cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Uncertainty Quantification for Small Robots Using Principal Orthogonal Decomposition

The paper reports on a new data-driven methodology for uncertainty quantification in centimeter-scale robots. We employ tools from functional expansion-based methods, the Karhunen-Loeve (KL) decomposition in particular, to identify appropriate reduced-order models of robotic systems through empirical observations, and discover underlying dominant dynamical behaviors of a system in the presence of uncertainty. The approach is applied to a quadrotor aerial vehicle tasked to hover at various heights from the ground. Several experimental data sets are collected to extract dominant modes. First-order modes correctly capture expected behaviors of the system, while higher-order modes quantify the degree of uncertainty at different hovering conditions. The information provided by this model can be used to develop robust controllers in the face of aerodynamic disturbances and unmodeled nonlinearities.
Harnessing Peer Support in an Online Intervention for Older Adults with Depression.

Objective This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and efficacy of two methods of delivering a cognitive behaviorally informed Internet intervention for depression for adults 65 years and older. Methods Forty-seven participants were enrolled and assigned to receive one of two versions of the Internet intervention, either delivered individually (III) or with peer support (II+PS), or to a wait list control group (WLC). Primary outcomes included change in depressive symptoms from baseline to post-intervention (week 8), site use, self-reported usability, and coach time. Secondary outcomes included measures of social support and isolation and anxiety. Results Follow-up data were provided by 85.1% (40 of 47) of enrolled participants. There were significant differences in depression change across groups (F (2,37) = 3.81, p = 0.03). Greater reductions in depressive symptoms were found for the III (p = 0.02) and II+PS (p = 0.03) compared with WLC, and significantly less coach time was required in the II+PS (p = 0.003). Conclusions These results highlight the potential of cognitive-behaviorally informed Internet interventions for older adults with depression, and indicate that peer-supported programs are both acceptable and equivalent to individually delivered Internet interventions. Including peer support may be a viable and potentially more cost-effective option for disseminating online treatments for depression for older adults.
The Role of Cell Adhesion During Gastrulation in The Sea Urchin

For those who are interested in morphogenetic movements, the gastrula has long been a favorite embryonic stage for study. Gastrulation occurs early in morphogenesis so that the movements are rather simple to describe, though even then the descriptions can be long and detailed [Gustafson and Wolpert 1967; Gerhart and Keller 1986]. The general wisdom has been that since gastrulation is a time when there are relatively few cell types in the embryo, one ought to be able to explain how various morphogenetic movements occur in the emergence of pattern. Often there is an attempt to simplify, though in actuality, simplicity need not be a component of any movement. In fact, if one begins to study a single morphogenetic movement in some detail, that movement begins to appear more and more complicated, especially when one considers gene expression, changing adhesions, shifting cell positions, cell motility, net directionality of cell movements, etc. The morphogenetic event soon becomes bewilderingly complicated. And if one then projects to the complex anatomy that eventually carries the organism through its somatic lifetime, the complexity seems even more impressive. Yet at the same time we are persuaded that there must be some simplicity in the rules that govern pattern because, to use the same argument that led immunologists to look for simplicity in the immunoglobulin gene, there is not enough genomic space for each cell to be given its own complete set of instructions that are qualitatively different from those of any other cell.
Public sentiment and discourse about Zika virus on Instagram.

Abstract Objective Social media have strongly influenced the awareness and perceptions of public health emergencies, and a considerable amount of social media content is now shared through images, rather than text alone. This content can impact preparedness and response due to the popularity and real-time nature of social media platforms. We sought to explore how the image-sharing platform Instagram is used for information dissemination and conversation during the current Zika outbreak. Study design This was a retrospective review of publicly posted images about Zika on Instagram. Methods Using the keyword ‘#zika’ we identified 500 images posted on Instagram from May to August 2016. Images were coded by three reviewers and contextual information was collected for each image about sentiment, image type, content, audience, geography, reliability, and engagement. Results Of 500 images tagged with #zika, 342 (68%) contained content actually related to Zika. Of the 342 Zika-specific images, 299 were coded as ‘health’ and 193 were coded ‘public interest’. Some images had multiple ‘health’ and ‘public interest’ codes. Health images tagged with #zika were primarily related to transmission (43%, 129/299) and prevention (48%, 145/299). Transmission-related posts were more often mosquito-human transmission (73%, 94/129) than human–human transmission (27%, 35/129). Mosquito bite prevention posts outnumbered safe sex prevention; (84%, 122/145) and (16%, 23/145) respectively. Images with a target audience were primarily aimed at women (95%, 36/38). Many posts (60%, 61/101) included misleading, incomplete, or unclear information about the virus. Additionally, many images expressed fear and negative sentiment, (79/156, 51%). Conclusion Instagram can be used to characterize public sentiment and highlight areas of focus for public health, such as correcting misleading or incomplete information or expanding messages to reach diverse audiences.
PBUS: Efficient User Selection for Block Diagonalization in Dense Wireless Networks

To mitigate the co-channel interference across adjacent access points (APs) and break the performance bottleneck in dense wireless networks, multiple APs are expected to share the channel state information and cooperatively process the user signals. While the inter-user interference can be eliminated using Block Diagonalization (BD) precoding technique, the number of simultaneous users is limited by the total number of transmit antennas. In this paper, we propose a novel pairing-and-binary-tree-based user selection algorithm (PBUS) to address the user selection issue for multi-user MIMO in dense environments. With the fitness metric evaluated for each pair of users, a binary tree is constructed to store multiple candidate user groups. The best user group is then selected from these candidates. PBUS can achieve both good sum-rate performance and low computational complexity, and also has the flexibility to trade off sum-rate performance and computational complexity.
Beyond Black and White: Metropolitan residential segregation in multi-ethnic America

Abstract Whether greater racial and ethnic diversity in the United States is being accompanied by greater integration remains unclear. This analysis examines segregation in the multi-ethnic context over the 1980–2000 period by using the multi-race information theory index (H), which simultaneously takes the presence of many groups into account, and by also looking at the segregation of each group separately. Results indicate that segregation has been decreasing, mainly due to declines in African American segregation and White segregation with little change or slight increases in Asian and Hispanic segregation. Growing diversity was associated with increases in overall segregation, White segregation, Hispanic segregation, and Asian segregation, though strongly associated with declines in Black segregation. For Hispanics and Asians, it was the growth in Hispanic and Asian and Pacific Islander populations, respectively, that were associated with increases in segregation, suggesting that this population growth likely buttressed ethnic enclaves.
Centrosome Positioning in Dictyostelium: Moving beyond Microtubule Tip Dynamics

The variability in centrosome size, shape, and activity among different organisms provides an opportunity to understand both conserved and specialized actions of this intriguing organelle. Centrosomes in the model organism Dictyostelium sp. share some features with fungal systems and some with vertebrate cell lines and thus provide a particularly useful context to study their dynamics. We discuss two aspects, centrosome positioning in cells and their interactions with nuclei during division as a means to highlight evolutionary modifications to machinery that provide the most basic of cellular services.
Cultural treatments affect growth, volume, and survival of sweetgum sycamore and loblolly pine

At 5 year old, disc cultivation between planted trees at 6 upland locations in the coastal plain of southeastern USA produced a significant height increase for Platanus occidentalis, Liquidambar styraciflua and Pinus taeda compared to trees grown on wheared (felled) and burned plots, without cultivation, and was essential for adequate survival of the broadleaves. In P. taeda, with cultivation, volume index (dbh/sup 2/ x height) was significantly larger, and fusiform rust (Cronartium fusiforme) incidence was 1.5 to 3 times greater, than on uncultivated plots.
Audio-Visual Speech Perception Without Speech Cues: A First Report

A primary objective of a theory of audio-visual speech perception is to describe the process of audio-visual integration and the form of the auditory and visual streams of information. An experiment was conducted in which listeners were presented with audio-visual sentences in a transcription task. The visual components of the stimuli consisted of a face of a male talker. The acoustic components of the audio-visual stimuli consisted of: (1) natural speech (2) envelope-shaped noise which preserved the duration and amplitude of the original speech waveform and (3) various types of sinewave speech signals which preserved different aspects of the time-varying spectrum of the original speech signals. Sinewave speech is a skeletonized version of a natural utterance which contains frequency and amplitude variation of the formants, but lacks any fine-grained acoustic structure of speech. When all three formants are represented in this form (T1+T2+T3) and listeners are told they are listening to speech, the intelligibility of sentences is relatively high (above 75%) (Remez, Rubin, Pisoni, & Carrell 1981). However, when listeners are presented with only single tones (Ti, T2, or T3) performance falls to almost zero. Preliminary results reported here indicate that intelligibility of sine-wave sentences is greatly increased when visual information is combined with the auditory signal. We predicted that the increase in intelligibility for the sinewave speech with an added video display would be greater than the gain observed with the envelope-shaped noise. This prediction is based on the assumption that the phonetic properties of spoken utterances are retained in the audio-visual stream of the sine-wave condition. The results demonstrate that visual information significantly increases the intelligibility of the tonal analog of the second formant, but not the tonal analog of the first formant or the bit-flipped noise. Suggesting that the information contained in the tone 2 analog is useful for audio-visual integration. Thus, the dynamic time-varying properties of the vocal tract transfer function that are encoded in both the optical and acoustic signals play an important role in speech intelligibility, and therefore need to be incorporated in theoretical accounts of audio-visual speech perception.
Rural Homicide in Europe: A Review of the Literature

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the literature on rural homicide in Europe. Given the scarcity of this literature, it is supplemented with research on rural violence. Data sources include contemporary descriptive and theoretical articles and books on rural homicide and violence in European countries. More general literature on European homicide and violence will be incorporated when rural–urban comparisons are provided. The chapter will begin with a brief historical account of rural homicide in Europe, followed by a comparison of rural and urban homicide trends. Finally, the majority of the chapter will consist of a summary of the contemporary rural homicide and violence literature. The focus of this chapter is on clarifying the current state of rural homicide research in Europe by summarizing the main ideas and findings in this literature.
The effect of amantadine on mouse hepatitis virus replication

Amantadine has been known to be a potent inhibitor of influenza A virus infection for many years (1). Although amantadine’s antiviral effect on many other viruses is much less potent that observed for influenza A, it does have a fairly broad antiviral spectrum (2,3). The extreme sensitivity of influenza A virus to the drug has been shown by genetic and molecular biologic studies to reside with the M2 protein. Amantadine interacts with M2 and inhibits its ability to function as a pH-gated ion channel, and thus appears to interfere with a step in influenza virus uncoating and assembly (4–6). Amantadine exerts its more broad-spectrum antiviral effects by virtue of its lysomotropic properties. The drug accumulates in endocytic vesicles, raises their pH, and thus interferes with the ability of viruses requiring low pH to complete uncoating and penetration from entering the cytosol (2,3).
Duxbling Stem Cells Meet Tumorigenesis

Identification of tumor-initiating populations could provide insights into tumor heterogeneity and responses to treatments, but this has proven difficult in most cancers. Now in Cell Stem Cell, Preussner et al. (2018) provide direct evidence that regenerating muscle satellite cells can be transformed to initiate and propagate rhabdomyosarcoma tumors.
A changed perspective concerning asymptotically flat Einstein/Einstein-Maxwell space-times

Approximately 60 years ago, Herman Bondi took the major step in the study of gravitational radiation of introducing the use of null surfaces as coordinates for the study and integration of the Einstein equations. This led to the well-known Bondi mass loss theorem, the basis of the recent observation by the Ligo team of gravitational radiation. In Bondi’s approach to the integration procedure, he used special null surfaces (now referred to as Bondi null surfaces) where the null generators possessed (in general) non-vanishing asymptotic shear—the free radiation data. The use of this Bondi strategy over the years has become almost sacrosanct—being the central approach in almost all discussions of gravitational radiation issues. It led to the idea of an asymptotic symmetry—the BMS group. Eventually Bondi’s description of null infinity became elegantly formalized via Penrose’s future null infinity and associated structures. However recently an alternative picture of null infinity has been developed—now based on the similarity of the null surfaces to those of flat-space near null infinity. The new null surfaces, that are now asymptotically shear-free, are very different from the Bondi surfaces. These surfaces are as similar as possible to flat-space light cones near infinity. Totally new structures—e.g., the geometric asymptotically shear-free null geodesic congruences and even the physical classical equations of motion, now appear in this new picture. The Bondi–Sachs energy–momentum conservations laws remain but are augmented by angular momentum (orbital and spin) conservation laws. The BMS group again reappears, not as an asymptotic symmetry group, but as a transformation group acting on these new structures. An unanswered question arises: with this new point of view, have we lost the asymptotic symmetries of the BMS group?
Equilibrium and Disequilibrium Growth: a Comment on a Comment

An old cartoon by James Thurber shows one of his overpowering women, evidently an actress, sitting down next to one of his mousy men, and saying: “Now let’s talk about you. What did you think of my performance?” With that lesson in mind, my favorite way to pay tribute to an old friend like Eli Schwartz on occasions like this is to reread one of his works and try to hold up my end of an imaginary conversation. What came readily to hand was his 1993 book Theory and Application of the Interest Rate. The tone of this book is distinctive. The mainstream theoretical core is always evident, but the text is full of practical advice and numerical examples. I will try to keep with that way of proceeding. The part of the book where I thought I might have something to add is the final Chapter 10 on “Growth, Profits and the Interest Rate.” (From now on I will refer to the author, rather artificially, as “ES.” The natural “Eli” is too informal for print, and the conventional “Schwartz” is impossibly formal.)
Paper Folding and Convergent Sequences

THERE are many well-known phys ical representations of convergent se quences. A standard example is to traverse the length of a room by walking half the remaining distance each time a "step" is taken. One sequence corresponding to this model (0, y2, %, %, i^e, . . .) has 1 as its obvious limit. There is a sequence (see table 1) that also has a simple and interesting physical model but whose limit is not so obvious. And precisely because of these facts, the sequence and its physical representation can be used as the basis and motivation for several interesting lessons. The physical model requires the student (or the teacher) to fold a strip of paper according to the directions given in the next section. One lesson that can be based on this exercise involves discovery of a mathematical description of the resulting sequence and finding the limit of this sequence. This is done in the section called "Mathematical Description of the Se quence." In the last section, "Other Re lated Lessons," some other lessons that can be built around the physical model are suggested.
Relaxation of one-dimensional collisionless gravitating systems

In an effort to better understand collisionless relaxation processes in gravitational systems, we investigate one-dimensional models. Taking advantage of a Hermite-Legendre expansion of relevant distribution functions, we present analytical and numerical behaviors of Maxwell-Boltzmann entropy. In particular, we modestly perturb systems about a separable-solution equilibrium and observe their collisionless evolution to a steady state. We verify the time-independence of fine-grained entropy in these systems before turning our attention to the behavior of coarse-grained entropy. We also verify that there is no analogue to the collisional H-theorem for these systems. Competing terms in the second-order coarse-grained entropy make it impossible to guarantee continuously increasing entropy. However, over dynamical time-scales the coarse-grained entropy generally increases, with small oscillations occurring. The lack of substantive differences between the entropies in test-particle and self-gravitating cases suggests that phase mixing, rather than violent relaxation associated with potential changes, more significantly drives the coarse-grained entropy evolution. The effects of violent relaxation can be better quantified through analysis of energy distributions rather than phase-space distributions.
An Undergraduate Research Project Utilizing CRISPR-Cas9 Gene Editing Technology to Study Gene Function in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system functions in microbial viral pathogen recognition pathways by identifying and targeting foreign DNA for degradation. Recently, biotechnological advances have allowed scientists to use CRISPR-Cas9-based elements as a molecular tool to selectively modify DNA in a wide variety of other living systems. Given the emerging need to bring engaging CRISPR-Cas9 laboratory experiences to an undergraduate audience, we incorporated a CRISPR-based research project into our Genetics class laboratories, emphasizing its use in plants. Our genetic manipulations were designed for Arabidopsis thaliana, which despite serving as a plant research model, has traditionally been difficult to use in a classroom setting. For this project, students transformed plasmid DNA containing the essential CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing elements into A. thaliana. Expression of these elements in the plant genome was expected to create a deletion at one of six targeted genes. The genes we chose had a known seedling and/or juvenile loss-of-function phenotype, which made genetic analysis by students with a limited background possible. It also allowed the project to reach completion in a typical undergraduate semester timeframe. Assessment efforts demonstrated several learning gains, including students’ understanding of CRISPR-Cas9 content, their ability to apply CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tools using bioinformatics and genetics, their ability to employ elements of experimental design, and improved science communication skills. They also felt a stronger connection to their scientific education and were more likely to continue on a STEM career path. Overall, this project can be used to introduce CRISPR-Cas9 technology to undergraduates using plants in a single-semester laboratory course.
Mortality, Morbidity, and Costs After Implementation of a Vasopressin Guideline in Medical Intensive Care Patients With Septic Shock: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis:

Background: Vasopressin decreases vasopressor requirements in patients with septic shock. However, the optimal norepinephrine dose for initiation or cessation of vasopressin is unclear. Objective: Analyze monthly intensive care unit (ICU) mortality rates 1 year preimplementation and postimplementation of a guideline suggesting a norepinephrine dose of 50 µg/min or more for initiation of vasopressin and early cessation of vasopressin. Methods: This retrospective quasi-experimental study included adult patients with septic shock admitted to the medical ICU of a tertiary care medical center over 2 years. Time periods were evaluated with interrupted time series analysis. Results: A total of 1148 patients were included: 573 patients preguideline and 575 patients postguideline. Group characteristics were well balanced at baseline, except patients postguideline had higher sequential organ failure assessment scores. Postguideline, fewer patients were initiated on vasopressin (305 [53.2%] vs 217 [37.7%], absolute difference -15.5% [95% CI -21.2% to -9.8%]), and the norepinephrine dose at vasopressin initiation was higher (median 25 [interquartile range 18, 40] µg/min vs 40 [22, 52] µg/min; median difference 15 [95% CI 11 to 19] µg/min; P < 0.01). After guideline implementation, there was no evidence for a difference in ICU mortality rate slope (slope change 0.07% [95% CI -0.8% to 1.0%] per month; P 0.87), but the vasoactive cost level decreased by US$183 (95% CI -US$327 to -US$39) per patient immediately after implementation. Conclusion and Relevance: Implementation of a guideline suggesting a high norepinephrine dose threshold for vasopressin initiation and early vasopressin cessation in patients with septic shock appears to be safe and may decrease vasoactive costs.
In Defense of Excellence

While Anthony Kronman’s The Assault on American Excellence certainly has many rich veins to mine, this Review aims to tap only those central to his observations on how academic excellence has gradually lost its reign in colleges and universities. The Introduction situates the Book among his earlier scholarship and other scholars’ work. To better understand his vantage point, Part I contextualizes the Book with Kronman’s intellectual journey and the historical development of diversity. Part II discusses the Book in detail, beginning with Kronman’s argument for the pursuit of excellence followed by his identification of the three anti-excellence movements, and critically engages the Book with arguments/counterarguments that it could have, should have, but did not cover. The Review briefly concludes with an ex ante view on the future of excellence and intellectual diversity. Conclusion: What has remained constant throughout Kronman’s more than five decades in academia is admittedly his unwavering belief that colleges and universities are not political institutions due to their different values and expectations, and that their work is not the pursuit of politics. In addition, the known constant in life is change. For example, the foundation of all progress depends on change. Higher education bears no exception—if Sisyphus were a scholar, his field would be higher education. Even the purpose of colleges and universities has changed. Yesterday’s pursuit of excellence has become today’s pursuit of egalitarianism. To extrapolate, today’s minority—including Kronman—that still fiercely defends intellectual diversity may inevitably become tomorrow’s majority again. For instance, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor writing for the majority in Grutter v. Bollinger expected no further need of using racial preferences in affirmative action programs by 2028. After the dust of retributive social justice settles, we may someday—perhaps necessarily—have affirmative action programs for intellectual diversity.
Organizational commitment among physicians: A systematic literature review.

PurposePhysicians work increasingly in larger organizations across different health care delivery systems. This systematic review examines the published empirical literature on organizational commi...
The Long-Term Biological and Clinical Consequences of Child Abuse and Neglect

Abstract There is strong evidence that childhood maltreatment has significant long-term mental health consequences, and these adverse childhood experiences have resulted in a serious public health crisis. Though they are highly prevalent, these early life stress (ELS) events contribute substantially to the risk of a variety of psychiatric and medical disorders including mood disorders, substance use, anxiety, suicidality, and common medical comorbidities such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The consensus of most studies show that childhood maltreatment is associated with a higher incidence, worsened course, and poorer treatment response to both psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. Multiple genetic polymorphisms interact to increase risk for these disorders, increasing the likelihood of long-term consequence when children are exposed to the stressful events. Numerous animal studies report long lasting neurobiological consequences of ELS to include alterations in endocrine regulation and neural development. Substantial research supports that childhood maltreatment leads to elevated inflammatory markers in later life, and that these elevated biomarkers contribute toward the risk of inflammatory-linked disorders including autoimmune diseases, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, GI disorders, as well as other medical conditions. Imaging studies demonstrate persistent structural brain changes after individuals suffered physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Many studies point toward epigenetic mechanisms causing heritable changes in gene expression as a causative mechanism by which ELS may influence gene expression. Other studies document advanced cellular aging in the form of shortened telomere length as another mechanism by which psychological stress and trauma contribute to both medical and psychiatric disorders. In this review, we examine the expanding body of research on the long-term biological and clinical consequences of child maltreatment, and the need for public health efforts to work toward reducing the incidence of this abuse, and the consequent lifelong morbidity it creates.
The Safety Profile of Liposomal Bupivacaine Use in Septorhinoplasty.

Objective: To evaluate the safety profile, including adverse drug reactions and operative complications, of liposomal bupivacaine (LB) use for local anesthesia during functional septorhinoplasty. S...
GeneCup: mine PubMed for gene relationships using custom ontology and deep learning

Interpreting and integrating results from omics studies typically requires a comprehensive and time consuming survey of extant literature. Here, we introduce GeneCup, an easy to use literature mining web service that searches all PubMed abstracts for user-provided gene symbols in conjunction with a set of custom keywords organized into a customized ontology, as well as results from human genome-wide association studies (GWAS). As an example, we organized over 300 keywords related to drug addiction into seven categories. The literature search is conducted by querying the NIH PubMed server using a programming interface, which is followed by retrieving abstracts from a local copy of the PubMed archive. The main results presented to the user are individual sentences containing the gene symbol, organized by the keywords they also contain. These sentences are presented through an interactive graphical interface or as tables. GWAS results are displayed using a similar method. All results are linked to the original abstract in PubMed. In addition, a convolutional neural network is employed to distinguish sentences describing systemic stress from those describing cellular stress. The automated and comprehensive search strategy provided by GeneCup facilitates the integration of new discoveries from omic studies with existing literature. GeneCup is free and open source software. The source code of GeneCup and the link to a running instance is available at https://github.com/hakangunturkun/GeneCup
Direct Measurement of Magnetic Timing Jitter in Writers

Non-repeatable positioning of transitions in the media (jitter) is one of the primary limiting factors in achieving higher linear density in magnetic recording. In a typical magnetic recording system, the primary sources of jitter are due to the finite grain size and the switching field distribution of the grains in the media. These contributions to jitter are generally referred to as the "written-in" contributions [1] . However, if the system that delivers the write field to the media itself has jitter, as all real-world systems will, then this "timing jitter" will also contribute to the total written-in jitter.
Experimental Demonstration of Trans-skull Volumetric Passive Acoustic Mapping with the Heterogeneous Angular Spectrum Approach.

Real-time, three-dimensional (3D), passive acoustic mapping (PAM) of microbubble dynamics during transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS) is essential for optimal treatment outcomes. The angular spectrum approach (ASA) potentially offers a very efficient method to perform PAM, as it can reconstruct specific frequency bands pertinent to microbubble dynamics and may be extended to correct aberrations caused by the skull. Here we assesses experimentally the abilities of heterogeneous ASA (HASA) to perform trans-skull PAM. Our experimental investigations demonstrate that the 3D PAMs of a known 1MHz source, constructed with HASA through an ex vivo human skull segment, reduced both the localization error (from 4.7±2.3mm to 2.3±1.6mm) and the number, size, and energy of spurious lobes caused by aberration, with modest additional computational expense. While further improvements in the localization errors are expected with arrays with denser elements and larger aperture, our analysis revealed that experimental constraints associated with the array pitch and aperture (here 1.8mm and 2.5 cm, respectively) can be ameliorated by interpolation and peak finding techniques. Beyond the array characteristics, our analysis also indicated that errors in the registration (translation and rotation of ±5mm and ±5°, respectively) of the skull segment to the array can led to peak localization errors of the order of a few wavelengths. Interestingly, errors in the spatially dependent speed of sound in the skull (±20%) caused only sub-wavelength errors in the reconstructions, suggesting that registration is the most important determinant of point source localization accuracy. Collectively, our findings show that HASA can address source localization problems through the skull efficiently and accurately under realistic conditions, thereby creating unique opportunities for imaging and controlling the microbubble dynamics in the brain.
Alkane cracking reactions in zeolites with coadsorbed metal halides

HY which is loaded with SbF5, BCl3, or BF3 at low coverages, one metal halide molecule per Bronsted acid site, is shown to be active in the isomerization and cracking of n-hexane and n-butane at room temperature. In contrast, NaY with the same metal halide loading shows greatly reduced activity under identical reaction conditions. The cracking reaction was repeated with DY in place of HY, demonstrating deuterium incorporation into the hexane isomer and light alkane products through interaction with the Bronsted site. Flow reactor studies demonstrate that the conversion is not constant as a function of time on stream, going through an induction period, reaching a maximum, at around 400 s, and then decaying to ~1% after 1 h.
Discussion on Laboratory Shear Devices

This discussion starts with a general assessment of the capabilities of several types of laboratory shear devices and their corresponding suitability for use in specialized design practice and for basic research into the constitutive stress-strain-strength relationships of soils. It then focuses in greater depth on two specific topics: use of the Geonor Direct Simple Shear (DSS) device for design practice involving soft clays, and experimental requirements needed to reliably measure stress-strain-strength behavior in cross anisotropic soils.
X-Ray Reflectivity Studies of Au Surfaces

We briefly review the results of x-ray scattering studies of the Au(001) surface between 300 K and the bulk melting temperature Tm = 1337 K. The specular reflectivities of the Au(001), (110), and (111) surfaces obtained at 300 K are compared.
Parasitic spiral arrays

The radiation pattern of an array of circularly polarized elements can be scanned by a mechanical rotation of the elements since the element phase is a function of orientation. This principle has been used in the design of two different arrays of Archimedean spirals, one a "parasitic lens array" and the other a "parasitic reflector array." The lens consists of two arrays of spirals mounted on opposite sides of a conducting plane, each spiral on one side being connected by a transmission line to a corresponding spiral on the opposite side. A feed horn is used to illuminate one of the arrays; the energy received by this array passes through the ground plane via the transmission lines and is reradiated by the spirals on the far side. If the elements are rotated to particular orientations, the incident spherical wave can be focussed, and further, the beam can be scanned if the spirals are rotated properly. The spiral reflector is a single array (using no transmission lines) mounted above a ground plane and, like the lens, is illuminated by a feed horn. It has the same focussing and scanning properties as the lens. Neither array is limited to circular polarization. With a combination of right- and left-hand elements, linear polarization can be used. Twenty-element lenses (2 by 10) and one hundred element reflectors (10 by 10) have been built and the results have verified the predicted performance.
A Review of “Sustainable Transportation: Problems and Solutions”

Many of society's most pressing challenges, such as the acceleration of climate change, geopolitical instability in parts of the world, and questions regarding the nature of the energy resources of...
Changes of Variable

I have now developed the basic theory of Lebesgue integration, but I have provided nearly no tools with which to compute the integrals that have been shown to exist. The purpose of the present chapter is to introduce a technique that often makes evaluation, or at least estimation, possible. The technique is that of changing variables.
Countering the Essentialized Discourse of Teacher Education.

In this paper, the authors engage in a collaborative inquiry illustrative of a dialogical process of meaning making addressing the future of teacher education in times marked by uncertainty, intense public and political scrutiny, changing policy, and imposed learning standards. The authors urge teacher education programs and teacher educators to reclaim their crucial role in driving education discourses rather than submitting to mandates based on flawed ideological assumptions about teaching, learning, children, and communities. Teacher educators need to participate in the counternarrative of the de-essentializing “turn” in teacher education. By critiquing and problematizing minimalist and flawed assumptions driving education policy, teacher education programs can shift the focus back to advocating for what is relevant and meaningful to the communities they serve. De-essentializing teacher education necessitates embracing complex curricula and pedagogies of unknowability, rather than perpetuating simplist...
Development and testing of hyperbaric atomic force microscopy (AFM) and fluorescence microscopy for biological applications

A commercially available atomic force microscopy and fluorescence microscope were installed and tested inside a custom-designed hyperbaric chamber to provide the capability to study the effects of hyperbaric gases on biological preparations, including cellular mechanism of oxidative stress. In this report, we list details of installing and testing atomic force microscopy and fluorescence microscopy inside a hyperbaric chamber. The pressure vessel was designed to accommodate a variety of imaging equipment and ensures full functionality at ambient and hyperbaric conditions (≤85 psi). Electrical, gas and fluid lines were installed to enable remote operation of instrumentation under hyperbaric conditions, and to maintain viable biological samples with gas-equilibrated superfusate and/or drugs. Systems were installed for vibration isolation and temperature regulation to maintain atomic force microscopy performance during compression and decompression. Results of atomic force microscopy testing demonstrate sub-nanometre resolution at hyperbaric pressure in dry scans and fluid scans, in both contact mode and tapping mode. Noise levels were less when measurements were taken under hyperbaric pressure with air, helium (He) and nitrogen (N(2) ). Atomic force microscopy and fluorescence microscopy measurements were made on a variety of living cell cultures exposed to hyperbaric gases (He, N(2) , O(2) , air). In summary, atomic force microscopy and fluorescence microscopy were installed and tested for use at hyperbaric pressures and enables the study of cellular and molecular effects of hyperbaric gases and pressure per se in biological preparations.
Genome-wide redistribution of H3K27me3 is linked to genotoxic stress and defective growth

H3K9 methylation directs heterochromatin formation by recruiting multiple heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1)-containing complexes that deacetylate histones and methylate cytosine bases in DNA. In Neurospora crassa, a single H3K9 methyltransferase complex, called the DIM-5,-7,-9, CUL4, DDB1 Complex (DCDC), is required for normal growth and development. DCDC-deficient mutants are hypersensitive to the genotoxic agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), but the molecular basis of genotoxic stress is unclear. We found that both the MMS sensitivity and growth phenotypes of DCDC-deficient strains are suppressed by mutation of embryonic ectoderm development or Su-(var)3-9; E(z); Trithorax (set)-7, encoding components of the H3K27 methyltransferase Polycomb repressive complex-2 (PRC2). Trimethylated histone H3K27 (H3K27me3) undergoes genome-wide redistribution to constitutive heterochromatin in DCDC- or HP1-deficient mutants, and introduction of an H3K27 missense mutation is sufficient to rescue phenotypes of DCDC-deficient strains. Accumulation of H3K27me3 in heterochromatin does not compensate for silencing; rather, strains deficient for both DCDC and PRC2 exhibit synthetic sensitivity to the topoisomerase I inhibitor Camptothecin and accumulate γH2A at heterochromatin. Together, these data suggest that PRC2 modulates the response to genotoxic stress.
Low codon bias and high rates of synonymous substitution in Drosophila hydei and D. melanogaster histone genes.

We have evaluated codon usage bias in Drosophila histone genes and have obtained the nucleotide sequence of a 5,161-bp D. hydei histone gene repeat unit. This repeat contains genes for all five histone proteins (H1, H2a, H2b, H3, and H4) and differs from the previously reported one by a second EcoRI site. These D. hydei repeats have been aligned to each other and to the 5.0-kb (i.e., long) and 4.8-kb (i.e., short) histone repeat types from D. melanogaster. In each species, base composition at synonymous sites is similar to the average genomic composition and approaches that in the small intergenic spacers of the histone gene repeats. Accumulation of synonymous changes at synonymous sites after the species diverged is quite high. Both of these features are consistent with the relatively low codon usage bias observed in these genes when compared with other Drosophila genes. Thus, the generalization that abundantly expressed genes in Drosophila have high codon bias and low rates of silent substitution does not hold for the histone genes.
A secure e-transaction model for e-commerce

Electronic commerce is an Internet-based business transactions performed electronically by individuals, companies, corporations and governments utilizing information and communication technologies. The most important obstacle to further expansion for e-commerce has been the lack of adequate security protections. When sending secure data via the Web, four items, no provided by Internet, are needed: confidentiality, Integrity, Authentication, and non-repudiability. This paper describes them, briefly summarizes some relevant cryptographic technologies and proposes a novel cryptographic-based model to support a secure e-commerce. More precisely, our proposed model uses XML combined with cryptographic techniques to create a secure session between partners in which the traffic between the partners is encrypted and only the adequate participants can decrypt it, to transmit structured data across the Web and to further improve the security of the exchanged documents.
A Rationale for the TEI Recommendations for Feature-Structure Markup

In this paper, we concentrate on justifying the decisions we made in developing the TEI recommendations for feature structure markup. The first four sections of this paper present the justification for the recommended treatment of feature structures, of features and their values, and of combinations of features or values and of alternations and negations of features and their values. Section 5 departs briefly from the linguistic focus to argue that the markup scheme developed for feature structures is in fact a general-purpose mechanism that can be used for a wide range of applications. Section 6 describes an auxiliary document called a “feature system declaration” that is used to document and validate a system of feature-structure markup. The seventh and final section illustrates the use of the recommended markup scheme with two examples, lexical tagging and interlinear text analysis.
2‐methoxyestradiol blocks cell‐cycle progression at G2/M phase and inhibits growth of human prostate cancer cells

2-Methoxyestradiol (2-ME), an endogenous metabolite of 17β-estradiol, is present in human blood and urine. Here we show for the first time that 2-ME significantly inhibited the growth of normal prostate epithelial cells and androgen-dependent LNCaP and androgen-independent DU145 prostate cancer cells. This growth inhibition was accompanied by a twofold increase in the G2/M population, with a concomitant decrease in the G1 population, as shown by cell-cycle analysis. 2-ME treatment affected the cell-cycle progression of prostate cancer cells specifically by blocking cells in the G2 phase. Immunoblot analysis of the key cell-cycle regulatory proteins in the G2/M phase showed a 14-fold increase in the expression of p21 and an eightfold increase in the expression of p34 cell division cycle 2 (cdc2). We also found an accumulation of phosphorylated cdc2 after 2-ME treatment. Furthermore, Wee 1 kinase was detectable after 2-ME treatment. 2-ME treatment also led to an increase in the activity of caspase-3, followed by apoptosis, as shown by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase–mediated deoxyuridine 5-triphosphate–biotin nick end-labeling and fluorescein isothiocyanate–poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase assay. Estrogen receptor levels did not change after treatment with 2-ME. Examination of the signaling pathways that mediate 2-ME–induced apoptosis showed reduction in the level of p53 expression and its DNA-binding activity. Given the fact that p53 mutations are common in patients with metastatic prostate cancer, our finding that 2-ME–mediated growth inhibition of human prostate cancer cells occurred in a p53-independent manner has considerable clinical significance. These findings, combined with the limited toxicity of 2-ME, may have significant implications for alternative treatment of advanced prostate cancer. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Hepatitis, arthritis and lupus cell phenomena caused by methyldopa

A patient is described who developed hepatocellular jaundice after methyldopa was administered. When the drug was again prescribed, hepatitis recurred. This exacerbation, along with transient arthritis, antinuclear antibodies and positive LE cell tests, document this as a case of hepatotoxicity due to methyldopa.
Effect of Face-to-Face Interview Versus Computer-Assisted Self-Interview on Disclosure of Intimate Partner Violence Among African American Women in WIC Clinics

African American women in the United States report intimate partner violence (IPV) more often than the general population of women. Overall, women underreport IPV because of shame, embarrassment, fear of retribution, or low expectation of legal support. African American women may be especially unlikely to report IPV because of poverty, low social support, and past experiences of discrimination. The purpose of this article is to determine the context in which low-income African American women disclose IPV. Consenting African American women receiving Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) services in WIC clinics were randomized to complete an IPV screening (Revised Conflict Tactics Scales-Short Form) via computer-assisted self-interview (CASI) or face-to-face interview (FTFI). Women (n = 368) reported high rates of lifetime and prior-year verbal (48%, 34%), physical (12%, 7%), sexual (10%, 7%), and any (49%, 36%) IPV, as well as IPV-related injury (13%, 7%). Mode of screening, but not interviewer race, affected disclosure. Women screened via FTFI reported significantly more lifetime and prior-year negotiation (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 10.54, 3.97) and more prior-year verbal (aOR = 2.10), sexual (aOR = 4.31), and any (aOR = 2.02) IPV than CASI-screened women. African American women in a WIC setting disclosed IPV more often in face-to-face than computer screening, and race-matching of client and interviewer did not affect disclosure. Findings highlight the potential value of face-to-face screening to identify women at risk of IPV. Programs should weigh the costs and benefits of training staff versus using computer-based technologies to screen for IPV in WIC settings.