cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Using entropy to build efficient FIR digital filters

In this paper, we introduce the notion of entropy in the context of digital filter sensitivity. In particular, we discuss its application in several FIR filter structures. We compare the performance of our introduced entropy sensitivity to the well-known power sensitivity measure commonly used in this kind of work. We show that while the entropy-predicted performance nearly conforms to current expected practice, some interesting issues related to filter order occur. Furthermore, the entropy measure, based as it is in time-frequency distribution (concentration) measures, more accurately predicts behavior as the sampling rate increases, or as the resolution of the filter specification increases.
Insect herbivory on C3 and C4 grasses.

This study tested the hypothesis that grasses with the C4 photosynthetic pathway are avoided as a food source by insect herbivores in natural communities. Insects were sampled from ten pairs of C3−C4 grasses and their distributions analyzed by paired comparisons tests. Results showed no statistically significant differences in herbivore utilization of C3−C4 species. However, there was a trend towards heavier utilization of C3 species when means for both plant groups were compared. In particular, Homoptera and Diptera showed heavier usage of C3 plants. Significant correlations between insect abundances and plant protein levels suggest that herbivores respond to the higher protein content of C3 grasses. δ13C values for six of the most common grasshopper species in the study area indicated that three species fed on C3 plants, two species fed on C4 plants, and one species consumed a mixture of C3 and C4 tissue.
Huntingtin Is Required for Neural But Not Cardiac/Pancreatic Progenitor Differentiation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells In vitro.

Mutation in the huntingtin (HTT) gene causes Huntington’s disease. It is an autosomal dominant trinucleotide-repeat expansion disease in which CAG repeat sequence expands to >35. This results in the production of mutant HTT protein with an increased stretch of glutamines near the N-terminus. The wild type HTT gene encodes a 350 kD protein whose function remains elusive. Mutant HTT protein has been implicated in transcription, axonal transport, cytoskeletal structure/function, signal transduction, and autophagy. Huntington’s disease is characterized by the appearance of nuclear inclusions and degeneration of the striatum. Although HTT protein is expressed early in embryos, most patients develop symptoms in mid-life. It is also unclear why the ubiquitously expressed mutant HTT specifically causes striatal atrophy. Wild type Htt is essential for development as Htt knockout mice die at day E7.5. Increasing evidence suggests mutant Htt may alter neurogenesis and development of striatal neurons resulting in neuronal loss. Using a mouse embryonic stem cell model, we examined the role of Htt in neural differentiation. We found cells lacking Htt inefficient in generating neural stem cells. In contrast differentiation into progenitors of mesoderm and endoderm lineages was not affected. The data suggests Htt is essential for neural but not cardiac/pancreatic progenitor differentiation of embryonic stem cells in vitro.
Visual Revelations: The Grabovsky Curve

In the beginning of the 20th century, before the widespread use of objective scoring, most well-administered exams consisted of essays that were scored by multiple expert raters. A common finding w...
The Lucas hypothesis on monetary shocks: evidence from a GARCH-in-mean model

In this paper, we review the Lucas hypothesis that the impact on real output to unanticipated nominal shocks is inversely related across countries to the variability of such shocks. In doing so, we model money supply volatility explicitly to capture important volatility effects that previous work has ignored. Using postwar data from 39 countries, we find empirical evidence in favor of the hypothesis. Our results are robust to data mining, alternative data frequencies, alternative measures of nominal shocks and monetary policy instruments, and alternative measures of the level of economic activity.
Parallel, but Dissociable, Processing in Discrete Corticostriatal Inputs Encodes Skill Learning

Summary Changes in cortical and striatal function underlie the transition from novel actions to refined motor skills. How discrete, anatomically defined corticostriatal projections function in vivo to encode skill learning remains unclear. Using novel fiber photometry approaches to assess real-time activity of associative inputs from medial prefrontal cortex to dorsomedial striatum and sensorimotor inputs from motor cortex to dorsolateral striatum, we show that associative and sensorimotor inputs co-engage early in action learning and disengage in a dissociable manner as actions are refined. Disengagement of associative, but not sensorimotor, inputs predicts individual differences in subsequent skill learning. Divergent somatic and presynaptic engagement in both projections during early action learning suggests potential learning-related in vivo modulation of presynaptic corticostriatal function. These findings reveal parallel processing within associative and sensorimotor circuits that challenges and refines existing views of corticostriatal function and expose neuronal projection- and compartment-specific activity dynamics that encode and predict action learning.
Association Between Brain Gene Expression, DNA Methylation, and Alteration of Ex Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging Transverse Relaxation in Late-Life Cognitive Decline.

Importance Alteration of ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging transverse relaxation is associated with late-life cognitive decline even after controlling for common neuropathologic conditions. However, the underlying neurobiology of this association is unknown. Objective To investigate the association between brain gene expression, DNA methylation, and alteration of magnetic resonance imaging transverse relaxation in late-life cognitive decline. Design, Setting, and Participants Data came from 2 community-based longitudinal cohort studies of aging and dementia, the Religious Orders Study, which began in 1993, and the Rush Memory and Aging Project, which began in 1997. All participants agreed to undergo annual clinical evaluations and to donate their brains after death. By October 24, 2016, a total of 1358 individuals had died and had brain autopsies that were approved by board-certified neuropathologists. Of those, 552 had undergone ex vivo imaging. The gene expression analysis was limited to 174 individuals with both imaging and brain RNA sequencing data. The DNA methylation analysis was limited to 225 individuals with both imaging and brain methylation data. Main Outcomes and Measures Maps of ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging transverse relaxation were generated using fast spin echo imaging. The target was a composite measure of the transverse relaxation rate (R2) that was associated with cognitive decline after controlling for common neuropathologic conditions. Next-generation RNA sequencing and DNA methylation data were generated using frozen tissue from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Genome-wide association analysis was used to investigate gene expression and, separately, DNA methylation for signals associated with the R2measure. Results Of the 552 individuals with ex vivo imaging data, 394 were women and 158 were men, and the mean (SD) age at death was 90.4 (6.0) years. Four co-expressed genes (PADI2[EnsemblENSG00000117115],ZNF385A[EnsemblENSG00000161642],PSD2[EnsemblENSG00000146005], andA2ML1[EnsemblENSG00000166535]) were identified, of which higher expressions were associated with slower R2. The association of R2with cognitive decline was attenuated when the gene expression signals were added to the model, such that the mean (SE) coefficient of association was reduced from 0.028 (0.008) (P Conclusions and Relevance Brain gene expression and DNA methylation dysregulations are implicated in the alteration of brain tissue properties associated with late-life cognitive decline above and beyond the influence of common neuropathologic conditions.
Coronary bypass in left ventricular dysfunction and differential cardiac recovery

Background We aimed to examine the efficacy of surgical revascularization with respect to improvement in ventricular function and survival in patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy and poor left ventricular function. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of 429 patients (median age 64.6 years, 81.1% male) with ejection fractions 5 (8.8% ± 14.2%) years ( p = 0.442). Following propensity matching, there was no significant difference between the combined off-pump/beating heart and cardioplegic arrest groups with respect to survival or postoperative complications. Conclusions Patients with moderate to severe left ventricular dysfunction experience long-term improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction after coronary artery bypass. However, right ventricular function often continues to decline, contributing to persistent or worsening heart failure symptoms and late mortality. No difference in survival was seen between the 2 techniques.
Psychology or Psychological Science?: A Survey of Graduate Psychology Faculty Regarding Program Names.

The question of renaming graduate psychology programs to psychological science is a timely and contentious issue. To better understand why some programs, but not others, are changing names, we surv...
Energy Balance Regulation

Energy balance regulation is a complex process involving several controlling systems and is similar in complexity to the regulation of body temperature and blood glucose. In fact, some of the mechanisms for energy balance regulation overlap with these two systems. The hierarchy of the systems is based on the highest priority of the organism for survival. This chapter will focus on signals of energy balance status from peripheral sources as well as the role of the central nervous system in integration of these signals and active control of either food intake or metabolism (Fig. 1).
Transcriptional Regulation of Brown and White Adipogenesis

There are two types of adipose cells in the mammalian body. White fat, the most common type of fat cell, is specialized for the storage of energy. White adipose tissue makes up 15% or more of the total body weight in healthy individuals, and this number can be very much higher in obese individuals. White adipocytes take up glucose or lipid from the blood and use them to synthesize triglycerides. These can then be released into blood as free fatty acids when the animal is fasting. Brown fat cells play a very different role in the body. These cells function to dissipate chemical energy in the form of heat, in response to cold or certain high-calorie diets. Physiologically, it is clear that brown fat serves as a very important defense against hypothermia and obesity. Brown fat plays its thermogenic function through the expression of UCP-1, a mitochondrial protein that catalyzes a proton leak across the inner membrane of the mitochondrion. Importantly, mice with a genetic reduction in either brown fat tissue or the UCP-1 gene have a greater tendency to develop obesity (Lowell et al. 1993; Feldmann et al. 2009). These data have increased the urgency to determine the transcriptional pathways by which these two types of fat cells develop.
ATOMIC SPECTROSCOPY IN OPTICS AND SPECTROSCOPY, 1959-1962

A review is given of papers on atomic spectroscopy appearing in the Russian journal Optics and Spectroscopy over the period 1959 to 1962, when an English translation was made available. Subjects considered include: isotope appearing in the Russian journal Optics and Spectroscopy over the period 1959 to 1962, when an English translation was made available. Subjects considered include; isotope shift and hyperfine structure; oscillator strengths; rareearth ion spectra; excitation cross sections of spectral lines; spectral lines in plasmas; and quantum-mechanical calculations. (153 references.) (R.E.U.)
The Electrode/Electrolyte Interphase of Electronically Conducting Polypyrrole

As part of an overall study of the electrode/electrolyte interphase of the electronically conducting polymer, polypyrrole, the surface structure and electronic properties have been investigated. Scanning electron microscopy was performed on polypyrrole to determine what the surface structure looked like on a magnified view. The surface is rough and has a cauliflower-like appearance. However, the structure is fairly uniform.
Assessing the Geographic Context of Risk Perception and Behavioral Response to Potential Ebola Exposure.

The 2014–2016 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic outbreak reached over 28,000 cases and totaled over 11,000 deaths with 4 confirmed cases in the United States, which sparked widespread public concern about nationwide spread of EVD. Concern was elevated in locations connected to the infected people, which included Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. This threat of exposure enabled a unique opportunity to assess self-reported knowledge about EVD, risk perception, and behavior response to EVD. Unlike existing studies, which often survey one point in time across geographically coarse scales, this work offers insights into the geographic context of risk perception and behavior at finer-grained spatial and temporal scales. We report results from 3138 respondents comprised of faculty, staff, and students at two time periods. Results reveal increased EVD knowledge, decreased risk perception, and reduction in protective actions during this time. Faculty had the lowest perceived risk, followed by staff and then students, suggesting the role of education in this outcome. However, the most impactful result is the proof-of-concept for this study design to be deployed in the midst of a disease outbreak. Such geographically targeted and temporally dynamic surveys distributed during an outbreak can show where and when risk perception and behaviors change, which can provide policy-makers with rapid results that can shape intervention practices.
A Scalable Segmented Dynamic Time Warping for Time Series Classification

The Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm is an elastic distance measure that has demonstrated good performance with sequence-based data, and in particular, time series data. Two major drawbacks of DTW are the possibility of pathological warping paths and the high computational cost. Improvement techniques such as pruning off impossible mappings or lowering data dimensions have been proposed to counter these issues. The existing DTW improvement techniques, however, are either limited in effect or use accuracy as a trade-off. In this paper, we introduce segmented-DTW (segDTW). A novel and scalable approach that would speed up the DTW algorithm, especially for longer sequences. Our heuristic approaches the time series mapping problem by identifying global similarity before local similarity. This global to local process initiates with easily identified global peaks. Based on these peaks, time series sequences are segmented to sub-sequences, and DTW is applied in a divide-and-compute fashion. By doing so, the computation naturally expands to the parallel case. Due to the paired peaks, our method can avoid some pathological warpings and is highly scalable. We tested our method on a variety of datasets and obtained a gradient of speedup relative to the time series sequence length while maintaining comparable classification accuracy.
A field study to estimate inhalation rates for use in a particle inhalation rate exposure metric

Particle inhalation rate (PIR) is an air pollution exposure metric that relies on age-, sex-, and physical activity-specific estimates of minute respiratory volume (MRV; L/min-kg) to account for personal inhalation patterns. United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)-generated MRV estimates derive primarily from relatively homogenous populations without substantial cardiorespiratory challenges. To determine if these MRV estimates are relevant to populations in generally poor cardiorespiratory health (e.g., the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study (BPRHS) population) or whether population-specific estimates are needed, we 1) estimated population-specific MRVs and compared them to USEPA MRV estimates, and 2) compared exposure distributions and health effect estimates using PIR with population-specific MRVs, PIR with USEPA MRVs, and ambient particle number concentration (PNC). We recruited 40 adults (80% Puerto Rican, mean age = 60.2 years) in Boston with health characteristics similar to the BPRHS population. We measured pulse, oxygen saturation, respiration rate, and inspiratory volume while participants walked, stood, sat, and lay down. Pulse, respiration rate, inspiratory volume, and MRV were greater when participants were walking/standing compared to sitting or lying down. We then calculated MRVs adjusted for age, sex, measured body weight, and physical activity using data from 19 Puerto Rican participants who wore a nose clip or held their nostrils closed. We applied the population-specific and USEPA MRVs to estimate ultrafine particle exposure for participants in the BPRHS (n = 781). We compared exposure distributions and health effect estimates using the PIR with population-specific MRV estimates, PIR with USEPA MRV estimates, and ambient concentrations. We found that while population-specific MRVs differed from USEPA MRVs, particularly for unhealthy participants, PIR exposure distributions and health effect estimates were similar using each exposure metric. Confidence intervals were narrower using the PIR metrics than ambient PNC, suggesting increased statistical efficiency. Even in our understudied population, using USEPA MRVs did not meaningfully change PIR estimates.
Institutions and their ethical evaluation

An institution is viewed as an arrangement of the society through which various social states emerge as outcomes from the actions and interactions of individuals belonging to the society. Following an earlier contribution by Pattanaik and Suzumura (Oxford Economic Papers 48:194–212, 1996), we subscribe to the view that the ethical desirability of an institution is based on the goodness of the outcomes emerging from individuals’ actions and interactions via the institution as well as the intrinsic attractiveness of the institution itself. In this paper, we explore the structure of an individual’s ethical evaluations of institutions. For this purpose, we discuss how social choices are made through institutions given profiles of individual preferences over social states, propose several a priori properties of institutions and examine their plausibility, and introduce and discuss a lexicographic maximin rule for evaluating institutions ethically.
Compensation Rates for Otolaryngologic Procedures Under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule in 2018.

OBJECTIVE/HYPOTHESIS Medicare reimbursement for physician work depends on the estimated time and intensity - which encompasses technical skill, cognitive load, and stress - required to perform services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) quantitatively expresses intensity estimates as compensation rates per unit time. This study aimed to characterize compensation rates under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for operative procedures commonly performed by otolaryngologists. STUDY DESIGN This study was a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis. METHODS This study was a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of fiscal year 2018 PFS specifications and publicly available Medicare Part B utilization data for the top 100 highest-volume procedures furnished by otolaryngologists to Medicare beneficiaries in inpatient and ambulatory surgical center (ASC) settings between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2018. Co-primary outcomes were the estimated 1) total compensation rate ($/min) and 2) intraservice (i.e., "skin-to-skin" time) compensation rate ($/min) for each included procedure. RESULTS The analytic sample included 147 unique procedure types (settings non-mutually exclusive): 82 inpatient procedure types (n = 33,907 procedures) and 95 ASC procedure types (n = 34,765 procedures). In the inpatient setting, median total compensation rate and intraservice compensation rates were $1.50/min (interquartile range [IQR]: $1.19/min-$1.65/min) and $2.27/min (IQR: $1.69/min-$2.68/min), respectively. In the ASC setting, median total compensation rate and intraservice compensation rates were $1.48/min (interquartile range [IQR]: $1.27/min-$1.77/min) and $2.39/min (IQR: $1.82/min-$2.91/min), respectively. At the service line level, volume-weighted total (inpatient: $1.91/min, ASC: $1.90/min) and intraservice (inpatient: $3.84/min, ASC: $3.37/min) compensation rates were highest for rhinologic procedures. CONCLUSIONS Compensation rates under the Medicare PFS varied widely for operative procedures commonly performed by otolaryngologists. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE NA Laryngoscope, 131:E1785-E1791, 2021.
An Overhaul of Doctrine: The Underpinning of UK Inflation Targeting*

This paper argues that the inflation targeting regime prevailing in the United Kingdom is not the result of a change in policymaker objectives. By conducting an analysis of U.K. policymakers that parallels Romer and Romer’s (2004) study of Federal Reserve Chairmen, I demonstrate that policymaker objectives have been essentially unchanged over the past five decades. Instead, the crucial underpinning of U.K. inflation targeting has been an overhaul of doctrine—a changed view of the transmission mechanism. This overhaul can be understood in terms of changes in policymakers’ views on the values of a few key parameters in their specifications of the economy’s IS and Phillips curves. Specifically, the changed views pertain to the issues of whether interest rates enter the IS equation, and the extent of policymaker influence on those rates; whether the level of the output gap appears in the Phillips curve when the gap is negative; and whether a speedlimit term matters for inflation dynamics. Contrary to conventional wisdom, changing views on the expected-inflation term in the Phillips curve do not play a role.
Mindful Melody: feasibility of implementing music listening on an inpatient psychiatric unit and its relation to the use of as needed medications for acute agitation.

BACKGROUND In this quality improvement project, we set out to study the effectiveness and feasibility of using music as an adjunct or replacement for pharmacologic agitation management on an inpatient psychiatric unit. We hypothesized music intervention would not only assist in de-escalation/calming of agitated patients, but also reduce overall administration of PRN medications on the unit. METHOD The project included 172 volunteer participants over 6 months: Three months without music available and 3 months with a music de-escalation option. During the latter period, patients were given the option of selecting a preferred music genre and provided with wireless headphones for up to 30 min. The number of as needed (PRN) medications administered for agitation and anxiety (including oral, sublingual, and intramuscular routes) was compiled from raw data using pharmacy records. Patients and nurses were provided with self-report surveys regarding the music intervention. RESULTS The average weekly PRN medication administrations decreased significantly during the 3 months with music for both haloperidol (8.46 [+/- 1.79, p < 0.05] to 5.00 [+/- 1.44, p < 0.05] administrations/week) and olanzapine (9.69 [+/- 2.32, p < 0.05] to 4.62 [+/- 1.51, p < 0.05] administrations/week), compared to the 3 months prior to music implementation. There was a non-significant increase in administration of lorazepam (3.23 [+/- 1.09, p < 0.05] to 6.38 [+/- 2.46, p < 0.05] average administrations/week). The patient survey responses were 96% positive (non-neutral; either agree or strongly agree with calming effect). Nurses agreed that the project was easy to implement; 56% agreed that music helped to calm patients down. Other exploratory outcomes included observed reductions in average length of hospital stay and number of seclusion events. CONCLUSION Music may play a significant role in reducing the utilization of PRN agitation medications on acute inpatient psychiatric units. More studies are needed to expand on these findings and explore the effect of PRN music on other therapeutic outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION Protocol registration NCT04514432 , retrospectively registered on 08/13/2020.
Brief for Professor Daniel Epps as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioner, Pon. v. United States

This brief on behalf of Professor Daniel Epps argues that the Supreme Court should grant the petition for certiorari in Pon v. United States as this case presents an excellent opportunity for the Court to clarify the doctrine of harmless constitutional error and provide needed guidance for lower courts. Although this Court established a rule for harmless constitutional errors in Chapman v. California, it has never answered a set of fundamental questions raised by that decision. For example, the Court has never explained what source of law generates the Chapman rule or what its relationship is to the governing federal statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2111. The leading view is that harmless error is part of the law of remedies. Others believe that it is mandated by constitutional due-process guarantees. Amicus’s own theory is that harmless error flows directly from the underlying constitutional rights at issue in an appeal. This larger debate about harmless constitutional error is of more than merely academic interest. Trying to understand harmless error’s foundations is necessary if the Court is to explain how harmless-error analysis should work in practice. If harmless constitutional error is a wholly remedial doctrine, then an approach like the Eleventh Circuit’s—which looks to “overwhelming evidence of guilt”—may well be permissible. But as opinions from jurists ranging from Justice Brennan to Justice Scalia show, powerful intuitions about harmless error contradict the Eleventh Circuit’s approach. Rather than asking about whether a jury in an alternate universe would have convicted the defendant had the error never occurred, courts instead must ask “whether the guilty verdict actually rendered in this trial was surely unattributable to the error.”
Response of the Human Eccrine Sweat Duct to Dermal Injury12

INTRODUCTION In a previous study (1) of injury to human skin wherein the entire epidermis was removed, three major stages of repair of the eccrine sweat duct were identified: A stage of degeneration and a preparation of the environment for the regeneration to follow; A stage of active cell migration and proliferation; A stage of reorganization and orientation.
Evidence against an immune complex pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis.

In an attempt to confirm the presence of immune complexes in the sera of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis, sera of patients with primary biliary cirrhosis were studied with four sensitive radioimmunoassays. Thirty-one sera from 27 patients with well-characterized primary biliary cirrhosis, stages 1–4, were negative for immune complexes using three assays, the monoclonal rheumatoid factor inhibition assay, the C1q binding inhibition assay, and the C1q solid-phase assay. Nine of 31 sera were weakly positive with the C1q binding assay. Attempts at confirming the presence of immune complexes in sera positive in the C1q binding assay were unsuccessful because none of the sera were sufficiently positive for the reactant to be studied after fractionation. The positivity in the C1q binding assay was not due to greater sensitivity of that assay. Two assays used, the monoclonal rheumatoid factor binding inhibition assay and the C1q solid-phase assay, were 2–3 times more sensitive than the C1q binding assay. Neither could the negative results be explained by processing or storage artifacts because immediate assays of freshly drawn sera were also negative. There were no inhibitors of immune complex assays in our primary biliary cirrhosis sera. The addition of primary biliary cirrhosis sera that were negative for immune complexes to lupus serum did not inhibit the detection of immune complexes in lupus serum. To eliminate the likelihood that our negative results were due to some unrecognized methodologic problem in our own laboratory, we sent 25 primary biliary cirrhosis sera to an independent laboratory that used the Raji cell assay. Twenty-two of 25 sera were negative. In addition, at least one-third of the serum reactivity in the three positive sera was due to substances other than immune complexes. The data strongly suggest that circulating immune complexes are not involved in the pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis.
Modal Q as a bounding metric for MIMO antenna optimization

Using characteristic mode theory (CMT), we show that there are limited number of low Q modes supported by an electrically small structure. The minimum Q of each mode of any substructure is observed to be successively bounded by that of the primary structure, implying fundamental limit on multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) antenna bandwidth and providing a metric for antenna shape synthesis.
Keynes, Mathematics and Probability: A Reappraisal

I will argue that when Keynes states that, in general, probabilities are not susceptible to numerical estimation, he is arguing that the probabilities, in general, can’t be represented by single number answers or point estimates. But they can be represented by intervals. Keynes’s general approach to probability is an interval estimate approach.
Worldline techniques for string theory solitons: recoil, annihilation and pair production

We analyze a model of interacting particles and strings described by a path integral with the Dirichlet boundary conditions. Such model is a natural framework to examine the processes involving the center-of-mass motion of string theory D0-branes: recoil, annihilation and pair production. We demonstrate that, within the proposed formalism, the exclusive annihilation/pair-production amplitudes admit a saddle point evaluation. Even though the saddle point equation cannot be solved analytically, it allows to extract valuable information on the coupling constant dependence of the amplitudes. In particular, D0-brane pair production turns out to be suppressed as exp[-O(1/g_{st}^2)], much stronger than the naive expectation exp[-O(1/g_{st})]. All our derivations generalize rather immediately to the case of unstable D0-brane decay. In conclusion, we briefly comment on the possible implications our results may have for the conventional soliton-anti-soliton annihilation.
Evidence of SV40 infections in hospitalized children

Simian virus 40 (SV40) is known to have contaminated poliovirus vaccines used between 1955 and 1963. Accumulating reports have described the presence of SV40 DNA in human tumors and normal tissues, although the significance of human infections by SV40 is unknown. We investigated whether unselected hospitalized children had evidence of SV40 infections and whether any clinical correlations were apparent. Serum samples were examined for SV40 neutralizing antibody using a specific plaque reduction test; of 337 samples tested, 20 (5.9%) had antibody to SV40. Seropositivity increased with age and was significantly associated with kidney transplants (6 of 15 [40%] positive, P < .001). Many of the antibody-positive patients had impaired immune systems. Molecular assays (polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequence analysis) on archival tissue specimens confirmed the presence of SV40 DNA in 4 of the antibody-positive patients. This study, using 2 independent assays, shows the presence of SV40 infections in children born after 1980. We conclude that SV40 causes natural infections in humans.
Just how stable is allograft tolerance

‘Chutes and Ladders’ is a child’s board game in which the player can either approach the finish or be diverted away through a labyrinth of ladders and chutes. In fact, one can approach the final winning square only to land on a chute that sends the frustrated player plummeting down toward the beginning again. In this issue of AJT , a study by Wang et al. illustrates this concept regarding the potentially precarious state of established peripheral allograft tolerance (1). In mouse models, a variety of transient therapeutic interventions can result in long-term allograft acceptance often associated with active, donorspecific regulatory tolerance. In this case, the authors employ a regimen of peri-transplant anti-CD154 antibody plus donor-specific transfusion to achieve putative tolerance. It has become well appreciated that the initial generation of tolerance can be vulnerable to disruption by concomitant pathogen exposure in the host, such as through a viral infection or by experimental agents that activate toll-like receptors serving as molecular sentinels of microbial invasion (2). Such signals promote proinflammatory immunity that can abort the tolerogenic process. Importantly, over time the host generally becomes increasingly resistant to induced rejection of the established graft (3). That is, it is presumed that once the regulatory mechanism(s) is(are) established, the ongoing maintenance of tolerance can resist immune challenge. What makes the study by Wang and colleagues most intriguing is that this group finds that as least one pathogen, Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria), can reverse even the established or maintenance phase of allograft ‘tolerance’ and trigger overt graft rejection (1). Using the ‘Chutes and Ladders’ analogy, the Listeria infection introduces a ‘chute’ that diverts the host from the presumptive ‘finish’ of tolerance back to a state of allograft immunity.
A Bayesian algorithm for vision based navigation of autonomous surface vehicles

This paper presents a visual perception system for an autonomous unmanned surface vehicle (USV). The vision system used is a combination of two primary sensors — a video camera, and a gimbaled planar LID AR system. Fusion between these sensors is used to identify targets and obstacles by both depth and color. A probabilistic color analysis method developed from Bayes Theorem is developed for color based object classification, even in uncertain lighting conditions.
Fitness deficits in long-term ALL survivors

In this issue of Blood, Ness et al report that, despite the omission of prophylactic cranial radiotherapy (CRT) in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), adult survivors of childhood ALL remain at risk for impaired fitness, body composition, and energy balance.
An exploratory application of constraint optimization in mozart to probabilistic natural language processing

This paper describes an exploratory implementation in Mozart applying constraint optimization to basic subproblems of parsing and generation. Optimization is performed on the probability of a sentence using a dependency-style syntactic representation, which is computed using an adaptation of the English Penn Treebank as data. The same program solves both parsing and generation subproblems, providing the flexibility of a general architecture combined with practical efficiency. We show results on a sample sentence that is a classic in natural language processing.
World Picture, Anthropological Frame: DISTINGUISHED LECTURE—1976

This is the text of the seventh Distinguished Lecture of the American Anthropological Association, presented at its 75th Anniversary Meeting in Washington, D.C., November 1976. The Lectureship was established in 1969 to honor outstanding scholars in the profession and the lecture is now published each year in the American Anthropologist. Adams is an archaeologist and comparative anthropologist whose research interests have centered on the ecologically oriented study of prehistoric patterns of land use, settlement, and urbanization. His fieldwork has been in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. He has served on the faculty of the University of Chicago since 1955, receiving his Ph.D. there in 1956. Besides appointments in the departments of Anthropology and Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, he has been Director of the Oriental Institute and Dean of the Division of Social Sciences at Chicago. He was Chairman of the Division of Behavioral Sciences of the National Research Council and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Adams' major publications include City Invincible (coeditor, 1960), Land Behind Baghdad (1965), The Evolution of Urban Society (1966, the Lewis Henry Morgan Lectures), and The Uruk Countryside (1972, with Hans J. Nissen).
Isolation and Characterization of the Murine Homolog of the Human EXT2 Multiple Exostoses Gene

Abstract Multiple exostoses is a polygenic disease of bone formation and development characterized by the presence of cartilage-capped osseous projections emanating from the end of the long bones. Two members of a recently defined multigene family of proteins (EXT1 and 2) were shown to be involved in this disease. To investigate the evolutionary relatedness of EXT genes across species we isolated the mouse EXT2 cDNA. As in the human counterpart, the mouse EXT2 cDNA contains an open reading frame of 2154 bp encoding a predicted protein of 718 amino acids. The nucleic acid sequence is 87% identical to the human EXT2 transcript, resulting in an amino acid sequence which is 95% identical to the human protein. The mouse EXT2 gene also shows significant sequence similarity to the mouse and human EXT1 gene. Northern blot analysis shows that this gene is expressed in early stages of embryonic development, and in situ hybridizations suggest that EXT2 plays a role in limb development. The identification of the mouse EXT2 gene will allow functional analysis through insertional inactivation and reverse genetics in mice in order to better understand the formation of exostoses during bone formation.
Pneumonitis in Syrian golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) infected with Río Mamoré virus (family Bunyaviridae, genus Hantavirus)

Rio Mamore virus is an etiological agent of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in South America. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Rio Mamore virus strain HTN-007 in Syrian golden hamsters is pathogenic. None of 37 adult hamsters infected by intramuscular injection of HTN-007, including 10 animals killed on Day 42 or 43 post-inoculation, exhibited any symptom of disease. Histological abnormalities included severe or moderately severe pneumonitis in 6 (46.2%) of the 13 animals killed on Day 7 or 10 post-inoculation. The primary target of infection in lung was the endothelium of the microvasculature. Collectively, these results indicate that Rio Mamore virus strain HTN-007 in adult Syrian golden hamsters can cause a nonlethal disease that is pathologically similar to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome.
Nonlocal orbital-free kinetic energy density functional for semiconductors

We propose a nonlocal kinetic energy density functional (KEDF) for semiconductors based on the expected asymptotic behavior of its susceptibility function. The KEDF's kernel depends on both the electron density and the reduced density gradient, with an internal parameter formally related to the material's static dielectric constant. We determine the accuracy of the KEDF within orbital-free density functional theory (DFT) by applying it to a variety of common semiconductors. With only two adjustable parameters, the KEDF reproduces quite well the exact noninteracting KEDF (i.e., Kohn-Sham DFT) predictions of bulk moduli, equilibrium volumes, and equilibrium energies. The two parameters in our KEDF are sensitive primarily to changes in the local crystal structure (such as atomic coordination number) and exhibit good transferability between different tetrahedrally-bonded phases. This local crystal structure dependence is rationalized by considering Thomas-Fermi dielectric screening theory.
Enzymatic browning in Atlantic potatoes and related cultivars

The extent of enzymatic browning at cut surfaces of Atlantic potato, its siblings and parents, and Russet Burbankwas investigated. Browning, measured by tristimulus colorimety, was compared with cultivar variation in polyphenol oxidase (PPO), PPO substrates, and ascorbic acid. Atlantic potato was much less subject to browning at cut and peeled surfaces than Russet Burbank. Browning in Atlantic potato could be almost eliminated by dipping in water. Belchip and Chipbelle (siblings) and Wauseon and Lenape (parents) were similar to Atlantic potato in browning behavior. The tendency to brown in these cultivars and Russet Burbank was correlated with total phenolic compounds, tyrosine, and to a lesser extent, PPO activity.
Optimal fuzzy counterparts of scheduling rules

The optimality of a fuzzy logic alternative to the usual treatment of uncertainties in a scheduling system using probability theory is examined formally. Fuzzy scheduling techniques proposed in the literature either fuzzify directly the existing scheduling rules, or solve mathematical programming problems to determine the optimal schedules. In the former method, the fuzzy optimality for the optimal scheduling rules is usually not justified but still assumed. In this paper, the necessary conditions for fuzzy optimality are defined, and fuzzy counterparts of some of the well-known scheduling rules such as shortest processing time (SPT) and earliest due date (EDD) are developed.
Let a Thousand Flowers Bloom? An Early Look at Large Numbers of Software 'Apps' Developers and Patterns of Innovation

It is often presumed that bringing more members on board a multi-sided platform will stimulate value creation. Here I study the thousands of software producers building applications (“apps”) on leading handheld computer platforms (1999-2004). Consistent with past theory, I find a lock-step link between numbers of producers and varieties of software titles. The narrow, unchanging scope of producers and a series of other patterns are consistent with a pronounced role of specialization and heterogeneity of producers. I also find that while adding producers making different types of software stimulated investment incentives, consistent with network effects, adding producers making similar software crowded-out innovation incentives. The latter of these two effects dominates in this context. The patterns also indicate non-random generation and sorting of producers onto platforms, with later cohorts generating systematically less compelling software than earlier cohorts of entrants. Overall, added producers led innovation to become more dependent on population-level diversity, variation and experimentation - while drawing less on the heroic efforts and investments of any one individual innovator.
Matched analysis of nonoperative management vs immediate appendectomy for perforated appendicitis.

Abstract Background The role of nonoperative therapy vs immediate appendectomy in the management of children with perforated appendicitis remains undefined. The objective of this study was to rigorously compare these management options in groups of patients with matched clinical characteristics. Methods Multicenter case-control study was conducted from 1998 to 2003. We compared patients treated nonoperatively vs those undergoing appendectomy to identify differences in 12 clinical parameters. We then generated a second control group of patients matched for these variables and compared the following outcomes in these clinically similar groups: complication rate, abscess rate, and length of stay (LOS). Analysis was performed according to intention-to-treat principles, using χ 2 , Fisher exact, and Student t tests. Results The only significant difference between patients treated nonoperatively and those treated by appendectomy was the duration of pain on presentation (6.8 vs 3.1 days of pain).We created a second control group of patients undergoing immediate appendectomy matched on duration of pain on presentation to patients treated nonoperatively. These groups continued to be clinically comparable for the other 11 parameters. Compared to this matched control group, the nonoperative group had fewer complications (19% vs 43%, P P P = .08). Conclusions When nonoperative management for perforated appendicitis was studied using appropriately matched clinical controls, we found that it resulted in a lower complication rate and shorter LOS in the subset of patients presenting with a long duration of pain. Our data suggest that nonoperative management should be prospectively evaluated in children with perforated appendicitis presenting with a history of pain exceeding 5 days.
Rendezvous targeting and navigation for a translunar halo orbit

Two-spacecraft terminal-phase rendezvous targeting and navigation are examined for the circular restricted three-body problem. A targeting law and navigation filter are developed assuming the traditional passive targetactive chaser vehicle relationship. The targeting law is demonstrated using a small-radius translunar halo orbit and ideal navigation; the three-body terminal-phase rendezvous problem is then further characterized and contrasted with the two-body problem. Nonlinear simulation results validate the navigation filter design and provide data to assess the filter performance. To demonstrate the entire guidance and navigation system, two profiles for terminalphase rendezvous were considered in a planar circular orbit and two equivalent profiles in an % guided halo orbit.
Rudderless as Mentors: The Challenge of Teachers as Mentors

Mentors are taking increasingly significant roles in preservice teachers' preparation. Because mentoring is complex and research is evolving and sometimes contradictory, the questions guiding this ...
Acute pain management efficiency improves with point-of-care handheld electronic billing system.

BACKGROUND: Technology advances continue to impact patient care and physician workflow. To enable more efficient performance of billing activities, a point-of-care (POC) handheld computer technology replaced a paper-based system on an acute pain management service. METHODS: Using a handheld personal digital assistant (PDA) and software from MDeverywhere (MDe, MDeverywhere, Long Island, NY), we performed a 1-yr prospective observational study of an anesthesiology acute pain management service billings and collections. Seventeen anesthesiologists providing billable acute pain services were trained and entered their charges on a PDA. Twelve months of data, just before electronic implementation (pre-elec), were compared to a 12-m period after implementation (post-elec). RESULTS: The total charges were 4883 for 890 patients pre-elec and 5368 for 1128 patients post-elec. With adoption of handheld billing, the charge lag days decreased from 29.3 to 7.0 (P < 0.001). The days in accounts receivable trended downward from 59.9 to 51.1 (P = 0.031). The average number of charge lag days decreased significantly with month (P = 0.0002). The net collection rate increased from 37.4% pre-elec to 40.3% post-elec (P < 0.001). The return on investment was 1.18 fold (118%). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of POC electronic billing using PDAs to replace a paper-based billing system improved the collection rate and decreased the number of charge lag days with a positive return on investment. The handheld PDA billing system provided POC support for physicians during their daily clinical (e.g., patient locations, rounding lists) and billing activities, improving workflow.
The NMR blood flowmeter--applications.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) permits the noninvasive measurement of blood flow signals unimpaired by clothes, bandages, casts, etc. The cylindrical crossed‐coil NMR blood flowmeter was used to measureblood flow through a cross‐section of the human forearm. Two calibration procedures are described: one for pulsatile flows and the other for flows with a high non‐pulsatile component. Flow measurements from normal arms, from limbs with arterial obstruction, arteriovenous hemodialysis fistulas or other conditions are reported. An application of the flow scanning technique for separation of flow signals from individual arteries (e.g., ulnar and radial) is described. The flat crossed‐coil NMR flowmeter was applied to detect blood flow from individual arteries (e.g., brachial, popliteal, etc.). Applications of a ranging technique developed to detect signals at predetermined depths are described.