cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Africa: A Continent Self-Destructs

The Slave Trade, Colonialism, and the Cold War - Civil Wars, Wars, and Political Collapse - Whither Human Rights? - African Poverty and the AIDS Crisis - Globalization and Africa - Will Africa Survive?
Building a terabyte NEXRAD radar database for hydrometeorology research

The management and processing of terabyte-scale radar data sets is time-consuming, costly, and an impediment to research. Researchers require rapid and transparent access to the data without being encumbered with the technical challenges of data management. In this paper, we describe a database architecture that manages over 12TB (and growing) of Archive Level II data that is produced by the United States National Weather Service's network of WSR-88D weather radars. The contribution of this work is an automatic system for archiving and analyzing radar data that isolates geoscientists from the complexities of data storage and retrieval. Data access transparency is achieved by using a relational database to store metadata on the raw data, which enables simple SQL queries to retrieve data subsets of interest. The second component is a distributed web platform that cost-effectively distributes data across web servers for access using the ubiquitous HTTP protocol. This work demonstrates how massive data sets can be effectively queried and managed.
Studies on the structural polarity of bacteriophage f1.

Abstract The effects of heat treatment at 90° on the physical and biological properties of the bacteriophage f1 are described. The kinetics of inactivation, loss of adsorption, DNase digestion and hyperchromicity are compared at this temperature. The results show that with heat treatment a terminal segment of phage DNA is exposed to solvent and that this physical change is preceded by inactivation and an alteration to the terminal protein involved with adsorption. These data confirm the previously reported polarity of the virion and suggest a recognition site of the DNA for the terminal protein.
The levels of free taurine, glutamate, glycine and γ-amino butyric acid during the postnatal development of the normal and dystrophic retina of the mouse

Abstract The levels of free taurine, glutamate, glycine and γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) were measured in normal and dystrophic retinas of congenic mice of the rdle, C57 Bl (6) strain and C57 Bl (6) controls during the first postnatal month, starting at 2 days. While the taurine level began a progressive increase in the normal retinas on about the eighth day, this increase continuing until the 30th day, the dystrophic retinas failed to show this increase and their taurine concentration began to decline after the 15th day. No differences were seen in the glutamate concentrations of the two varieties of retina, the glutamate concentration in both increasing during the first 15 days of development and then leveling off. In normal retinas the concentration of GABA increased progressively during the entirety of the first postnatal month, but the glycine concentration, after a sharp rise during the first week, then began to decline. In the dystrophic retinas the GABA concentration rose more sharply to higher levels than that of the controls, starting at the 10th day, and the glycine concentration of the dystrophic retinas exhibited a delayed rise but then remained at the 10-day level, i.e. it did not show the fall seen in the controls. The data seem consistent with the hypothesis that photoreceptors are considerably richer in taurine than the remaining retina, have similar glutamate concentrations, but are considerably poorer in their levels of free glycine and GABA. Accordingly, the chemical differences seen in the dystrophic retina largely reflect the maturation failure and eventual absence of receptor material from the assay. However, later assays of normal and dystrophic retinas probably exhibit complex deviations which include the effects of transneuronal degeneration and functional differences.
Optical-Mechanical Design Of The IBM 6670 Laser Printhead

A laser printhead is described that uses an 18 facet rotating mirror to produce a scanning spot of red light from a 5 milliwatt, HeNe laser. The scan has a high duty-cycle in a direction parallel to the irtruni axis of a conventional ellectrophotog.raphic processing system. The beam is modulated by an 80-megahertz, acoustooptic modulator that allows dot-switching times of 100 nanoseconds. The dot matrix is 240 x 240 per inch over an 8½- x 14-inch document area. Positional timing of the scanning spot is determined by a reference beam scanning a Ronchi grating. This beam is split from the fixed laser b a thin Wedge prism and passes through the same optical system as the scanning beam,. The reference beam is at a slightly different angle than the Bragg angle as it goes into the acoustooptic crystal, so is not affected by the acoustic waves that are transduced. The laser printhead has been designed as a hand-carried, compact, modular-component assembly that allows field replacement of several of its components including the laser.© (1980) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Application of information theory to select relevant variables

Abstract In this article we apply information theory to the multivariate data analysis problem. Given a dependent variable Y and any independent variable X, we can associate with X a number that would indicate the importance of X with respect to Y. This procedure enables us to select variables based on their importance. Two sets of data (upper abdominal pain and character recognition) are analyzed by this approach. The results indicate that this approach is feasible.
Use of cmr spectroscopy and photochemical transformations in structure assignments to bicyclo [3.2.0] hept-6-en-2-ones

Abstract Isomeric bicyclo [3.2.0] hept-6-en-2-ones, differing in the position of substituents at C β and C γ , can be distinguished by their photochemical behavior and by CMR spectroscopy.
Response of several varieties of potatoes to different photoperiods

Results of the studies conducted with 9-, 11-, 13-, and 17-hour photoperiods in the greenhouse indicate that the different photoperiods have little effect on the diameter of the stems in the potato plants. There was, however, a significant difference in the height of the plants,—the tallest plants being produced with the longest light period. There was a highly significant difference in the number of bud clusters produced per plant by the 17-hour and all the remaining treatments. The different photoperiods had no effect on the percentage of fertile or stainable pollen. The plants in the 17-hour photoperiod produced the most buds for pollination and developed the most seed balls and the largest weight of both seed balls and seed.
Pair programming on the C3 project

Chrysler's Comprehensive Compensation (C3) project was one of the first large-scale IT projects on which Extreme Programming (XP) precepts were attempted. As XP was being invented, we didn't really think of it as a theoretical or methodological breakthrough; it was simply an opportunity to get the job done. The "theory" came about later because of the practice's success. In my opinion, XP is not a theory, but a cogent descriptive body of successful praxis. Some people consider pair programming, an XP technique, to be difficult, unworkable, or downright weird. After all, what does the workstation represent, if not finally having your own computer? The idea of sharing your machine with someone seems like a lot of bother without much reward. How can you talk if you're trying to think? And how can you think if you first have to explain what you're thinking about? Having participated on the C3 project as a performance-tuning consultant beginning in 1996, I can attest to the success of pair programming. At the same time, I can show instances where it did not work or was not emphasized in this early XP project. In a sense, this pragmatism is the strength of XP: Use a technique where it works, ignore it where it doesn't. XP has never been prescribed as a panacea. XP's pair programming helps programmers synthesize their individual expertise into an effective combination.
Nonmedical exemptions to immunization requirements in California: a 16-year longitudinal analysis of trends and associated community factors.

Abstract Background Rates of nonmedical exemptions to kindergarten-entry immunization requirements have increased over the past 2 decades, especially in states that permit philosophical exemptions and/or have easier administrative policies for obtaining nonmedical exemptions. We evaluated trends in school personal belief exemption rates over the period 1994–2009 in California, and associated school and community characteristics. Methods We used data on personal belief exemptions from 6392 public and private elementary schools from the California Department of Public Health, as well as census tract and school demographic data. Generalized estimating equations were used to model annual mean increases in personal belief exemption rates, and to identify school and community characteristics associated with personal belief exemption rates. Results Over the study period, the average school personal belief exemption rate increased from 0.6% in 1994 to 2.3% in 2009, an average of 9.2% (95% CI: 8.8–9.6%) per year. The average personal belief exemption rate among private schools over the entire study period was 1.77 (95% CI: 1.55–2.01) times that among public schools. The annual rate of increase was slightly higher among private schools (10.1%, 95% CI: 9.1–11.1%) than among public schools (8.8%, 95% CI: 8.4–9.2%). Schools located within census tracts classified as rural had 1.66 (95% CI: 1.26–2.08) times higher personal belief exemption rates than schools located within urban census tracts. Exemption rates were also associated with race, population density, education, and income. Conclusions This study confirms concerns about increasing rates of nonmedical exemptions to kindergarten vaccine requirements within the state of California, using data collected over a 16-year period.
Testing the equality of correlation matrices when sample correlation matrices are dependent

Abstract We consider the situation in which a 2 m × 2 m correlation matrix is naturally partitioned into a 2 × 2 form, where each submatrix is m × m and we wish to test for the equality of the two correlation matrices appearing on the diagonal of the partitioned form. Standard tests for the equality of correlation matrices do not apply since the corresponding sample correlation matrices are correlated. We obtain Wald statistics under the assumption of multivariate normality as well as extensions that apply to elliptical distributions.
Fluctuations, clusters, and phase transitions in liquids, solutions, and glasses: from metastable water to phase change memory materials

We revisit the relations between clustering, fluctuations and thermodynamics for a range of clustering and disordering phenomena in liquids, seeking commonalities and links to phenomena reported at this meeting.
Evidence for a Salt Bridge between Transmembrane Segments 5 and 6 of the Yeast Plasma-membrane H+-ATPase

The plasma-membrane H+-ATPase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which belongs to the P2 subgroup of cation-transporting ATPases, is encoded by the PMA1 gene and functions physiologically to pump protons out of the cell. This study has focused on hydrophobic transmembrane segments M5 and M6 of the H+-ATPase. In particular, a conserved aspartate residue near the middle of M6 has been found to play a critical role in the structure and biogenesis of the ATPase. Site-directed mutants in which Asp-730 was replaced by an uncharged residue (Asn or Val) were abnormally sensitive to trypsin, consistent with the idea that the proteins were poorly folded, and immunofluorescence confocal microscopy showed them to be arrested in the endoplasmic reticulum. Similar defects are known to occur when either Arg-695 or His-701 in M5 is replaced by a neutral residue (Dutra, M. B., Ambesi, A., and Slayman, C. W. (1998)J. Biol. Chem. 273, 17411–17417). To search for possible charge-charge interactions between Asp-730 and Arg-695 or His-701, double mutants were constructed in which positively and negatively charged residues were swapped or eliminated. Strikingly, two of the double mutants (R695D/D730R and R695A/D730A) regained the capacity for normal biogenesis and displayed near-normal rates of ATP hydrolysis and ATP-dependent H+ pumping. These results demonstrate that neither Arg-695 nor Asp-730 is required for enzymatic activity or proton transport, but suggest that there is a salt bridge between the two residues, linking M5 and M6 of the 100-kDa polypeptide.
Exploration of the Physics of Hub Drag

Main rotor hubs contribute signi cantly to the helicopter’s parasite drag. Due to the complex geometry of typical hub con gurations, large uncertainties in loads and wake ow eld phenomena inhibit the development of improved concepts at the design stage. Experimental and computational evaluations of the near wake of a generic, subscale complex rotor hub are explored. Prior e orts have shown that state of the art computational uid dynamics (CFD) simulations are accurate enough to predict drag characteristics of the complex hub. Velocity pro les and turbulence spectra measurements in the hub near wake (0.5 1.0 hub diameters) correlate well with CFD when proper delity of grid, time step, and turbulence model are chosen. The wake spectral content is characterized by broadband turbulence in addition to large scale spectral content energizing the ow eld. Current results substantiate earlier ndings of the role played by Magnus e ect due to bodies of rotation in forward ight.
Planning District‐Wide Professional Development: Insights Gained From Teachers and Students Regarding Mathematics Teaching in a Large Urban District

This paper describes the mechanism used to gain insights into the state of the art of mathematics instruction in a large urban district in order to design meaningful professional development for the teachers in the district. Surveys of close to 2,000 elementary, middle school, and high school students were collected in order to assess the instructional practices used in mathematics classes across the district. Students were questioned about the frequency of use of various instructional practices that support the meaningful learning of mathematics. These included practices such as problem solving, use of calculators and computers, group work, homework, discussions, and projects, among others. Responses were analyzed and comparisons were drawn between elementary and middle school students' responses and between middle school and high school responses. Finally, fifth-grade student responses were compared to those of their teachers. Student responses indicated that they had fewer inquiry-based experiences, fewer student-to-student interactions, and fewer opportunities to defend their answers and justify their thinking as they moved from elementary to middle school to high school. In the elementary grades students reported an overemphasis on the use of memorization of facts and procedures and sparse use of calculators. Results were interpreted and specific directions for professional development, as reported in this paper, were drawn from these data. The paper illustrates how student surveys can inform the design of professional development experiences for the teachers in a district.
MEASURING ANXIETY ON THE LUSCHER COLOR TEST

Anxiety scores from the Luscher Color Test were not associated with stress scores from a self-report inventory in a sample of 15 undergraduate students.
Restriction endonuclease mapping of the frog virus 3 genome

Abstract A physical map for the frog virus 3 (FV 3) genome was constructed after digestion with the following restriction endonucleases: EcoRI, HindIII, KpnI, and XbaI. Mapping of the DNA was accomplished by partial digestion and recutting, double-digestion, and Southern blot hybridization with deduction of overlaps. Although the virion DNA is physically linear, the restriction map was circular, supporting the data that the FV 3 genome is circularly permuted (Goorha and Murti, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 79, 248–252, 1982) , a unique feature among eukaryotic viruses.
In situ digestion of detergent fiber nitrogen in alfalfa stems

Abstract The detergent fiber (van Soest) system for partitioning carbohydrates may be used to partition nitrogen (N) in feedstuffs. We studied the ruminal disappearance of N in neutral detergent fiber (NDFN), acid detergent fiber (ADFN) and available fiber N (AFN). Alfalfa ( Medicago sativa L.) stems were harvested on 21 May, 31 May and 1 June in spring, and 10 July, 20 July and 30 July in summer of 1984. Ground stems were placed in dacron bags and incubated ruminally in steers for 0, 24 and 48 h. Bag residues and original samples were analyzed for dry matter (DM), N, NDF, ADF, NDFN, ADFN and AFN. N concentrations in bag residues were corrected for bacterial N by assuming contamination of 180 and 360 g bacterial N kg −1 residue N at 24 and 48 h, respectively. Disappearance of NDFN and ADFN at 48 h ranged from 563 to 387 g kg −1 of NDFN and 346 to 243 g kg −1 ADFN. Disappearance of AFN averaged 653 g kg −1 AFN, whereas ADFN disappearance averaged 275 g kg −1 ADFN. N undegraded after 48 h in the rumen ranged from 70 g residual N kg −1 original N from the 21 May harvest to 150 g residual N kg −1 from the 30 July harvest. Undegraded N was closely related ( r 2 = 0.93, root mean square error (RMSE) = 8.9 g kg −1 ) to concentration of ADFN (as a proportion of total N), whereas AFN was not ( r 2 = 0.38, RMSE = 26.6 g kg −1 ).
4.2 A 6A 40MHz four-phase ZDS hysteretic DC-DC converter with 118mV droop and 230ns response time for a 5A/5ns load transient

In recent years, the clock frequency, the number of cores, and the power dissipation of application processors (APs) for portable electronics have dramatically increased. As a result, peak processor currents have reached several amperes with slew rates on the order of 1A/ns. These fast large steps incur large output voltage (VOUT) droops, which induce failed paths and cause processor black-outs. Present voltage regulators (VRs) combat these challenges by using bulky output capacitor (COUT) arrays that could add up to over 100μF. However, this practice is untenable for next-generation APs, which have severely limited PCB area and require fast dynamic voltage scaling. These challenges have led to great demand for ultra-fast VRs. PWM control requires a bandwidth 5 to 10× less than the switching frequency, fSW, which results in a slow response [1]. Hysteretic control has been proposed to achieve faster response [2, 3], however, it still suffers from an inherent delay (tdelay) up to the discharge period, (1-D)T, due to realistic hysteretic window size and inductor current (IL) slew limit. Consider, for example, a fast hysteretic VR achieving 10% voltage droop for an instant load step of 5A. For an inductor (L) chosen to have IL ripple <; 200mA, and COUT under a few μF, tdelay cannot exceed a few ns. This requires a fSW from 0.5 to 1GHz, which in turn causes a large switching loss and restricts the feasible power level of the converter. This is against the power demand trend of APs. An interleaved multiphase topology can be the most effective way to improve both the system response and the equivalent IL slew rate by changing the number of phases; however, clock and phase synchronization and current sharing for conventional hysteretic control are challenging.
The development of requirements for the dentist in public health; a review, 1945-1973.

Dr. Block's report, with his critical survey later of the teaching available for dentists in public health, should provide interesting reading for the educators.
Nano- and micro-electromechanical switch dynamics

This paper reports theoretical analysis and experimental results on the dynamics of piezoelectric MEMS mechanical logic relays. The multiple degree of freedom analytical model, based on modal decomposition, utilizes modal parameters obtained from finite element analysis and an analytical model of piezoelectric actuation. The model accounts for exact device geometry, damping, drive waveform variables, and high electric field piezoelectric nonlinearity. The piezoelectrically excited modal force is calculated directly and provides insight into design optimization for switching speed. The model accurately predicts the propagation delay dependence on actuation voltage of mechanically distinct relay designs. The model explains the observed discrepancies in switching speed of these devices relative to single degree of freedom switching speed models and suggests the strong potential for improved switching speed performance in relays designed for mechanical logic and RF circuits through the exploitation of higher order vibrational modes.
Concurrent Validity of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and the Welsh Figural Preference Test

For a sample of 79 fifth grade pupils from a semi-rural farming area in the Southeastern United States intercorrelations among subtest scores and total scores of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thin...
Seyfert galaxy narrow-line regions. II - Kinematic models

A class of kinematic models for the narrow-line regions of active galactic nuclei is presented. The models incorporate continuity-constrained radial flow of emitting material in a bounded, spherical geometry. They are designed to represent the narrow-line regions in as simple a manner as is consistent with current knowledge. The systematic comparison of line profiles arising from the models to the spectra in the forbidden O III lambda 5007 emission line which have been described in Paper I of this series is used as a probe of the line-emitting region kinematics: the model parameter areas of interest are identified and tested for consistency with the data. The results indicate heterogeneous kinematic conditions; the most common pattern is outflow of emitting material in a radially decelerating velocity field in the presence of distributed obscuration. However, some observed line profiles can be fitted by several model profiles from very different kinematic conditions, indicating that the information in a spatially unresolved line profile is insufficient to constrain uniquely the geometry and kinematics of the line-emitting region. Although the specific conclusions are model dependent, a predominantly radial pattern of velocities and a distribution of obscuring material are probably essential features of any successful kinematic model of the narrow-line regions.
Community-Based Service Discovery

This paper presents a novel approach to expedite a service discovery process. Since current service discovery approaches do not assume any preprocessing when service providers publish services into a service registry, service composition occurs at discovery time. Also, easily reusing a composed service for future discovery has not been considered. In this paper, instead of considering a service registry as a set of published services, we build a service knowledge base at publication time, which we call a service community. The service community consists of a set of service populations and their relationships in composition. A service population is a set of services in which the input and output parameters of all services are semantically equivalent. These pre-composed services will expedite the on demand service discovery process. Also a newly composed service is injected into the service community, and easily reused for future discoveries.
Workplace Counseling: The Missing Link.

Workplace counselors increase access to myriad opportunities that are essential if workers are to cope with the increasing complexities of work and personal life.
Selecting informative actions improves cooperative multiagent learning

In concurrent cooperative multiagent learning, each agent simultaneously learns to improve the overall performance of the team, with no direct control over the actions chosen by its teammates. An agent's action selection directly influences the rewards received by all the agents, resulting in a co-adaptation among the concurrent learning processes. Co-adaptation can drive the team towards suboptimal solutions because agents tend to select those actions that are rewarded better, without any consideration for how such actions may affect the search of their teammates. We argue that to counter this tendency, agents should also prefer actions that inform their teammates about the structure of the joint search space in order to help them choose from among various action options. We analyze this approach in a cooperative coevolutionary framework, and we propose a new algorithm, iCCEA, that highlights the advantages of selecting informative actions. We show that iCCEA generally outperforms other cooperative coevolution algorithms on our test problems.
An SVM-based algorithm for identification of photosynthesis-specific genome features

This paper presents a novel algorithm for identification and functional characterization of "key" genome features responsible for a particular biochemical process of interest. The central idea is that individual genome features are identified as "key" features if the discrimination accuracy between two classes of genomes with respect to a given biochemical process is sufficiently affected by the inclusion or exclusion of these features. In this paper, genome features are defined by high-resolution gene functions. The discrimination procedure utilizes the support vector machine classification technique. The application to the oxygenic photosynthetic process resulted in 126 highly confident candidate genome features. While many of these features are well-known components in the oxygenic photosynthetic process, others are completely unknown, even including some hypothetical proteins. It is obvious that our algorithm is capable of discovering features related to a targeted biochemical process.
A Data Fusion Approach for Aircraft Engine Fault Diagnostics

Accurate and timely detection and identification of aircraft engine faults is critical to keeping the engine and aircraft in a healthy operating state. Early detection of faults increases the window of opportunity to schedule maintenance actions both at a convenient time and before the fault progresses and causes equipment downtime and secondary damage to the system. Typically, diagnostic models are built using parametric sensor data to infer the state of the system. However, recording and collecting this data is costly, and it is generally limited to a few snapshots over the course of a flight for commercial aircraft. Another way to recognize faults is through the use of built-in tests that produce error log messages. These tests produce data that is less information rich, but provide insight over the course of the entire flight. Each data source provides a different perspective of the state of the system. Therefore, it may be advantageous to combine information from parametric and nonparametric sources to improve fault diagnosis in terms of accuracy and timeliness of diagnosis. In this paper, we investigate integrating parametric sensor data and nonparametric information in fault diagnosis, specifically the way to parameterize nonparametric information for use in diagnostic models that accept only parametric data (e.g., most machine learning techniques). Results from high bypass commercial engines are presented.Copyright © 2007 by GE Global Research
Practical applications of metamaterial-based structures in microwave systems

In this paper, metamaterial-based transmission lines will be discussed, with a focus placed on how these structures can be utilized in microwave systems. The different devices necessary for a basic dual-band receiver will be discussed and it will be shown how these dual-band components can be realized using metamaterial-based structure. Also, two different types of two-dimensional beam scanning systems will be introduced that utilize both one and two dimensional metamaterial-based structures.
Helicobacter pylori: beneficial for most?

Humans have been infected with Helicobacter pylori since they left Africa more than 58,000 years ago, according to genetic sequence analysis [1]. Estimates suggest that half the world is infected w...
Detection of human actions from a single example

We present an algorithm for detecting human actions based upon a single given video example of such actions. The proposed method is unsupervised, does not require learning, segmentation, or motion estimation. The novel features employed in our method are based on space-time locally adaptive regression kernels. Our method is based on the dense computation of so-called space-time local regression kernels (i.e. local descriptors) from a query video, which measure the likeness of a voxel to its spatio-temporal surroundings. Salient features are then extracted from these descriptors using principal components analysis (PCA). These are efficiently compared against analogous features from the target video using a matrix generalization of the cosine similarity measure. The algorithm yields a scalar resemblance volume; each voxel indicating the like-lihood of similarity between the query video and all cubes in the target video. By employing non-parametric significance tests and non-maxima suppression, we accurately detect the presence and location of actions similar to the given query video. High performance is demonstrated on a challenging set of action data [8] indicating successful detection of multiple complex actions even in the presence of fast motions.
Designing cases in problem‐based learning to foster problem‐solving skill

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of case segmentation schemes in problem-based learning (PBL) on the development of problem-solving skill, self-directedness and technical knowledge. Seventy-four dental education students were randomly assigned to 12 PBL groups. Six groups experienced PBL cases that were formatted in short segments and six groups experienced PBL cases that were formatted in long segments. Pretest measures of problem-solving skill, self-directedness and technical knowledge were administered at the beginning of the Fall 1998 semester. Students studied three PBL cases in their assigned groups in the ensuing semester. Posttest measures were administered at the conclusion of the semester. Analysis of the data found that students who experienced PBL with a short case segmentation scheme were better able to solve problems highly similar to the problems in the teaching cases than students who experienced PBL with a long case segmentation scheme. No significant differences were found for self-directedness, technical knowledge, or ability to solve problems distinctly different from the teaching cases. Explanations of these findings and their implications for research and practice in PBL are discussed.
04.1.1. A Hausman Test Based on the Difference between Fixed Effects Two-Stage Least Squares and Error Components Two-Stage Least Squares

A Hausman test based on the difference between fixed effects two-stage least squares and error components two-stage least squares.
Assessment of the Accuracy of a Model for use in Prediction of Component Environments

Modeling and simulation to aid in decision making, such as qualification of high consequence systems, is becoming more prevalent. With this increased use of models, there arises a need to formally assess the accuracy of the model underlying these decisions. This process is referred to as model validation. Furthermore an understanding of the uncertainty in the model responses is necessary if the model is used to predict the response of internal system components for establishing their performance. These responses, presumably, cannot be directly measured and/or multiple pieces of hardware are not available to quantify their inherent variability and thus the value of the model is heightened. Additionally, requirements on component assessment that require quantification of margins, in the presence of uncertainty, provide yet another motivation to use modeling and simulation. In this paper, we describe a model validation process to assess the accuracy of a system level model and perform an assessment of the model relative to existing data.
Evacuation Traces Mini Challenge award: Innovative trace visualization staining for information discovery

Staining is a technique for categorizing time-varying spatial data; that is, data of things moving through space over time. In Staining, a stain is applied in either time or space, and the objects which move through the stain become marked. This technique and a research prototype demonstrating the technique were developed in response to the VAST 2008 Contest Mini-challenge: Evacuation Traces.
Design of a practical dental chair made of corrugated cardboard

Directions for the construction of a corrugated cardboard dental chair, useful for mobile clinics and community dentistry programs, are presented. The designers of the cardboard dental chair and I hope that it will be as useful to other members of our profession as it has been to the USC Mobile Dental Clinic.
Vendor-independent software for rapid comprehensive assessment of changes in left ventricular function during serial echocardiographic studies

Sequential evaluation of left ventricular (LV) function is critical in patients receiving potentially cardiotoxic treatments. However, identification and interpretation of the clinical significance of subtle changes in LV function from echocardiographic images is time-consuming and requires training. The aim of this study was to develop and test a new approach aimed at addressing this issue. Dedicated semi-automated software was developed (Epsilon Imaging), which analyzes images obtained during serial examinations and provides a visual, easy-to-understand display of changes in LV ejection fraction (EF), peak systolic global longitudinal strain (GLS) or both. To test this software, 30 subjects who had 2 echocardiographic studies separated by ≥4 weeks were identified and their images analyzed. An expert echocardiographer reviewed EF and GLS data separately using commercial software (Philips QLab), and classified EF and/or GLS in each patient as unchanged, improved or worsened. This classification was used as a reference to test the accuracy of using a combined display of changes in EF and GLS. This was performed by an inexperienced observer with and then without the dedicated software. Image analysis and interpretation were faster using the dedicated software (27±5 vs 15±5 minutes). The agreement with the reference was slightly better with the software (93%; kappa=0.90) than without it (90%; kappa=0.87). Combined displays of changes in EF and GLS data from serial studies allows quick, easy and accurate interpretation of changes in LV function, promising to improve follow-up of patients undergoing potentially cardiotoxic treatments such as chemotherapy.
A stem-deuterostome origin of the vertebrate pharyngeal transcriptional network

Hemichordate worms possess ciliated gills on their trunk, and the homology of these structures with the pharyngeal gill slits of chordates has long been a topic of debate in the fields of evolutionary biology and comparative anatomy. Here, we show conservation of transcription factor expression between the developing pharyngeal gill pores of the hemichordate Saccoglossus kowalevskii and the pharyngeal gill slit precursors (i.e. pharyngeal endodermal outpockets) of vertebrates. Transcription factors that are expressed in the pharyngeal endoderm, ectoderm and mesenchyme of vertebrates are expressed exclusively in the pharyngeal endoderm of S. kowalevskii. The pharyngeal arches and tongue bars of S. kowalevskii lack Tbx1-expressing mesoderm, and are supported solely by an acellular collagenous endoskeleton and by compartments of the trunk coelom. Our findings suggest that hemichordate and vertebrate gills are homologous as simple endodermal outpockets from the foregut, and that much vertebrate pharyngeal complexity arose coincident with the incorporation of cranial paraxial mesoderm and neural crest-derived mesenchyme within pharyngeal arches along the chordate and vertebrate stems, respectively.
Landscape-Scale Carbon Sampling Strategy – Lessons Learned

Previous chapters examined individual processes relevant to forest carbon cycling, and characterized measurement approaches for understanding those processes at landscape scales. In this final chapter, we address our overall approach to understanding forest carbon dynamics over large areas. Our objective is to identify any lessons that we learned in the course of measuring a wide range of carbon-related processes in a suite of forested sites. We focus on characterizing the costs and benefits of measuring individual processes and we examine the advantages and limitations to our plot layout. In addition, we draw upon the experience at individual sites to identify important lessons that may be specific to particular forest types or regions.
Heresies and sacred cows in scholarly marketing publications

Abstract Merriam-Webster defines heresies as “dissent or deviation from a dominant theory, opinion, or practice.” This Journal of Business Research special issue and the editorial examine heresies and sacred cows in marketing research. Seven papers investigate different aspects of typical academic business journal presentations. Each manuscript critically analyzes generally accepted practices for the pursuit of publication in academic journals and reveals ways these practices may do more harm than good, hindering the goal of presenting true growth of knowledge through publication. The editorial provides an integrative schema for the manuscripts in the special issue. Providing a series of broader topics to tie the papers together, this special issue illustrates how the findings of each study can help improve our pursuit of knowledge. In addition, the editorial discusses heresies and sacred cows not covered by manuscripts in the current issue. The editorial concludes with recommendations for both authors and reviewers that may enhance the approach to research, methodologies employed, and reporting of scholarly research.
Two Big Banks' Broken Back Office

Six months into the merger of two global money-center banks, Megan Richards, the new bank's foreign-exchange sales manager, is trying to retain her client base in light of the bank's inability to deliver foreign currency in a timely manner. The target banks' inferior systems were chosen for political reasons, major corporate clients are calling Richards with their demands and complaints about breakdowns, and she is denied support from her boss, the vice chairman of Global Capital Markets. This case is a good introduction to the operational and political challenges of postmerger integration, especially vis-a-vis front-line middle managers.
Electron Transfer in Solution: Theory and Experiment

Photoinduced electron transfer is a fundamental chemical process. Following the transfer of an electron from an electronically excited donor to an acceptor, the resulting radical ions can go on to do useful chemistry. Electron back transfer (geminate recombination), however, quenches the ions and prevents further chemistry from occurring. The initial steps of photosynthesis involve excitation of a donor followed by electron transfer. Electron back transfer to the primary donor would stop the photosynthetic process. However, a specialized spatial array of consecutive acceptors eliminates the back transfer problem and is responsible for the efficiency of photosynthesis [1, 2, 3]. In systems of randomly distributed donors and acceptors (liquid or solid solutions) geminate recombination can be very rapid [4]. In liquid solutions, geminate recombination competes with diffusional separation of the photoinduced ions and limits chemical yields. Therefore, understanding phenomena which influence back transfer is not only an important basic problem, but is a problem of considerable practical significance.
Chordoma: The Quest for Better Treatment Options

Chordoma is an extremely rare cancer, with an incidence of about one case per million persons per year in the USA and Europe (about 300 and 450 cases per year, respectively). The estimated median overall survival of patients with chordoma is approximately 6–7 years, yielding a rough estimate of chordoma prevalence at about 2000 in the USA and 3000 in Europe. Primary tumor develops along the axial spine between the clivus and sacrum and develops from the residual embryonic notochord. Brachyury (T), a transcription factor required for normal embryonic development, is expressed in the notochord and overexpressed in almost all cases of chordoma. The primary treatment for chordoma is surgical excision with wide local margins, when possible. Radiotherapy also plays a significant role in the adjuvant setting and when surgery is not possible. Unfortunately, in the advanced and/or metastatic setting, where the role of surgery and/or radiation is less clear, treatment options are very limited. To date, there have been no randomized, controlled trials in chordoma that have resulted in defined agents of clinical benefit for systemic treatment. This review briefly describes the natural history and initial treatment of chordoma and focuses on treatment options for advanced disease and potential avenues of research that may lead to improved treatment options in the future.
Evidence-Based Practice What’s New Is Old

The purpose of this column is to demonstrate that evidence -based practice actually grew out of the process of research utilization. To that end, there will be a discussion about research utilization and evidence -based practice to expose the linkage between them. Then the newer ideas of implementation and de-implementation science will also be shown to have roots in the process of research utilization.
Temperature-Programmed Gas Chromatographic Determination of Polychlorinated and Polybrominated Biphenyls in Serum

An analytical method was developed to quantitate polychlorinated and polybrominated biphenyls (PCBs and PBBs, respectively) in human serum. The method includes denaturation of the proteins in serum, extraction, adsorption chromatography, and gas chromatography with electron capture detection. The coefficients of variation for determining the in vivo bound PCBs and PBBs ranged from 11.7 to 29.8% and 7.1 to 14.0%, respectively. The method is capable of measuring 10 ng PCBs and PBBs/mL in 4 mL serum.
Indirect myocardial revascularization.

The Vineburg procedure for internal mammary artery implantation: selection of patients, description of technique, evolution of the procedure, and current usage.
AGS Position Statement: Making Medical Treatment Decisions for Unbefriended Older Adults

In this position statement, we define unbefriended older adults as patients who: (1) lack decisional capacity to provide informed consent to the medical treatment at hand; (2) have not executed an advance directive that addresses the medical treatment at hand and lack capacity to do so; and (3) lack family, friends or a legally authorized surrogate to assist in the medical decision-making process. Given the vulnerable nature of this population, clinicians, health care teams, ethics committees and other stakeholders working with unbefriended older adults must be diligent when formulating treatment decisions on their behalf. The process of arriving at a treatment decision for an unbefriended older adult should be conducted according to standards of procedural fairness and include capacity assessment, a search for potentially unidentified surrogate decision makers (including non-traditional surrogates) and a team-based effort to ascertain the unbefriended older adult's preferences by synthesizing all available evidence. A concerted national effort is needed to help reduce the significant state-to-state variability in legal approaches to unbefriended patients. Proactive efforts are also needed to identify older adults, including “adult orphans,” at risk for becoming unbefriended and to develop alternative approaches to medical decision making for unbefriended older adults. This document updates the 1996 AGS position statement on unbefriended older adults.
Drugging the Undruggable Ras — Immunotherapy to the Rescue?

Metastatic gastrointestinal cancers that express products of mutant KRAS genes have one of the most dismal outcomes of all solid tumors and present an unsolved problem in cancer medicine. An activating point mutation in one of genes encoding Ras was the first somatic point mutation identified in a human cancer, and its discovery established the role of somatic mutations as the common driver of oncogenesis.1,2 The presence of a T-cell immune infiltrate in surgical specimens at the time of diagnosis is more prognostic of survival than anatomic Dukes staging,3 which suggests that natural immune surveillance can have a powerful . . .
“My Name is Money”: English Names and Creative Play Inside and Outside the Classroom

Toward the end of the academic semester at CSU in late May 2007, Nashville, one of the students in my Level 5 Academic Writing course, asked me to come to the “English Lounge” to give a presentation. Open seven nights a week throughout the school semester, the English Lounge was a student-run organization and event space that provided CSU students with a place to practice English in a comfortable and informal environment. With its large selection of English-language videos, newspapers, board games, and magazines, it was one of the most well-known and well-attended co-curricular English programs at CSU. Already wondering why students spent so much of their free time in the evenings studying English and reasoning that most students would not be interested in another of my lectures on academic writing and how to organize paragraphs and reports, I asked Nashville if I could give a talk about English names in China. She checked with the lounge staff who said that my topic “sounds very interesting” and that they would be happy if I talked about whatever interested me. Nashville added, “And you seem so interested in our English names.”
Media Framing and Partisan Identity: The Case of Immigration Coverage and White Macropartisanship

Laboratory studies frequently find that framing changes individual issue positions. But few real-world studies have demonstrated framing induced shifts in aggregate political opinions, let alone political identities. One explanation for these divergent findings is that the competitive nature of most real-world political debates presents multiple frames that cancel each other out. We assess this proposition and the extent of real-world framing by focusing on the issue of immigration, which has been framed in largely negative terms by the media. Specifically, we assess the connection between New York Times coverage of immigration and aggregate white partisanship over the last three decades. We find that negative framing on immigration is associated with shifts toward the Republican Party—the Party linked with anti-immigrant positions. This suggests that under the right circumstances, framing can alter core political predispositions and shape the partisan balance of power.
Delayed utilization of some fast-fermenting soluble dietary fibers by human gut microbiota when presented in a mixture

Abstract Delivering fibers more distally could be important to prevent or treat colonic diseases such as cancer and ulcerative colitis. Here, we hypothesized that fermentation of fast-fermenting soluble fibers by the colonic microbiota is delayed when they are presented in a mixture due to hierarchical utilization of fibers. A series of in vitro fermentation studies was performed using fecal microbiota obtained from three healthy donors using single dietary fibers [arabinoxylan, chondroitin sulfate (CS), galactomannan (GM), polygalacturonic acid (PGA), xyloglucan (XG)] and a mixture containing an equal amount of each. Substrate disappearance analysis, as measured by GC–MS, revealed that CS, PGA, and XG utilization was delayed when present in the mixture. 16S rRNA sequencing showed certain fibers consistently increased specific genera in the microbiota of all donor groups. Mixing different types of fermentable dietary fibers might be a logical strategy for delivering fibers into more distal regions of the colon.