cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Justice and Insider Trading

While many countries are following the lead of the United States in making insider trading illegal, its moral status is still controversial. I summarise the scholarly debate over the fairness of insider trading and lay bare the assumptions about fairness implicit in that debate. I focus on the question whether those assumptions can be defended independently of a more comprehensive theory of social justice. Current analyses presuppose that we can intelligently discuss what the social rules regarding insider trading should be while ignoring questions about the broader principles of justice that should be adopted and the extent to which existing institutions realise those principles. I argue that such questions must be addressed. I then employ an egalitarian conception of social justice to analyse insider trading. I thereby illustrate how a more systematic approach, grounded in a comprehensive theory of justice, transforms the debate about the fairness of insider trading. Long illegal in the United States, insider trading in securities markets is increasingly being legally proscribed in European and Asian countries. France led the way in prohibiting insider trading, outlawing it in 1970, but the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Greece, and others have since followed suit (1). Pressure from the European Community has recently forced Germany to enact laws against such trading, and even Japan and Hong Kong have taken steps to limit its occurrence in their formerly wide-open securities markets (2). Meanwhile, the morality of insider trading remains a hotly contested topic in a variety of scholarly journals. Many scholars enthusiastically defend it, and some, while not wholeheartedly defending it, seek to debunk the many arguments against it. The focus of this paper will be on the fairness arguments against insider trading. The underlying idea behind these arguments is that to permit insider trading would be to set up stock market trading rules that are unfair to non-insiders, individuals who do not possess or have access to the sorts of material, non-public information that insiders do. These arguments have been widely discussed. I will lay bare the largely unstated assumptions about fairness behind these discussions and then attempt to show that these assumptions yield, at best, a truncated conception of justice. At worst, these assumptions legitimise, without argument, the political and economic status quo in countries with large inequalities. I argue that a defensible treatment of the fairness of insider trading requires both a complete conception of justice and its thoughtful application to existing political and economic institutions. The discussion is in three main sections. In the first, I summarise the fairness debate about insider trading as that debate has been presented in the recent scholarly literature. In the second section, I reveal the assumptions about fairness implicit in that debate and argue that these assumptions cannot be defended independently of a larger conception of justice.
Towards a ‘catalyst activity map’ regarding the nucleation and growth of single walled carbon nanotubes

Quantification using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) grown per unit area using a Co-Fe (50:50) catalyst system, prepared by the incorporation of the appropriate metal salts into a Spin-On Glass substrate, at 900°C. The effects of substrate, as well as catalyst precursor concentration, were investigated. SWNT growth density is maximised with a catalyst precursor concentration of ≥2.5 mM, associated with the formation of catalyst nanoparticles of a critical size for SWNT nucleation. Samples were subjected to secondary growth, using a range of H2:CH4 ratios to determine the optimum precursor composition. It was found that nucleation and growth stages are optimal under different conditions. Optimum conditions for nucleation resulted in >10× increase in SWNT density. Optimisation is dependent on temperature and the partial pressure of reagent gas species.
Cooperativity in the binding of 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 to the chick intestinal receptor

The binding of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] to its chick intestinal receptor does not fit well to the linear regression line of Scatchard's model (r = −0.79; dissociation constant, Kd = 0.51 nM). In fact, a concave ‘hook’ curve describes the data better. By using the Hill analysis the linear fitting was improved (r= 0.99), the Kd was found to be 0.14 nM and the Hill coefficient (nH) 1.42, which indicates a positive cooperativity in the binding of 1,25(OH)2D3 to its receptor. Further we found that Kd and nH are strongly correlated (p < 0.001). These data suggest the existence of two ligand binding sites located in subunits for the 1,25(OH)2D3 receptor.
Renal Scanning 99mTc Diethylene-Triamine Pentaacetic Acid Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) Determination Compared With Iothalamate Clearance GFR in Diabetics

Traditionally, creatinine clearance is used as an estimation of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) because of its relative ease and low cost. Errors in collection limit its usefulness. Estimation of GFR using 99m Tc diethylene-triamine pentaacetic acid (Tc-DTPA) by direct scintigraphic determination of fractional radionuclide accumulation within each kidney does not require blood or urine sampling, takes 10 to 15 minutes to perform, and has been reported to give a GFR that correlates with 24-hour urinary creatinine clearance (CC) in hospitalized patients ( r = 0.95). To assess its usefulness in the outpatient diabetic with nephropathy, 24 patients with type I diabetes underwent 56 iothalamate clearances during water diuresis and 56 simultaneous Tc-DTPA GFR estimations. GFR was also estimated from 24hour urinary CC, 100/creatinine, and by the formula of Cockcroft and Gault. Tc-DTPA GFR estimation by direct renal scanning correlated relatively poorly with iothalamate GFR ( r = 0.74) in this patient population when all levels of iothalamate GFR were compared (n = 56), but improved ( r = 0.80) when iothalamate GFR values greater than or equal to 120 mL/min were excluded from analysis (n = 45). Given all levels of iothalamate GFR, the best correlation was obtained with the estimation using the equation of Cockcroft and Gault ( r = 0.86).
Expressive development and basic emotions

Abstract One important emotion theory currently postulates an innate tie between specific infant facial expressions and a set of discrete basic emotions. The arguments and evidence relevant to this assertion are reviewed. New data are presented from a naturalistic study of one infant's early expressive development and a judgement study of infant facial, vocal, and body activity. These data challenge the innate tie hypothesis. Based on dynamical systems systems theory, an alternate conceptual framework is presented that may allow us to usefully retain the concept of basic emotions while accommodating the data on infant expressive development.
Studies on the bromination of pyrimidine. A facile synthesis of 5-bromopyrimidine

Three methods for hromination of pyrimidine were investigated: (a) the bromination of pyrimidine hydrochloride in aromatic solvents, (b) the vapor phase bromination of pyrimidine, and (c) the pyrolysis of pyrimidine hydrochloride perbromide. The addition of bromine to a slurry of pyrimidine hydrochloride in nitrobenzene proved to be superior and afforded excellent yields of 5-bromopyrimidine.
INTERRELATIONS OF STATE INCOME AND INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE

. . .Low real income per head is always associated with a low proportion of the working population engaged in tertiary production and a high percentage in primary production . . . A high average level of real income per head is always associated with a high proportion of the working population in tertiary industries. (Primary industries are defined as agriculture, forestry and fishing; secondary industries as manufacturing, mining and building; the tertiary industries include commerce, transport, services and other economic activities.) The reasons for this growth of the relative number of tertiary producers must largely be sought on the demand side. As incomes rise the demand for such services increases, and being non-transportable they must be supplied by workers within the country concerned . . . Generally speaking, the main dynamic of economic advance has been rising income per head in either secondary or tertiary industry, often in both, and the transfer of population away from primary industry.'
Performance impact of the elimination of direct labor variance reporting: A field study

Using a field study approach, we examine two competing perspectives on direct labor variance reporting: some argue that direct labor variance reporting is costly and cumbersome, and should be eliminated; whereas others contend that without direct labor variance information, managers will not be able to monitor workers effectively, causing workers to shirk and worker productivity to decline. Specifically, we investigate the productivity and quality impacts of eliminating direct labor variance reporting with panel data containing 36 months of data from seven experimental plants that eliminated direct labor variance reporting and 11 control plants that did not. The experimental plants experienced a significant decline in labor productivity compared to the control plants. Also, the experimental plants showed an improvement in product quality, indicating that workers reallocate their efforts to other tasks as a result of the change in the information set available to evaluate them.
Publication and consumption of caBIG data services using .NET

The cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (caBIG) is revolutionizing the way medical researchers share information and collaborate. A key to caBIG's continued success will be interoperability. However, to date, only a single code base (in Java) has been used to create a set of tools and run-time services for caBIG. This paper presents the first significant exploration into the use of Microsoft's .NET Framework and Visual Studio for caBIG. Given its substantial existing community, a .NET-based set of tools for caBIG can significantly increase the pool of qualified software designers and developers for caBIG. Arguably more importantly, a second development foundation could facilitate revisiting a broad set of design decisions made to date in caBIG that have perhaps been unduly based directly or indirectly on a single underlying software technology. We begin by describing issues we have encountered in building relatively simple .NET-based clients to existing caBIG services. Next, we describe how we leverage Microsoft ADO.NET Data Services as the foundation for caBIG Data Services, in particular for the caBIO data set. We find that ADO.NET Data Services has a uniquely strong potential to facilitate rapid development and deployment. We conclude with a discussion of the roadmap of our project's future activities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gaussian many-access channels: Definition and symmetric capacity

This paper studies communication networks with a very large number of users simultaneously communicating with an access point. A new notion of many-access channel (MnAC) is introduced, which is the same as a multiaccess channel except that the number of users increases unboundedly with the coding block length. Unlike the conventional multiaccess channel with a fixed number of users, the joint typicality decoding technique is not directly applicable to establish the achievability of the capacity. It is shown that, as long as the number of users grows sublinearly with the coding block length, random coding with Feinstein's threshold decoding is sufficient to achieve the symmetric capacity of the Gaussian MnAC.
Inclusive distributions for hadronic collisions in the Valon recombination model

Inclusive distributions of soft production of mesons in hadronic collisions are calculated in the valon-recombination model. The new determination of the valon distributions from hard scattering data makes possible a tightly interrelated treatment of pion and kaon production in the fragmentation regions of proton, pion, and kaon. Only one free parameter is used in the determination of the valon distribution in the kaon. No other adjustable parameter is needed to fit the x distributions of the data on inclusive cross sections, except for the normalizations since the data are at fixed ${p}_{T}.$ The success of the model in reproducing seven inclusive distributions suggests that there are two important mechanisms at work in soft production. One is that the structure of the hadron that fragments is highly relevant. The other is that the produced particles are formed by the recombination of quarks and antiquarks. These two aspects about hadrons in soft processes can be well described in the framework of the valon-recombination model.
“The crusade is the vision”: branding charisma in a global pentecostal ministry

This paper explores the rhetorical properties of mass-mediated revival spectacles staged by Reinhard Bonnke, a German-born evangelist who has long worked in Sub-Saharan Africa and claims to have converted millions of Africans to Christianity. The swooping pans of these massive African crusades, which form the establishing shots in proselytic videos, model Bonnke's particular Pentecostal visual ideology. In doing so, these images bear material witness to Bonnke's reputation as a global, itinerant missionary-preacher. Stills extracted from video footage condense the transformative energy of the event into portable icons which, recirculated as book inserts, posters and Website banners, work as identifying logos for his ministry. Bonnke's particular success, we argue, lies in the ways that the visual reconstitutes the charismatic core of Pentecostalism in connection with his development of a “brand scenario” that works both to distinguish his ministry within the corporate Christian world and to foster the gro...
A lateral-field-excited LiTaO 3 high-frequency bulk acoustic wave sensor

The most popular bulk acoustic wave (BAW) sensor is the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), which has electrodes on both the top and bottom surfaces of an AT-cut quartz wafer. In the QCM, the exciting electric field is primarily perpendicular to the crystal surface, resulting in a thickness field excitation (TFE) of a resonant temperature compensated transverse shear mode (TSM). The TSM, however, can also be excited by lateral field excitation (LFE) in which electrodes are placed on one side of the wafer leaving a bare sensing surface exposed directly to a liquid or a chemi/bio selective layer allowing the detection of both mechanical and electrical property changes caused by a target analyte. The use of LFE sensors has motivated an investigation to identify other piezoelectric crystal orientations that can support temperature-compensated TSMs and operate efficiently at high frequencies resulting in increased sensitivity. In this work, theoretical search and experimental measurements are performed to identify the existence of high-frequency temperature-compensated TSMs in LiTaO3. Prototype LFE LiTaO3 sensors were fabricated and found to operate at frequencies in excess of 1 GHz and sensitively detect viscosity, conductivity, and dielectric constant changes in liquids.
Excitation energy trapping by the reaction center of Rhodobacter Sphaeroides

The excitation energy transfer between light-harvesting complex I (LH-I) and the photosynthetic reaction center (RC) of the purple bacterium Rhodobacter (Rb.) sphaeroides is investigated on the basis of the atomic level structures of the two proteins, assuming a ring-shaped model for LH-I. Rates of excitation energy transfer are calculated, based on Forster theory. The LH-I and RC electronic excitations are described through effective Hamiltonians established previously, with parameters derived from quantum chemistry calculations by Cory and co-workers. We also present an effective Hamiltonian description with parameters based on spectroscopic properties. We study two extreme models of LH-I excitations: electronic excitations delocalized over the entire LH-I ring and excitations localized on single bacteriochlorophylls. The role of accessory bacteriochlorophylls in bridging the excitation energy transfer is investigated. The rates of back-transfer, i.e., RC LH-I excitation energy transfer, are determined, too. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 77: 139–151, 2000
Temporal Stability of a Bilayer in a Langmuir−Blodgett Multilayer and Its Dependence on Multilayer Structure

The stability of a bilayer at or near the surface of a Langmuir-Blodgett multilayer of cadmium arachidate is investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy. Changes in the fluorescence spectrum with time, monitored over more than 200 h, indicate that rearrangement and loss of labeled molecules occurs even at room temperature in air. The nature of this change is perturbed by dipping the multilayer into the subphase an additional time, even when no further material is deposited atop the multilayer. Placing an additional bilayer of either cadmium arachidate or a polypeptide copolymer with alkyl side chains atop the labeled bilayer sharply reduces its mobility and suppresses somewhat the rate of change of structure in that bilayer. Adding a bilayer of polyglutamate affects the labeled bilayer's lateral mobility more than does adding a bilayer of cadmium arachidate. This is due to the interdigitation of the polyglutamate's side chains with the layer upon which it is deposited. However, addition of the cadmium arachidate bilayer is more effective in reducing sublimation.
High-resolution time resolved spectroscopy of collisionless molecular beams: optical T1 and T2☆

We report on the observation of the coherent and incoherent transients of collisionless molecular beams using single-mode laser spectroscopy. The technique offers a resolution of one part in 10^8, and resolves the spectra on the time scale of nanoseconds. The methods is demonstrated on an effusive beam of iodine. Since the beam is collisionless the optical dephasing of the selectively excited (10^(−4) cm^(−1)) molecular packet can be directly related to the zero-pressure optical T_1 obtained from the Stern-Volmer relationship of iodine gas in a bulb. Finally, the cross section for the radiationless and radiative deactivation are reported and related to the free-induction decay (FID) of the coherently excited molecular beam.
Characterizing endogenous and exogenous peroxidase activity for bleaching of fluid whey and retentate.

The lactoperoxidase (LP) system may be used to achieve the desired bleaching of fluid whey with the addition of low concentrations ( 80% norbixin destruction) in fluid whey but a linear relationship was not evident in retentate. When fluid whey is bleached enzymatically, if pH is decreased and temperature is increased, the rate of reaction increases (e.g., bleaching occurs in less time). When bleaching in retentate, a higher pH (pH 6.5 vs. pH 5.5) is desired for optimal bleaching by the LP system. Due to processing restraints, this may not be possible for all dairy producers to achieve and, thus, addition of EP could be beneficial to improve bleaching efficacy.
Halogen-bonded assembly of hybrid inorganic/organic 3D-networks from dibromocuprate salts and tetrabromomethane

The critical halogen-bonding motif (CBr⋯BrCu) is responsible for the successful synthesis of three-dimensional networks of unusual 4,5-connected dodecahedron cells (each containing the encapsulated cation) via the self-assembly of tetra-n-propylammonium dibromocuprate(I) and tetrabromomethane as prototypical donor/acceptor dyads.
Radical Prostatectomy and Cystoprostatectomy with Preservation of Potency. Results Using a New Nerve-sparing Technique

A surgical technique that preserves the branches of the pelvic plexus that innervate the corpora cavernosa was employed during radical retropubic prostatectomy in 64 men and radical cystoprostatectomy in 11 men. In patients undergoing radical retropubic prostatectomy, sexual function returned gradually in the vast majority of patients post-operatively and by 1 year 86% were potent. The age of the patient did not influence post-operative potency but potency did correlate with clinical and pathological stage. Preliminary data suggest that deliberate excision of the neurovascular bundle unilaterally did not adversely affect potency. Of the 11 patients who underwent radical cystoprostatectomy, 82% have erections. Of the 6 patients with sexual partners who have been followed for 1 year, 4 (67%) are potent. These data suggest that erectile function can be preserved in most patients following radical prostatectomy and cystoprostatectomy.
Dominance interactions in Escherichia coli cells mixedly infected with bacteriophage T4D wild-type and amber mutants and their possible implications as to type of gene-product function: catalytic vs. stoichiometric.

Abstract Degrees of dominance of wild-type over amber alleles have been investigated for many genes of phage T4 by measuring progeny phage burst sizes of restrictive host cells mixedly infected with varying doses of each allele. The data presented demonstrate that whereas certain am mutants are almost completely recessive to wild-type others show considerable codominance with wild type. The results suggest that the expression of a single wild-type gene specifying an enzymatic protein is likely to be sufficient for a normal burst despite gene-product interactions. The expression of a single gene specifying a structural protein, on the other hand, appears generally not to be sufficient to yield a normal burst size. Applied to am mutants in genes controlling unknown functions involved in T4 morphogenesis, this criterion suggests that genes 4, 26, 28, 31, 38, 50, 51, and 65 are the most likely to code for gene products which function catalytically (if, in fact, any such functions exist).
Using theoretical constructs to identify key issues for targeted message design: African American seniors' perceptions about influenza and influenza vaccination.

African American seniors (65 and older) are less likely to be vaccinated against influenza than are non-Hispanic White seniors. There is a clear need for targeted messages and interventions to address this disparity. As a first step, 6 focus groups of African American seniors (N = 48) were conducted to identify current perceptions about influenza and influenza vaccination. Emergent thematic categories were organized using the 4 main constructs of the extended parallel process model. Susceptibility varied based on perceptions of individual health status, background knowledge, and age-related risk. Some participants saw influenza as a minor nuisance; others viewed it as threatening and potentially deadly. Participants discussed issues related or antecedent to self-efficacy, including vaccine accessibility and affordability. Regarding response efficacy, some participants had confidence in the vaccine, some questioned its preventive ability or believed that the vaccine caused influenza, and others noted exp...
Review of experimental male-mediated behavioral and neurochemical disorders

Paternal exposures to exogenous agents have been reported to produce a variety of developmental defects in the offspring. In experimental animals, these effects include decreased litter size and weight, increased stillbirth and neonatal death, birth defects, tumors, and functional/behavioral abnormalities-some of these effects being transmitted to the second and third generations. This article reviews the exogenous agents that have reportedly caused behavioral or neurochemical alterations in offspring of experimental animals following paternal exposures, including advanced age, alcohols, cyclophosphamide, ethylene dibromide, lead, opiates, and a few miscellaneous chemicals. Based upon the consistency of effects in several of these agents in a variety of studies in experimental animals, the conclusion is that paternal exposures may contribute to the incidence of neurobehavioral disorders in humans.
Postdevelopmental Effects of Boron, Fluoride, and Their Combination on Dental Caries Activity in the Rat

Drinking water of rats aged 21 days was supplemented with 1, 10, 30, 50, 100, or 283 ppm of boron or 10 or 25 ppm of fluoride individually or in combination. All rats were fed a cariogenic diet. Boron did not reduce dental caries activity in erupted molars after eight weeks. When given in combination, it partially antagonized the cariostatic effect of fluoride.
Prior administration of a low dose of thioacetamide protects type 1 diabetic rats from subsequent administration of lethal dose of thioacetamide.

Abstract Previously, we reported that an ordinarily non-lethal dose of thioacetamide (TA, 300 mg/kg) causes 90% mortality in type 1 diabetic rats due to inhibited liver tissue repair, whereas 30 mg TA/kg allows 100% survival due to stimulated although delayed tissue repair. Objective of this investigation was to test whether prior administration of a low dose of TA (30 mg/kg) would lead to sustainable stimulation of liver tissue repair in type 1 diabetic rats sufficient to protect from a subsequently administered lethal dose of TA. Therefore, in the present study, the hypothesis that preplacement of tissue repair by a low dose of TA (30 mg TA/kg, ip) can reverse the hepatotoxicant sensitivity (autoprotection) in type 1 diabetic rats was tested. Preliminary studies revealed that a single intraperitoneal (ip) administration of TA causes 90% mortality in diabetic rats with as low as 75 mg/kg. To establish an autoprotection model in diabetic condition, diabetic rats were treated with 30 mg TA/kg (priming dose). Administration of priming dose stimulated tissue repair that peaked at 72 h, at which time these rats were treated with a single ip dose of 75 mg TA/kg. Our results show that tissue repair stimulated by the priming dose enabled diabetic rats to overexpress, calpastatin, endogenous inhibitor of calpain, to inhibit calpain-mediated progression of liver injury induced by the subsequent administration of lethal dose, resulting in 100% survival. Further investigation revealed that protection observed in these rats is not due to decreased bioactivation. These studies underscore the importance of stimulation of tissue repair in the final outcome of liver injury (survival/death) after hepatotoxicant challenge. Furthermore, these results also suggest that it is possible to stimulate tissue repair in diabetics to overcome the enhanced sensitivity of hepatotoxicants.
Opioid receptor selectivity profile change via isosterism for 14-O-substituted naltrexone derivatives.

Isosterism is commonly used in drug discovery and development to address stability, selectivity, toxicity, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy issues. A series of 14-O-substituted naltrexone derivatives were identified as potent mu opioid receptor (MOR) antagonists with improved selectivity over the kappa opioid receptor (KOR) and the delta opioid receptor (DOR), compared to naltrexone. Since esters are not metabolically very stable under typical physiological conditions, their corresponding amide analogs were thus synthesized and biologically evaluated. Unlike their isosteres, most of these novel ligands seem to be dually selective for the MOR and the KOR over the DOR. The restricted flexibility of the amide bond linkage might be responsible for their altered selectivity profile. However, the majority of the 14-N-substituted naltrexone derivatives produced marginal or no MOR stimulation in the 35S-GTP[γS] assay, which resembled their ester analogs. The current study thus indicated that the 14-substituted naltrexone isosteres are not bioisosteres since they have distinctive pharmacological profile with the regard to their opioid receptor binding affinity and selectivity.
Quantifying the local resolution of cryo-EM density maps.

We propose a definition of local resolution for three-dimensional electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) density maps that uses local sinusoidal features. Our algorithm has no free parameters and is applicable to other imaging modalities, including tomography. By evaluating the local resolution of single-particle reconstructions and subtomogram averages for four example data sets, we report variable resolution across a 4- to 40-A range.
Differential Requirements for α4 Integrins during Fetal and Adult Hematopoiesis

Abstract Mice chimeric for the expression of α4 integrins were used to dissect the roles of these receptors in development and traffic of lymphoid and myeloid cells. During fetal life, T cell development is α4 independent, but after birth further production of T cells becomes α4 dependent. Precursors for both T and B cells require α4 integrins for normal development within the bone marrow. In contrast, monocytes and natural killer cells can develop normally without α4 integrins. Thus, there are lymphocyte-specific, developmentally regulated requirements for α4 integrins in hematopoiesis in the bone marrow. We also show that α4 integrins are essential for T cell homing to Peyer's patches, but not to other secondary lymphoid organs, including spleen, lymph nodes, and intestinal epithelium.
Insider Trading: The Case for Regulation

In the Spring 1985 issue of this Journal, S. David Young raised the question, “Insider Trading: Why the Concern?” This paper presents the case for regulation of insider trading.
Bilateral vision loss responsive to corticosteroids

A 48-year-old woman presented with painless bilateral vision loss that began in the left eye and responded to steroids, followed by vision loss in the right eye one day after completing her steroid taper. Diagnosis was complicated by a positive screening test for Leber hereditary optic neuropathy and a negative workup for demyelinating disease. Steroid-dependent optic neuropathies such as autoimmune optic neuropathy and chronic relapsing inflammatory optic neuropathy were considered in the differential. Seven months after initial presentation, the patient developed a new periventricular white matter lesion, lesions on her cervical and thoracic spinal cord, bilateral leg weakness, and sensory loss consistent with multiple sclerosis.
Dealing with Noise in Multiframe Structure from Motion

The problem of structure from motion (SFM) is to obtain a 3D model of a scene using multiple images taken from different camera locations. Traditional SFM algorithms using just two images often produce inaccurate 3D reconstructions, mainly due to incorrect estimation of the camera's motion. More recent algorithms have used multiple (>2) image sequences. This paper describes a new incremental algorithm for reconstructing structure from multi-image sequences which estimates and corrects for the error in computing the camera motion. Experimental results of the algorithm are reported on one synthetic and three real image sequences. Unlike many previous incremental algorithms, the new algorithm in principle is capable of reconstructing a 3D model of the scene to arbitrary accuracy given a sufficient number of images. It is demonstrated experimentally that the algorithm gives superior results compared to others which do not correct for the error in recovering motion.
Usefulness of coronary angiography in patients requiring repeat cardiac valve surgery.

Abstract Widespread application of surgical treatment for valvular heart disease has made the diagnosis of prosthetic valve dysfunction of great clinical importance. Recent advances in cardiac imaging techniques, including color Doppler and transesophageal echocafdiography, provide such a detailed picture of valve anatomy and function that often cardiac catheterization adds little to the assessment. 1,2 Despite adequate noninvasive assessment of prosthetic valve function, adult patients continue to undergo cardiac catheterization before reoperation to rule out the development of new significant coronary artery disease. This is usually performed even if the patient has been shown to be free of coronary artery disease at the time of initial valve surgery. The frequency with which significant coronary artery disease develops or progresses in patients with valvular heart disease and the diagnostic yield of repeat coronary arteriography have not been adequately defined. This study examines a consecutive series of patients with prosthetic heart valves who underwent cardiac catheterization for recurrent symptoms to determine (1) the frequency with which new significant coronary disease develops in patients without previous disease, (2) the frequency with which new significant lesions appear in patients with known disease, and (3) clinical parameters that may identify patients with new significant coronary artery disease.
Work in progress - improving interrater agreement used to measure learning outcomes

The Inter-professional Project Program (IPRO) at IIT hosts a one-day evaluation event (IPRO Day) every semester, during which 70-120 judges (~50% new each semester) judge 35-45 teams averaging 12 students each. The judges, in groups of three to five, rate ten criteria per team on a 1-5 scale for either group oral presentations or exhibits. While the statistics of measuring interrater agreement are well documented it is not completely clear from previous research how best to improve such agreement except for assertions that rater training is beneficial. Over the past two years, we have instituted several interventions to improve interrater agreement on IPRO Day: using experienced judges to coordinate each judging group, rewriting judging forms to match the learning objectives, developing rubrics to guide judging, and conducting orientation sessions with the judges. This study evaluates the effectiveness of these interventions by comparing judging group agreement results from semesters prior to the change with the semesters following the change. These results having broad applicability to all judging review panels.
EFFECTS OF CYANIDE ON THE PROTOPLASM OF AMEBA

The experiments seem to indicate that the toxicity of HCN and KCN for amebae is due to their effect on the cell membrane and not on the internal protoplasm. Concentrated solutions (N/10–N/300) of HCN or KCN produce an initial increase in viscosity of the protoplasm of amebae (immersed) which is followed by liquefaction and disintegration of the cell. Dilute solutions of HCN or KCN decrease the viscosity of the protoplasm of amebae. Injections of HCN or KCN into amebae produce a reversible decrease in viscosity of the protoplasm.
The Disuniting of America

Arthur Schlesinger Jr asks in this book "What does it mean to be an American?". The classic image of the republic is that of the melting pot where differences of race, wealth, religion and nationality are submerged in democracy. But now there is a new orthodoxy: America as a collection of self-interest groups, celebrating difference and abandoning the idea of assimilation. Now published in paperback, this book addresses multiculturalism and political correctness.
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through operations and supply chain management

Abstract The experiences of the largest corporation in the world and those of a start-up company show how companies can profitably reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chains. The operations management literature suggests additional opportunities to profitably reduce emissions in existing supply chains, and provides guidance for expanding the capacity of new “zero emission” supply chains. The potential for companies to profitably reduce emissions is substantial but (without effective climate policy) likely insufficient to avert dangerous climate change.
Constrained instance clustering in multi-instance multi-label learning

In multi-instance multi-label (MIML) learning, datasets are given in the form of bags, each of which contains multiple instances and is associated with multiple labels. This paper considers a novel instance clustering problem in MIML learning, where the bag labels are used as background knowledge to help group instances into clusters. The goal is to recover the class labels or to find the subclasses within each class. Prior work on constraint-based clustering focuses on pairwise constraints and cannot fully utilize the bag-level label information. We propose to encode the bag-label knowledge into soft bag constraints that can be easily incorporated into any optimization based clustering algorithm. As a specific example, we demonstrate how the bag constraints can be incorporated into a popular spectral clustering algorithm. Empirical results on both synthetic and real-world datasets show that the proposed method achieves promising performance compared to state-of-the-art methods that use pairwise constraints.
Water Chreodes and the Mechanisms of Ligand Diffusion, General Anesthesia, and Sleep

The concept of the presence of passageways, chreodes, created by the influence of the hydropathic states of amino acid side chains on the surface water of proteins, has been proposed. These chreodes facilitate and direct the diffusion of neurotransmitters through surface water, to the receptor or active site on a protein. This system of chreodes is vulnerable to the presence of some other molecules that may encounter the chreode system. This encounter and disruption has been proposed to explain the mechanism of general anesthesia. Based on much recent evidence of the similarities between anesthesia from volatile anesthetic agents and sleep, a comparable mechanism has been proposed for sleep. Since this must be an exogenous substance to be comparable to a general anesthetic agent, it was proposed that this exogenous, sleep-producing substance is elemental nitrogen. Recent evidence supports these hypotheses.
Microwave Dielectric Tuning and Losses in Epitaxial Lift-Off Thin Films of Strontium Titanate

We report on the complex dielectric response function for SrTiO 3 (STO) thin films that have been removed from the original growth substrate via an epitaxial lift-off process. We measured the dielectric response as a function of frequency (10 kHz to above 2 GHz), as a function of temperature (4 K to 300 K), and as a function of applied electric field (between +/− 10 V/µm). The dielectric properties are well described by a model based on a dilute set of thermally activated two-level dipoles in a matrix of bulk STO. Activation energies for the dipoles are found to cluster around two central values near 50 meV and 100 meV. Attempt frequencies are generally around 10 THz. Assuming that the dipole moment of a typical two-level system is equal to that of a unit cell of polarized bulk STO, we find that a volume fraction of roughly 4% of a typical film is involved in the dipole response.
Methodological issues in evaluating integrated services initiatives

This chapter explores the conceptualization and design of studies that evaluate integrated services initiatives and suggests approaches for further evaluation of how these initiatives work and what they are accomplishing.
STAP training through knowledge-aided predictive modeling [radar signal processing]

In this paper, we investigate a spectral-domain approach to estimating the interference covariance matrix used in space-time adaptive processing. Traditionally, an estimate of the interference covariance matrix is obtained by averaging the space-time covariance matrices of multiple range bins. Unfortunately, the spectral content of these data snapshots usually varies, which corrupts the covariance estimate for the desired range. We propose to use knowledge sources to identify angle-Doppler spectral regions having the same underlying scattering statistics. Then, we use real-time data to form a synthetic aperture radar image, which is inherently an estimate of non-moving ground clutter. We then average the SAR pixels within each homogeneous region. The resulting clutter power map is used, along with knowledge of the radar system and scenario geometry, to compute the interference covariance matrix. Using simulated data, we demonstrate the potential performance of such a technique, demonstrate its dependence on accurate space-time steering vectors, and provide an example of using data to compensate for imperfect knowledge.
The Significance of an Isolated Elevated TSH Level in a Depressed Patient: A Clinical Commentary

Objective:To discuss the approach to the isolated finding of an elevated thyrotropin (TSH) level on routine biochemical screening of a depressed patient.Method:A focused literature review as well as discussion of published clinical guidelines and the formulation of a rational clinical approach.Results:Screening for thyroid dysfunction is part of the routine assessment of the depressed patient. It is not uncommon for such patients to have an isolated elevation of TSH levels with nor laboratory or clinical features of thyroid disease. There is often misunderstanding about how to deal with this isolated laboratory finding which can lead to unnecessary investigation and treatment.Conclusions:A rational approach to evaluation and management of an isolated elevated TSH level is suggested.
How I Diagnose Meniscal Tears on Knee MRI

OBJECTIVE. The goal of this article is to summarize the literature about the diagnosis of meniscal tears on MRI including the normal appearance of the meniscus and the appearance of the various types of meniscal tears. In addition, I discuss my experience with the causes of errors in the MR diagnosis of meniscal abnormalities and the nuances of meniscal abnormalities that can mimic a meniscal tear. CONCLUSION. MRI is a highly accurate imaging method for diagnosing meniscal tears. To avoid errors in diagnosing meniscal tears, those interpreting MR examinations of the knee need to be aware of the attachments of the menisci and the normal variations in meniscal anatomy that may resemble a meniscal tear. In addition, by being aware of the patterns of meniscal tears, it is easier to diagnose the less common tears.
Evaluation of four herbicides and tillage for weed control on third year growth of tree seedlings

Abstract Azafenidin (AZ), pendimethalin, simazine, and sulfometuron (SF) were applied alone and in combination to black cherry, black walnut, eastern white pine, flowering dogwood, northern bayberry, northern red oak, Siberian crabapple, white ash, white oak, and yellow poplar seedlings grown for 2 yr in the field. There were significant differences in diameter, height, and stem volume among the treatments for every species after the third growing season. Tillage significantly increased tree growth over controls for most species. No single herbicide treatment ranked best for all tree species but comparison of the mean ranks of the treatments for all species indicated that AZ resulted in the best growth. Post–bud-break applications of SF and AZ were no better than untreated controls for most species. Herbicide treatments did not affect tree survival over years but exhibited potential for better growth in establishment years. Nomenclature: Azafenidin; pendimethalin; simazine; sulfometuron; black cherry, Pru...
Distinguishing Mean and Structural Sex Differences in Adolescent Friendship Quality

This study examined sex differences in the structural and mean levels of two adolescent friendship qualities (intimacy and peer control). Structural sex differences were identified when the indicators of friendship quality differed for boys and girls. Mean sex differences were noted when boys and girls differed in the frequency of expressing the friendship quality. Characteristics of same-sex friendships were surveyed in 230 male and 221 female high-school students. Structural sex differences were supported such that (i) companionship was more strongly indicated by intimacy in boys than in girls, and (ii) overt behavioral control was more strongly indicated by peer control in girls than in boys. Mean sex differences replicated previous findings in that girls reported more frequent intimate behaviors than did boys, whereas boys reported more frequent peer control behaviors than did girls. These findings suggest that structural and mean sex differences can be independent of one another. The presence of such...
Lower “Awake and Fed Thermogenesis” Predicts Future Weight Gain in Subjects With Abdominal Adiposity

Awake and fed thermogenesis (AFT) is the energy expenditure (EE) of the nonactive fed condition above the minimum metabolic requirement during sleep and is composed of the thermic effect of food and the cost of being awake. AFT was estimated from whole-room 24-h EE measures in 509 healthy subjects (368 Native Americans and 141 whites) while subjects consumed a eucaloric diet. Follow-up data were available for 290 Native Americans (median follow-up time: 6.6 years). AFT accounted for ∼10% of 24-h EE and explained a significant portion of deviations from expected energy requirements. Energy intake was the major determinant of AFT. AFT, normalized as a percentage of intake, was inversely related to age and fasting glucose concentration and showed a nonlinear relationship with waist circumference and BMI. Spline analysis demonstrated that AFT becomes inversely related to BMI at an inflection point of 29 kg/m2. The residual variance of AFT, after accounting for covariates, predicted future weight change only in subjects with a BMI >29 kg/m2. AFT may influence daily energy balance, is reduced in obese individuals, and predicts future weight gain in these subjects. Once central adiposity develops, a blunting of AFT may occur that then contributes to further weight gain.
Low-order models of highly-irregular surface roughness in wall turbulence

Low-order representations of surface roughness replicated from a turbine blade damaged by spallation (denoted \full surface") are devised using singular value decomposition and the impact of these low-order surface models is assessed in turbulent channel ∞ow. The intent of this efiort is to determine the level of topographical detail of the full surface that is required to reproduce the statistical character of turbulent ∞ow over the full surface. Particle image velocimetry measurements of ∞ow at a flxed Reynolds number over a smooth surface, the full surface and four low-order representations of the full surface reveal that a surface model based on the flrst 20 basis functions of the decomposition (9% of the total number of modes) yields reasonable reproduction of the mean velocity as well as the Reynolds normal and shear stress proflles for ∞ow over the full surface.
Electron Spin Resonance Studies of Silicon Dioxide Films on Silicon in Integrated Circuits Using Spin Dependent Recombination

The technique of spin dependent recombination (SDR) allows the electron spin resonance (ESR) observation of electrically-active point defects in a single metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) with surface areas of only 10-4 cm2 and Si/Si02 interface point defect densities of ∼1011/cm2. With SDR’s enhanced sensitivity, devices with different processing details are explored. Differences in the E’ spectra for variations in the oxidation processing are discussed.