cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
GUY1 confers complete female lethality and is a strong candidate for a male-determining factor in Anopheles stephensi

Despite their importance in sexual differentiation and reproduction, Y chromosome genes are rarely described because they reside in repeat-rich regions that are difficult to study. Here, we show that Guy1, a unique Y chromosome gene of a major urban malaria mosquito Anopheles stephensi, confers 100% female lethality when placed on the autosomes. We show that the small GUY1 protein (56 amino acids in length) causes female lethality and that males carrying the transgene are reproductively more competitive than their non-transgenic siblings under laboratory conditions. The GUY1 protein is a primary signal from the Y chromosome that affects embryonic development in a sex-specific manner. Our results have demonstrated, for the first time in mosquitoes, the feasibility of stable transgenic manipulation of sex ratios using an endogenous gene from the male-determining chromosome. These results provide insights into the elusive M factor and suggest exciting opportunities to reduce mosquito populations and disease transmission.
Through the Google Glass: The impact of heads-up displays on visual attention.

In five experiments, we evaluated how secondary information presented on a heads-up display (HUD) impacts performance of a concurrent visual attention task. To do so, we had participants complete a primary visual search task under a variety of secondary load conditions (a single word presented on Google Glass during each search trial). Processing of secondary information was measured through a recognition memory task. Other manipulations included relevance (Experiments 1–4) and temporal onset of secondary information relative to the primary task (Experiment 3). Secondary information was always disruptive to the visual search, regardless of temporal onset and even when participants were instructed to ignore it. These patterns were evident in search tasks reflective of both selective (Experiments 1–3) and preattentive (Experiment 4) attentional mechanisms, and were not a result of onset-offset attentional capture (Experiment 5). Recognition memory for secondary information was always above chance. Our findings suggest that HUD-based visual information is profoundly disruptive to attentional processes and largely immune to user-centric prioritization.
Enteral administration of protein supplement and valproate: A potential pharmacokinetic interaction.

Abstract Background: Valproic acid (VPA) and its derivatives are highly protein bound. Certain highly protein bound medications (eg, phenytoin) have specific administration instructions for patient...
Risk-based attack surface approximation: how much data is enough?

Proactive security reviews and test efforts are a necessary component of the software development lifecycle. Resource limitations often preclude reviewing the entire code base. Making informed decisions on what code to review can improve a team's ability to find and remove vulnerabilities. Risk-based attack surface approximation (RASA) is a technique that uses crash dump stack traces to predict what code may contain exploitable vulnerabilities. The goal of this research is to help software development teams prioritize security efforts by the efficient development of a risk-based attack surface approximation. We explore the use of RASA using Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Windows stack traces from crash dumps. We create RASA at the file level for Firefox, in which the 15.8% of the files that were part of the approximation contained 73.6% of the vulnerabilities seen for the product. We also explore the effect of random sampling of crashes on the approximation, as it may be impractical for organizations to store and process every crash received. We find that 10-fold random sampling of crashes at a rate of 10% resulted in 3% less vulnerabilities identified than using the entire set of stack traces for Mozilla Firefox. Sampling crashes in Windows 8.1 at a rate of 40% resulted in insignificant differences in vulnerability and file coverage as compared to a rate of 100%.
Cord Blood Stem Cells: Current Uses and Future Challenges

Cord blood was recognized in the 1980s as a readily available source of stem cells for patients in need of transplant but unable to identify suitable bone marrow donors. The creation of cord blood banks enabled more than 35,000 such transplants over the next 20 years. Recently, cord blood stem cells have been utilized in many non-traditional applications involving regenerative medicine. In fact, cord blood stem cell use in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering now outnumbers cord blood transplant use by 3–5 to 1. This short editorial describes the history of cord blood clinical use and the current indications for future cord blood stem cell use.
Nonlinear micro-CT based FE modeling of trabecular bone-Sensitivity of apparent response to tissue constitutive law and bone volume fraction.

In this study, the sensitivity of the apparent response of trabecular bone to different constitutive models at the tissue level was investigated using finite element (FE) modeling based on micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). Trabecular bone specimens from porcine femurs were loaded under a uniaxial compression experimentally and computationally. The apparent behaviors computed using von Mises, Drucker-Prager, and Cast Iron plasticity models were compared. Secondly, the effect of bone volume fraction was studied by changing the bone volume fraction of a trabecular bone sample while keeping the same basic architecture. Also, constitutive models' parameters of the tissue were calibrated for porcine bone, and the effects of different parameters on resulting apparent response were investigated through a parametric study. The calibrated effective tissue elastic modulus of porcine trabecular bone was 10±1.2 GPa, which is in the lower range of modulus values reported in the literature for human and bovine trabecular bones (4-23.8 GPa). It was also observed that, unlike elastic modulus, yield properties of tissue could not be uniquely calibrated by fitting an apparent response from simulations to experiments under a uniaxial compression. Our results demonstrated that using these 3 tissue constitutive models had only a slight effect on the apparent response. As expected, there was a significant change in the apparent response with varying bone volume fraction. Also, both apparent modulus and maximum stress had a linear relation with bone volume fraction.
Three-Dimensional Reservoir-Based Dielectrophoresis (rDEP) for Enhanced Particle Enrichment

Selective enrichment of target species is crucial for a wide variety of engineering systems for improved performance of subsequent processes. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) is a powerful electrokinetic method that can be used to focus, trap, concentrate, and separate a variety of species in a label-free manner. The commonly employed methods for DEP suffer from limitations such as electrode fouling and high susceptibility to Joule heating effects. Recently, our group has demonstrated DEP-based manipulations of particles and cells using a novel method of reservoir-based dielectrophoresis (rDEP) which exploits the naturally produced electric field gradients at the reservoir-microchannel junction. Although this method reasonably addresses the limitations mentioned above while maintaining a high simplicity of fabrication, all of our demonstrations so far have used a two-dimensional rDEP, which limits the performance of the devices. This work aims to improve their performance further by making the DEP three-dimensional. Through detailed experimental and numerical analysis, we demonstrate a six-fold increase in the enrichment performance of latex beads and a significant reduction in the power consumption for the new devices, which would allow a more reliable integration of the same into micro-total analysis systems.
Homeobox Genes and the Male Reproductive System

Ever since the pioneering work of Jacob and Monad in the 1960s, it has been clear that there is a class of genes that dictates biological events by regulating the transcription of subordinate downstream genes. Drosophila geneticists hypothesized that mutations in these regulatory genes were responsible for a bizarre set of phenotypes in a class of mutant flies, in which there were striking partial or complete transformations of body segments. For example, the bithorax homeotic mutation converts the identity of the haltere-carrying thoracic segment into a wing-carrying segment, thereby generating four-winged flies. The antennapedia homeotic mutation transforms the antennae on the head into legs.
An introduction to algebraic semiotics, with application to user interface design

This paper introduces a new approach to user interface design and other areas, called algebraic semiotics. The approach is based on a notion of sign, which allows complex hierarchical structure and incorporates the insight (emphasized by Saussure) that signs come in systems, and should be studied at that level, rather than individually. A user interface can be considered as a representation of the underlying functionality to which it provides access, and thus user interface design can be considered a craft of constructing such representations, where both the interface and the underlying functionality are considered as (structured) sign systems. In this setting, representations appear as mappings, or morphisms, between sign systems, which should preserve as much structure as possible. This motivates developing a calculus having systematic ways to combine signs, sign systems, and representations. One important mode of composition is blending, introduced by Fauconnier and Turner; we relate this to certain concepts from the very abstract area of mathematics called category theory. Applications for algebraic semiotics include not only user interface design, but also cognitive linguistics, especially metaphor theory and cognitive poetics. The main contribution of this paper is the precision it can bring to such areas. Building on an insight from computer science, that discrete structures can be described by algebraic theories, sign systems are defined to be algebraic theories with extra structure, and semiotic morphisms are defined to be mappings of algebraic theories that (to some extent) preserve the extra structure. As an aid for practical design, we show that the quality of representations is closely related to the preservation properties of semiotic morphisms; these measures of quality also provide the orderings needed by our category theoretic formulation of blending.
Many-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm Based on Preference

I0558. A preference model is designed to describe the preference of the decision makers, which consists of the reference point, preference angle. Then, a set of weight vectors distributed uniformly in the whole target region is projected into the preference region based on the preference model. These preference weight vectors are integrated into a many objective particle swarm optimization algorithm. Compared with two algorithms on a number of many objective benchmark problems, the effectiveness of IR2-MaPSO-PRE is validated.
Adaptive Load Current Feedforward Control of Pulsed Output Current Converters

Certain DC-DC converter topologies (e.g. boost) are characterized by pulsed output current which translates into a Right-Half-Plane-Zero (RHPZ) in their transfer function. This behavior constrains the achievable closed-loop bandwidth, posing severe limitations to the converter’s dynamic performance. In this work, load current feedforward control technique is investigated in order to minimize the RHPZ impact. The proposed solution employs differentiation of the boost converter’s output voltage for the estimation of the load current. The level of the estimated feedforward signal is set to the near-optimal theoretical value by employment of an auto-tuning circuitry. The feedforward signal is then combined with the peak current mode control loop. The auto-tuning circuitry makes the approach less dependent on converter’s parameters like output capacitance and duty cycle.
Effect of tillage on macronutrients in soil and wheat of a long-term dryland wheat-pea rotation

Abstract Tillage is known to significantly affect crop residue decomposition and soil nutrient dynamics, but the impacts of tillage on soil and plant macronutrients concentration with time have not been reported. This study was conducted (i) to assess the influence of tillage timing and intensity on soil and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) macronutrient concentration of a winter wheat-dry pea (Pisum sativum L.) rotation (WW-P) under a dryland cropping system, and (ii) to compare macronutrients in the tillage treatments with a nearby long-term grass pasture (GP). The tillage treatments were fall tillage (FT), spring tillage (ST), no-tillage (NT) and disk/chisel tillage (DT/CT). Soil samples from 1995, 2005, and 2015 were analyzed to determine the concentration of soil organic carbon (SOC), total N and S, Mehlich III extractable P, K, Ca, and Mg, and soil pH. The impact of tillage on soil macronutrient concentration was evident after 52 years of WW-P. As a result, greater concentration of SOC, total S, and extractable P, and K were observed under NT than under FT or ST. The WW-P plots lost 28, 46, and 67% of SOC, Mg, and S, respectively, in the top 10 cm of soil compared with the GP plots, whereas the NT plots were the only plots in WW-P to maintain a P concentration (99 mg P kg−1) comparable with GP plots (102 mg P kg−1) at the same depth. The results indicated that NT could be beneficial to recharge the soil nutrient pool over time compared to FT or ST.
Molecules and morphology reveal 'new' widespread North American freshwater mussel species (Bivalvia: Unionidae).

Abstract In the Family Unionidae, the greatest radiation of freshwater mussels, malacologists have been misled by extreme intraspecific shell variation and conversely interspecific conchological stasis or convergence. We characterized the genetic and morphological diversity of two phenotypes of Lampsilis teres from specimens (n = 108) collected across its distribution using geometric and traditional morphometrics and multilocus molecular phylogenetics to test the hypothesis that phenotypes represent separate species. Results from our morphometric and molecular phylogenetic analyses unanimously indicate that L. teres sensu lato is made up of two divergent, widespread species with overlapping distributions. We describe a new species and provide a revised description of L. teres sensu stricto. We use morphometrics and machine-learning classification algorithms to test if shell morphology alone can be used to discriminate between these species. Classification percentages of 97.02% and 93.86% demonstrate that shell morphology is highly informative for species identification. This study highlights our lack of understanding of species diversity of freshwater mussels and the importance of multiple characters and quantitative approaches to species delimitation.
Deactivating a Pacemaker in Home Care Hospice: Experiences of the Family Caregivers of a Terminally Ill Patient.

Objectives:Although the experiences of family members who care for relatives at the end of life have been researched extensively, little is known about the needs and experiences of families caring ...
Requirements Analysis for the System Level Design of Smart Work Zones

The road work zone crash statistical data indicate that there is a clear need for more efficient and effective safety devices and methods in work zones. This paper focuses on developing an initial requirements analysis for smart work zone safety systems. It is anticipated that work zones can benefit from systems that integrate reliable and effective detectors with fast and efficient data dissemination technologies. Such systems can be employed in work zones and generate timely and customized alerts within the vicinity of the area to prevent accidents. The advances in the areas of sensor design, artificial intelligent systems, image analysis tools, low cost mobile computing devices, advanced wireless networks, and web applications can be translated and fused into integrative systems and reliable methods that enable the implementation and operation of safer work zones. A successful requirements analysis constitutes the first step towards building systems that meet the needs of various stakeholders. This paper gives an account of the major requirements that need to be met by effective smart work zones to address the problem of work zone accidents.
OCTANE: Oncology Clinical Trial Annotation Engine.

PURPOSEMany targeted therapies are currently available only via clinical trials. Therefore, routine precision oncology using biomarker-based assignment to drug depends on matching patients to clini...
Intrinsic Functional Connectivity is Organized as Three Interdependent Gradients

The intrinsic functional architecture of the brain supports moment-to-moment maintenance of an internal model of the world. We hypothesized and found three interdependent architectural gradients underlying the organization of intrinsic functional connectivity within the human cerebral cortex. We used resting state fMRI data from two samples of healthy young adults (N’s = 280 and 270) to generate functional connectivity maps of 109 seeds culled from published research, estimated their pairwise similarities, and multidimensionally scaled the resulting similarity matrix. We discovered an optimal three-dimensional solution, accounting for 98% of the variance within the similarity matrix. The three dimensions corresponded to three gradients, which spatially correlate with two functional features (external vs. internal sources of information; content representation vs. attentional modulation) and one structural feature (anatomically central vs. peripheral) of the brain. Remapping the three dimensions into coordinate space revealed that the connectivity maps were organized in a circumplex structure, indicating that the organization of intrinsic connectivity is jointly guided by graded changes along all three dimensions. Our findings emphasize coordination between multiple, continuous functional and anatomical gradients, and are consistent with the emerging predictive coding perspective.
Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and the Integration of Central American Unaccompanied Minors

Although research has advanced our understanding of immigrant integration, understanding how this integration occurs in concert with or in contrast to legal processing remains unexplored. Drawing on ethnographic research of the lived experiences of Central American unaccompanied minors, this analysis focuses on how special immigrant juvenile (SIJ) status affects the initial integration of unaccompanied minors into the key social institutions of the home, school, and work. I argue that the integration effects of SIJ status are two-pronged. The first involves the effects of the process and structure of legal relief, in this case, through a bifurcated system of local (family court) and federal governance (immigration court and federal agencies). The second encompasses the collateral effects on the unaccompanied minor’s social networks and relationships.
Max Schrems' European Court of Justice odyssey: standing up for privacy rights

How one privacy activist took on Facebook, the European Commission, and the United States to protect the rights of European citizens, and prevailed.
Evaluation of Factors Affecting Erodibility Improvement for MICP-Treated Beach Sand

AbstractMicrobially induced calcite precipitation (MICP) was used to treat several sandboxes filled with naturally occurring beach sand collected from Atlantic Beach, Florida. A surface-spray/perco...
Revelation in Christianity

In this chapter the place and forms of revelation in the Christian tradition are discussed. For Christianity the revelation to Mary by the angel Gabriel that while a virgin she will give birth to a son to be named Jesus is foundational. Other biblical Christian revelations are recounted, and the revelatory nature of Jesus’ actions and words is noted. Also in the evolving Christian tradition there is a place for mystical revelations, as received, for instance, by St. Teresa of Avila, for revelatory Marian visions, and for more commonplace quiet revelations received by believers. These forms of Christian revelation are also given attention.
Etiometry’s T3 Heuristic Evaluation:

Five students and a Human Factors Psychology professor participated in a heuristic evaluation of clinical decision support software, called T3, to help improve usability. T3 gathers physiological m...
Asymmetric Arp2/3-mediated actin assembly facilitates clathrin-mediated endocytosis at stalled sites in genome-edited human stem cells

Actin filament assembly facilitates vesicle formation in several trafficking pathways including clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME)1,2. However, how actin assembly forces are harnessed has not been fully revealed for any vesicle forming process. In this study, three-dimensional (3D) super-resolution microscopy, live-cell imaging of triple-genome-edited, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), and newly developed machine-learning-based computational analysis tools, were used to comprehensively analyze assembly dynamics and geometry of proteins representing three different CME functional modules. When hundreds of CME events with and without associated Arp2/3-dependent actin network assembly were compared, sites with actin assembly showed a distinct delay between completion of endocytic coat expansion and vesicle scission, consistent with the notion that these were stalled sites requiring actin assembly forces to complete vesicle formation. Importantly, our analysis showed that N-WASP is preferentially recruited to one side of CME sites, where it stimulates actin assembly asymmetrically. These results indicate that in mammalian cells actin assembly is induced at stalled CME sites, where asymmetric forces pull the plasma membrane into the cell much like a bottle opener pulls off a bottle cap.
Application of field-modulated generator systems to dispersed solar thermal electric generation

The state-of-the-art of field modulated generation system (FMGS) is presented, and the application of FMGS to dispersed solar thermal electric generation is discussed. The control and monitoring requirements for solar generation system are defined. A comparison is presented between the FMGS approach and other options and the technological development needs are discussed.
C. de Dominicis and I. Giardina: Random fields and spin glasses: a field theory approach

The Wilsonian field theoretic approach has made its important and lasting mark on the theory of critical phenomena. Many heavy tomes have been dedicated to its mastery and explanation of its baroque details. This book comes on the wake of the Wilsonian revolution and deals with the intricacies of applying the field theoretic methods to the analysis of disordered systems, most notably the Random Field Ising Model and the Ising Spin Glass. It is written in masterly and elegant fashion by two remarkable researchers who have themselves, in particular prof. De Dominicis, fundamentally contributed to the subject. It is definitely not an introductory book, assumes a detailed knowledge of the field theory, and as such I can only recommend it either to researchers already working on disordered systems or advanced graduate students and postdocs. The authors masterly wield the various methods of field theory in order to “clarify and unify” via its mathematical language some of, in their opinion, more cryptic and pointed details of the theory of disordered systems. As already stated, this is not an introductory book but it is an interesting treatise on the intricacies of the various advanced and little known methods and techniques of the field theory, that can be applied to the various aspects of the theory of disordered systems. The book grew out of a set of lectures delivered by Prof. De Dominicis at Saclay and Porto Alegre that later grew into a book with the participation of his postdoc, Irene Giardina. The focus of this book are the unifying features of the disordered systems that can be adequately represented within the field theoretic language. The book is not exhaustive but represents rather a set of beautiful formal vignettes on some aspects of the field theoretic approach to disordered systems that do not require too much space and do not completely exhaust the reader with arcane details, but are never really very far from this. It is written in lapidary style and tells just enough to provide a meaningful framework for the formal developments. A typical example of its style being the first chapter, “A brief introduction”, that sets down the basics of the disordered systems in seven pages starting with quenched
Signal transduction in histidine kinases: insights from new structures.

Histidine kinases (HKs) are major players in bacterial signaling. There has been an explosion of new HK crystal structures in the last 5 years. We globally analyze the structures of HKs to yield insights into the mechanisms by which signals are transmitted to and across protein structures in this family. We interpret known enzymological data in the context of new structural data to show how asymmetry across the dimer interface is a key feature of signal transduction in HKs, and discuss how different HK domains undergo asymmetric to symmetric transitions during signal transduction and catalysis. A thermodynamic framework for signaling that encompasses these various properties is presented, and the consequences of weak thermodynamic coupling are discussed. The synthesis of observations from enzymology, structural biology, protein engineering, and thermodynamics paves the way for a deeper molecular understanding of HK signal transduction.
Prognostic factors in recurrent glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma treated with selective intra-arterial chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Factors predictive of primary brain tumor outcome have been studied extensively, although the prognostic value of radiologic data, such as MR imaging and angiographic characteristics, has not been studied in depth. The purpose of this study was to determine whether radiologic data were prognostic factors among patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme and anaplastic astrocytoma treated with selective intra-arterial chemotherapy. METHODS: Forty-six patients were enrolled in a Phase II study of intra-arterial chemotherapy with carboplatin and Cereport (Alkermes Inc.; Cambridge, MA), a bradykinin analog that selectively increases permeability of the blood-tumor barrier. MR imaging volumes of enhancing tumor, resection cavity, and T2 signal abnormality were measured with T1-weighted and T2-weighted sequences. Volumes were analyzed individually and in various combinations. Tumor vascularity was graded on angiograms. Outcome was measured by time to tumor progression and survival. RESULTS: Of 46 patients included in this study, 41 underwent evaluation. Thirty were male and 11 were female; mean age was 48.5 years. Karnofsky scores ranged from 70 to 100. Thirty-two patients had glioblastoma multiforme, whereas nine had anaplastic astrocytoma. Twenty-eight patients had tumor progression and 13 had stable disease. Twenty-three patients died after an average of 205 days; 18 were surviving at an average of 324 days from the start of intra-arterial chemotherapy. In multivariate analysis, time from diagnosis to intra-arterial chemotherapy was predictive both of time to tumor progression and survival. Net tumor volume and vascularity also were significant for survival. Age, Karnofsky performance status, histologic findings, gender, MR imaging area, resection cavity volume, T2 signal abnormality volume, and various combined volumes were not significant. CONCLUSION: If confirmed by further studies, radiologic factors such as tumor volume and angiographic vascularity should be considered in design and stratification of future chemotherapy trials.
A PROCEDURE FOR QUANTITATIVE DETERMINATION OF THE DIAPHORASE ACTIVITY OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE.

A quantitative procedure is described in which the diaphorase activity of samples with a high connective-tissue content is measured visually through determination of the decolorization time of 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol in the presence of DPNH and NaCN. The decolorization time values are directly converted to standard Mahler diaphorase units.
Numerical model of solar dynamic radiator for parametric analysis

Extensive thermal and power cycle modeling have been developed for Space Station Freedom electric power system design and analysis. A simple and flexible numerical model simulates heat transfer and fluid flow performance of the radiator and calculates area, mass, and impact survivability for many combinations of flow tube and panel configurations, fluid and material properties, and environmental and cycle variations. A brief description and discussion are presented of the numerical model, its capabilities and limitations, and results of the parametric studies performed to date. >
Oxygen Release from Rice Seedlings

Oxygen release from root systems of individual rice seedlings was measured polarographically employing an oxygen monitor with a Clark electrode. The oxidizing capacity of four rice varieties was correlated with their relative yielding abilities and with their reactions to Straighthead (SH) and Mild Sulfide Disease (MSD). These data support previous findings which link SH and MSD with rice-toxic levels of soluble sulfides in Gulf Coast (U.S.A.) rice soils containing excess iron.
Lithium transport within the solid electrolyte interphase

Abstract A LiClO4 SEI film grown on copper was examined with time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The SEI porosity profile and Li+ transport processes within the SEI were studied with isotopically labeled 6LiBF4 electrolyte. An ~ 5 nm porous region, into which electrolytes can easily diffuse, was observed at the electrolyte/SEI interface. Below the porous region, a densely packed layer of Li2O and/or Li2CO3 prevents electrolyte diffusion, but Li+ transports through this region via ion exchange.
The sociology of language in Johann David Michaelis's dissertation of 1760

In 1759 Johann David Michaelis won a prize from the Prussian Royal Academy for his essay Beantwortung der Frage von dem Einfluss der Meinungen in die Sprache, und der sprache in die Meinungen. The essay was published in the following year and translated into French in 1762, into English in 1769, and into Dutch in 1771. The work has two major themes--linguistic relativity and language change--with ancillary discussions of language in general and of homonymy. Its most significant contribution to the theory of language is its discussion of linguistic relativity, especially in its manifestations in the influence of language on thought. Given the intellectual milieu of the work where inquiry was centered on the origin of language and language universals, it stands as one of the few discussions of this topic and it is also one of the most fruitful discussions of linguistic relativity for any period of history.
Evaluation of a generalized model of human postural dynamics and control in the sagittal plane

A two-step identification method is used to evaluate a generalized model of human postural control in the sagittal plane. Postural dynamics are represented as a planar open-chain linkage system supported by a triangular foot. The control mechanism is modeled as a state feedback element in which the torque acting at a given link is an arbitrary function of the state variables -- angles and angular velocities. To validate the approach, six normal subjects underwent two series of experiments. The first series were used to determine an appropriate model of the system dynamics. The second series were used to estimate the parameters of the feedback model. A computer simulation of the complete system shows that the model predictions closely match the observed responses. These results suggest that the proposed model provides a useful framework for analysis of postural control mechanisms.
Ionic configuration of the Li+ : KCl system

Abstract A simple polarizable point ion model has yielded off-center minima for the energy of the Li+ : KCl system relative to movement of the Li+ ion along the and directions. The minimum is over twice as deep as that along the direction. Two modifications of the usual Born-Mayer model are described which remove the polarization catastrophe without affecting the minima.
Improving the in-flight security by employing seat occupancy sensors based on Fiber Bragg grating technology

The current schemes of detecting the status of passengers in airplanes cannot satisfy the more strict regulations recently released by the United States Transportation Security Administration. In basis of investigation on the current seat occupancy sensors for vehicles, in this paper we present a novel scheme of seat occupancy sensors based on Fiber Bragg Grating technology to improve the in-flight security of airplanes. This seat occupancy sensor system can be used to detect the status of passengers and to trigger the airbags to control the inflation of air bags, which have been installed in the airplanes of some major airlines under the new law. This scheme utilizes our previous research results of Weight-In- Motion sensor system based on optical fiber Bragg grating. In contrast to the current seat occupancy sensors for vehicles, this new seat occupancy sensor has so many merits that it is very suitable to be applied in aerospace industry or high speed railway system. Moreover, combined with existing Fiber Bragg Grating strain or temperature sensor systems built in airplanes, this proposed method can construct a complete airline passenger management system.© (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Energy Gaps in Graphene Nanoribbons

Based on a first-principles approach, we present scaling rules for the band gaps of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) as a function of their widths. The GNRs considered have either armchair or zigzag shaped edges on both sides with hydrogen passivation. Both varieties of ribbons are shown to have band gaps. This differs from the results of simple tight-binding calculations or solutions of the Dirac's equation based on them. Our ab initio calculations show that the origin of energy gaps for GNRs with armchair shaped edges arises from both quantum confinement and the crucial effect of the edges. For GNRs with zigzag shaped edges, gaps appear because of a staggered sublattice potential on the hexagonal lattice due to edge magnetization. The rich gap structure for ribbons with armchair shaped edges is further obtained analytically including edge effects. These results reproduce our ab initio calculation results very well.
Vibrational transitions in the non-linearly driven oscillator: role of a time-varying frequency

Abstract An operator-algebraic approach is used to study the role of time-varying frequency in vibrational transitions in molecular collisions. The time-evolution operator is constructed in terms of the number, one-quantum, and direct two-quantum operators. The evolution of vibrational states in a homonuclear diatomic molecule forced by an incident particle of the same mass is presented. The effect of the time-dependent frequency on 0 → 1, O → 2, and 0 → 3 is found to be important over a wide range of collision energies. Two-quantum processes interfere destructively with one-quantum processes at lower energies but constructively at higher energies.
Identification and characterization of dipeptidyl peptidase IV enzyme activity in the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus)

Abstract Serum from the American crocodile was assayed for dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP4) activity. We measured the DPP4-mediated hydrolysis of Ala–Pro–AFC. The generation of AFC was dependent on the titer of serum, with significant DPP4 activity (0.20 ± 0.03 nmol product formed) measured using only 2 μL of crocodile serum, with maximum activity measured using 500 μL of serum. The hydrolysis of substrate was inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner by diprotin A, a specific inhibitor of DPP4 activity, indicating that this activity was due to the presence of DPP4. The crocodile serum DPP4 exhibited classical Michaelis–Menten kinetics, with Km and Vmax extrapolated, by double-reciprocal plot, to be 14.7 ± 1.3 μM and 75.5 ± 4.3 nmol/min, respectively. Crocodile DPP4 catalyzed the hydrolysis of Ala–Pro–AFC rapidly, with substantial activity measured within 5 min of the addition of substrate. After an initial rapid increase in activity, near maximal activity (7.43 ± 0.24 nmol product formed) measured at 180 min. Crocodile serum DPP4 activity was temperature-dependent, with steadily increased activity from 5 to 40 °C.
Does the Transactional-Transformational Leadership Paradigm Transcend Organizational and National Boundaries?

There is universality in the transactional-transformational leadership paradigm. That is, the same conception of phenomena and relationships can be observed in a wide range of organizations and cultures. Exceptions can be understood as a consequence of unusual attributes of the organizations or cultures. Three corollaries are discussed. Supportive evidence has been gathered in studies conducted in organizations in business, education, the military, the government, and the independent sector. Likewise, supportive evidence has been accumulated from all but 1 continent to document the applicability of the paradigm.
Belief Polarity: a Useful Construct for Studies of Prejudice:

A construct named "belief polarity" was introduced as a plausible index of racial prejudice. Pilot studies were described in which an instrument to measure belief polarity (the Belief Polarity Scal...
Chronological Patterns and Issues Precipitating Grieving Over the Course of Caregiving Among Family Caregivers of Persons with Dementia

This study examines the patterns of grieving among caregivers of patients with dementia over the course of the caregiving period. We interviewed (by telephone) spouses and adult children of dementia patients (n = 87) who had received care at two geriatrics clinics 2 to 9 months after the patient's death. There appeared to be significant heterogeneity among caregivers in the chronological patterns of grieving and in issues that precipitated grief over the caregiving period. The chronological patterns of grieving prior to death could be characterized as: grieving at one point in time, grieving at multiple points in time, or grieving continuously. Issues precipitating grieving were: initial diagnosis; declines in function, cognition, and health; behavioral symptoms; interpersonal issues; nursing home placement; and nearing death. Implications for discussion of grief-related issues practice and in palliative care and caregiver support programs are discussed.
Behavioral and electrophysiological measures of auditory change detection in children following late cochlear implantation: A preliminary study

Abstract Objective The purpose of the current study was to longitudinally assess the development of automatic sound feature discrimination and compare it to behavioral discrimination in late-implanted cochlear implant users. Methods Scalp-recorded auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) and behavioral discrimination of frequency, duration and intensity differences within an oddball paradigm using complex stimuli were recorded in three late-implanted cochlear implant subjects beginning on turn-on day. Results Variable results were obtained in behavioral and AEPs that were consistent with the amount of pre-implant auditory experience each subject had. The best user showed rapid development of neurophysiologic indices of change detection along with improvement in behavioral and real-world auditory skills. In contrast, there were no recordable AEPs in the poorer CI user and there was little change in behavioral outcomes. Conclusion There is evidence of utilization of usual auditory processing pathways in the AEPs of some children who receive cochlear implants late in their childhood. Some plasticity in the auditory cortical pathways may be present despite prolonged auditory deprivation in school-aged children who are late-implanted cochlear implant recipients.
Laminar/turbulent oscillating flow in circular pipes

A two-dimensional oscillating flow analysis was conducted simulating the gas flow inside Stirling engine heat exchangers. Both laminar and turbulent oscillating pipe flow were investigated numerically for Re(max) = 1920 (Va = 80), 10,800 (Va = 272), 19,300 (Va = 272), and 60,800 (Va = 126). The results are compared with experimental results of previous investigators. Predictions of the flow regime are also checked by comparing velocity amplitudes and phase difference with those from laminar theory and quasi-steady profile. A high Reynolds number k-epsilon turbulence model was used for turbulent oscillating pipe flow. Finally, the performance of the k-epsilon model was evaluated to explore the applicability of quasi-steady turbulent models to unsteady oscillating flow analysis.
When You Can't Find the Perfect Match: Using the Accumulated Most Similar Design in Case Studies

What happens when you want to use a most similar case study design for a small-N study, but you cannot find a particular pair of cases where all of the relevant, competing explanations are held constant? It is proposed here that scholars and teachers could employ or teach the “accumulated most-similar/crucial case design.” This design uses two or more partially flawed most similar designs to work like a “prefect” most similar design. This method allows you to hold all the rivals or alternative explanations constant in at least one match. It also can be employed with a crucial case aspect. This methodology is outlined theoretically, and then it is illustrated with the study of trade orientation in four matched pairs of sub-Saharan African countries from 1966–1986. The article shows how you can “fix” the most similar design by expanding it when the “perfect” design eludes us. This approach should be of interest to scholars and teachers of comparative politics, international relations, methodology, regional ...
Effective dimensionality crossover for superconducting surfaces in parallel magnetic fields

The superconducting fluctuations above ${T}_{c}$ in the presence of a magnetic field parallel to the surface are known to be one dimensional (1D) in the bulk and 2D near the surface. The crossover between these two behaviors is studied as a function of the surface boundary condition on the order parameter. Similar effects can be obtained due to the proximity of an additional surface, in the case of a film, as found by Thompson. The parameter governing the crossover is an effective mass related to the dependence of the eigenvalue of the Ginzburg-Landau equation on the distance from the surface. Predictions for the surface specific heat and static impedance and their crossovers from 1D to 2D behaviors are obtained. For a film with a "critical" thickness of $\ensuremath{\sim}1.8{\ensuremath{\xi}}_{T}$, Gaussian exponents of 5/4 for the divergences of the above quantities are obtained. This corresponds to an effective dimensionality of 3/2, and is due to the fact that the dependence of the Ginzburg-Landau free energy on one of the momentum components becomes quartic. The same happens more generally in other $k$-space instabilities (Lifschitz multicritical points). The statement about the above effective change in dimensionality is also proved to order $\ensuremath{\epsilon}=4\ensuremath{-}d$ in a renormalization-group calculation.
New evaluation of muon (g − 2) hadronic anomaly☆

Abstract The hadronic part a H of the muon g -factor anomaly a ≡ (g − 2) 2 is evaluated from latest data on σ (e + e − → hadrons). For a p-wave ππ scattering length of a 1 = 0.04±0.005 we calculate a H = (66±10) × 10 −9 , compared to a (experiment) − a (QED) = (60±29) × 10 −9 . Half of the uncertainty on a H is associated with the energy interval 0.92 s GeV .
Laparoscopic approach to gallstones in the morbidly obese patient.

Obesity has been suggested to be a contraindication to laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC). In our center, in which all patients presenting with symptomatic gallstones are considered to be candidates for LC, 24 of the first 325 LC candidates were retrospectively found to be morbidly obese. In all, 20 were women and 4 were men. The average age was 51 years (range 32 to 83 years); the average height and weight amounted to 72 inches and 298 pounds, respectively, for men; and 63.5 inches and 258 pounds, respectively, for women, One-third of these patients suffered from acute cholecystitis, and more than 50% had undergone prior abdominal surgery. The average duration of LC in these subjects was 114 min., which was 25% longer than that in nonobese patients. The average length of the hospital stay was 1.6 days, with patients returning to normal activities within an average of 6.5 days. There was no major morbidity and no mortality. Since obese patients tolerated LC as easily as did normal patients, we concluded that obesity is an indication rather than a contraindication to LC.
Quantitative Studies of Weak Light Sources in Biological Systems by Means of an Image Intensifier

Several image intensifier systems have been calibrated for gain and single electron detection efficiency. When these intensifiers are coupled to conventional microscopes the combined system provides sufficient light to allow photographic recording in short exposure times of certain biological systems that would ordinarily not be photographable or would require undesirably long exposure times. The photographs also provide quantitative information on the amount of light entering the microscope objective. Experiments are described in which an image intensifier microscope system has been used to study bioluminescence, providing data on the temporal and spatial distribution of light output in several organisms. Other experiments are described in which the location of weak radioactive tracers has been possible in short exposure times, using thin overlying scintillators to provide the necessary light. System requirements are discussed for the extension of this technique to X-ray studies and fluorescence microscopy.
Discrimination of failure condition for wind turbines by Subtractive Clustering

This study proposes a novel method for common failure conditions classification of wind turbine based on the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) with fractal feature enhancement. First, this study establishes four common defect types and then the current of generators from these pre-failure wind turbines under operating are measured. Secondly, the HHT can represent instantaneous frequency components through empirical mode decomposition, and then transform to a 3D Hilbert energy spectrum. Finally, this study extracts the fractal theory feature parameters from the 3D energy spectrum by using a Subtractive Clustering for failure condition discrimination. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, this study investigates its identification ability using 120 sets of field-tested patterns of wind turbines. The simulation results indicate that the classification rate of the proposed approach is suitable for practical uses even in 15% noise interference condition. Therefore, the proposed methodology can help detection personnel to find the failure type by current signal of wind generator with great reduced of wrong judgment.