cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Magnetics: Numerical techniques applied to magnetic recording (invited)

Numerical modeling of the magnetic recording media can be performed at several levels of detail: the micromagnetic, the particle, and the phenomenological level. Each of these models can couple to a device model to yield system implications. At the micromagnetic level the interior of the particle is viewed as a continuous crystal of finite size and shape and the permissible magnetic pattern is controlled by quantum mechanical forces. At the particle level, one is principally concerned with the overall magnetization of the particles and the interaction between them, rather than the details of the magnetization inside the particle. In phenomenological modeling one is not concerned with any of these mechanisms but simply in coming with a model that predicts the correct remanence after a complicated magnetizing process. In order to fully understand magnetic recording media, one must analyze it at all these levels.
TensorFlow Quantum: Impacts of Quantum State Preparation on Quantum Machine Learning Performance

Learning methodologies on quantum devices have shown that there are advantages in utilizing quantum properties. A requirement for using quantum computing in machine learning techniques is the data representation as quantum states. In Quantum Machine Learning, quantum state preparation is paramount to attain a functional pipeline in a model. One state preparation method, amplitude encoding, allows a dataset to be mapped or encoded more robustly and enhances the learning of quantum models. Albeit more densely represented, a dataset which has been prepared by amplitude encoding provides a more learnable input to a model. The two main advantages from using amplitude encoding are an increase in classification accuracy and reduced variability of learning epoch to epoch. In this paper, we compare the basic implementations of TensorFlow Quantum’s Quantum Convolutional Neural Network and a hybrid quantum-classical network using angle encoding, with a third network of our design that utilizes amplitude encoding for enriched state preparation. Our results show there is a direct benefit in performing amplitude encoding before training a TensorFlow Quantum hybrid quantum-classical model. In the best case scenario, amplitude encoding made classifying the samples 8.9% more accurate.
Does Informant-Based Reporting of Cognitive Decline Correlate with Age-Adjusted Hippocampal Volume in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease?

Background Informant-based measures are effective screening tools for cognitive impairment. The Alzheimer's Questionnaire (AQ) is a subjective, informant-based measure that detects amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) with high sensitivity and specificity and has been shown to predict amyloid burden. Objective To determine whether informant-based report of cognitive decline correlates with hippocampal volume changes in MCI and AD. Methods Retrospective chart review of 139 clinically referred patients with clinical diagnoses of aMCI or mild dementia due to AD was conducted. Diagnostic status (clinical diagnosis made by a neurologist), NeuroQuant measured MRI brain with percentile rank hippocampal volume, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) total, AQ-Total score, and demographic variables were extracted from medical records. Spearman correlation was used to assess the relationship between hippocampal volume and AQ-Total. The AQ was used to assign diagnostic status. Thus, the relationship between the AQ and diagnostic status was excluded. Results The sample include 88 female and 51 male participants. The mean age was 74.37±9.45, mean MOCA was 22.65±4.18, mean education was 14.80±3.35, and mean AQ score was 10.54±5.22. Hippocampal volume and the AQ correlation was r = -0.33 [95%CI -0.47 to -0.17], p < 0.0001. Conclusion In a mixed-clinical sample of patients presenting to an outpatient memory disorders center, higher endorseme-nts of functional impairments by caregivers were significantly associated with smaller hippocampal volumes. When used in conjunction with other available measures, these findings further support the role of the AQ in clinical decision-making and demonstrate an additional relationship between clinical measures and volumetric MRI.
Ideal Cardiovascular Health in Former Smokers.

Former smokers remain at increased risk for cardiovascular diseases compared to never smokers, but have lower risk than current smokers. We therefore hypothesized that former smokers would have an ideal cardiovascular health phenotype that was intermediate between current and never smokers. Differences in ideal cardiovascular health between never (n = 1025), former (n = 428), and current (n = 108) smokers were evaluated in the My Research Legacy study, which collected cardiovascular health data from the Life’s Simple 7 survey and digital health devices. Former smokers had a higher burden of prevalent cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and hypercholesterolemia compared to current and never smokers (all p < 0.01). Former smokers’ Life’s Simple 7 Health Scores, a measure of ideal cardiovascular health, were intermediate between current and never smokers (4.9 ± 1.3 vs. 6.3 ± 1.5 vs. 7.0 ± 1.4, p < 0.01). As former smokers shared similarities with both current and never smokers, we performed a cluster analysis, which identified two phenogroups of former smokers. The phenogroups differed significantly across all 7 cardiovascular health and behavior categories (all p < 0.01). These findings suggest that former smokers are a heterogeneous group and increased attention to cardiovascular health factors and behaviors is warranted to achieve ideal cardiovascular health.
Thalamic and Hypothalamic Syndromes

Each sensory modality, with the exception of olfaction, travels from its receptors via tracts to the thalamic nuclei within each brain (Powell et al. 1965; Price). From here, information is relayed on to the primary cortical projection area for each modality via the thalamic radiations. It follows that a thalamic stroke may present with vague, ill-defined sensory complaints that are initially somewhat hard to nail down and which may fluctuate or wax and wane over time. But the hallucinations derived from altered activation of the thalamic nuclei may be multimodal, corresponding with the very close proximity across systems with vision at the lateral geniculate (LG) nucleus, audition at the medial geniculate (MG) nucleus, somesthesis at the ventral posterior lateral (VPL) nucleus, and with motor fibers from the motor cortex projecting to the ventral lateral (VL) nucleus of the thalamus.
Empirical Studies of the Value of Conceptually Explicit Notations in Collaborative Learning

“Knowledge Cartography” is concerned with a diversity of notations that all make certain conceptual structures explicit, but may differ from each other and from conceptually implicit notations in what they make salient. This chapter reports on a series of studies that investigated the idea that these differences or representational biases might lead to differences in processes of collaborative inquiry. The studies span face-to-face, synchronous online and asynchronous online media in both classroom and laboratory settings. An understanding of the observed effects can help both designers and practitioners think more deeply about the pedagogical implications of their representational tools and how these tools are embedded in a learning situation; i.e., how to convert representational biases to representational guidance.
Identification and evaluation of false-negative antibody screens.

Background: Non-ABO alloantibodies are frequently implicated in hemolytic transfusion reactions and are a leading cause of transfusion-related mortality. Detection of clinically significant non-ABO alloantibodies is reliant on an antibody screen, which is prone to clerical, technical, and reagent error. Data on the frequency of false-negative antibody screens due to the occurrence of these errors are scarce, and the true incidence of false-negative antibody screens in everyday practice is unknown. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Monitoring for false-negative antibody screens is routinely performed in our institution. All cases of false-negative antibody screens involving clinically significant antibodies were identified through review of the blood bank quality assurance records from 2004 to 2007. The clinical impact was recorded in each case. RESULTS: Twenty-one cases of false-negative antibody screens due to clinically significant antibodies were detected. Sources of error included testing error (12 cases), reagent red blood cell (RBC) failure (one case), and reagent limitations (one case). The cause of error was inconclusive in seven cases. Nine patients were found to have received antigen-incompatible blood as a consequence of these errors, resulting in a single nonfatal hemolytic transfusion reaction. CONCLUSIONS: The identification and investigation of false-negative antibody screens is a valuable quality assurance measure which can serve to monitor staff performance, identify cases of reagent RBC failure, and identify patients who have received antigen-incompatible blood at risk for hemolytic transfusion reactions.
Effect of Dark Repair on Ultraviolet Sensitivity of Bacteriophage-Infected Bacteria

Feiner, R. R. (Columbia University, New York, N.Y.), and R. F. Hill. Effect of dark repair on ultraviolet sensitivity of bacteriophage-infected bacteria. J. Bacteriol. 91:1239–1247. 1966.—Changes in ultraviolet (UV) sensitivity of phage-host complexes during phage development have been studied for the following systems: T1 and Escherichia coli B, T1 and E. coli K-12S, λ and E. coli K-12S. Complexes were formed with bacterial strains differing in ability to dark-repair UV damage to deoxyribonucleic acid and, after irradiation, were plated on bacteria differing similarly. In the first half of the latent period, the resistance of complexes formed with nonrepairing bacteria increased considerably; with T1 and E. coli B hcr−, in 4 min the resistance became the same as that of complexes formed with repairing bacteria. The repair ability of plating bacteria affected survival curves only upon irradiation in the second half of the latent period after mature phages were present in the initial complex. Use of nonrepairing bacteria both for initial infection and for plating of late complexes resulted in a series of survival curves showing for all three systems the same pattern of change originally reported for T2-E. coli B complexes. Thus, a hitherto unexplained difference between radiation survival curves for T-even and T-odd phages seems due to repair of T-odd phages by the host.
Line width tuning and smoothening for periodical grating fabrication in nanoimprint lithography

Nanoimprint lithography is a promising technology for patterning large-area structures in nanometer scale at a low cost. In order to fabricate large-area nanoimprint master mold, interference lithography is widely used in defining periodical structures. However, neither roughness nor structural dimension can be effectively controlled via interference exposure. In this paper, we report a fabrication technique based on V-shaped master mold that can adjust line width of gratings as well as reduce the sidewall roughness. The fabrication of the V-shaped grating master mold is demonstrated, and the line width tuning and smoothening processes are discussed. With the help of the smoothening process, the optical efficiency of smoothened guided-mode resonance grating increased by 75 % from the original sample.
FOPEN SAR imaging of ground moving targets using rotational time-frequency-radon transforms

In this paper, we introduce the basic concept of the rotational Fourier transform, the bilinear rotational time-frequency transforms, and the Radon transform. Based on a certain model of radar returns from moving targets, we propose a method using a rotational time-frequency-Radon transform for synthetic aperture radar imaging of moving targets in foliage.
A Facile Method to Synthesis Hollow Silica Ellipsoids and Their Derivatives

We have utilized wet-chemical etching of ellipsoidal silica nanoparticles to form silica nanoshells of a range of elliptical morphologies. The thicknesses of the silica ellipsoidal nanoshells are controlled through variation of synthesis conditions. A mechanism has been proposed to explain how the nanoshells are formed, and we have demonstrated that the porosity of the silica ellipsoid plays a role in the dissolution-regrowth process. We have also, via appropriate functionalization of the silica surface, coated the ellipsoidal nanoshells with Au nanoparticles.
The influence of ethnic group variation on victimization and help seeking among Latino women.

Interpersonal violence research on Latinos has largely ignored the ethnic group variations that are included under the pan-ethnic term Latino. The current study adds to the literature by utilizing a national sample of Latino women to examine the interpersonal victimization experiences and help-seeking responses to victimization by ethnic group. The sample was drawn from the Sexual Assault Among Latinas Study (SALAS; Cuevas & Sabina, 2010) that surveyed 2,000 self-identified adult Latino women. For the purpose of this study, victimization in the United States was examined among Mexican ethnics (73.3% of sample), Cuban ethnics (14%), and other ethnics (12.8%). Mexican ethnicity was found to be significantly associated with increased odds of experiencing any, physical, sexual, threat, and stalking victimization. Findings also show that higher levels of Latino orientation and being an immigrant were associated with decreased odds of experiencing any victimization, whereas Anglo orientation, as measured by the Brief ARSMA-II (Cuellar, Arnold, & Maldonado, 1995), was associated with greater odds of experiencing any victimization. Anglo orientation was significantly associated with formal help seeking. Taken as a whole, these findings emphasize the importance of bilingual and culturally competent services and also reveal that culturally competent services includes developing an understanding of the cultural differences between Latino ethnic groups. Specifically, service providers should be aware that Latinos of Mexican ethnicity may face unique risks for victimization.
Effects of compression and cyclical loading on fracture healing--a quantitative biomechanical study.

Abstract Under standardized operative techniques, the tibial shafts of 24 adult female rabbits were osteotomized. With a specially constructed spring calibrated clamp, a 20N compressive load was applied to both tibias. During the subsequent healing time, 7d per week, 4hr per day, a cyclical compression loading of 20 additional N at 55 cycles per min was applied to one of the paired tibias. The animals were suspended during the entire experiment so that external forces from activity were eliminated. X-rays of the healing bones were taken in two planes at weekly intervals. Animals were sacrificed at periods of three, four, six, seven and eight weeks and the bones tested in a dynamic torsion testing machine. Torque, angle, energy absorption to failure and stiffness were measured from the torque-angle curves. These four quantitated variables of bone “strength” were then studied as a function of time for the two loading patterns. In these experiments, the “strength” of the healing bone was not preferentially enhanced by either constant compression, or cyclic compression superimposed on constant compression.
Integration of Palmer Drought Severity Index and remote sensing data to simulate wetland water surface from 1910 to 2009 in Cottonwood Lake area, North Dakota

article i nfo Spatiotemporal variations of wetland water in the Prairie Pothole Region are controlled by many factors; two of them are temperature and precipitation that form the basis of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). Taking the 196 km 2 Cottonwood Lake area in North Dakota as our pilot study site, we integrated PDSI, Landsat images, and aerial photography records to simulate monthly water surface. First, we developed a new Wetland Water Area Index (WWAI) from PDSI to predict water surface area. Second, we developed a water allocation model to simulate the spatial distribution of water bodies at a resolution of 30 m. Third, we used an additional procedure to model the small wetlands (less than 0.8 ha) that could not be detected by Landsat. Our results showed that i) WWAI was highly correlated with water area with an R
Examining antecedents of infant attachment security with mothers and fathers: An ecological systems perspective

Taking an ecological systems perspective, early parent–child relationships can be affected by interactions between systems where some are more proximally linked to the child than others. Socioeconomic status, a distal factor, is associated with social functioning during childhood, but research on its association with functioning during infancy, particularly attachment, is scant and inconsistent. Moreover, it is not clear how distal factors affect infant functioning. Other systems such as marital adjustment and parenting may moderate or mediate relations between distal factors and infant attachment. The current longitudinal study (n = 135) examined the role of various systems – parental resources, marital functioning, parental sensitivity and involvement – in early infancy (3-, 5-, 7-months) on infant–mother (12-months) and infant–father (14-months) attachment security. Findings supported moderating processes but in different ways for infant–mother versus infant–father dyads. Implications for future studies and interventions are discussed.
The Nuclear Born-Oppenheimer Method Applied to Nuclear Collective Motion

We deal with the application of the nuclear Born–Oppenheimer (NBO) method to the study of nuclear collective motion. In particular, we look at the description of nuclear rotations and vibrations. The collective operators are specified within the NBO method only to the extent of identifying the type of collective degrees of freedom we intend to describe; the operators are then determined from the dynamics of the system. To separate the collective degrees of freedom into rotational and vibrational terms, we transform the collective tensor operator from the lab fixed frame of reference to the frame defined by the principal axes of the system; this transformation diagonalizes the tensor operator. We derive a general expression for the NBO mean energy and show that it contains internal, collective and coupling terms. Then, we specify the approximations that need to be made in order to establish a connection between Bohr's collective model and the NBO method. We show that Bohr's collective Hamiltonian can be recovered from the NBO Hamiltonian only after adopting some rather crude approximations. In addition, we try to understand, in light of the NBO approach, why Bohr's collective model gives the wrong inertial parameters. We show that this is due to two major reasons: the ad hoc selection of the collective degrees of freedom within the context of Bohr's collective model and the unwarranted neglect of several important terms from the Hamiltonian.
Antioxidant Enzyme (AOE) Activities in Liquid Ventilated Premature Lambs.† 1500

Total liquid ventilation (TLV) has been established as a ventilatory strategy for experimental respiratory distress that minimizes lung barotrauma and markedly improves physiologic outcome. The biochemical mechanisms that underlie these improvements are not understood. To evaluate the effect of age and ventilation strategy on pulmonary AOE activity, four groups of premature lambs [n = 27] (110 ± 3 days and 120 ± 2 days gestation) were supported for 4 hrs with either gas ventilation (GV) or TLV with LiquiVent® (FIO2 = 1.0). AOE activity of superoxide dismutase (tSOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), and catalase were normalized to tissue protein and compared to their age-matched fetal controls. Histological analysis was performed. (X ± SE; units/ mg protein).Table
Robust tracking of weak GPS signals in multipath and jamming environments

In this paper, we address the problem global positioning system (GPS) signals tracking in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and multipath plus interference environments using a two-step approach: a block-averaging pre-processing (BAP) which converts the zero-mean interferences to colored Gaussian noise and a maximum likelihood (ML) based algorithm combined with a whitening transform. We apply the recently proposed BAP technique to improve the SNR. For code tracking with multipath mitigation, we exploit the fact that during a period with no data bit edges, the propagation delay causes only a circular shift to the C/A code block. This allows the decomposition of the averaged data vector into a constant C/A code component plus an undesired signal component. An efficient temporal whitening transform is derived from the sample covariance matrix and applied to suppress strong colored interferers, rendering the ML estimation problem of the multipath parameters tractable. A computationally efficient procedure for solving the complex ML optimization problem is considered using a finite difference maximization technique. By estimating the multipath signals and subtracting their contributions in a sequential scheme, the code synchronization is achieved. The resulting robust ML (RML) tracking procedure is more efficient in mitigating multipath and non-Gaussian interferences. The performance of the developed RML receiver is evaluated through computer simulations to show its superiority over that of narrow correlator and MEDLL approach.
Microstructure-property relationships in low-density Al-Li-Mg alloys

The present article describes an investigation of the microstructure and tensile properties of cast Al-Li-Mg alloys with very low densities, in the range 2.3 to 2.4 Mg/m3. Low density is achieved by adding Li and Mg in excess of the solubility limit, which prevents subsequent dissolution of the Al2LiMg particles that form during solidification. A simple model developed during the course of this research allows prediction of the volume fraction of Al2LiMg and alloy density from alloy composition. The model was used to select two alloy compositions for detailed investigation: A112Li6Mg and A116Li8Mg. The microstructures of the cast alloys consist of coarse Al2LiMg particles embedded in an Al matrix containing Al3Li particles. Both alloys exhibit low tensile elongation in the as-cast condition. Additional processing steps were used to modify the microstructural characteristics thought to be responsible for the low tensile elongation of the ascast alloys. The A116Li8Mg alloy, with an Al2LiMg volume fraction of 0.25, does not exhibit increased tensile elongation as a result of processing, and the brittle nature of this material is attributed to the high volume fraction of the Al2LiMg phase. The A112Li6Mg alloy, with an Al2LiMg volume fraction of 0.13, exhibits a remarkable increase in tensile elongation after extrusion, an effect attributed to fragmentation and dispersal of a three-dimensional (3-D) network of the intermetallic phase in the as-cast alloy.
NJIT's sandbox: an industry/education partnership for IT development

A $2.5 million grant from the NJ Commission on Higher Education sought to establish and sustain a viable link between undergraduates and industry partners, both members of the College's Advisory Board and start-up technology companies within NJIT's Enterprise Development Centers (EDC). This paper describes how this objective was realized through the development of the BS in Information Technology's Sandbox, home to our interdisciplinary team senior project course. Examples of recent industry/education projects are presented, and the managerial and administrative complexities that must be navigated to provide a credible outcome satisfactory to all stakeholders: students, faculty, university administration, EDC staff and clients, and industry advisory board project sponsors, are discussed.
Asymptotic fixed points for nonlinear contractions

Recently, W. A. Kirk proved an asymptotic fixed point theorem for nonlinear contractions by using ultrafilter methods. In this paper, we prove his theorem under weaker assumptions. Furthermore, our proof does not use ultrafilter methods.
Designing Network Failover and Recovery in MPI for Multi-Rail InfiniBand Clusters

The emerging trends of designing commodity based supercomputing systems have a severe detrimental impact on the Mean-Time-Between-Failures (MTBF). The MTBF for typical HEC installations is currently estimated to be between eight hours and fifteen days. Failures in the interconnect fabric account for a fair share of the total failures occurring in such systems. This will continue to degrade as system sizes become larger. Thus, it is highly desirable that next generation system architectures and software environments provide sophisticated network level fault-tolerance and fault resilient solutions. In the past few years, the number of cores on processors has increased dramatically. To make efficient use of these machines it is necessary to provide the required bandwidth to all the cores. To keep up with the multi-core trend, current generation supercomputers and clusters are designed with multiple network cards (rails) to provide enhanced data transfer capabilities. Besides providing enhanced performance, such multi-rail networks can also be leveraged to provide network level fault resilience. This paper presents a design for a failover mechanism in a multi-rail scenario, for handling network failures and their recovery without compromising on performance. In a general message passing scenario, whenever there is a network failure, the entire job aborts. Our design allows the job to continue even when a network failure occurs, by using the remaining rails for communication. Once the rail recovers from the failure, we also propose a protocol to re-establish connections on that rail and resume normal operations. We experimentally demonstrate that our implementation adds very little overhead and is able to deliver good performance which is comparable to that of the other rails running in isolation. We also show that the recovery is immediate and is associated with no additional overhead. We also depict sustenance and reliability of the design by running application benchmarks with permanent failures.
A new fuel cell power conditioning system with extended life time and minimized DC-bus capacitor

This paper proposes a new fuel cell power conditioning system based on the current-fed dual-half-bridge (CF-DHB) dc-dc converter with extended life time and minimized dc bus capacitor. The traditional minimizing dc bus capacitor method is to adopt the dc active filter by using the dc chopper with active switches. The unique contribution of this paper is to minimize the dc bus capacitor without adding any components. Moreover, the CF-DHB converter realizes zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) operation for all switching devices without auxiliary circuits, resulting in the high-efficiency operation. A 1kW fuel cell power conditioning system experimental results were presented to validate the theoretical analysis and prove the advanced performance of the proposed fuel cell power conditioning system.
Immunohistochemical markers for the differential diagnosis of nephrogenic adenomas

Nephrogenic adenoma (NA) is a rare benign lesion commonly occurring in the urinary bladder that poses challenges to devising a diagnosis. In this study, 21 cases of NAs were studied by performing immunohistochemistry for PAX8, p63, CK903, PSA, S100A1, BerEP4, and CEA on routine tissue sections. PAX8 showed diffuse moderate to strong (2+ and 3+) nuclear staining in all of NAs (n = 6 and 15, respectively) and negative in the normal urothelium (n = 15). Nuclear staining for p63 was not seen in any case of NAs examined (n = 19) and was diffuse and strong (3+) in the normal urothelium (n = 14). High-molecular-weight keratin CK903 showed weak (1+) diffuse staining in all of the NAs examined (n = 19) and diffuse and moderate to strong positivity in the normal urothelium (n = 16). PSA staining was negative in both of the NAs (n = 21) and normal urothelium (n = 16). S100A1 showed strong (3+) diffuse staining in 19 of 20 of the NAs examined (n = 19) and diffuse weak (1+) (n = 14) to moderate (n = 3) staining in the normal urothelium. BerEP4 showed focal to diffuse, mild to moderate (1+ and 2+) cytoplasmic staining in all of NAs (n = 2 and 19) and negative in the normal urothelium (n = 19). CEA staining was negative in both of the NAs (n = 21) and normal urothelium (n = 17). A panel composed of PAX8, p63, PSA, S100A1, and CEA appears to be sensitive and specific in differentiating NA from its mimics of urothelial and prostatic origins.
Pseudopterosin biosynthesis—pathway elucidation, enzymology, and a proposed production method for anti-inflammatory metabolites from Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae

The pseudopterosins are a family of diterpene pentosides isolated from the marine octocoral, Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae. These compounds possess non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties which have been shown to be greater than the industry standard, indomethacin. In our investigations, we are interested in examining the biosynthesis and enzymology of these compounds for the development of a biotechnological production method. We have isolated the pseudopterosin diterpene cyclase product, elisabethatriene, using a radioactivity-guided isolation. This has provided us with an assay to isolate the diterpene cyclase enzyme. The amino acid sequence of the purified diterpene cyclase will facilitate cloning and expression of the gene in a suitable host. In addition, we have identified over 25 novel diterpenes from one of our collections of P. elisabethae. Several of these compounds appear to be involved in pseudopterosin biosynthesis and are presently being evaluated as potential intermediates. These compounds have also been evaluated for anti-inflammatory activity and some possess greater activity than that of the pseudopterosins. We therefore propose a production method utilizing a combination of recombinant enzyme technology and synthetic methods/biocatalysis in order to produce one or more anti-inflammatory metabolites in P. elisabethae.
Personality Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence: Conceptual Challenges

The papers by Salekin et al. (2010) and Tackett and Ostrov (2010) provide valuable data that illustrate many of the important determinations that shape the revision process of classification systems such as the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. At the same time, the papers touch upon a number of important conceptual dilemmas that challenge the discipline. I offer the following comments to highlight areas that need greater exploration; I will note that it is certainly not a criticism of these articles that important questions in the field remain, at best, only partially answered.
What Do We Know About Shear Wave Dispersion in Normal and Steatotic Livers

A number of new approaches to measure the viscoelastic properties of the liver are now available to clinicians, many involving shear waves. However, we are at an early stage in understanding the physical processes that govern shear wave propagation in normal liver, with more unknowns added when pathologies such as steatosis are present. This technical note focuses on what is known about the characterization of normal and steatotic (or fatty) livers, with a particular focus on dispersion. Some studies in phantoms and mouse livers support the hypothesis that, starting with a normal liver, increasing accumulations of micro- and macrosteatosis will increase the lossy viscoelastic properties of shear waves in a medium. This results in an increased dispersion (or slope) of shear wave speed and attenuation in the steatotic livers. Theoretical and empirical findings across a number of studies are summarized.
Absorption spectra of the hybrid pigments responsible for anomalous color vision

Unequal homologous recombination events between green and red cone pigment genes produce the red-green or green-red hybrid pigment genes found in many individuals with variant color vision. Photobleaching difference absorption spectroscopy of hybrid pigments produced in cultured cells shows that the spectral sensitivity of each hybrid pigment is intermediate between the parental green and red pigment sensitivities. Amino acids encoded by exons 2, 3, 4, and 5 produce spectral shifts at the wavelength of maximal absorbance of 0 to 4, 0 to 4, 3 to 4, and 15 to 21 nanometers, respectively, the exact value depending on the identities of amino acids elsewhere in the hybrid.
MiR-124 regulates early neurogenesis in the optic vesicle and forebrain, targeting NeuroD1

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the fine control of cell proliferation and differentiation during the development of the nervous system. MiR-124, a neural specific miRNA, is expressed from the beginning of eye development in Xenopus, and has been shown to repress cell proliferation in the optic cup, however, its role at earlier developmental stages is unclear. Here, we show that this miRNA exerts a different role in cell proliferation at the optic vesicle stage, the stage which precedes optic cup formation. We show that miR-124 is both necessary and sufficient to promote cell proliferation and repress neurogenesis at the optic vesicle stage, playing an anti-neural role. Loss of miR-124 upregulates expression of neural markers NCAM, N-tubulin while gain of miR-124 downregulates these genes. Furthermore, miR-124 interacts with a conserved miR-124 binding site in the 3'-UTR of NeuroD1 and negatively regulates expression of the proneural marker NeuroD1, a bHLH transcription factor for neuronal differentiation. The miR-124-induced effect on cell proliferation can be antagonized by NeuroD1. These results reveal a novel regulatory role of miR-124 in neural development and uncover a previously unknown interaction between NeuroD1 and miR-124.
Phase relations for reactions of hydrogen with sodium oxide between 500 and 900°C

The equilibrium pressure technique, commonly used for investigating the phase relations in binary gas-condensed phase equilibria, was applied to the Na-Na2O-NaOH-NaH corner of the ternary Na-O-H system. Measured amounts of hydrogen were reacted with Na2O (sealed in vacuo in a thin-walled nickel crucible) and the equilibrium hydrogen pressure (0.03 < P < 100 kPa) was determined as a function of temperature(510 < T < 879°C) and hydrogen atom fraction(0 < XH < 0.275). Discontinuities encountered in the isothermal(√P vs XH) or fixed-hydrogen-concentration (InP vs 1/T) plots were used to delineate the condensed-phase boundaries that occur within theP-T-XH ranges studied. Data were fitted to analytical equations which permitted construction of a portion of the phase diagram and yielded pertinent thermodynamic information. Limitations of the technique in applications to other similar systems are discussed.
Using the internet to help diverse populations: a bilingual website

This article lays the foundation for examining the usefulness of a bilingual website "Amigos" as a psycho-educational, technological human service tool for connecting communities. It discusses how web-based information and resources on topics of interest to various members of our diverse communities may assist them in looking for further help. In addition, the article identifies opportunities for sharing multicultural experiences, requesting referrals, and asking questions. Implications for the use of technology in counseling service and training will be discussed.
Bayesian Networks Structure Learning for Activity Prediction in Smart Homes

This paper presents a sequence-based activity prediction approach which uses Bayesian networks in a novel two-step process to predict both activities and their corresponding features. In addition to the proposed model, we also present the results of several search and score (SaS) and constraint-based (CB) Bayesian structure learning algorithms. The activity prediction performance of the proposed model is compared with the naive Bayes and the other aforementionedSaS and CB algorithms. The experimental results are performed on real data collected from a smart home over the period of five months. The results suggest the superior activity prediction accuracy of the proposed network over the resulting networks of the mentioned Bayesian network structure learning algorithms.
The Geometry and Properties of Two-Bar Tricot Fabrics of Acetate, Viscose, and Cotton

Previous investigations of tricot fabrics in relation to physical properties and dimen sional change due to laundering were extended to include another fiber, cotton, and the determination of effect of different amounts of yarn twist on fabrics of the fibers previously studied. Twenty two-bar tricot fabrics of 70/1 cotton yarn with different runner ratios, and 20 each of acetate and viscose yarns of 75 denier with 21, 10, 20, or 30 turns per inch were included in the research. The effect of twist upon other rela tionships was established from observed data of stitch length, stitch density, diameter of yarn, runner ratios, wales and courses per inch, strength, and elongation. Immediate elastic recovery, permanent set, and delayed recovery were evaluated for a wide range of stress-strain levels.
The use of logit and probit models in strategic management research: Critical issues

The logit and probit models have become critical parts of the management researcher's analytical arsenal, growing rapidly from almost no use in the 1980s to appearing in 15% of all articles published in Strategic Management Journal in 2005. However, a review of three top strategy journals revealed numerous areas in their use and interpretation where current practice fell short of ideal. Failure to understand how these models differ from ordinary least squares can lead researchers to misunderstand their statistical results and draw incorrect conclusions regarding the theory they are testing. Based on a review of the methodological literature and recent empirical papers in three leading strategy journals, this paper identifies four critical issues in their use: interpreting coefficients, modeling interactions between variables, comparing coefficients between groups (e.g., foreign and domestic firms), and measures of model fit. For each issue, the paper provides a background, a review of current practice, and recommendations for best practice. A concluding section presents overall implications for the conduct of research with logit and probit models, which should assist both authors and readers of strategic management research. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Oscillating tails of a dispersion-managed soliton

Oscillating tails of a dispersion-managed optical fiber system are studied for a strong dispersion map in the framework of a path-averaged Gabitov–Turitsyn equation. The small parameter of the analytical theory is the inverse time. An exponential decay in time of a soliton tail envelope is consistent with nonlocal nonlinearity of the Gabitov–Turitsyn equation, and the fast oscillations are described by a quadratic law. The preexponential modification factor is the linear function of time for zero average dispersion and a cubic function for nonzero average dispersion.
Genetic variance, coefficient of parentage, and genetic distance of six soybean populations

Plant breeders would like to predict which biparental populations will have the largest genetic variance. If the population genetic variance could be predicted using coefficient of parentage or genetic distance estimates based on molecular marker data, breeders could choose parents that produced segregating populations with a large genetic variance. Three biparental soybean Glycine max (L.) Merr. populations were developed by crossing parents that were closely related, based on pedigree relationships. Three additional biparental populations were developed by crossing parents that were assumed to be unrelated. The genetic variance of each population was estimated for yield, lodging, physiological maturity, and plant height. Coefficient of parentage was calculated for each pair of parents used to develop the segregating populations. Genetic distance was determined, based on the number of random amplified polymorphic markers (RAPD) that were polymorphic for each pair of parents. Genetic distance was not associated with the coefficient of parentage or the magnitude of the genetic variance. The genetic variance pooled across the three closely related populations was smaller than the genetic variance pooled across the three populations derived from crossing unrelated parents for all four traits that were evaluated.
Simulation of constituent transport using a reduced 3D constituent transport model (CTM) driven by HF Radar: Model application and error analysis

Abstract Data-driven constituent transport models (CTM), which take surface current measurements from High Frequency (HF) Radar as input can be applied within the context of real-time environmental monitoring, oceanographic assessment, response to episodic events, as well as search and rescue in surface waters.This paper discusses a numerical method that allows for the evaluation of diffusion coefficients in anisotropic flow fields from surface current measurements using HF Radar. The numerical scheme developed was incorporated into a data-driven CTM and through model error analyses, the effects of using spatially variable transport coefficients on model predictions were examined. The error analyses were performed on the model by varying the cell Reynolds number, Re = f ( u , K ,Δ x ) between 0.15 and 100, where u is the velocity vector within the flow field, K is a diffusivity tensor and Δ x is the computational grid cell size.Two instantaneous releases of conservative material were then modeled, the model being initialized at two different locations within the domain. From the two simulation runs, marked differences in the predicted spatial extent of the conservative material resulting from the spatially varying diffusivity values within the study area were observed. Model predictions in terms of variance or size estimates of a diffusing patch were found to be more affected from using inaccurate diffusivity estimates, and less affected from using inaccurate current measurements. The largest errors occurred at Re > 2 associated with changing diffusivity values, going up to as much as a 25-fold difference in variance estimates at Re = 100. Very little effect on variance estimates due to varying velocity values were observed even at Re > 2. This model was applied within the framework of constituent tracking to Corpus Christi Bay in the Texas Gulf of Mexico region.
Myocardial actions of prostaglandins in isolated cat cardiac tissue

Abstract The inotropic responses to prostaglandins (PG) A 1 , E 1 , E 2 and F 2α were studied in isolated cat myocardial tissue. PGA 1 and F 2α exhibited no significant inotropic effects, whereas, PGE 2 and PGE 1 produced negative inotropic effects at concentrations of 2.8 × 10 −7 and 2.8 × 10 −6 M in isolated cat papillary muscles. In isolated perfused cat hearts, PGE 1 (2.8 × 10 −6 M) produced a negative inotropic effect along with a significant increase in coronary flow. As flow declined, the negative inotropic effect became more severe. PGE 1 at 2.8 × 10 −9 M produced a sustained increase in coronary flow and oxygen consumption with no inotropic effect. PGE 2 and F 2α did not exert significant changes in coronary flow or contractile force. Thus prostaglandins do not appear to exert significant positive inotropic effects at physiologic or at generally accepted pharmacologic concentrations in isolated cat heart preparations. At extremely high concentrations, prostaglandins E 1 and E 2 exert a negative inotropic effect; however, this would not explain the protective effect of these prostaglandins in circulatory shock.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CONDUCTING DIFFERENTIAL ITEM FUNCTIONING (DIF) ANALYSES FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES BASED ON PREVIOUS DIF STUDIES

The purpose of this study is to help ensure that strategies for differential item functioning (DIF) detection for students with disabilities are appropriate and lead to meaningful results. We surveyed existing DIF studies for students with disabilities and describe them in terms of study design, statistical approach, sample characteristics, and DIF results. Based on descriptive and graphical summaries of previous DIF studies, we make recommendations for future studies of DIF for students with disabilities.
Eye injuries caused by bungee cords.

Objective: Bungee cords are common workplace and household items that have many uses. Despite their utility, they represent a potential source of severe ocular injury. Design: A retrospective review was conducted to identify patients presenting to an ocular emergency department with bungee cord-related eye injuries over a 42-month period. Participants: The authors identified 17 patients with bungee cord-related ocular injuries. Intervention: In identified patients, the hospital inpatient and outpatient charts were reviewed in detail. Main Outcome Measures: Patient demographics, mechanism of injury, use of ocular protection, presenting and final best-corrected visual acuity, associated ocular injuries, therapeutic interventions, and anatomic results were noted. Results: Fourteen (82%) of the patients had closed globe injuries and 3 (18%) had open globe injuries. A wide array of periocular, anterior segment, and posterior segment injuries were identified with hyphema being the most common associated ocular injury. Ten patients (59%) had a final visual acuity of 20/25 or better. Five patients (29%) had a final visual acuity that was less than or equal to 20/60, with three of these patients having a final visual acuity less than or equal to 4/200. Two of the three patients with open globe injuries had a final visual acuity of 20/60 or better, whereas one had no light perception. Poor visual outcome was associated with posterior segment involvement. Conclusions: The authors advocate the use of printed warnings on the packaging of bungee cords and extreme caution by those who use them. A modification in design and the use of certified safety glasses may help to decrease the incidence of bungee cord-related ocular trauma.
Splicing of adenovirus RNA in a cell-free transcription system

A soluble whole-cell extract prepared accurately from HeLa cells splices 2-3% of the RNA transcribed from a DNA template containing the first and second leader exons of late adenovirus RNA. The spliced RNA was detected by a sensitive technique using hybridization to a single-stranded phage M13 cDNA clone, followed by binding to nitrocellulose filters. The identity of the spliced RNA was established by RNase T1 and pancreatic RNase two-dimensional peptide mapping. The bond formed during the in vitro splicing reaction appears to be a typical 3',5'-phosphodiester bond as judged by its sensitivity to RNase T1. The splicing reaction is specifically inhibited by KCl at concentrations greater than 50 mM and by the addition of cellular RNA. Three features of this system may account for the detection of splicing in a soluble extract: (i) the sensitive and unambiguous hybridization assay, (ii) the high transcriptional activity of the major late promoter of adenovirus, and (iii) the use of the first and second leader exon splice of adenovirus, which may be unusually rapid.
The pros and cons of drug ‘trafficking’

Internalization of targeted therapeutics is often needed for efficacy, but also alters drug penetration of a tissue. A new model explores the trade-offs of intracellular drug trafficking.