cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Tunable short-pulse generation

Wavelength tunable pulses with ~ 200 fs pulse width were generated by using a two stage pulse compression mechanism of gain-switched DFB laser pulses which were originally ~ 10 ps long. The pulse compression mechanism utilizes fiber nonlinearities and it involves propagation through specific lengths of various types of fiber and a nonlinear loop mirror. Simulation of the entire compression scheme by solving the nonlinear Schrodinger equation shows good agreement with the experiment results.
Process Re-engineering and formal ontology A Deweyan perspective

John Dewey viewed philosophy as an intelligent means of realizing change, emphasizing the ubiquity of process, context and relations. The revolution in Organizational Behavior known as Process Re-engineering (PR) is an approach to organizational thinking recognizing the importance of process, context and relations at all levels of organizational activity. Because Dewey’s philosophy affords primacy to process and change, context and relations, it is fundamentally aligned with PR. Compelling connections between PR and Dewey’s philosophy are established concerning primacy of process, importance of context, inquiry as experimental, value dimensions of outcomes, work as a means to self-realization, and increasing recognition of the future as an open possibility. While Dewey’s philosophy and PR stand as examples of intelligent understanding and reconstruction of process, recent developments in formal systems ontology point to dangerous consequences resulting from an eclipse of the material conditions of experie...
Involvement of regucalcin as a suppressor protein in human carcinogenesis: insight into the gene therapy

Regucalcin, which its gene is located on the X chromosome, plays a multifunctional role as a suppressor protein in cell signal transduction in various types of cells and tissues. The suppression of regucalcin gene expression has been shown to involve in carcinogenesis. Regucalcin gene expression was uniquely downregulated in carcinogenesis of rat liver in vivo, although the expression of other many genes was upregulated, indicating that endogenous regucalcin plays a suppressive role in the development of hepatocarcinogenesis. Overexpression of endogenous regucalcin was found to suppress proliferation of rat cloned hepatoma cells in vitro. Moreover, the regucalcin gene and its protein levels were demonstrated specifically to downregulate in human hepatocellular carcinoma by analysis with multiple gene expression profiles and proteomics. Regucalcin gene expression was also found to suppress in human tumor tissues including kidney, lung, brain, breast and prostate, suggesting that repressed regucalcin gene expression leads to the development of carcinogenesis in various tissues. Regucalcin may play a role as a suppressor protein in carcinogenesis. Overexpression of endogenous regucalcin is suggested to reveal preventive and therapeutic effects on carcinogenesis. Delivery of the regucalcin gene may be a novel useful tool in the gene therapy of carcinogenesis. This review will discuss regarding to an involvement of regucalcin as a suppressor protein in human carcinogenesis in insight into the gene therapy.
Insertion of the membrane-proximal region of the neuronal SNARE coiled coil into the membrane.

In the neuron, solubleN-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) proteins assemble into an α-helical coiled coil that bridges the synaptic vesicle to the plasma membrane and drives membrane fusion, a required process for neurotransmitter release at the nerve terminal. How does coiled coil formation drive membrane fusion? To investigate the structural and energetic coupling between the coiled coil and membrane, the recombinant SNARE complex in the phospholipid bilayer was studied using fluorescence quenching and site-directed spin labeling EPR. Fluorescence analysis revealed that two native Trp residues at the membrane-proximal region of the coiled coil are inserted into the membrane, tightly coupling the coiled coil to the membrane. The EPR results indicate that the coiled coil penetrates into the membrane with an oblique angle, providing a favorable geometry for the basic residues to interact with negatively charged lipids. The result supports the proposition that core complex formation directly leads to the apposition of two membranes, which could facilitate lipid mixing. Trp residues and basic residues are abundant at the membrane-proximal region of transmembrane SNARE proteins, suggesting the generality of the proposed mechanism for the SNARE complex-membrane coupling.
Reduction algorithms for the multiband imaging photometer for Spitzer: 6 months of flight data

The first six months of flight data from the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS) were used to test MIPS reduction algorithms based on extensive preflight laboratory data and modeling. The underlying approach for the preflight algorithms has been found to be sound, but some modifications have improved the performance. The main changes are scan mirror dependent flat fields at 24 μm, hand processing to remove the time dependent stim flash latents and fast/slow response variations at 70 μm, and the use of asteroids and other sources instead of stars for flux calibration at 160 μm due to a blue "leak." The photometric accuracy of flux measurements is currently 5%, 10%, and 20% at 24, 70, and 160 μm, respectively. These numbers are expected to improve as more flight data are analyzed and data reduction algorithms refined.
A discrete droplet transport model for predicting spray coating patterns of an electrostatic rotary atomizer

Abstract Electrostatic spray (E-spray) coating is widely used for coating conductive substrates. The combination of a high-velocity shaping air, an imposed electric field and charged droplets, leads to higher transfer efficiency than conventional spray coating. In this paper, a mathematical model of droplet transport in E-spray is presented which enables simulating the coating deposition rate profile. A dilute spray assumption (no particle–particle interactions) allows modeling single-droplet trajectories resulting from a balance of electrostatic force, drag and inertia. Atomization of liquid droplets is not modeled explicitly—rather an empirical correlation is used for the mean droplet size while individual droplet sizes and starting locations are determined using random distributions. Strong coupling requires the electrostatic field and droplet trajectories be determined iteratively by successive substitution with relaxation. The influences of bell-cup voltage and atomization constant on the coating deposition rate profile, mass transfer efficiency and droplet trajectories are also shown. Using individually predicted droplet trajectories and impact locations, a static coating deposition rate profiles is determined. For the parametric values considered in this paper, the predicted spray is a cone hollow with no deposition in the center, a heavy ring near the center, and a tapering of thickness toward the outer edge.
Variation in glacier length and ice volume of Rabots Glaciar, Sweden, in response to climate change, 1910–2003

Historical records, photographs, maps and measurements were used to determine changes in the length, geometry and volume of Rabots Glaciar, Sweden, in response to a ∼1°C warming that occurred early in the 20th century. The glacier’s initial rate of retreat from its 1910 maximum was ~2.0 m a–1. After a sharp increase to ∼11.7 m a–1 between 1933 and 1946, the mean retreat rate decreased to ∼5.5 m a-1 between 1946 and 1959. Thereafter the rate of retreat increased to ∼11.0 m a-1 and has remained relatively constant to the present time. Concomitant decreases in ice volume were estimated to be 77.3 × 106m3 between 1910 and 1959, 51.1 × 106m3 between 1959 and 1980, at least 10.4 × 106m3 between 1980 and 1989, and 14.4 × 106m3 between 1989 and 2003. The total volume change over the last 93 years is estimated at ∼153.2 × 106m3 corresponding to 1.6 × 106m3a–1.. The magnitude of the ongoing changes in length and volume suggests that Rabots Glaciar has not yet completed its response to the earlier climatic warming. In contrast, several nearby glaciers, most notably Storglaciaren, have completed their adjustments and established new steady-state profiles as a result of having shorter response times.
Complications of groin dissection in penile cancer Experience with 101 lymphadenectomies

To assess the operative morbidity, we reviewed retrospectively 101 groin dissections performed in 67 patients for management of squamous cell carcinoma of the penis. No patients died, but only 18 per cent experienced no postoperative complications. Early complications included flap necrosis in 50 per cent, seroma in 16 per cent, wound infection in 14 per cent, lymphocele in 9 per cent, and thrombophlebitis in 6 per cent. Leg edema developed in 50 per cent of those operated on and remained severe in about one third of these. The frequency of complications has changed little over the thirty-five-year time span of the study and is not related to the extent of the surgical procedure. In view of the high operative morbidity, caution should be exercised against using the surgical procedure injudiciously.
Decision-Making About Tamoxifen in Women at High Risk for Breast Cancer: Clinical and Psychological Factors

Purpose To explore the health-related and psychological factors that influence decision making about tamoxifen (Nolvadex; AstraZeneca, Waltham, MA) chemoprevention in women at increased risk for developing breast cancer. Methods This study involves the assessment of 129 women eligible to take tamoxifen following cancer-risk counseling. Treatment decision and decision satisfaction were measured at 2 and 4 months following counseling. Health-related factors included physician recommendation, personal and family-related health history, and concern about side effects. Psychological factors included breast cancer–related anxiety, risk perception, and depression. Results At 2 months’ follow-up, 44% of participants declined tamoxifen treatment. This number increased to 49% at 4 months. Personal and family health history were not related to the decision, but history of abnormal biopsy did predict tamoxifen use. Physician recommendation was highly correlated with treatment decision. Concern about side effects was ...
A Research Methodology for Studying What Makes Some Problems Difficult to Solve

We present a quantitative model for predicting the level of difficulty subjects will experience with specific problems. The model explicitly accounts for the number of subproblems a problem can be ...
Flow and axial dispersion in a sinusoidal-walled tube: Effects of inertial and unsteady flows

Abstract In this work, we consider a sinusoidal-walled tube (a three-dimensional tube with sinusoidally-varying diameter) as a simplified conceptualization of flow in porous media. Direct numerical simulation using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods was used to compute velocity fields by solving the Navier–Stokes equations, and also to numerically solve the volume averaging closure problem, for a range of Reynolds numbers (Re) spanning the low-Re to inertial flow regimes, including one simulation at Re = 449 for which unsteady flow was observed. The longitudinal dispersion observed for the flow was computed using a random walk particle tracking method, and this was compared to the longitudinal dispersion predicted from a volume-averaged macroscopic mass balance using the method of volume averaging; the results of the two methods were consistent. Our results are compared to experimental measurements of dispersion in porous media and to previous theoretical results for both the low-Re, Stokes flow regime and for values of Re representing the steady inertial regime. In the steady inertial regime, a power-law increase in the effective longitudinal dispersion ( D L ) with Re was found, and this is consistent with previous results. This rapid rate of increase is caused by trapping of solute in expansions due to flow separation (eddies). One unsteady (but non-turbulent) flow case ( Re = 449 ) was also examined. For this case, the rate of increase of D L with Re was smaller than that observed at lower Re. Velocity fluctuations in this regime lead to increased rates of solute mass transfer between the core flow and separated flow regions, thus diminishing the amount of tailing caused by solute trapping in eddies and thereby reducing longitudinal dispersion. The observed tailing was further explored through analysis of concentration skewness (third moment) and its assymptotic convergence to conventional advection–dispersion behavior (skewness = 0). The method of volume averaging was applied to develop a skewness model, and demonstrated that the skewness decreases as a function of inverse square root of time. Our particle tracking simulation results were shown to conform to this theoretical result in most of the cases considered.
Commentary on Meehl’s theoretical risks and tabular asterisks: Sir Karl, Sir Ronald, and the slow progress of soft psychology

Abstract Meehl points out that in “soft” psychology we do not have quantitatively measured variables that allow generalization outside the context of study to other contexts involving these same variables (perhaps combined with others to yield prediction and control). But as illustrated by this own work comparing actuarial versus clinical combination of variables to predict important human outcomes, we do have consistency across qualitatively diverse contexts. Here, actuarial combination is almost always superior. That result might not be what we would wish to have (e.g., a very good prediction of who will succeed in graduate school or on parole—as opposed to knowing that an actuarial prediction is superior to a clinical one), but it is what we have. It is not nothing, in fact far from nothing. Lacking a statistical theory (or even definition) of “qualitative diversity” and how to access it, we often rely on null hypothesis testing—not to be taken literally, but to access a consistent direction of results across qualitatively diverse contexts.
NICHE Solutions – second in a series: Focus on Delirium/Dementia

In the previous issue we introduced the NICHE (Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders) Solutions Series, success stories based on initiatives developed and tested by NICHE hospitals on the successful application of best practice solutions related to NICHE Clinical Improvement Models and other NICHE resources. Solutions stories are published in both printed format and on the NICHE website. Developed in collaboration with NICHE designated hospitals, the series covers a wide range of clinical and organizational topics. In this second entry, a selection of success stories from the Delirium/Dementia section of the Solutions library is highlighted. Solutions are also available for these other geriatrics-related categories: Catheters, Emergency Department, Environment, Function/ Falls, Geriatric Patient Care Associates, Integrated System Implementation, Medication, Nutrition/Elimination, and Patient/Family Education. New Solutions stories and categories are constantly being added.
Introduction and commentary for special issue on health information technology.

In 2009, as part of the so-called Stimulus Act, the federal government made a large investment in health information technology (health IT), designating up to $30 billion in incentive payments to providers to adopt and “meaningfully use” certified electronic health record (EHR) systems. The EHR Incentive Program’s inclusion in this legislation—also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)—was apt (111th Congress of the United States 2009). Not only could health IT funding stimulate economic activity but it could also help modernize the health care system, lay the foundation for new health care delivery and payment models, and promote a learning health care environment.
Scanning Electron Microscopy of Hyperplastic and Neoplastic Human Prostate

Acinar cells of neoplastic prostate tissues are more heterogeneous in size and shape than benign hyperplastic cells when observed by scanning electron microscopy. Three types of acinar cells are recognizable by surface structure, cells with microvilli, cells without microvilli, and cells with membrane ruffles. The pitted cells previously seen in BPH tissues are probably artifactual. The identity of the crater cells is still in question.
Noncollinear spin valve effect in ferromagnetic semiconductor trilayers

We report the observation of the spin valve effect in (Ga,Mn)As/p-GaAs/(Ga,Mn)As trilayer devices. Magnetoresistance measurements carried out in the current in plane geometry reveal positive magnetoresistance peaks when the two ferromagnetic layers are magnetized orthogonal to each other. Measurements carried out for different post-growth annealing conditions and spacer layer thickness suggest that the positive magnetoresistance peaks originate in a noncollinear spin valve effect due to spin-dependent scattering that is believed to occur primarily at interfaces.
PHYSENSE: Scalable sociological interaction models for influence estimation on online social networks

The explosion in social media adoption has opened up new opportunities for next-generation personalized web and information exchange in big data scenarios. Making sense of the massive number of overlapping streams of information generated by hundreds of millions of users on large social networks requires novel analytics and scalable computational techniques. This paper introduces PHYSENSE, a scalable framework for influence computation and activity prediction on large online social networks (OSNs). Drawing inspiration from the Friedkin-Johnsen model for opinion change, PHYSENSE estimates and sets up sociological influence models to compute the diffusion of activity potential in the neighborhood of each of the nodes. PHYSENSE then scales these to significant parts of the entire OSN by propagating these activity potentials through an equivalent Helmholtz Green's function. Examples to show the enhanced quality of PHYSENSE in influence detection over popular existing methods based on variations of PageRank are presented. Additionally, for enhanced speedup, the community structures found in the social graphs along with low-rank updates are exploited in the acceleration of both the setup and the dynamic update phases of the influence computation.
An exploratory study of the effects of supplier relationships on new product development outcomes

Abstract The literature about the influence of suppliers on new product development (NPD) project outcomes shows mixed results. Focusing on supplier relationships, especially the concept of supplier involvement, we present a two-stage model explaining supplier relationships and their impacts on product quality, project development time and project cost. The level of supplier involvement on the NPD project is seen as contingent on the level of technical difficulty of the project. This model is tested using secondary survey data.
Pellagra in 2 Homeless Men

Pellagra is a nutritional disease with cutaneous, gastrointestinal, and neuropsychiatric manifestations. Because of the diversity of pellagra's signs and symptoms, diagnosis is difficult without an appropriate index of suspicion. Untreated, pellagra is fatal. Two cases of pellagra in contemporary homeless people are described. Complete evaluation supported a clinical diagnosis of pellagra after exclusion of other possibilities. Signs and symptoms resolved after institution of niacin therapy and change in diet. Appropriate suspicion for a diagnosis of pellagra requires attention to a combination of socioeconomic and behavioral risk factors for nutritional deficiency. The combination of homelessness, alcohol abuse, and failure to eat regularly—particularly, failure to make use of shelter-based meal programs—may identify people at special risk in contemporary settings.
Distributed keyless security for correlated data with applications in visual sensor networks

This paper examines the problem in which several nodes sharing highly correlated data, such as visual data, wish to compress and encrypt their data to provide confidentiality. The nodes however perform these tasks separately, without communicating with one another and without the use of cryptographic keys. The base station (BS) receiving all such encrypted data, can reconstruct each of the nodes' data, whereas a passive eavesdropper who is only allowed a subset of the encrypted data gleans as little information as possible about the nodes' data.We build on previous results with the goal of increasing secrecy (measured by Shannon equivocation) by: (1) relaxing the BS's perfect reconstruction criterion thus permitting non-zero distortion reconstruction; (2) permitting communication (feedback) from the BS to the nodes. We show that permitting non-zero distortion reconstruction does increase secrecy, however unconditional secrecy is still not achievable unless the distortion is maximal. We also prove that feedback from the BS usually (under most practical scenarios) does not improve secrecy, unless the BS has certain knowledge concerning the eavesdropper.Finally this paper proposes ideas for applying the results to images by analyzing the ideal image model to demonstrate the practical difficulties in achieving provable security for images.
Ultra-low doses of naltrexone or etorphine increase morphine's antinociceptive potency and attenuate tolerance/dependence in mice

In previous studies we showed that low (pM) concentrations of naloxone (NLX), naltrexone (NTX) or etorphine selectively antagonize excitatory, but not inhibitory, opioid receptor-mediated functions in nociceptive types of sensory neurons in culture. Cotreatment of these neurons with pM NTX or etorphine not only results in marked enhancement of the inhibitory potency of acutely applied nM morphine [or other bimodally-acting (inhibitory/excitatory) opioid agonists], but also prevents development of cellular manifestations of tolerance and dependence during chronic exposure to microM morphine. These in vitro studies were confirmed in vivo by demonstrating that acute cotreatment of mice with morphine plus a remarkably low dose of NTX (ca. 10 ng/kg) does, in fact, enhance the antinociceptive potency of morphine, as measured by hot-water tail-flick assays. Furthermore, chronic cotreatment of mice with morphine plus low doses of NTX markedly attenuates development of naloxone-precipitated withdrawal-jumping in physical dependence assays. The present study provides systematic dose-response analyses indicating that NTX elicited optimal enhancement of morphine's antinociceptive potency in mice when co-administered (i.p.) at about 100 ng/kg together with morphine (3 mg/kg). Doses of NTX as low as 1 ng/kg or as high as 1 microg/kg were still effective, but to a lesser degree. Oral administration of NTX in the drinking water of mice was equally effective as i.p. injections in enhancing the antinociceptive potency of acute morphine injections and even more effective in attenuating development of tolerance and NLX-precipitated withdrawal-jumping during chronic cotreatment. Cotreatment with a subanalgesic dose of etorphine (10 ng/kg) was equally effective as NTX in enhancing morphine's antinociceptive potency and attenuating withdrawal-jumping after chronic exposure. These studies provide a rationale for the clinical use of ultra-low-dose NTX or etorphine so as to increase the antinociceptive potency while attenuating the tolerance/dependence liability of morphine or other conventional bimodally-acting opioid analgesics.
Adaptive tracking of dynamic multiple hot-spot target IR images

In the recent past, the capability of tracking dynamic targets from forward looking infrared (FLIR) measurements has been improved substantially by replacing standard correlation trackers with adaptive extended Kalman filters. This research investigates a tracker able to handle "multiple hot spot" targets, in which digital (or optical) signal processing is employed on the FLIR data to identify the underlying target shape. This identified shape is then used in the measurement model portion of the filter as it estimates target offset from the center of the field-of-view. In this algorithm, an extended Kalman filter processes the raw intensity measurements from the FLIR to produce target estimates. An alternative algorithm uses a linear Kalman filter to process the position indications of an enhanced correlator in order to generate tracking estimates; the enhancement is accomplished not only by thresholding to eliminate poor correlation information, but also by incorporating the dynamics information from the Kalman filter and the online identification of the target shape as a template instead of merely using previous frames of data. The performance capabilities of these two algorithms are evaluated under various tracking environment conditions and for a range of choices of design parameters.
A robust channel assignment method for multi-radio networks

Cognitive radio networks solve the problem of inefficient spectrum usage by allowing secondary users to share spectrum with primary users. In this paper we introduce and analyze a channel assignment algorithm which is robust to the presence of primary users that could reclaim multiple channels at once. This algorithm can be used in multi-radio multi-channel networks. The analysis of interference helps us to choose the most efficient parameters for our algorithm. By reducing interference, the capacity of the network is improved and this leads to an increased efficiency in communication.
Energy balances in solar distillers

There has been considerable doubt as to the manner in which the productivity of solar stills is affected by many of the designs and operating variables. To assist in designing solar stills of improved performance, theoretical equations are derived to describe the complete energy and mass transfer relationships involved in the operation of the basin type of solar still. These are supplemented with data from field operation of a 2,500-sq. ft. still. With these relationships and the aid of a digital computer, the effects of variations of design parameters on the performance of solar stills is predicted. Distiller productivity is correlated with atmospheric temperature, wind velocity, solar radiation, absorptivity and slope of transparent cover, and other variables. Curves showing the magnitude of the effects of design changes on cover temperature, brine temperature, and productivity are presented.
Hydrochlorothiazide-induced hyperuricaemia in the pharmacogenomic evaluation of antihypertensive responses study.

Objective Elevations in uric acid (UA) and the associated hyperuricaemia are commonly observed secondary to treatment with thiazide diuretics. We sought to identify novel single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ)-induced elevations in UA and hyperuricaemia.
Optimal resource allocation in multi-class networks with user-specified utility functions

In this work, we consider the problem of resource allocation in multi-class networks, where users specify the value they attach to obtaining different amounts of resource by means of a utility function. We develop a resource allocation scheme that maximizes the average aggregate utility per unit time. We formulate this resource allocation problem as a Markov decision process. We present numerical results that illustrate that our scheme performs better than the greedy resource allocation policy. We also discuss the implications of deliberate lying by users about their utility functions and develop a pricing scheme that prevents such lying.
Plastic design of a closed cylindrical structure

Abstract A structure consisting of a circular cylindrical shell closed by a circular plate is subjected to a uniform internal pressure. Design curves are obtained for the minimum thicknesses of the plate and shell components. It is found that for very short shells the thicknesses depend upon the length-radius ratio and the joint conditions, but that for even moderately long shells they are essentially independent of these factors.
Control Mechanisms in Oscillatory Motor Behavior

Studies on unimpaired humans have demonstrated that the central nervous system employs internal representations of limb dynamics and intended movement trajectories for planning muscle activation during pointing and reaching tasks. However, when performing rhythmic movements, it has been hypothesized that a control scheme employing an autonomous oscillator — a simple feedback circuit lacking exogenous input — can maintain stable control. Here we investigate whether such simple control architectures that can realize rhythmic movement that we observe in experimental data. We asked subjects to perform rhythmic movements of the forearm while a robotic interface simulated inertial loading. Our protocol included unexpected increases in loading (catch trials) as a probe to reveal any systematic changes in frequency and amplitude. Our primary findings were that increased inertial loading resulted in reduced frequency of oscillations, and in some cases multiple frequencies. These results exhibit some agreement with an autonomous oscillator model, though other features are more consistent with feedforward planning of force. This investigation provides a theoretical and experimental framework to reveal basic computational elements for how the human motor system achieves skilled rhythmic movement.Copyright © 2013 by ASME
Mock Morrey spaces

The use of the word “mock” here is essentially in tribute to Ramanujan’s use of the word when he refers to his “mock theta functions” - they have a close resemblance to the original (imitations), but are not quite the same. This is the case with the spaces of this chapter, and the term is to draw attention to this close resemblance. Actually, these spaces can also be described by the term “Marcinkiewicz Spaces,” but in so doing, the underlying connection with Morrey’s original tends to be lost.
Violence and UN population data

The author examines the reasons why the official UN population estimates for Burundi and Rwanda fail to show the demographic effect of the various massacres and mass emigrations that have occurred in the two countries since their independence in 1959. The reasons are found to be both technical in that demographic data are deficient as for many African countries and political in that the governments of the countries concerned "have always refused to acknowledge the massive killings within their boundaries executed largely by their military apparatus. Hence it comes as no surprise that they would also seek to cover up these events in their population data." (EXCERPT)
Reverberation Mapping of Active Galactic Nuclei

The broad emission lines in the spectra of active galactic nuclei respond to variations in the luminosity of the central continuum source with a delay due to light-travel time effects within the emission-line region. It is therefore possible through the process of 'reverberation mapping' to determine the geometry and kinematics of the emission-line region by careful monitoring of the continuum variations and the resulting emission-line response. In this review, I will discuss progress in application of the reverberation mapping technique. I will describe the underlying assumptions and limitations of the method, discuss how the results obtained to date are changing our understanding of active nuclei, and outline several new questions that might be addressed through further reverberation mapping programs.
Intercellular communication between granulosa cells and mouse oocytes: existence and possible nutritional role during oocyte growth.

Intercellular communication between granulosa cells and mouse oocytes has been examined during oocyte growth in vivo and in vitro. Intercellular communication, as assessed by transfer of fluorescein dye from oocytes to surrounding granulosa cells and metabolic cooperativity between the two cell types, existed throughout the period of oocyte growth examined (mean oocyte diameter increased from about 45 to about 65 μm). The extent of metabolic cooperativity for radiolabeled 2-deoxyglucose increased during oocyte growth in vivo and in vitro as a linear function of oocyte surface area. The extent of 2-deoxyglucose metabolic cooperativity between granulosa cells and oocytes of similar size was a linear function of the number of attached granulosa cells. Thus, the increase in the extent of metabolic cooperativity for 2-deoxyglucose during oocyte growth was probably due to formation of additional heterologous gap junctions between oocytes and new granulosa cells which come into contact with the growing oocyte. The rate of oocyte growth in vitro was positively correlated with the extent of 2-deoxyglucose metabolic cooperativity. A nutritional role for intercellular communication between granulosa cells and the oocyte in oocyte growth is discussed.
Dynamics of the Reaction of Methane with Chlorine Atom on an Accurate Potential Energy Surface

The reaction of the chlorine atom with methane has been the focus of numerous studies that aim to test, extend, and/or modify our understanding of mode-selective reactivity in polyatomic systems. To this point, theory has largely been unable to provide accurate results in comparison with experiments. Here, we report an accurate global potential energy surface for this reaction. Quasi-classical trajectory calculations using this surface achieve excellent agreement with experiment on the rotational distributions of the hydrogen chloride (HCl) product. For the Cl + CHD3 → HCl + CD3 reaction at low collision energies, we confirm the unexpected experimental finding that CH-stretch excitation is no more effective in activating this late-barrier reaction than is the translational energy, which is in contradiction to expectations based on results for many atom-diatom reactions.
Acoustic propagation in rigid sharp bends and branches

The linear acoustic propagation in rigid planar sharp bends and bifurcation ducts is analyzed using a Green’s‐function integral technique often known as the surface element method. The acoustic characteristics of the sharp bend differ substantially from those of a circular bend with identical turning angle, width, and centerline length. The acoustic loading resulting from a duct bifurcation is highly two dimensional beyond the first cutoff frequency.
Testing of commercial optical media

Data integrity is a primary concern for the users of any data storage medium. For optical data storage, the integrity is directly related to the performance and defect level of the storage media and to how they change as the media age. While media materials and thin-film stack designs are chosen with the goal of achieving high data integrity and reliability, variations in the media manufacturing processes themselves often can determine how the media will behave. These variations can be found through detailed and careful characterization testing. The authors describe some of the test methods used for characterizing rewritable media and discuss some results obtained while surveying commercially available media. >
Petitionary Prayer: a Response to Murray and Meyers

In a recent article in this journal, Michael Murray and Kurt Meyers offer us (among other things) two innovative and thought-provoking responses to the important question of why God would, even occasionally, refrain from giving us that which he can and would like to give us until we request that he do so: to help the believer learn more about God and thus become more like him and to help the believer realize she is dependent on God. I argue that neither explanation is adequate and thus that more work on this significant topic remains to be done.
Boundary implications for interval positive rational functions

Positive rational functions have provided the foundation supporting the realizability theory of electrical networks. In practice, it is meaningful to provide each coefficient value with a lower and an upper bound so that the interval rational functions set up be associated in parameter space by a multidimensional boxed domain. The boundary implications for the positive real (complex) property to hold for all rational functions associated with the box are formulated in terms of the validity of the same property on a small subset of the extreme functions associated with a correspondingly small subset of vertices of the box. The results, therefore, generalize recent contributions on boundary implications of stability properties and also strict positive realness. >
DNA Damage and Reactive Nitrogen Species are Barriers to Vibrio cholerae Colonization of the Infant Mouse Intestine

Ingested Vibrio cholerae pass through the stomach and colonize the small intestines of its host. Here, we show that V. cholerae requires at least two types of DNA repair systems to efficiently compete for colonization of the infant mouse intestine. These results show that V. cholerae experiences increased DNA damage in the murine gastrointestinal tract. Agreeing with this, we show that passage through the murine gut increases the mutation frequency of V. cholerae compared to liquid culture passage. Our genetic analysis identifies known and novel defense enzymes required for detoxifying reactive nitrogen species (but not reactive oxygen species) that are also required for V. cholerae to efficiently colonize the infant mouse intestine, pointing to reactive nitrogen species as the potential cause of DNA damage. We demonstrate that potential reactive nitrogen species deleterious for V. cholerae are not generated by host inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity and instead may be derived from acidified nitrite in the stomach. Agreeing with this hypothesis, we show that strains deficient in DNA repair or reactive nitrogen species defense that are defective in intestinal colonization have decreased growth or increased mutation frequency in acidified nitrite containing media. Moreover, we demonstrate that neutralizing stomach acid rescues the colonization defect of the DNA repair and reactive nitrogen species defense defective mutants suggesting a common defense pathway for these mutants.
A system for electromigration analysis in VLSI metal patterns

The authors describe a CAD (computer-aided design) system for reliability analysis of VLSI CMOS circuits, with emphasis on electromigration estimation in power and ground metal lines. The system consists of three main components: extraction of circuit netlist and parameters and RC line models from layout; calculation of expected or average current waveforms drawn by the circuit at the contacts of the buses; and computation of average current densities in sections of the power and ground buses for electromigration estimation. The system tools have been integrated around the Berkeley OCT/VEM design framework system. >
Real‐Time Ionospheric Monitoring System Using GPS

Using data acquired from a GPS receiver, a real-time synoptic ionospheric monitoring system has been developed. The system is used at the Millstone Hill satellite tracking radar. Each GPS satellite transmits signals at two different L-band frequencies, L1 (1575.42 MHz) and L2 (1227.6 MHz). The total electron content (TEC) along the path to each satellite can be determined by combining both frequencies using the pseudorange and the phase data. The GPS data is input into a Kalman filter, which is used to predict the coefficients of a simple TEC model with azimuth and elevation dependence. This model takes advantage of the real-time knowledge of the variations in TEC around the radar site provided by the GPS data. The coefficients for this model are then sent to the satellite tracking computer, and the model is applied in real time to account for the ionospheric path delay to whatever satellite is currently in track. The preliminary results of using this ionospheric monitoring system are discussed.
Robot mapping with proximity detectors

Robots operating in unknown environments need to acquire knowledge about the environment to facilitate navigation and other tasks. Control procedures that enable a robot to acquire environment knowledge are referred to as mapping our terrain-acquisition procedures. All motion control procedures are influenced by the underlying models. In this area the significant models are: the robot model, the sensor model and the environment model. In this paper we present a mapping algorithm that uses a sensor model based on a proximity detector. The sensor is capable of detecting the presence or absence of objects within an annular ring of radius R to R + (Delta) , surrounding the robot. The sensor provides no exact range information but does indicate that angular region of contact with an obstacle. The robot is modelled as a disc of radius r (r© (1993) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Cancer prevention in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Colorectal cancer is an important, and often dreaded, consequence of long-standing UC and Crohn's colitis. Surveillance colonoscopy, despite its limitations, is beneficial for detecting earlier stage cancers and, probably, mortality reduction. Agents such as anti-inflammatory medications, folic acid, and ursodeoxycholic acid show promise for chemoprevention in this disease. Future research will help to define better the natural history of dysplasia in IBD, and to determine how molecular approaches may be integrated into surveillance programs to reduce CRC risk.
TextNet – A text-based intelligent system

A large collection of texts may be reached through the Internet and this provides a powerful platform from which common-sense knowledge may be gathered. This paper presents a system that contains a core knowledge base structured around WordNet, a lexical database, capable of extracting contextual information from a given input text. Such context information is then used to retrieve other texts from the Internet that relate to that context. When processed by the system, these new texts bring more information that represents an enhanced domain context for the initial text. This is an incremental method for text processing that acquires domain knowledge from other texts. The paper describes the system architecture, its core knowledge base and inference engine, and the acquisition of new knowledge from corpora.
Clinical value of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy for differentiating recurrent or residual brain tumor from delayed cerebral necrosis

Abstract Purpose: Delayed cerebral necrosis (DN) is a significant risk for brain tumor patients treated with high-dose irradiation. Although differentiating DN from tumor progression is an important clinical question, the distinction cannot be made reliably by conventional imaging techniques. We undertook a pilot study to assess the ability of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H MRS) to differentiate prospectively between DN or recurrent/residual tumor in a series of children treated for primary brain tumors with high-dose irradiation. Methods and Materials: Twelve children (ages 3–16 years), who had clinical and MR imaging (MRI) changes that suggested a diagnosis of either DN or progressive/recurrent brain tumor, underwent localized 1 H MRS prior to planned biopsy, resection, or other confirmatory histological procedure. Prospective 1 H MRS interpretations were based on comparison of spectral peak patterns and quantitative peak area values from normalized spectra: a marked depression of the intracellular metabolite peaks from choline, creatine, and N-acetyl compounds was hypothesized to indicate DN, and median-to-high choline with easily visible creatine metabolite peaks was labeled progressive/recurrent tumor. Subsequent histological studies identified the brain lesion as DN or recurrent/residual tumor. Results: The patient series included five cases of DN and seven recurrent/residual tumor cases, based on histology, The MRS criteria prospectively identified five out of seven patients with active tumor, and four out of five patients with histologically proven DN correctly. Discriminant analysis suggested that the primary diagnostic information for differentiating DN from tumor lay in the normalized MRS peak areas for choline and creatine compounds. Conclusions: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy shows promising sensitivity and selectivity for differentiating DN from recurrent/progressive brain tumor. A novel diagnostic index based on peak areas for choline and creatine compounds may provide a simple discriminant for differentiating DN from recurrent or residual primary brain tumors.
A Pilot Study of Mother-Child Interactions in Children with Bronchial Asthma

The mother-child interactions in children with bronchial asthma were studied in five pairs. Each mother-child pair was videotaped in two 42-minute play-sessions. Detailed four-second interval analysis of behaviour patterns in each interacting dyad was obtained. Computer-analyzed behaviour samples were compared with those obtained from a control group of eight nonasthmatic children and their mothers. All children involved in the study ranged between the ages of 1-3/4 and 4 years. A significant difference was found in the ambivalent status variable in the asthmatic children's group as compared with the control group.The extreme interactional patterns were identified in the asthma pairs. A series of eight weekly instruction sessions provided the mother an opportunity to correct some of her behaviours while engaged in playing with her child. Pre-and post-instructional analysis of the interactions between mother and asthmatic child provided a measure of any significant behaviour changes. The method of instruct...
Surgical fires: perioperative communication is essential to prevent this rare but devastating complication

A fire on or within a surgical patient is a continuing risk in modern surgery. Unfortunately, the sensitivity of surgical and anaesthesia staff to this hazard has waned over the past 25 years with cessation of the use of flammable anaesthetic agents. Prevention of surgical fires requires understanding the risks and effective communication between surgical, anaesthesia, and operating nursing staffs. Preventive measures exist but have yet to diffuse sufficiently across professional boundaries. Based on a review of relevant databases, decades of experience from field investigations, and a review of the medical literature, this paper discusses the incidence of surgical fires, the responsibility for prevention in the perioperative setting, and the procedures for surgical fire prevention and extinguishment.
Production of levoglucosan and glucose from pyrolysis of cellulosic materials

Vacuum pyrolysis of cellulose within the temperature range of 300–500°C provides a tar fraction containing mainly levoglucosan and glucose condensation products. It was found that pyrolysis proceeds at a much faster rate at the higher temperatures without detrimental effect on the yields. At 400°C the reaction was essentially complete within 3 min yielding a tar that contained 39% levoglucosan and, upon mild acid hydrolysis, gave 49% D-glucose. The yields could be further improved by washing or treatment of cellulosic substrates with acids. Cotton hydrocellulose provided up to 58% levoglucosan or 77% D-glucose. This is the highest yield determined by unequivocal methods. Commonly available cellulosic materials such as wood and newsprint give very poor yields of levoglucosan. However, the yields could be improved substantially by acid washing or prehydrolysis to the extent that pyrolysis of these substrates may become an attractive industrial process. The data in this report provide the technical basis for such a process and resolve the existing controversies on the reported yields.