the language of academic success. Most significantly, this study reveals how the institutional context impacts both the teacher’s and the students’ behaviors, resulting in an implicit institutionalized bias against Spanish.
Public health, ethics, and human rights: a tribute to the late Jonathan Mann.

The late Jonathan Mann famously theorized that public health, ethics, and human rights are complementary fields motivated by the paramount value of human well-being. He felt that people could not be healthy if governments did not respect their rights and dignity as well as engage in health policies guided by sound ethical values. Nor could people have their rights and dignity if they were not healthy. Mann and his colleagues argued that public health and human rights are integrally connected: Human rights violations adversely affect the community's health, coercive public health policies violate human rights, and advancement of human rights and public health reinforce one another. Despite the deep traditions in public health, ethics, and human rights, they have rarely cross-fertilized—although there exists an important emerging literature. For the most part, each of these fields has adopted its own terminology and forms of reasoning. Consequently, Mann advocated the creation of a code of public health ethics and the adoption of a vocabulary or taxonomy of “dignity violation”.
A late Holocene paleoenvironmental reconstruction from Agua Caliente, southern Belize, linked to regional climate variability and cultural change at the Maya polity of Uxbenká

We report high-resolution macroscopic charcoal, pollen and sedimentological data for Agua Caliente, a freshwater lagoon located in southern Belize, and infer a late Holocene record of human land-use/climate interactions for the nearby prehistoric Maya center of Uxbenka. Land-use activities spanning the initial clearance of forests for agriculture through the drought-linked Maya collapse and continuing into the historic recolonization of the region are all reflected in the record. Human land alteration in association with swidden agriculture is evident early in the record during the Middle Preclassic starting ca. 2600 cal yr BP. Fire slowly tapered off during the Late and Terminal Classic, consistent with the gradual political demise and depopulation of the Uxbenka polity sometime between ca. 1150 and 950 cal yr BP, during a period of multiple droughts evident in a nearby speleothem record. Fire activity was at its lowest during the Maya Postclassic ca. 950–430 cal yr BP, but rose consistent with increasing recolonization of the region between ca. 430 cal yr BP and present. These data suggest that this environmental record provides both a proxy for 2800 years of cultural change, including colonization, growth, decline, and reorganization of regional populations, and an independent confirmation of recent paleoclimate reconstructions from the same region.
Input finger detection for nonvisual touch screen text entry in Perkinput

We present Input Finger Detection (IFD), a novel technique for nonvisual touch screen input, and its application, the Perkinput text entry method. With IFD, signals are input into a device with multi-point touches, where each finger represents one bit, either touching the screen or not. Maximum likelihood and tracking algorithms are used to detect which fingers touch the screen based on user-set reference points. The Perkinput text entry method uses the 6-bit Braille encoding with audio feedback, enabling one- and two-handed input. A longitudinal evaluation with 8 blind participants who are proficient in Braille showed that one-handed Perkinput was significantly faster and more accurate than iPhone's VoiceOver. Furthermore, in a case study to evaluate expert performance, one user reached an average session speed of 17.56 words per minute (WPM) with an average uncorrected error rate of just 0.14% using one hand for input. The same participant reached an average session speed of 38.0 WPM with two-handed input and an error rate of just 0.26%. Her fastest phrase was entered at 52.4 WPM and no errors.
Disulfide bond plasticity in epidermal growth factor.

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) has a (1-3,2-4,5-6) disulfide-bonding pattern. This pattern is found in nearly all EGF-like domains, despite wide variation in sequences. Biological data from EGF and at least one EGF-like domain show that disulfide bond isomers have significant bioactivity and suggests that the EGF fold can accommodate alternate disulfide- bonding patterns. The disulfide bonds in murine EGF were altered to seven different patterns and struc- tures were calculated incorporating all the restraints from the highest resolution restraint set available (Tejero et al., 1996). Results showed that besides the native (1-3,2-4,5-6), two other disulfide-bonding pat- terns: (1-2,3-4,5-6) and (1-3,2-5,4-6) satisfied the re- straints as well as the native. The results for these two patterns were indistinguishable from the native on the basis of distance and dihedral violations, XPLOR energies, Procheck statistics, and RMSDs of the final set of structures. Two other disulfide bond patterns, (1-2,3-5, 4-6) and (1-4,2-3,5-6) were able to satisfy all the distance restraints but had one or more cysteine dihedral violations. For all seven isomers, the final calculated structures were highly similar to EGF with all-atom RMSD's in the 1.5-2 A range. These results suggest that the EGF backbone fold has the unique property of accommodating several different disulfide- bonding patterns. Proteins 2000;40:168-174. disulfide bonds. The loop connected by the fifth and sixth cysteines forms a b-hairpin. The cysteines that form the disulfide bonds are relatively close to one another in the structure. NMR experiments indicate that the structures of EGF and of human type-a transforming growth factor (hTGFa) are somewhat dynamic probably due to the absence of much regular secondary structure and many loops. 3 A study of the folding pathway of EGF showed the formation of 1-disulfide, 2-disulfide, and 3-disulfide EGF isomers, before reaching the native structure. 4 Native disulfides constituted only 25% of the total disulfides found in the six well-populated intermediates. Indeed, the (1-6,2- 5,3-4) disulfide-bonded isomer is a well-populated interme- diate despite the fact that none of the disulfide bonds in this intermediate are found in the native state. In con- trast, the paradigmatic disulfide-bonded protein, bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI), folds by a pathway in which exclusively native disulfides are found in well- populated folding intermediates. 5 For BPTI and phospho- lipase A2 (PLA2), both larger proteins with more secondary structure, not all of the disulfide bonds are essential for folding and function. Indeed, of the seven disulfide bonds in PLA2, only one disulfide (C84A-C96A) was essential for function. A second disulfide bond (C11A-C77A) was impor- tant for stability, but not for function. 6
Time changes of Markov chains

Abstract An increasing sequence of random times { T n , n ⩾ 0} is called a Markov time change if { X ( T n )} is a new Markov chain. If the { T n } satisfy certain ‘operational’ requirements such as conditional independence of the T n -past and T n -future given X ( T n ), then there is an equivalent, algebraic description of the { T n } in terms of a triple ( T 0 , S , Γ ), where T 0 and S are splitting times with respect to a set Γ . A further assumption on Γ makes it easy to check that a triple will generate a Markov time change, and it is shown that processes such as last exit processes and excision processes satisfy this assumption.
The flaw in the firewall argument

Abstract A lot of confusion surrounds the issue of black hole complementarity, because the question has been considered without discussing the mechanism which guarantees unitarity. Considering such a mechanism leads to the following: (1) The Hawking quanta with energy E of order the black hole temperature T carry information, and so only appropriate processes involving E ≫ T quanta can have any possible complementary description with an information-free horizon; (2) The stretched horizon describes all possible black hole states with a given mass M, and it must expand out to a distance s bubble before it can accept additional infalling bits; (3) The Hawking radiation has a specific low temperature T, and infalling quanta interact significantly with it only within a distance s α of the horizon. One finds s α ≪ s bubble for E ≫ T , and this removes the argument against complementarity recently made by Almheiri et al. In particular, the condition E ≫ T leads to the notion of ‘fuzzball complementarity’, where the modes around the horizon are indeed correctly entangled in the complementary picture to give the vacuum.
Risk-based framework for stream repair projects

The phrase “stream restoration” has become commonplace to describe a wide variety of stream intervention practices. Rather than using the term “restoration” to cover the broad range of stream interventions, many of which are not restoration at all, the Center for Watershed Protection has moved to using the phrase “stream repair”. In this paper, a risk-based framework is presented for planning and designing stream repair projects, particularly in the vicinity of infrastructure. The method incorporates a wide variety of uncertainties, including non-quantifiable types, such as aesthetics, failure consequences, etc., providing a systematic approach to reducing risk prior to implementation. Individual components of a stream repair project, as well as the overall design, are considered. The results provide a basis for decisionmaking in determining the best option for stream repair and provides a powerful tool for communication between practitioners engaged in design, environmental funding and permitting agencies, infrastructure owners, and other stream stake-holders.
A LSO β microprobe for measuring input functions for quantitative small animal PET

Abstract A miniature scintillation microprobe has been developed to measure the input function in live rodents for use in longitudinal, quantitative PET studies. The probe consists of a small lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) crystal measuring typically 0.3–0.5 mm diameter ×0.5–2 mm in length that is used to directly detect positrons in the blood or tissue. The probe has a sensitivity of 10–30 Hz/μCi/cm 3 and is primarily sensitive to short-range positrons emitted by labeled radiotracers in the blood. The sensitivity to γ-ray background can be minimized using a variable threshold in the readout to discriminate between positrons and γ's. The probe was implanted in one of the tail veins of a Sprague–Dawley rat and the input function was measured for the injection of 0.8 mCi of FDG in the other tail vein. The probe exhibits a fast time response that is able to quickly and accurately measure the concentration of 18 F circulating in the bloodstream. Additional tests were also carried out to study the probe's sensitivity to γ-ray background.
Agent-Based Modeling in Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS): Lessons from a Comparative Analysis

Coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) are characterized by many complex features, including feedback loops, nonlinearity and thresholds, surprises, legacy effects and time lags, and resilience. Agent-based models (ABMs) are powerful for handling such complexity in CHANS models, facilitating in-depth understanding of CHANS dynamics. ABMs have been employed mostly on a site-specific basis, however. Little of this work provides a common infrastructure with which CHANS researchers (especially nonmodeling experts) can comprehend, compare, and envision CHANS processes and dynamics. We advance the science of CHANS by developing a CHANS-oriented protocol based on the overview, design concepts, and details (ODD) framework to help CHANS modelers and other researchers build, document, and compare CHANS-oriented ABMs. Using this approach, we show how complex demographic decisions, environmental processes, and human–environment interaction in CHANS can be represented and simulated in a relatively straightforward, ...
Strategic Information Technology Management: Managing Organizational, Political, and Technological Forces

This paper explores the role of Information Technology (IT) in the management of municipally-owned and operated public utilities. Through semi-structured interviews of senior management in the largest municipal electric and water systems, the paper examines the confluence of contextual factors fostering changes in an IT management strategy, which tend to be aimed at increasing efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery as well as improving customer/citizen satisfaction. The paper proposes a model of the IT strategic planning process occurring in municipal environments illustrating interplay between technological, political, and bureaucratic decision-making. The study finds that the complex nature of technology with its rapid and seemingly chaotic rate of change poses political risks for the organization attempting to manage the IT infrastructure. Successful strategic management of IT must take into account the differing value sets among its organizational and political members and how these differing motivations impact the management of the IT infrastructure.
Analysis of SIFT like Active Queue Management algorithms

Previous simulation studies have shown that providing a simple priority to short-flows in Internet routers can dramatically reduce their mean delay while having little impact on the long-flows which carry the bulk of Internet traffic. In this paper, we present simple fluid models which can be used to quantify this observation. We carry out a connection-level analysis taking into account file arrivals and departures, while ignoring the packet level effects. The modelling assumptions are justified using detailed packet-level simulations presented in a longer version of this paper.
The Hydra of Madagascar (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa)

Madagascar has been isolated from other land for about 100 million years. Thus the hydra of the island have been evolving independently of the hydra on the continents during the Tertiary geological period. On the northern continents the species of hydra cluster into four groups. Three species were found in a search of about 100 sites across Madagascar. These species represent two, and perhaps three, of the four groups of species that are found on the northern continents. A green hydra found throughout the island is similar to the European Hydra viridissima. One type of brown hydra, H madagascarensis n.sp., has characters intermediate between those of the vulgaris and braueri groups of continental brown hydra. The third species, unnamed in this paper, belongs to the vulgaris group. One continental group of hydra, the oligactis group, is not represented on Madagascar. The hydra that occur in Madagascar are very similar to some on the continents, indicating that these animals evolve exceedingly slowly.
Gain Calibration Technique for Increased Resolution in FRC Data Converters

A feedforward residue compensation (FRC) data converter combines the benefits of a Nyquist rate analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with an oversampled converter. In this brief, the authors introduce a digital calibration technique that allows the FRC architecture to provide high resolution at high input signal frequencies. A high-performance pipeline ADC is used as an auxiliary converter to measure the quantization effects of an oversampled primary converter in the FRC architecture. A practical ADC architecture using a digital gain error calibration technique produces a 15-bit 70-Msample/s converter with greater than 100-dB spurious-free dynamic range. Simulation results are used to validate the architecture and gain calibration technique
Real-time logics: complexity and expressiveness

A unifying framework for the study of real-time logics is developed. In analogy to the untimed case, the underlying classical theory of timed state sequences is identified, it is shown to be nonelementarily decidable, and its complexity and expressiveness are used as a point of reference. Two orthogonal extensions of PTL (timed propositional temporal logic and metric temporal logic) that inherit its appeal are defined: they capture elementary, yet expressively complete, fragments of the theory of timed state sequences, and thus are excellent candidates for practical real-time specification languages. >
Clinical outcome of internal iliac artery occlusions during endovascular treatment of aortoiliac aneurysmal diseases.

PURPOSE To determine the clinical outcome of hypogastric artery occlusion in patients who underwent endovascular treatment of aortoiliac aneurysmal disease. MATERIAL AND METHODS From January 1994 to March 1998, 94 patients underwent endovascular treatment of aneurysmal diseases involving the infra-abdominal aorta or iliac arteries. Preoperative and intraoperative radiologic data were reviewed. Discharge summaries, clinic visits, and phone calls formed the basis for clinical follow-up, with a mean follow-up period of 7.3 months (range, 1–24 months). RESULTS Because of the anatomy of the aneurysms, 28 patients required occlusion of one or more hypogastric arteries. One of the 28 patients died of unrelated causes before follow-up. Seven (26%) of the remaining 27 patients developed symptoms attributable to the hypogastric artery occlusions. Five patients developed new buttock or thigh claudication; of these five patients, three with initially mild symptoms noted complete or near complete resolution of symptoms upon follow-up. One patient with originally significant claudication at 2-year follow-up noted near resolution of symptoms. The other patient with severe pain did not improve significantly on final 1-year follow-up before his death (of unrelated causes). Other clinical complications were worsening sexual function in one patient and a nonhealing sacral decubitus ulcer that developed in a debilitated patient in the postoperative setting, which required surgery. No bowel ischemia was observed. CONCLUSION When treating aortoiliac aneurysmal disease through an endovascular approach, the occlusion of internal iliac artery is often necessary but carries with it a small but finite chance of morbidity.
PET Physics and Instrumentation

In this chapter the basic principles of positron emission tomography (PET) imaging will be introduced. The physics of coincidence detection and the instrumentation used to acquire PET data will be presented. Finally, the factors that degrade PET image quality and the correction techniques employed to compensate for these factors will be reviewed.
Scheduling heuristics for data requests in an oversubscribed network with priorities and deadlines

Providing up-to-date input to users' applications is an important data management problem for a distributed computing environment, where each data storage location and intermediate node may have specific data available, storage limitations, and communication links available. Sites in the network request data items and each request has an associated deadline and priority. This work concentrates on solving a basic version of the data staging problem in which all parameter values for the communication system and the data request information represent the best known information collected so far and stay fixed throughout the scheduling process. The network is assumed to be oversubscribed and not all requests for data items can be satisfied. A mathematical model for the basic data staging problem is given. Then, three multiple-source shortest-path algorithm based heuristics for finding a near-optimal schedule of the communication steps for staging the data are presented. Each heuristic can be used with each of four cost criteria developed. Thus, twelve implementations are examined. In addition, two different weightings for the relative importance of different priority levels are considered. The performance of the proposed heuristics is evaluated and compared by simulations. The proposed heuristics are shown to perform well with respect to upper and lower bounds. Furthermore, the heuristics and a complex cost criterion allow more highest priority messages to be received than a simple-cost-based heuristic that schedules all highest priority messages first.
Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM) in Minority Youth: Research Priorities and Needs

The prevalence of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) is increasing in Native American and African-American youth, with females more frequently affected than males. This increase is related to increasing rates of obesity and to the greater demand for insulin at adolescence. This review examines the epidemiologic data about NIDDM in minority youth and addresses questions about the type of diabetes minority youth have, the relative contributions of environment and genetics to their diabetes, and whether prevention or control is possible. The heterogeneity of NIDDM in the minority youth population includes: typical NIDDM; atypical diabetes mellitus (ADM), which has been described in a substantial number of African-American youngsters; and a small proportion with a range of defects in the pathway of insulin action. Clinical and experimental evidence that insulin resistance or insulin deficiency is the primary defect in NIDDM are reviewed, as is evidence that fetal undernutrition may be a contributing factor. The numerous reports of linkages, associations, and mutations or polymorphisms in candidate genes account for a very small proportion of non-type 1 diabetes. Environmental and genetic contributors to obesity are also important. Research issues relating to the questions discussed include the need for data comparing various populations and assessing risk factors associated with the epidemic of NIDDM and obesity, costs to the health system and attendant personal and societal costs, clarification of the types of NIDDM in minority populations that will permit appropriate therapy and counseling, and extensive studies of environmental and genetic factors. Genetic studies include a genome wide search and continued analysis for candidate genes for both NIDDM and obesity. Environmental factors for study include the role of fetal and perinatal nutrition and drug exposure. Finally, collaborative multicenter studies are needed of prevention or control of obesity and NIDDM.
Evidence for Trichloroethylene Bioactivation and Adduct Formation in the Rat Epididymis and Efferent Ducts

Recent studies indicate that trichloroethylene (TCE) may be a male reproductive toxicant. It is metabolized by conjugation with glutathione and cytochrome P450-dependent oxidation. Reactive metabolites produced along both pathways are capable of forming protein adducts and are thought to be involved in TCE-induced liver and kidney damage. Similarly, in situ bioactivation of TCE and subsequent binding of metabolites may be one mechanism by which TCE acts as a reproductive toxicant. Cysteine-conjugate b-lyase (b-lyase) bioactivates the TCE metabolite dichlorovinyl cysteine (DCVC) to a reactive intermediate that is capable of binding cellular macromolecules. In the present study, Western blot analysis indicated that the soluble form of b-lyase, but not the mitochondrial form, was present in the epididymis and efferent ducts. Both forms of b-lyase were detected in the kidney. When rats were dosed with DCVC, no protein adducts were detected in the epididymis or efferent ducts, although adducts were present in the proximal tubule of the kidney. Trichloroethylene can also be metabolized and form protein adducts through a cytochrome P450-mediated pathway. Western blot analysis detected the presence of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) in the efferent ducts. Immunoreactive proteins were localized to efferent duct and corpus epididymis epithelia. Metabolism of TCE was demonstrated in vitro using microsomes prepared from untreated rats. Metabolism was inhibited 77% when efferent duct microsomes were preincubated with an antibody to CYP2E1. Dichloroacetyl adducts were detected in epididymal and efferent duct microsomes exposed in vitro to TCE. Results from the present study indicate that the cytochrome P450-dependent formation of reactive intermediates and the subsequent covalent binding of cellular proteins may be involved in the male reproductive toxicity of TCE. environment, epididymis, male reproductive tract, toxicology
Fluctuation tests: how reliable are the estimates of mutation rates?

Fifty one years ago, Luria and Delbruck published in Genetics a paper that was to become a classic. In it they proved, beyond all reasonable doubt, that bacteria were mutating to phage resistance long before they could have encountered any bacteriophage. Luria and Delbruck also showed how the same experimental data could be used to estimate bacterial mutation rates. Since that time and in many different contexts the methods that they introduced have been used to estimate mutation rates. However, little seems to be known about the errors to be expected in such estimates. In what follows I examine how much uncertainty in the estimates is to be expected merely on the basis of the stochastic variability inherent in the sampling process. On the basis of this examination I question a few traditional ideas and conclude with some practical suggestions. The results were obtained by stimulation. It is my hope that they may inspire others to provide a rigorous theoretical basis for such calculations.
An array of microactuated microelectrodes for monitoring single-neuronal activity in rodents

Arrays of microelectrodes used for monitoring single- and multi-neuronal action potentials often fail to record from the same population of neurons over a period of time for several technical and biological reasons. We report here a novel Neural Probe chip with a 3-channel microactuated microelectrode array that will enable precise repositioning of the individual microelectrodes within the brain tissue after implantation. Thermal microactuators and associated microelectrodes in the Neural Probe chip are microfabricated using the Sandia's Ultraplanar Multi-level MEMS Technology (SUMMiTV) process, a 5-layer polysilicon micromachining technology of the Sandia National labs, Albuquerque, NM. The Neural Probe chip enables precise bi-directional positioning of the microelectrodes in the brain with a step resolution in the order of 8.8 /spl mu/m. The thermal microactuators allow for a linear translation of the microelectrodes of up to 5 mm in either direction making it suitable for positioning microelectrodes in deep structures of a rodent brain. The overall translation in either direction was reduced to approximately 2 mm after insulation of the microelectrodes with epoxy for monitoring multi-unit activity. Single unit recordings were obtained from the somatosensory cortex of adult rats over a period of three days demonstrating the feasibility of this technology. Further optimization of the microelectrode insulation and chip packaging will be necessary before this technology can be validated in chronic experiments.
West Nile virus-infected dead corvids increase the risk of infection in Culex mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in domestic landscapes.

Abstract A comparative study of West Nile virus (family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus, WNV) infection rates in Culex mosquitoes collected at 13 sites, seven reporting WNV-positive dead corvids (case sites) and six without reported dead birds (control sites) was conducted in Davis, CA, from 14 to 21 July at the beginning of the 2006 WNV outbreak. In total, 3,051 Culex mosquitoes were collected using gravid traps and CO2-baited traps; WNV-infected mosquitoes were only collected with CO2-baited traps. WNV-infected Culex pipiens L. were collected at one of the seven case sites. Six of seven case sites yielded WNV-infected Culex tarsalis Coquillett, whereas only one of six control sites had WNV-infected Cx. tarsalis. Overall, the odds of finding WNV-positive mosquitoes were 19.75 times greater at sites reporting a WNV-infected dead corvid than sites without a WNV-infected dead corvid. Maximum likelihood estimates of the overall infection rates at the case sites were 3.48/1,000 for Cx. tarsalis and 8.69/1,000 ...
Die chirurgische Therapie des Prostata-Carcinoms

Dieser Vortrag wird sich nur auf das Adenocarcinom und seine operative Therapie beschranken. Im Rahmen der Diskussion wird neben der radikalen Prostatektomie und Lymphadenektomie ebenso die Bedeutung der Strahlenbehandlung in Verbindung mit der Lymphadenektomie angeschnitten werden. Nicht besprochen werden die transurethrale Operation und Operationen am Hoden, an der Hypophyse oder Nebenniere als rein palliative Masnahmen in der Behandlung des metastasierten Adenocarcinoms der Prostata.
The Impoverishment of Native Hawaiians and the Social Work Challenge

Native Hawaiians, the people indigenous to the Hawaiian Islands, are impoverished in quality of life. Only recently has the myth that native Hawaiians are a carefree people living in a tropical paradise been dispelled. The number of health and mental health problems confronting native Hawaiians is alarming; their general health status is far below that of other U.S. population groups. It is urgent that social workers begin to examine the unique circumstances of native Hawaiians and encourage professional support for the planning of culturally appropriate services for this population.