cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Efficient design/simulation algorithms for simultaneous switching noise in leadframe packages

Two new modeling and simulation approaches for Simultaneous Switching Noise (SSN) are described and compared to “brute force” simulation by SPICE. Both simulation accuracy and simulation run-time are considered. The two new approaches are: 1) the “effective inductance” method, in which an approximate, very efficient method of extracting an SSN L eff is utilized; and 2) the “macromodel” method, in which the complex inductance network responsible for SSN is represented by only a few dominant poles in the frequency domain and the time domain response is obtained by an efficient convolution algorithm. Both approaches are shown to be accurate and fast, but only the effective inductance algorithm is robust in numerical convergence.
Valuing water rights in douglas county, oregon, using the hedonic price method

: This paper uses the hedonic price method to estimate the value of an acre-foot of irrigation water in Douglas County, Oregon. The analysis uses detailed information from 113 arms-length transactions of farmland for 2000 and 2001. The estimated willingness-to-accept of $261 to sell an acre-foot of irrigation water is consistent with other studies and recent transactions in the study area. Estimates for the value of leasing water are provided using a range of discount rates and leasing periods.
Knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward epilepsy (KAPE): a survey of Chinese and Vietnamese adults in the United States

We conducted, in four languages, the first national cross-sectional survey of the knowledge, attitudes, and practice with respect to epilepsy of Chinese- and Vietnamese-American adults. We used a convenience sampling method to recruit 2831 adults in seven states. Eighty-four percent had heard or read of epilepsy and 58% had seen a seizure, whereas only 34% knew someone with epilepsy. Forty-two percent would object to their children marrying a person with epilepsy, and 43% would not knowingly hire someone with epilepsy. We examined bivariate associations for questions of knowledge, attitudes, and practice with age, gender, ethnicity, nativity, language, and education. chi(2) analyses showed differences in knowledge of and attitudes toward epilepsy by age group, gender, ethnicity, and education. Although misconceptions and negative views about epilepsy are held by Chinese and Vietnamese populations living in the United States, our results show noteworthy differences in attitudes and practice in relation to previous studies in Asian countries.
Alprazolam (Xanax) use among southern youth: beliefs and social norms concerning dangerous rides on "handlebars".

While the epidemiologic trends concerning alprazolam (Xanax®) are unknown, the use of benzodiazepines, in general, has increased in popularity among youth within recent years. To shed light on the drug problem, the current pilot study used a qualitative approach to investigate relevant beliefs, norms, and perceived addiction associated with alprazolam initiation among 46 youth who were attending an inpatient drug treatment program during the spring of 2004. Overwhelmingly, most participants stated that addiction to alprazolam occurs as early as initial consumption. Most youth in the study stated that their friends felt it was normal to use alprazolam. In addition, their control beliefs revealed that if someone wanted to stop it would be difficult because of the widespread use in their communities and family social reinforcement involved with its use. In this study, a majority of students stated that medical professionals such as doctors and pharmacists were the greatest facilitator of alprazolam acquisiti...
Outcome and cost of child abuse.

Abstract Objective: To compare the cases of child abuse (CA) with other admissions in a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) for differences in patient-specific health care costs, severity of illness (SI) and mortality, and describe their outcome. Method: A retrospective cohort study of all patients admitted to the PICU between January 1991 and August 1994. Discharge diagnosis, age, SI, mortality rate, length of stay, hospitalization charges ($Hosp), and mortality were retrieved. Results: There were 937 admissions; 13 were secondary to CA. Cases of CA represented 1.4% of admissions and 17% of deaths. CA patients had the highest SI (61%), $Hosp ($30,684), daily charges ($5,294) and mortality rates (53%) than any other group. In our patients, SI is a factor that affects charges. Even when compared to a cohort group with SI, child abuse patients had higher daily hospitalization charges ( p Conclusion: These results confirm that interventional medical care in response to severe CA is very costly and the ultimate outcome is significantly worse than other diseases. Therefore, we believe it is imperative to allocate resources to prevention.
Environmental Socialization Quantitative Tests of the Childhood Play Hypothesis

Two studies with adolescent youth (N = 1,376, N = 450) help clarify the relationship between childhood play experiences in wild environments and later environmental preferences in the life domains of work, leisure, and school. Respondents reporting having played in wild environments had more positive perceptions of natural environments, outdoor recreation activities, and future indoor/outdoor occupational environments. No significant differences were found for preferences for environmental sciences activities conducted in schools. Results suggest that childhood play in wildland environments is related to environmental competencies and preferences but not necessarily an intellectual interest in environmental sciences or environmentalism.
iDispatcher: A unified platform for secure planet-scale information dissemination

Traditional software and security patch update delivery mechanisms rely on a client/server approach where clients pull updates from servers regularly. This approach, however, suffers a high window of vulnerability (WOV) for clients and the risk of a single point of failure. Overlay-based information dissemination schemes overcome these problems, but often incur high infrastructure cost to set up and maintain individual information dissemination networks. Against this backdrop, we propose iDispatcher, a planet-scale, flexible and secure information dissemination platform. iDispatcher uses a hybrid approach with both push- and pull-based information dissemination to reduce the WOV period and achieve high distribution coverage. iDispatcher also uses a peer-to-peer based architecture to achieve higher scalability. We develop a self-contained key management mechanism for iDispatcher. Our prototype for iDispatcher is deployed on more than 500 PlanetLab nodes distributed around the world. Experimental results show that iDispatcher can have small dissemination latency for time-critical applications, is highly tunable to optimize the tradeoff between bandwidth and latency, and works resiliently against different attacks such as flooding attacks.
Enhanced Hydrogen Spillover on Carbon Surfaces Modified by Oxygen Plasma

Hydrogen storage capacity by hydrogen spillover on metal-doped carbons can be significantly enhanced by introducing surface oxygen functional groups to the carbon. It is shown that the enhancement is greater by oxygen plasma treatment compared to air oxidation because different surface groups were formed. Oxygen plasma treatment generated mainly semiquinone (C═O) groups while air oxidation formed mainly hydroxyl (C−OH) groups. Experimental heats of adsorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses, and ab initio molecular orbital calculations showed that the binding energies between the spiltover hydrogen and the different groups followed the following order: lactone > semiquinone > carboxyl > basal plane. Thus, the H2 storage capacity at 298 K and 10 MPa was increased from 1.17 wt % (without O2 treatment) to 1.74 wt % on Pt-doped on a templated carbon that was pretreated with O2 plasma. Similar enhancements were seen on Pt doped on a superactivated carbon, AX-21. However, there was a decrease i...
Experimental techniques for thermal contact resistance measurements

ABSTRACT A number of different experimental techniques have been used to determine the thermal resistance of materials in contact, depending upon specific test requirements. These techniques and associated experimental facilities are reviewed, including the traditional cut-bar vertical-column test facilities, and more specialized facilities and techniques for measurement of the thermal contact resistance of such configurations or contacts as bolted joints, periodically contacting surfaces, full and partial scale component models, and analog techniques. Experimental thermal contact resistance data are presented and compared for selected categories of materials in contact including similar metallic junctions, junctions with interstitial fluids or fillers, and metallic junctions with metallic and non-metallic surface coatings. These experimental results demonstrate that the characteristics of thermal contact resistance may be used to thermally enhance a junction between materials, or thermally isolate a junction, depending upon thermal design requirements.
Isolation of polymorphic tetranucleotide microsatellite markers for the skink Mabuya affinis

We isolated 10 polymorphic microsatellite markers for the skink Mabuya affinis from genomic libraries enriched for (AAGG)n and (AAAG)n repetitive elements. The number of alleles ranged from eight to 13 per locus with the observed heterozygosity ranging from 0.60 to 0.92. These markers will be useful for analysis of questions concerning population genetic structure and models of speciation.
Genetic algorithms and call admission to telecommunications networks

Abstract We consider the admission problem for the two class M/M/C/C queueing system. The admission policy is coded as a binary string and strings which produce good policies are found using genetic algorithms. We use three policy coding methods: • Direct codes: The policy consists of a sequence of 2-bit words, corresponding to the admit/deny decision for each class, associated with each state. The resulting binary string represents the policy. • Block Coding: A policy string is constructed from a code book of binary strings and a string which dictates the sequence in which code words appear in the policy string. The genetic algorithm operates on both the code book and the sequence string. • {Program Codes:} A binary string is supplied as the program for a simple Turing machine to which the system state is supplied as input. The output of the program is the admission policy for that state. This method is used for very large problems where the direct or block codes are prohibitively long. All three are found to work well for smaller problems and suggested structural properties for good policies. Results were compared to optimal policies derived using a Markov decision process. For very large problems, the program codes easily produced policies with performance comparable to the best known reservation policies.
Neural and mechanical mechanisms of feline purring.

Abstract Purring results from the intermittent activation of intrinsic laryngeal muscles as manifest by a very regular, stereotyped pattern of EMG bursts occurring 20–30 times per second. Each burst of muscle discharge causes glottal closure and the development of a trans-glottal pressure which, when dissipated by glottal opening, generates sound. During inspiration, the diaphragmatic discharge is also chopped, and the diaphragmatic and laryngeal bursts occur dissynchronously. This alternating activation of the two muscles serves to limit the negative swings in tracheal pressure and promotes inspiratory flow during the period of minimal glottal resistance. Interruption of the afferent pathways for a variety of respiratory mechanoreceptors failed to eliminate the neural oscillation characteristic of purring, suggesting the existence of a high frequency oscillatory mechanism within the central nervous system.
Influence of dietary fats and an oral contraceptive on plasma lipids, high density lipoproteins, gallstones, and atherosclerosis in African green monkeys

Abstract Twenty-nine African green monkeys were fed diets for 22 months containing 0.79 mg cholesterol/kcal and 40% of calories as either safflower oil or butter with or without the addition of an estrogen- and progestin-containing oral contraceptive. Plasma cholesterol concentrations ranged from 199 to 250 mg/dl. Animals consuming the safflower oil diet had plasma cholesterol concentrations that averaged 61 mg/dl lower than those consuming butter. At least 72% of this lowering was due to a reduction in low density lipoproteins. Triglyceride concentrations were also slightly lower in animals consuming the safflower oil diet. The oral contraceptive lowered total plasma cholesterol concentrations in both diet groups by an average of 41 mg/dl with 54% of this lowering (22 mg/dl) due to a reduction in high density lipoprotein cholesterol. This effect occurred only during the 3 weeks while the contraceptive was being administered and was not apparent 1 week after stopping the drug. Animals consuming safflower oil had bile that was more lithogenic and had more gallstones than did those consuming butter. Addition of the oral contraceptive caused a slight increase in bile lithogenicity, but this increase was not statistically significant. There was no significant interaction between the oral contraceptive and either of the diets to exacerbate cholelithiasis. At the plasma cholesterol concentrations achieved only minimal amounts- of atherosclerosis developed and there were no indications of differences due to diet or oral contraceptive in the extent of atherosclerosis.
Small Cassegrain antenna for passive remote sensing at L-band

Summary form only given. This paper presents the design, construction and results of measurements of a dual polarized L- band antenna for the NASA Combined Radiometer and Radar System. The radiometer band covers 1.400 -1.427 GHz. and the radar band 1.250 to 1.350 GHz. The focus of this paper is on the radiometer band. The antenna is designed to replace the 48 inch diameter truck-mounted paraboloidal dish used in NASA remote sensing applications because of its excessive loss. It was found that changes of the ambient temperature produced fluctuations in the antenna noise temperature which reduced the accuracy of the radiometer calibration. These fluctuations are caused by the temperature dependent Ohmic loss in the antenna structure, the externally mounted cable connecting the Newtonian feed to the radiometer and in the patch used for the feed. Therefore the principal design goal for the new antenna was to eliminate the need for the cable and the patch and to reduce any additional loss without a degradation of its electrical performance and without increasing its size and weight. A configuration that obviates the need for an external feed-to-radiometer cable connection is a Cassegrain antenna. Its additional advantage is that the feed structure can be designed to have a lower loss than the patch used in the Newtonian feed of the old antenna. Since classic Cassegrain antennas generally require reflectors with diameters of at least 30 wavelengths designing an antenna in a Cassegrain configuration incorporating a reflector with a diameter of only 5 to 6 wavelength represented a real challenge. This challenge was met with the design that employs a novel low loss dielectric (Rexolite) conical support structure for the subreflector. The cone diameter decreases linearly from its base at the apex to the subreflector. The novel feature in this design is that in addition to supporting the subreflector the cone also serves as a dielectric waveguide that illuminates the subreflector. The mechanism for this is the wave within the cone that travels from the apex of the paraboloid toward the subreflector and illuminates it by a partial leakage into the surrounding space. The resulting efficiency is appropriate for a truckmounted antenna system. The input at the apex of the paraboloid employs a circular waveguide that supports two orthogonal TE11 modes thus providing the necessary dual polarization. As confirmed by simulations and measurements the gain and side lobe levels of the new low loss antenna are comparable to those of the old antenna.
Shipley institute for living scale and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test as screening instruments for intelligence.

This study assessed the comparability and acceptability of two tests used to screen for overall intelligence levels in adults. At issue is whether either of these two tests is preferable for a defi...
Mirror-image reinforcement in monkeys

Using a successive discrimination task, 4 pigtailed monkeys, 1 Japanese macaque, and 1 rhesus monkey were given 54 separate 60-sec. opportunities to open an instrumental door on a random 50% schedule of mirror-image reinforcement. Although no evidence of discrimination learning was found, the reinforcing value of the mirror was demonstrated by measures of total duration of all responses on each trial and average duration of each response which showed significant differences in favor of trials accompanied by mirror exposure.
Preprojective partitions for selfinjective algebras

In this paper we investigate upper bounds for the length of the preprojective partition for selfinjective algebras. The preprojective partition has been defined for arbitrary Artin algebras by Auslander and Smalo in [ 2). For a representation-finite algebra, that is, an algebra II for which the set indn of isomorphism classes of finitely generated indecomposable Amodules is finite, the preprojective partition can be defined as the unique decomposition of ind II into disjoint non-empty sets P,,, P, ,..., P,(,,, obtained inductively as follows: Pi is the smallest subset of Qi = ind/i\(P, U P, u ..* U Pi,) such that for every module M in an isomorphism class in Qi there is an epimorphism from a finite direct sum of representatives of isomorphism classes in Pi onto M. The preinjective partition indA = I,U II u -.a LJIi(*, with 1, # 0 is defined dually. D. Zacharia proved that p(A) and $4) coincide if n is a hereditary representation-finite algebra and that p(A) + 1 equals the maximum of the lengths of the indecomposable A-modules. If the graph underlying the quiver of /i is the Dynkin-diagram A,, D,, E,, E,, or E,, then p(A) equals n 1, 2n 4, 10, 16, or 28, respectively (9 1. We will prove the following theorem:
On the Chern character of a theta-summable Fredholm module

On montre qu'il est possible de simplifier la theorie de Connes du caractere de Chern a partir d'une K-homologie d'une algebre de Banach vers une cohomologie cyclique entiere
Brief announcement: the problem based benchmark suite

This announcement describes the problem based benchmark suite (PBBS). PBBS is a set of benchmarks designed for comparing parallel algorithmic approaches, parallel programming language styles, and machine architectures across a broad set of problems. Each benchmark is defined concretely in terms of a problem specification and a set of input distributions. No requirements are made in terms of algorithmic approach, programming language, or machine architecture. The goal of the benchmarks is not only to compare runtimes, but also to be able to compare code and other aspects of an implementation (e.g., portability, robustness, determinism, and generality). As such the code for an implementation of a benchmark is as important as its runtime, and the public PBBS repository will include both code and performance results.The benchmarks are designed to make it easy for others to try their own implementations, or to add new benchmark problems. Each benchmark problem includes the problem specification, the specification of input and output file formats, default input generators, test codes that check the correctness of the output for a given input, driver code that can be linked with implementations, a baseline sequential implementation, a baseline multicore implementation, and scripts for running timings (and checks) and outputting the results in a standard format. The current suite includes the following problems: integer sort, comparison sort, remove duplicates, dictionary, breadth first search, spanning forest, minimum spanning forest, maximal independent set, maximal matching, K-nearest neighbors, Delaunay triangulation, convex hull, suffix arrays, n-body, and ray casting. For each problem, we report the performance of our baseline multicore implementation on a 40-core machine.
An Integrated Speed- and Accuracy-Enhanced CMOS Current Sensor With Dynamically Biased Shunt Feedback for Current-Mode Buck Regulators

This paper presents a new compact on-chip current-sensing circuit to enable current-mode buck regulators operating at a high switching frequency for reducing the inductor profile. A dynamically biased shunt feedback technique is developed in the proposed current sensor to push nondominant poles to higher frequencies, thereby improving the speed and stability of the current sensor under a wide range of load currents. A feedforward gain stage in the proposed current sensor also increases the dc loop-gain magnitude and thus enhances the accuracy of the current sensing. A current-mode buck regulator with the proposed current sensor has been implemented in a standard 0.35-μm CMOS process. Measurement results show that the proposed current sensor can achieve 95% sensing accuracy and <;; 50-ns settling time. The buck converter can thus operate properly at the switching frequency of 2.5 MHz with the duty cycle down to 0.3. The output ripple voltage of the regulator is <;; 43 mV with a 4.7-μF off-chip capacitor and a 2.2-μH off-chip inductor. The power efficiency of the buck regulator achieves above 80% over the load current ranging from 25 to 500 mA.
Hands-On Student Experience With Complementary CFD Educational Interface and EFD and Uncertainty Analysis for Introductory Fluid Mechanics

Development, implementation, and evaluation are described of hands-on student experience with complementary CFD educational interface and EFD and uncertainty analysis (UA) for introductory fluid mechanics course and laboratory at The University of Iowa, as part of a three-year National Science Foundation sponsored Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement - Educational Materials Development project. The CFD educational interface is developed in collaboration with faculty partners from Iowa State, Cornell and Howard universities along with industrial partner FLUENT Inc. and designed to teach CFD methodology and procedures through interactive implementation that automates the “CFD process” following a step-by-step approach. Predefined active options for students’ exercises use a hierarchical system both for introductory and advanced levels and encourages individual investigation and learning. Ideally, transition for students would be easy from advanced level to using FLUENT or other industrial CFD code directly. Generalizations of CFD templates for pipe, nozzle, and airfoil flows facilitate their use at different universities with different applications, conditions, and exercise notes. Complementary EFD laboratories are also developed. Classroom and pre-lab lectures and laboratories teach students EFD methodology and UA procedures following a step-by-step approach, which mirrors the “real-life” EFD process. Students use tabletop and modern facilities such as pipe stands and wind tunnels and modern measurement systems, including pressure transducers, pitot probes, load cells, and computer data acquisition systems (Labview) and data reduction. Students implement EFD UA and use EFD data for validation of CFD and AFD results. Students analyze and relate EFD results to fluid physics and classroom lectures. The laboratories constitute 1 credit hour of a four credit hour 1 semester course and include tabletop kinematic viscosity experiment focusing on UA procedures and pipe and airfoil experiments focusing on complementary EFD and CFD for the same geometries and conditions. The evaluation and research plan (created in collaboration with a third party program evaluation center at the University of Iowa), focuses on exact descriptions of the implementations, especially as experienced by the students. Also discussed are conclusions and future work.Copyright © 2004 by ASME
Topology-Constrained Layered Tracking with Latent Flow

We present an integrated probabilistic model for layered object tracking that combines dynamics on implicit shape representations, topological shape constraints, adaptive appearance models, and layered flow. The generative model combines the evolution of appearances and layer shapes with a Gaussian process flow and explicit layer ordering. Efficient MCMC sampling algorithms are developed to enable a particle filtering approach while reasoning about the distribution of object boundaries in video. We demonstrate the utility of the proposed tracking algorithm on a wide variety of video sources while achieving state-of-the-art results on a boundary-accurate tracking dataset.
Empathic Features of Absorption and Incongruence

A study was undertaken to examine whether empathy could be related to absorption and incongruence (repressive coping). The participants were 71 graduate students who completed measures of empathy, absorption, and incongruence (repressive coping). The results confirmed a previous finding that empathy appears positively related to absorption (r = .42, p < .001). The results also suggest that affective components of empathy are inversely related to repressive coping (r = -.29, p < .05) while cognitive components are positively related to the social desirability aspects of incongruence (r = .31, p < .01). The findings are collectively discussed in terms of the Empathic Involvement Hypothesis of Hypnosis (Wickramasekera II, 2001), the Four-factor theory of Repressive Coping (Eysenck, 1997), Incongruence (Rogers, 1957), and the High Risk Model of Threat Perception (I. E. Wickramasekera I, 1998).
Pathology of Acute Renal Failure

Acute renal failure (ARF) can be defined as an abrupt decline in renal function sufficient to result in retention of nitrogenous waste. In this chapter we will describe and discuss, with an emphasis on structure-function correlations, a major subset of the clinical syndrome of ARF, that is, acute tubular necrosis (ATN). By definition, the term ATN includes all forms of acute urinary suppression in which tubular injury of acute onset is the primary basis for renal failure, and excludes all other causes of ARF, such as pre-renal azotemia, interstitial nephritis, glomerulonephritis, disseminated intravascular coagulation with renal cortical necrosis, organic vascular disease, and obstruction of the lower urinary tract (Robbins and Cotran, 1979).
THE ELECTRIC CABLE DIFFERENTIAL LEG: A NOVEL DESIGN APPROACH FOR WALKING AND RUNNING

This paper documents the mechanical system of the electric cable differential (ECD) leg, and its incorporation into a monopod hopping robot named "Thumper" and a bipedal robot named "Mabel." The ECD leg is designed with physical springs and other passive dynamics to match a mathematically simple, bioinspired mass-spring model, which can exhibit robust and economic walking and running gaits. With this design approach, existing spring-mass theory-based controllers can be used to control the robot. The scientific goals of this work focus on finding an energetically optimal leg stiffness for running, and results from experimentation on Thumper and on a simulation of Thumper are presented.
RECOGNIZING DINOFLAGELLATE SPECIES USING ITS rDNA SEQUENCES1

Dinoflagellate taxonomy is based primarily on morphology and morphometric data that can be difficult to obtain. In contrast, molecular data can be rapidly and cost-effectively acquired, which has led to a rapid accumulation of sequence data in GenBank. Currently there are no systematic criteria for utilizing taxonomically unassigned sequence data to identify putative species that could in turn serve as a basis for testable hypotheses concerning the taxonomy, diversity, distribution, and toxicity of these organisms. The goal of this research was to evaluate whether simple, uncorrected genetic distances (p) calculated using ITS1/5.8S/ITS2 (ITS region) rDNA sequences could be used to develop criteria for recognizing putative species before formal morphological evaluation and classification. The current analysis used sequences from 81 dinoflagellate species belonging to 14 genera. For this diverse assemblage of dinoflagellate species, the within-species genetic distances between ITS region copies (p=0.000–0.021 substitutions per site) were consistently less than those observed between species (p=0.042–0.580). Our results indicate that a between-species uncorrected genetic distance of p≥0.04 could be used to delineate most free-living dinoflagellate species. Recently evolved species, however, may have ITS p values <0.04 and would require more extensive morphological and genetic analyses to resolve. For most species, the sequence of the dominant ITS region allele has the potential to serve as a unique species-specific “DNA barcode” that could be used for the rapid identification of dinoflagellates in field and laboratory studies.
Theatre and Empowerment: Community Drama on the World Stage. Edited by Richard Boon and Jane Plastow. Cambridge: University of Cambridge Press, 2004; pp. 280. $75 cloth.

Theatre and Empowerment is a collection of essays about theatre projects worldwide that engage local people in addressing their own concerns. Editors Richard Boon and Jane Plastow explain how they selected the essays: All are written from the perspective of writers' experiences in the field; they embrace diverse communities, issues, and practices; and all are “profoundly subversive of established power,” including the authority of the artist-facilitators themselves, “in favor of more open-ended, democratic and meaningful learning processes” (3–4). Paulo Freire's spirit hovers over the collection, which emphasizes both reflection and action. The editors write that the processes described in the collection require “people to think and to analyze . . . [and] question the root causes of their problems and oppressions” (7).
Discontinuation of methotrexate treatment in juvenile rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. Children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) treated with methotrexate (MTX) were examined for their course after the discontinuation of the drug to define the relapse and remission rates and to identify predictors of relapse. Methodology. A retrospective chart review of all patients with JRA was conducted in two pediatric rheumatology centers. A total of 101 patients being treated with MTX were identified. Dose, response to the drug, and length of time until reaching a state of complete control were noted. The outcome of patients with a complete response in whom the drug was discontinued was examined with regards to length of time to relapse or continued remission. Results. In 25 patients, MTX was discontinued after reaching complete control of the disease. There were no statistically significant predictors of response to MTX identified. Of 25 whose MTX was discontinued, relapse occurred in 13 (52%) after a mean of 11 months after discontinuation. There was no significant difference among patients who relapsed or those who remained in remission as to sex, subtype of JRA, number of months to complete control, or number of months in complete control until discontinuing MTX. Patients younger than 41/2 years at diagnosis were found to be more likely to relapse than patients diagnosed at a later age. In 10 of the patients who relapsed, complete control was induced within a mean of 7 months after restarting MTX. Conclusion. The optimal time for discontinuing MTX in children with JRA who have achieved complete control is unknown. Relapse occurred in approximately half of the patients in whom MTX was discontinued. Because response to reinstitution of the drug is good, it is reasonable to discontinue MTX after prolonged complete control. It remains to be seen whether the relapse rate can be improved by waiting for longer periods of time in complete control before its discontinuation. Pediatrics 1997; 100:994-997; juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, methotrexate, remission relapse.
Neural evidence for intermediate representations in object recognition

The lateral occipital complex (LOC), a cortical region critical for human object recognition, has been shown to primarily code the shape, rather than the surface properties, of an object. But what aspects of shape? Using an fMRI-adaptation (fMRI-a) paradigm in which subjects judged whether two contour-deleted images of objects were the same or diVerent exemplars, virtually all the adaptation in LOC [especially in LOC’s most anterior portion (pFs)] could be attributed to repetition of the parts, almost none to the repetition of local image features, such as lines or vertices, templates, or basic- or subordinate-level concepts of the object. These results support the hypothesis that the neural representation of shape in LOC is an intermediate one, encoding the parts of an object.
Twitch crowdsourcing: crowd contributions in short bursts of time

To lower the threshold to participation in crowdsourcing, we present twitch crowdsourcing: crowdsourcing via quick contributions that can be completed in one or two seconds. We introduce Twitch, a mobile phone application that asks users to make a micro-contribution each time they unlock their phone. Twitch takes advantage of the common habit of turning to the mobile phone in spare moments. Twitch crowdsourcing activities span goals such as authoring a census of local human activity, rating stock photos, and extracting structured data from Wikipedia pages. We report a field deployment of Twitch where 82 users made 11,240 crowdsourcing contributions as they used their phone in the course of everyday life. The median Twitch activity took just 1.6 seconds, incurring no statistically distinguishable costs to unlock speed or cognitive load compared to a standard slide-to-unlock interface.
On the detection of functionally coherent groups of protein domains with an extension to protein annotation.

Background: Protein domains coordinate to perform multifaceted cellular functions, and domain combinations serve as the functional building blocks of the cell. The available methods to identify functional domain combinations are limited in their scope, e.g. to the identification of combinations falling within individual proteins or within specific regions in a translated genome. Further effort is needed to identify groups of domains that span across two or more proteins and are linked by a cooperative function. Such functional domain combinations can be useful for protein annotation. Results: Using a new computational method, we have identified 114 groups of domains, referred to as domain assembly units (DASSEM units), in the proteome of budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The units participate in many important cellular processes such as transcription regulation, translation initiation, and mRNA splicing. Within the units the domains were found to function in a cooperative manner; and each domain contributed to a different aspect of the unit's overall function. The member domains of DASSEM units were found to be significantly enriched among proteins contained in transcription modules, defined as genes sharing similar expression profiles and presumably similar functions. The observation further confirmed the functional coherence of DASSEM units. The functional linkages of units were found in both functionally characterized and uncharacterized proteins, which enabled the assessment of protein function based on domain composition. Conclusion: A new computational method was developed to identify groups of domains that are linked by a common function in the proteome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. These groups can either lie within individual proteins or span across different proteins. We propose that the functional linkages among the domains within the DASSEM units can be used as a non-homology based tool to annotate uncharacterized proteins.
Pathogenesis of Meniere's Disease and Meniere's Syndrome

Meniere's disease can only be studied in patients, since it does not occur spontaneously in animals nor can it be induced in them. However, aspects of the disease such as endolymphatic hydrops can be usefully studied in animals. A study of the natural history (epidemiology) of Meniere's disease demonstrated the three major symptoms (triad) to be vestibular symptoms, auditory symptoms, and aural pressure. Bilaterality occurs in at least one out of 3 patients, and may approach 50% over full lifespans. Aural pressure (74.1%) was common, as was positional vertigo (85.9%) during and/or between attacks. Clinical variants such as vestibular Meniere's disease could persist for 25 years or more. Understanding the pathogenesis of Meniere's requires a study of known and unknown causes. In this study, Meniere's disease (cause unknown) was differentiated from Meniere's syndrome (cause known). Meniere's disease or syndrome can occur years after some inciting cause; thus all forms of Meniere's can be considered to have a delayed onset. Meniere's syndrome can occur as a sequel to syphilis, otosclerosis, infection (for example otitis media), or trauma. Endolymphatic hydrops explained on the basis of quantity and quality of endolymph is found in all forms of Meniere's disease and syndrome. Representative cases and pathological examples are discussed. Hydrops of the pars inferior (cochlear duct and saccule) is the most important finding in Meniere's disease. In some (but not most) cases, ruptures of the membranes are seen. The saccule can distend into the lateral semicircular canal. Symptomatic attacks are explained on the basis of both physical and biochemical phenomena. This study discusses concepts of pathogenesis of the disease, finding both theories of longitudinal (slow) and radial (fast) flow to be operational. Longitudinal flow, however, appears to be more important than radial flow, especially in advanced Meniere's where perilymph in the scala vestibuli and vestibule disappears and is replaced by membranous labyrinth. Meniere's disease (idiopathic) and Meniere's syndrome (cause known) probably occur as a result of endolymphatic absorptive dysfunction (the site being endolymphatic duct and sac). Hypocellularity of the mastoid and periaqueductal air cells, hypodevelopment of Trautmann's triangle, and anterior displacement of the lateral sinus are likely to be important findings associated with developmentally dysfunctional absorption of endolymph.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Family History as a Risk Factor for Carotid Artery Stenosis

Background and Purpose—We investigated whether family history of stroke or coronary heart disease (CHD) is associated with presence of carotid artery stenosis (CAS). Methods—The study cohort included 864 patients (72±8 years; 68% men) with CAS and 1698 controls (61±11 years; 55% men) referred for noninvasive vascular testing. CAS was defined as ≥70% stenosis in the internal carotid artery on ultrasound or history of carotid revascularization. Controls did not have CAS or history of cerebrovascular disease or CHD. Family history of stroke and CHD was defined as having ≥1 first-degree relative who had stroke or CHD before age 65 years. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate whether family history of stroke or CHD was associated with presence of CAS, independent of conventional risk factors. Results—Family history of stroke and CHD was present more often in patients with CAS than in controls, with a resulting odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of 2.02 (1.61–2.53) and 2.01 (1.70–2.37), respectiv...
Empowering physical examination: the "laying on" of ultrasound.

The estimation of central venous pressure (CVP) by inspection of the neck veins is regarded as a quintessential example of effective bedside cardiovascular examination because it is virtually cost-free and requires minimal time and no equipment. In the upright position, venous drainage from the head
QUASI MAXIMUM-LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATION OF DYNAMIC PANEL DATA MODELS FOR SHORT TIME SERIES

This paper establishes the almost sure convergence and asymptotic normality of quasi maximum-likelihood (QML) estimators of a dynamic panel data model when the time series for each cross section is short. The QML estimators are robust with respect to initial conditions and misspecification of the log-likelihood, and results are provided for a general specification of the error variance-covariance matrix. The paper also provides procedures for computing QML estimates that improve on computational methods previously recommended in the literature. Moreover, it compares the finite sample performance of several QML estimators, the differenced GMM estimator, and the system GMM estimator.
Upscaling from Individual to Collective Learning in Policy Process Research

Although learning is one of the most widely-acknowledged determinants shaping policy processes, the concept remains theoretically and methodologically under-developed in the policy process literature. Most notably, there is an incomplete understanding of the factors affecting “upscaling,” or moving from individual-level learning to collective-level learning. As learning continues to occupy research agendas of policy process research, this paper seeks to provide insights from the diverse social science literatures that examine individual learning in collective context to better understand the nature of the learning process and learning products, and the factors that support learning. We examine the treatment of learning within two major policy process frameworks -- the advocacy coalition framework and institutional analysis and development framework -- and compare how they define learning and what insights they offer for understanding how learning translates from the individual to collective level. In understanding the translation from individual to collective level learning, we focus on the explanatory factors that can be gleaned from both frameworks to explain how and when learning is likely to upscale from individual to collective levels. We identify important complementarities between the two frameworks in examining these factors and conclude with developing a set of propositions for studying learning in policy processes. These propositions highlight how the nature of the issue of concern, characteristics of the collective actors, and characteristics of the institutions governing a collective setting will all factor into the likelihood of learning emerging in policy processes.
Exaptation and niche construction: behavioral insights for an evolutionary theory

There is increasing interest in the study of exaptation as a key evolutionary force that generates novelty in economic systems. This article contributes to this growing literature by showing how entrepreneurial behavior may effectually construct new market niches enabled by exapted innovations. Put differently, new technologies—whatever their source—may not spontaneously create new market niches. Instead, exaptation and niche construction—two unconventional forces in evolutionary theorizing—challenge conventional conceptualizations of markets as independent selection mechanisms.
Procedures for Interstitial Radioactive Gold Grains

Detailed implantation procedures and safety guidelines for use of interstitial radioactive gold grains are presented. These guidelines have been found to be of practical value for personnel involved with the implant to ensure compliance with regulations but are not necessarily the only procedures which could be utilized. Topics covered include: Description of Grains and Implantation, Management and Planning of Au-198, Source Logging, Source Transportation, Source Accounting During and After Implant, Room Monitoring, Recording, Dosimetry Films, Nursing Procedures, Levels in Patients Containing Radioactivity, and Patient Discharge of Radioactive Patients.
Development, reliability, and validity of the Moral Identity Questionnaire

Abstract As areas of psychology focus more on how people make moral choices, there is a need for psychometrically sound instruments that include meaningful components of moral cognition. The purpose of this research was the development of a measure of moral identity that would encompass both integrity and the importance of morality to self-identity. In two large samples, we developed the Moral Identity Questionnaire (MIQ), and established internal consistency, test–retest reliability, and evidence of validity, including confirmatory factorial analysis, and correlations with current measures of morality. In summary, the MIQ, which measures the salience of moral integrity and moral self independently of political orientation or gender, provided scores that were reliable and valid, with strong correlations to measures of similar constructs.
Application of density functional theory calculations to the statistical mechanics of normal and anomalous melting

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reliably aid in understanding the relative stability of different crystal phases as functions of pressure and temperature. Our purpose here is to employ DFT to analyze the character of the melting process, with an emphasis on comparing normal and anomalous melting. The normal-anomalous distinction is the absence or presence, respectively, of a significant electronic structure change between crystal and liquid. We study the normal melters Na and Cu, which are metallic in both phases, and the anomalous melter Ga, which has a partially covalent crystal and a nearly free-electron liquid. We calculate free energies from lattice dynamics for the crystal and from vibration-transit (V-T) theory for the liquid, where the liquid formulation is similar to that of the crystal but has an additional term representing the diffusive transits. Internal energies $U$ and entropies $S$ calculated for both phases of Na and Cu were previously shown to be in good agreement with experiment; here we find the same agreement for Ga. The dominant theoretical terms in the melting $\ensuremath{\Delta}U$ and $\ensuremath{\Delta}S$ are the structural potential energy, the vibrational entropy, and the purely liquid transit terms in both $U$ and $S$. The melting changes in structural energy and vibrational entropy are much larger in Ga than in Na and Cu. This behavior arises from the change in electronic structure in Ga, and is the identifying characteristic of anomalous melting. We interpret our DFT results in terms of the physical effects of the relatively few covalent bonds in the otherwise metallic Ga crystal.