cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Intelligent Search-Based Selection of Sample Points for Straightness and Flatness Estimation

Form error estimation with a CMM requires prudent sampling and accurate zone fitting. This paper proposes use of optimization search methods for reducing sample size, while maintaining high accuracy. The approach is demonstrated with examples of straightness and flatness. For straightness, region-elimination search is used. For flatness, two pattern search methods: Tabu search and a hybrid search, are employed and their performance is compared. Sampling begins with a necessary number of initial points and a zone is determined. Next points are sampled based on the search methods, with suitable application of intensification/diversification strategies, looking for improvement in the zone fit. Search is conducted in both the +ve and -ve directions from the fit feature and is stopped when a solution for the maximum deviation is realized. The two solution points are added to the initial set and the corresponding tolerance is computed. The tolerance is compared with that obtained for the population of a large sample, to verify the accuracy. It is found that the number of points sampled is potentially less than that typically used to achieve the same accuracy.
Lead, GABA, and seizures: effects of subencephalopathic lead exposure on seizure sensitivity and GABAergic function.

Abstract Seizures have been described as the endpoint of lead (Pb) intoxication in both humans and animals. Alterations in blood—brain barrier integrity may underlie some cases of Pb-induced seizures, but seizures can also occur in the absence of changes in blood—brain barrier. Exposure of rats to two levels of Pb below those producing overt encephalopathy sensitizes them to the behavioral effects of the convulsant agents picrotoxin, isoniazid, mercaptopropionic acid, and strychnine, but not pentylenetetrazol (PTZ). Pb exposure affects several aspects of regional GABAergic function: GABA-transaminase (GABA-T) and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) activities, GABA levels, and apparent rate of GABA synthesis. The results indicated that Pb increased GAD activity, decreased GABA-T activity, and increased the apparent rate of GABA synthesis. However, these changes were not observed consistently in all regions studied. Pb exposure also inhibited the uptake and release (unstimulated and K-stimulated) of [14C]GABA; this effect was observed in both Pb treatment groups and in all brain regions except the cerebellum. The results support an hypothesis of a neurochemical basis for Pb-induced seizures, involving inhibition of GABAergic neurotransmission.
Water-Assisted Vapor Deposition of PEDOT Thin Film

The synthesis and characterization of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) using water-assisted vapor phase polymerization (VPP) and oxidative chemical vapor deposition (oCVD) are reported. For the VPP PEDOT, the oxidant, FeCl3 , is sublimated onto the substrate from a heated crucible in the reactor chamber and subsequently exposed to 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) monomer and water vapor in the same reactor. The oCVD PEDOT was produced by introducing the oxidant, EDOT monomer, and water vapor simultaneously to the reactor. The enhancement of doping and crystallinity is observed in the water-assisted oCVD thin films. The high doping level observed at UV-vis-NIR spectra for the oCVD PEDOT, suggests that water acts as a solubilizing agent for oxidant and its byproducts. Although the VPP produced PEDOT thin films are fully amorphous, their conductivities are comparable with that of the oCVD produced ones.
Comparison of gpELISA and neutralizing antibody responses to Oka/Merck live varicella vaccine (Varivax®) in children and adults

A comparison was made of antibody responses generated to live varicella (Oka/Merck) vaccine (Varivax) produced during three different manufacturing campaigns to evaluate the quality of the antibody responses and demonstrate consistency of the manufacturing process. Anti-varicella zoster virus (VZV) antibody titers were measured by an enhanced neutralization assay and VZV glycoprotein-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (gpELISA). For sera taken from children who had received one dose of vaccine an excellent linear concordance in titers was observed between the two assays. Sera from adults who had received two doses demonstrated continuing increased neutralization at high gpELISA titers. The immunogenicity measured by the two assays demonstrates that the overall performance of the vaccine was very similar over the three production series.
Integrated Modular Modeling of Water and Nutrients From Point and Nonpoint Sources in the Patuxent River Watershed

We present a simple modular landscape simulation model that is based on a watershed modeling framework in which different sets of processes occurring in a watershed can be simulated separately with different models. The model consists of three loosely coupled submodels: a rainfall-runoff model (TOPMODEL) for runoff generation in a subwatershed, a nutrient model for estimation of nutrients from nonpoint sources in a subwatershed, and a stream network model for integration of point and nonpoint sources in the routing process. The model performance was evaluated using monitoring data in the watershed of the Patuxent River, a tributary to the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, from July 1997 through August 1999. Despite its simplicity, the landscape model predictions of streamflow, and sediment and nutrient loads were as good as or better than those of the Hydrological Simulation Program-Fortran model, one of the most widely used comprehensive watershed models. The landscape model was applied to predict discharges of water, sediment, silicate, organic carbon, nitrate, ammonium, organic nitrogen, total nitrogen, organic phosphorus, phosphate, and total phosphorus from the Patuxent watershed to its estuary. The predicted annual water discharge to the estuary was very close to the measured annual total in terms of percent errors for both years of the study period (<or= 2%). The model predictions for loads of nutrients were also good (20-30%) or very good (<20%) with exceptions of sediment (40%), phosphate (36%), and organic carbon (53%) for Year 1.
Longitudinal Study of Callosal Microstructure in the Normal Adult Aging Brain Using Quantitative DTI Fiber Tracking

We present a review of neuroimaging studies of normal adult aging conducted with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and data from one of the first longitudinal studies using DTI to study normal aging. To date, virtually all DTI studies of normal adult aging have been cross-sectional and have identified several patterns of white matter microstructural sparing and compromise that differentiate regional effects, fiber type, and diffusivity characteristics: (1) fractional anisotropy (FA) is lower and mean diffusivity is higher in older than younger adults, (2) aging is characterized by an anterior-to-posterior gradient of greater-to-lesser compromise also seen in superior-to-inferior fiber systems, and (3) association fibers connecting cortical sites appear to be more vulnerable to aging than projection fibers. The results of this longitudinal study of the macrostructure and microstructure of the corpus callosum yielded a consistent pattern of differences between healthy, young (20s to 30s) and elderly (60s to 70s) men and women without change over 2 years. We then divided the fibers of the corpus callosum into the midsagittal strip and the lateral distal fibers in an attempt to identify the locus of the age-related differences. The results indicated that, on average, mean values of FA and longitudinal diffusivity (lambdaL) were lower in the distal than midsagittal fibers in both groups, but the age effects and the anterior-to-posterior gradients were more pronounced for the distal than midsagittal fibers and extended more posteriorly in the distal than midsagittal fibers. Despite lack of evidence for callosal aging over 2 years, ventricular enlargement occurred and was disproportionately greater in the elderly relative to the young group, being 8.2% in the elderly but only 1.2% in the young group. Thus, different brain regions can express different rates of change with aging. Our longitudinal DTI data indicate that normal aging is associated with declining FA and increasing diffusivity in both lambdaL (longitudinal diffusivity) and lambdaT (transverse diffusivity), perhaps defining the normal ontological condition rather than a pathological one, which can be marked by low FA and low diffusivity.
Interior Tomography: Theory, Algorithms and Applications

The conventional wisdom states that the interior problem (reconstruction of an interior region from projection data along lines only through that region) is NOT uniquely solvable. While it remains correct, our recent theoretical and numerical results demonstrated that this interior problem CAN be solved in a theoretically exact and numerically stable fashion if a sub-region within the interior region is known. In contrast to the well-established lambda tomography, the studies on this type of exact interior reconstruction are referred to as "interior tomography". In this paper, we will overview the development of interior tomography, involving theory, algorithms and applications. The essence of interior tomography is to find the unique solution from highly truncated projection data via analytic continuation. Such an extension can be done either in the filtered backprojection or backprojection filtration formats. The key issue for the exact interior reconstruction is how to invert the truncated Hilbert transform. We have developed a projection onto convex set (POCS) algorithm and a singular value decomposition (SVD) method and produced excellent results in numerical simulations and practical applications.
Graduate Education in Industrial Hygiene: Recent History and Prospects

Abstract Industrial hygiene is the recognition, evaluation, and control of health hazards in the workplace. Despite a long history in Europe, industrial hygiene is a 20th century discipline in the United States. The first recognized practitioner was Alice Hamilton, a physician who wrote extensively of her studies characterizing and attempting to minimize exposure to lead and other hazards in the first half of this century. The establishment of the Office of Industrial Hygiene in 1914 at the U.S. Public Health Service prompted significant growth in the number of industrial hygienists, but support for their education was realized only with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. The education of industrial hygienists in the United States began in 1922 at Harvard. By 1973 there were nine graduate programs; there are 45 today. In Washington state, graduate education in industrial hygiene began at the University of Washington (UW) in 1971, although research activities had been going on for more than 10...
Speciation of aqueous palladium(II) chloride solutions using optical spectroscopies

Abstract Spectroscopic measurements of palladium(II) chloride solutions have been performed under ambient to elevated temperature conditions with systematic changes in pH and [Cl−1]. Spectral signatures from electronic absorption spectra (Uv/Vis) and Raman vibrational spectra were determined, and these were subsequently used to systematically map out species along several paths of the predominance diagram. The species PdCl x (H 2 O) 4−x 2−x (x = 2, 3, or 4) and Pd(OH)2 were observed, along with a precipitation product formed from > 10 μM [Pd2+]solutions under near-neutral conditions. The elemental composition of the precipitation product was examined with a scanning electron micrograph (SEM) and was found to contain chloride as well as palladium. While sub-stoichiometric amounts of available OH− ligand produced UV/ Vis solution spectra likely to be from mixed Pd-Cl-OH species, the pH field of these species would be vanishingly small at low, geologically relevant palladium ion concentrations where [OH−]is no longer the limiting reagent in the transformation. In mildly acidic media, where chloropalladium(II) species predominate, elevated temperatures (up to 90°C) cause lower charged palladium-chloride species to be favored, consistent with the lowered dielectric constant of water at higher temperatures.
What's new in pediatric dermatology: update for the pediatrician.

Purpose of review Common pediatric skin conditions such as infantile atopic dermatitis, vitiligo, hemangiomas of infancy, warts, and molluscum contagiosum do not always respond to standard therapy. In some settings pediatricians will use “off-label” medications if the benefit-to-risk ratio is favorable. This article reviews important literature from the past year related to “off-label” immune-based treatment of skin disease, using the topical immunomodulators tacrolimus, pimecrolimus, and imiquimod, as well as intravenous Ig. Recent findings The topical immunomodulators tacrolimus and pimecrolimus have been embraced by pediatricians as long awaited alternatives for treating atopic dermatitis in children 2 years of age and older. Their unique appeal as nonsteroidal topical agents with good safety profiles has led to their frequent use for unapproved indications. A number of recent publications detail their use in infantile atopic dermatitis in children as young as 3 months of age, as well as use in other conditions such as vitiligo. Imiquimod, another topical immunomodulator, approved for genital wart treatment in adults, has also been examined for “off-label” pediatric use in nongenital warts, molluscum contagiosum, hemangiomas of infancy, and basal cell carcinoma. Finally, “off-label” use of intravenous Ig has been evaluated for the life-threatening dermatoses Stevens–Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis. Summary In the absence of larger controlled trials, pediatricians must consider the cumulative weight of smaller studies with their personal experience when assessing any role for “off label” therapy. The recent literature reviewed herein will facilitate such assessments of the non-steroid topical immune modifiers tacrolimus, pimecrolimus, and imiquimod as well as intravenous immunoglobulin.
Steroid Specificity of the Glucocorticoid Inhibition of Amino Acid Transport in Rat Hepatoma Cells

Dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid, inhibits the initial rate of transport of the nonmetabolizable amino acid, α-aminoisobutyric acid, in rat hepatoma tissue culture (HTC) cells. To determine whether this inhibition is mediated by the same proximal steps as is the steroidal induction of tyrosine aminotransferase, we have examined the hormonal specificity of these two responses for various steroids previously characterized with respect to transaminase induction as agonists, partial agonists, antagonists, or inactive steroids. We conclude that the steroidal inhibition of amino acid transport, at steroid concentrations of 10-5 M or less is mediated by the same glucocorticoid receptor mechanisms as the induction of tyrosine aminotransferase. First, the concentrations at which the full agonists, dexamethasone and cortisol, produce their half-maximal effects on both phenomena are the same. Second, tetrahydrocortisol, which does not interact with the glucocorticoid receptor, neither inhib ts transport nor...
Supporting efficient query processing on compressed XML files

XML has been widely accepted as the de facto format for data representation and exchange. However, it is also known for the excessive information redundancy in its representation. While various compression schemes have been proposed and some of them can support query processing over compressed files, it is usually inevitable to perform partial (or full) data decompression which is expensive and in some cases may dominate the query processing time.In this paper, we propose a new XML compression scheme based on the Sequitur compression algorithm. By organizing the compression result as a set of context free grammar rules, the scheme supports efficient processing of XPath queries without decompression. The experimental results show that this scheme achieves comparable compression ratio as gzip while its query processing time is among the best of existing algorithms.
The Zebrafish Secretome

The secretome is a functionally rich proteome subset, including cellular membrane and extracellular proteins processed through the secretory pathway. In this study, Danio rerio and Homo sapiens RefSeq proteins were analyzed with SignalP, TargetP, Phobius, and pTarget algorithms. About 16.5% of the zebrafish proteome and 17.0% of the human proteome possessed predicted N-terminal signal sequences. Nearly half of these proteins were subsequently classified as soluble, as they lacked predicted transmembrane domains. The soluble proteins were further subclassified, predicting 1345 (3.8%) zebrafish and 1207 (3.2%) human proteins as extracellular. Comparison of the zebrafish and human soluble secretome proteins identified 372 as orthologs, on the basis of reciprocal BLAST best hits. The computational characterization of the zebrafish proteins found many more members of the secretome than annotated in the SwissProt database. Only 180 of the 2078 zebrafish SwissProt protein entries, and 995 of the 19,294 human Swi...
Effects of an education and training intervention on caregiver knowledge of nonurgent pediatric complaints and on child health services utilization.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this study was to test the impact of an education and training intervention about management of common childhood illnesses on caregiver knowledge and health service use by an index child. METHODS This was a quasi-experimental, preintervention-postintervention pilot study of a primary care-based intervention among 32 caregivers of urban children aged 7 months to 5 years. Intervention consisted of a 90-minute educational activity developed after input from focus groups and taught by pediatric nurses; it addressed management of fever, colds, and minor trauma in children at home. Caregiver knowledge before, immediately after, and 6 months after intervention was tested using a written instrument. Health services utilization for an index child in the family was collected 6 months before and after intervention. RESULTS Caregiver knowledge, as assessed by mean score on the test instrument, increased immediately after the intervention. It was lower at 6-month follow-up but remained higher than pretest. Total health services utilization, adjusted for patient and caregiver factors, did not change significantly 6 months after the intervention. After-hours calls to the primary care physician increased from a mean of 0.33 to 1.46 per patient (P = 0.047), making it the only behavior with significant change. Preintervention health services utilization was the strongest positive predictor of postintervention health services use. CONCLUSIONS The primary care-based intervention led to increased caregiver knowledge regarding management of common minor childhood illnesses and to increased after-hours telephone use. There was no significant decrease in ED use. To reduce reliance on the ED for nonurgent conditions, additional strategies may be needed.
Effect of high density and reduced ionic defects on piezoelectric behavior of K0.5Na0.5NbO3 ceramic

A reduced concentration of ionic defects along with >99 % of the theoretical density has been achieved for K0.5Na0.5NbO3 ceramic by employing a twofold sintering technique. Lower concentration of ionic defects resulted in an order of magnitude improvement in the resistivity and hence enhanced poling of the ceramic at 100 °C. High density and improved poling of the ceramic resulted in a significant improvement in electromechanical properties while maintaining the high orthorhombic–tetragonal (To–t) and Curie (Tc) temperatures of K0.5Na0.5NbO3 (200 and 395 °C respectively). A comparison with the previous studies suggested that the piezoelectric properties of the ceramic synthesized in this study were similar to those synthesized using complex techniques such as spark plasma sintering and hot pressing. This is a significant advancement facilitating the possibility of transition of K0.5Na0.5NbO3 ceramic toward device application.
Laser-tattoo removal--a study of the mechanism and the optimal treatment strategy via computer simulations.

Background and Objective The physical mechanisms for laser-tattoo interactions and the tattoo particle breakup process are not well understood. This study investigates whether the mechanism of the breakup process can be identified via computer simulations and proposes a treatment strategy that can potentially minimize the collateral damage to the surrounding tissues. Note that the “removal” of tattoo particles is defined here as breakup of particles into smaller ones with sizes approaching or smaller than the visible wavelength of light so that they become less visible. Study Design/Materials and Methods The radiation-hydrodynamics code LATIS is used for the modeling. We first identify the magnitude of the tensile stress generated inside graphite tattoo particles as functions of laser pulse length and particle size. We then calculate the relationship between the surface laser fluence (defined as the time integrated energy flux) and the tensile strength of the tattoo particle at a given depth. Results If the laser pulse length is sufficiently short, strong acoustic waves with tensile strengths exceeding the fracture thresholds for graphite are generated. The strength of the wave decreases with particle size and increases as the laser pulse length decreases. Simulation results are in general agreement with clinical studies. Although temperatures of the tattoo particles never reach the melting point, a cavitation bubble around the particle can be formed. The steam generated can get into the cracked particles and induce steam-carbon reactions. Laser energy density decreases rapidly with the skin depth. Therefore, the minimum surface laser fluence, for a given pulse length, required for breaking up tattoo particles at a given skin depth, increases with particle depth. Conclusions Computer simulations confirm that the breakup of tattoo particles is photoacoustic. For the same amount of laser energy, a shorter pulse is more efficient. The optimal pulse length is approximately 10–100 picosecond to minimize the laser fluence and the collateral damage. It is more difficult to break up the smallest tattoo particles that have diameters smaller than 10 nm; however, smaller particles are less important because they are less visible. Tissue surrounding the tattoo particles can be damaged by cavitation bubbles. These bubbles could be the cause of the empty vacuoles in the ash-white lesions throughout the dermis seen after treatment. Steam-carbon reactions can be induced. Particles then become grossly transparent because of this reaction. Different laser intensity should be used for pigments at different depths in order to minimize the collateral damage to the dermis. Lasers Surg. Med. 30:389–397, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Non-budding strains of hydra: isolation from sexual crosses and developmental regulation of form.

New strains of hydra were obtained from sexual crosses; 15% of these strains exhibited impaired or no budding. Altered tentacle number, regeneration, size and form almost always accompanied this non-budding trait. Strains selected for deficient budding activities were also more variable in morphology than are normal hydra. Two developmental traits were studied in the non-budding animals; regenerative ability and the formation and control of supernumerary tentacles. The regeneration patterns of non-budding hydra vary with the size of the piece of regenerating tissue. Column segments greater than 3 mm in length regenerate hydranths at all cut surfaces, whereas pieces less than 1 mm long usually regenerate bases at proximal surfaces, as do normal animals. When polyps grow abnormally long, they form supernumerary tentacles. Formation of these tentacles seems to be normally suppressed by a nearby hydranth. Supernumerary tentacle formation can be suppressed even in long, non-budding hydra, by implants of hypostomal or subhypostomal tissue. The non-budding hydra phenotype appears to result from developmental lesions spread throughout the polyp body. Budding is one of the primary aspects of development which is affected, and a lack of budding leads to increased animal size. This in turn results in many pleiotropic effects including supernumerary tentacle formation and altered regeneration patterns.
Synthesis and characterization of sulfonated poly(styrene-b-(ethylene-ran-butylene)-b-styrene)/(strontium titanate) nanocomposites

Abstract Nanocomposite films were prepared via syntheses of SrTiO3 nanoparticles in films of sulfonated poly(styrene-b-ethylene-co-butylene-b-styrene) (sSEBS) block copolymer templates. SrTiO3 ionic and alkoxide precursors permeated selectively into styrene domains in which formation and growth of crystalline nanoparticles occurred through hydrolysis-precipitation reactions. FTIR spectra verified SrTiO3 composition and WAXD patterns identified crystalline SrTiO3 within the templates. AFM images for both unfilled sSEBS and sSEBS/SrTiO3 microtomed films showed mesophase separation characterized by lamellar morphologies suggesting that SrTiO3 particle insertion did not alter template morphology. Uniform distribution of Ti and Sr along the nanocomposite internal film cross sections and external surfaces was seen using ESEM/EDX. TEM images showed clusters of parallel SrTiO3 rods in sulfonated styrene domains. Agreement of SrTiO3 rod width in TEM images with domain size in AFM images supports the template hypothesis. Selected area electron diffraction studies of SrTiO3 clusters inside sSEBS/SrTiO3 provided direct identification of in situ formation of crystalline SrTiO3 particles. WAXD studies demonstrated that in situ – grown particles have the same crystal structure as those produced outside the template. The frequency dependent broadband dielectric responses of these materials, both filled and unfilled, reflect strong polarizability that is more sensitive to degree of sulfonation than from insertion of SrTiO3 nanoparticles.
620. Liposome-Based Therapeutic Vaccine for Cervical Cancer

Top of pageAbstract Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide. More than 99% of cervical cancers contain human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA while HPV type 16 is the most common subtype and is associated with 50% of cervical cancer cases. Preventive vaccine against HPV infection is already available on market, however, there is not yet a therapeutic vaccine thus far for replacing of the traumatic surgery on patients with cervical carcinoma. The E7 viral protein of HPV16, which is continuously expressed in cervical cancer cells and pre-cancerous lesions, is also a unique antigen for targeting cervical tumor and can be used a potential therapeutic strategy. Previous work in our lab has led to the development of a liposome-based non-viral vaccine delivery system, LPD. The nanoparticle LPD is self-assembled from cationic lipid, protamine and plasmid DNA. We have demonstrated that LPD formulated with a peptide epitope from the HPV16 E7 protein can be taken up by the dendritic cells and the vaccine induces both preventive as well as therapeutic activity against TC-1, a murine cancer cell line which is HPV16-DNA positive and a model for human cervical cancer. In order to study the mechanism how LPD plays a novel adjuvant for stimulating both humoral and cellular immune responses, we have found that DOTAP liposome can stimulate murine dendritic cells (professional antigen presenting cells) toward the expression of costimulatory molecules, i.e. CD80 and CD86. The results were also confirmed in human DC-like cell line, KG-1. Surface markers on KG-1 for identifying DC lineage, i.e. CD11c CD80, CD83 and CD86 were increased via DOTAP liposome stimulation and the amount of the increase was DOTAP dose-dependent. Since high dose of liposome has been reported to cause possible unwanted toxicity, we have tested serum TNF-alpha cytokine secretion from the mice received our LPD/E7 formulation and we found that very low or not detectable amount of TNF-alpha were measured after mice received s.c. injection. In order to optimize our vaccine formulation, we have found that the reduced amount of liposome can also elicit efficient activity and provide therapeutic effect on tumor-bearing mice. All the results obtained from mouse system are being confirmed on human primary DC isolated from human peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMC). Success of these experiments will constitute a strong rationale for a future phase I clinical trial. Supported by Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation.
The unique bonding characteristics of beryllium and the Group IIA metals

Having closed valence sub-shells, the alkaline earth atoms participate in covalent bonding via orbital hybridization and exchange interactions, with additional contributions from dispersion interactions. Starting from a closed ns2 configuration imparts different characteristics to the chemistry of this group, as compared to metals that have open-shell atomic ground states. Theoretical studies of the bonding of the Group IIA metals have been pursued for many years, and they are known to be challenging for ab initio electronic structure methods. The bonding motifs have been examined, and the differences between beryllium and the remainder of the group explored. Experimental studies that probe the bonding, particularly for beryllium, have lagged behind the theoretical work. In the present Letter we describe our recent spectroscopic and theoretical investigations of simple beryllium compounds, and discuss these results in terms of their relationship to the properties of the heavier Group IIA elements.
An FEC-based Reliable Data Transport Protocol for Underwater Sensor Networks

In this paper, we investigate the reliable data transport problem in underwater sensor networks. Underwater sensor networks are significantly different from terrestrial sensor networks in two aspects: acoustic channels are used for communication and most sensor nodes are mobile due to water current. These distinctions feature underwater sensor networks with low bandwidth capacity, large propagation delay, high error probability, half-duplex channels, and highly dynamic topology, which pose many new challenges for reliable data transport in underwater sensor networks. In this paper, we propose a protocol, called segmented data reliable transport (SDRT), to achieve reliable data transfer in underwater sensor networks. SDRT is essentially a hybrid approach of ARQ and FEC. It adopts efficient erasure codes (so-called SVT codes in this paper), transferring encoded packets block by block and hop by hop. Compared with other existing reliable data transport approaches for underwater networks, SDRT can reduce the total number of transmitted packets, improve channel utilization, and simplify protocol management. In addition, we develop a mathematic model to estimate the expected number of packets actually needed. Based on this model, we can set the block size appropriately for SDRT, as helps to address the node mobility issue. We conduct simulations to evaluate our model and SDRT. The results show that our model can closely predict the number of packets actually needed, and SDRT is energy efficient and can achieve high channel utilization.
Molecular epidemiology of human hepatitis A virus defined by an antigen-capture polymerase chain reaction method.

Abstract We describe an immunoaffinity-linked nucleic acid amplification system (antigen-capture/polymerase chain reaction, or AC/PCR) for detection of viruses in clinical specimens and its application to the study of the molecular epidemiology of a picornavirus, hepatitis A virus (HAV). Immunoaffinity capture of virus, synthesis of viral cDNA, and amplification of cDNA by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were carried out sequentially in a single reaction vessel. This approach simplified sample preparation and enhanced the specificity of conventional PCR. AC/PCR detected less than one cell culture infectious unit of virus in 80 microliters of sample. Sequencing of AC/PCR reaction products from 34 virus strains demonstrated remarkable conservation at the nucleotide level among most strains but revealed hitherto unsuspected genetic diversity among human isolates. Epidemiologically related strains were identical or closely related in sequence. Virus strains recovered from epidemics of hepatitis A in the United States and Germany were identical in sequence, providing evidence for a previously unrecognized epidemiologic link between these outbreaks.
The Probability of Triggering Calcium Puffs Is Linearly Related to the Number of Inositol Trisphosphate Receptors in a Cluster

Puffs are local Ca2+ signals that arise by Ca2+ liberation from the endoplasmic reticulum through concerted opening of tightly clustered inositol trisphosphate receptor/channels (IP3R). They serve both local signaling functions and trigger global Ca2+ waves. The numbers of functional IP3R within clusters differ appreciably between different puff sites, and we investigated how the probability of puff occurrence varies with cluster size. We imaged puffs in SH-SY5Y cells using total internal fluorescence microscopy, and estimated cluster sizes from the magnitude of the largest puff observed at each site relative to the signal from a single channel. We find that the initial triggering rate of puffs following photorelease of IP3, and the average frequency of subsequent repetitive puffs, vary about linearly with cluster size. These data accord well with stochastic simulations in which opening of any individual IP3R channel within a cluster triggers a puff via Ca2+-induced Ca2+ release. An important consequence is that the signaling power of a puff site (average amount of Ca2+ released per puff × puff frequency) varies about the square of cluster size, implying that large clusters contribute disproportionately to cellular signaling and, because of their higher puff frequency, preferentially act as pacemakers to initiate Ca2+ waves.
Curvature-Based Wall Boundary Condition for the Euler Equations on Unstructured Grids

A curvature-corrected symmetry technique developed by Dadone and Grossman (AIAA J., vol. 32, 1994) for a structured grid Euler solver has been extended to unstructured grids and to arbitrary curved boundaries in this paper. The local curvature is estimated numerically with a robust procedure, and is used successfully in the boundary treatment. Numerical results for 2D inviscid flows around circular and elliptic cylinders, and the NACA0012 airfoil with the new boundary condition showed dramatic improvements over those with a conventional non-curvature-corrected approach. In all cases, spurious entropy productions with the new boundary treatment are significantly reduced, and sometimes by several orders of magnitude.
The Interactive-Compensatory Model of Reading A Confluence of Developmental, Experimental, and Educational Psychology

The interactive-compensatory model of reading was developed primarily to explain developmental and individual differences in the use of context to facilitate word recognition during reading. The work leading up to the model is summarized, and more recent empirical studies are described. One major implication derived from these studies and other recent research is that the Goodman-Smith psycholinguistic "guessing game" is an inaccurate conceptualization of individual differences in context use. When a context is adequately instantiated, less-skilled readers utilize context to facilitate word recognition just as much, if not more, than skilled readers.
Bimodal Heat Stability Curves of Fungal Pectolytic Enzymes and Their Implication for Softening of Canned Apricots

Pectolytic activity can be isolated from canned apricots showing severe softening induced by a single fungal lesion. The pectolytic activities of fungi important in causing progressive softening have bimodal heat stability curves with minimal stabilities at 70–80°C. The activities produced by fungi that do not cause appreciable softening do not show bimodal stability curves. A 6-min treatment at 75°C before carning eliminated detectable enzyme activity and significantly reduced subsequent softening in No. 303 cans of apricots to which single fruit halves with 5 mm fungal lesions had been added. These results suggest that a pretreatment at about 75°C could help alleviate this problem in canned apricots.
CD11b expression distinguishes sequential stages of peritoneal B-1 development

Peritoneal cavity (PerC) B-1 cells have long been known to express CD11b, which is coexpressed with CD18 to form the Mac-1/CR3 complement receptor and adhesion molecule. However, although all PerC B-1 cells are commonly believed to express CD11b, we show here that nearly half of the cells in each of the PerC B-1 subsets (B-1a and B-1b) do not express this surface receptor. The CD11b+ cells in each B-1 subset are larger and more granular and express higher levels of surface IgM than the CD11b− B-1 cells. In addition, the CD11b+ B-1 cells initiate the formation of tightly associated doublets that are present at high frequency in adult PerC. Finally, and most importantly from a developmental standpoint, the CD11b+ B-1 cells have a limited reconstitution capability: when sorted and transferred into congenic recipients, they reconstitute their own (CD11b+) B-1 subset but do not reconstitute the CD11b− B-1 subset. In contrast, CD11b− B-1 cells transferred under the same conditions efficiently replenish all components of the PerC B-1 population in appropriate proportions. During ontogeny, CD11b− B-1 cells appear before CD11b+ B-1 cells. However, the clear phenotypic differences between the neonatal and adult CD11b B-1 subsets argue that although CD11b− B-1 give rise to CD11b+ B-1 in both cases different forces may regulate this transition.
Accuracy of the method of moments for scattering by a cylinder

We study the accuracy and convergence of the method of moments for numerical scattering computations for an important benchmark geometry: the finite circular cylinder. From the spectral decomposition of the electric-field integral equation for this scatterer, we determine the condition number of the moment matrix and the dependence of solution error on the choice of basis functions, discretization density, polarization of the incident field, and the numerical quadrature rule used to evaluate moment-matrix elements. The analysis is carried out for both the TM polarization (weakly singular kernel) and TE polarization (hypersingular kernel). These results provide insights into empirical observations of the convergence behavior of numerical methods in computational electromagnetics.
Contrasting short‐ and long‐timescale effects of vegetation dynamics on water and carbon fluxes in water‐limited ecosystems

The model reproduces (R 2 > 0.76) observed daily fluxes under increasing water limitation and captures representative dynamics of leaf area and fractional cover of dominant grass and wood vegetation. We parameterized the model for southern African savannas and conducted two sets of numerical experiments with either having fixed (static) grass and wood covers or allowing them to adjust dynamically with production. Static simulations reveal that the direct effect of rainfall on soil moisture is more important than the prevailing grass and wood cover states in controlling annual transpiration and production. Dynamic simulations indicate sensitivity of daily fluxes to vegetation cover states during high soil water periods. However, depletion of finite soil water prevents an integrated effect from lasting over interstorm to annual timescales. Correspondingly, while seasonal vegetation dynamics enhance seasonality in fluxes, vegetation dynamics have only minor influence on annual transpiration and production. In fact, annual rainfall explains most (R > 0.85) of the temporal variation in annual water and carbon fluxes. Hence, despite alteration of daily and seasonal distributions of fluxes, for water-limited ecosystems, vegetation dynamics have little effect on annual transpiration and production.
Simplified intracavity phase plates for increasing laser-mode discrimination

Recently, a new class of laser resonators was introduced that utilizes diffractive mirrors and an additional intracavity diffractive phase element. High modal discrimination and low fundamental-mode loss were achieved simultaneously by use of sinusoidal and pseudorandom diffractive phase elements. An intracavity phase element consisting of a simple single-step phase modulation is approximated by a Gaussian with a small radius. Explicit expressions are obtained for the modal-discrimination factor as a function of resonator parameters with a Gaussian output mirror. Numerical simulations are performed for a phase element with a step singularity in the phase function, the fundamental mode of this cavity being super-Gaussian. The modal discrimination of the cavity is studied for different radii of the single-step phase modulation, the position of the phase plate, and the cavity Fresnel number. Optimum solutions are found for a plane output mirror with either a striped or a circular shape.
The effect of timolol given five minutes after coronary occlusion on plasma catecholamines.

The reported study determined whether timolol would afford a protective effect by preventing the coronary occlusion-induced arrhythmias associated with the increase in plasma norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E). Ten anesthetized cats received saline or timolol (5 mg/kg, IV) five minutes after coronary occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery 10 to 14 mm below its origin. Coronary occlusion produced arrhythmia in three of the cats that received saline and in four of the cats that received timolol. Three of the saline-treated cats died in cardiogenic shock; two were sacrificed six hours postocclusion. Four of the timolol-treated cats died in congestive heart failure postcoronary occlusion. There was a gradual increase in NE (P greater than .05) and E (P less than .05) in both groups after coronary occlusion. Death produced a significant increase in NE and E levels. Timolol did not modify the occurrence of arrhythmias and the associated increase in plasma NE and E that developed after coronary occlusion and at death.
On the effectiveness of low latency anonymous network in the presence of timing attack

In this paper, we introduce a novel metric that can quantitatively measure the practical effectiveness (i.e. anonymity) of all anonymous networks in the presence of timing attack. Our metric is based on a novel measurement of the distortion of the packet timing between the incoming and the outgoing flows to and from the anonymous network and it uses wavelet based analysis to measure the variability of the distortion. To the best of our knowledge, our approach is the first practical method that can quantitatively measure the packet timing distortion between flows that may have gone through such transformations as flow mixing/spliting/merging, adding chaff, packet dropping. To validate our anonymity metric, we have conducted real-time timing attacks on various deployed anonymous networks such as Tor, anonymizer.com and have used the timing attack results as the ground truth for validating our anonymity metric. We have found strong correlation between our anonymity metric and the timing attack results. Our metric measurements and timing attack results show that the circuit rotation in Tor network could significantly increase its resistance to timing attack at the cost of more timing disturbances to the normal users. In addition, we have found that adding constant rate chaff (i.e. cover traffic) has diminishing effect in anonymizing packet flows.
Sleep-Induced Changes in Associative Memory

The notion that dreaming might alter the strength of associative links in memory was first proposed almost 200 years ago. But no strong evidence of such altered associative links has been obtained. Semantic priming can be used to quantify the strength of associative links between pairs of words; it is thought to measure the automatic spread of activation from a "node" representing one word to nodes representing semantically related words. Semantic priming could thus be used to test for global alterations in the strengths of associative links across the wake-sleep cycle. Awakenings from REM and nonREM (NREM) sleep produce a period of state carry-over during which performance is altered as a result of the brain's slow transition to full wakefulness, and cognitive testing in this period can provide information about the functioning of the brain during the prior sleep period. When subjects were tested across the night - before and after a night's sleep as well as immediately following forced awakenings from REM and NREM sleep-weak priming (e.g., thief-wrong) was found to be state dependent (p = 0.016), whereas strong priming (e.g., hot-cold) was not (p = 0.89). Weak primes were most effective in the presleep and REM sleep conditions and least effective in NREM and postsleep conditions. Most striking are analyses comparing weak and strong priming within each wake-sleep state. Contrary to the normal pattern of priming, subjects awakened from REM sleep showed greater priming by weak primes than by strong primes (p = 0.01). This result was seen in each of three protocols. In contrast, strong priming exceeded weak priming in NREM sleep. The shift in weak priming seen after REM sleep awakenings suggests that cognition during REM sleep is qualitatively different from that of waking and NREM sleep and may reflect a shift in associative memory systems, a shift that we hypothesize underlies the bizarre and hyperassociative character of REMsleep dreaming. Known changes in brainstem activity that control the transition into and maintenance of REM sleep provide a possible explanation of this shift.
Structure‐property relationships in polycaprolactone‐polyurethanes

The structure-property relationships of polycaprolactone-based segmented polyurethanes were studied using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), wide-angle x-ray diffraction (WAXD), dynamic mechanical, and stress-strain testing. The materials studied varied in hard-segment type [4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate/butanediol (MDI/BD) or 4,4′-dicyclohexyl methane diisocyanate/butanediol (H12MDI/BD)], soft-segment molecular weight (830 or 2000 MW polycaprolactone), hard-segment content (23–77% by weight), and thermal history. The materials with aromatic (MDI/BD) hard segments had semicrystalline hard-segment domains, while the materials with aliphatic (H12MDI/BD) hard segment had mostly amorphous domains. Materials with the shorter polycaprolactone soft segment (830 MW) exhibited thermal and mechanical behavior which indicated a considerable degree of hard- and soft-segment compatibility. The materials which contained a 2000-MW polycaprolactone soft segment exhibited better-defined microphase separation. SAXS was used to characterize the microphase structure of each system. The effects of hard-segment content and soft-segment molecular weight were similar for the aromatic (MDI) and aliphatic (H12MDI) hard-segment-based block copolymers. Changing the hard segment from aromatic to aliphatic gave materials with larger interfacial area and slightly higher tensile strength. A range of morphologies between isolated hard domains in a rubbery matrix and isolated rubbery domains in a hard matrix was observed.