cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Application of Multimedia in Agile Manufacturing

Agile manufacturers strive to operate profitably in an environment of continuous and unpredictable change. Agile manufacturers must, as a consequence of the dynamics of their competitive environment, be fast and effective in discovering change and in responding profitably to change. Multimedia has much potential to assist agile manufacturers. Multimedia can make agile manufacturers more efficient and effective in discovering change and in formulating appropriate responses to change. Strategically, multimedia can assist agile manufacturers in understanding customers and in taking actions that enrich customers; multimedia can improve the inter- and intra-organizational communications that facilitate cooperative effort among relevant parties; multimedia can help change and thoroughly document organizational culture and structure to help agile manufacturers master change and uncertainty; and multimedia can help leverage the impact of people and information, making both more valuable to the organization. Multimedia contributes by improving communications among people, groups, organizations, systems, and machines. This chapter presents examples to demonstrate the contributions, or potential contributions of multimedia.
Overview of the “Hot Spots” Problem

This chapter is devoted to a general overview of the “hot spots” conjecture. To this day, the conjecture has been proved only for a very limited family of domains. Hence, it has a great potential as a source of interesting problems (related questions) and as a testing ground for new techniques.
Subcellular Structure and Synthesis of Steroids in the Testis

It is becoming increasingly evident that subcellular localization of enzymes, substrates, cofactor systems, transport systems for oxygen, electrons, etc. are factors to be considered in the process of elaboration of steroid hormones. The production of the characteristic array of steroids by specific endocrine tissues, and more important, its control by gonadotropin, cannot at the present time be explained exclusively in terms of enzymes alone. Studies of various gonadal tissues in recent years reveal that the same enzymes or families of enzymes (3s-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-isomerase, 17-hydroxylase, C17,20-lyase, the 19-hydroxylase-aromatase system, 17s-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase) are present in testicular tissues, in follicular tissue, in the human corpus luteum and in ovarian interstitial tissue. Yet each of these gonadal elements elaborates its own unique steroidal product.
Opsoclonus/Myoclonus and Neuroblastoma

Opsoclonus–myoclonus syndrome is an urgent, often multiphasic, autoimmune neurological disorder, associated with neuroblastoma. The typically low tumor stage and excellent tumor survival are at odds with the serious neurodevelopmental morbidity of the paraneoplastic syndrome. The recent finding that B cells and T cells are expanded in the cerebrospinal fluid indicates lymphocyte recruitment into brain, and the abnormalities correlate with neurological severity, serving as new biomarkers of disease activity. Various circulating IgG or IgM autoantibodies have been reported, but the putative onconeural antigen(s) remains unknown. Early and sufficient treatment is essential and usually requires multiple immunotherapies. Use of the monoclonal antibody rituximab (anti-B-cell) seems promising.
KRAS Mutation: Comparison of Testing Methods and Tissue Sampling Techniques in Colon Cancer

Treatment of colon carcinoma with the anti-epidermal growth factor receptor antibody Cetuximab is reported to be ineffective in KRAS-mutant tumors. Mutation testing techniques have therefore become an urgent concern. We have compared three methods for detecting KRAS mutations in 59 cases of colon carcinoma: 1) high resolution melting, 2) the amplification refractory mutation system using a bifunctional self-probing primer (ARMS/Scorpion, ARMS/S), and 3) direct sequencing. We also evaluated the effects of the methods of sectioning and coring of paraffin blocks to obtain tumor DNA on assay sensitivity and specificity. The most sensitive and specific combination of block sampling and mutational analysis was ARMS/S performed on DNA derived from 1-mm paraffin cores. This combination of tissue sampling and testing method detected KRAS mutations in 46% of colon tumors. Four samples were positive by ARMS/S, but initially negative by direct sequencing. Cloned DNA samples were retested by direct sequencing, and in all four cases KRAS mutations were identified in the DNA. In six cases, high resolution melting abnormalities could not be confirmed as specific mutations either by ARMS/S or direct sequencing. We conclude that coring of the paraffin blocks and testing by ARMS/S is a sensitive, specific, and efficient method for KRAS testing.
Comparing resonance frequencies in muscle tissue before and after exercise induced damage

There are various approaches to measuring muscle fatigue, including such simple measures as surveys for qualitative data, and measuring power output for quantitative data. Electromyography is consistently used to determine muscle fatigue. However, a quantitative measure of muscle recovery after exercise-induced damage is yet to be defined. The objective of this study is to measure the resonance frequency of a muscle group using a 3D laser vibrometer system and make a correlation with both elastography stiffness measurements, and with recovery of a muscle group based on standard muscle fatigue measurement techniques. Measurement of the resonance frequency of a muscle group has been successfully performed, and there is good reason to believe that the resonance frequency of the muscle group does shift after exercise-induced damage occurs. The main outcome of this study will determine whether the shift in resonance frequency of a muscle group can be used to track recovery after a damage protocol.There are various approaches to measuring muscle fatigue, including such simple measures as surveys for qualitative data, and measuring power output for quantitative data. Electromyography is consistently used to determine muscle fatigue. However, a quantitative measure of muscle recovery after exercise-induced damage is yet to be defined. The objective of this study is to measure the resonance frequency of a muscle group using a 3D laser vibrometer system and make a correlation with both elastography stiffness measurements, and with recovery of a muscle group based on standard muscle fatigue measurement techniques. Measurement of the resonance frequency of a muscle group has been successfully performed, and there is good reason to believe that the resonance frequency of the muscle group does shift after exercise-induced damage occurs. The main outcome of this study will determine whether the shift in resonance frequency of a muscle group can be used to track recovery after a damage protocol.
Factors associated with falls in older patients with cancer: A cross-sectional study of Medicare beneficiaries.

e20514 Background: Falls cause injuries, functional impairment and death. The aim of this study is to compare the prevalence of falls in older patients with and without cancer and to identify facto...
Sarcopenia does not affect clinical outcomes following lumbar fusion

Abstract Sarcopenia, defined as decreased skeletal muscle mass or function, has recently been found to have increased perioperative morbidity and mortality. The relationship between sarcopenia and clinical outcomes in patients undergoing lumbar fusion has not been examined. This study investigates whether sarcopenia affects fusion rates and outcomes following single-level lumbar decompression and fusion. A retrospective analysis was undertaken of 97 consecutive patients who underwent a single level lumbar fusion for degenerative spondylolisthesis. Demographics, perioperative data, and patient reported clinical outcomes were collected. Measurements of paraspinal muscle CSA were made using a standardized protocol at the level of the L3-4 disc space on a preoperative lumbar MRI. Univariate analysis was used to compare cohorts with regards to demographics, comorbidities, and clinical outcomes. Of 97 patients, 16 patients (15.8%) were in the sarcopenic cohort utilizing a threshold of 986.1 mm2/m2. Reoperation rates were not significantly different between the two groups (0% vs 3.6%, p = .451). The sarcopenia cohort had lower BMI (28.1 vs 31.8, p = .017) and less male patients (6.3% vs 55.6%, p
Will Calorie Restriction Stave Off Age-Related Brain Dysfunction, Specifically to Learning and Memory? A Review and Critique of the Rodent Literature

While studies of long-term calorie restriction (CR) have pointed to a plethora of health benefits in numerous species including humans, the effects on the brain and brain function are less well known and understood. In this chapter the effect of long-term CR on learning and memory in aging populations of laboratory rats and mice is evaluated. Included in this chapter is a discussion of the methodological issues that investigators must consider in constructing studies designed to assess learning and memory in aged rodents as well as how these studies need to be designed to assess the effects of CR on learning and memory in these aged populations. A section on CR and brain aging is included to provide a more comprehensive background to the understanding of the effects of CR on learning and memory. As the reader will discern, the hypothesis that CR is beneficial to learning and memory in senescent animals is only partially supported by the current data.
Evaluating LULESH Kernels on OpenCL FPGA

FPGAs are becoming promising heterogeneous computing components for high-performance computing. In this paper, we evaluate the resource utilizations, performance, and performance per watt of our implementations of the LULESH kernels in OpenCL on an Arria10-based FPGA platform. LULESH is a complex proxy application in the CORAL benchmark suite. We choose two representative kernels “CalcFBHourglassForceForElems” and “EvalEOSForElems” from the application in our study. Compared with the baseline implementations, our optimizations improve the performance by a factor of 1.65X and 2.96X for the two kernels on the FPGA, respectively. Using directives for accelerator programming, we also evaluate the performance of the kernels on an Intel Xeon 16-core CPU and an Nvidia K80 GPU. We find that the FPGA, constrained by the memory bandwidth, can perform 1.05X to 3.4X better than the CPU and GPU for small problem sizes. For the first kernel, the performance per watt on the FPGA is 1.59X and 7.1X higher than that on an Intel Xeon 16-core CPU and an Nvidia K80 GPU, respectively. For the second kernel, the performance per watt on the GPU is 1.82X higher than that on the FPGA. However, the performance per watt on the FPGA is 1.77X higher than that on the CPU.
A packetization and variable bitrate interframe compression scheme for vector quantizer-based distributed speech recognition.

We propose a novel packetization and variable bitrate compression scheme for DSR source coding, based on the Group of Pictures concept from video coding. The proposed algorithm simultaneously packetizes and further compresses source coded features using the high interframe correlation of speech, and is compatible with a variety of VQ-based DSR source coders. The algorithm approximates vector quantizers as Markov Chains, and empirically trains the corresponding probability parameters. Feature frames are then compressed as I-frames, P-frames, or B-frames, using Huffman tables. The proposed scheme can perform lossless compression, but is also robust to lossy compression through VQ pruning or frame puncturing. To illustrate its effectiveness, we applied the proposed algorithm to the ETSI DSR source coder. The algorithm provided compression rates of up to 31.60% with negligible recognition accuracy degradation, and rates of up to 71.15% with performance degradation under 1.0%.
Spanning Trees and Domination in Hypercubes.

Let $L(G)$ denote the maximum number of leaves in any spanning tree of a connected graph $G$. We show the (known) result that for the $n$-cube $Q_n$, $L(Q_n) \sim 2^n = |V(Q_n)|$ as $n\rightarrow \infty$. Examining this more carefully, consider the minimum size of a connected dominating set of vertices $\gamma_c(Q_n)$, which is $2^n-L(Q_n)$ for $n\ge2$. We show that $\gamma_c(Q_n)\sim 2^n/n$. We use Hamming codes and an "expansion" method to construct leafy spanning trees in $Q_n$.
Hotel Room Suicide: Cuyahoga, Orange, Travis, and Wayne Counties.

Objective To compare the suicide rates of local residents registering in local hotels with the general suicide rate in that county and to compare the suicide rates of hotel guests from outside the county with the national suicide rate. Methods The numbers of cases of suicide in hotel rooms and the general community were tabulated for Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for calendar years 2010-2017; in Orange County, California, and Travis County, Texas, for 2010-2012; and in Wayne County, Michigan, for 1997 to March 2005. The percentage of local residents registering in local hotel rooms was estimated from various sources to stratify the suicide risk for travelers and local residents. Results The suicide rate of local residents registering in local hotels was elevated compared to the general nonhotel population in each county (range of relative risk, 15.1-37.8; P < .0001, Poisson distribution). Hotel guests from outside each county had a reduced rate of suicide compared to the national rate (range of relative risk, 0.124-0.524; P < .05, Poisson distribution). With regard to suicide method, drug overdoses accounted for a significantly greater percentage in hotel rooms than in the nonhotel population in 3 of 4 counties (range of risk ratios, 2.03-4.51, P < .01; test of proportions), with the opposite pattern for gunshot wounds (range of risk ratios, 0.27-0.50; P < .01, test of proportions). Conclusions Although local residents register in hotels for various reasons, there appears to be a subpopulation with a purpose of avoiding rescue. Consistent with the risk-rescue rating, means of suicide with lower lethality, eg, drug overdoses, account for a greater percentage of cases in a setting with less chance of rescue. In contrast to the local use population, the sense of purpose or meaning inherent in travel could explain the decreased risk of suicide in guests from outside the county.
Battling on a different front: World War One and the rhetoric of citizenship for service

ABSTRACTWorld War One brought large numbers of people of color into contact in the relatively short period of four years. During this time communities of colonial subjects and of African Americans ...
Evaluation of cochlear activity in normal-hearing musicians.

Abstract Objective The present study compared wave I amplitude of auditory brainstem responses (ABRs), a potential indicator of cochlear synaptopathy, among musicians and non-musicians with normal audiograms. Design Noise exposure background (NEB) was evaluated using an online questionnaire. Two-channel ABRs were recorded from the left ear using click stimuli. One channel utilized an ipsilateral tiptrode, and another channel utilized an ipsilateral mastoid electrode. ABRs were collected at 90, 75, and 60 dBnHL. A mixed model was used to analyze the effect of group, electrodes, and stimulus levels on ABR wave I amplitude. Study sample 75 collegiate students with normal hearing participated in the study and were grouped into a non-music major group (n = 25), a brass major group (n = 25), and a voice major group (n = 25). Results The NEB was negatively associated with the action potential (AP) and ABR wave I amplitude for click intensity levels at 75 dBnHL. The mean amplitude of the ABR wave I was not significantly different between the three groups. Conclusion The weak negative association of AP and ABR wave I amplitude with NEB cannot be solely attributed to evidence of cochlear synaptopathy in humans as the possibility of hair cell damage cannot be ruled out. Future research should investigate the effects of reduced cochlear output on the supra-threshold speech processing abilities of student musicians.
Growth-Optimized Aminoacyl-tRNA Synthetase Levels Prevent Maximal tRNA Charging

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) serve a dual role in charging tRNAs. Their enzymatic activities both provide protein synthesis flux and reduce uncharged tRNA levels. Although uncharged tRNAs can negatively impact bacterial growth, substantial concentrations of tRNAs remain deacylated even under nutrient-rich conditions. Here, we show that tRNA charging in Bacillus subtilis is not maximized due to optimization of aaRS production during rapid growth, which prioritizes demands in protein synthesis over charging levels. The presence of uncharged tRNAs is alleviated by precisely tuned translation kinetics and the stringent response, both insensitive to aaRS overproduction but sharply responsive to underproduction, allowing for just enough aaRS production atop a "fitness cliff." Notably, we find that the stringent response mitigates fitness defects at all aaRS underproduction levels even without external starvation. Thus, adherence to minimal, flux-satisfying protein production drives limited tRNA charging and provides a basis for the sensitivity and setpoints of an integrated growth-control network.
Attrition happens (and what to do about it)

Attrition (participant "dropout") is the loss of participants from a program/initiative or longitudinal (e.g., pre/post) data collection. If participants dropout for non-random, systematic reasons, those factors bias the sample and limit the study or evaluation’s generalizability. The importance of statistically diagnosing participant attrition can scarcely be overstated, given that P/CVE research and evaluations are commonly concerned, not merely with the results from a given sample of participants, but whether, how, or to what extent the results might generalize to other, perhaps much broader samples. Therefore, the threat to generalizability, posed by non-random participant attrition, threatens the very reason for conducting many, if not most, P/CVE-related research and evaluations. Non-random attrition prevents research and evaluations from making valid claims or inferences about their target populations, and to know whether attrition likely threatens the validity of a project’s findings, one must test for it. The present article includes step-by-step guidance on how to diagnose participant attrition, including discussion of the implications: implications that potentially can salvage a P/CVE-related program from seemingly problematic participant attrition.
Some Thoughts on the Washington Consensus and Subsequent Global Development Experience

This paper discusses the Washington Consensus, its origins, and its insights in terms of subsequent development experience in a broad range of countries. I continue to find that when properly interpreted as a guide to the formulation of country-specific development strategies, the Washington Consensus has withstood the test of time quite well. In my view, subsequent experience, especially in Asia, reveals a number of places where a shift in emphasis would be warranted. Finally, I try to identify some misuses of the Washington Consensus and suggest that it was vulnerable to misuse due to the absence of an accompanying and explicit development model.
Effects of metabolic syndrome on benign prostatic hyperplasia

Abstract Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors that have been correlated with the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Although multiple studies have demonstrated a relationship between metabolic syndrome and BPH/LUTS, the mechanism(s) by which this occurs has yet to be elucidated. Metabolic syndrome is thought to arise from a combination of genetic and environmental (namely, intake of excessive empty calories, lack of physical activity, etc.) factors and has been steadily increasing in prevalence in the United States and worldwide. Since many components of metabolic syndrome can be addressed with lifestyle changes, and since several of these interventions are similar to those recommended for patients presenting with LUTS due to BPH, the literature describing the relationship between metabolic syndrome and LUTS due to BPH is described in this chapter.
Problems of Evil and the Power of God

Contents: Preface Introduction The traditional problem of evil: suffering and evil actions Another problem of evil: divine hiddenness Miracles as a problem of evil The ignorance defense Identifying, interpreting, and certifying revelation Should God's power be understood as omnipotence? A process Christian theism and the problems of evil Bibliography Index.
Instability of Thermoelastic Contact

The thermal boundary conditions in thermoelastic contact problems are typically coupled to the mechanical boundary conditions. For static thermoelastic contact, surface roughness effects causes a thermal contact resistance which is dependent on local contact pressure. The effects of this thermomechanical coupling are illustrated in a simple one-dimensional rod model, which exhibits instability if the transmitted heat flux is sufficiently large. The stability problem is analyzed using a linear perturbation method which is then extended to problems in two and three dimensions. An important application concerns the development of non-uniformities in the nominally one-dimensional solidification of a metal in contact with a plane mould.
mQual: A Mobile Peer-to-Peer Network Framework Supporting Quality of Service

Mobile peer-to-peer applications require devices to network themselves on-the-fly to communicate directly with each another. This paper presents mQual, a framework to help create such networks that meet different application requirements, and is able to adjust the network to ensure that these requirements are met in dynamic environments. Our prototype mQual extends the current WiFi-Direct in Android, and the experimental results suggests that mobile apps built using mQual outperform those built using WiFi-Direct.
Alterations of Murine Immunologic Responses after Silica Dust Inhalation

The alteration of cell populations and functions related to immunologic responses were examined in the mouse after inhalation of silica dioxide (SiO 2 ). Such exposure produced changes in the T and B lymphocyte population, in the macrophages, and in functions associated with each of these cell types. The possible nature of the immunologic alterations induced by silica dust inhalation is discussed. In halation of silica dust enhanced the transformation of concavalin A responsive cells, the T lymphocytes, in the spleens of exposed mice, while decreasing the response in the cells of the mediastinal lymph nodes (MLN). Mice exposed to silica dust by inhalation for 2 weeks before and 3 weeks after aerosol or subcutaneous immunization with Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra exhibited enhanced uptake of 3 H-thymidine upon culture of their spleen lymphocytes with purified protein derivative (PPD) of tuberculin. The lipopolysaccharide (LPS) responsive cell population, B lymphocytes, of both spleen and MLN cultures exhibited decreased uptake of 3 H-thymidine at all times of assay after silica dust inhalation. Silica-exposed mice also had much lower numbers of plaque-forming cells (PFC) in the spleen, decreased serum agglutinin activity, and generally lower numbers of PFC in the MLN when assayed with Escherichia coli LPS-coated sheep red blood cells after aerosol immunization with whole E. coli O55:B5. Similar immunodepression was noted in exposed mice immunized i.v. with whole E. coli, but to a lesser degree than via aerosol immunization. Depressed B lymphocyte immunocompetence was demonstrated with the adoptive transfer of spleen lymphocytes from exposed and control animals into irradiated recipients. Alveolar macrophages from silica exposed mice had less ability to phagocytize E. coli, in vitro. Both alveolar and spleen macrophages from exposed animals exhibited decreased capacity to phagocytize antigen and initiate antibody formation, when compared to control animals, upon transfer of in vitro antigen “fed” macrophages from exposed mice to normal syngeneic recipients.
Continental Media Group: Business Highlights

Continental Media Group has a series of business reviews struggling to achieve profitability. This case focuses on the use of management control systems to identify emerging opportunities and the formulation of new strategies. The interactive system used by top managers-the Friday Packet-is described and illustrated in exhibits. Top managers use this system to focus organizational attention on the critical uncertainties of the business. Provides examples of how new strategies emerge from the dialogue that is generated by the interactive control system. Learning Objective: To illustrate interactive controls in action.
Design of Trend Monitoring Networks

The design of trend monitoring networks requires specification of both sampling frequencies and station locations. The extended Kalman filter, an algorithm that incorporates the imprecise knowledge of stream quality dynamics, is used to predict the variance of prediction of eight water quality constituents (DO, PO 4 -P, NO 3 -N, NO 2 -N, NH 3 -N, fecal coliform, and temperature) as a function of distance downstream from a station. By setting a criterion of maximizing average trend detection power over a river basin, optimal combinations of sampling frequency and number of stations are determined for a fixed constraint on the total basin-wide sampling effort. The results show that, in general, station placement is far less critical than the number of stations used. For most small- to moderate-sized basins and typical constraint levels faced by managing agencies the optimum sampling program will have very few stations (often only one) with relatively high sampling frequencies at each station.
Review: Interstitial Lung Disease Associated With Systemic Sclerosis and Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: How Similar and Distinct?

Fibrosis of the lung, a common complication of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and the hallmark of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), is associated with substantial mortality and has no approved therapy. Despite some degree of overlap in their clinical features and pathogenesis, SSc-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) and IPF have differences, with significant implications for diagnosis, evaluation, and management. To shed light on these issues, this review compares and contrasts salient features of these 2 entities, focusing on clinical manifestations, lung imaging, and pathology, along with current concepts of pathogenesis, including animal models, translational studies, genetic factors, and predictive biomarkers. We conclude by posing questions that might unveil new areas of investigation and inform novel and targeted approaches to therapy.
Defined Physiological Conditions for the Induction of the L-Form of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Abstract Defined conditions are described which allowed luxuriant growth over continuous subculture of strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae in broth and on agar. Growth was equal to or surpassed that observed in Mueller-Hinton broth or on Mueller-Hinton blood agar. The final medium adopted consisted of medium 199 and a supplemental mixture of cysteine, glucose, and various salts. Addition of sodium bicarbonate or CO2 enrichment was not required. For solidification, only agarose allowed growth of all strains; glutamic acid stimulated growth of two strains but was inhibitory for a third. The addition of 8% polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), 2% purified albumin, and penicillin resulted in induction of all three strains to the L-form with frequencies up to 0.3%. At present no induction to the L-form has been achieved in the absence of albumin. Various lots of PVP proved toxic in the defined medium, and extensive dialysis was required for good growth and L-form induction. Substitution of PVP with sucrose indicated a sucrose toxicity for the parental gonococcus even on the addition of albumin. L-form induction did occur on sucrose L-medium but at significantly lower frequencies. The colonies appeared 1 week later than those on PVP L-medium but at significantly lower frequencies. The colonies appeared 1 week later than those on PVP L-medium and remained very small and poorly developed.
The Lebesgue differentiation theorem via nonoverlapping interval covers.

A short proof is given for the Lebesgue Differentiation Theorem using a variation of the Heine-Borel covering property, without reliance on sophisticated approaches such as Vitali covers and the rising sun lemma.
Up and Out of Poverty: The Social Marketing Solution, by P. Kotler and N. R. Lee

As most of the readers of the Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing know, in the late 1960s Philip Kotler was a major catalyst in the movement of marketing scholarship and research away fr...
CSD2, CSD3, and CSD4, genes required for chitin synthesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: the CSD2 gene product is related to chitin synthases and to developmentally regulated proteins in Rhizobium species and Xenopus laevis.

Abstract In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, chitin forms the primary division septum and the bud scar in the walls of vegetative cells. Three chitin synthetic activities have been detected. Two of them, chitin synthase I and chitin synthase II, are not required for synthesis of most of the chitin present in vivo. Using a novel screen, I have identified three mutations, designated csd2, csd3, and csd4, that reduce levels of chitin in vivo by as much as 10-fold without causing any obvious perturbation of cell division. The csd2 and csd4 mutants lack chitin synthase III activity in vitro, while csd3 mutants have wild-type levels of this enzyme. In certain genetic backgrounds, these mutations cause temperature-sensitive growth on rich medium; inclusion of salts or sorbitol bypasses this phenotype. Gene disruption experiments show that CSD2 is nonessential; a small amount of chitin, about 5% of the wild-type level, is detected in the disruptants. DNA sequencing indicates that the CSD2 protein has limited, but statistically significant, similarity to chitin synthase I and chitin synthase II. Other significant similarities are to two developmental proteins: the nodC protein from Rhizobium species and the DG42 protein of Xenopus laevis. The relationship between the nodC and CSD2 proteins suggests that nodC may encode an N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase that synthesizes the oligosaccharide backbone of the nodulation factor NodRm-1.
Defining Essential Features of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Considerable debate surrounds the search for the defining features of patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Current case definitions were created through clinical consensus. Failure to operationalize these case definitions has led to considerable variability in the identification of patients. In addition, some case definitions (e.g., Fukuda et al., 1994) do not require cardinal symptoms of this illness, where as other case definitions do require core symptoms of this illness (Carruthers et al., 2003, 2011), and these latter case criteria appear to identify a more impaired group of patients. Criterion variance is most likely to occur when operationally explicit criteria do not exist for diagnostic categories (Spitzer, Endicott, & Robins, 1978), or when there are varying criteria for contrasting case definitions, which is an impediment to the research in this field. To deal with this problem, it is possible to differentiate those that meet more loosely defined criteria from those that are more narrowly and defined, thus differentiating CFS from ME. In order to progress the search for biological markers and effective treatments, essential features need to be operationalized and broadly used in order to increase the probability that individuals included in samples have the same underlying illness.
The pgpA and pgpB genes of Escherichia coli are not essential: evidence for a third phosphatidylglycerophosphate phosphatase.

Abstract To further define the genes and gene products responsible for the in vivo conversion of phosphatidylglycerophosphate to phosphatidylglycerol in Escherichia coli, we disrupted two genes (pgpA and pgpB) which had previously been shown to encode gene products which carried out this reaction in vitro (T. Icho and C. R. H. Raetz, J. Bacteriol. 153:722-730, 1983). Strains with either gene or both genes disrupted had the same properties as the original mutants isolated with mutations in these genes, i.e., reduced in vitro phospholipid phosphatase activities, normal growth properties, and an increase in the level of phosphatidylglycerophosphate (1.6% versus less than 0.1% in wild-type strains). These results demonstrate that these genes are not required for either normal cell growth or the biosynthesis of phosphatidylglycerol in vivo. In addition, the total phosphatidylglycerophosphate phosphatase activity in the doubly disrupted mutant was reduced by only 50%, which indicates that there is at least one other gene that encodes such an activity and thus accounts for the lack of a dramatic effect on the biosynthesis of anionic phospholipids in these mutant strains. The phosphatidic acid and lysophosphatidic acid phosphatase activities of the pgpB gene product were also significantly reduced in gene-interrupted mutants, but the detection of residual phosphatase activities in these mutants indicated that additional genes encoding such phosphatases exist. The lack of a significant phenotype resulting from disruption of the pgpA and pgpB genes indicates that these genes may be required only for nonessential cell function and leaves the biosynthesis of phosphatidylglycerophosphate as the only step in E. coli phospholipid biosynthesis for which a gene locus has not been identified.
MODULARITY AND SCALING IN FAST MOVEMENTS: POWER AMPLIFICATION IN MANTIS SHRIMP

Extremely fast animal actions are accomplished with mechanisms that reduce the duration of movement. This process is known as power amplification. Although many studies have examined the morphology and performance of power-amplified systems, little is known about their development and evolution. Here, we examine scaling and modularity in the powerful predatory appendages of a mantis shrimp, Gonodactylaceus falcatus (Crustacea, Stomatopoda). We propose that power-amplified systems can be divided into three units: an engine (e.g., muscle), an amplifier (e.g., spring), and a tool (e.g., hammer). We tested whether these units are developmentally independent using geometric morphometric techniques that quantitatively compare shapes. Additionally, we tested whether shape and several mechanical features are correlated with size and sex. We found that the morphological regions that represent the engine, amplifier, and tool belong to independent developmental modules. In both sexes, body size was positively correlated with the size of each region. Shape, however, changed allometrically with appendage size only in the amplifier (both sexes) and tool (males). These morphological changes were correlated with strike force and spring force (amplifier), but not spring stiffness (amplifier). Overall, the results indicate that each functional unit belongs to different developmental modules in a power-amplified system, potentially allowing independent evolution of the engine, amplifier, and tool.
Mechanisms of obesity and related pathologies: Transcriptional control of adipose tissue development

Obesity and its associated disorders, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease, have now reached epidemic proportions in the Western world, resulting in dramatic increases in healthcare costs. Understanding the processes and metabolic perturbations that contribute to the expansion of adipose depots accompanying obesity is central to the development of appropriate therapeutic strategies. This minireview focuses on a discussion of the recent identification of molecular mechanisms controlling the development and function of adipose tissues, as well as how these mechanisms contribute to the regulation of energy balance in mammals.
The Effect of Microstructural Inhomogeneity on Grain Boundary Diffusion Creep

Stress concentration at grain boundaries (GB), a phenomena arising from microstructural inhomogeneity, is an important factor in determining the mechanical properties of polycrystalline materials. In this study we use mesoscopic simulations to investigate characteristics of the deformation mechanism of grain-boundary diffusion creep (Coble creep) in a polycrystalline material. The stress distribution along the grain boundaries in a polycrystalline solid under externally applied stress is determined and the mechanism of how topological inhomogeneities introduce stress concentrations is investigated. Microstructures with inhomogeneities of various sizes and distributions are considered and their effect on the stress distribution and creep rate is quantified.
QoS Issues in Ad-Hoc Networks

Support for QoS is integral to the design of ad-hoc networks. Fluctuations in channel quality effect the QoS metrics on each link and the whole end-to-end route. In addition, the interference from non-neighboring nodes effects the link quality. QoS is thus an essential component of ad-hoc networks. The QoS requirements arise at the application layer in the form of restrictions on values of certain QoS metrics. The most commonly studied QoS metrics are bandwidth, delay and jitter. Bandwidth is the QoS metric that has received the most attention in the QoS literature. The QoS requirements are typically met by soft assurances rather than hard guarantees from the network. Most mechanisms are designed for providing relative assurances rather than absolute assurances. This chapter presents solutions and approaches for supporting QoS in ad-hoc networks at the physical, MAC, and routing layers. It also presents approaches at other layers and describes future challenges that need to be addressed to design a QoS enabled ad-hoc network.
The effects of stroke disability on spousal caregivers

Objective: To examine the effects of unilateral stroke patients' neurobehavioral characteristics on spousal psychosocial function. Participants: The sample consisted of twenty unilateral stroke patients and their spousal caregivers. Methods: Patient assessments included mood, affect perception, sensorimotor and cognitive function, marital satisfaction, and activities of daily living. Spousal assessments included mood, marital satisfaction, and perceived stress. Results: To avoid the risk of committing a type I error, the alpha-level of 0.05 was corrected for multiple comparisons involving the three outcome measures, resulting in an adjusted alpha of 0.017 (0.05/3). Using this criterion, the negative correlation between patient depression and spousal marital satisfaction was statistically significant ( rs = �0.585, p = 0.007). There was also a trend for hemispheric side of stroke to correlate with spousal stress (rs = 0.498, p = 0.025), such that strokes in the left hemisphere were associated with greater stress, whereas strokes in the right hemisphere were associated with less stress. Conclusion: These results show that patient depression in particular constitutes a risk factor for marital dissatisfaction in the first few months following stroke. Given that spousal partners provide a large portion of informal support to stroke patients, successful treatment of patient depression may have benefits at the level of the individual, family, and community.
Electrokinetically-driven transport of DNA through focused ion beam milled nanofluidic channels.

The electrophoretically driven transport of double-stranded λ-phage DNA through focused ion beam (FIB) milled nanochannels is described. Nanochannels were fabricated having critical dimensions (width and depth) corresponding to 0.5×, 1×, and 2× the DNA persistence length, or 25 nm, 50 nm, and 100 nm, respectively. The threshold field strength required to drive transport, the threading mobility, and the transport mobility were measured as a function of nanochannel size. As the nanochannel dimensions decreased, the entropic barrier to translocation increased and transport became more constrained. Equilibrium models of confinement provide a framework in which to understand the observed trends, although the dynamic nature of the experiments resulted in significant deviations from theory. It was also demonstrated that the use of dynamic wall coatings for the purpose of electroosmotic flow suppression can have a significant impact on transport dynamics that may obfuscate entropic contributions. The nonintermitt...
EVA, an early vocalization analyzer: an empirical validity study of computer categorization

Previous research indicates that infant vocalizations are effective predictors of later articulation and language abilities (Locke, 1989, Menyuk, Liebergott, Shultz, Chesnick & Ferrier, 1991, Oller & Seibert 1988, Jensen, Boggild-Andersen, Schmidt, Ankerhus, Hansen, 1988). Intervention to encourage babbling activity in at-risk infants is frequently undertaken. Research and clinical diagnosis of delayed or reduced babbling have so far relied on time-consuming and unreliable perceptual analyses of recorded infant sounds. While acoustic analysis of infant sounds has provided important information on the early characteristics of infant vocalizations (Bauer, 1988, Stark 1986) this information has still to be used to carry out automatic, real-time analysis.We are developing a program, EVA, for the Macintosh computer that automatically analyzes digitized recordings of infant vocalizations. We describe the prototype and report on validity- testing of the first stage of development. Our human judge and EVA had 92.8% agreement on the number of utterances in the 20 minutes of recordings, commonly identifying 411 utterances. Their categorizations agreed 79.8% for duration and 87.3% for frequency, better than human inter-judge agreement reported in the literature. The authors hope that the final version of EVA will serve as a reliable standard for the analysis and evaluation of utterances of normal and at-risk infants with a variety of etiologies. The acoustic information gained from such analysis will allow us to develop a computer-based system to encourage early vocalization.
Spatial Plateau Algebra for implementing fuzzy spatial objects in databases and GIS: Spatial plateau data types and operations

Many geographical applications have to deal with spatial objects that reveal an intrinsically vague or fuzzy nature. A spatial object is fuzzy if locations exist that cannot be assigned completely to the object or to its complement. Spatial database systems and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are currently unable to cope with this kind of data. Based on an available abstract data model of fuzzy spatial data types for fuzzy points, fuzzy lines, and fuzzy regions that leverages fuzzy set theory and fuzzy point set topology, this article proposes a Spatial Plateau Algebra that provides spatial plateau data types as an implementation of fuzzy spatial data types. Each spatial plateau object consists of a finite number of crisp counterparts that are all adjacent or disjoint to each other, are associated with different membership values, and hence form different plateaus. The formal framework and the implementation are based on well known, exact models and implementations of crisp spatial data types. Spatial plateau operations as geometric operations on spatial plateau objects are expressed as a combination of geometric operations on the underlying crisp spatial objects. This article offers a conceptually clean foundation for implementing a database extension for fuzzy spatial objects and their operations, and demonstrates the embedding of these new data types as attribute data types in a database schema as well as the incorporation of fuzzy spatial operations into a database query language.
The Effects of Nonresident Father Involvement on Single Black Mothers and Their Young Children

Using data from an ongoing study of current and former welfare recipients and their preschool children, the study discussed in this article examined the influence of the presence of nonresident fathers on the well-being and development of 188 low-income, employed and nonemployed single black mothers and their three- and four-year-old children. There is evidence that involvement by nonresident fathers has positive effects on maternal depression symptoms and child problem behaviors. The data show that maternal employment status seems to affect nonresident fathers' relations with single black mothers and their young children. It also seems to make a difference in the mothers' psychological well-being. Policy implications are discussed.
Precision assembly of polymer waveguide components for silicon photonic packaging

Silicon nanophtonics technology brings huge advances to telecom, datacom and computer communication. The use of this technology requires a cost effective method of optical input/output coupling with the external fiber cable. Use of the optical polymer waveguides enables a versatile coupling method. Because the optical signals are in a single mode, tighter positioning accuracy is necessary to realize a low loss coupling. We report the analysis of the alignment method of optical connector to connect the polymer and fibers and describe a new method to improve the positioning accuracy.
Do Mutual Fund Companies Eat Their Own Cooking

The authors find that mutual fund companies offer mostly their own mutual funds in the 401(k) plans for their own employees. However, there are systematic differences between companies that rely on their own funds and companies that include outside funds. The companies that include outside funds tend to operate funds with high expense ratios. Outside funds in the 401(k) plans of mutual fund companies have significantly lower expense ratios and better governance scores than company’s own funds. This evidence supports the claim that the interests of mutual fund companies are not perfectly aligned with the interests of their funds’ shareholders. The authors also find that among the company’s own funds, the funds selected for the company’s 401(k) plan are almost indistinguishable from the rest of the funds offered by the mutual fund companies. Thus, it is not the case that, within their own funds, mutual fund companies favor their inexpensive funds. In fact, within the companies’ own funds, participants (mutual fund company employees) gravitate towards higher-cost and more actively managed funds. Thus, in one context (choosing to use outside funds) mutual fund companies favor cheap and better governed funds, in another context (choosing among its own funds) mutual fund companies favor actively managed, expensive funds.
Food and Drug Administration's proposed approach to regulation of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell products for therapeutic use

N FEBRUARY 1997, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its "Proposed Approach to Regulation of Cellular and Tissue-Based Products. ''1 This plan is a comprehensive, riskbased system of regulation for cellular and tissuebased products ranging from conventional tissues through innovative cellular and gene therapy products. This article briefly describes the development of the proposed regulatory strategy and focuses on issues and proposed requirements for hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells derived from peripheral blood and placental/umbilical cord blood.
Electrochemical reduction of derivatives of 2,3-butanediol

Abstract Electrochemical reduction of cyclic and acyclic derivatives of 2,3-butanediol to C4-hydrocarbons was examined. Among the derivatives, the cyclic sulphate was directly reduced to 2-butene; the diacetate and dimethanesulphonate also gave 2-butene but by indirect reduction with electrogenated amalgam.