cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
An improved syncytia infectivity assay for the bovine leukemia virus

Several factors that influence the sensitivity of the syncytia infectivity assay for the bovine leukemia virus (BLV) and BLV-infected lymphocytes have been examined. The use of early-passage indicator bovine embryonic spleen (BESP) cells and their pretreatment with diethylamino-ethyl-dextran (DEAE-D) was essential for optimal sensitivity. Polybrene was less effective than DEAE-D. The combination of DEAE-D and polybrene was more effective than DEAE-D alone when BLV-infected leukocytes were used as the inoculum, but not when the inoculum was a cell-free BLV preparation. Using BESP cell passages 4 to 11 as indicators, reproducible titers were obtained when aliquots of the same virus stock were assayed at different times after freezer storage. When assaying peripheral blood lymphocytes from infected cattle, optimal syncytia responses were observed consistently by inoculating 5×106 viable lymphocytes per 60-mm Falcon dish. Centrifugation of peripheral blood leukocytes from BLV-infected cattle in discontinuous bovine serum albumin gradients can be used to separate a subpopulation of infected lymphocytes. Use of this subpopulation as the inoculum, rather than unseparated buffy-coat leukocytes, greatly increases the sensitivity of the syncytia infectivity assay.
Anticipated interaction and thought generation: The role of faction size

Little attention has been given to how expected membership in a majority or minority faction affects the cognitive activity of prospective group members. In this study, subjects who expected to join a six-person discussion group were led to believe that (a) the other five people in the group disagreed with their position, (b) one person agreed and four people disagreed, (c) two people agreed and three disagreed, (d) three people agreed and two disagreed or (e) four people agreed and one person disagreed. Prior to the discussion, subjects were asked to list their thoughts concerning the discussion topic. Results indicated that the smaller the subjects' faction (and the larger the opposing faction), the less biased subjects were in thinking about their own position. These findings shed new light on majority and minority influence and suggest that more attention should be devoted to the cognitive consequences of anticipated interaction in group settings.
Cardiac pumping ability in rats with experimental renal and genetic hypertension

In two experimental models of established hypertension in the rat (two kidney, one clip renal and genetic hypertension), the maximum by which stroke volume and cardiac output could be increased during an acute preload stress was significantly reduced despite the concomitant development of left ventricular hypertrophy. Reversal of cardiac hypertrophy by prolonged treatment with methyldopa (range 3 to 6 weeks) during the established phase of spontaneous hypertension normalized arterial blood pressure and improved ventricular pumping ability. The improved performance was in part due to reduced impedance to ventricular ejection because it did not persist when peripheral resistance was increased by an acute administration of phenylephrine hydrochloride. Thus, hemodynamic as well as structural factors contribute to alterations in cardiac function during the chronic established phase of arterial hypertension.
A study of some charge-transfer complexes involving N-methylacetamide and other amides

Abstract Spectral studies of solutions of tetracyanoethylene and various amides indicate that charge-transfer complexes are formed. It is postulated that these complexes are the n,π donor-acceptor type and that formation occurs through the carbonyl oxygen of the amide since benzamide, in which there is conjugation of the aromatic ring and CO group is the only amide for which no CT band is observed. Complexes between N-methylacetamide (NMA) and nitrobenze, m-dinitrobenzene, 2,4,6 trinitro-benzene and benzaldehyde as acceptors have also been observed in carbon tetrachloride solutions. Formation constants for these complexes of 0.97,1.14, 1.55 and 2.00, respectively, have been calculated from the UV spectra, with a possible error in these calculations of about 15%. Complexes between N-methylacetamide and m-dinitrobenzene have also been studied in solvents having a range of dielectric constants from 2.23 (CCl4) to 32.63 MeOH). The values of the complex formation constants vary inversely with the dielectric constant of the solvent. A study of NMA complexes of anthraquinone and p,p'-dinitrobenzyl in chloroform solutions indicate that charge-transfer complexes are formed with both rings of the 2-ring compounds. Spectra of p-nitrotoluene are compared with those 4,4'-dinitrobibenzyl and it is found that both compounds have similar absorption peaks at 310 mμ. The dinitrobibenzyl complex also has an absorption peak at 393 mμ for which the NMA concentration dependence is the same as that of the 308 mμ peak. A complex formation constant of 0;49 is calculated in each instance. Osmotic coefficients of 4,4'-dinitrobibenzyl in NMA as determined by freezing-point depression are greater than unity for dilute solutions. This had been observed previously only for solutions of anthraquinone and its sulfonated salts.
Activity of hepatic galactose-metabolizing enzymes in the pregnant rat and fetus.

ABSTRACT: The sp act of hepatic galactose-metabolizing enzymes, galactokinase, galactose-1-phosphate uridyltransferase, and uridine diphosphate-4-epimerase were measured in female rats during pregnancy and lactation as well as in fetuses and pups after parturition. Sp act for transferase and epimerase in pregnant rat liver are about 50% higher than that of virgin females, and with the increase in organ size during pregnancy the total hepatic activity is double that of nonpregnant animals. Galactokinase activity decreases somewhat during pregnancy, but total activity is 25% higher than in virgin liver. A Michaelis- Menten kinetic analysis of liver transferase indicates an increase in the maximum velocity of the reaction without a change in Km. Isoelectricfocusing on a high-resolution IEF gel demonstrated similar isozyme patterns. The sp act of the fetal liver enzymes increase to about twice that of the maternal tissue, but total activities are low due to the very small fetal liver size. Sp act of these enzymes in maternal liver fall after delivery, but sp act of galactokinase and transferase are programmed to increase in liver of the growing neonatal animals, reaching levels almost 5-fold higher than found in nonpregnant adult liver. An understanding of factors contributing to the enhanced transferase activity of the liver of pregnant and neonatal rats may contribute to possible ways of augmenting the residual transferase activity of patients with transferase-deficient galactosemia as a therapeutic strategy.
Quintessence and the Missing Energy Problem

Recent evidence suggests that the total matter density of the universe is significantly less than the critical density. The shortfall may be explained by curvature (an open universe), vacuum energy density (a cosmological constant), or quintessence (a time-evolving, spatially inhomogeneous component with negative pressure). In all three cases, a key problem is to explain the initial conditions required to have the energy density nearly coincident with the matter density today. A possible solution is "tracker fields," a form of quintessence with an attractor-like solution which leads to the same conditions today for a very wide range of initial conditions. Tracker field make quintessence a more viable candidate for the missing energy component and produce more distinctive predictions.
Brisk walking does not stop bone loss in postmenopausal women

The rate of loss of spinal trabecular mineral density (TMD) in postmenopausal women, 49-64 years, was measured during a 52 week walking program. The 8 women who walked were 5.6 +/- 4.4 years past menopause (mean +/- SD) compared to 6.5 +/- 5.1 for 9 nonwalkers. Walkers participated in a progressive walking program for 15-40 min at a heart rate of between 60-85% of maximal age adjusted heart rate, 3 days per week for 52 weeks. Spinal trabecular mineral density was measured using quantitative computed tomography at entry, 6 and 12 months. Pre-exercise heart rate in the walkers decreased 7.8 +/- 1.7 beats per min (mean +/- SEM) (p less than 0.01) from week 0 to week 52, while post-exercise heart rate did not change. Initial spinal mineral density in the walkers was 114 +/- 18 mg/cm3 (mean +/- SD) and 98 +/- 19 mg/cm3 in the controls (NS). Bone loss was 5.6 +/- 1.4% (mean +/- SEM) in the walkers and 4.0 +/- 1.2% in the controls; both of these losses were significantly different from zero (p less than 0.005, p less than 0.01, respectively), but they were not different from each other. Our study shows that a moderate brisk walking program of one year duration does not prevent the loss of spinal bone density in early-postmenopausal women.
Asset-based system and software system development — A frame-based approach

Abstract Previous works on software reusability has shown that an asset-based systems development strategy to software reuse is effective in identifying reusable design components. This strategy requires moving away from traditional and stand-alone applications development toward an integrated approach. This paper will review previous work on using frames for knowledge representation and will show how an implementation strategy based on the frame-based representation can be useful as a possible implementation approach for the asset-based systems development strategy.
A unified framework for physical print quality

In this paper we present a unified framework for physical print quality. This framework includes a design for a testbed, testing methodologies and quality measures of physical print characteristics. An automatic belt-fed flatbed scanning system is calibrated to acquire L* data for a wide range of flat field imagery. Testing methodologies based on wavelet pre-processing and spectral/statistical analysis are designed. We apply the proposed framework to three common printing artifacts: banding, jitter, and streaking. Since these artifacts are directional, wavelet based approaches are used to extract one artifact at a time and filter out other artifacts. Banding is characterized as a medium-to-low frequency, vertical periodic variation down the page. The same definition is applied to the jitter artifact, except that the jitter signal is characterized as a high-frequency signal above the banding frequency range. However, streaking is characterized as a horizontal aperiodic variation in the high-to-medium frequency range. Wavelets at different levels are applied to the input images in different directions to extract each artifact within specified frequency bands. Following wavelet reconstruction, images are converted into 1-D signals describing the artifact under concern. Accurate spectral analysis using a DFT with Blackman-Harris windowing technique is used to extract the power (strength) of periodic signals (banding and jitter). Since streaking is an aperiodic signal, a statistical measure is used to quantify the streaking strength. Experiments on 100 print samples scanned at 600 dpi from 10 different printers show high correlation (75% to 88%) between the ranking of these samples by the proposed metrologies and experts' visual ranking.
A Back-Projection Method For Imaging Large-Scale Lateral Variations of Lg Coda Q With Application to Continental Africa

SUMMARY A new method is developed which uses back-projection tomography to regionalize large-scale lateral variations of coda Q for Lg waves which have traversed long continental paths. Successful use of this method requires precise and stable single-trace measurements of Lg coda Q (Xie & Nuttli 1988). the method converges rapidly and requires minimal computer storage. It also allows quantitative estimation of resolution and error in imaging lateral variations of coda Q. the spatial resolution of this method is limited by the uneven spatial coverage of the data base, by our limited knowledge of Lg coda generation, and by the trade-off between the stability and the spatial resolution of the coda Q inversion. the method is applied to a large set of digital Lg coda data from Africa, where large-scale lateral variations of Lg coda Q are found to correlate well with major tectonic features. Most of Africa is stable, and like other stable regions, has relatively high coda Q values. the lowest values of coda Q are associated with the African rift system. Other regions of low-Q values include the Atlas mountains and Cape Fold Belt, regions of Mesozoic and younger deformation. the lateral variation of frequency dependence of Lg coda Q correlates, in most regions, with that of Q at 1 Hz. Our analysis of the spatial resolution of this method indicates that the resolving power of Lg coda Q imaging is comparable to that of velocity tomography using long-period surface waves. Using empirical approaches, we estimate that uncertainties in Lg coda Q and its power-law frequency dependence parameter are less than about 60 and about 0.2, respectively, for most of Africa.
CN-07PREDICTORS OF ACUTE SEVERE LYMPHOPENIA DURING RADIOTHERAPY AND TEMOZOLOMIDE FOR HIGH-GRADE GLIOMA

BACKGROUND: Acute severe lymphopenia (ASL) frequently develops during radiotherapy and temozolomide (RT + TMZ) for high-grade glioma (HGG) and has been shown to be correlated with survival. This study is designed to identify potential predictors of ASL, especially RT-specific parameters that can be modified. METHODS: From January 2007 to December 2012, 194 patients with HGG were treated RT + TMZ and had available data including lymphocyte count and radiation dose-volume histogram (DVH) parameters. RT was delivered to 2 planning target volumes (PTV1) over a median of 43 days (range 19-75): 60Gy (40.05-66) to PTV 1 and 51Gy (30-54) to PTV2. Concurrent TMZ was given daily at a dose of 75 mg/m2 for the duration of RT. ASL was defined as less than 500/ul (Common Toxicity Criteria version 4.0, grade 3-4) within the first two months from the start of RT. Peripheral blood including lymphocyte count was typically assessed weekly during RT and then monthly thereafter. DVH parameters were determined for brain, brainstem and PTV from the original RT plan. The stepwise logistic regression analysis (SLRA) was used to determine the most important predictors of ASL. RESULTS: Forty-five patients (23%) developed ASL. Patients with ASL had significantly worse OS than those without (median 11.2 vs 18.3 months, respectively, p < 0.001). The SLRA showed that female gender (odd ratio [OR], 5.21; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.34-11.63), elder age (1.05; 1.01-1.08), higher V25Gy (volume receiving 25Gy) of brain (1.04; 1.01-1.06), lower pretreatment lymphocyte count (1.001; 1.00-1.002) were the most significant predictors for ASL. ASL rate was 40% for patients with V25Gy ≥ 66% and 15% for V25Gy < 66%. CONCLUSIONS: Female gender, elder age, increased V25Gy of brain, and low pretreatment lymphocyte count are significant predictors of ASL during treatment of HGG. Maintaining V25Gy of brain below 66% may reduce the rate of ASL.
Effect of slowly absorbing antigen (ragweed) on neutralizing antibody titer.

Abstract 1.1. A sesame oil-aluminum monostearate preparation of ragweed extract has been shown to prolong the absorption of the allergen. 2.2. Therapy with this preparation results in an increased titer of neutralizing antibody. 3.3. The results are insufficient to draw any conclusions regarding the relationship between neutralizing antibody and clinical results.
Henry R. Luce and the Rise of the American News Media

Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: The Missionary's Son, 1898-1920 Chapter 3: "Time" Begins, 1921-1923 Chapter 4: "Time Will Tell," 1923-1938 Chapter 5: "Fortune" and "The March of Time," 1930-1936 Chapter 6: The "Mind-Guided Camera" Magazine, 1933-1940 Chapter 7: From Publisher to Public Man, 1933-1940 Chapter 8: The American Century, 1941-1950 Chapter 9: The Lucean Decade and Its Detractors, 1950-1959 Chapter 10: Final Purposes, 1959-1967 Chapter 11: New Afterword to the Johns Hopkins Edition.
A phase I study of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin and temsirolimus in patients with refractory solid malignancies.

This study aimed to determine the maximum-tolerated dose and dose-limiting toxicities of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin (PLD) in combination with temsirolimus (T) in patients with refractory solid tumors. Using a standard “3+3” dose escalation design, 23 patients were enrolled in three dosing cohorts in this phase I study. The starting dose level was PLD at 30 mg/m2 every 4 weeks and T at 20 mg weekly. Pharmacokinetics (PK) of doxorubicin were evaluated for patients in the expansion cohort. The most common treatment-related adverse events of all grades were mucositis/stomatitis (69.6 %), anorexia (52.2 %), thrombocytopenia (52.2 %), and fatigue (47.8 %). The recommended doses of this combination for phase II studies are 25 mg/m2 PLD and 25 mg T. PK analyses suggested increased exposure of doxorubicin in this combination regimen compared to doxorubicin administered as a single agent, possibly due to PK drug interactions. Out of 18 patients evaluable for a treatment response, two had partial responses (PR) (breast cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma) and six had stable disease (SD). Two patients remained on treatment for more than 1 year. The combination of PLD and T is tolerable, and the treatment resulted in clinical benefit. The combination regimen should be further explored in appropriate tumor types. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00280-014-2493-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Amplification of tissue by construction of tissue microarrays.

Tissue microarrays are a method of relocating tissue from conventional histologic paraffin blocks in a manner that tissue from multiple patients or blocks can be seen on the same slide. This is done by using a needle to biopsy a standard histologic section and placing the core into an array on a recipient paraffin block. This technique allows maximization of tissue resources by analysis of small core biopsies of blocks, rather than complete sections. Using this technology, a carefully planned array can be constructed using cases from pathology tissue block archives, and a 20-year survival analysis can be done on a cohort of 600 or more patients using only a few microliters of antibody in a single experiment. Furthermore, this cohort can be analyzed thousands of times with different reagents as a result of judicious sectioning of the array block. This review describes this process and discusses the issues of representative sampling in heterogeneous lesions, the issue of antigen preservation, and some technical strategies and methods of array construction. In summary, this technique can provide a highly efficient, high-throughput mechanism for evaluation of protein expression in large cohorts. It has the potential for allowing validation of new genes at a speed comparable to the rapid rate of gene discovery afforded by DNA microarrays.
Reliability of female genital injury detection after sexual assault.

Objective: To establish inter-rater reliability for genital injury detection among experienced forensic sexual assault (SA) examiners. Methods: Cross-sectional observational study testing inter-rater agreement of injury assessment among eight experienced SA examiners who each viewed 2-4 digital images from 50 cases. Each case was rated by 4 examiners and included images before and after toluidine blue dye application. We calculated overall agreement and kappa (κ). Results: Examiners had perfect agreement in 60 cases; in 24 cases 3 examiners agreed; in 5 cases 2 agreed and 1 was unsure; and in 9 cases there were 2 "yes" and 2 "no" ratings or 1 "yes," 1 "no," and 2 "unsure" ratings. Overall agreement was 82% (κ, 0.57) when yes|unsure and no|unsure combinations equaled disagreement and 86% (κ, 0.66) when only yes|no dyads equaled disagreement. Neither the number of images nor any single examiner fundamentally influenced results. Highly experienced examiners tended to agree with each other (86%) slightly more often than moderate examiners agreed with each other (75%). Conclusions: Our set of experienced forensic examiners achieved moderate inter-rater agreement in assessment of the presence of female genital injury on selected digital images obtained during SA examination. Language: en
Portal vein thrombosis and liver disease

Portal vein thrombosis can occur secondary to infection, surgical intervention, or as a result of liver dysfunction. Its development can precipitate the need for emergency interventions including endoscopy, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic stents (TIPS), portacaval shunts, or even liver transplantation. Portal vein thrombosis occurs slowly and silently. Portal vein thrombosis is not discovered until gastrointestinal hemorrhage develops in the patient unless the thrombosis is diagnosed on routine surveillance diagnostic testing. Portal vein thrombosis can be diagnosed by Doppler ultrasonography, computed tomography scan, or magnetic resonance imaging. Late identification of portal vein thrombosis can lead to increased morbidity and mortality of the patient population. Patients with portal vein thrombosis can be successfully managed with early identification and collaboration between the patient and the health care team for ongoing monitoring and treatment. Patient education involves assisting the patient in the understanding of esophageal varices, the various treatment modalities, their physical limitations, and the need for monitoring and management of the portal hypertension.
Narrative review: screening for colorectal cancer in patients with a first-degree relative with colonic neoplasia.

This review summarizes an evidence-based approach to the common clinical problem of how and when to screen for colorectal cancer (CRC) in a patient with a family history of colonic neoplasia. The a...
Fibroblast Growth Factor Signaling in Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer

Despite recent progress in the treatment on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), outcomes remain suboptimal. Treatment advances that target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling pathways highlight the need to understand the multiple convergent growth factor signaling pathways involved in the pathogenesis of NSCLC. Signaling through fibroblast growth factors (FGF), long recognized for its pro-angiogenic activity, has recently emerged as a contributing factor in the pathogenesis and progression of NSCLC through an autocrine signaling loop. In addition, this pathway may function as a mechanism of resistance to anti-EGFR and anti-VEGF treatment. Clinical experience with FGF receptor (FGFR) inhibitors is mounting, and more specific inhibitors of this signaling pathway are in development. This review describes the structure of the FGF signaling pathway, delineates its dual roles in angiogenesis and proliferation in NSCLC, evaluates FGF ligand and receptor expression as prognostic biomarkers in NSCLC, and discusses the development of FGF pathway inhibitors for the treatment of lung malignancies.
DOWN AMONG THE DEAD: EDWIN CHADWICK'S BURIAL REFORM DISCOURSE IN MID-NINETEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND

In 1839, G, A. WALKER, a London surgeon, published Gatherings from Graveyards, Particularly Those in London. Three years later Parliament appointed a House of Com mons select committee to investigate "the evils arising from the interment of bodies" in large towns and to consider legislation to resolve the problem.1 Walker's study opens with a comprehensive history of the modes of interment among all nations, showing the wisdom of ancient practices that removed the dead from the confines of the living. The second portion of the book describes the pathological state of forty-three metro politan graveyards in an effort to convince the public of the need for legislative inter ference by the government to prohibit burials in the vicinity of the living.2 Walker's important work attracted the attention of Parliament and social reformers because of his comprehensive representation of the problem of graveyards, especially among the poor districts of London; his rudimentary statistics that, in effect, isolated them from the rest of the society; and his unbending insistence that national legislators solve the problem. These three impulses influenced the way Edwin Chadwick, secretary to the New Poor Law Commission from 1834 to 1842 and commissioner for the Board of Health from 1848 to 1852, identified and represented the problem of corpses and grave yards in his A Supplementary Report on the Results of a Special Inquiry into the Practice of Interment in Towns (1843). Walker's study of the graveyards registered the effects of a surging population and a concomitant concentration of people in the metropolitan areas of England. The popula tion of London more than doubled in fifty years from just under one million in 1801 to 2,360,000 in 1851. Furthermore, the increasing physical deterioration of towns surpassed the rate of improvement, causing the death rate to rise sharply between 1831 and 1841 (Finer 213; Hardy 77).3 Because towns sustained growth in population and suffered from higher death rates, conditions in the graveyards worsened. Many of the churchyards were quite small, often less than an acre of ground, and had been in use for centuries. In public sites, the crowded conditions persisted because owners, to turn a profit, preferred the common grave where they could bury more bodies, collect more fees, and use less space in the cemetery. Bunhill Fields, originally a cemetery designed by and for Dissenters and
Managing 3D: our next problem

Museums in the world contain billions of objects (the Smithsonian alone has some 250 million things). Three-dimensional scanning is now cheap, and we can expect to see a flood of scanned solid objects join the even more numerous images and videos that we now have. Although we haven't yet solved the problems of managing two- dimensional scanned images, we're about to face the more complex problem of 3-D objects.
The effect of electric fields on brain lipid-cholesterol films.

The effect of a direct-current electric field on films of brain cerebroside and cholesterol and mixtures with brain phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) using infrared spectral techniques was studied. The intensities of the spectral bands assigned to the vibration of the phosphate and the -(CH2) n -group of the fatty acid chain of the phospholipid increased to a maximum as the applied voltage increased. The changes were similar to those previously observed with films of the phospholipid, but higher voltages were required to reach the maximum than with the phospholipid films. The spectral changes are related to conformational changes occurring in the phospholipid component of the films containing cerebroside and cholesterol. The infrared spectra of the mixtures indicate that there is hydrogen bonding between the phosphatidylethanolamine and cholesterol in the films and that the phospholipid exists in the nonpolar form in the films. As found previously with films of brain cephalin and lecithin, the electric field strength at which the maximum intensities of spectral bands are observed varies inversely with the thickness.
Hypoplastic Right Cervical Aortic Arch

We describe a neonate with a rare congenital anomaly of the aorta. The anomaly included a hypoplastic aortic arch that was cervical and right sided. This complex combination was treated by a Norwood type procedure reconstructing a right-sided arch and, in a later stage, a Rastelli procedure. These 2 procedures achieved a 2 ventricular repair. The diagnostic and surgical challenges of this rare anomaly are described in this case report.
Frequency of self-reported medical conditions in periodontal patients.

Assessing the medical history of patients before any treatment is provided is an essential aspect of the periodontist's responsibility. A patient's compromised medical state could alter the response to periodontal treatment or worse, contribute to a crisis situation that may prove harmful to his or her well-being. This study examines the frequency of medical conditions in periodontal patients utilizing a self-administered health questionnaire succeeded by directly interviewing the patient for validity. Health histories were taken from 590 periodontal patients in an outpatient setting; 52.5% of these patients reported a positive finding in their medical history, with drug allergies and cardiovascular disorders being by far the most frequently found conditions. The frequency of medical conditions increased with increasing age. Thorough evaluation of a patient's health history is a mandatory first step in the treatment process. J Periodontol 1995;66:1004–1007.
High-speed simulation of partial response channels employing low-density parity check (LDPC) codes

We developed a high-speed simulator for partial response (PR) channels employing low density parity check (LDPC) codes. Bit error rate (BER) performances for channels employing PR(1,1) and PR(1,2,2,1) targets wtih blue laser and 0.85 numerical aperture (NA) are estimated by simulating up to 10 11 data sampled which allowed us to estimate BERs as low as 10 -10 . Three data detection methods (namely, a simple slicer, soft-output Viterbi algorithm or SOVA, and maximum a posteriori probability or MAP detector) followed by LDPC decoder are compared. We also show BER performance of our one-chip hardware LDPC decoder on additive white Gaussian noise channel.
A Methodology for Assessing Learning in Complex and Ill-Structured Task Domains

New information and communications technologies and research in cognitive science have led to new ways to think about and implement learning environments. Among these new approaches to instruction and new methods to support learning and performance is an interest in and emphasis on complex subject matter (e.g., complex and dynamic systems involving things such as crisis management, environmental planning, social policy formulation, etc.). Consistent with the notion that learning involves observable changes in abilities, attitudes, beliefs, knowledge, mental models, and skills is the requirement of development methods to assess progress of learning in these complex and ill‐structured task domains. A central problem for assessment in complex task domains is determining performance standards on representative tasks against which to measure progress since ordinary problems with single solutions and approved solution approaches are generally not useful. A framework for assessing learning and performance that a...
Effect of blood upon the selective ablation of atherosclerotic plaque witha pulsed dye laser

Laser angioplasty systems with laser energy preferentially absorbed by atherosclerotic plaque may offer a safe method of plaque removal. This study evaluated the effect of blood upon selective energy absorption using a pulsed dye laser at 480 nm. Intra-arterial laser irradiation of normal rabbit femoral arteries demonstrated a perforation threshold energy with blood perfusion of 13.1 mJ per pulse compared to 87.9 mJ with saline (P less than .0001), indicating a deleterious effect in the presence of blood. An adverse effect upon arterial healing at 3 days was noted in sheep following intra-arterial irradiation during blood but not saline perfusion. Normal and atherosclerotic human aorta ablation thresholds differed significantly (P less than .0002) under saline (plaque: 20 mJ and normal: 120 mJ) but the difference under blood (plaque: 5 mJ and normal: 20 mJ) was not significant. We conclude that absorption of laser energy by blood can reduce the effect of differential absorption by endogenous chromophores in normal and pathologic vascular tissues and, therefore, removal of blood may be a prerequisite for selective ablation of atherosclerotic plaques.
Signaling Pathways for Bone Resorption Predicted as a Hybrid Cellular Automaton Process

The bone remodeling process provides for various functions such as mineral homeostasis, damage repair, and adaptation to mechanical loading. At present, a clear link between the mechanical stimulation of bones and the biochemical response is not fully understood. Computational simulations can provide a means to test hypotheses and gain insight into processes that are difficult to examine experimentally. The objective of this work is to predict the effect of damage and strain as the stimulus for regulating the cellular signaling activity of remodeling. In this study, potential signaling pathways that mediate this cellular activity were incorporated in a hybrid cellular automaton (HCA) algorithm. Biological rules were implemented in this model to control recruitment, differentiation, and activation of osteoclasts. Prominent processes for describing recruitment and inhibition of the bone cells, as reported from experimental studies, are utilized. This work focuses on the resorption of a damaged site on a trabecular strut.© 2010 ASME
Pension Participation: Do Parents Transmit Time Preference?

A wide range of economic and health behaviors are influenced by individuals’ attitudes toward the future—including investments in human capital, health capital and financial capital. Intergenerational correlations in such behaviors suggest an important role the family may play in transmitting time preferences to children. This article presents a model of parental investment in future-oriented capital, where parents shape their children’s time preference rates. The research identifies a dual role for a parent’s time preference rate in the process of shaping the offspring’s attitude toward the future, and discusses paths through which parents may socialize children to be patient. The model’s implications are studied by investigating the parent–child correlation in pension participation using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics
Reoperation as a quality indicator in colorectal surgery: a population-based analysis.

Interest in measuring surgical quality is growing rapidly. With increasing recognition that surgical outcomes vary widely, patients are seeking more detailed information about providers’ performance prior to undergoing treatment. Providers are interested in assessing their own performance for quality improvement purposes. Payers are looking for better data by which to steer selected populations of surgical patients to high-quality providers. To meet these various interests, policy makers and health services researchers have redoubled their efforts to develop and implement quality indicators germane to surgery. Unfortunately, however, current measures of surgical quality have major flaws which limit their usefulness. Although simple and direct, operative mortality is too uncommon after most procedures to allow consistent and reliable measurement of surgical quality and too blunt to direct quality improvement efforts. Volume of care has been correlated with decreased mortality in a variety of settings and among groups of hospitals1–3 but has limited sensitivity and flexibility as a target for quality improvement since it is likely a proxy for resources or processes of care not yet identified. Nonfatal surgical complications that result in reoperation or other procedural intervention are likely to play a role in poor outcomes, including postoperative death,4 but have not been well explored. Such complications leading to early reoperation are often the result of intraoperative technical problems, such as anastomotic leaks and wound infections,5 and could provide a useful target for quality measurement and quality improvement. We investigated complications of surgery in the context of colorectal cancer, a common and potentially fatal disease6 that is primarily treated with well-established surgical techniques.7 Our aim was to identify unplanned procedural interventions following colorectal cancer surgery that might be used as intermediate outcomes in quality improvement efforts and to explore their association with operative mortality and prolonged hospitalization.
On the delay and throughput of digital and analog network coding for wireless broadcast

We address the problem of exchanging broadcast packets among multiple wireless terminals through a single relay node. The objective is to evaluate the delay and throughput gains of network coding over plain routing. We compare digital network coding at the packet level with analog network coding based on scheduled or random access of terminal transmissions that are forwarded by the relay node. For error-free channels, the performance gain of both types of network coding scales with the number of terminals, if they can overhear each other's transmissions. For channels with noise or packet erasures, we formulate network coding as a multiuser communication problem. The multi-dimensional performance measures involve the packet delay, the throughput rate and the probability of decoding error or decoding failure that are optimized either by plain routing, digital or analog network coding depending on the number of terminals and channel properties. Our results open up new questions regarding the use of wireless network coding and illustrate the delay, throughput and reliability trade-offs.
The Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes randomized trial of different treatment strategies in type 2 diabetes mellitus with stable ischemic heart disease: impact of treatment strategy on cardiac mortality and myocardial infarction.

Background— The Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) trial in 2368 patients with stable ischemic heart disease assigned before randomization to percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting strata reported similar 5-year all-cause mortality rates with insulin sensitization versus insulin provision therapy and with a strategy of prompt initial coronary revascularization and intensive medical therapy or intensive medical therapy alone with revascularization reserved for clinical indication(s). In this report, we examine the predefined secondary end points of cardiac death and myocardial infarction (MI). Methods and Results— Outcome data were analyzed by intention to treat; the Kaplan–Meier method was used to assess 5-year event rates. Nominal P values are presented. During an average 5.3-year follow-up, there were 316 deaths (43% were attributed to cardiac causes) and 279 first MI events. Five-year cardiac mortality did not differ between revascular...
Genetic Progress From 50 Years of Smooth Bromegrass Breeding

The first documentation of breeding smooth bromegrass was the single cycle of mass selection practiced by Since its introduction from Eurasia, smooth bromegrass (Bromus two Kansas farmers in the early 1900s to produce the inermis Leyss.) has become an important cool-season forage grass in cultivar Achenbach from “the tallest, best-filled, and North America. The objective of this study was to document breeding progress in smooth bromegrass between 1942 and 1995 in North Amer- lightest colored plants” (Vogel et al., 1996). Although ica. Thirty cultivars or experimental populations were tested at up to there were sporadic breeding efforts at several experiseven sites in the eastern and central USA, with a range of soil types ment stations in the 1910s and 1920s, formal breeding and climates. There have been small genetic changes in forage yield, did not begin in earnest until the late 1930s and early brown leafspot resistance [caused by Pyrenophora bromi (Died) 1940s. This coincided with the widespread value and Drechs.], in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), and neutral deter- popularity of smooth bromegrass for revegetation of gent fiber (NDF) concentration. Brown leafspot resistance increased drought-damaged grasslands and marginal croplands gradually, averaging 0.21 units decade2 1 . Mean forage yield did not throughout the Great Plains and midwestern regions. change for cultivars developed after 1942, but was 0.54 Mg ha2 1 (7.2%) The initial breeding efforts in smooth bromegrass imhigher for the post-1942 group than in ‘Lincoln’, a direct representative provement capitalized largely on existing natural variaof smooth bromegrass introduced into North America. Selection for increased IVDMD led to an average increase in IVDMD o f9gk g 21 tion among introduced germplasm sources that had be(1.4%), an increase in forage yield of 0.33 Mg ha 21 (5.0%), and a come naturalized land races (Casler and Carlson, 1995). decrease in NDF of 2 8gk g 21 (21.2%) in the post-1942 group . The Many of the cultivars released in the 1940s consisted of slow rate of progress for smooth bromegrass forage yield is due to increases from seed production fields that had consisits complex polyploid inheritance, emphasis on traits other than forage tently given rise to high-yielding forage production yield, and relatively little concentrated attention from public and fields. Of these cultivars, Lincoln was the most widelyprivate breeders. grown, presumably due to its superior performance in regional trials (Thomas et al., 1958). Fifty-five years later, Lincoln remains the most widely grown smooth S
Clearance of Rb86 from Coronary Blood by the Atria of Dogs.

The rate of clearance of Rb86 from blood by several areas of the atria was studied in 18 dogs because of evidence that Rb86 uptake and rate of coronary blood flow are closely related. Mean rates of clearance averaged 0.40 ml blood/g/min. These were not significantly different in the right atrium, left atrium and interatrial septum. Rb86 uptake by the atria formed a larger portion of total myocardial uptake when cardiac output was low. Frequently the clearance per gram of tissue exceeded that found simultaneously in the ventricles. Finally, this indicates that atrial flow is better maintained when the animal is in poor condition than is flow to the ventricles.
Physiological and histological classification of cerebellar neurons in chloralose-anesthetized cats.

Abstract Extracellularly isolated neurons in the anterior lobe of the cat cerebellum were divided into two subsets based on their pattern of response to peripheral somatosensory input. Members of one subset, the E set, responded with a discrete burst of spikes at well-defined latencies to cutaneous stimulation and were not fired anti-dromically by deep white matter stimulation. The second subset, the I set, appeared to be functionally and anatomically homogeneous. Since I units were located in or near the Purkinje cell layer and some responded at short latencies to deep white matter stimulation and followed such stimulation at high frequencies, they were identified as Purkinje cells. The most prominent feature of I-unit response to peripheral somatosensory input was a cessation of spontaneous firing for several hundred milliseconds. I-unit evoked discharge terminated just before the peak surface-positivity of the peripherally induced cerebellar primary response, whereas E-unit activity in the granular and molecular layers coincided in time with the duration of the surface-positive wave.
Color consilience: color through the lens of art practice, history, philosophy, and neuroscience.

Paintings can be interpreted as the product of the complex neural machinery that translates physical light signals into behavior, experience, and emotion. The brain mechanisms responsible for vision and perception have been sculpted during evolution and further modified by cultural exposure and development. By closely examining artists' paintings and practices, we can discover hints to how the brain works, and achieve insight into the discoveries and inventions of artists and their impact on culture. Here, I focus on an integral aspect of color, color contrast, which poses a challenge for artists: a mark situated on an otherwise blank canvas will appear a different color in the context of the finished painting. How do artists account for this change in color during the production of a painting? In the broader context of neural and philosophical considerations of color, I discuss the practices of three modern masters, Henri Matisse, Paul Cezanne, and Claude Monet, and suggest that the strategies they developed not only capitalized on the neural mechanisms of color, but also influenced the trajectory of western art history.
Compiler technology for machine-independent parallel programming

Historically, the principal achievement of compiler technology has been to make it possible to program in a high-level, machine-independent style. The absence of compiler technology to provide such a style for parallel computers is the main reason these systems have not found widespread acceptance. This paper examines the prospects for machine-independent parallel programming, concentrating on Fortran D and High Performance Fortran, which support machine-independent expression of “data parallelism.”
Super’s Work Values Inventory-Revised Scale Validation for African Americans

The psychometric properties of Super’s Work Values Inventory—Revised (SWVI-R) were examined in a sample of 213 African American college students. Results indicated that the 12-values scales were as reliable and as valid in a sample of African Americans as has been demonstrated within a predominantly White college student sample. Values of coefficient α were similar to those found in White and normative samples, with a median α of .82 herein and medians of .82 and .84 in the normative and White college student samples. A three-factor higher order structure of the SWVI-R was found herein; the three factors were named secure work environment, motivation, and style of engagement. African Americans reported higher mean values scores than did White students but their rank ordering of values was very similar—lifestyle, work environment, and supervision were most highly valued, and creativity was the least valued. Values scores were significantly and consistently correlated with ethnic identity achievement.
Cubical Approximation for Directed Topology I

Topological spaces—such as classifying spaces, configuration spaces and spacetimes—often admit directionality. Qualitative invariants on such directed spaces often are more informative, yet more difficult, to calculate than classical homotopy invariants because directed spaces rarely decompose as homotopy colimits of simpler directed spaces. Directed spaces often arise as geometric realizations of simplicial sets and cubical sets equipped with order-theoretic structure encoding the orientations of simplices and 1-cubes. We prove dual simplicial and cubical approximation theorems appropriate for the directed setting and give criteria for two different homotopy relations on directed maps in the literature to coincide.
Inversion Variability in the Hawaiian Trade Wind Regime

Abstract Using 1979–2003 radiosonde data at Hilo and Līhu‘e, Hawaii, the trade wind inversion (TWI) is found to occur approximately 82% of the time at each station, with average base heights of 2225 m (781.9 hPa) for Hilo and 2076 m (798.8 hPa) for Līhu‘e. A diurnal pattern in base height of nighttime high and afternoon low is consistently found during summer at Hilo. Inversion base height has a September maximum and a secondary maximum in April. Frequency of inversion occurrence was found to be higher during winters and lower during summers of El Nino years than non–El Nino years. Significant upward trends were found for inversion frequency at Hilo for March–May (MAM), June–August (JJA), and September–November (SON) seasons, and at Līhu‘e for all seasons and for annual values.