cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optimal spacecraft reorientation for earth orbiting clusters: applications to Techsat 21

Abstract Aperture synthesis using distributed satellite systems opens up new challenges for designing propulsive maneuvering algorithms as well as orbital configurations. The ability to place these individual satellites in their desired locations is directly related to the overall performance of the system. This paper discusses such issues and determines the optimal cluster trajectories for problems ranging from cluster initialization to cluster reorientation for minimum energy problems. The determination of these optimal trajectories is based upon the calculus of variation approach. As in most optimal control problems, determination of the costates is not an easy task. Assuming time-invariant first-order dynamics (Hill's Equations) leads to a simple linear quadratic tracking problem, thus allowing the co-state trajectories to be estimated. These co-state estimates are then used to determine the optimal trajectories for the clusters through a second-order multiple shooting algorithm. Results specific to cluster initialization and reorientation for the Techsat 21 flight experiment system are presented. It was found that the flight experiment can be initialized rather quickly but a maneuvering time of at least three orbital periods for the geo-location problem is required.
Effects of solvent-particle interaction kinetics on microstructure formation during three-dimensional printing

Lactone-based absorbable polyesters, such as polylactide-co-glycolides, are commonly used for the construction of biomedical devices. Many such devices can be constructed by a novel manufacturing technology known as three dimensional printingTM (3DPTM), which fabricates complex structures by ink-jet liquid binder onto loose powder in a laminated fashion. The predominant 3DP binding mechanism for lactone based absorbable polyester powder is dissolution-reprecipitation. The objective of this study is to compare the relative time scales for particle dissolution and solvent evaporation during 3DP processing. An experimental setup was devised to determine the time scale for particle dissolution. This time scale was found to be particle size independent for small particles, but size dependent for larger particles. The time scale for chloroform evaporation from typical 3DP powder beds was determined to be on the same order as the particle dissolution time scale. Dissolution-evaporation (DE) plots were constructed to illustrate the relationship between evaporation time scale, dissolution time scale, particle size, printing conditions, and external mass transfer conditions. The DE plot provides a good estimate of the necessary printing conditions under which the evaporation time is sufficient for particle dissolution for a given particle dimension. Microstructural analysis of the printed structures demonstrated the importance of the relative time scales of particle dissolution and solvent evaporation. Practical implications of these findings in 3DP are described.
Some Automatic Film Reading Activities In The United States, 1965 - 1970

The 1960's will be remembered as the time when computers began to be applied to problems of technical, scientific and economic importance. In photo optical engineering, one illustration of this development is the application of computers to the processing of pictorial imagery. Techniques of picture filtering, band-width compression and pattern recognition have been studied, which use rather sophisticated mathematical techniques and rely for their application on large digital computers.© (1970) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Implementation of the LANS-α turbulence model in a primitive equation ocean model

This paper presents the first numerical implementation and tests of the Lagrangian-averaged Navier-Stokes-alpha ([email protected]) turbulence model in a primitive equation ocean model. The ocean model with which we work is the Los Alamos Parallel Ocean Program (POP); we refer to POP and our implementation of [email protected] as [email protected] Two versions of [email protected] are presented: the full [email protected] algorithm is derived from the [email protected] primitive equations, but requires a nested iteration that makes it too slow for practical simulations; a reduced [email protected] algorithm is proposed, which lacks the nested iteration and is two to three times faster than the full algorithm. The reduced algorithm does not follow from a formal derivation of the [email protected] model equations. Despite this, simulations of the reduced algorithm are nearly identical to the full algorithm, as judged by globally averaged temperature and kinetic energy, snapshots of temperature and velocity fields, and temperature variance. Both [email protected] algorithms can run stably with longer timesteps than standard POP. Comparison of implementations of full and reduced [email protected] algorithms are made within an idealized test problem that captures some aspects of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, a problem in which baroclinic instability is prominent. Both [email protected] algorithms produce statistics that resemble higher-resolution simulations of standard POP. A linear stability analysis shows that both the full and reduced [email protected] algorithms benefit from the way the [email protected] equations take into account the effects of the small scales on the large. Both algorithms (1) are stable; (2) have an effective Rossby deformation radius that is larger than the deformation radius of the unmodeled equations; and (3) reduce the propagation speeds of the modeled Rossby and gravity waves relative to the unmodeled waves at high wave numbers.
Exercise assessment of arthritic and elderly individuals.

Summary Exercise testing is now widely used as both a diagnostic tool in the elderly and as a means of generating the information necessary to provide them with a valid exercise training prescription. An appropriate medical history and physical examination prior to exercise testing will allow for the adequate assessment of an individual's risk of undergoing an exercise test. Appropriate screening of the individual, assessment of risk prior to exercise, and appropriate monitoring during and following the exercise test have contributed to the relative safety of maximal exercise testing, with statistics indicating roughly one death occurs in every 10000 clinical maximal exercise tests. When designing an exercise test protocol for use in the elderly, their reduced exercise capacities, increased prevalence of CV disease, and the reason for doing the test must be taken into consideration. The Bruce treadmill protocol is the most widely used exercise test in populations of all ages; however, because of its relatively high V 0 2 demands in the initial minutes of exercise, it may not be the optimal protocol for the elderly. Other alternative protocols including the Naughton and Balke tests may be more appropriate, especially when attempting to generate a valid exercise prescription. However, the modified Balke protocol, with a constant speed of 2 miles/h and starting on the level, is probably the best protocol for exercise testing in the elderly for the purposes of generating an exercise prescription. If individuals are unable to undergo exercise tests on a treadmill, cycle and arm ergometer tests provide alternative test modalities, but these have a number of inherent problems that must be considered prior to exercise testing. The interpretation of an elderly individual's ECG responses during a maximal exercise test is intimately related to their risk of having CV disease prior to the exercise test, though fewer false-positive tests will be evident because of the increased prevalence of CV disease in the elderly.
Interaction between high-density lipoprotein subpopulations in apo B-free and abetalipoproteinemic plasma.

Abstract Two populations of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles exist in human plasma. Both contain apolipoprotein in (apo). A-I, but only one contains apo A-II: Lp(AI w AII) and Lp(AI w/o AII). To study the extent of interaction between these particles, apo B-free plasma prepared by the selective removal of apo B-containing lipoproteins (LpB) from the plasma of three normolipidemic (NL) subjects and whole plasma from two patients with abetalipoproteinemia (ABL) were incubated at 37°C for 24 h. Apo B-free plasma samples were used to avoid lipid-exchange between HDL and LpB. Lp(AI w AII) and Lp(AI w/o AII) were isolated from each apo B-free plasma sample before and after incubation and their protein and lipid contents quantified. Before incubation, ABL plasma had reduced levels of Lp(AI w AII) and Lp(AI w/o AII), (40% and 70% of normals, respectively). Compared to the HDL of apo B-free NL plasma, ABL HDL had higher relative contents of free cholesterol, phospholipid and total lipid, and contained more particles with apparent hydrated Stokes diameter in the 9.2–17.0 nm region. These differences were particularly pronounced in particles without apo A-II. Despite their differences, the total cholesterol contents of Lp(AI w AII) increased, while that of Lp(AI w/o AII) decreased in all five plasma samples and the amount of apo A-I in Lp(AI w AII) increased by 6–8 mg/dl in four during the incubation. These compositional changes were accompanied by a relative reduction of particles in the 7.0–8.2 nm Stokes diameter size region and an increase of particles in the 9.2–11.2 nm region. These data are consistent with intravascular modulation between HDL particles with and without apo A-II. The observed increase in apo A-II-associated cholesterol and apo A-I, could involve either the transfer of cholesterol and apo A-I from particles without apo A-II to those with A-II, or the transfer of apo A-II from Lp(AI w AII) to Lp(AI w/o AII). The exact mechanism and direction of the transfer remain to be determined.
Biologically conformal treatment: biomarkers and functional imaging in radiation oncology.

‘Conformal radiation therapy’ is the standard of care in radiation oncology, referring to the process of shaping the radiation beam to precisely match a tumor’s physical dimensions. We describe ‘biologically conformal radiotherapy’, in which the radiation oncologist matches the prescribed treatment to a tumor’s biological characteristics and the host’s predicted tolerance of radiation. This paradigm emphasizes that not all tumors are equally sensitive to radiation; conversely, some patients are especially susceptible to radiation’s side effects. Patients bearing radioresistant tumors or those prone to toxicity may be best treated with the incorporation of targeted radiation modulators or, in extreme cases, by a different modality. The biological characteristics of tumors can be assessed by a wide range of techniques: functional imaging (positron emission tomography and advanced magnetic resonance imaging), single gene/protein molecular techniques and ‘omic’ technologies. This paper reviews the latest adva...
Comparative evaluation of adhesion formation, strength of ingrowth, and textile properties of prosthetic meshes after long-term intra-abdominal implantation in a rabbit.

Background Effective laparoscopic ventral herniorrhaphy usually mandates the use of an intraperitoneal prosthetic. Visceral adhesions and changes in textile characteristics of prosthetics may complicate repairs, especially long-term. The aim of this study was to compare the adhesion formation, tissue ingrowth, and textile characteristics one year after intra-abdominal placement of the commonly used prosthetic meshes. Materials and methods Forty (4 × 4 cm) meshes were sutured using absorbable suture to an intact peritoneum in 20 New Zealand white rabbits. The study groups included: polypropylene (PP) [Marlex; C.R. Bard Inc, Cranston, NJ], expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) [DualMesh; WL Gore, Flagstaff, AZ], ePTFE and PP (ePTFE/PP) [Composix, C.R. Bard Inc], reduced weight PP and oxidized regenerated cellulose (rPP/C) [Proceed; Ethicon, Inc, Somerville, NJ]. The meshes were explanted after one year. Adhesions were scored as a percentage of explanted biomaterials’ affected surface area. Prosthetic shrinkage was calculated. The strength of incorporation and mesh compliance were evaluated using differential variable reluctance transducers. Mesh ingrowth was measured as the load necessary to distract the mesh/tissue complex. Mesh compliance was calculated as the change in linear displacement of the sensors due to applied load. The groups were compared using Student’s t-test and Fisher’s exact test. Results ePTFE had significantly less adhesions (0%) than both ePTFE/PP (40%) and PP (80%) groups (P < 0.001). The mean area of adhesions for the rPP/C (10%) and the ePTFE/PP (14%) groups was less than that for the PP group (40%) (P = 0.02). Prosthetic shrinkage was greatest in the ePTFE (32%) group than in any other group (P = 0.001). There were no differences in mesh incorporation between the groups. At explantation, mesh compliance in the ePTFE group was superior to other meshes (P < 0.0001). The rPP/C mesh induced the smallest change in the compliance of the tissue adjacent to the mesh (P = 0.0001). Conclusions Prosthetic materials demonstrate a wide variety of characteristics. Although exposed PP formed the most adhesions, up to 40% of the other PP-based meshes formed adhesions despite protective barriers. The ePTFE mesh did not induce adhesions and was the most compliant, however, this prosthetic’s contraction was greatest. Reduced weight polypropylene (rPP/C) mesh induced the smallest change in the adjacent tissue pliability/compliance. Understanding of the long-term effects of various prosthetic materials is important to ensure an adequate hernia repair while minimizing postoperative morbidity and patient discomfort.
Nutrition Services and Foods and Beverages Available at School: Results From the School Health Policies and Programs Study 2006

BACKGROUND: Schools are in a unique position to promote healthy dietary behaviors and help ensure appropriate nutrient intake. This article describes the characteristics of both school nutrition services and the foods and beverages sold outside of the school meals program in the United States, including state- and district-level policies and school practices. METHODS: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conducts the School Health Policies and Programs Study every 6 years. In 2006, computer-assisted telephone interviews or self-administered mail questionnaires were completed by state education agency personnel in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and among a nationally representative sample of school districts (n = 445). Computer-assisted personal interviews were conducted with personnel in a nationally representative sample of elementary, middle, and high schools (n = 944). RESULTS: Few states required schools to restrict the availability of deep-fried foods, to prohibit the sale of foods that have low nutrient density in certain venues, or to make healthful beverages available when beverages were offered. While many schools sold healthful foods and beverages outside of the school nutrition services program, many also sold items high in fat, sodium, and added sugars. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition services program practices in many schools continue to need improvement. Districts and schools should implement more food preparation practices that reduce the total fat, saturated fat, sodium, and added sugar content of school meals. In addition, opportunities to eat and drink at school should be used to encourage greater daily consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nonfat or low-fat dairy products.
Recent Advances in Synthesis and Densification of Nanomaterials in Self-Propagating High-Temperature Regime

This invited talk reviews recent advances in synthesis of nanopowders in selfpropagating high-temperature regime with emphasis on chemically-assisted combustion synthesis of nonoxide ceramic nanopowders, specifically SiC, Si3N4, and AlN-BN. Recent results of in-situ densification of intermetallic-ceramic composites formed from nanosized reactants in a combustion regime are also presented. Examples of combustion synthesized TiAl3-Al2O3 and NiAl-Al2O3-CNT nanocomposites are included and discussed.
Neuraminidase-resistant sialyl residues of alpha 1-acid glycoprotein.

Untersuchungen uber die Bindung der Sialinsaure des α1-Saure-Glykoproteins (Orosomucoid) als typisches Glukoproteid des menschlichen Plasmas zeigten, dass dieses endstandige Monosaccharid auf zwei verschiedene Arten gebunden ist. Ein zwar kleiner, aber signifikanter Anteil von Sialinsaure wird ausserst langsam durch das Enzym abgespalten.
Division of a Nucleus lacking a Nucleolus

IT has been suggested from McLeish's cytological studies of the broad bean, Vicia faba, that a nucleus lacking a nucleolus cannot reproduce1. Similarly, Gaulden and Perry2 have shown that mitosis in the grasshopper neuroblast is permanently inhibited when one of two nucleoli is irradiated with an ultraviolet microbeam. The attached X attached XY system ( $$\overline{XX}$$ , $$\overline{XY}$$ ) constructed by Lindsley and Novitski3 in Drosophila provides an opportunity for investigating in another organism the behaviour of a nucleus that is deprived of a nucleolus. Nucleolus organizer regions exist on both the X and Y chromosomes of Drosophila, and none exists on the autosomes. When an $$\overline{XX}$$ female is crossed to an $$\overline{XY}$$ male, four types of zygotes are obtained, each containing the complete set of autosomes, but varying in sex chromosome constitution. With respect to the sex chromosomes, the zygotes are $$\overline{XX}$$ /O, $$\overline{XY}$$ /O, $$\overline{XX}$$ / $$\overline{XY}$$ , and O/O, where O represents the absence of a sex chromosome. The $$\overline{XX}$$ /O become normal females, the $$\overline{XY}$$ /O become normal males, the $$\overline{XX}$$ / $$\overline{XY}$$ become superfemales, and the O/O die during embryogenesis. Hence, 25 per cent of the total embryos should be O/O in character.
Helping the victim of domestic violence.

This paper provides guidelines on how medical providers can help their patients who are victims of domestic violence. A first-hand experience with an abused patient was described and strategies to detect physical abuse were also presented. Among the physical signs observed on a physically abused person are injuries on unusual parts of the body or in central areas (e.g. face neck or throat) fractures that rarely occur by accident and multiple injuries at various stages of healing. Behavioral indicators are often subtle and may include recurrent episodes of injury; repeated visits to health care facilities; complaints of pain without tissue injury; and depression. After recognizing that a patient is a victim of abuse the primary goal of intervention should then be empowerment of the victim. Since most victims are relieved of the opportunity to tell the truth health care professionals should communicate openly with the victim. The victim should also be informed of the local hotline numbers for domestic violence as well as other community resources that they could use.
Report of Bacterial Leaf Spot on Collards and Turnip Leaves in Ohio.

In 2000, circular water-soaked lesions typical of bacterial leaf spot were observed on leaves of collards (Brassica oleracea L. var. viridis) throughout commercial fields in northwest Ohio. Light brown, rectangular, water-soaked lesions were observed on turnip leaves (Brassica rapa L.). Bacterial streaming from lesions on both crops was observed microscopically. Cream colored, fluorescent colonies were isolated from diseased tissues on Pseudomonas F medium, and eight representative colonies (four from collards and four from turnip) were selected and purified. Fatty acid methyl ester analysis was performed on all of the isolates. Two from collards and two from turnip were identified as Pseudomonas syringae pv. maculicola (mean similarity index = 0.82 [MIDI Inc., Newark, DE]). DNA extracts from pure cultures of the P. syringae pv. maculicola strains were used as template in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay with primers derived from the region of the coronatine gene cluster controlling synthesis of th...
971–60 Is the Temperature of Echocardiographic Contrast Media Important?

The effects of temperature on the stability and the reflective properties of echocardiographic contrast media have not been studied. Accordingly, we evaluated the effects of temperature on Albunex® microspheres using an in vitro experimental setup. Contrast solution (5% human albumin and Albunex®, 400:1) was introduced into a 3.5 ml latex balloon and placed in a plastic water tank. Imaging was performed using an HP SONOS-1500 echocardiographic system with a 7.5 MHz transducer. The contrast solution was subjected to different levels of continuous ultrasonic irradiation (0, 15, 20,25,30 and 35 dB) at three different temperatures (8°C, 22°C and 37°C). At each power level, the irradiation was briefly interrupted every 30 sec, and imaging and digitization performed over a 2 sec period. Mean videointensity in the balloon cross-sectional area was measured for every consecutive digitized image. Download : Download high-res image (67KB) Download : Download full-size image Results (1) Videointensity was found to be directly related to temperature induced changes in microbubble volume. (2) Under continuous ultrasonic irradiation, videointensity decreased over time. The slope of this decrease, defined as destruction index, correlated with both transmitted power and temperature, reflecting the destructive effects of irradiation, which were more pronounced at higher temperatures. Conclusion Temperature is a major factor affecting stability and reflectivity of Albunex® microspheres. To improve the reproducibility of contrast enhancement, the temperature of the contrast media should be carefully controlled.
Leiomyoma fibrosis inhibited by liarozole, a retinoic acid metabolic blocking agent

Objective To study the influence of liarozole on leiomyoma cell proliferation and extracellular matrix (ECM) gene expression in immortalized leiomyoma cells. Design Laboratory study. Setting University hospital. Patient(s) None. Intervention(s) Tissue culture, real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, Western blot. Main Outcome Measure(s) Proliferation, messenger RNA (mRNA), and ECM protein expression. Result(s) Proliferation of leiomyoma cells was inhibited by treatment with liarozole at suprapharmacologic concentrations. The mRNA and protein expression of COL1A1, COL4A2, versican, fibromodulin, and fibronectin was increased in untreated leiomyoma cells compared with untreated patient-matched myometrial cells. Extracellular matrix mRNA expression was decreased in a dose-dependent manner in leiomyoma cells treated with pharmacologic concentrations of liarozole. In addition, myometrial cells treated with liarozole demonstrated no statistically significant alteration in ECM regulation. Conclusion(s) Liarozole inhibited ECM protein production at pharmacologic concentrations in immortalized human leiomyoma cells. Retinoic acid metabolic blocking agents represent a potential therapeutic drug family for human leiomyomas.
Computers in NMR. II. experimental investigation of noise and dynamic range in the fourier transform process

Abstract the noise generated in the Fourier transform process has been examined experimentally using specially prepared programs. The dynamic range observable following a Fourier transform has been found to be proportional to the computer's word length and inversely proportional to the number of transformed words and the number of memory locations full at the outset of the transform. Dynamic range can thus be affected by judicious selection of the rf carrier position relative to the large solvent peak and by use of quadrature detection NMR. Block averaging cannot reduce the coherent noise generated by the transform process.
Effects of Mg-Doping on ${\rm HfO}_{2}$ -Based ReRAM Device Switching Characteristics

We report the switching characteristics of Mg-doped HfO2-based ReRAM devices consisting of Ru/ Mg:HfO2/TiN/W stacks. The concentration of the Mg dopant was varied from 0% to 20% for four samples to show the impact on the forming voltage. In addition to reducing the forming voltage from 2.8 to 1.7 V, Mg doping in HfO2 also improved the repeatability in the initial device characteristics, switching characteristics, and retention. The mechanism of conduction was identified as Frenkel-Poole emission in doped and undoped samples in virgin resistance state (VRS). Further analysis showed that the increased conductance in the doped samples in VRS was due to higher carrier concentration.
Quantitative Analysis of Synaptic Release at the Photoreceptor Synapse

Exocytosis from the rod photoreceptor is stimulated by submicromolar Ca2+ and exhibits an unusually shallow dependence on presynaptic Ca2+. To provide a quantitative description of the photoreceptor Ca2+ sensor for exocytosis, we tested a family of conventional and allosteric computational models describing the final Ca2+-binding steps leading to exocytosis. Simulations were fit to two measures of release, evoked by flash-photolysis of caged Ca2+: exocytotic capacitance changes from individual rods and postsynaptic currents of second-order neurons. The best simulations supported the occupancy of only two Ca2+ binding sites on the rod Ca2+ sensor rather than the typical four or five. For most models, the on-rates for Ca2+ binding and maximal fusion rate were comparable to those of other neurons. However, the off-rates for Ca2+ unbinding were unexpectedly slow. In addition to contributing to the high-affinity of the photoreceptor Ca2+ sensor, slow Ca2+ unbinding may support the fusion of vesicles located at a distance from Ca2+ channels. In addition, partial sensor occupancy due to slow unbinding may contribute to the linearization of the first synapse in vision.
The evolution of growth trajectories and other complex quantitative characters.

Growth trajectories differ from many other quantitative, characters in that they are characterized by a continuous function rather than by a finite number of discrete measurements. We review here recently developed methods for predicting the evolution of growth trajectories under the influence of natural or artificial selection. Using our method, analysis of genetic data from mice shows that the patterns of genetic variation arising from developmental processes impose constraints on evolution of growth trajectories. These constraints can be quantified to reveal the families of growth trajectories that can be produced by selection and those families that cannot. The data suggest there may be relatively few evolutionary degrees of freedom for growth trajectories despite the presence of abundant additive genetic variation to alter size and (or) growth rate at every age. The description of these constraints may be useful to both biologists who would like to determine the evolutionary options available to natu...
Protein-carbohydrate interaction XX. On the number of combining sites of concanavalin A, the phytohemagglutinin of the jack bean

Abstract Equilibrium dialysis of concanavalin A against methyl α- d -mannopyranoside and methyl α- d -glucopyranoside conducted at 2° in the presence of 1 M NaCl showed that concanavalin A is bivalent. A Scatchard plot of the data obtained gave straight lines for both sugars with observed association constants ( K ′) of 1.4·10 4 1/mole for methyl α- d -mannopyranoside and 0.3 · 10 4 1/mole for methyl α- d -glucopyranoside in the pH range 4.7–5.3. Binding studies carried out at various pH values (5, 6.2, 7.3) also indicated 2 binding sites on the concanavalin A molecule. Calculations were based on a molecular weight of 6800 for concanavalin A. The binding of methyl α- d -mannopyranoside to concanavalin A was maximal at pH 6.2 ( K ′ = 2.06 · 10 4 1/mole). The standard free energy change ( ΔF °) of this reaction was estimated to be −5.4 kcal/mole. No appreciable binding was observed when metal-free concanavalin A was employed in the dialysis experiment. The relative affinity of concanavalin A for methyl α- d -mannopyranoside and methyl α- d -glucopyranoside parallels the relative activity of these sugars in hapten inhibition experiments reported in previous studies.
Continuity in the Life Story: Self-Defining Memories, Affect, and Approach/Avoidance Personal Strivings

ABSTSACT To study affective responses to memories and their relationship to personal strivings, 117 participants (65 males, 52 females) wrote selfdefining memories and indicated their affective responses to the memories. A week later they generated personal strivings, rated them along 10 dimensions, and indicated the relevance of their memories to the strivings. Participants who recalled more memories relevant to the attainment of their strivings felt more positively about their memories. Additionally, participants who listed greater percentages of avoidance strivings also recalled more memories related to the nonattainment of their strivings. Participants with higher percentages of avoidance strivings also recalled less positive memories. In an extension of Enmions's (1986) research, participants' feelings about personal strivings were linked to their affective responses to memories generated a week earlier. These results support a goal-based theory of affect and a role for motivation in memory.
An analysis of ESPRIT under random sensor uncertainties

A general expression for the mean-square error (MSE) of the ESPRIT direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation of narrowband far-field sources under random sensor perturbations is derived. Explicit solutions for the case of an arbitrary ESPRIT array geometry with one and two sources are given. Solutions for the case of a uniform linear array and arbitrary number of sources are found provided that the number of sensors is large. For this case, it is found that the MSE of ESPRIT with maximum aperture (i.e., maximum-overlapping subarrays) is lower than that of ESPRIT with nonoverlapping subarrays. A comparison with MUSIC suggests that the MSE for MUSIC is lower than that for ESPRIT. Furthermore, for the cases studied, it is shown that the MSE of ESPRIT depends only on sensor phase errors while that of MUSIC is dependent on both sensor grain and phase errors. >
Moving target feature extraction with polarisation diversity in the presence of arbitrary range migration and phase errors

High range resolution (HRR) moving target indication (MTI) is increasingly important in many military and civilian applications such as the detection and classification of moving targets in strong clutter backgrounds. Meanwhile using polarisation diversity in radar systems has been shown to result in improved performance as compared with using only a single polarisation channel. The authors extract HRR moving target features with polarisation diversity in the presence of strong stationary clutter. The problem considered takes into account arbitrary range migration and phase errors, which may be induced by unknown target and platform motions as well as atmosphere turbulence and/or system instability. A relaxation-based algorithm is presented for the joint clutter suppression and super resolution target feature extraction and its performance is compared to the Cramer-Rao bound, the best performance bound an unbiased estimator can achieve. Numerical results are also provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.
The Measles Virus Fusion Protein Transmembrane Region Modulates Availability of an Active Glycoprotein Complex and Fusion Efficiency

The glycoprotein complex of paramyxoviruses mediates receptor binding and membrane fusion. In particular, the measles virus (MV) fusion (F) protein executes membrane fusion, after receptor binding by the hemagglutinin (H) protein. Structures and single amino acids influencing fusion function have been identified in the F-protein ectodomain and cytoplasmic tail, but not in its transmembrane (TM) region. Since this region influences function of the envelope proteins of other viruses, we examined its role in the MV F protein. Alanine-scanning mutagenesis revealed that an F protein with a single mutation of a central TM region leucine (L507A) was more fusogenic than the unmodified F protein while retaining similar kinetics of proteolytic processing. In contrast, substitution of residues located near the edges of the lipid bilayer reduced fusion activity. This was true not only when the mutated F proteins were coexpressed with H but also in the context of infections with recombinant viruses. Analysis of the H-F complexes with reduced fusion activities revealed that more precursor (F(0)) than activated (F(1+2)) protein coprecipitated with H. In contrast, in complexes with enhanced fusion activity, including H-F(L507A), the F(0)/F(1+2) ratio shifted toward F(1+2). Thus, fusion activity correlated with an active F-H protein complex, and the MV F protein TM region modulated availability of this complex.
Biodistance Analysis, a Biocultural Enterprise: A Rejoinder to Armelagos and Van Gerven (2003)

In a recent American Anthropologist (105 [1]) review of human osteological research, George Armelagos and Dennis Van Gerven (2003) criticize biodistance analyses, which they characterize as essentialist and typological. In their words, recent osteological research is overly concerned with "racial history (often cast in terms of biological distance), migration, and diffusion" (Armelagos and Van Gerven 2003:60) which represent "a reversion to an earlier descriptive past" (Armelagos and Van Gerven 2003:53). Armelagos and Van Gerven's characterization of contemporary biodistance analyses is, however, incomplete and we wish to draw this to the attention of the AA read-
Inhibition of fibroblast proliferation in vitro using low-level infrared light-emitting diodes.

Background Scars, including hypertrophic and keloidal-type scars, may occur after burns, trauma, or surgery. Despite several treatment options available for scars, few effective, noninvasive modalities exist. Recently, a few small clinical studies revealed the possible benefit of red and infrared (IR) low-level light therapy (LLLT) in scar treatment. One of the important features of scars is proliferation of dermal fibroblasts, but in vitro data regarding the effects of light-emitting diode (LED)-generated IR light on human skin fibroblasts is lacking. Objective To evaluate the effect of IR LLLT generated using LEDs on fibroblast proliferation and viability in vitro. Methods and Materials Irradiation of normal human skin fibroblasts using IR LED panels was performed in vitro, and modulation of proliferation and viability was quantified using Trypan blue dye exclusion assay. Results Fluences of 80, 160 and 320 J/cm2 resulted in statistically significantly less fibroblast proliferation than in controls, without statistically significantly less cellular viability. Conclusion IR LLLT can effectively inhibit fibroblast proliferation in vitro without altering viability and holds promise for the treatment of scars.
Proliferative responses to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) antigens in HIV-1-infected patients with immune reconstitution.

Cell-mediated immunity is affected early in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. HIV-1—specific CD4 + T cell proliferative responses are not measurable in most patients but have been reported in long-term nonprogressors and in patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) during primary infection. However, treatment with HAART generally does not restore HIV-1—specific CD4 + T cell responses in chronically infected patients. In this study, HIV-1—specific CD4 + T cell responses in 10 HIV-1—infected patients who began HAART with low CD4 cell count nadirs and experienced significant immune reconstitution were studied. Surprisingly, 5 of these patients had proliferative responses to ⩾1 HIV-1 gene product, compared with 0 of 8 chronically infected patients who started HAART when their CD4 cell counts were still relatively high. These results suggest that, in some patients with advanced HIV-1 infection, treatment with HAART can lead not only to significant increases in CD4 cell counts but also to the restoration of HIV-1—specific responses.
Distributed simulation with federated models: expectations, realizations and limitations

A critique of federated modeling and simulation (M&S) and the HLA approach is given from an external perspective. Recognized difficulties and the progress toward overcoming them are described. The role of HLA in developing consistency and uniformity in M&S within the Department of Defense is laudable. The program and its management by DMSO have succeeded in promoting communications and understanding, which has become a tremendous asset. However, the goal of universal interoperability is challenged as neither desirable nor achievable. This contention is based on two problems inherent in federated simulation.
Water Intake of the Rat as a Function of Duration of Water Deprivation

Water intake in a 2-hr. period was measured for groups of rats deprived of water either 0, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, or 168 hr. The intake function appeared to reach a maximum value at 48 h...
Magnetically Driven Surface Discharges for Shock-Wave Induced Boundary-Layer Separation Control

This study investigates the impact of a magnetically driven surface plasma column (“snowplow arc”) on shock induced boundary layer separation. The surface plasma column appears as a transverse “arc” between two diverging electrodes which is driven by j x B forces so that it sweeps the gas near the surface either in the downstream direction or in the upstream direction. In the experimental setup, an oblique shockwave wave was generated using a ten degree wedge in a Mach 2.8 indraft tunnel. The shock wave impinged on the flat surface in close proximity to the plasma actuator. Experimental results revealed a coupling of the plasma column with the shock – boundary layer interaction region which resulted in a change in the location of the shock induced boundary layer separation point. In case of the body force j x B acting upstream, the separation point was seen to move upstream. In case of the downstream j x B body force, a very small coupling was observed and the separation point appeared largely unaffected. Various reasons for the absence of an interaction in the downstream direction are discussed, particularly including the ratio of the scale of the plasma column to the boundary thickness. A sapphire insert with embedded electrodes is under development to allow for a higher current which then may be more effective for the suppression of boundary layer separation.
Biologically Inspired Processing of Radar Waveforms for Enhanced Delay-Doppler Resolution

In this paper, we study an approach to the processing of radar signals motivated by the neural processing of echolocation waveforms by certain species of bats. We propose a transmission strategy and a corresponding family of processing algorithms and study the resulting delay-Doppler resolution characteristics. We investigate both the improvement in delay-Doppler resolution and the generation of artifacts in the delay-Doppler maps generated by this approach. Because the resulting schemes are not optimal for detection, we investigate the degradation in detection performance when compared to the matched filter. The contribution of the proposed scheme is a significant improvement in delay-Doppler resolution without a significant increase in system or computational complexity or a significant degradation in detection performance.
Entropy-driven parity-tree selection for low-overhead concurrent error detection in finite state machines

This paper presents discuss the problem of parity-tree selection for performing concurrent error detection (CED) with low overhead in finite state machines (FSMs). We first develop a nonintrusive CED method based on compaction of the state/output bits of an FSM via parity trees and comparison to the correct responses, which are generated through additional on-chip parity prediction hardware. Similar to off-line test-response-compaction practices, this method minimizes the number of parity trees required for performing lossless compaction. However, while a few parity trees are typically sufficient, the area and the power consumption of the corresponding parity predictor is not always in proportion with the number of implemented functions. Therefore, parity-tree-selection methods that minimize the overhead of the parity predictor, rather than the number of parity trees, are required. Towards this end, we then extend our method into a systematic search that exploits the correlation between the area and the power consumption of a function and its entropy, in order to select parity trees that minimize the incurred overhead. Experimental results on benchmark circuits demonstrate that this solution achieves significant reduction in area and power consumption over the basic method that simply minimizes the number of parity trees.
Rare Diseases Challenges and Opportunities

Rare diseases present special challenges to the rare diseases community. The community includes research investigators, clinicians, funding organizations in the public and private sectors, patient advocacy groups, the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries and the regulatory agencies.
Time-dependent approach to the continuum shell model

The continuum shell model represents a merger of the traditional shell model, the tool for understanding nuclear structure, with the physics of reactions. In this work a new time-dependent approach to the continuum shell model is presented, where construction and application of the time-dependent evolution operator culminate in an effective and successful strategy for tackling the nonstationary many-body dynamics. Details behind the technique and methods to overcome general problems associated with quantum many-body physics on the verge of stability are discussed. Topics presented include the construction of the time-dependent Green's function, the full propagator from the exact solution of Dyson's equation, a treatment of decays and virtual self-energy terms, the explicit time dependence and survival probability of states, the strength function and collective features of unstable systems, the center-of-mass problem, computation of the cross section and its Blatt-Biedenharn angular decomposition, Coulomb amplitudes, and interference. An extensive comparison with the R-matrix approach is offered. Realistic examples are used to demonstrate the techniques.
Exploratory Thematic Analysis for Digitized Archival Collections

How do humanities scholars make sense of new or otherwise unfamiliar archives? Is there a role for computational text analysis in the process of sensemaking? We propose that topic modeling, when conceived as a process of thematic explor- ation, can provide a new entry point into this process. To this end, we present research on a new software tool called TOME: Interactive TOpic Model and MEtadata Visualization, designed to support the exploratory thematic analysis of digitized archival collections. TOME is centered around a set of visualizations intended to facilitate the interpretation of the topic model and its incorporation into extant humanities research practices. In contrast to other topic model brow- sers, which present the model on its own terms, ours is informed by the process of conducting early-stage humanities research. Our article thus also demonstrates the conceptual conversions—in terms of both design and process—that interdis- ciplinary collaboration necessarily entails. In making these conversions explicit, and exploring the implications of their successes and failures, we take up the call, as voiced by Johanna Drucker (Humanities approaches to graphical display. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 5(1), 2011), to resist the 'intellectual Trojan horse' of visualization. We seek to model a new mode of interdisciplinary inquiry, one that brings the methodological emphasis of the digital humanities to bear on the practices of humanities research and computer science alike.
Bayes Estimators in Lognormal Regression Model

In this paper we consider a lognormal regression model which is often used to describe a production process in economics (see Dhrymes (1962), Goldberger (1968), Zellner (1971)).
Abstract 534: Alternative Splicing of Nitric Oxide Receptor Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase in Diseased Human Aortas

Soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) is a key enzyme in the NO/cGMP signaling pathway. sGC plays an important role in cardiovascular homeostasis and its activity is crucial for maintaining vascular plasticity. Diminished sGC expression and activity leads to endothelial dysfunction and increase in vascular stiffness. We have previously demonstrated that alternative splicing of sGC genes produces different sGC splice forms with altered enzymatic and regulatory properties. Thus, we examined the expression of alternatively spliced transcripts in human aortic tissue. We also compared levels of expression of different splice forms for α1 and β1 sGC in normal and diseased human aortic samples. De-identified specimens of aortas (full thickness) were collected from patients with descending thoracic, thoracoabdominal and ascending aortic aneurysms (N=12), and compared with aortic samples from cardiovascular healthy donors (N=10). The expression of different α1 and β1 sGC splice variants was assessed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis. Previously, we have characterized functional properties of splice isoform encoded by α1 Transcript 5 and demonstrated that this splice form is resistant to oxidative protein degradation. By estimating the ratio of α1 sGC canonical transcript and α1 Transcript 5, we demonstrated that the relative expression of Transcript 5 splice isoform is increased in diseased in comparison to normal samples (0.54±0.12 AU in normal vs 0.29±0.2 AU in diseased, p=0.0015). We also found that the expression of α1 Transcripts 3 and 6 is increased, while the expression of β1 sGC splice forms β1Δ68Ω43, β1Δ68 and β1Ω2 is decreased in diseased human aortas. Using cGMP immunoassay we assessed NO-dependent cGMP accumulation in aortic tissue and demonstrated that sGC activity varies in different samples correlating with relative expression of individual sGC transcripts. Our data demonstrate for the first time that α1 and β1 sGC undergo alternative splicing in human aortic tissue and that the diversity and abundance of splice isoforms is different in normal and diseased aortas. Our results suggest that splicing is one of the mechanisms regulating sGC expression in aorta in diseased condition.
PRESSURE SWING ADSORPTION TECHNOLOGY FOR HYDROGEN PURIFICATION - A STATUS REVIEW

Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) processes are designed for production of hydrogen or ammonia synthesis gas from steam methane reformer off gas with or without by-product carbon dioxide, as well as for production of H2 from refinery off gases. A variety of adsorbents are used for these processes. The ease of desorption often dictates the adsorbent selection. Empirical PSA process performance data are used to finetune mathematical design models. The hydrogen productivity of the PSA process can be increased by rapid PSA process cycles. The hydrogen recovery can be increased by hybridization of the PSA unit with adsorbent membranes. Novel sorption enhanced reaction processes, based on the principles of PSA, can be designed for production of hydrogen by low temperature steam-methane refining.
A Fresh Approach to the Singular Value Decomposition

Colm Mulcahy (colm@spelman.edu) earned his B.Sc. and M.Sc. at University College Dublin, Ireland. Alex R T. W. Rosenberg directed his Ph.D work (Cornell, 1985), concerning higher level forms on ordered fields. Recent interests include CAGD, image processing, graphics, wavelets, geometry, and statistics. He and John Rossi met in 1985 in Hawaii (disputing over a bed; it's a long story), and since 1988 Colm has been at Spelman College.