cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Design and testing of a general-purpose neurocomputer

Abstract Here we describe the logical design and testing of a general-purpose neurocomputer, AMNIAC. It may be thought of as a programmable neural network that can simulate arbitrary SIMD and MIMD machines of practical interest (modeled as cellular automata, neural networks, or arbitrary automata networks). AMNIAC is purely bitwise (amnesic), i.e., requires no local memory or registers, other than short memory just long enough for a clock cycle. We discuss software serial and massively parallel simulations of AMNIAC as (a) tests of the logical design; and (b) benchmarks for evaluation of the trade-off between its universality and memory advantage versus overhead cost of mapping and speed. Theoretical applications of the design are given. A 3D SIMD version of AMNIAC which stabilizes if and only if its input network stabilizes (on the same input data) establishes the unsolvability of the stability problem for networks of finite bandwidth and also its weak solvability by an extension to a larger activation set. We also discuss the feasibility and trade-offs of a physical implementation.
AlphaLISA-based high-throughput screening assay to measure levels of soluble amyloid precursor protein α

Activation of nonamyloidogenic processing of amyloid precursor protein (APP) has been hypothesized to be a viable approach for Alzheimer's disease drug discovery. However, until recently, the lack of HTS-compatible assay technologies precluded large scale screening efforts to discover molecules that potentiate nonamyloidogenic pathways. We have developed an HTS-compatible assay based on AlphaLISA technology that quantitatively detects soluble APPα (sAPPα), a marker of nonamyloidogenic processing of APP, released from live cells in low volume, 384-well plates. The assay exhibited good QC parameters (Z'>0.5, S/B>2). A pilot screen of 801 compounds yielded a novel chemotype that increased the release of sAPPα 2-fold at 5μM. These results suggest that the AlphaLISA-based HTS assay is robust and sensitive and can be used to screen large compound collections to discover molecules that potentiate the release of sAPPα. Additionally, we demonstrated that increase of APP processing by nonamyloidogenic pathways will result in decrease of release of amyloidogenic Aβ40 fragments.
The off rate of Ca2+ from troponin C is regulated by force-generating cross bridges in skeletal muscle

The effects of dissociation of force-generating cross bridges on intracellular Ca 2+ , pCa-force, and pCa-ATPase relationships were investigated in mouse skeletal muscle. Mechanical length perturbations were used to dissociate force-generating cross bridges in either intact or skinned fibers. In intact muscle, an impulse stretch or release, a continuous length vibration, a nonoverlap stretch, or an unloaded shortening during a twitch caused a transient increase in intracellular Ca 2+ compared with that in isometric controls and resulted in deactivation of the muscle. In skinned fibers, sinusoidal length vibrations shifted pCa-force and pCa-actomyosin ATPase rate relationships to higher Ca 2+ concentrations and caused actomyosin ATPase rate to decrease at submaximal Ca 2+ and increase at maximal Ca 2+ activation. These results suggest that dissociation of force-generating cross bridges during a twitch causes the off rate of Ca 2+ from troponin C to increase (a decrease in the Ca 2+ affinity of troponin C), thus decreasing the Ca 2+ sensitivity and resulting in the deactivation of the muscle. The results also suggest that the Fenn effect only exists at maximal but not submaximal force-activating Ca 2+ concentrations.
Is the Trading of Inverse ETFs a Bearish Signal

In this study, we examine the trading activity of inverse ETFs in an attempt to explain whether inverse ETF volume contains bearish information about future market prices. Our two main results are, first, inverse ETF trading activity occurs after periods of negative returns suggesting that traders of those funds are not contrarian traders and are instead momentum traders. Second, we find that inverse ETF trading activity does not contain any predictive ability about future index price movements. Combined with our first finding, the second result indicates that there is little, if any, information contained in the trading of inverse ETFs. These conclusions hold when we condition on whether the ETF is leveraged and unleveraged.
The diagnosis and treatment of thromboangiitis obliterans in the vascular centers of Army general hospitals.

Abstract The diagnosis of Buerger's disease, thromboangiitis obliterans, was made in 274 of 3,778 patients admitted to the vascular centers of the United States Army General Hospitals. Except for the fact that the condition was generally seen in its earlier stages, its manifestations were not essentially different from those observed in civilians. Intermittent claudication was the initial symptom in two-thirds of the patients. The average duration of symptoms before admission was 21.9 months. All the patients were men and only 20 per cent were of the Jewish race. The diagnosis was made in seven Negro patients. Ninety-two per cent of the cases were in the age group of 26 to 40 years. Blood vessels in two or more extremities were found to be involved in 62.5 per cent of the patients. Oscillometry and the measurement of skin temperatures in a constant temperature room after blocking the sympathetic vasoconstrictor impulses helped in making the diagnosis and in planning treatment. Chief emphasis was placed on complete abstinence from smoking. Sympathectomy was the treatment of choice in those cases which gave clinical evidence of increased vasomotor tone. Good results were obtained, but only in those patients who abstained completely from smoking.
Regional differences in cervical cancer incidence among American Indians and Alaska Natives, 1999–2004

BACKGROUND. Reports from limited geographic regions indicate higher rates of cervical cancer incidence in American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) women than in women of other races. However, accurate determinations of cervical cancer incidence in AI/AN women have been hampered by racial misclassification in central cancer registries. METHODS. The authors linked data from cancer registries participating in the National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program with Indian Health Service (IHS) enrollment records to improve identification of AI/AN race. NPCR and SEER data were combined to estimate annualized age-adjusted rates (expressed per 100,000 persons) for the diagnosis years 1999 to 2004. Analyses focused on counties known to have less racial misclassification, and results were stratified by IHS Region. Approximately 56% of AI/ANs in the US reside in these counties. The authors examined overall and age-specific incidence rates and stage at diagnosis for AI/AN women compared with non-Hispanic white (NHW) women. RESULTS. Invasive cervical cancer incidence rates among AI/AN women varied nearly 2-fold across IHS regions, with the highest rates reported in the Southern Plains (14.1) and Northern Plains (12.5); the lowest rates were in the Eastern region and the Pacific Coast. Overall, AI/AN women had higher rates of cervical cancer than NHW women and were more likely to be diagnosed with later stage disease. CONCLUSIONS. The wide regional variation of invasive cervical cancer incidence indicates an important need for health services research regarding cervical cancer screening and prevention education as well as policy development regarding human papillomavirus vaccine use, particularly in the regions with high incidence rates. Cancer 2008;113(5 suppl):1234–43. Published 2008 by the American Cancer Society.
The Rise of the Biomedical Sciences Master's Program at U.S. Medical Colleges

Background: U.S. medical colleges commonly administer both M.D. and Ph.D. programs, but the value and application of these degrees are being challenged by economic developments. Summary: In medicine, the country faces a long-term period of cost cutting and new models for efficient healthcare delivery. In research, the outlook for the independently creative career is bleak, owing to the failure of the National Institutes of Health to engineer a sustainable program of scientists’ training and subsequent funding of the trained scientists’ research. However, an educational bright spot for medical colleges has been the biomedical science master's program. Conclusions: These programs have been highly popular with students and have the potential of reinvigorating the pool of student researchers, educating professionals in allied fields who are competent advocates for biomedical research, and providing professionals who can enter the healthcare delivery system with reduced expense, for example, as genetic or pers...
Influence of ejection fraction and valvular regurgitation on the accuracy of aortic valve area determination.

Objective To examine the influence of left ventricular dysfunction, aortic regurgitation, and mitral regurgitation on commonly used methods for aortic valve area (AVA) determination. Background Each method for AVA determination has its inherent limitations. Methods AVA determinations by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) using planimetry, transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) with application of the continuity equation, and cardiac catheterization applying the Gorlin formula were performed in 74 patients with aortic stenosis. The severity of the aortic stenosis was defined by consensus of at least two methods. Over- or underestimation of AVA associated with ejection fraction, aortic regurgitation, mitral regurgitation, or severity of the aortic stenosis for each method in relation to the other two methods was assessed. Results Mean AVAs were 1.05 +/- 0.51 by TEE, 1.06 +/- 0.51 by TTE, and 1.08 +/- 0.53 by cardiac catheterization. An overestimation of the severity of the aortic stenosis by the Gorlin formula in patients with moderate-to-severe aortic regurgitation as compared to TEE-derived data was found (P = 0.014). A similar trend of overestimation by catheterization in comparison with the TTE data was found. In the context of moderate-to-severe mitral regurgitation, AVA determination by TTE overestimated the degree of aortic stenosis as compared to TEE (P = 0.011) and cardiac catheterization (P = 0.023). Conclusions Overall mean AVA did not differ between methods, suggesting that these three methods are equally accurate in a nonselected clinical patient group. However, in the presence of significant aortic regurgitation, the two echocardiographic methods appear more accurate. Our observation of an overestimation of the severity of aortic stenosis by TTE in the presence of moderate-to-severe mitral regurgitation indicates that this possibility should be accounted for in clinical decisions based on TTE determinations of AVA.
Syphilis and hepatitis B Co-infection among HIV-infected, sex-trafficked women and girls, Nepal.

US Department of State, Ofﬁce of Trafﬁcking in Persons; Harvard University Center for AIDS Research
Effects of varying protein and energy intakes on growth and metabolic response in low birth weight infants

Growth (weight, length, head circumference, and skinfold thickness), retention of major nutrients (nitrogen, sodium, potasium, chloride, calcium, and phosphorus), and chemical indices of protein adequacy (plasma albumin and transthyretin concentrations) and excess (blood urea nitrogen concentration and acid-base status; plasma amino acid concentrations) were determined serially from the time desired intake was tolerated until discharge weight (2200 gm) was reached in low birth weight infants (birth weight 900 to 1750 gm) fed one of three formulas, which provided protein and energy intakes, respectively, of 2.24 gm/kg/day and 115 kcal/kg/day (group 1), 3.6 gm/kg/day and 115 kcal/kg/day (group 2), and 3.5 gm/kg/day and 149 kcal/kg/day (group 3). Weight gain and rate of increase in length and head circumference were less in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3. Retention of most major nutrients also was less in group 1, as was blood urea nitrogen concentration, plasma albumin and transthyretin concentrations, and plasma concentrations of several amino acids. The rate of weight gain was not significantly greater in group 3 than in group 2, but the rate of increase in skinfold thickness was greater in this group. Neither nutrient retention nor metabolic indices differed between groups 2 and 3. These results suggest that a protein intake of 2.24 gm/kg/day is inadequate for the type of LBW infants studied, that the higher protein intakes are well tolerated, and that an energy intake of 149 vs 115 kcal/kg/day does not enhance utilization of the higher protein intakes studied.
Self-compassion as a moderator of thinness-related pressures' associations with thin-ideal internalization and disordered eating

During situations that threaten personal adequacy, people high in self-compassion are kind and caring toward themselves, mindful of their distress, and recognize that being imperfect is part of the human experience. Therefore, self-compassion may offset certain disorders (e.g., eating disorders) associated with environmental threats (e.g., thinness-related pressures). In this cross-sectional study, we explored self-compassion's associations with threats involving thinness-related pressures (from friends, family, partners, and media), thin-ideal internalization, and disordered eating among an online sample of 435 U.S. community women. Findings indicated that self-compassion buffered the links from media thinness-related pressure to disordered eating and thin-ideal internalization. Furthermore, higher self-compassion was directly associated with fewer perceived thinness-related pressures, lower thin-ideal internalization, and lower disordered eating. Collectively, these findings add to the growing conceptualization of self-compassion as beneficial to eating behavior and help justify pursuing rigorous longitudinal and clinical examinations of self-compassion as a protective factor of disordered eating.
Terahertz air photonics for standoff explosive detection

Terahertz wave generation and detection using air as both the terahertz wave emitter and sensor media through nonlinear optical processes similar to four-wave mixing (named terahertz air photonics) were introduced. Due to the unique features of this technique, it is possible to find applications for terahertz air photonics in remote sensing and identification of explosives by sending optical beams rather than terahertz beams far away and generating and detecting terahertz waves in the vicinity of the target. As one of the most important steps for the standoff explosive detection application, we demonstrated standoff intense terahertz wave generation by sending an 800-nm femtosecond laser pulse and its second harmonic at a distance of 17 meters, which is the current limit allowed by the laser pulse energy and the length of our laboratory. A phase compensator was specifically designed to compensate for the temporal walk-off between the 800-nm pulse and its second harmonic travelling in dispersive air.
Carbon stain effects from SEM exposure

Due to resolution limitations in optical measurement technology, electron microscopy is becoming the preferred method of metrology for reticles. In addition, electron microscopy provides an excellent means for imaging and defect analysis. Therefore, the use of Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) on photomasks is increasing, and will continue to do so as feature sizes reduce. One disadvantage to this technology is the deposition of carbon in the exposure area. Experiments were conducted to quantify transmission loss, feature size variation, and stain thickness as a result of this deposition. Results suggest that minimal SEM exposure, including single measurements and imaging, has a negligible effect on the properties tested. Significant changes in transmission and feature size were noticed after multiple exposures. Experiments were conducted to remove the carbon stain, in an attempt to return the masks to the pre-exposure conditions.
418 PEDIATRIC PHARMACOKINETICS OF IMIPENEM

Only limited data are available on the pharmacokinetics of imipenem, a new carbapenem antibiotic, in children. We treated 14 children (age 8 mo to 10 yrs) who had non-CNS infections with imipenem-cilastatin. Children 10) in all children. The plasma concentrations of imipenem (assayed microbiologically), and the calculated pharmacokinetic parameters are as follows: In 4 patients (2 in each dose group) the pharmacokinetics of imipenem after the initial dose and after multiple doses were compared. There were no statistically significant differences. The pharmacokinetics of imipenem are similar in younger children (8 mo to 3 yrs) and older (3-12 yrs) children. A dose of 15 mgAg/dose q6h would provide satisfactory plasma levels without drug accumulation in both age groups.
Social Work and Public Social Services Practice: A Status Report:

The authors review the current status of the social work labor force within the public sector by means of an analysis of the National Association of Social Workers member data base for 1988 and 1999, with additional data drawn from a 1993 member survey. Changes in the proportion and composition of the public social services labor force are documented, including education, experience, gender, and ethnicity. The decreasing professional social work labor force within public social services is discussed within the context of the realities of public social services practice and social work's historic place within this sector. The authors encourage debate about the implications of these trends, focusing on whether social work should influence labor-force trends or be influenced by them.
Investigation of charge trapping at the oxide/semiconductor interface for MBE-grown GaN films

Charge trapping resulting in localized band bending on MBE-grown GaN films was investigated using a new combination of conducting atomic force microscopy (CAFM) and scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM). CAFM was first used to locally inject charge at the surface oxide/semiconductor interface, and then SKPM was performed to monitor the evolution of the resulting surface potential. In a dark environment, the additionally charged interface states due to CAFM charge injection resulted in an induced additional band bending that persisted for hours. The induced band bending is nominal (<0.5 eV) for CAFM voltages less than 8 V, and reaches a saturation value of ~3 eV for voltages greater than 10 V. The saturation band bending corresponds to a total density of charged interface states (2×10 12 cm -2 ) that is double the value observed for the intrinsic surface. Induced band bending could still be observed up to 4 h after charge injection, indicating that charge trapping is relatively stable in a dark environment. However, charged interface states could be rapidly neutralized by illumination with UV light. A phenomenological model based on a tunneling mechanism was used to successfully describe the CAFM charge injection, where electrons travel from the tip through an oxide barrier and become trapped at oxide/GaN interface states. Saturation occurs due to the existence of a finite density of chargeable states at the interface. After charge injection, the decrease in induced band bending with time was found to be consistent with a thermionic model of charge transfer from the interface to the bulk.
The D2 dopamine receptor gene: A review of association studies in alcoholism

Following our initial observation that the Al allele of the D2 dopamine receptor (DRD2) gene was associated with alcoholism, a number of studies, both in the United States and abroad, have attempted to replicate and extend this finding in different Caucasian populations. In nine independent studies containing a total of 491 heterogeneous alcoholics (less severe and severe) and 495 heterogeneous controls (assessed and unassessed for alcoholism), the prevalence of the Al allele was 43.0% in the former group compared to 25.7% in the latter group (odds ratio = 2.18, p < 10(-7)). The prevalence of the Al allele increased to 56.3% in a more homogeneous sample of 158 severe alcoholics (odds ratio = 3.32, p < 10(-8)). Moreover, the Bl allele of the DRD2 gene was also found to be significantly associated with severe alcoholism. Additional data are accruing which also implicate the DRD2 Al and Bl alleles in substance use disorders other than alcoholism. If further studies continue to support the results currently at hand, they would indicate that the DRD2 gene is the most prominent single gene determinant of susceptibility to severe substance abuse. However, the larger role still appears to be played by a combination of environmental factors and as yet unidentified genes.
SU‐FF‐I‐63: Temporal Constrained Registration of Arbitrary Surface Contours for Use in 4D Radiation Therapy

Purpose: To quantify the validity of the temporal interpolation provided by a nonlinear uncorrelated contour based path length minimizing deformable registration algorithm in 4D radiation therapy.Method and Materials: The anatomical surfaces are represented as triangulated meshes. The registration algorithm is implemented by defining a norm between the triangulated meshes, based on the algorithms of Glaunes and Vaillant. This algorithm matches two surfaces as opposed to image intensities or specific points. Additionally, it optimizes the path between them allowing for a temporal interpolation. The registration is defined as the flow of an unlabeled 3D point set to an arbitrary target surface that minimizes both the norm between the target and registered surface and the non‐linear path length between the source and registered surface. Ground truth surfaces were generated from 4D lung datasets using the semi‐automatic mesh segmentation routine from a research version of Pinnacle, with expert manual correction. Results: To test this algorithm we compared its ability to interpolate intermediate shapes with a standard linear interpolation technique. We found that this algorithm performs comparably. The similarity metric used was an Euclidean distance error metric between the ground truth surface and a surface interpolated between a previous and subsequent ground truth surface. It was calculated between the interpolated and truth vertexes and their closest points on the truth and interpolated surfaces, respectively. This metric is independent of the interpolation and surface triangulation used, and thus is applicable to other interpolation algorithms. Conclusion: This work shows that this general, path length minimizing deformable registration algorithm based interpolation performs similarly to linear interpolation in approximately correlated, intrafractional datasets. This algorithm has the advantage of utilizing surfaces with arbitrary triangulations without point correspondences. We further discovered that this specific algorithm exhibited numerical instabilities that require further investigation.
The Role of Nonlinguistic Stimuli and Semantic Relations in Children's Acquisition of Grammatical Utterances.

Abstract Eighteen children, randomly assigned to one of six conditions, were trained in the use of two-word subject-verb (e.g. “mommy go”) utterances. The groups differed in (1) the number of different semantic relations theoretically underlying the subject-verb utterances on which the children were trained, and (2) the extent to which these semantic relations were associated with nonlinguistic events. The results indicated that the children acquired the subject-verb utterance forms more readily when they were also exposed to the events to which the utterances actually referred. Provided that the subject-verb utterances were related to ongoing events, the number of relations “underlying” these utterances did not appear critical. These results suggest that the child's acquisition of novel and grammatical utterances describing nonlinguistic stimuli highly similar to those in his natural environment are amenable to experimental control.
First Report of Brown Root Rot of Alfalfa Caused by Phoma sclerotioides in Colorado and New Mexico.

Brown root rot (BRR), caused by the fungal pathogen Phoma sclerotioides G. Preuss ex Sacc. (synonym Plenodomus meliloti Dearn. & G.B. Sanford), is associated with winterkill, slow emergence from winter dormancy, and yield loss of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) (1,2). BRR is a problem in regions with severe winters and is common in Alaska and Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. It was first observed in the continental United States in Wyoming during 1996 (2) and has subsequently been found in Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Wisconsin. In the intermountain valleys of northern New Mexico and western Colorado, winters can be severe; alfalfa winterkill events occur periodically, but it is unknown if BRR is present. In May 2006, alfalfa plants were collected from production fields in Huerfano, Otero, and Rio Grande counties in Colorado and Rio Arriba and Taos counties in New Mexico and assessed for BRR. Two to three fields were sampled per county and 20 or 40 plants were c...
Effects of socioeconomic factors on public high school outcomes and rankings

The authors used data on public high schools in New Hampshire to demonstrate how the socioeconomic status (SES) of the district can help explain variations in students' average standardized test scores and college-attendance rates and subsequent rankings of schools within states. The authors show how states can use multiple-outcome measures to derive an alternative ranking of high schools that removes the contributions of SES to the school-level outcomes and how these rankings compare with similar rankings that would be obtained solely on the basis of observed outcomes. Results demonstrate that socioeconomic factors account for a large portion of the variations in school-level outcomes in New Hampshire and that the subsequent rankings of schools can change dramatically after controlling for these factors. The methodology that the authors present can be replicated easily in other states and applied to different choices of outcome and control measures.
Magnetic and Transport Properties of the System La1-xSrxCoO3-δ (0 < x ≤ 0.50)

Magnetic and transport measurements on the system La{sub 1-x}Sr{sub x} CoO{sub 3-{delta}}(0 < x {le} 0.50, {delta} = 0 for 0 {le} x < 0.30, and {delta} (x) {le} 0.06 for 0.30 {le} x {le} 0.50) have led to a phase diagram for this system. Upon Sr doping, the material segregates into hole-rich, metallic ferromagnetic regions and a hole-poor matrix similar to LaCoO{sub 3}. The Co ions of the ferromagnetic phase are in intermediate-spin configurations; the hole-poor matrix experiences a thermally induced low-spin to high-spin transition. For low Sr doping (x < 0.20), the hole-rich regions are isolated from one another and show superparamagnetic behavior below T{sub c}{approx}240 K; longrange magnetic order via frustrated intercluster interactions occurs below a superparamagnetic freezing temperature T{sub g} that increases with x. At x = 0.20, the coupling between the intermediate-spin, metallic ferromagnetic clusters within an interpenetrating matrix reaches a magnetic percolation threshold that orders the clusters ferromagnetically below T{sub c}{approx} 250 K. However, the electrical conduction in the ferromagnetic regions is modulated by the matrix, which has a spin state that varies with temperature. This causes a reentrant semiconductive behavior in the samples with 0.20 {le} x {le} 0.25. Metallic ferromagnetic behavior ismore » found for 0.30 {le} x {le} 0.50 even though the presence of an interpenetrating hole-poor matrix persists to x = 0.50. A ferromagnetic fraction less than unity leads to peculiar magnetic properties that have been attributed in the literature to a magnetic {open_quotes}cluster glass.{close_quotes}« less
A NOTE ON THE NORMALIZED ERRORS IN ARCH AND STOCHASTIC VOLATILITY MODELS

It is well-known that conditional heteroskedasticity thickens the tails of the unconditional distribution of an error term relative to its conditional distribution. To what extent do imperfect forecasts of the conditional variance undo this tail thickening? This note considers the effect of changing the quality of the information embodied in a forecast of a conditional variance. Adding noise of a certain form thickens the tails of the normalized errors, but decreasing the amount of information used in the forecast may or may not thicken the tails. We also explore the relation between tail thickness and various notions of "optimal" volatility forecasts. The relationship is surprisingly complicated.
Difluoromethylene exchange in the preparation of fluorinated bis-phosphonates

Abstract The application of the Michaelis-Becker variation to the preparation of unsymmetrical F -methylene bis -phosphonates gives a mixture of both symmetrical and unsymmetrical bis -phosphonates. The reaction is best explained by dissociation of the intermediate F -methylene phosphonate ylide and carbene scrambling among the potential dialkyl phosphite anions.
Prospective long-term results and quality-of-life assessment after Dura-II penile prosthesis placement

Abstract Objectives To evaluate prospectively the long-term device reliability and patient satisfaction after Dura-II malleable penile prosthesis implantation. Methods Between 1992 and 1996, 94 patients underwent Dura-II implantation for erectile dysfunction. Patients were prospectively examined and completed standardized questionnaires regarding sexual activity, prosthesis function, intercourse satisfaction, and overall quality of life. An independent statistician analyzed these data. Results The mean patient age was 63 years, and the mean patient follow-up was 5.7 years. Eighty-five patients were available for long-term evaluation. Fourteen patients died during the follow-up period. One patient was lost to follow-up, and eight prostheses (9%) were explanted; however, no mechanical defects were found in the explanted prostheses. Seventy-six percent and 87% of patients reported satisfactory rigidity and ease of concealing the device, respectively. Seventy-six percent of patients remained sexually active during the evaluation period, and 87% of patients reported that the prosthesis improved their overall quality of life. Eighty-five percent would undergo the implant surgery again, and 88% percent of patients would recommend the Dura-II prosthesis to a friend. Conclusions The Dura-II malleable penile prosthesis provides good rigidity, ability to conceal the device, and mechanical reliability, as demonstrated by the results of this long-term study. Most patients stated they would have the prosthesis placed again and would recommend it to a friend.
Gastric antral vascular ectasia (watermelon stomach) in patients with systemic sclerosis

This report describes 5 patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) who developed severe, recurrent upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding due to gastric antral vascular ectasia (GAVE). The clinical records, the endoscopic findings, and the histologic appearance of biopsy specimens and surgically resected gastric tissue from the patients were reviewed. All 5 patients developed severe and recurrent episodes of upper GI bleeding leading to severe anemia requiring multiple transfusions. The cutaneous involvement was diffuse in 3 patients and limited in 2. All but 1 had cutaneous telangiectasias. The diagnosis of GAVE was established by endoscopy within 3 years of the diagnosis of SSc in all cases. One patient required heater probe cautery, 2 required laser coagulation, and 2 underwent surgical resection of the gastric antrum for control of the GI bleeding. The possibility of GAVE should be considered in SSc patients who have recurrent upper GI bleeding. It is suggested that the antral vascular lesions in these patients may represent a component of the spectrum of vascular alterations of SSc.
Indoor Air Quality: Exploring Policy Options to Reduce Human Exposures

Deciding between the different policy approaches available for reducing human exposures to indoor pollutants is an exceptionally complex task. These options can range from waiting until more definitive information is available to enacting regulatory standards, with many variations in between. This paper presents some of the factors policy-makers must consider in establishing indoor air quality policies, and the role researchers should play in ensuring that indoor air policies are based on the best available scientific information.
Is compassion for others stress buffering? Consequences of compassion and social support for physiological reactivity to stress

The present study examined the role of compassion for others and social support in physiological stress reactivity. In this experiment, participants who had previously completed an online assessment of compassion experienced a social stress task in front of either two supportive or neutral evaluators, while their blood pressure, cortisol, high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), and liking for the evaluators were monitored. Participants’ compassion for others interacted with social support condition to buffer their physiological reactivity to stress. When provided with social support during the task, higher trait compassion was associated with lower blood pressure reactivity, lower cortisol reactivity, and higher HF-HRV reactivity. Higher compassion was also associated with greater liking for the supportive evaluators. These relationships were not observed for participants in the neutral condition, regardless of their trait compassion. Compassion for others may increase our ability to receive social support, which may lead to more adaptive profiles of stress reactivity.
The Relationships Between Equilibria and Positive Solutions of Certain Nonlinear Elliptic Systems

Abstract LetM(u, v) = 0,N(u, v) = 0 define two distinct phase curves Γ1, Γ2in the (u, v)-phase plane. This paper presents results on the relationships among the positive equilibria, the phase curves, and the existence of positive solutions to the PDE system Δu + uM(u, v) = 0, Δv + vN(u, v) = 0 in Ω ⊂ R n under Dirichlet boundary conditions, where Ω is a bounded domain andM, Nare monotone functions.
Customer waiting‐time distributions under base‐stock policies in single‐facility multi‐item production systems

We derive efficient and highly accurate approximations for the customer waiting-time distributions experienced in stochastic economic lot scheduling systems (SELSPs) that are governed by general base-stock policies under a cyclic or more general periodic item sequence. SELSPs involve settings where several items need to be produced in a common facility with limited capacity, under significant uncertainty regarding demands, unit production times, setup times, or combinations thereof. Under a base-stock policy one continues production of a given item until a specific target level is reached; the different items are produced in a given periodic sequence, possibly with idle times inserted between the completion of an item's production batch and the setup of the next item. We also demonstrate how base-stock levels can be specified efficiently to guarantee any prescribed fill rate within a specific service window or distribution of service windows.
Is γ-aminobutyric acid the neurotransmitter of barnacle photoreceptors?

Abstract The hypothesis that γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the neurotransmitter ofbarnacle photoreceptors was tested by studying the effect of GABA on the membrane of the cell directly postsynaptic to the photoreceptor, by testing the ability of GABA antagonists to block transmission at this synapse, and by estimating the free GABA content of the photoreceptor. The results of these experiments suggest that GABA is not the photoreceptor's neurotransmitter.
Single Mode Theory for Impedance Eduction in Large-Scale Ducts with Grazing Flow

An impedance eduction theory for a rigid wall duct containing an acoustic liner with an unknown impedance and uniform grazing flow is presented. The unique features of the theory are: 1) non-planar waves propagate in the hard wall sections of the duct, 2) input data consist solely of complex acoustic pressures acquired on a wall adjacent to the liner, and 3) multiple higher-order modes may exist in the direction perpendicular to the liner and the opposite rigid wall. The approach is to first measure the axial propagation constant of a dominant higher-order mode in the liner sample section. This axial propagation constant is then used in conjunction with a closed-form solution to a reduced form of the convected Helmholtz equation and the wall impedance boundary condition to educe the liner impedance. The theory is validated on a conventional liner whose impedance spectrum is educed in two flow ducts with different cross sections. For the frequencies and Mach numbers of interest, no higher-order modes propagate in the hard wall sections of the smaller duct. A benchmark method is used to educe the impedance spectrum in this duct. A dominant higher-order vertical mode propagates in the larger duct for similar test conditions, and the current theory is applied to educe the impedance spectrum. Results show that when the theory is applied to data acquired in the larger duct with a dominant higher-order vertical mode, the same impedance spectra is educed as that obtained in the small duct where only the plane wave mode is present and the benchmark method is used. This result holds for each higher-order vertical mode that is considered.
Signal subspace change detection in averaged multi-look SAR imagery

Modern Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) signal processing algorithms could retrieve accurate and subtle information regarding a scene that is being interrogated by an airborne radar system. An important reconnaissance problem that is being studied via the use of SAR systems and their sophisticated signal processing methods involves detecting changes in an imaged scene. In these problems, the user interrogates a scene with a SAR system at two different time points (e.g. different days); the resultant two SAR databases that we refer to as reference and test data, are used to determine where targets have entered or left the imaged scene between the two data acquisitions. For instance, X band SAR systems have the potential to become a potent tool to determine whether mines have been recently placed in an area. This paper describes an algorithm for detecting changes in averaged multi-look SAR imagery. Averaged multi-look SAR images are preferable to full aperture SAR reconstructions when the imaging algorithm is approximation based (e.g. polar format processing), or motion data are not accurate over a long full aperture. We study the application of a SAR detection method, known as Signal Subspace Processing, that is based on the principles of 2D adaptive filtering. We identify the change detection problem as a binary hypothesis-testing problem, and identify an error signal and its normalized version to determine whether i) there is no change in the imaged scene; or ii) a target has been added to the imaged scene. A statistical analysis of the error signal is provided to show its properties and merits. Results are provided for data collected by an X band SAR platform and processed to form non-coherently look-averaged SAR images.
New divide-and-conquer techniques for finding disjoint paths

The paper presents the first parallel algorithm that finds maximal vertex-disjoint paths (MVDP) between sources and sinks in an undirected planar graph using poly-logarithm time and a linear number of processors on the parallel random access machine (PRAM). It also reduces the MVDP problem to the depth-first search (DFS) problem for the first time. The reduction treats a graph as a tripartite graph formed by sources, sinks, and maximal connected components of intermediate vertices, and successively uses a novel divide-and-conquer technique based on cycle separators to decompose those maximal connected components into smaller components. Consequently it constructs a DNC MVDP algorithm for graphs whose maximal connected components of intermediate vertices are planar. >
A Non-Isotropic Parametric Model for Image Spectra

Image restoration and enhancement problems are often considered using a solution based on a model for the image's power spectral density (PSD). This paper considers a new PSD model for images through modification of a previously considered isotropic model. The new model and an algorithm for estimating its parameters are presented. Several simulations considering PSD estimation for images corrupted by additive noise, distortion, and resolution reduction are presented to demonstrate the improvements made with this new modelling approach.
Towards Efficient, Stable, and Fair Random Access Networks: A Conjectural Equilibrium Approach

For wireless LANs, such as IEEE 802.11 networks, the channel utilization efficiency, the system stability, and the fairness of bandwidth allocation are three important criteria for designing medium access control (MAC) protocols. This paper aims to design a simple access mechanism optimized for all the aforementioned issues from a game theoretic perspective. In particular, this paper enables nodes to form simple internal belief functions on how their competitors would react to their transmission actions. The steady-state outcome of this multiuser interaction can be characterized as a conjectural equilibrium (CE). We propose a distributed algorithm, Conjecture-based Random Access (CBRA), which enables nodes to independently update their transmission probabilities based on their internal beliefs and local observations. For CBRA, we first derive the sufficient conditions that guarantee its local stability and global convergence. We analytically show that all the achievable operating points in the throughput region are essentially stable CE corresponding to different belief initializations. Moreover, we show that CBRA approximately achieves the weighted fairness for the nodes carrying different traffic classes. Numerical simulations verify that the system performance significantly outperforms existing protocols, such as the 802.11 DCF and the priority based fair medium access control (P-MAC) protocol, in terms of throughput, fairness, convergence, and stability.
Direct chemical evidence for sphingolipid domains in the plasma membranes of fibroblasts.

Sphingolipids play important roles in plasma membrane structure and cell signaling. However, their lateral distribution in the plasma membrane is poorly understood. Here we quantitatively analyzed the sphingolipid organization on the entire dorsal surface of intact cells by mapping the distribution of 15N-enriched ions from metabolically labeled 15N-sphingolipids in the plasma membrane, using high-resolution imaging mass spectrometry. Many types of control experiments (internal, positive, negative, and fixation temperature), along with parallel experiments involving the imaging of fluorescent sphingolipids—both in living cells and during fixation of living cells—exclude potential artifacts. Micrometer-scale sphingolipid patches consisting of numerous 15N-sphingolipid microdomains with mean diameters of ∼200 nm are always present in the plasma membrane. Depletion of 30% of the cellular cholesterol did not eliminate the sphingolipid domains, but did reduce their abundance and long-range organization in the plasma membrane. In contrast, disruption of the cytoskeleton eliminated the sphingolipid domains. These results indicate that these sphingolipid assemblages are not lipid rafts and are instead a distinctly different type of sphingolipid-enriched plasma membrane domain that depends upon cortical actin.
Microarrays and genetic epidemiology: a multipurpose tool for a multifaceted field.

The advent of molecular technologies that allow the collection and analysis of large amounts of genetic data is rapidly transforming the field of genetic epidemiology. Whether monitoring infectious outbreaks or identifying genotypic variations that underlie disease susceptibility, genetic epidemiology relies heavily on the analysis of multiple, independently derived results. By allowing the simultaneous monitoring of thousands of genetic or expression data points, microarrays are emerging as particularly powerful tools. Several recent reviews have described array manufacturing and the types of scientific questions that can exploit this technology, but few have addressed how the intended use of an array can dictate its design. This review will focus on this latter issue, with particular emphasis on the genetic epidemiology of infectious disease. The design of arrays for genotyping, expression profiling, and fingerprinting are presented, and examples of recent epidemiological studies are used to illustrate the applications' strong points and limitations. In addition to discussing arrays' ability to provide global views of gene identity or function, the review will describe design options for creating arrays that detect multiple genetic variations. It will also examine the reliability of array-generated fingerprints, assay accessibility, and possibilities for sharing and comparing data across studies. Although many challenges lie ahead, microarrays' multiple abilities appear uniquely poised to accelerate the advance of genetic epidemiology's multiple fronts.
Pathways to poly-victimization.

Some children, whom we have labeled poly-victims, experience very high levels of victimizations of different types. This article finds support for a conceptual model suggesting that there may be four distinct pathways to becoming such a poly-victim: (a) residing in a dangerous community, (b) living in a dangerous family, (c) having a chaotic, multiproblem family environment, or (d) having emotional problems that increase risk behavior, engender antagonism, and compromise the capacity to protect oneself. It uses three waves of the Developmental Victimization Survey, a nationally representative sample of children aged 2-17 years. All four hypothesized pathways showed significant independent association with poly-victim onset. For the younger children, the symptom score representing emotional problems was the only significant predictor. For the older children, the other three pathway variables were significant predictors--dangerous communities, dangerous families, and problem families--but not symptom score. Poly-victimization onset was also disproportionately likely to occur in the year prior to children's 7th and 15th birthday, corresponding roughly to the entry into elementary school and high school. The identification of such pathways and the ages of high onset should help practitioners design programs for preventing vulnerable children from becoming poly-victims. Language: en
Validation of the Written Administration of the Short Literacy Survey

Most health literacy assessments are time consuming and administered verbally. Written self-administration of measures may facilitate more widespread assessment of health literacy. This study aimed to determine the intermethod reliability and concurrent validity of the written administration of the 3 subjective health literacy questions of the Short Literacy Survey (SLS). The Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine (REALM) and the shortened test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults (S-TOFHLA) were the reference measures of health literacy. Two hundred ninety-nine participants completed the written and verbal administrations of the SLS from June to December 2012. Intermethod reliability was demonstrated when (a) the written and verbal SLS score did not differ and (b) written and verbal scores were highly correlated. The written items were internally consistent (Cronbach's α = .733). The written total score successfully identified persons with sixth-grade equivalency or less for literacy on the REAL...