cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Green Supply Chain Management, Green Innovations, and Green Practices

This chapter objective is to provide a broad understanding of the role and impact of green innovations and green practices in green supply chains. Green supply chains are an extension of ordinary supply chains. Green innovations and green practices function as key antecedents in transforming an ordinary supply chain into a green supply chain. Effective green supply chains apply a coordinated triple bottom-line (TBL) approach to simultaneously realize environmental, economic, and social goals in supply chain operations. External and internal factors play an instrumental role in the adoption of green innovations and green practices in supply chains’ operations. Some of the factors are changing consumer demand, government regulations and institutional pressures, technological innovations, and stakeholders’ attitude toward long-term environment sustainability. A review of green supply chain management literature shows that when businesses integrate green innovations and green practices in their supply chains, they achieve encouraging triple bottom-line outcomes. Transparency and truthful compliance to green innovations and practices in supply chain operations are some of the biggest challenges in green supply chains.
Working memory training and perceptual discrimination training impact overlapping and distinct neurocognitive processes: Evidence from event-related potentials and transfer of training gains.

Abstract There is emerging evidence that working memory (WM) can potentially be enhanced via targeted training protocols. However, the differential effects of targeted training of WM vs. training of general attentional processes on distinct neurocognitive mechanisms is not well understood. In the present study, we compared adaptive n-back WM training to an adaptive visual search training task that targeted perceptual discrimination, in the absence of demands on WM. The search task was closely matched to the n-back task on difficulty and participant engagement. The training duration for both protocols was 20 sessions over approximately 4 weeks. Before and after training, young adult participants were tested on a battery of cognitive tasks to examine transfer of training gains to untrained tests of WM, processing speed, cognitive control, and fluid intelligence. Event-related brain potential (ERP) measures obtained during a Letter 3-Back task and a Search task were examined to determine the neural processes that were affected by each training protocol. Both groups improved on measures of cognitive control and fluid intelligence at post- compared to pretest. However, n-back training resulted in more pronounced transfer effects to tasks involving WM compared to search training. With respect to ERPs, both groups exhibited enhancement of P3 amplitude following training, but distinct changes in neural responses were also observed for the two training protocols. The search training group exhibited earlier ERP latencies at post- compared to pretest on the Search task, indicating generalized improvement in processing speed. The n-back group exhibited a pronounced enhancement and earlier latency of the N2 ERP component on the Letter 3-back task, following training. Given the theoretical underpinnings of the N2, this finding was interpreted as an enhancement of conflict monitoring and sequential mismatch identification. The findings provide evidence that n-back training enhances distinct neural processes underlying executive aspects of WM.
Esrp1-Regulated Splicing of Arhgef11 Isoforms Is Required for Epithelial Tight Junction Integrity.

The epithelial-specific splicing regulators Esrp1 and Esrp2 are required for mammalian development, including establishment of epidermal barrier functions. However, the mechanisms by which Esrp ablation causes defects in epithelial barriers remain undefined. We determined that the ablation of Esrp1 and Esrp2 impairs epithelial tight junction (TJ) integrity through loss of the epithelial isoform of Rho GTP exchange factor Arhgef11. Arhgef11 is required for the maintenance of TJs via RhoA activation and myosin light chain (MLC) phosphorylation. Ablation or depletion of Esrp1/2 or Arhgef11 inhibits MLC phosphorylation and only the epithelial Arhgef11 isoform rescues MLC phosphorylation in Arhgef11 KO epithelial cells. Mesenchymal Arhgef11 transcripts contain a C-terminal exon that binds to PAK4 and inhibits RhoA activation byArhgef11. Deletion of the mesenchymal-specific Arhgef11 exon in Esrp1/2 KO epithelial cells using CRISPR/Cas9 restored TJ function, illustrating how splicing alterations can be mechanistically linked to disease phenotypes that result from impaired functions of splicing regulators.
Evidence for population differentiation among Jeffrey and Ponderosa pines in survival, growth and phenology

Abstract Ecological restoration projects that include reforestation require that land managers select appropriate source of seeds for long-term persistence. In California, the standard approach for making this choice is based on seed zone and elevational band, both geographically-based measures. However, given the pace of contemporary climate change, populations previously adapted to local conditions may become increasingly mismatched to the changes in climate. If there is a lag in adaptation, current seed zones which assume local is best, would be less useful for reforestation guidelines. Here we use a historic provenance test to evaluate genetic differences among provenances of two species of pine, Pinus ponderosa and P. jeffreyi, and assess performance following seedling transfer across an elevational gradient. Growth in Ponderosa pine shows evidence of a lag in adaptation: trees transferred from lower elevations had consistently increased growth when compared to those trees from higher elevations. In contrast, Jeffrey pine showed no evidence of a lag in adaptation for height. However, survival of Jeffrey pine provenances showed a significant quadratic relationship with transfer distance, consistent with local adaptation. In particular, Jeffrey pine trees from cooler, higher elevation sites had increased survival at high elevation. Jeffrey pine trees from higher elevation also exhibited earlier bud burst than trees from lower elevation grown in the same site, consistent with counter-gradient adaptation in phenology. Together, our results show that genetic variation within species is important for tree survival, growth and phenology in different climates. However, species-specific responses to elevational transfer indicates generalizing seed transfer guidelines across conifer species may be challenging and additional information is necessary to inform managed relocation in a changing climate.
TGFβ/BMP immune signaling affects abundance and function of C. elegans gut commensals

The gut microbiota contributes to host health and fitness, and imbalances in its composition are associated with pathology. However, what shapes microbiota composition is not clear, in particular the role of genetic factors. Previous work in Caenorhabditis elegans defined a characteristic worm gut microbiota significantly influenced by host genetics. The current work explores the role of central regulators of host immunity and stress resistance, employing qPCR and CFU counts to measure abundance of core microbiota taxa in mutants raised on synthetic communities of previously-isolated worm gut commensals. This revealed a bloom, specifically of Enterobacter species, in immune-compromised TGFβ/BMP mutants. Imaging of fluorescently labeled Enterobacter showed that TGFβ/BMP-exerted control operated primarily in the anterior gut and depended on multi-tissue contributions. Enterobacter commensals are common in the worm gut, contributing to infection resistance. However, disruption of TGFβ/BMP signaling turned a normally beneficial Enterobacter commensal to pathogenic. These results demonstrate specificity in gene-microbe interactions underlying gut microbial homeostasis and highlight the pathogenic potential of their disruption.
Oscillating American winter temperatures

North American winters have varied from mild to extremely cold in recent years. Now, research provides a framework for understanding these changing temperature extremes.
Sets and Functions

We shall use the standard terms and notations of analysis and set theory. (Thus much of the following has already appeared in the first few pages of Analysis.) ℝ is the set of all real numbers, and ℤ is the set of all integers. If A is a set, then x ∈ A means that x belongs to A. If x does not belong to A, then we write x ∉ A. Let S be a set. Then $$\left\{ {x\left| {x\; \in \;s\;and\;\left( \ldots \right)} \right.} \right\}$$ denotes the set of all elements of S that satisfy the condition (…). Thus the union of two sets A and B is $$A\; \cup \;B\; = \;\left\{ {x\left| {x\; \in \;A\;or\,x\, \in \;B} \right.} \right\}.$$
J.R.R. Tolkien, Old English, and the Creation of Middle-Earth

“There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something,” J.R.R. Tolkien wrote. “You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” In early adulthood, after years of poking about in the annals of a centuries-old language, Tolkien stumbled upon something that would change his life—and therefore millions of lives—forever. What Tolkien “found” was Old English literature, which in turn inspired everything from his naming of Middle-earth to his shaping of the beloved settings of "The Hobbit," "The Lord of the Rings," and the lesser-known "Silmarillion." Given that Tolkien’s passion for Old English legends played such a pivotal role in the legends he crafted, it is curious how little has been written about Old English’s extensive influence on his creation of Middle-earth. Without his discovery of and subsequent passion for Old English, a language resembling German more than modern English, it is doubtful he would have ever produced his masterpieces. For through the likes of the "Crist" poems, "The Wanderer," and "Beowulf," powerful ideas emerged in his mind that found prominent places in his writings.
Adaptive multidimensional integration: VEGAS enhanced

Abstract We describe a new algorithm, vegas+ , for adaptive multidimensional Monte Carlo integration. The new algorithm adds a second adaptive strategy, adaptive stratified sampling, to the adaptive importance sampling that is the basis for its widely used predecessor vegas . Both vegas and vegas+ are effective for integrands with large peaks, but vegas+ can be much more effective for integrands with multiple peaks or other significant structures aligned with diagonals of the integration volume. We give examples where vegas+ is 2–19× more accurate than vegas . We also show how to combine vegas+ with other integrators, such as the widely available miser algorithm, to make new hybrid integrators. For a different kind of hybrid, we show how to use integrand samples, generated using MCMC or other methods, to optimize vegas+ before integrating. We give an example where preconditioned vegas+ is more than 100× as efficient as vegas+ without preconditioning. Finally, we give examples where vegas+ is more than 10× as efficient as MCMC for Bayesian integrals with D = 3 and 21 parameters. We explain why vegas+ will often outperform MCMC for small and moderate sized problems.
Crime and Neighborhood Change in the Nation’s Capital: From Disinvestment to Gentrification:

Research on crime and neighborhood racial composition establishes that Black neighborhoods with high levels of violent crime will experience an increase in Black residents and concentrated disadvan...
Reachability and Top-k Reachability Queries with Transfer Decay.

The prevalence of location tracking systems has resulted in large volumes of spatiotemporal data generated every day. Addressing reachability queries on such datasets is important for a wide range of applications (surveillance, public health, social networks, etc.) A spatiotemporal reachability query identifies whether a physical item (or information etc.) could have been transferred from the source object $O_S$ to the target object $O_T$ during a time interval $I$ (either directly, or through a chain of intermediate transfers). In previous research on spatiotemporal reachability queries, the number of such transfers is not limited, and the weight of a piece of transferred information remains the same. This paper introduces novel reachability queries, which assume a scenario of information decay. Such queries arise when the value of information that travels through the chain of intermediate objects decreases with each transfer. To address such queries efficiently over large spatiotemporal datasets, we introduce the RICCdecay algorithm. Further, the decay scenario leads to an important extension: if there are many different sources of information, the aggregate value of information an object can obtain varies. As a result, we introduce a top-k reachability problem, identifying the k objects with the highest accumulated information. We also present the RICCtopK algorithm that can efficiently compute top-k reachability with transfer decay queries. An experimental evaluation shows the efficiency of the proposed algorithms over previous approaches.
'Assault Weapon' Lethality

"Assault weapons" long have been portrayed as exceptionally powerful firearms designed for killing large numbers of people. While handguns are the overwhelming weapon of choice for mass shooters and rifles of every kind are used in only 3-4% of murders nationwide, gun-control advocates nevertheless single out “assault weapons” as uniquely deserving of prohibition. The reason, they say, is that “assault weapons” are far more dangerous than other modern firearms and thus ill-suited for lawful activities like self-defense. Five federal circuit courts have relied on the lethality rationale in upholding “assault weapon” bans against Second Amendment challenges. They have declared that “assault weapons” have “a capability for lethality—more wounds, more serious, in more victims—far beyond that of other firearms in general, including other semiautomatic guns.” For these courts, "assault weapon" lethality is the driving factor in their constitutional interest balancing. Are "assault weapons" more lethal or dangerous than handguns, shotguns, and non-banned rifles? Ban advocates and federal courts say they are and have offered two arguments to support their claims. The first draws an analogy to military weapons by labeling "assault weapons" as extremely dangerous weapons of war. The second uses metrics based on weapons' rate of fire and wounding capability. Given the magnitude of disinformation about “assault weapons,” judges must carefully assess whether there is reliable evidence to support these arguments. If “assault weapons” are not more lethal than non-banned firearms and are equally useful for self-defense, then courts must find other justifications for upholding laws that keep such firearms out of the hands of ordinary citizens. This Article provides an evidence-based analysis of AR-15’s lethality as justifying bans on these rifles. Part I considers whether the AR-15 is like a combat weapon, and thus too lethal for civilian use. Part II examines claims that the AR-15 is exceptionally lethal because it fires much faster and causes far more serious wounds than non-banned firearms. Part III answers two related questions: first, why have mass shootings with “assault weapons” resulted in much higher casualties? And second, do the same features that make “assault weapons” useful for self-defense also make them the most deadly choice for mass shooters?
Unit Selection with Causal Diagram.

The unit selection problem aims to identify a set of individuals who are most likely to exhibit a desired mode of behavior, for example, selecting individuals who would respond one way if encouraged and a different way if not encouraged. Using a combination of experimental and observational data, Li and Pearl derived tight bounds on the "benefit function" - the payoff/cost associated with selecting an individual with given characteristics. This paper shows that these bounds can be narrowed significantly (enough to change decisions) when structural information is available in the form of a causal model. We address the problem of estimating the benefit function using observational and experimental data when specific graphical criteria are assumed to hold.
Implementing variable-rate herbicide applications based on soil physical properties in grain sorghum

Soil application of herbicides for pre-emergence (PRE) weed control is vital for grain sorghum production. Many soil-applied herbicides can be adsorbed or bound to the soil reducing the amount available for weed control. Extent of adsorption is strongly correlated to soil physical properties of organic matter (SOM) and texture. To overcome adsorption, the rate of herbicide to be applied is dependent on SOM and texture levels. These properties can vary within one field, making it difficult to follow label recommendations and achieve adequate weed control with a uniform rate. Variable rate applications (VRA) can be utilized to maximize herbicide effectiveness by applying the right rate in the right place. In 2016 and 2017, herbicide algorithms were developed for two different tank-mixes to be applied at five locations across Kansas. A Veris MSP3 system was utilized to collect and develop interpolated maps of SOM and of EC values that were correlated with soil texture classes to develop soil texture maps. Three algorithms were evaluated in the field for each tank-mix: based only on SOM (alg-SOM), on SOM and texture (alg-SOMtex), or on a flat rate. Rates for each tank-mix were based on the maximum usage rate (MUR) allowed for each herbicide. VRA based on SOM reduced the amount of herbicide applied while resulting in similar weed control compared to the flat rate. VRA based on SOM and texture greatly reduced the amount of herbicide applied but also resulted in reduced weed control compared to the flat rate at several locations. These findings prove that accurate SOM and texture data at high resolution combined with herbicide algorithms can be utilized by producers for effective VRA of soil-applied herbicides.
Extraintestinal manifestations of Edwardsiella tarda infection

Summary Edwardsiella tarda, a member of the family Enterobacteriaceae, is a rare human pathogen. Gastroenteritis is the most frequently reported manifestation of E. tarda infection. In contrast, extraintestinal infection with E. tarda has rarely been reported. This study made a retrospective case and microbiological data review of patients with extraintestinal E. tarda infections to further understand this disease. This study retrospectively reviewed the charts of all isolates of E. tarda cultures from clinical specimens other than faeces at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan from October 1998 through December 2001. Edwardsiella tarda was isolated from 22 clinical specimens from 22 hospitalised patients (13 females and nine males). The extraintestinal manifestations of E. tarda infection included biliary tract infection, bacteraemia, skin and soft tissue infection, liver abscess, peritonitis, intra-abdominal abscess, and tubo-ovarian abscess. The major underlying diseases predisposing to E. tarda extraintestinal infection were hepatobiliary diseases, malignancy and diabetes mellitus. The overall mortality rate of E. tarda extraintestinal infection in the present series was 22.7% (5/22), and four (40%) of 10 patients with bacteraemia expired. Although rare, human E. tarda extraintestinal infections can have diverse clinical manifestations and moreover may cause severe and life-threatening infections. Consequently, E. tarda should be considered a potentially important pathogen.
Partial Resolution of the Enzymes Catalyzing Photophosphorylation X. PURIFICATION OF SPINACH CYTOCHROME f AND ITS PHOTOOXIDATION BY RESOLVED PHOTOSYSTEM I PARTICLES

Abstract 1. A cytochrome f preparation was obtained from spinach chloroplasts with an absorbance ratio of 3.0 at 421:278 nm. The minimum molecular weight calculated from sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis was 34,000 and from amino acid analysis 36,000. It contained 2 half-cystines and 3 histidines per heme. The purified preparation was soluble in water and appeared to be in an octameric form. 2. Photosystem I particles were depleted of cytochromes by treatment with digitonin and differential centrifugation. These particles photooxidized purified reduced cytochrome f, which in the presence of ascorbate was again reduced in the dark. The oxidation was markedly accelerated by addition of plastocyanin at low concentrations (1 to 10 nm) approximating the P700 concentration. The photooxidation was inhibited by salt and unaffected by nonionic detergents. From the stoichiometry and the high rate of photooxidation, it was concluded that cytochrome f, plastocyanin and Photosystem I form a catalytic complex.
An evaluation of the effectiveness of cluster development in the Town of Southampton, New York

Clustering new development, and as a result retaining protected open space, has been a simultaneously much touted and much maligned planning tool. Its relative merits as a tool to preserve farmland, open space and rural character have been debated for the past 40 years. To place this debate in context, this study presents a detailed, on the ground analysis of the physical and spatial results of 20 years of the Town of Southampton, New York's cluster ordinance. The analysis finds that although the tool was surprisingly effective in maintaining land in farming, the effects on visual quality were much less successful.
Spatial Representation: Maps of Fragmented Space

Grid cells in medial entorhinal cortex are thought to act as a neural metric for spatial navigation. A new study has examined the ability of grid cells to use self-motion cues to form a global map across fragmented spaces.
Synthesizing visible mirrors and multispectral filters using fractal random Cantor superlattices

A novel nature-inspired technique is introduced and employed to synthesize fractal random superlattices with custom mirror and multispectral filter properties in the visible spectrum. Fractal random Cantor bars are utilized as a representative model of superlattice structures found in nature. An important benefit of the design methodology is a reduction in the number of parameters required for optimization by a genetic algorithm (GA).
Microfinanças em foco

Estima-se que, no Brasil, apenas 2% das 8,2 milhoes de micro e pequenas empresas tenham acesso ao sistema de microfinancas. Esse enorme mercado e ocupado por financiadoras e bancos convencionais, conhecidos por praticarem estratosfericas taxas de juros. Consequencia: uma imensa massa de potenciais clientes fica a margem do sistema financeiro formal. Este artigo analisa os desafios para o desenvolvimento do setor de microfinancas em paises em desenvolvimento, especialmente o Brasil.
Developing Civic Engagement within a Civic Context

Civic engagement is associated with numerous positive outcomes to the individual actor, such as educational and social competencies, and to society, such as an active citizenry that participates in the political process and supports their communities through volunteering or political activism. In this chapter, we consider the definition of civic engagement, provide insights into trends of civic engagement over the past 30 years, disentangle the various competing theories on the development of civic engagement, and subsequently place the development of civic engagement within a development systems lens. We then use non-college-bound and non-college-attending youth as an example of the multiple factors that encourage or discourage the civic development. Although we take a life span perspective in this chapter, we focus mainly on childhood through the emerging adulthood periods, since the literature on civic engagement development in adulthood is unfortunately thin. Keywords: civic engagement; citizenship; political; volunteering; non-college-attending
Effect of protease inhibitors on DNA amplification in SV40-transformed Chinese hamster embryo cells

We have examined the effect of protease inhibitors on radiation-induced DNA amplification in vitro using an SV40-transformed Chinese hamster embryo cell line. DNA from cells irradiated with X-rays (10 Gy) or ultraviolet radiation (8 J/m2) resulted in an 8-fold or greater amplification of SV40 sequences compared with unirradiated cells. Addition of antipain or the soybean-derived Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor (BBI) to the culture medium, either 75 min after X-irradiation or within 15 min after ultraviolet irradiation, resulted in a reduction of amplification levels. BBI was more effective than antipain at an equal concentration. These results suggest that a protease may be involved in DNA amplification.
Constraints on plasticity in a connectionist model of the english past tense

This paper investigates constraints on dissociation and plasticity in a connectionist model undergoing random “lesions” both prior to and during training. When networks were trained only on phonological encodings of stem-suhed pairs similar to English regular verbs (e.g., walk x walked), long-term deficits (i.e., “critical period” effects) were not observed, yet there were substantive short-term effects of injury. When training vocabulary reflected the English-like competition between regular (suffixed) and irregular verbs (e.g., go x went, hit x hit), the acquisition of regular verbs became increasingly susceptible to injury, while the irregulars were learned quickly and were relatively impervious to damage. Patterns of generalization to novel forms conflicts with the assumption that this behavioral dissociation is indicative of selective impairment of the learning and generalization of the past tense rule, while the associative lexical-based mechanism is left intact. Instead, we propose a view of network performance in which the regular-irregular dissociation derives from a general reduction in the ability to find a single-mechanism solution when resolving the competition between two classes of mappings. In light of other models in which “regular” and “irregular” forms compete (e.g., Patterson, Seidenberg, & McClelland, 1989), as well as patterns of performance in normal and disordered English speakers (e.g., Pinker, 1991), two general implications are discussed: (1) critical period effects need not derive from endog-enously determined maturational change, but instead may in part result from learning history in relation to characteristics of the language to be learned (i.e., entrenchment), and (2) selective dissociations can result from general damage in systems that are not modularized in terms of rule-based vs. associative mechanisms.
Action, Attitude, and the Knobe Effect: Another Asymmetry

A majority of people regard the harmful side-effects of an agent’s behavior as much more intentional than an agent’s helpful side-effects. In this paper, I present evidence for a related asymmetry. When a side-effect action is an instance of harming, folk ascriptions are significantly impacted by the relative badness of either an agent’s main goal or her side-effect action, but not her attitude. Yet when a side-effect action is an instance of helping, folk ascriptions are sensitive to an agent’s expressed attitude, but not to the relative goodness of her main goal or side-effect. It seems that the connection between harmful side-effects and intentionality is, for many, uniquely impervious to the expressed attitude of the agent in question.
Nanotribology and its Applications to Magnetic Storage Devices and MEMS

Atomic force microscope/friction force microscope (AFM/FFM) have been used for measurements of surface roughness, friction, scratching/wear, indentation, material manipulation, and lubrication on a micro to nanoscales and for nanofabrication/nanomachining purposes. Commonly measured roughness parameters are scale dependent, requiring the need of scale-independent fractal parameters to characterize surface roughness. A generalized fractal analysis is presented which allows the characterization of surface roughness by two parameters. Local variation in microscale friction is found to correspond to the local surface slope suggesting that a ratchet mechanism is responsible for this variation. Directionality in the friction is observed on both micro and macro scales which results from the surface preparation and anisotropy in surface roughness. Microscale friction is generally found to be smaller than the macrofriction as there is less ploughing contribution in microscale measurements. Measurements of atomic-scale friction of a freshly cleaved highly oriented pyrolytic graphite exhibited the same periodicity as that of corresponding topography. However, the peaks in friction and those in corresponding topography were displaced relative to each other. Variations in atomic-scale friction and the observed displacement can be explained by the variations in interatomic forces in the normal and lateral directions. Wear rates for magnetic tapes, polyester tape substrates and single-crystal silicon are approximately constant for various loads and test durations. However, for magnetic disks and magnetic tapes with a multilayered thin-film structure, the wear of the diamondlike carbon overcoat in the case of disks and magnetic layer in the case of tapes, is catastrophic. Breakdown of thin-films can be detected with AFM. Evolution of the wear has also been studied using AFM. We find that the wear is initiated at nanoscratches. AFM has been modified for nanoindentation hardness measurements with depth of indentation as low as 1 nm. Scratching and indentation on nanoscales are the powerful ways of screening ultrathin films. Material manipulation on a nanoscale is possible with AFM. Measurement of lubricant film thickness with a lateral resolution on a nanoscale and boundary lubrication studies have been conducted using AFM. Finally, AFM has also shown to be useful for nanofabrication/nanomachining.
Buckling of rotating beams

The stability of a beam subjected to compressive centrifugal forces arising from steady rotation about an axis which does not pass through the clamped end of the beam is analyzed to determine the critical rotational speeds for buckling in the inplane and out-of-plane directions. The differential equations of motion are solved numerically using an integrating matrix method in combination with an eigenanalysis to determine the eigenvalues from which stability is assessed. The results clarify several differences which have been identified in the literature relating to the proper behavior of the critical rotational speed for buckling as the radius of rotation of the clamped end of the beam is reduced.
Effect of noradrenaline on phosphatase activity in synaptic membrane of the rat brain.

THE classical experiments of Loewi1 demonstrated the transmitter substance of the sympathetic nervous system to be adrenaline or noradrenaline2,3. Several further investigations have shown a transmitter substance to be present in the central nervous system (CNS), that is, the hypothalamus, the central grey matter of mesencephalon and the area postrema4,7. Differential centrifugation of a CNS homogenate has demonstrated the presence of noradrenaline in the synaptic vesicles of the synaptic junction8–10. Electrophysiological investigation has revealed that electrical stimulation of amygdala or of terminals of bulbo-spinal neurones leads, in both instances, to a reduction of the noradrenaline content of certain areas of the brain11–13. The molecular basis for the action of noradrenaline in the CNS is, however, unknown. Previous investigations of the pharmacological action of noradrenaline, particularly on different enzyme systems14–16, have not provided the experimental evidence basic to a theoretical understanding of physiological events of depolarization and repolarization. The relationship of changes in the ion-flux across the synaptic membrane to the action of a transmitter substance has not been denned. Investigation (our report in preparation) of the distribution of phospholipids and glycolipids free from sialic acid in the sub-cellular fractions of hypothalamus revealed a preponderance of phosphatidyl-serine in the sub-mitochondrial fraction B–C19 using the method of De Robertis et al.8,9. This discovery stimulated us to search for a possible function of phosphatidyl-serine in the synaptic endings. In vitro investigations revealed phosphatidyl-serine to be the only major lipid among phospholipids or glycolipids free from sialic acid of the CNS which binds the noradrenaline17.
Communication, Face Saving, and Anxiety at an Academic Library's Virtual Reference Service

This study investigates the communication between patrons and librarians at a large research university's virtual reference service. Reference transactions were analyzed for type of transaction and evidence of deflection, deference, and rapport building to determine if face-saving communication by librarians appeared to lower patrons’ stress and anxiety levels during the course of the virtual reference transaction. The transactions analyzed showed that despite the fact that few patrons self-disclosed feelings of library anxiety, there was evidence of deferential speech and rapport building, two essential elements of face saving, between patrons and librarians.
A Framework for Agency-Based Multicultural Training and Supervision.

SUMMARY Effective agency-based multicultural social work practice requires skillful multicultural assessment and intervention. Multicultural social work practice models and intervention strategies are needed to help train professionals to effectively intervene with clients who are culturally different; however, social work supervisors and trainers in agency settings often lack opportunities for learning how to train agency practitioners for successful multicultural intervention. This paper introduces an eight-step communication process model that social work agency supervisors and training units may use to help social workers become more effective multicultural practitioners. The first three steps of the model-acknowledge cultural differences, know yourself, and know other cultures-are discussed and accompanied by experiential exercises. The exercises will help sensitize practitioners to their owe culture-bound beliefs, help them identify cultural values of others and enhance multicultural practice skills.
Industrial Control - Shunted-Armature Connection for a D-C Shunt Motor

THERE are many operations in applications where d-c shunt motors are used where it is necessary to slow down the rotating system in order to perform certain functions. Many typical examples are found in machine-tool work, such as cross-feeding of a tool, milling-cutter slow-down for sharp corners, accurate positioning of tool to work, slowdown of a grinding wheel for dressing. Other examples are found in the slowing down of a printing machine for the purpose of matching colors and occasionally to obtain a threading speed in a textile range drive.
Transition in Education: Domain Analysis from the Encyclopedia of Milwaukee

Encyclopedism and its products, encyclopedias are an important form of knowledge organization system. Encyclopedias are deliberate cultural syntheses. Local online encyclopedias represent an emerging trend in the development of KOSs. The Encyclopedia of Milwaukee is one of the most recent additions to this trend. An interesting problem for research is how to visualize the domain of an evolving online encyclopedia. In this study, the base bibliography for one disciplinary cluster—education—is submitted to bibliometric domain analytical techniques. While parameters of a typical domain emerge, other atypical results also emerge, raising questions about the differences represented in encyclopedia domains as well as questions about the historical evolution of scholarship. Nonetheless, transitions in the evolution of the domain of education in Milwaukee, including increased author productivity and enhanced granularity, as well as local cultural distinction, clearly emerge.
Sediment Mixing by Lampsilis Radiata Siliquoidea (Mollusca) from Western Lake Erie

The sediment reworking activities of an abundant Lake Erie unionid bivalve, Lampsilis radiata siliquoidea, have been studied by field observations and laboratory experiments. Unionid burrowing in laboratory microcosms increased sediment water content 10-20%, decreased water content variability, homogenized sedimentary structures, and increased tenfold the volume of oxidized sediment over that in microcosms with no unionids. Incomplete mixing of sediment took place to a depth of 10 cm during burrowing by L. r. siliquoidea. Burrowing by other unionids may extend the depth of maximum reworking to 20 cm. Unionid burrowing, feeding, and respiratory activities may alter the profiles of various elements and radionuclides associated with sediment particles and alter the location and intensity of microbial activity in sediments.
Formation of faujasite-type zeolite from ground Shirasu volcanic glass

Abstract Faujasite-type zeolite was formed from the ground volcanic glass, ‘Shirasu’, deposited abundantly in southern Kyushu, Japan. The yield of faujasite type zeolite was affected by aging at ordinary temperatures, the particle size of volcanic glass and reaction time. After heating at 90°C for 24–72 h, the yield of faujasite-type zeolite decreased and species P, phillipsite and analcime formed in that order. From the analyses of component concentrations in the liquid phase and the nature of the solid phase, it was concluded that the formation of faujasite might be disturbed by K+ ions and the formation of a rigid amorphous solid.
A comprehensive effort to recruit and retain accounting students

Abstract This paper describes a series of coordinated and proactive recruitment and retention efforts within the accounting department of a southeastern university. Each semester, recruitment of successful students in Principles of Accounting classes is a departmental priority. The intention is to encourage Principles students to declare a major in accounting. For accounting majors in the junior and senior years, a series of programs is offered for professional development. Each year students are surveyed to gauge the perceived value of the time spent out-of-classroom. The results indicate that the time spent out-of-classroom is beneficial. Most important, the results of our efforts to recruit to the major from Principles classes correlate to previous research that indicates contacting potential majors in the introductory course is crucial.
Recall bias in the displaced workers survey: Are layoffs really lemons?

Abstract This paper examines how the extent of recall bias in the Displaced Workers Surveys affects the often-cited empirical results found by Gibbons and Katz [Gibbons, R., Katz, L.F., 1991. Layoffs and lemons. Journal of Labor Economics 9 (4), 351−380] for the lemons effect of layoffs. Their finding that workers displaced by layoffs experience larger wage losses than do those displaced by plant closings is not due to the stigma attached to the layoff events. Rather it partly stems from recall bias in the 1984 and 1986 DWS, but mostly reflects the fact that workers displaced by layoffs have significantly higher predisplacement wage-tenure profiles than do those displaced by plant closings, while there is no such difference in postdisplacement wage-tenure profiles. A similar analysis using the 2000 and 2002 DWS shows that predisplacement wage losses are not different between workers displaced by layoffs and those displaced by plant closings.
Blind local noise estimation for medical images reconstructed from rapid acquisition

Developments in rapid acquisition techniques and reconstruction algorithms, such as sensitivity encoding (SENSE) for MR images and fan-beam filtered backprojection (fFBP) for CT images, have seen widely applications in medical imaging in recent years. Nevertheless, such techniques introduce spatially varying noise levels in the reconstructed medical images that may degrade the image quality and hinder subsequent diagnostic inspection. Though this may be alleviated with multiple scanning images or the sensitivity profiles of imaging device, these pieces of information are typically unavailable in clinical practice. In this work, we describe a novel local noise level estimation technique based on the near constancy of kurtosis of medical image in band-pass filtered domain. This technique can effectively estimate noise levels in the pixel domain and recover the noise map for reconstructed medical images with nonuniform noise distribution. The advantage of this method is that it requires no prior knowledge of the imaging devices and can be implemented when only one single medical image is available. We report experiments that demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in estimating the local noise levels for medical images quantitatively and qualitatively, and compare its estimation performance to another recent developed blind noise estimation approach. Finally, we also evaluate the practical denoising performance of our noise estimation algorithm on medical images when it is used as a front-end to a denoiser that uses principal component analysis with local pixel grouping (LPG-PCA) technique.
Space Propulsion Applications of Helium Arcjets

Abstract : With currently available space electric power systems, the optimum specific impulse for electrically propelled satellite transfers from low Earth orbit to geosynchronous Earth orbit appears to be in the 1000 to 1200 second range. Arcjets operating with helium as a propellant may be the most efficient electric thruster capable of operating in this specific impulse range. This work reports on a recent set of experiments which examined the effects of arcjet configuration, and propellant composition and flow rates, on arcjet performance. In these tests, it was found that increasing the cathode-anode gap over that normally used with hydrogen or ammonia propellants increased arc stability and significantly improved specific impulse and electrical efficiency. Hydrogen seeding was found to improve arc stability, particularly at smaller cathode gaps, but it had a very small effect on overall performance of the arcjet. The primary variable which affected arcjet performance was found to be propellant flow rate. The efficiency of the helium arcjet was found to increase with increasing propellant flow rate up to the maximum flows available for the current set of experiments.
Caretaker Obstreperous Behavior Rating Scale

Although Alzheimer's original description of the dementing disorder that bears his name emphasized the prominence of troublesome and disruptive behaviors, a systematic investigation of behavioral disturbances of dementia did not begin in earnest until the 1980s. At that time, as the neuropathologic identity of presenile Alzheimer's disease and late-onset “senile dementia” was recognized, the redefinition of Alzheimer's disease abruptly increased the number of patients diagnosed with this condition. Physicians and other medical personnel working with Alzheimer's disease patients recognized both the importance of abnormal behaviors in this now large patient population and the need to describe, classify, and quantify these behaviors.
CHANGES OF TAURINE METABOLISM IN ACUTE UREMIA

Taurine(Tau) is known to be important for the regulation of ion fluxes in excitable tissues,especially in the heart muscle,where it is the most abundant amino acid Neuromuscular disturbances are common in uremia.In order to investigate the role of Tau in uremia the concentration of Tau was determined in plasma, liver, brain,skeletal and heart muscle of 38 rats 12,24 and 48 hours after bilateral nephrectomy(NX) and compared with sham operated (SH) and normal animals. In NX rats mean plasma creatinine rose linearly from 0.44 to 7.39 mg/dl. Tau was found to be elevated in plasma with a maximum level of 0.41 vs. 0.23 μmol/ml at 24 hrs, and in liver, in which the highest level (7.2 vs. 2.0 μmol/g wet wt) was observed 48 hrs. post NX. Mean Tau concentration was unchanged in brain (5.3 μmol/g wet wt)and skeletal muscle (15.1 μmol/g wet wt), but was lowered in the heart(20.9 vs. 26.0 μmol/g wet wt). The decrease of heart Tau content was significantly correlated to the degree of uremia (p<0.001) and was not due to changes in heart weight, which was identical in NX and SH rats. In conclusion,the elevation of plasma and liver Tau concentration in acute uremia is not followed by similar changes in muscle and brain. The apparent efflux from the heart might be involved in the development of uremic heart disease.
Kinematic Synthesis of Mechanisms and Robotic Manipulators With Binary Actuators

Binary actuators have only two discrete states (denoted 0 and 1), both of which are stable without feedback. As a result, binary mechanisms and manipulators have a finite number of states. Major benefits of binary actuation are that extensive feedback control is not required, task repeatability can be very high, and two-state actuators are generally very inexpensive (e.g., solenoids, pneumatic cylinders, etc.), thus resulting in low cost robotic mechanisms. This paper develops algorithms for the optimal synthesis of binary manipulators and mechanisms for discrete tasks such as pick-and-place operations.
Model-Driven Development of Secure Service Applications

The development of a secure service application is a difficult task and designed protocols are very error-prone. To develop a secure SOA application, application-independent protocols (e.g. TLS or Web service security protocols) are used. These protocols guarantee standard security properties like integrity or confidentiality but the critical properties are application-specific (e.g. 'a ticket can not be used twice'). For that, security has to be integrated in the whole development process and application-specific security properties have to be guaranteed. This paper illustrates the modeling of a security-critical service application with UML. The modeling is part of an integrated software engineering approach that encompasses model-driven development. Using the approach, an application based on service-oriented architectures (SOA) is modeled with UML. From this model executable code as well as a formal specification to prove the security of the application is generated automatically. Our approach, called SecureMDD, supports the development of security-critical applications and integrates formal methods to guarantee the security of the system. The modeling guidelines are demonstrated with an online banking example.
Constraint-Aware Navigation in Dynamic Environments

Path planning is a fundamental problem in many areas ranging from robotics and artificial intelligence to computer graphics and animation. While there is extensive literature for computing optimal, collision-free paths, there is little work that explores the satisfaction of spatial constraints between objects and agents at the global navigation layer. This paper presents a planning framework that satisfies multiple spatial constraints imposed on the path. The type of constraints specified could include staying behind a building, walking along walls, or avoiding the line of sight of patrolling agents. We introduce a hybrid environment representation that balances computational efficiency and discretization resolution, to provide a minimal, yet sufficient discretization of the search graph for constraint-aware navigation. An extended anytime-dynamic planner is used to compute constraint-aware paths, while efficiently repairing solutions to account for dynamic constraints. We demonstrate the benefits of our method on challenging navigation problems in complex environments for dynamic agents using combinations of hard and soft constraints, attracting and repelling constraints, on static obstacles and moving obstacles.
Self-assembly of freebase- and metallated-tetrapyridylporphyrins to modified gold surfaces

Freebase- and metallated-tetrapyridylporphyrins self-organize through multiple hydrogen bonding to carboxylic acid terminated self-assembled monolayers on gold surfaces, thereby producing surfaces with two additional functional sites, the porphyrin cavity and the terminal pyridyl groups.