cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Gas-phase synthesis of charged copper and silver Fischer carbenes from diazomalonates: mechanistic and conformational considerations in metal-mediated wolff rearrangements.

Copper(I) and silver(I) Fischer carbenes are synthesized in the gas phase. Various diazomalonate-based compounds with an attached metal ion are introduced into the gas phase by electrospray ionization and subjected to collisional activation. Loss of N2 generates a metastable Fischer carbene, which subsequently undergoes Wolff rearrangement and loss of CO. Further excitation leads to the loss of another CO molecule and the generation of a stable Fischer carbene. Isotopically labeled compounds are utilized to confirm the assignment of the products resulting from this process. DFT calculations are used to evaluate various mechanistic possibilities and to quantitatively assess the energetics of reactants and products. Silver(I) is shown to be more effective in facilitating Wolff rearrangement than copper(I), although both are more effective when compared to spectator charges such as sodium or a fixed quaternary nitrogen. Carbenes are not produced when copper(II), nickel(II), or a proton is used to form a quas...
Maintenance of Quasi-Stationary Waves in a Two-Level Quasi-Geostrophic Spectral Model with Topography

A study of the maintenance of the quasistationary waves forced by topography using a truncated two-level quasigeostrophic spectral model in a zonal channel on a beta-plane is presented. The model's motion contains wavenumbers 0, n, and 2n in the zonal direction, where n is the lowest eddy wavenumber and also the wavenumber of the topography. The study covered the two cases defined by n=2 and n=3; the spectral mode was integrated by initially perturbing the stationary solution of the equations governing the spectral coefficients, and a detailed energetics study was made of the quasiequilibrium state to study the maintenance of the quasistationary waves. The energy conversions required for maintaining these waves when n=3 imply that they are generated mainly by baroclinic stability of the forced waves; this type of baroclinic wave tends to become stationary to draw efficiently on the available energy of the forced wave.
Web-based emergency department patient satisfaction surveys may introduce potential for bias.

Abstract Background Emergency departments (ED) have proposed utilizing a Web-based format to distribute patient satisfaction surveys, but the potential for bias in this distribution method has not been assessed. Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of ED patients who have access to the Internet to better understand potential bias in Web-based patient satisfaction surveys. Methods We distributed a 20-question survey to consenting, English-speaking adult patients presenting to the ED from December 2010 to March 2012. Patients reported demographic information and answered questions related to their access and use of the Internet. Results Seven hundred four patients participated in the study; 90% of Whites reported Internet access, vs. 82% of Hispanics ( p = 0.034). Ninety-two percent of patients with at least some college education had Internet access, compared to 79% of those with a high school education level or lower ( p ≤ 0.001). Of households reporting an income of > $22,000/year, 95% had Internet access, compared to 77% of those reporting a household income p ≤ 0.001). Ninety-four percent of participants p Conclusion A Web-based distribution of ED patient satisfaction surveys may underrepresent minorities, patients without college education, those with lower income, and patients older than 40 years. This information may provide guidance in interpreting results of Web-based patient satisfaction surveys and may suggest the need for multiple sampling methods.
AES depth profiling of trace elements in a multiple transition metal system using spectrum subtraction techniques

Abstract Auger peak overlap among the transition metals can seriously interfere with obtaining accurate depth profiles from multi-element systems, particularly of low concentration constituents. There are many cases in the analysis of alloys, corrosion products and metallurgical coatings where in-depth profiles of trace elements may be of interest. Therefore, the development of a technique to extract such profiles from the available data would be desirable. In this paper, we present a method which was developed to obtain Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) depth profiles of trace amounts of group VIII elements in a brass matrix but which would be applicable to other systems. Spectrum subtraction techniques are applied to raw profile data to obtain a depth profile of a low-concentration constituent corrected for peak overlap with the matrix Auger lines. The correctness of assumptions implicit in the technique is discussed, and the AES results obtained are compared with simultaneous SIMS profiles.
Effects of urinary bladder distension on activity of T3–T4 spinal neurons receiving cardiac and somatic noxious inputs in rats

The aims of this study were to examine effects of urinary bladder distension (UBD) on T(3)-T(4) spinal neurons receiving cardiac and somatic noxious inputs and to determine the pathway involved in transmitting urinary bladder inputs to thoracic spinal segments. Extracellular potentials of single T(3)-T(4) neurons were recorded in pentobarbital anesthetized male rats. Either bradykinin solution (10(-5) M) or an allogenic mixture (adenosine 10(-3) M, bradykinin, histamine, serotonin, prostaglandin E2 10(-5) M each) was administered intrapericardially. UBD was produced by saline inflation (0.5-2.0 ml, 20 s). Of 487 neurons tested for responses to UBD, 70 were inhibited and 37 were excited. Seventy-six out of 336 neurons received convergent input from UBD and heart; 69/76 viscerovisceral convergent neurons had somatic fields. Spinal transection at rostral C(1) abolished UBD inhibition in 5/9 neurons; whereas transections at L(1)-L(2) abolished UBD inhibition in 3/3 cells tested. Results showed that T(3)-T(4) spinal neurons processing cardiac and somatic nociceptive information were primarily inhibited by input from the urinary bladder through either supraspinal structures or direct intraspinal pathways.
The origin and early evolution of tracheids in vascular plants: integration of palaeobotanical and neobotanical data

Although there is clear evidence for the establishment of terrestrial plant life by the end of the Ordovician, the fossil record indicates that land plants remained extremely small and structurally simple until the Late Silurian. Among the events associated with this first major radiation of land plants is the evolution of tracheids, complex water-conducting cells defined by the presence of lignified secondary cell wall thickenings. Recent palaeobotanical analyses indicate that Early Devonian tracheids appear to possess secondary cell wall thickenings composed of two distinct layers: a degradation-prone layer adjacent to the primary cell wall and a degradation-resistant (possibly lignified) layer next to the cell lumen. In order to understand better the early evolution of tracheids, developmental and comparative studies of key basal (and potentially plesiomorphic) extant vascular plants have been initiated. Ultrastructural analysis and enzyme degradation studies of wall structure (to approximate diagenetic alterations of fossil tracheid structure) have been conducted on basal members of each of the two major clades of extant vascular plants: Huperzia (Lycophytina) and Equisetum (Euphyllophytina. This research demonstrates that secondary cell walls of extant basal vascular plants include a degradation-prone layer ('template layer') and a degradation-resistant layer ('resistant layer'). This pattern of secondary cell wall formation in the water-conducting cells of extant vascular plants matches the pattern of wall thickenings in the tracheids of early fossil vascular plants and provides a key evolutionary link between tracheids of living vascular plants and those of their earliest fossil ancestors. Further studies of tracheid development and structure among basal extant vascular plants will lead to a more precise reconstruction of the early evolution of water-conducting tissues in land plants, and will add to the current limited knowledge of spatial, temporal and cytochemical aspects of cell wall formation in tracheary elements of vascular plants.
Comparing chloride transport in undisturbed and disturbed soil columns under turfgrass conditions

Abstract Transport of surface applied chloride (Cl) in undisturbed soil columns with intact macropores was compared to disturbed, repacked columns of the same soil. The total amount of Cl that leached from 20 cm deep soil columns was 2.0 times higher for the undisturbed columns than for the disturbed columns, and the total quantity of leachate was 1.4 times higher for undisturbed columns than for the disturbed columns. Chloride recovered (mass basis) in layer #2 (6.7 to 13.4 cm) was 1.79 times higher and in layer #3 (13.4 to 20.0 cm) was 2.72 times higher for the disturbed soils than for the undisturbed. For the plant and thatch layer (0.0 to 2.0 cm) the opposite was observed, total Cl recovered from the undisturbed columns was 2.4 times higher than in the disturbed columns.
Catalysis of lignite char gasification by exchangeable calcium and magnesium

Abstract A Montana lignite was pretreated in either HCI—HF or ammonium acetate. The former treatment replaced cations associated with carboxyl groups by hydrogen, as well as removing essentially all mineral matter. The latter treatment replaced cations by ammonium ions but left the mineral matter intact. The pretreated lignites were then loaded with varying amounts of Ca and Mg, separately or jointly, by ion exchange. Reactivities of chars produced from these exchanged lignites, as well as the raw and pretreated lignites, were determined in air, CO2 and steam. Gasification of exchanged lignites was strongly catalysed by Ca; its activity was not affected by the presence of Mg on the char. At a comparable Ca loading, gasification rates of the 1273 K raw lignite char in the various atmospheres was higher than that of the acid treated 1273 K char but lower than that of the ammonium acetate treated 1273 K char. The former finding is attributed to chlorine retention in the lignite and char; the latter, to enhanced sulphur release during lignite pyrolysis.
Cumulative after-discharge as the principal factor in the acquisition of kindled seizures.

Abstract The role of after-discharge in the development of behavioral and electrographic seizures (kindling) was evaluated. Rats were stimulated (amygdala) once daily for 10 days 30 min after an intraperitoneal injection of diazepam, phenobarbital, propranolol or vehicle. Following a 10 day period to allow for drug elimination, the daily stimulations (without drug) resumed until all animals responded with fully kindled seizures. Only the lowest dosage groups of diazepam (2 mg/kg) and phenobarbital (15 mg/kg) showed a savings in the number of stimulations to kindle in the non-drug state. This suggests that little or no kindling development had occurred in the drug state with the high doses (4 or 8 mg/kg diazepam, 30 mg/kg phenobarbital). Propranolol treated rats kindled with the same number of stimulations as their control group. As an alternative measure of kindling, the number of seconds of cortical after-discharge accumulated in the drug state, the non-drug state, and the grand total required to kindle were averaged and compared between the drug and control groups. The average grand total number of seconds of after-discharge accumulated by any of the drug or control 188 and 352 sec. None of the grand totals accumulated by any of the drug or control groups differed significantly. The lowest dosage groups treated with diazepam and phenobarbital accumulated significantly less afterdischarge in both the drug and non-drug state than the total for the control. These data suggest that a specific quantity of after-discharge must be elicited to kindle (200–300 sec) and that any after-discharge elicited in the presence of phenobarbital or diazepam will contribute to that quantity.
Joint PN code acquisition and DOA estimation technique for asynchronous DS-CDMA with antenna arrays

An array processing approach to joint PN (pseudo-noise) code acquisition and DOA (direction-of-arrival) estimation in asynchronous direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems is proposed. This problem is traditionally treated as a 2-D search problem in the space-time domain. Our approach transforms the 2-D space-time matrix data from the antenna output to several time domain vectors using a set of beams steering to different directions. Then, the acquisition process searches from these 1-D temporal vectors to provide soft information for the next stage, i.e. DOA estimation. Our algorithm is a blind approach, where the training sequence is not needed. Besides, the number of antennas required can be much less than that of the incoming signals, and the DOA search range can be largely reduced based on the soft information from the acquisition process. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate that the proposed solution is resistant to the near-far effect and robust to the change of the fading environment.
Endovascular Therapy of Symptomatic Innominate-Subclavian Arterial Occlusive Lesions:

The purpose of this study was to determine the safety and efficacy of angioplasty and stenting for symptomatic innominate-subclavian lesions by review of records of symptomatic patients undergoing angioplasty and stenting of high-grade lesions (>80%) of the innominate and subclavian arteries. Follow-up consisted of history (symptoms) and physical examination (pulses and blood pressures) at 1, 3, 6, and then every 12 months plus an annual duplex ultrasound examination. Between 1998 to 2003, 25 patients (27 lesions) were treated. Ages ranged from 48 to 89 years. Symptoms included vertebrobasilar/steal (15), claudication (6), ischemia (4), and coronary artery bypass grafting/left internal mammary artery (2). There were 7 occlusions and 20 high-grade stenoses. Access was attempted via brachial cutdown (19) or percutaneous puncture of the brachial (2) or femoral arteries (10). Twenty-two lesions were stented with either self-expanding (13) or balloon-expandable (9) stents. Technical success was 89%; 3 occluded lesions could not be crossed owing to complete occlusion. The remaining 4 occlusions were all crossed via a retrograde approach. The mean difference in systolic blood pressure between upper limbs decreased from 36 mm Hg (preprocedure) to 10 mm Hg (postprocedure). There were no procedure-related complications. Mean follow-up was 18 months (range 1-62 months). One patient died 4 months after the procedure secondary to complications from pulmonary surgery unrelated to the percutaneous transluminal angioplasty/stent. Of the 4 successfully treated occlusions, 2 were followed up to 3 years with continued patency. Three patients developed recurrent stenoses documented by duplex examination. However, these patients remained asymptomatic and were not treated. Endovascular management of high-grade lesions of the subclavian or innominate arteries is safe and efficacious and may be considered as a first line of therapy. Continued follow-up is needed to assess long-term patency.
On the least time control problem with interior output constraints

A variational problem arising in the study of least time controls is formulated in terms of norms of functionals on suitable Banach spaces. The existence of a solution is demonstrated by an appeal to the Hahn-Banach theorem, and the form of solution is developed from the equality conditions for Holder's inequality. The systems being controlled are linear, but not necessarily time invariant, and the results may accordingly find application in the control of batch processing systems.
Exposure to smoking cues: cardiovascular and autonomic effects.

Laboratory exposures to smoking cues have been shown to reliably induce self-reported cigarette cravings among smokers, a model of environmentally triggered urges to smoke that can contribute to poorer cessation success. Several studies have also demonstrated that cue exposures give rise to changes in heart rate and blood pressure. Few studies, however, have investigated possible cue effects on heart rate and blood pressure variability (HRV & BPV). Particularly intriguing in this regard are cardiac oscillations in the low (i.e., 0.04–0.15 Hz), and high (i.e., 0.15–0.50 Hz) frequency range, which are thought to reflect components of autonomic control and response to environmental challenges. A closer examination of cardiovascular reactivity may thus help characterize the autonomic response to smoking cue exposure. To that end, an experimental study was conducted in which nicotine dependent daily smokers (n=98) were exposed to guided imagery of neutral and smoking situations, while continuous, noninvasive, beat-to-beat cardiovascular data were collected. Consistent with previous research, findings revealed significant increases in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure during smoking imagery, relative to neutral imagery. In addition, power spectral density analyses of heart rate and blood pressure variability revealed elevated HRV and BPV in both the low- and high-frequency ranges during the smoking imagery. Results suggest the presence of an autonomic component to smoking cue reactivity, and also raise the possibility of long-term negative cardiac consequences for smokers who ubiquitously encounter cues in their daily environments.
Failure analysis of novel microhollow cathode discharge microplasma reactors

Abstract Compact fuel cells are one logical progression for portable power in comparison to batteries since fuel cells have much higher energy densities. However, fuel cells have not fully entered the portable power market as they require a readily available hydrogen feed. Microplasmas offer a way to produce hydrogen portably. Microplasma reactors developed from standard semiconductor fabrication techniques, specifically microhollow cathode discharge (MHCD) devices, have been tested by our group in reforming various hydrocarbons. Experiments with these reactors were successful in showing the feasibility of a portable microplasma fuel reformer, but they regularly had short lifetimes ( SEM imaging has shown the formation and re-deposition of silicon and silicon dioxide on the inner walls of the microchannel. The thickness of this layer has been found to be directly linked to device lifetime. Input electrical power as well as flowrate has also shown to be related to this deposition and overall device lifetime. This failure analysis study enables us to improve the design of the microplasma reactor and further advance the development of a portable fuel reformer-fuel cell system.
Simulation of lysozyme crystal growth by the Monte Carlo method

Abstract The main features of the observed crystal growth of the protein lysozyme are reproduced by Monte Carlo simulations based on a simple model. The free parameters of the model are the strengths of the three main types of protein-protein contacts occurring in the P43212 lattice of the tetragonal form of lysozyme and the equilibrium rate of attachment of molecules to lattice sites. The simulated crystal surfaces, like the actual surfaces observed by electron microscopy, display structures characteristic of growth by a two-dimensional nucleation mechanism. By simulating growth for different values of the bond strengths, we found that both the observed crossover in relative growth rate of the (101) and (110) faces (and resulting habit change) and the double-layer structure of islands on the (110) face arise from a difference in the attachment energy of alternate (110) layers. In contrast, the elongated shape of the islands on (110) is mainly due to the topology of the bonding and is not very dependent on bond strengths.
Construct Validity of a New Computer-Assisted Cognitive Neuromotor Assessment Battery in Normal and Inpatient Psychiatric Samples.

The construct validity of a computer-assisted battery of neuropsychological tests (CNT) was explored with psychiatric inpatients and normal volunteers. A principal components analysis of inpatient scores revealed simple reaction time, response accuracy, visuomotor skill, and complex processing and memory components. A similar factorial structure was found in normal subjects. However, complex processing and memory measures emerged as separate vigilance and memory components in volunteers. CNT tasks were correlated with nine subtests of the Neurobehavioral Cognitive Status Examination (NCSE). Simple reaction time, and complex processing and memory measures discriminated impaired from nonimpaired inpatients as defined by the NCSE. Recommendations for research on CNT, and computer-assisted tests in general, are made.
Enhanced optical bistability from self-heating due to free carrier absorption in substrate removed silicon ring modulators

We show enhanced optical bistability induced by free carrier absorption from junction doping in substrate-removed silicon ring modulators. Such linear thermal effects dominate the loss in high-speed depletion silicon ring modulators. Optical bistability was observed with about 100 μW of input optical power. We further show that such thermal interactions causes data-dependent ring resonance shifts, and consequently severely degrade the data modulation quality at low speeds. The frequency response of this effect was measured to be about 100~200 kHz.
Estimating the distribution function using k-tuple ranked set samples

The basic assumption underlying the concept of ranked set sampling is that actual measurement of units is expensive, whereas ranking is cheap. This may not be true in reality in certain cases where ranking may be moderately expensive. In such situations, based on total cost considerations, k-tuple ranked set sampling is known to be a viable alternative, where one selects k units (instead of one) from each ranked set. In this article, we consider estimation of the distribution function based on k-tuple ranked set samples when the cost of selecting and ranking units is not ignorable. We investigate estimation both in the balanced and unbalanced data case. Properties of the estimation procedure in the presence of ranking error are also investigated. Results of simulation studies as well as an application to a real data set are presented to illustrate some of the theoretical findings.
Capabilities to assess health/maintenance status of gas turbine blades with non-destructive methods

The paper has been intended to discuss non-destructive testing methods and to present capabilities of applying them to diagnose objectively changes in the microstructure of a turbine blade with computer software engaged to assist with the analyses. The following techniques are discussed: a visual method, based on the processing of images of the material surface in visible light, active thermography, based on the detection of infrared radiation, and the X-ray computed tomography. All these are new non-destructive methods of assessing technical condition of structural components of machines. They have been intensively developed at research centers worldwide, and in Poland. The computer-aided visual method of analyzing images enables diagnosis of the condition of turbine blades, without the necessity of dismantling of the turbine. On the other hand, the active thermography and the X-ray computed tomography, although more sensitive and more reliable, can both be used with the blades dismounted from the turbine. If applied in a complex way, the non-destructive methods presented in this paper, are expected to increase significantly probability of detecting changes in the blade’s condition, which in turn would be advantageous to reliability and safety of gas turbine service.
Recent cosmic-ray work and the high-energy real part of the p-barp amplitude.

We suggest that a new large photonuclear interaction at very high energy, as postulated in connection with the muon excess'' problem in cosmic rays, could also induce the large real part of the elastic proton-antiproton amplitude reported from the CERN collider.
The effect of interface and alloy quality on the DC and RF performance of Ga/sub 0.47/In/sub 0.53/As-Al/sub 0.48/In/sub 0.52/As HEMTs

Ga/sub 0.47/In/sub 0.53/As-Al/sub 0.48/In/sub 0.52/As high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) were fabricated in materials with varying degrees of alloy and interface disorder. The conductivities of the epitaxial layers are highest for material with the smallest amount of interface roughness and lowest for samples with poor-quality interfaces. The transconductances and unity current gain cutoff frequencies of the fabricated devices with 0.2- mu m gates are similarly affected. >
Distribution of major mental disorders in an US metropolis.

This paper reviews the evolution of psychiatric nosologies in North America and the major epidemiological surveys of Mental Disorders culminating with the recently completed National Institute of Mental Health Epidemiologic Catchment Area project (NIMH-ECA). The NIMH-ECA examined the prevalence of diagnosable (DSM III) Mental disorders in 5 U.S. communities utilizing a highly structured diagnostic interview, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). Data from the Los Angeles ECA, one of five study sites are presented with particular emphasis on cross-cultural comparison (Mexican Americans versus Non Hispanic Whites). Overall, there were only a few cross-cultural differences in prevalence of specific diagnoses. Mexico-born Mexican Americans showed a lower prevalence for most disorders examined than their U.S. born counterparts, and a subgroup of Mexican-American women (those over the age of 40) showed higher rates of phobic and dysthymic disorders as well as a greater number of functional somatic symptoms than other groups.
All-optical Bose-Einstein condensation using a compressible crossed dipole trap

We describe an all-optical method of making a $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Atoms are first cooled in an optical lattice and loaded into a crossed dipole trap with $1.06\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ light. Then the density is increased by dynamically reducing the trap size, while the atoms are evaporatively cooled by reducing the light intensity. Every $3.3\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{s}$, we obtain a nearly pure BEC with $3.5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{5}$ atoms in their lowest internal energy state.
HbE heterozygote RBCs inhibit P falciparum invasion, but does HbE have other tricks up its sleeve?

P falciparum malaria has modified the human genome considerably in endemic regions of the world. Most of the genes selected by malaria are hereditary red cell defects, as the sickle gene, the thalassemias, HbC, G-6PD deficiency, Southeast Asia ovalocytosis, and HbE. The last one might be the most
A diagram oriented proof of Dehn's Lemma

Abstract We prove Dehn's Lemma by a procedure which refers directly to the Dehn-diagram of singularities and makes no direct reference to covering spaces. The proof is an algorithmic translation of the usual proof.
Relative value iteration for average reward semi-Markov control via simulation

This paper studies the semi-Markov decision process (SMDP) under the long-run average reward criterion in the simulation-based context. Using dynamic programming, a straightforward approach for solving this problem involves policy iteration; a value iteration approach for this problem involves a transformation that induces an additional computational burden. In the simulation-based context, however, where one seeks to avoid the transition probabilities needed in dynamic programming, value iteration forms a more convenient route for solution purposes. In this paper, hence, we present (to the best of knowledge for the first time) a relative value iteration algorithm for solving average reward SMDPs via simulation. The algorithm is a semi-Markov extension of an algorithm in the literature for the Markov decision process. Our numerical results with the new algorithm are very encouraging.
Through-silicon-via material property variation impact on full-chip reliability and timing

We study the impact of material property variations in through-silicon-via (TSV) and its surrounding structures on the reliability and performance of 3D ICs. We focus on coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and Young's modulus variations for TSV, barrier, and liner materials. Our toolset efficiently handles the complexity of modeling and analysis of individual TSVs as well as full-chip 3D IC designs. This tool enables 3D IC designers to accurately assess and evaluate various methods to tolerate mechanical reliability and performance variations.
Palauolol, a new anti-inflammatory sesterterpene from the sponge Fascaplysinopsis sp. from Palau

Abstract A specimen of Fascaplysinopsis sp. from Palau contained palauolide ( 1 ), fascaplysin ( 2 ), and a new sesterterpene, palauolol ( 3 ). The structure and absolute stereochemistry of palauolol ( 3 ) were determined using spectroscopic and chemical methods and in doing so, the absolute stereochemistry of palauolide was also determined. Palauolide ( 1 ) and palauolol ( 3 ) both inactivate bee venom phospholipase A 2 .
Long-term selection for resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac endotoxin in a Minnesota population of European corn borer (Lepidoptera : Crambidae)

Transgenic corn, expressing the insecticidal δ-endotoxin of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner, provides high levels of control of some lepidopteran pests, particularly the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis (Hubner). However, resistance to B. thuringiensis has been documented recently in laboratory colonies of agronomically important Lepidoptera, including O. nubilalis. For the past 4 yr, we have selected for Cry1Ac resistance in a population of O. nubilalis from southeastern Minnesota. Increasing resistance to B. thuringiensis was noted after only 8 generations of selection, with a peak at 162-fold resistance, based on comparisons of LC50s to a nonselected parental strain. This resistance was found to decrease at the same rate in the absence of B. thuringiensis selection, with one selected colony becoming nearly as sensitive to the Cry1Ac toxin as the nonselected colony after 9 generations without exposure to B. thuringiensis. The most resistant of the colonies, S-I, was only marginally cross-resistant to Cry1Ab, yet another selected colony, S-IV, did demonstrate a 16-fold cross-resistance. In addition, larvae from the S-IV colony had significantly greater weight gain when feeding on diet incorporated with B. thuringiensis -transgenic corn than did larvae from the nonselected parental colony. These findings emphasize the need for careful deployment of B. thuringiensis corn to preserve this effective pest management technology.
Non-canonical functions of the tuberous sclerosis complex-Rheb signalling axis

The protein products of the tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) genes, TSC1 and TSC2, form a complex, which inhibits the small G-protein, Ras homolog enriched in brain (Rheb). The vast majority of research regarding these proteins has focused on mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR), a target of Rheb. Here, we propose that there are clinically relevant functions and targets of TSC1, TSC2 and Rheb, which are independent of mTOR. We present evidence that such non-canonical functions of the TSC-Rheb signalling network exist, propose a standard of evidence for these non-canonical functions, and discuss their potential clinical and therapeutic implications for patients with TSC and lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM).
Picturing technological change: the materiality of information infrastructures in public education

Information technologies are often depicted as possessing the potential to correct social inequalities by democratising information access and economic opportunity. This view of technology, however, tends to overemphasise virtual spaces to the neglect of the material and social conditions of technological infrastructures. The goal of this article is to explore visually the messy, situated materialities of information infrastructures in public schools – in places that have become both sites and symbols of economic inequality in the United States and elsewhere. Through photographic images, the contradictions of technological promises and changes are interrogated with attention to the lives of individuals moving through physical and virtual spaces – spaces that are always political and embodied.
Inferring personality traits of clients with Parkinson's disease from their descriptions of favourite activities

Objective: To explore the extent to which practitioners effectively use cues from clients' verbal descriptions of their favourite activities to form accurate impressions of the personality of clients with Parkinson's disease.Participants: Ninety-nine practitioners from disciplines of occupational, physical and speech therapy, nursing or medicine.Procedure: Six men and six women with Parkinson's disease completed a self-report measure of personality and were individually interviewed regarding their favourite activities. The practitioners viewed 2-min segments of those videotaped interviews and provided judgements of the clients' personality.Measure: The NEO-Five Factor Inventory and a coding scheme to describe characteristics of clients' favourite activities.Analysis: Clients' self-reported personality was correlated with the activity characteristics to identify the degree to which each characteristic was a cue of personality. Practitioners' judgements of personality were correlated with the activity chara...
Recommending Documents for Complex Question Exploration by Analyzing Collective Browsing Behavior

Vast amounts of data available online and in other digital repositories make it challenging for users to find the right sources of information. In this paper, we present a novel approach for recommending documents to users by analyzing user browsing behavior, and demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods using an original data set. We conducted a study to collect a novel data set of document browsing behavior observed as users research complex questions. Based on this dataset, we developed machine learning algorithms to predict which documents are useful and should therefore be recommended. Following the intuition that useful documents are likely to be similar to other documents that are useful for the same task, we incorporated features based on measures of similarity between pairs of documents. Accurately computing similarity between documents is challenging due to the high dimensionality of bag-of-words representations (tens of thousands of dimensions). We therefore used several dimensionality reduction techniques, including Canonical Correlation Analysis, in order to project bag-of-words representations into meaningfully reduced spaces. We show that our algorithms significantly outperform baseline approaches on three different prediction tasks. Our work thus lays out a new direction for recommendation algorithms based on a relatively small amount of labeled data.
Parameter estimation of the systemic arterial bed for control of a total artificial heart

A method of estimating the parameters of a model of the systemic arterial bed for control of an electrically actuated pusher-plate-type total artificial heart was developed and tested. The parameters, which have a physical interpretation, are estimated on the basis of noninvasive measurement of exclusively aortic flow and pressure during systole. Performance of the estimation algorithm was tested by model-to-model experiments. Results demonstrate the ability of the estimator to converge quickly and track time-varying parameters. >
Lindane Bioassay Studies and Human Cancer Risk Assessment

Benzene hexachloride or hexachlorocyclohexane comes in eight isomeric forms which differ in the spatial positions of the chlorine atoms on the boat and chair forms. Only one, however, y-isomer (lindane) possesses relevant insecticidal activity. The majority of studies on the potential carcinogenicity of benzene hexachloride, however, did not discriminate between the various isomers because they assumed that carcinogenicity is independent of steric structure. Also, proper differentiation between morphologic endpoints was not duly carried out and considered. The present evaluation of Iindane's biologic activity was restricted to the lifelong studies in which pure lindane (~99.5%) was utilized and the morphology of the observed lesions, mainly in the liver, were classified according to their biologic behavior into hyperplastic, benign neoplastic, and malignant entities. None of the studies gave evidence that lindane was carcinogenic in mice and rats. An enhancement of benign liver tumors (tumorigenic effect) was observed only in CFt male mice (17/56 at the only tested dose: 400 ppm vs. 3/89 observed in the nontreated controls). Dose-response function of this tumor response in conjunction with two other lifetime studies (80 and 160 ppm in B6C3F1 and 50, 25, and 12.5 ppm in NMRl mice) were best described by the Weibull model, giving a relatively high estimate of its shape parameter (m = 2.5). Assuming similar susceptibility of humans to lindane and considering maximal occupational exposure to this agent (professional applicators), the probability of lindane associated tumor development was estimated as 2.2~10-". Because this cancer risk is five orders of magnitude below the acceptable health risk, this evaluation concludes that environmental exposure to lindane does not pose a threat to human health.
Hell and character

The view that consignment to hell is a matter of having a fixed vicious character of a certain sort - rather than a matter of paying a retributive penalty for sin - is quite popular among philosophical theologians today. However, if proponents of this view wish to maintain that some individuals wind up consigned to hell, and if they embrace a number of independently plausible assumptions, they will be forced toward unreasonable claims about character development and its relationship to consignment to hell. In this paper, I describe the difficulties for these philosophical theologians.
Performance Prediction for Multimodal Biometrics

Sensor fusion is commonly used to improve the detection and recognition performance of a pattern recognition system. In this paper we propose a prediction model to predict the performance of a sensor fusion system. In particular, we answer two questions associated with the performance prediction in a sensor fusion system: (a) Given the characteristics of the individual sensors how can we predict the performance of the fusion system? (b) How good the prediction is? We provide the Cramer-Rao bounds for the prediction model. We carry out experiments on the publicly available database XM2VTS that has speech and face data.
Finding weak similarities between proteins by sequence profile comparison

To improve the recognition of weak similarities between proteins a method of aligning two sequence profiles is proposed. It is shown that exploring the sequence space in the vicinity of the sequence with unknown properties significantly improves the performance of sequence alignment methods. Consistent with the previous observations the recognition sensitivity and alignment accuracy obtained by a profile–profile alignment method can be as much as 30% higher compared to the sequence–profile alignment method. It is demonstrated that the choice of score function and the diversity of the test profile are very important factors for achieving the maximum performance of the method, whereas the optimum range of these parameters depends on the level of similarity to be recognized.
Evaluation of knowledge resources for public health reporting logic: Implications for knowledge authoring and management

To control disease, laboratories and providers are required to report conditions to public health authorities. Reporting logic is defined in a variety of resources, but there is no single resource available for reporters to access the list of reportable events and computable reporting logic for any jurisdiction. In order to develop evidence-based requirements for authoring such knowledge, we evaluated reporting logic in the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologist (CSTE) position statements to assess its readiness for automated systems and identify features that should be considered when designing an authoring interface; we evaluated codes in the Reportable Condition Mapping Tables (RCMT) relative to the nationally-defined reporting logic, and described the high level business processes and knowledge required to support laboratory-based public health reporting. We focused on logic for viral hepatitis. We found that CSTE tabular logic was unnecessarily complex (sufficient conditions superseded necessary and optional con¬ditions) and was sometimes true for more than one reportable event: we uncovered major overlap in the logic between acute and chronic hepatitis B (52%), acute and Past and Present hepatitis C (90%). We found that the RCMT includes codes for all hepatitis criteria, but includes addition codes for tests not included in the criteria. The proportion of hepatitis variant-related codes included in RCMT that correspond to a criterion in the hepatitis-related position statements varied between hepatitis A (36%), acute hepatitis B (16%), chronic hepatitis B (64%), acute hepatitis C (96%), and past and present hepatitis C (96%). Public health epidemiologists have the need to communicate parameters other than just the name of a disease or organism that should be reported, such as the status and specimen sources. Existing knowledge resources should be integrated, harmonized and made computable. Our findings identified functionality that should be provided by future knowledge management systems to support epidemiologists as they communicate reporting rules for their jurisdiction.
Volatile organic emissions from the distillation and pyrolysis of vegetation

Leaf and woody plant tissue (Pinus ponderosa, Eucalyptus saligna, Quercus gambelli, Saccharum offici- narum and Oriza sativa) were heated from 30 to 300 C and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions were iden- tified and quantified. Major VOC emissions were mostly oxygenated and included acetic acid, furylaldehyde, acetol, pyrazine, terpenes, 2,3-butadione, phenol and methanol, as well as smaller emissions of furan, acetone, acetaldehyde, acetonitrile and benzaldehyde. Total VOC emissions from distillation and pyrolysis were on the order of 10 gC/kgC dry weight of vegetation, as much as 33% and 44% of CO2 emis- sions (gC(VOC)/gC(CO2)) measured during the same exper- iments, in air and nitrogen atmospheres, respectively. The emissions are similar in identity and quantity to those from smoldering combustion of woody tissue and of differ- ent character than those evolved during flaming combustion. VOC emissions from the distillation of pools and endother- mic pyrolysis under low turbulence conditions may produce flammable concentrations near leaves and may facilitate the propagation of wildfires. VOC emissions from charcoal pro- duction are also related to distillation and pyrolysis; the emis- sions of the highly reactive VOCs from production are as large as the carbon monoxide emissions.
Fuel in the Fire: How Anger Impacts Judgment and Decision-Making

In keeping with the handbook format, this chapter identifies four types of methods in the behavioral decision-making literature for detecting the influence of anger on judgments and choices. The types of methods include inferring the presence of anger from behavior, measuring naturally occurring anger or individual differences in anger, manipulating anger, and both measuring and manipulating anger. We discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each method and present evidence showing that the effects of anger often differ from those of other negative emotions. The chapter also introduces an overarching appraisal-tendency framework for predicting such effects and connects the framework to broader theories and associated mechanisms. Finally, we examine whether anger should be considered a positive emotion and propose that anger is experienced as pleasant when one is looking forward and unpleasant when one is reflecting back on the anger’s source.
Robust discrete optimization and network flows

We propose an approach to address data uncertainty for discrete optimization and network flow problems that allows controlling the degree of conservatism of the solution, and is computationally tractable both practically and theoretically. In particular, when both the cost coefficients and the data in the constraints of an integer programming problem are subject to uncertainty, we propose a robust integer programming problem of moderately larger size that allows controlling the degree of conservatism of the solution in terms of probabilistic bounds on constraint violation. When only the cost coefficients are subject to uncertainty and the problem is a 0−1 discrete optimization problem on n variables, then we solve the robust counterpart by solving at most n+1 instances of the original problem. Thus, the robust counterpart of a polynomially solvable 0−1 discrete optimization problem remains polynomially solvable. In particular, robust matching, spanning tree, shortest path, matroid intersection, etc. are polynomially solvable. We also show that the robust counterpart of an NP-hard α-approximable 0−1 discrete optimization problem, remains α-approximable. Finally, we propose an algorithm for robust network flows that solves the robust counterpart by solving a polynomial number of nominal minimum cost flow problems in a modified network.
A Third Mode of Repetitive Firing: Self-Regenerative Firing Due to Large Delayed Depolarizations

One may distinguish three modes of repetitive firing, each with a characteristic input-output relation: 1) an occasional spike mode; 2) a rhythmic firing mode; and 3) a self-regenerative firing mode where large depolarizing after-potentials may rise through the falling threshold several milliseconds after a spike, causing an extra spike. This extra spike may similarly produce an additional extra spike, etc. This self-regenerative behaviour produces spike timing patterns similar to those in the stereotyped high frequency bursts of epileptic and experimentally deafferented CNS neurones.
Principle or Ideology? A Comparativist Perspective on the U.S. Controversy Over Supreme Court Citations to Foreign Authorities

This article examines the much debated controversy concerning citations by the U.S. Supreme Court to foreign authorities in the course of deciding constitutional issues from the perspective of comparative constitutional law. This examination is set against the three dominant views in the field: that constitutions address similar issues and that they ought to reach similar results, that they address the same issues but that they ought to reach different results given relevant differences among national and constitutional identities, and that comparativism is mainly ideological, and for the most part steeped in Western biases. Analyzing the U.S. jurisprudence on unenumerated rights generally, and that concerning the rights of homosexuals in particular, subjects that are highly controversial even in the absence of the foreign citation controversy, the article concludes that the whole controversy over citations to foreign authorities is but a sideshow to the main ideological wars over the proper limits of constitutional interpretation. In the course of this analysis, the article explores the scope and limitations of legitimate comparative constitutional work.
Agreement and Fula pronouns

This paper is concerned with agreement patterns exhibited by pronouns in five varieties of Fula. It is argued that some pronouns show agreement in pronominality, which is an unusual type of agreement, but nonetheless extremely robust in Fula. Other types of agreement are also presented, and the consequences of the Fula data for theories of agreement is discussed.