cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Post-acute psychological effects of classical serotonergic psychedelics: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Scientific interest in the therapeutic effects of classical psychedelics has increased in the past two decades. The psychological effects of these substances outside the period of acute intoxication have not been fully characterized. This study aimed to: (1) quantify the effects of psilocybin, ayahuasca, and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on psychological outcomes in the post-acute period; (2) test moderators of these effects; and (3) evaluate adverse effects and risk of bias. Methods We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies (single-group pre-post or randomized controlled trials) that involved administration of psilocybin, ayahuasca, or LSD to clinical or non-clinical samples and assessed psychological outcomes ⩾24 h post-administration. Effects were summarized by study design, timepoint, and outcome domain. Results A total of 34 studies (24 unique samples, n = 549, mean longest follow-up = 55.34 weeks) were included. Classical psychedelics showed significant within-group pre-post and between-group placebo-controlled effects on a range of outcomes including targeted symptoms within psychiatric samples, negative and positive affect-related measures, social outcomes, and existential/spiritual outcomes, with large between-group effect in these domains (Hedges' gs = 0.84 to 1.08). Moderator tests suggest some effects may be larger in clinical samples. Evidence of effects on big five personality traits and mindfulness was weak. There was no evidence of post-acute adverse effects. Conclusions High risk of bias in several domains, heterogeneity across studies, and indications of publication bias for some models highlight the need for careful, large-scale, placebo-controlled randomized trials.
Resource Pooling for Shared Fate: Incentivizing Effort in Interdependent Security Games Through Cross-Investments

We consider an interdependent security game with networked agents where each agent chooses an effort/investment level for securing itself. The agents are interdependent in a way where the state of security of one agent depends not only on its own effort but also on that of the other agents, and each agent can benefit from other agents’ security investment and effort. Since the agents are interdependent, they try to take advantage of others’ security investment and effort and choose to under-invest, which leads to an inefficient Nash equilibrium (NE). While this has been analyzed extensively in the literature, in this study, we take a different angle. Specifically, we consider the possibility of allowing agents to pool their resources, i.e., to both invest in themselves as well as in other agents. We show that the interaction of strategic and selfish agents under resource pooling (RP) improves the agents’ effort level as well as their utility compared to a scenario without RP. We show that the social welfare (total utility) at the NE of the game with RP is higher than the maximum social welfare attainable in a game without RP but using an optimal incentive mechanism. Furthermore, we show that while voluntary participation in the latter scenario here, is not generally true, it is guaranteed under RP.
Impacts of land cover heterogeneity and land surface parameterizations on turbulent characteristics and mesoscale simulations

The impacts of surface heterogeneity and land surface parameterization on the mesoscale processes were studied. Experiments were conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with a simple (slab) land surface model (LSM), a relatively complex Noah LSM, and a land data assimilation system (LDAS) with detailed surface fields. Three heterogeneity length scales: 1, 3, and 9 km, were employed to alter land cover and land use. A series of simulations were performed over the U.S. Southern Great Plains during the summer when the soil moisture was abundant. Results indicate that both the land surface parameterizations and fine-scale surface heterogeneity affect the model simulations; and the impact of land surface parameterization is found to be more important, particularly for low frequency ( $$f<{10}^{-4} \mathrm{hz}$$ ) eddies and mesoscale circulations. Substantial variations in turbulent spectra were also noted, and the energy spectra respond nonlinearly to the changes in the heterogeneous length scales. Three important conclusions emerge: (i) more detailed land surface representation reduces uncertainty in simulations of surface fluxes via improved turbulence characterization over a heterogeneous land surface, which helps improve simulations of land–atmosphere feedbacks; (ii) the impact of land surface heterogeneity on atmospheric feedbacks can be detected in the mesoscale circulations that are roughly four times of the spatial heterogeneity scale; and (iii) the land surface heterogeneity that can influence mesoscale circulations would be a function of grid spacing in the model.
Glucocorticoid Receptor β (GRβ): Beyond Its Dominant-Negative Function

Glucocorticoids (GCs) act via the GC receptor (GR), a receptor ubiquitously expressed in the body where it drives a broad spectrum of responses within distinct cell types and tissues, which vary in strength and specificity. The variability of GR-mediated cell responses is further extended by the existence of GR isoforms, such as GRα and GRβ, generated through alternative splicing mechanisms. While GRα is the classic receptor responsible for GC actions, GRβ has been implicated in the impairment of GRα-mediated activities. Interestingly, in contrast to the popular belief that GRβ actions are restricted to its dominant-negative effects on GRα-mediated responses, GRβ has been shown to have intrinsic activities and "directly" regulates a plethora of genes related to inflammatory process, cell communication, migration, and malignancy, each in a GRα-independent manner. Furthermore, GRβ has been associated with increased cell migration, growth, and reduced sensitivity to GC-induced apoptosis. We will summarize the current knowledge of GRβ-mediated responses, with a focus on the GRα-independent/intrinsic effects of GRβ and the associated non-canonical signaling pathways. Where appropriate, potential links to airway inflammatory diseases will be highlighted.
Resistance to extinction versus extinction as discrimination

The hypothesis that response strength might be measured by persistence of responding in the face of extinction was discredited in the 1960s because experiments showed that responding persists longer following intermittent reinforcers than following continuous reinforcers. Instead, researchers proposed that the longer persistence following intermittent reinforcers arises because intermittent reinforcement more closely resembles extinction-a discrimination theory. Attention to resistance to extinction revived because one observation seemed to support the persistence hypothesis: Following training on a multiple schedule with unequal components, responding usually persisted longer in the formerly richer component than in the formerly lean component. This observation represents an anomaly, however, because results with single schedules and concurrent schedules contradict it. We suggest that the difference in results arises because the multiple-schedule procedure, while including extensive training on stimulus discrimination, includes no training on discrimination between food available and food unavailable, whereas comparable single- and concurrent-schedule procedures include such training with repeated extinction. In Experiment 1, we replicated the original result, and in Experiment 2 showed that when the multiple-schedule procedure includes training on food/no-food discrimination, extinction following multiple schedules contradicts behavioral momentum theory and agrees with the discrimination theory and research with single and concurrent schedules.
Incidence, Characteristics, and Outcomes of Ventilator-Associated Events during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Rationale: Ventilator-associated event (VAE) surveillance provides an objective means to measure and compare complications that develop during mechanical ventilation by identifying patients with su...
Extrinsic Neural Network Equalizer for Channels with High Inter-Symbol-Interference

In this paper, we propose a novel extrinsic neural network equalizer (ExNE) for joint iterative equalization and decoding. The proposed ExNE takes the received signal sequence and a priori probabilities from the channel decoder as inputs to directly generate output extrinsic probabilities. This approach improves the performance of iterative equalization and decoding by making explicit use of extrinsic information. A three-step, open-loop neural network (NN) training procedure is developed for the ExNE, independent of the choice of channel code. We propose a new NN architecture termed deep concatenated convolutional blocks with skip connections (DCCB-SC) for ExNE which attains excellent performance with only a moderate number of network parameters. For challenging linear and non-linear inter-symbol-interference (ISI) channels considered in this work, the proposed ExNE approaches the performance of the maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) equalizer without assuming prior knowledge of the channel model.
Comparison of Outcomes following Primary and Repeat Resection of Craniopharyngioma

Introduction The management of recurrent craniopharyngioma is complex with limited data to guide decision-making. Some reports suggest reoperation should be avoided due to an increased complication profile, while others have demonstrated that safe reoperation can be performed. For other types of skull base lesions, maximal safe resection followed by adjuvant therapy has replaced radical gross total resection due to the favorable morbidity profiles. Methods Seventy-one patients underwent resection over a 9-year period for craniopharyngioma and were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were separated into primary resection and reoperation cohorts and stratified by surgical approach (endonasal vs. cranial) and survival analyses were performed based on cohort and surgical approach. Results Fifty patients underwent primary resection, while 21 underwent reoperation for recurrence. Fifty endonasal transsphenoidal surgeries and 21 craniotomies were performed. Surgical approaches were similarly distributed across cohorts. Subtotal resection was achieved in 83% of all cases. There were no differences in extent of resection, visual outcomes, subsequent neuroendocrine function, and complications across cohorts and surgical approaches. The median time to recurrence was 87 months overall, and there were no differences by cohort and approach. The 5-year survival rate was 81.1% after reoperation versus 93.2% after primary resection. Conclusion Compared with primary resection, reoperation for craniopharyngioma recurrence is associated with similar functional and survival outcomes in light of individualized surgical approaches. Maximal safe resection followed by adjuvant radiotherapy for residual tumor likely preserves vision and endocrine function without sacrificing overall patient survival.
Survival in the Real World: A National Analysis of Patients Treated for Early-Stage Breast Cancer.

PURPOSE:Many patient population groups are not proportionally represented in clinical trials, including patients of color, at age extremes, or with comorbidities. It is therefore unclear how treatm...
Prompting hypothetical social comparisons to support chemistry students’ data analysis and interpretations

To develop competency in science practices, such as data analysis and interpretation, chemistry learners must develop an understanding of what makes an analysis and interpretation “good” (i.e., the criteria for success). One way that individuals extract the criteria for success in a novel situation is through making social comparisons, which is often facilitated in education as peer review. In this study, we explore using a simulated peer review as a method to help students generate internal feedback, self-evaluate, and revise their data analysis and interpretation. In interviews, we tasked students with interpreting graphical data to determine optimal conditions for an experiment. Students then engaged in social comparisons with three sample responses that we constructed and compared these samples to their own. We present a model informed by social comparison theory that outlines the different processes students went through to generate internal feedback for their own analysis and response. We then discuss the different ways students use this internal feedback to determine if and how to improve their response. Our study uncovers the underlying mechanism of self-evaluation in peer review and describes the processes that led students to revise their work and develop their analysis. This work provides insight for both practitioners and researchers to leverage student's internal feedback from comparisons to self-evaluate and revise their performance.
A Novel Role for BRIP1/FANCJ in Neuronal Cells Health and in Resolving Oxidative Stress-Induced DNA Lesions.

Background DNA damage accumulation and mitochondrial abnormalities are elevated in neurons during aging and may contribute to neurodegenerative pathologic conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. BRCA1 interacting protein 1 or BRIP1 is a 5' to 3' DNA helicase that catalyzes many abnormal DNA structures during DNA replication, gene transcription, and recombination, and contribute to genomic integrity. Objective BRIP1 functions were reasonably well studied in DNA repair; however, there is limited data on its role and regulation during aging and neurodegenerative diseases. Methods We used immunohistochemistry, western blot, and qRT-PCR assays to analyze the expression of BRIP1. Immunofluorescence studies were performed to study the formation of R-loops, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and mitochondrial morphology. Flow cytometry and transmission electron microscopy were used to evaluate mitochondrial ROS and mitochondrial structures, respectively. Oxygen consumption rate was measured using Seahorse, and the Presto Blue™ assays were used to evaluate cell viability. Results Our results demonstrate the expression of BRIP1 in mouse and human brain tissues and in neuronal cell lines. BRIP1 levels were elevated in the hippocampal regions of the brains, specifically in the dentate gyrus. BRIP1 downregulation in neuronal cells caused increased R-loop formation basally and in response to H2O2 treatment. Furthermore, BRIP1 deficient cells exhibited elevated levels of excitotoxicity induced by L-Glutamic acid exposure as evidenced by (mitochondrial) ROS levels, deteriorated mitochondrial health, and cell death compared to BRIP1 proficient neuronal cells. Conclusion Overall, our results indicate an important role for BRIP1 in maintaining neuronal cell health and homeostasis by suppressing cellular oxidative stress.
Human de novo purine biosynthesis

The focus of this review is the human de novo purine biosynthetic pathway. The pathway enzymes are enumerated, as well as the reactions they catalyze and their physical properties. Early literature evidence suggested that they might assemble into a multi-enzyme complex called a metabolon. The finding that fluorescently-tagged chimeras of the pathway enzymes form discrete puncta, now called purinosomes, is further elaborated in this review to include: a discussion of their assembly; the role of ancillary proteins; their locus at the microtubule/mitochondria interface; the elucidation that at endogenous levels, purinosomes function to channel intermediates from phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate to AMP and GMP; and the evidence for the purinosomes to exist as a protein condensate. The review concludes with a consideration of probable signaling pathways that might promote the assembly and disassembly of the purinosome, in particular the identification of candidate kinases given the extensive phosphorylation of the enzymes. These collective findings substantiate our current view of the de novo purine biosynthetic metabolon whose properties will be representative of how other metabolic pathways might be organized for their function.
Quality of service support for protocol processing within endsystems

We describe a framework for providing quality-of-service (QoS) guarantees within the endsystem for networked multimedia applications. There are four components in this framework namely—QoS specification, QoS mapping, QoS enforcement, and protocol implementation. QoS specifications are at a high level, and use a small number of parameters to allow applications greater ease in specifying their requirements. Based on the QoS specifications, QoS mapping operations derive resource requirements for each end-to-end session of the application. Important resources considered are the cpu and the network connection. The third component of the framework is QoS enforcement. Enforcement is mainly concerned with providing real-time processing guarantees for protocol code during data transfer. We have implemented a real-time upcall (rtu) facility which is an enhancement to the well known upcall mechanism for structuring protocols, rtus are scheduled using a policy called rate monotonie with delayed pre-emption (rmdp) that takes advantage of the iterative nature of protocol processing to reduce context switching overhead and increase scheduling efficiency. The last component of our framework is an application level protocol implementation model. Protocol code is structured as rtus with attributes that are derived from high level specifications by the QoS mapping operations. We describe techniques to reduce the cost of data movement and context switching in such implementations. The rtu mechanism currently runs in the Netbsd os on Sparc and Pentium based platforms. Initial measurements show that it is an effective means to implement protocols with QoS support.
Estimation of discontinuous coefficients and boundary parameters for hyperbolic systems

The problem of estimating discontinuous coefficients, including locations of discontinuities, that occur in second order hyperbolic systems typical of those arising in I-D surface seismic problems is discussed. In addition, the problem of identifying unknown parameters that appear in boundary conditions for the system is treated. A spline-based approximation theory is presented, together with related convergence findings and representative numerical examples.
Resiliency and Continuity: Hurricane Sandy and The City University of New York

Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) managers shoulder additional responsibilities with storm preparedness planning—and play host to storm evacuees
Relative Immunogenicity of Commonly Allergenic Foods versus Rarely Allergenic and Nonallergenic Foods in Mice

Food allergies affect 6 to 8% of children and 2% of adults in the United States. For reasons that are not clear, eight types of food account for a vast majority (approximately 90%) of food-induced hypersensitivity reactions. In this study, C57Bl/6 mice were used to test the hypothesis that commonly allergenic foods are intrinsically more immunogenic than rarely allergenic or nonallergenic foods in allergy-susceptible hosts. Groups of mice (n = 4 to 5) were injected intraperitoneally with the protein extracts (plus alum as an adjuvant) from chicken eggs, peanuts, almonds, filberts-hazelnuts, walnuts, soybeans, and wheat (commonly allergenic foods) and coffee, sweet potatoes, carrots, white potatoes, cherries, lettuce, and spinach (rarely allergenic and nonallergenic foods). Primary and secondary immune responses (as measured by specific IgG1 antibody serum levels) were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Proteins from peanuts, almonds, filberts, sweet potatoes, cherries, and spinach elicited robust primary and/or secondary immune responses. Proteins from eggs, walnuts, and lettuce elicited poor primary responses but significant secondary responses. In contrast, wheat, soybeans, coffee, carrots, and white potatoes elicited barely detectable to poor primary and secondary immune responses. The order of the immunogenicity levels of these foods in mice is as follows: almonds = filberts > spinach (Rubisco) > peanuts > or = sweet potatoes > cherries > lettuce > walnuts > chicken eggs > carrots > or = white potatoes > wheat = coffee = soybeans. In summary, these data demonstrate for the first time that: (i) foods vary widely with regard to their relative immunogenicity in allergy-susceptible hosts and (ii) intrinsic immunogenicity in mice does not distinguish commonly allergenic foods from rarely allergenic or nonallergenic foods.
The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor: A Refusal to 'Foreclose the Unanticipated'

This article describes and evaluates Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's constitutional jurisprudence. Part I of the article covers an early period on the Court when Justice O'Connor seemed principally concerned with questions of jurisdiction and appellate process, during which she was frequently inclined to dispose of cases on technical or procedural grounds. Part II discusses Justice O'Connor's attention to detail and consideration of factual context and her tendency to adjust the traditional standards of review in light of the circumstances of the case. Part III outlines Justice O'Connor's respect for precedent and commitment to the principle of stare decisis particularly as it relates to her refusal to overrule the case of Roe v. Wade. Part IV describes how her judicial philosophy evolved during her tenure on the Court in a number of areas, including abortion and the right to privacy, gay rights, affirmative action, the separation of church and state, procedural due process and the war on terror, federalism and civil rights. In the end, Justice O'Connor achieved a deep understanding and formulated a nuanced articulation of the fundamental American values embodied by the Constitution.
Data envelopment analysis to determine efficiencies of health maintenance organizations.

We use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure the relative technical efficiencies of 164 HMOs licensed to practice in the United States in 1995 with data collected from the American Association of Health Plans. Health care output measures used in the analysis are the number of commercial, Medicare and Medicaid lives covered in each plan. Inputs to the model are health care utilization measures such as the number of medical and surgical inpatient days, number of maternity and newborn stays in days, number of outpatient and emergency room visits and the number of non‐invasive and invasive procedures performed on patients in an ambulatory setting. Mean efficiency of health plans was 40% (of the most efficient). We use multivariate analysis to try and explain variations in efficiency. Enrollment influences efficiency, with larger HMOs being more efficient than those with fewer enrollees. Plans with a more even distribution of Commercial, Medicare and Medicaid patients were more efficient on average than plans with heterogeneous mixes in enrollment. HMOs with Medicare patients are significantly less efficient, with efficiency decreasing with increasing Medicare participation in plan membership. Health plans in operation for longer periods of time had greater outputs with the same inputs. Health plans that had a majority of their enrollees in network or IPA type arrangements were more efficient as were for‐profit plans compared to not‐for‐profits. Policy implications are discussed.
The performance measurement of cryptographic primitives on palm devices

We developed and evaluated several cryptographic system libraries for Palm OS(R) which include stream and block ciphers, hash functions and multiple-precision integer arithmetic operations. We noted that the encryption speed of SSC2 outperforms both ARC4 (Alleged RC4) and SEAL 3.0 if the plaintext is small. On the other hand, SEAL 3.0 almost doubles the speed of SSC2 when the plaintext is very large. We also observed that the optimized Rijndael with 8KB of lookup tables is 4 times faster than DES. In addition, our results show that implementing the cryptographic algorithms as system libraries does not degrade their performance significantly. Instead, they provide great flexibility and code management to the algorithms. Furthermore, the test results presented provide a basis for performance estimation of cryptosystems implemented on the PalmPilot/sup TM/.
On Adam Smith's Major, Original Contributions to Economic Theory and Decision Making

The current dominant belief among economists that Smith made no original contributions to economic theory outside of presenting an original system of thought that was composed of the original analysis of other thinkers is incorrect. Smith made four unique contributions which have been overlooked. The first contribution was a clear cut recognition that probabilities could not be calculated exactly using precise, single number answers. Probabilities were indeterminate and/or imprecise. The mathematical laws of the probability calculus can’t be applied, in general, to decision making in the real world. Smith rejects any decision making approach based on fair, or mathematical, lotteries. Secondly, Smith was the first to explicitly recognize that real world decision making was very uncertain, as opposed to being based on the mathematical concept of risk which was based on known probabilities and outcomes leading to expected value and expected utility calculations a la Jeremy Bentham’s rational economic calculator of probable odds model. Third, Smith was the first to recognize that, as long as the probabilities were greater than 0, retaliatory tariffs might lead a country that had imposed a tariff on another country to rescind that decision. There was room for a set of strategies in conflicts between nations over tariffs involving war, threats, negotiations, mediation, and retaliation implying tit for tat or chicken strategies. Fourth, Smith recognized that the main threat to economic prosperity originated from projectors, prodigals, and imprudent risk takers (J M Keynes’s speculators and rentiers), who were able to obtain bank loans in order to try to leverage their debt position many times over. The result would be that the bank’s deposits would be wasted and destroyed. This will lead to a recession or depression. Smith did not add this last sentence because it is obvious.
Experimental investigation of interference effects for high-speed catamarans

Abstract We have performed an experimental investigation aimed at assessing the relevance of hull interference effects on the total resistance of a catamaran model advancing in calm water. To this purpose, drag and attitude measurements have been carried out for several values of the hull separation, as well as for the monohull, at changing the Froude number in the range 0.1–0.8. Data concerning the two-dimensional wave field around the models have also been collected. Our results indicate that, except for a narrow range of conditions where favorable interference is observed, the interaction between the catamaran hulls usually results in a marked increase of the total resistance as compared to the monohull case. This penalization can be as large as 30% for the narrowest hull spacing at Fr ≈ 0.5 . At larger hull spacings, the effect is attenuated and occurs at smaller Froude numbers. Interference effects are less evident both in the small and large Froude number range, namely when Fr 0.3 and Fr > 0.7 respectively. Insight into the mechanisms underlying this behavior is obtained by examining the relational dependence between the resistance variation and the data concerning attitude of the vessel and wave-field elevation.
The linking pin role in organizational buying centers

Abstract The buying center concept has been widely accepted in the organizational buying behavior literature. Nevertheless, the application of the concept in empirical investigations has been limited in scope. Most research has examined either the composition of the buying center or the influence processes operating within it. The intraorganizational dynamics (among members of the buying center) and the interorganizational dynamics (between buying center members and outside organizations) have been ignored in buying center research. Common to these two sets of relationships is the presence of a “linking pin” or “boundary role” person. The purposes of this paper are twofold. The first is to suggest the concept of the “linking pin” role in a buying center and to highlight the conceptual importance of this role in furthering the understanding and prediction of organizational buying processes and outcomes. Explication of this role should also lead to an enriched conceptualization of the relationships between the buying and selling organizations. The second objective is to report on the results of some initial empirical investigations into the role of a designated linking pin in hospital buying centers. These results offer preliminary evidence of the value of the linking pin concept.
Crystal polymorphism in electrospun composite nanofibers of poly(vinylidene fluoride) with nanoclay

Abstract We investigated for the first time the morphology and crystal polymorphism of electrospun composite nanofibers of poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) with two nanoclays: Lucentite™ STN and SWN. Both nanoclays are based on the hectorite structure, but STN has organic modifier in between the layers of hectorite while SWN does not. PVDF/nanoclay was dissolved in N , N -dimethylformamide/acetone and electrospun into composite nanofiber mats with fiber diameters ranging from 50–800 nm. Scanning electron microscopy shows that addition of STN and SWN can greatly decrease the number of beads and make the diameter of the nanofibers more uniform due to the increase of electrospinning solution conductivity brought by the nanoclay. Infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction confirm that both STN and SWN can induce more extended PVDF chain conformers, found in beta and gamma phase, while reducing the alpha phase conformers in electrospun PVDF/Nanoclay composite nanofibers. With the attached organic modifier, even a small amount of STN can totally eliminate the non-polar alpha crystal conformers while SWN cannot. The ionic organic modifier makes STN much more effective than SWN in causing crystallization of the polar beta and gamma phases of PVDF. An ion–dipole interaction mechanism, suggested by Ramasundaram, et al. is utilized to explain the crystal polymorphism behavior in electrospun PVDF/nanoclay composite nanofibers.
A new approach for calculating the electronic structure and vibrational properties of non-crystalline solids: Effective charges for infrared-active normal mode vibrations in oxide and chalcogenide materials

Abstract This paper applies ab initio calculations to small clusters with short range bonding order for oxide and chalcogenide dielectrics that form continuous random networks (CRN), including, respectively, SiO 2 and GeO 2 , and As 2 S 3 and GeS 2 . The calculations have been used to determine the dependence of the total energy on the bond-angle at the twofold coordinated O- and S-atom sites, and the infrared effective charges of the normal mode network vibrations associated with symmetry determined asymmetric bond-stretching, symmetric bond-stretching (bending) and out-of-plane bond rocking displacements, including decomposition of effective charges in equilibrium distribution, and dynamic charge redistribution components. The results of these calculations are in very good to excellent agreement with experiment. The approach is extended to silicates and their chalcogenide analogs in which pseudo-binary alloy formation causes a disruption of the CRN hosts through formation of ionic bonding arrangements of the metal atoms. This is accompanied by increases in the coordination of O-, S-, Se- and As-atoms of the respective oxide and chalcogenide host CRNs, including SiO 2 and As 2 Se 3 , and leads to a breakdown of 8− N bonding coordination.
Thermal effects in 10 keV Si PKA cascades in 3C-SiC

Abstract We present a molecular dynamics study of the influence of temperature on defect generation and evolution in irradiated cubic silicon carbide. We simulated 10 keV displacement cascades, with an emphasis on the quantification of the spatial distribution of defects, at six different temperatures from 0 K to 2000 K under identical primary knock-on atom conditions. By post-processing the simulation results we analyzed the temporal evolution of vacancies, interstitials, and antisite defects, the spatial distribution of vacancies, and the distribution of vacancy cluster sizes. The majority of vacancies were found to be isolated at all temperatures. We found evidence of temperature dependence in C and Si replacements and C Si antisite formation, as well as reduced damage generation behavior due to enhanced defect relaxation at 2000 K.
Contemporary Studies on the Concept of Creativity: the East and the West

This article reviews contemporary studies on the concept of creativity across two cultures—Eastern (Asian) cultures and Western (American and European) cultures — by examining two bodies of literature. One is on people's implicit theories of creativity across different cultures and the other is on cross-cultural studies of creativity. Studies on implicit theories of creativity in the East suggest that many Asians have similar but not identical conceptions of creativity to many people in the West. Cross-cultural studies of creativity reveal that Easterners and Westerners differ, on average, in their divergent-thinking performance and creative expressions. A view of creativity as relatively culture-specific is presented and the appropriateness of using divergent-thinking tests to measure creativity is discussed.
Management Style: Modeling or Balancing?

Summary An examination of the style of managers (N = 135) in a simulated work environment shows that they tended to model the style of their boss. Females evidenced this tendency to a greater degree than males. Furthermore, when the boss was a female, male subordinate managers became somewhat more participative than the boss, while female subordinate managers became more authoritarian. A compensatory or balancing hypothesis is proposed as a possible explanation for this sex difference. These results should not be generalized beyond an American population. Possible cultural differences were not explored.
Mining energy traces to aid in software development: an empirical case study

Context: With the advent of increased computing on mobile devices such as phones and tablets, it has become crucial to pay attention to the energy consumption of mobile applications.Goal: The software engineering field is now faced with a whole new spectrum of energy-related challenges, ranging from power budgeting to testing and debugging the energy consumption, for which exists only limited tool support. The goal of this work is to provide techniques to engineers to analyze power consumption and detect anomalies.Method: In this paper, we present our work on analyzing energy patterns for the Windows Phone platform. We first describe the data that is collected for testing (power traces and execution logs). We then present several approaches for describing power consumption and detecting anomalous energy patterns and potential energy defects. Finally we show prediction models based on usage of individual modules that can estimate the overall energy consumption with high accuracy.Results: The techniques in this paper were successful in modeling and estimating power consumption and in detecting anomalies.Conclusions: The techniques presented in the paper allow assessing the individual impact of modules on the overall energy consumption and support overall energy planning.
Evaluation of solutes for their ability to retard spreading of Eurotium amstelodami on enumeration media

The value of media used to enumerate xerophilic fungi in foods is often limited due to overgrowth of slow-growing strains with colonies of Eurotium species. In an attempt to develop a medium which would minimize this problem, NaCl, glycerol and sorbitol were evaluated as solutes to control spreading of colonies of four strains of Eurotium amstelodami on dichloran rose bengal chloramphenicol (DRBC) agar. Recovery of heat-stressed conidia of two strains was enhanced in DRBC agar containing 12% (a w 0·93) and 16% (a w 0·91) NaCl; the other two strains were unaffected in DRBC agar containing 0–16% NaCl, regardless of heat treatment. Colony spreading was retarded on DRBC agar as the NaCl concentration was incrementally decreased from 8 to 0% or increased from 8 to 20%. Glycerol, at concentrations of 18–34%, had no effect on the number of colonies formed by unheated and heat-stressed conidia, but did not control spreading. The presence of 25–60% sorbitol in DRBC agar did not affect the recovery of unheated conidia; however, 50–55% sorbitol resulted in maximum recovery of heat-stressed conidia. DRBC agar containing 50% sorbitol (DRBC–50S, a w 0·90) was judged overall to be the most suitable solute-supplemented enumeration medium for recovering unstressed, heat-stressed and freeze-stressed E. amstelodami from laboratory menstrua and wheat, peanut and cowpea flours.
Multiple timing and the allocation of attention

Two experiments were designed to examine the effects of multiple timing tasks on prospective time judgment performance. In experiment 1, subjects were required to monitor the durations of one, two, three, or four concurrent target stimuli which began and ended at different times, and then reproduce one of those durations subsequently chosen at random. Time judgment accuracy deteriorated as the number of target stimuli increased. In experiment 2, subjects used the production method to generate specified durations for one, two, three, or four partially overlapping stimuli. Timing was less accurate in conditions involving more target stimuli. In the multiple-target conditions, time judgments were less accurate for the later- rather than earlier-onset targets. The results support an attentional model of timing, and suggest that timing is an effortful process which draws from limited attentional resources.
Sox9+ ductal cells are multipotent progenitors throughout development but do not produce new endocrine cells in the normal or injured adult pancreas

One major unresolved question in the field of pancreas biology is whether ductal cells have the ability to generate insulin-producing β-cells. Conclusive examination of this question has been limited by the lack of appropriate tools to efficiently and specifically label ductal cells in vivo. We generated Sox9CreERT2 mice, which, during adulthood, allow for labeling of an average of 70% of pancreatic ductal cells, including terminal duct/centroacinar cells. Fate-mapping studies of the Sox9+ domain revealed endocrine and acinar cell neogenesis from Sox9+ cells throughout embryogenesis. Very small numbers of non-β endocrine cells continue to arise from Sox9+ cells in early postnatal life, but no endocrine or acinar cell neogenesis from Sox9+ cells occurs during adulthood. In the adult pancreas, pancreatic injury by partial duct ligation (PDL) has been suggested to induce β-cell regeneration from a transient Ngn3+ endocrine progenitor cell population. Here, we identify ductal cells as a cell of origin for PDL-induced Ngn3+ cells, but fail to observe β-cell neogenesis from duct-derived cells. Therefore, although PDL leads to activation of Ngn3 expression in ducts, PDL does not induce appropriate cues to allow for completion of the entire β-cell neogenesis program. In conclusion, although endocrine cells arise from the Sox9+ ductal domain throughout embryogenesis and the early postnatal period, Sox9+ ductal cells of the adult pancreas no longer give rise to endocrine cells under both normal conditions and in response to PDL.
Double Layer Forces over Large Potential Ranges as Measured in an Electrochemical Surface Forces Apparatus

Electrodes specifically designed for use in the surface forces apparatus (SFA) were employed to study forces between mica and polycrystalline gold under potential control. This control was achieved by soldering a wire to the gold surface and modifying the chamber of the SFA into a three-electrode cell configuration. The interactions measured were a strong function of the applied electrode potential, being more repulsive as the gold potential was moved toward more negative potentials. Independent force measurements between mica surfaces were done to determine the mica surface potential. The experimental results were compared to Derjaguin−Landau−Verwey−Overbeek (DLVO) predictions of the forces between dissimilar charged surfaces. The long range forces correspond well to DLVO predictions, including evidence of saturation in forces at high applied potentials; forces deviate from theory at short range.
Formation of silver nanoparticles at the air-water interface mediated by a monolayer of functionalized hyperbranched molecules.

Nanofibrillar micellar structures formed by the amphiphilic hyperbranched molecules within a Langmuir monolayer were utilized as matter for silver nanoparticle formation from the ion-containing water subphase. We observed that silver nanoparticles were formed within the multifunctional amphiphilic hyperbranched molecules. The diameter of nanoparticles varied from 2−4 nm and was controlled by the core dimensions and the interfibrillar free surface area. Furthermore, upon addition of potassium nitrate to the subphase, the Langmuir monolayer templated the nanoparticles' formation along the nanofibrillar structures. The suggested mechanism of nanoparticle formation involves the oxidation of primary amino groups by silver catalysis facilitated by “caging” of silver ions within surface areas dominated by multibranched cores. This system provides an example of a one-step process in which hyperbranched molecules with outer alkyl tails and compressed amine-hydroxyl cores mediated the formation of stable nanopartic...
Computer Simulation of Synthetic Aperture Radar Images of Three-Dimensional Objects

A digital simulation of coherent synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of three-dimensional objects is described. The simulation is intended to produce representative SAR images that would be suitable for image analysis and pattern recognition studies. The procedure involves a modeling of the object using a combination of three-dimensional quadratic shapes yielding a smooth surface representation. The radar images of these models are then computed using physical optics scattering theory. Finite resolution both in range and cross-range direction is incorporated via a theoretical analysis which results in a simple Fourier transform representation of an equivalent "offset" window filter. Examples of the computer simulation for both infinite resolution and blurred or finite resolution are given for a KC-135 aircraft model.
Hello World, It's Me: Bringing the Basic Speech Communication Course into the Digital Age.

Courses: Introductory Public Speaking, Organizational Communication. Objectives: Students will be able to speak comfortably and effectively when introducing themselves on video and utilize new digital media technologies when creating an introductory speech video.
Influence of nutrient salts, auxins and cytokinins on the in vitro growth of Salvia greggii

Experiments were designed to determine the optimal MS salt concentration and the best auxin and cytokinin to use for shoot growth of Salvia greggii A. Gray. Full or 1/2 MS salts were superior to 1/4 MS salts based on number of shoots produced. There were no differences in the various auxins tested (IAA, NAA or IBA) as to their abilities to stimulate shoot production or increased fresh weight. BA, and BA + Kin stimulated the greatest shoot number among the cytokinins tested. A final experiment was designed to determine optimal BA and NAA concentrations for shoot growth. A medium containing 11.1μM BA and no NAA produced the best growth of Salvia greggii in vitro. Shoots produced in vitro rooted and acclimatized readily in the green-house.
Release of endogenous cannabinoids from ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons and the modulation of synaptic processes

Endogenous cannabinoids play important roles in a variety of functions in the mammalian brain, including the regulation reward-related information processing. The primary mechanism through which this is achieved is the presynaptic modulation of synaptic transmission. During reward- and reinforcement-related behavior dopamine levels increase in forebrain areas and this has recently been shown to be modulated by the endocannabinoid system. Therefore, understanding how endocannabinoids are mobilized to modulate synaptic inputs impinging on midbrain dopamine neurons is crucial to a complete understanding of the roles that these molecules play in reward behavior, drug abuse and addiction. Here we summarize the literature describing short-term and long-term regulation of afferent connections on dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area via endocannabinoid activation of cannabinoid CB1 receptors, and describe the mechanisms through which these molecules are released during reward-based behavior and exposure to abused drugs.
Modeling and Performance Analysis of the Pulsed Inductive Thruster

Numerical modeling of the pulsed inductive thruster exercising a time-dependent, two-dimensional, axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamics code provides bilateral validation of the thruster's measured performance and the code's capability of capturing the pertinent physical processes. Computed impulse values for helium and argon propellants demonstrate excellent correlation to the experimental data for a range of energy levels and propellant-mass values. Quantitative energy deposition analysis confirms the thruster's approximately constant-efficiency operation and captures the experimentally observed, critical-mass phenomenon. An idealized model produced a simple impulse expression for this energy range that expands the validity of the aforementioned insights to other propellants and corroborates the thruster's singular operation with ammonia propellant. The simple impulse expression produced compares well with experimental trends and can be used to guide design and optimization of operating conditions.
Midwives and Normalcy in Childbirth: A Phenomenologic Concept Development Study

Introduction The purpose of this study was to explore midwives' understanding of the concept of normalcy as experienced during the care of women during labor and birth. Methods A two-tier, elite sampling strategy was used to identify and enroll participants who showed a strong commitment to normalcy in childbirth care. Thirteen participants completed all study procedures, including individual interviews. Iterative rounds of qualitative analyses were conducted to describe the concept, resulting in the defining aspects of the concept, contextual dynamics that influence its manifestation, and empiric referents. Results Midwives experience normalcy in childbirth care as 1) a wide, individualized continuum of variations; 2) interactive with the woman's unique nature, composed of her physiologic capacities and her specific life circumstances; and 3) sensitive and responsive to the contextual environment. Discussion Midwives' experience of normalcy in childbirth admits a broad continuum of healthy variations, differing from the narrow parameters held in the predominant maternity care culture. Midwives consider the woman's nature and the context of childbirth to be interactive and significant in explaining variations in the woman's childbirth experience. The contextual environment is considered to be the most influential dynamic affecting the normalcy of childbirth.