cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pure-state analysis of resonant light scattering: Radiative damping, saturation, and multiphoton effects

A fully quantum-mechanical treatment of resonant light scattering is presented. The incident field is assumed to be described by a coherent state, and is allowed to be intense enough to cause saturation. Complete solutions are obtained for the correlated atom-field pure state vector, including multiphoton contributions of arbitrary order. The frequency spectrum of the scattered field is evaluated and is found to agree exactly with the result previously obtained by means of the quantum fluctuation-regression theorem. A derivation of the fluctuation-regression theorem and of the optical Bloch equations is given which is fully quantum mechanical and which relies upon no assumption of statistical factorization of atom and field states. The accuracy of the result found for the scattered - field spectrum is thus shown to be limited only by the assumption of the smallness of the saturated linewidth compared to the (optical) atomic resonance frequency. The one-photon approximation is analyzed in some detail. The method of adding an imaginary term to the upper-atomic-state energy is clarified, and it is shown how the vacuum and one-photon amplitudes thereby obtained may be used, within a simple and plausible iteration scheme, to construct the complete multiphoton spectrum. A variety of commonly used injection schemes and methods of representing atomic relaxation are discussed, and comparisons are made with results found by other authors. The entire analysis is performed with the aid of a canonical transformation which replaces the applied field by a $c$ number. It is thus proved quite rigorously and generally that the use of a $c$-number applied field is a fully quantum-mechanical procedure, provided only that radiation-reaction terms are retained.
An empirical and conceptual introduction

Abstract Prices and consumption of the major metals are unstable and, moreover, cyclical because of the regularity of instability caused by the strong link between fluctuations in the overall level of economic activity and metal demand. This paper reviews the causes and historical patterns of cyclical instability and compares major metals with gold, energy fuels, industrial minerals, primary commodities and manufactured goods. It finds that metal prices have been more unstable than consumption; that metal prices and consumption were more unstable in the 1970s than in either the 1960s or 1980s; that the synchronization from metal to metal in price and consumption patterns broke down during the 1980s; that many industrial minerals are cyclical too; and that prices for metals as a group are no more unstable than those of other primary commodities.
An analysis of transients in primary nucleation

An analysis is presented of the equations governing time dependent primary nucleation in polymer crystallization. Solution of the one-dimensional diffusion equation for the transient formation of embryos consisting of either chain folded or bundlelike nuclei, near the critical point, leads to a simple expression for estimating the transient time constant. Numerical estimates demonstrate that transient processes are unimportant in solution crystallization and potentially important in melt crystallization unless heterogeneities are present.
Roughening transitions in the vicinal areas of Ta{110} and Ta{100} observed during vapour growth on clean, thermally rounded Ta crystallites

Vapour growth as a function of sample temperature was studied with FEM in the clean vicinal areas of Ta{110} and Ta{110}. A fairly steady growth was observed up to about 800 K: Classical growth at T Tc is in agreement with a prediction by Burton and Cabrera (1949).
Coevolutionary feature synthesized EM algorithm for image retrieval

As a commonly used unsupervised learning algorithm in Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR), Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm has several limitations, especially in high dimensional feature spaces where the data are limited and the computational cost varies exponentially with the number of feature dimensions. Moreover, the convergence is guaranteed only at a local maximum. In this paper, we propose a unified framework of a novel learning approach, namely Coevolutionary Feature Synthesized Expectation-Maximization (CFS-EM), to achieve satisfactory learning in spite of these difficulties. The CFS-EM is a hybrid of coevolutionary genetic programming (CGP) and EM algorithm. The advantages of CFS-EM are: 1) it synthesizes low-dimensional features based on CGP algorithm, which yields near optimal nonlinear transformation and classification precision comparable to kernel methods such as the support vector machine (SVM); 2) the explicitness of feature transformation is especially suitable for image retrieval because the images can be searched in the synthesized low-dimensional space, while kernel-based methods have to make classification computation in the original high-dimensional space; 3) the unlabeled data can be boosted with the help of the class distribution learning using CGP feature synthesis approach. Experimental results show that CFS-EM outperforms pure EM and CGP alone, and is comparable to SVM in the sense of classification. It is computationally more efficient than SVM in query phase. Moreover, it has a high likelihood that it will jump out of a local maximum to provide near optimal results and a better estimation of parameters.
Decay of 48Sc and 48V to levels of 48Ti

Abstract The decay of 1·83-day 48 Sc and 16·2-day 48 V were investigated to resolve discrepancies in the literature concerning the level properties of 48 Ti. The decay of 48 Sc populates levels at (log ft in parenthesis) 983·512(−), 2295·618(−), 3333·13 (5·52) and 3508·48 keV (5·99). The 48 V populates levels at 983·512(−), 2295·618 (6·30), 2420·8(−), 3223·92 (6·64), 3239·73 (6·26) and 3359·5 keV (9·0).
Place, Distance, and Environmental News: Geographic Variation in Newspaper Coverage of nthe Spotted Owl Conflict

This paper examines the geographic variation of newspaper coverage of the conflict over northern spotted owls and old-growth forest protection in the Pacific Northwest. We address four issues: the extent to which newspaper “framing” of the conflict favored one side or the other, the way in which coverage varied among newspapers publishing in different cities around the country, the extent to which that variation was related to the newspapers' physical distance from the Pacific Northwest, and the extent to which variation was related to other characteristics of the newspapers' locations. We content-analyzed the news coverage in ten major daily newspapers for the period 1990–1994. Dependent variables were number of stories, story length, number of sources, and the number of “pro-cut” or “pro-save” news sources and story themes appearing in each article. Independent variables were physical distance, economic ties, political dominance, lumber-industry employment, environmentalism, and political and environmen...
Practical Applications of Molecular Pathology

li ni cs .c om Traditional Anatomic Pathology has a long and prominent history in the house of medicine. The diagnosis of disease from tissue samples is one of the most critical tests we offer for patient care, particularly in oncology and cancer diagnosis. The scientific and clinical contributions of diagnostic anatomic pathologists have advanced the field of medicine and allowed for ever-advancing clinical management of disease. But, at the same time that classical morphologic diagnosis remains essential, the components of a pathologic diagnosis have also greatly expanded. From the 1980s, when immunohistochemical stains advanced our ability to differentiate between lesions based on protein expression patterns, to the 1990s and early 2000s, when nucleic acid assays began to be incorporated into diagnosis, to today, anatomic pathologists have kept a firm grasp on diagnostics by incorporating new technology rapidly and efficiently into their armamentarium of tools. Today, subspecialization has become an increasing necessity, partly because there are so many more factors, parameters, features, and elements that must be included in diagnostic reports for the best practice clinical care. One fruitful area of expansion in the area of molecular diagnostic applications to anatomic pathology has been the incorporation of polymerase chain reaction–based assays and fluorescent in situ hybridization assays into practical diagnostic algorithms. There are many examples
Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) on the Connection Machine

The massively parallel computer Connection Machine is utilized to map an improved version of the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method for solving flows with the Boltzmann equation. The kinetic theory is required for analyzing hypersonic aerospace applications, and the features and capabilities of the DSMC particle-simulation technique are discussed. The DSMC is shown to be inherently massively parallel and data parallel, and the algorithm is based on molecule movements, cross-referencing their locations, locating collisions within cells, and sampling macroscopic quantities in each cell. The serial DSMC code is compared to the present parallel DSMC code, and timing results show that the speedup of the parallel version is approximately linear. The correct physics can be resolved from the results of the complete DSMC method implemented on the connection machine using the data-parallel approach. 41 refs.
The virus scare.

Nearly everyone of a certain age remembers the three great scares of the 1950s: communism, atomic bombs, and polio. While the first two have received extensive scholarly attention, the latter has been largely neglected. With the fiftieth anniversary of the testing, approval, and distribution of the Salk vaccine, three books have been published about polio and the attempt to eradicate it in the United States.' The most comprehensive of these is David Oshinsky's Polio: An American Story, which analyzes why this disease drew so much attention and struck such terror in cold war America, despite the fact that "polio was never the raging epidemic portrayed in the media" (p. 5). Polio-an intestinal virus spread by fecal waste, unwashed hands, or contaminated food or water-most often produced a slight infection with minor symptoms or none at all. But, in about 1 percent of cases the virus invades the brain stem and the central nervous system through the bloodstream, producing paralysis, mostly in the legs, but in some cases in the breathing muscles, causing death. For centuries the polio virus passed from person to person, but was different than other viruses, since it caused no pandemics or even major epidemics. The first recorded polio epidemic in the United States occurred in a rural section of Vermont in 1894.
The headward extent of fluvial landforms and associated vegetation on massanutten mountain, Virginia

Variation in fluvial landforms and associated vegetation in the headward (upstream) direction has received little study and the controlling factors are not well understood. The relations among channel gradient, basin area, stream order, and the headward extent of fluvial landforms and vegetation was studied in 18 small basins and larger nearby stream reaches in the Massanutten Mountain area, northern Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. Low-order streams were traversed to their basin heads. Notice was made of the point or region of the disappearance of fluvial landforms. Indicator species were used to confirm landform identification. The studied landforms include the channel bar, channel shelf, floodplain, and terraces. Basin geomorphic characteristics were determined from topographic and geologic maps and ground surveys. Results suggest that gradient is the most important factor controlling the development of fluvial landforms. Floodplains have not developed along stream reaches where average channel gradients exceed 0.15. Channel shelves and associated vegetation occur farther upstream than floodplains.
Inherited epidermolysis bullosa and the risk of death from renal disease: Experience of the National epidermolysis bullosa registry

Background: Isolated case reports and limited clinical series suggested that renal failure may occur in some patients with inherited epidermolysis bullosa (EB). Reported causes have included poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis, secondary amyloidosis, and chronic mechanical obstruction. To date, no data exist that permit an accurate estimation of the risk for death from renal failure in patients with this disease. Methods: Life table analyses were performed using 16 years of data from the National EB Registry, a federally funded longitudinal epidemiological study encompassing the entire continental United States. Data were stratified so that cumulative and conditional risks for death from renal failure could be estimated. Renal failure as cause of death was identified by death certificates and verified from hospital records and interviews with the patients' immediate families. Results: The cumulative risk for death from renal failure among patients with Hallopeau-Siemens recessive dystrophic EB (RDEB-HS) was 12.3% by age 35 years. In addition, deaths from renal failure also were reported rarely in patients with other subtypes of generalized RDEB and in junctional EB (JEB). Conclusion: Renal failure is an important cause of death among adults with RDEB-HS, surpassed only by death from metastatic squamous cell carcinoma. It also rarely may occur in the setting of JEB and other subtypes of generalized RDEB. Given our data, medical surveillance for early renal involvement should become part of the routine evaluation of all adults with RDEB and JEB.
Path planning for data assimilation in mobile environmental monitoring systems

By combining a low-order model of forecast errors, the extended Kalman filter, and classical continuous optimization, we develop an integrated methodology for planning mobile sensor paths to sample continuous fields. Agent trajectories are developed that specifically take into account the fact that data collected will be used for near real-time assimilation with large predictive models. This aspect of the problem has significant implications because the trajectories generated are very different from those which do not take the assimilation step into account, and their performance in controlling error is notably better.
Uptake of biogenic amines by glial cells in culture I. A neuronal-like transport system for serotonin.

Abstract Rat C6 astrocytoma cells take up serotonin (5HT) via a high affinity carrier mediated system with Km of 1 micromolar, and a second component of lower affinity. This high affinity 5HT transport system is rapid, concentrative, and highly sodium and temperature dependent. Chlorimipramine and Lilly 110140 preferentially block the glial 5HT but not NE uptake. This preferential inhibition has previously been shown for synaptosomes and brain slices. Norepinerphrine (NE) and to a lesser extent dopamine (DA) block the glial 5HT uptake, suggesting a partial overlap between the catecholamine and indoleamine glial carrier systems. 5-Hydroxy but not 6-hydroxy dopamine inhibits the high affinity 5HT transport in glia. A variety of ring hydroxylated indoleamine analogs block this glial 5HT transport; of the compounds tested, 5, 7 dihydroxytryptamine is the least effective inhibitor. Phenylethylamine (PEA) and its 0-methylated derivatives block synaptosomal and glial 5HT transport equally well. These observations suggest that cultured C6 cells used as models of glia possess a 5HT transport system which kinetically and pharmacologically resembles a neuronal 5HT transport system.
A Comparison of First-Time and Repeat Rural DUI Offenders

The purpose of the current study was to examine whether the differences found between first-time and repeat rural DUI offenders were the same as those found previously in urban samples. A total of 118 rural DUI offenders were interviewed, approximately half (51.7%) of whom were repeat offenders. Although demographic and mental health characteristics were similar across the two groups, repeat offenders reported more extensive substance use and criminal histories. Results suggest that the pattern of differences between rural first-time and repeat DUI offenders may be different from the pattern found in prior urban-based studies. Treatment implications are discussed.
Inverse Scattering by Compressive Sensing and Signal Subspace Methods

This work, composed of the present conference paper plus the associated talk at the conference, explores new paradigms for both active and passive target localization, imaging and inverse scattering that are based on both signal subspace and compressive sensing methods (being of particular interest the basis pursuit problem). The signal subspace component provides signal-subspace-based imaging methods applicable to spatially extended targets. The compressive sensing approach is developed as a recent alternative to the solution of a broad class of target parameter estimation problems. Our research program emphasizes certain inverse source and scattering problems, for which one has a priori knowledge on sparsity of the sources, scatterers and their fields, in physically- derived representational dictionaries for those signals. The derived theory and algorithms are illustrated with computer simulations (the full account of which is left for the talk).
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) Y2 receptor-selective agonist inhibits food intake and promotes fat metabolism in mice: Combined anorectic effects of Y2 and Y4 receptor-selective agonists

Abstract Peripheral administration of the endogenous Y2 and Y4 receptor selective agonists, PYY(3–36) and PP, have been shown to inhibit food intake and body weight gain in rodents, and to reduce appetite and caloric intake in humans. We have previously developed a long-acting, potent and highly selective Y2 receptor selective agonist, N-α-Ac-[Nle24,28, Trp30, Nva31, Ψ35–36]PYY(22–36)-NH2 (BT-48). BT-48 (ip) dose-dependently inhibited ad lib food intake and also decreased the respiratory quotient in mice during both the light and dark periods. The latter observation is indicative of enhanced fat metabolism. Moreover, BT-48 also inhibited food intake in fasted mice. Combined ip administration of BT-48 (50 nmol/mouse) with a highly potent and selective Y4 anorectic peptide, BVD-74D (50 nmol/mouse), resulted in a powerful and long lasting inhibitory effect on food intake. As expected, this inhibitory effect on food intake was nearly double that exhibited by either peptide (50 nmol/mouse) alone. In summary, BT-48, unlike PYY(3–36), exhibits little or no affinity to other “Y” receptors, and may therefore have a better clinical potential than PYY(3–36) for control of food intake. Moreover, it appears that treatment with a combination of Y2 and Y4 receptor selective agonists may constitute a more powerful approach to control food intake than treatment with either of these agonists alone.
Fine-spatial-scale measurement of the mid-frequency (1 kHz-10 kHz) ocean noise field with a vertical billboard array

Summary form only given. A 131-element hydrophone array for measuring the ocean's mid-frequency (1-10 kHz) noise field was designed, built, and deployed by the Marine Physical Laboratory in 2002. The major portion of the array is composed of 4 vertical staves of 32 elements each with equal horizontal and vertical interelement spacing of 0.2 m (half wavelength at 3.75 kHz), forming a 2D billboard configuration. Three additional hydrophones are installed to provide larger horizontal aperture. Another three channels are terminated with non-acoustic, electrically-equivalent plugs to provide data on the electronic self noise of the array subsystems. Each of the 134 channels is digitized at a 12 K samples/sec rate. The array was deployed from R/P FLIP in 175-m-deep water and data were recorded nearly continuously over a week-long period. Upon deployment, three tiltmeters were attached to the array support frame to measure heading, pitch, and roll of the array, as well as water temperature and depth. The dynamics of the array over time from the tiltmeter data, the array self noise characteristics, and its vertical beampattern as determined by in-situ calibration measurements are the focus of this paper. Examples of the azimuthal dependence of the vertical spatial structure of the mid-frequency noise field, determined both by conventional beamforming and an approach that combines conventional in the vertical and adaptive in the horizontal, also are presented to illustrate the high quality nature of the array measurements.
Weaving a Tangled Safety Net The Intergenerational Legacy of Domestic Violence and Poverty

Although researchers have documented the close connection between witnessing domestic violence as a female child and being abused in later relationships, the details of women's experiences over time are not well understood. Similarly, researchers have only begun to explore the connections between domestic violence and poverty and the profound consequences and damaging correlates of intimate abuse for poor mothers. This research report presents a case study to highlight the intergenerational legacy of domestic violence in poor families and to illuminate the ways public assistance may reinforce or short-circuit women's susceptibility and resistance.
Kernel estimation for time series: An asymptotic theory

We consider kernel density and regression estimation for a wide class of nonlinear time series models. Asymptotic normality and uniform rates of convergence of kernel estimators are established under mild regularity conditions. Our theory is developed under the new framework of predictive dependence measures which are directly based on the data-generating mechanisms of the underlying processes. The imposed conditions are different from the classical strong mixing conditions and they are related to the sensitivity measure in the prediction theory of nonlinear time series.
Ferromagnetic resonance in soft Cu/FeCo

Abstract We present the results of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements of soft Fe 65 Co 35 thin films grown on a seed layer of Cu. FMR is investigated at different magnetic field orientations and over a broad range of frequencies from 3 to 94 GHz. The observation of spin wave resonances in the perpendicular orientation allows us to estimate the exchange stiffness.
Femtosecond dynamics of quasi-particles in YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7- delta / superconductor films

The transient electronic response of epitaxially grown YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7- delta / superconductor thin films in the femtosecond time domain was investigated using transient photoinduced reflectivity ( Delta R) with 60-fs time resolution. For temperatures T>T/sub c/, only a bolometric signal was observed with Delta R>0. For T 0. The results for T<T/sub c/ are explained in terms of quasi-particle (QP) electronic response giving Delta R<0. Thus, the femtosecond rise time is interpreted as avalanche multiplication of QP across the gap 2 Delta , and the subsequent picosecond relaxation is interpreted as QP recombination. The QP optical response is explained within the framework of the two-fluid model.
Mode shaping of a graded-reflectivity-mirror unstable resonator with an intra-cavity phase element

A graded-reflectivity-mirror (GRM) unstable resonator with low output coupling is described, where a custom-made optical phase element is used inside the resonator to provide maximally flat output. The phase element removes the dip in the output beam by pre-compensating the internal Gaussian mode. An experiment is performed with a flashlamp-pumped Nd:YAG laser. The resonator's magnification (M) and the GRM's central reflectivity (R/sub 0/) are 2.3 and 0.7, respectively. The large dip in the center of the output is removed using the custom-made phase element. This resonator has the advantage over a conventional GRM unstable resonator of being suitable for lower-gain laser media. The gain required to overcome fundamental mode cavity losses for maximally flat output is decreased from 22.3 (for a conventional GRM resonator) to 4.3 (for the resonator containing the phase element). This reduction in required gain comes with essentially no loss to the resonator modal discrimination.
Maximum Spectral Demands in the Near-Fault Region:

Abstract The Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) relationships for shallow crustal earthquakes in the western United States predict a rotated geometric mean of horizontal spectral demand, termed GMRotI50, and not maximum spectral demand. Differences between strike-normal, strike-parallel, geometric-mean, and maximum spectral demands in the near-fault region are investigated using 147 pairs of records selected from the NGA strong motion database. The selected records are for earthquakes with moment magnitude greater than 6.5 and for closest site-to-fault distance less than 15 km. Ratios of maximum spectral demand to NGA-predicted GMRotI50 for each pair of ground motions are presented. The ratio shows a clear dependence on period and the Somerville directivity parameters. Maximum demands can substantially exceed NGA-predicted GMRotI50 demands in the near-fault region, which has significant implications for seismic design, seismic performance assessment, and the next-generation seismic design maps. Strike-norm...
Constitutively Oxidized CXXC Motifs within the CD3 Heterodimeric Ectodomains of the T Cell Receptor Complex Enforce the Conformation of Juxtaposed Segments

The CD3ϵγ and CD3ϵδ heterodimers along with the CD3ζζ homodimer are the signaling components of the T cell receptor (TCR). These invariant dimers are non-covalently associated on the T cell plasma membrane with a clone-specific (i.e. clonotypic) αβ heterodimer that binds its cognate ligand, a complex between a particular antigenic peptide, and an MHC molecule (pMHC). These four TCR dimers exist in a 1:1:1:1 stoichiometry. At the junction between the extracellular and transmembrane domains of each mammalian CD3ϵ, CD3γ, and CD3δ subunit is a highly conserved CXXC motif previously found to be important for thymocyte and T cell activation. The redox state of each CXXC motif is presently unknown. Here we show using LC-MS and a biotin switch assay that these CXXC segments are constitutively oxidized on resting and activated T cells, consistent with their measured reduction potential. NMR chemical shift perturbation experiments comparing a native oxidized CD3δ CXXC-containing segment with that of a mutant SXXS-containing CD3δ segment in LPPG (1-palmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-(1′-rac-glycerol) (sodium salt)) micelles show extensive chemical shift differences in residues within the membrane-proximal motif as well as throughout the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains as a result of the elimination of the native disulfide. Likewise, direct comparison of the native CD3δ segment in oxidizing and reducing conditions reveals numerous spectral differences. The oxidized CXXC maintains the structure within the membrane-proximal stalk region as well as that of its contiguous transmembrane and cytoplasmic domain, inclusive of the ITAM (immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif) involved in signaling. These results suggest that preservation of the CD3 CXXC oxidized state may be essential for TCR mechanotransduction.
Spectroscopic studies of strained-layer GaSbAlSb superlattices

Abstract Photoreflectance (PR) and photoluminescence (PL) studies of GaSbAlSb multiple quantum well structures under hydrostatic pressure at cryogenic temperatures are presented. A large number of excitonic transitions from the conduction sub-hands (CB) to the light (LH) and heavy (HH) hole sub-bands are observed in PR. In contrast, the ground sub-band transition from the CB to the LH dominates the PL. The pressure coefficients get progressively smaller for the higher sub-band transitions. The PL intensity drops dramatically as the direct Γ CB crosses the L CB at ∼ 10 kbar but the PR intensity does not. However a large drop in PR signal is observed as the X CB crosses each sub-band energy.
Is the United States really at risk for introduction of Rift Valley fever virus

JAVMA, Vol 242, No. 5, March 1, 2013 R Valley fever continues to garner substantial attention as a potential agricultural and zoonotic disease threat to the United States. It has been stated that “the presence of competent vectors in countries free of RVF, the high viral titers in viremic animals and the global changes in climate, travel and trade all contribute to make this virus a threat that must not be neglected as the consequences of RVF are dramatic, both for human and animal health.” Rift Valley fever virus was first isolated from lambs in the Rift Valley of Kenya in the 1930s. Major outbreaks of RVFV infection have been recorded in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa since that time, and a large outbreak of the disease occurred in Egypt in the late 1970s. The virus was first detected outside the African continent in Saudi Arabia and Yemen in 2000, with the outbreak attributed to the legal importation of cattle and small ruminants from the Horn of Africa. Six viral strains were isolated from Aedes mosquitoes during this outbreak, and all were phylogenetically related to strains isolated in Kenya in 1997. The aim of the present commentary is to qualitatively assess the threat of introduction of RVFV in nonendemic regions, particularly the United States.
Effective classification of 3D image data using partitioning methods

We propose partitioning-based methods to facilitate the classification of 3-D binary image data sets of regions of interest (ROIs) with highly non-uniform distributions. The first method is based on recursive dynamic partitioning of a 3-D volume into a number of 3-D hyper-rectangles. For each hyper-rectangle, we consider, as a potential attribute, the number of voxels (volume elements) that belong to ROIs. A hyper-rectangle is partitioned only if the corresponding attribute does not have high discriminative power, determined by statistical tests, but it is still sufficiently large for further splitting. The final discriminative hyper-rectangles form new attributes that are further employed in neural network classification models. The second method is based on maximum likelihood employing non-spatial (k-means) and spatial DBSCAN clustering algorithms to estimate the parameters of the underlying distributions. The proposed methods were experimentally evaluated on mixtures of Gaussian distributions, on realistic lesion-deficit data generated by a simulator conforming to a clinical study, and on synthetic fractal data. Both proposed methods have provided good classification on Gaussian mixtures and on realistic data. However, the experimental results on fractal data indicated that the clustering-based methods were only slightly better than random guess, while the recursive partitioning provided significantly better classification accuracy.
DELPHI: a framework for RTL-based architecture design evaluation using DSENT models

Computer architects are increasingly interested in evaluating their ideas at the register-transfer level (RTL) to gain more precise insights on the key characteristics (frequency, area, power) of a micro/architectural design proposal. However, the RTL synthesis process is notoriously tedious, slow, and errorprone and is often outside the area of expertise of a typical computer architect, as it requires familiarity with complex CAD flows, hard-to-get tools and standard cell libraries. The effort is further multiplied when targeting multiple technology nodes and standard cell variants to study technology dependence. This paper presents DELPHI, a flexible, open framework that leverages the DSENT modeling engine for faster, easier, and more efficient characterization of RTL hardware designs. DELPHI first synthesizes a Verilog or VHDL RTL design (either using the industry-standard Synopsys Design Compiler tool or a combination of open-source tools) to an intermediate structural netlist. It then processes the resulting synthesized netlist to generate a technology-independent DSENT design model. This model can then be used within a modified version of the DSENT flow to perform very fast—one to two orders of magnitude faster than full RTL synthesis—estimation of hardware performance characteristics, such as frequency, area, and power across a variety of DSENT technology models (e.g., 65nm Bulk, 32nm SOI, 11nm Tri-Gate, etc.). In our evaluation using 26 RTL design examples, DELPHI and DSENT were consistently able to closely track and capture design trends of conventional RTL synthesis results without the associated delay and complexity. We are releasing the full DELPHI framework (including a fully open-source flow) at http://www.ece.cmu.edu/CALCM/delphi/.
Determination of the structure of (i,o)-bicyclo[6.2.2]dodeca-11-ene-2,3-anhydride by X-ray crystallography and molecular mechanics

Abstract The crystal structure of the unusually distorted (i,o)-bicyclo[6.2.2]dodeca-11-ene-2,3-anhydride molecule was determined by X-ray crystallography at liquid nitrogen temperatures, and was also calculated using MM2 and MM3. Each calculation was carried out for both the gas-phase molecule, and for the molecule in the crystal lattice. The MM2 structure fits the experimental data reasonably well, but the agreement is better with MM3. The crystal-packing forces change the structure of the molecule very little, because the molecule is already highly strained and rather rigid.
From biogas energy, biotechnology to new agriculture.

Agriculture in the 21st Century is facing new challenges and transformation according to five general trends: commercialisation, internationalisation, science and technology, environment and energy production. In this laboratory, a series of research, development and commercialisation of biogas and enzyme technologies reflect these trends. Anaerobic digestion is a microbial process that converts organic waste into biogas, containing 60-70% methane. A simple thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAnD) system for poultry manure was developed from the lab to the farm. TAnD at 50 to 60°C produces biogas at high rates and, as a result, the process is efficient and the digester is a compact unit. A pilot plug-flow TAnD was first constructed and operated at NCSU research farm. Multiple benefits of the system were demonstrated. Supported by UNDP, a TAnD to process five tons of manure daily (from 50,000 hens) was constructed in China and has been operating for 20 years. Large scale digesters processing hundreds of tons of manure daily are increasingly popular in China and Europe. Biogas from large digesters can be a significant source of energy to generate electricity or to fuel transportation. Beyond energy production, the digester is a rich source of biomaterials. A feather-degrading bacterium was discovered and isolated from TAnD, and its keratinase enzyme and the gene encoding for the enzyme were subsequently isolated. Genetic manipulation for over-expression and up-scale fermentation have now made the industrial production of the enzyme possible. As a heat-stable protease, the keratinase was found to be useful in processing feather meal, in enhancing feed digestibility and was able to degrade prion proteins (implicated as the disease vector in bovine spongiform encephalopathy).
Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Postcardiotomy Cardiogenic Shock in Children

Size limitations and technical barriers prohibit the use of many conventional mechanical circulatory support systems for postcardiotomy ventricular dysfunction in pediatric populations. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), frequently used to treat neonatal respiratory failure, can provide cardiac support and is effective treatment of postoperative myocardial failure in children. From 1981 to 1987, 10 patients aged 2 days to 5 years were maintained on ECMO for 15 to 144 hours (mean duration, 92 +/- 16 hours) after cardiotomy. Operative procedures included repair of tetralogy of Fallot (2 patients), closure of a ventricular septal defect (2), the Senning procedure for transposition of the great arteries (1 patient), repair of interrupted aortic arch with closure of a ventricular septal defect (1), repair of a partial atrioventricular septal defect (2), closure of a ventricular septal defect with excision of an anomalous muscle bundle (1), and the Fontan procedure (1). Venoarterial ECMO was established in all 10 children. Six patients underwent transthoracic right atrium-ascending aorta cannulation, 3 had right internal jugular vein-right common carotid artery cannulation through a cervical incision, and 1 had right internal jugular vein-left axillary artery cannulation. Eight of the 10 patients were successfully weaned from ECMO, and 7 are long-term survivors. There were 3 deaths; 1 was caused by cardiac and acute renal failure complicated by sepsis two days after decannulation, another occurred 19 days after atrioventricular septal defect repair, and 1 was caused by massive pulmonary hemorrhage. Major hemorrhage developed in 3 patients while on ECMO; 2 required premature decannulation for mediastinal bleeding from operative sites and ultimately survived, and 1 died of respiratory failure as a result of endobronchial bleeding. We conclude that the use of ECMO in pediatric populations for transient postoperative ventricular dysfunction improves survival with limited overall morbidity.
CLINICAL USE OF ON-LINE PORTAL IMAGING FOR DAILY PATIENT TREATMENT VERIFICATION

Abstract Purpose: To determine the ease of use by clinical staff and reliability of an electronic portal imaging system and evaluate the potential to utilize on-line imaging to assess accuracy of daily patient treatment positioning in radiation therapy. Methods and Materials: A computer controlled fluorescent screen-mirror imaging system was used to acquire online portal images. A physician panel assessed on-line image quality relative to standard portal film. Clinical use of the imager was implemented through a protocol where images were obtained during the first six monitor units of external beam. The images were visually compared to a reference portal and patient setup was adjusted for errors exceeding 5 mm. Subsequent off-line analysis was utilized to give insight into the magnitude of clinical setup error in the visually accepted images. Results: Physician evaluation of on-line image quality with an initial 211 images found that 70% were comparable or superior to standard film portal images. Eighty percent of treatment fields fit completely within the on-line imaging area. Eight percent of on-line images were rejected due to poor image quality. Twelve percent of the daily treatment setups imaged required adjustment overall, but specific field types predictably required more frequent adjustment (pelvic and mantle fields). Off-line analysis of accepted images demonstrates that 18% of the final images had setup errors exceeding 5 mm. Conclusion: On-line imaging facilitated daily portal alignment and verification. Ease of use, almost instantaneous viewing and consistent ability to identify and locate anatomical landmarks imply the potential for on-line imaging to replace film based approaches. Retrospective analysis of daily images reveals that visual assessment of setup is not sufficient for eliminating localization errors. Further improvement is required with respect to detecting localization error and fully encompassing larger field sizes.
Reliability of the history and physical assessment (HAPA) form

Summary Background: Medical student assessment on core clerkship rotations is notoriously difficult. Most evaluation is subjective and may include significant bias. This study aims to determine the inter-rater reliability of an objective, standardised history and physical examination write-up assessment (HAPA) form. Methods: The HAPA form was used by two paediatrician evaluators to assess 10 student history and physical examination write-ups (H&Ps). Kappa scores were determined to assess agreement between evaluators for each HAPA form item, for the total HAPA form score and for an additional ‘overall assessment’ score. Results: The kappa scores were relatively high, indicating good agreement between evaluators for the major HAPA form sections: 0.59 for data collection; 0.66 for critical reasoning; and 0.36 for communication skills. The kappa score for the total HAPA form score was 0.58, which was higher than the agreement derived from an ‘overall assessment’ score (0.30) that the evaluators provided for the H&P. Conclusions: A standardised form for H&P assessment (the HAPA form) provides superior reliability to the ‘overall assessment’ of H&Ps that is often used in clerkships for evaluation. Criterion-based evaluation of the student write-up can provide reliable evaluation and feedback to students on a clerkship.
Cellular restriction factors affecting the early stages of HIV replication.

Several innate immune mechanisms exist in mammalian cells that prevent the replication of viruses. These cellular factors influence the tropism of retroviruses in mammalian cells by inducing a dominant restriction that acts after viral entry but before integration into the host genome. The identification of several cellular factors involved with the post entry block of HIV has recently been revealed. These recent advances identified the tripartite motif protein 5α (Trim5α) and the apolipoprotein B mRNA editing enzyme catalytic polypeptide-like 3G (APOBEC3G), which work to inactivate several retroviruses including HIV-1. The mechanism of restriction by these cellular proteins is unknown. Therefore, this review highlights recent advances in understanding the function of Trim5α and APOBEC3G.
Characterization of Agrobacterium vitis Strains Isolated from Feral Vitis riparia

Agrobacterium vitis was isolated from roots of 41 of 66 feral Vitis riparia vines collected in three different regions of New York State. Two of the regions were more than 150 km from commercial vineyards. The strains were highly diverse as determined by DNA fingerprinting of the chromosomal region lying between the 16S and 23S rRNA genes. Of 24 strains examined, 15 different fingerprints were generated, and none was identical to fingerprints generated by previously identified groups of tumorigenic A. vitis strains. Results of physiological tests that were done to characterize strains from V. riparia conformed closely to those expected for A. vitis, except that 23 of 26 strains did not utilize tartrate. All strains were nontumorigenic, did not hybridize with a probe consisting of T-DNA genes, did not utilize octopine or nopaline, and carried zero to three plasmids. Of 26 strains, 7 inhibited A. vitis strain K306 from causing galls at wound sites on grape as well as or better than a previously studied nontumorigenic A. vitis strain, F2/5, that is known to have biological control activity.
Error Characterization of the Factorization Method

This paper studies error characterization of the factorization method for 3-D shape and motion recovery from image sequences using matrix perturbation theory and covariance propagation for linear models. Given the 2-D projections of a set of feature points across multiple image frames and small perturbations/covariances of the feature point coordinates, first-order perturbation and covariance matrices of 3-D shape and motion are derived and validated with the ground truth. This work provides quantitative analysis of error sensitivity of 3-D shape and motion estimation subject to small feature correspondence errors. It can be used to pinpoint system performance, such as which point/frame/coordinate has relatively higher uncertainty, and gain insight for further improvement. We show the 3-D shape uncertainty as ellipsoids on top of the 3-D reconstruction as an enhanced visualization, leading to better use of the factorization method in engineering applications. Experimental results are demonstrated to support the analysis and to show how the error analysis and error measures can be used.
Environmental decision-making in Central and Eastern Europe: Introduction to the special issue

Since the governments of Central and Eastern Europe launched their political and economic reforms, the field of environmental management has witnessed many ups and downs. Environmental activists contributed significantly to overthrowing the former communist regimes and took positions in the newly established democratic governments. However, within a short time, environmental issues moved to the bottom of most government priority lists as these countries struggled with the need to stimulate growth. At first, western media reported extensively on environmental degradation and its impacts on human health. Graphic depictions of toxic dumps and obsolete factories spitting out pollution were transmitted to horrified audiences. Soon though, western concern about environmental quality in Central and Eastern Europe was eclipsed as media attention turned to the Balkan war. The pollution remains, but money to clean it up is not available. Even if the money becomes available, it may be difficult to disburse until proper policies and institutions are established. Although some environmental problems were exaggerated by the media, hard scientific evidence seems to suggest that others are serious enough to deserve attention. This special issue summarizes some of the technical knowledge on which well-informed policies might be based, reports on national-level issues and environmental policy-making efforts, shows problems best approached at the regional level, and considers the mitigating role environmental impact assessment might play throughout Central and Eastern Europe.
Late Results of Operation for Acute Aortic Dissection Producing Aortic Insufficiency

Since July, 1970, 8 patients with acute dissecting aneurysms of the ascending aorta producing aortic insufficiency have undergone immediate operation employing a technique in which the origin of the dissection is resected, the dissected base of the aorta is lined with nondistensible prosthetic cloth for support, and the native aortic valve is resuspended. Aortic continuity is then reestablished with end-to-end anastomosis or use of a short segment of woven graft (not necessarily circumferential). There were no operative deaths. Mean follow-up has been 60 months (range, 25 to 82 months). One late death has occurred (cerebral hemorrhage at 48 months); of the remaining 7 patients, 2 have faint murmurs of aortic insufficiency, but all are in New York Heart Association Functional Class I. This technique of aortic reconstruction in acute ascending dissections allows preservation of the native aortic valve while preventing late aortic root dilatation or major valve insufficiency.
New approaches to delay the progression of chronic renal failure

New approaches to delay the progression of chronic renal failure. Background The molecular cloning of many bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP)-encoding genes and their identification as transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) relatives enhanced the interest in these molecules and allowed expression and functional studies to be performed. Methods Rats with ureteral obstruction were distributed into four groups. Group 1 received vehicle, group 2 received enalapril 12.5 mg/kg body wt/day, group 3 received 50 or 300 μg/kg body wt BMP-7, and group 4 received both enalapril and the high dose of BMP-7. We also studied the effects of BMP-7 administration in a model streptozocin-induced diabetes. Results Treatment with BMP-7 in rats with ureteral obstruction of 3 days duration and subsequent release indicated that this compound decreases interstitial volume and accelerates the return of renal function. After 16 weeks of diabetes, the rats were treated with BMP-7. The administration of BMP-7 partially reversed renal hypertrophy, restored GFR to normal, and decreased proteinuria. Conclusions These studies indicate that administration of BMP-7 maintains and restores renal function and structure in animals with ureteral obstruction and diabetic nephropathy.