cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The role of auditory feedback in error-detection and correction in first and second language production

Speakers self-correct small variations they hear in their own speech, whether self-produced or experimentally induced perturbations to auditory feedback. In a first language (L1), phonetic categories and therefore auditory expectations are well-established, but in a second language (L2), lack of experience with new categories may interfere with the ability to detect and correct such deviations. We present two companion studies to test how English speakers learning French detect such variations in their auditory feedback in both L1 and L2. In one study, speakers uttered monosyllabic English and French words while simultaneously receiving different levels of masking noise to determine how access to auditory feedback information impacts speakers' ability to make online adjustments to self-produced speech. There was greater acoustic variability at the midpoint of utterances in L2 than in L1, regardless of noise condition, consistent with a differential use of auditory feedback information in the two languages. In a second study, speakers received altered auditory feedback. On one-third of trials, the vowel formants of produced words were shifted up or down, creating the perception of an error. We will compare correction of internally and externally generated error to understand speakers' sensitivity to auditory feedback in native and learned languages.
Fetal cerebrovascular response to maternal hyperoxygenation in congenital heart disease: effect of cardiac physiology

OBJECTIVE Fetal cerebrovascular resistance is influenced by several factors in the setting of intact autoregulation to allow for normal cerebral blood flow and oxygenation. Maternal hyperoxygenation (MH) allows for acute alterations in fetal physiology and can be a tool to test cerebrovascular reactivity in late-gestation fetuses. In this study, we utilized MH to evaluate cerebrovascular reactivity in fetuses with specific congenital heart disease (CHD). METHODS This was a cross-sectional study of fetuses with complex CHD compared to controls without CHD. CHD cases were grouped according to physiology into: left-sided obstructive lesion (LSOL), right-sided obstructive lesion (RSOL) or dextro-transposition of the great arteries (d-TGA). Subjects underwent MH testing during the third-trimester fetal echocardiogram. The pulsatility index (PI) was calculated for the fetal middle cerebral artery (MCA), umbilical artery (UA) and branch pulmonary artery (PA). The change in PI from baseline to during MH was compared between each CHD group and controls. RESULTS Sixty pregnant women were enrolled (CHD, n = 43; control, n = 17). In the CHD group, there were 27 fetuses with LSOL, seven with RSOL and nine with d-TGA. Mean gestational age was 33.9 (95% CI, 33.6-34.2) weeks. At baseline, MCA-PI Z-score was lowest in the LSOL group (-1.8 (95% CI, -2.4 to -1.2)) compared with the control group (-0.8 (95% CI, -1.3 to -0.3)) (P = 0.01). In response to MH, MCA-PI Z-score increased significantly in the control and d-TGA groups but did not change significantly in the LSOL and RSOL groups. The change in MCA-PI Z-score was significantly higher in the control group than in the LSOL group (0.9 (95% CI, 0.42-1.4) vs 0.12 (95% CI, -0.21 to 0.45); P = 0.03). This difference was more pronounced in the LSOL subgroup with retrograde aortic arch flow. Branch PA-PI decreased significantly in response to MH in all groups, with no difference in the change from baseline to MH between the groups, while UA-PI was unchanged during MH compared with at baseline. CONCLUSIONS The fetal cerebrovascular response to MH varies based on the underlying CHD diagnosis, suggesting that cardiovascular physiology may influence the autoregulatory capacity of the fetal brain. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical implications of these findings on long-term neurodevelopment in these at-risk children. © 2020 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
N x N x Mλ electro-optical nanobeam wavelength-multiplexed cross-connect switches using push-push addressing.

In this theoretical work, we design elemental and higher-order wavelength-division-multiplexed cross-connects (WXCs): nonblocking space-and-wavelength routing switches to be constructed in a monolithic, industry-standard, silicon-on-insulator (SOI) chip operating at a center wavelength of 1550 nm. Each multi-spectral multi-crossbar 2×2 x Mλ “element” of the network switch is an M-fold cascade connection of λ-diverse SOI Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZIs), each of which utilizes a nanobeam cavity in each MZI arm. Within the element, each MZI has an electro-optically (EO) controlled local PN-junction “depleter” embedded in each cavity. The cavity voltage commands are (0,0) or (V,V) where V is a “small” reverse bias. Each element can be reconfigured in 2 to 5 ps, depending on Q, with few-fJ/bit switching energy. For the M = 3 case, a compact 6-element 4×4×3λ WXC is presented. In addition, compact new designs are given for a 12-element 8×8×3λ WXC and for 16×16×8λ WXCs employing either 56 or 72 elements.
Spatio-Temporal Attention and Magnification for Classification of Parkinson’s Disease from Videos Collected via the Internet

We present an automated framework for detecting Parkinson’s disease (PD) from videos collected through a scalable online platform. We analyzed 1380 videos of age-matched participants performing four standard motor tasks from the MDS-UPDRS. Our proposed framework leverages multiple deep neural networks to temporally and spatially segment the videos as well as magnify relevant motions. Frequency domain representations of the resulting data are then classified using supervised learning. Overall, the proposed framework achieves an accuracy of 82.5% when discriminating between those with PD and those without, and 61.8% when discriminating between those with PD with treatment, with PD without treatment, and those without PD. These results increased up to 91.8% and 73.5%, respectively, when combining the predictions of multiple models. To understand the contributions of each part of our framework we perform systematic ablation studies. We also compare between motion features based on pixel, phase-based and deep learning-based representations. This work demonstrates the possibility of identifying PD cues in challenging real-life settings with inexpensive webcams.
Comparison of Patent Ductus Arteriosus Stent and Blalock–Taussig Shunt as Palliation for Neonates with Sole Source Ductal-Dependent Pulmonary Blood Flow: Results from the Congenital Catheterization Research Collaborative

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) stenting is an accepted method for securing pulmonary blood flow in cyanotic neonates. In neonates with pulmonary atresia and single source ductal-dependent pulmonary blood flow (SSPBF), PDA stenting remains controversial. We sought to evaluate outcomes in neonates with SSPBF, comparing PDA stenting and surgical Blalock–Taussig shunt (BTS). Neonates with SSPBF who underwent PDA stenting or BTS at the four centers of the Congenital Catheterization Research Collaborative from January 2008 to December 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Reintervention on the BTS or PDA stent prior to planned surgical repair served as the primary endpoint. Additional analyses of peri-procedural complications, interventions, and pulmonary artery growth were performed. A propensity score was utilized to adjust for differences in factors. Thirty-five patients with PDA stents and 156 patients with BTS were included. The cohorts had similar baseline characteristics, procedural complications, and mortality. Interstage reintervention rates were higher in the PDA stent cohort (48.6% vs. 15.4%, p < 0.001).
General Operative Management and Postoperative Care

Indications for surgical wound closure are a wound on the body surface that does not heal, despite local wound care, or a wound that is extensive in size or interferes with the daily life of the patient (e.g., causing pain and discomfort or disability). Pressure ulcer wounds fall under the same indications as general wounds, but there are additional indications to close pressure ulcers in disabled, geriatric, or neurologic disease patients.
Dying to Win: the Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism

The commonly accepted interpretation is that a religious motive—the desire to please God—is the principal reason why people volunteer for suicide missions. American political scientist Robert A. Pape rejects this view. For him the common thread linking suicide bombers is a political objective— driving out an occupier from one’s homeland, which they see as furthering the common good of their society. In arriving at this theory, Pape relied on the concept of “altruistic suicide,” developed by French sociologist Emile Durkheim in his pioneering work Suicide (1897). These ideas are discussed in Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism (2005), from which the passage below is taken.
The National Ignition Facility Project

The mission of the National Ignition Facility is to achieve ignition and gain in ICF targets in the laboratory. The facility will be used for defense applications such as weapons physics and weapons effect testing, and for civilian applications such as fusion energy development and fundamental studies of matter at high temperatures and densities. This paper reviews the design, schedule and costs associated with the construction project.
Stable waveguide ports for the time domain finite element method

We introduce a new waveguide port algorithm for transient FEM computations. The waveguide port algorithm is suitable for homogeneous waveguides of arbitrary cross section as well as similar problems in, e.g. acoustics. Assuming that a sufficient number of waveguide modes is used, the suggested algorithm does not give any reflection from the waveguide port. This result holds for all frequencies supported by the FEM discretization. We demonstrate the new waveguide port algorithm by using it in conjunction with the stable FEM-FDTD hybrid (Rylander, T. and Bondeson, A., Comput. Phys. Comm., vol.125, p.75-82, 2000; J. Comput. Phys., vol.179, p.426-38, 2002) for the computation of the scattering parameter of a patch antenna fed by a coaxial cable. The coaxial cable and a small volume around the feed are discretized by the FEM and the remaining large volume (including the major part of the substrate) is discretized by the FDTD scheme.
Markov Processes with Equal Capacities

Let X and \(\hat X\) be transient standard Markov processes in weak duality with respect to a σ-finite measure m. Let (Y, Ŷ, μ) be a second “dual pair” with the same state space E as (X, \(\hat X\), m). Let CapX and CapY be the 0-order capacities associated with (X, \(\hat X\), m) and (Y, Ŷ, μ), and let V and \(\hat V\) denote the potential kernels for Y and Ŷ. Assume that singletons are polar with respect to both X and Y, and that semipolar sets are of capacity zero for both dual pairs. We show that if CapX(B)=CapY(B) for every Borel subset of E then there is a strictly increasing continuous additive functional D=(Dt)t≥0 of (X, \(\hat X\), m) such that $$U_D (x,dy) + \hat U_D (x,dy) = V(x,dy) + \hat V(x,dy)$$ with the exception of a capacity-zero set of x's. Here UD (resp. UD) is the potential kernel of the time-changed process \(X_{D^{ - 1} (t)}\) (resp. \(\hat X_{D^{ - 1} (t)} )\), t≥0. In particular, if both X and Y are symmetric processes, then the equality of the capacities CapX and CapY implies that X and Y are time changes of one another. This derivation rests on a generalization of a formula of Choquet concerning the “differentiation” of capacities. In the symmetric case, our main result extends a theorem of Glover et al.(23)
Big Data Provenance: Challenges and Implications for Benchmarking

Data Provenance is information about the origin and creation process of data. Such information is useful for debugging data and transformations, auditing, evaluating the quality of and trust in data, modelling authenticity, and implementing access control for derived data. Provenance has been studied by the database, workflow, and distributed systems communities, but provenance for Big Data - which we refer to as Big Provenance - is a largely unexplored field. This paper reviews existing approaches for large-scale distributed provenance and discusses potential challenges for Big Data benchmarks that aim to incorporate provenance data/management. Furthermore, we will examine how Big Data benchmarking could benefit from different types of provenance information. We argue that provenance can be used for identifying and analyzing performance bottlenecks, to compute performance metrics, and to test a system's ability to exploit commonalities in data and processing.
Optimal message log reclamation for independent checkpointing

Independent (uncoordinated) check pointing for parallel and distributed systems allows maximum process autonomy but suffers from possible domino effects and the associated storage space overhead for maintaining multiple checkpoints and message logs. In most research on check pointing and recovery, it was assumed that only the checkpoints and message logs older than the global recovery line can be discarded. It is shown how recovery line transformation and decomposition can be applied to the problem of efficiently identifying all discardable message logs, thereby achieving optimal garbage collection. Communication trace-driven simulation for several parallel programs is used to show the benefits of the proposed algorithm for message log reclamation.
Steganalysis of JPEG Images with Joint Transform Features

In this paper, a universal steganalysis scheme for JPEG images based upon joint transform features is presented. We first analyzed two different transform domains (Discrete Cosine Transform and Discrete Wavelet Transform) separately, to extract features for steganalysis. Then a combination of these two feature sets is constructed and employed for steganalysis. A Fisher Linear Discriminant classifier is trained on features from both clean and steganographic images using all three feature sets and subsequently used for classification. Experiments performed on images embedded with two variants of F5 and Model based steganographic techniques reveal the effectiveness of proposed steganalysis approach by demonstrating improved detection for joint features.
Consuming High-Protein Soy Snacks Affects Appetite Control, Satiety, and Diet Quality in Young People and Influences Select Aspects of Mood and Cognition

Background: Data concerning the effects of afternoon snacking on ingestive behavior, mood, and cognition are limited. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare 1088 kJ of high-protein (HP) or high-fat (HF) afternoon snacks vs. no snacking on appetite, food intake, mood, and cognition in adolescents. Methods: Thirty-one healthy adolescents (age: 17 ± 1 y) consumed the following afternoon snacks (in randomized order) for 3 d: HP snack (26 g of protein/6 g of fat per 27 g of carbohydrates), HF snack (4 g of protein/12 g of fat per 32 g of carbohydrates), and no snack (NoS). On day 4 of each treatment, the participants completed an 8-h testing day containing pre- and postsnack appetite questionnaires, food cue-stimulated functional MRI brain scans, mood, cognitive function, and eating initiation. Ad libitum dinner and evening snacks were provided and assessed. Results: HP, but not HF, delayed eating initiation vs. NoS (P < 0.05). Both snacks reduced appetite vs. NoS (P < 0.001) with HP eliciting greater reductions than HF (P < 0.05). Only HF led to reductions in corticolimbic activation in brain regions controlling food motivation/reward vs. NoS (P < 0.01). Although no treatment differences in daily energy intake were detected, HP led to greater protein consumption than NoS (P < 0.05) and greater protein and lower fat consumption than HF (both, P < 0.05). HP led to fewer HF/high-sugar evening snacks than NoS (P < 0.01) and HF (P = 0.09). Although no treatment effects were detected for mood and cognition, HP tended to reduce confusion-bewilderment (P = 0.07) and increase cognitive flexibility (P = 0.09), whereas NoS reduced tension-anxiety (P < 0.05) and vigor-activity (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Afternoon snacking, particularly on HP soy foods, improves appetite, satiety, and diet quality in adolescents, while beneficially influencing aspects of mood and cognition. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01781286.
Good guys gone bad: exTreg cells promote autoimmune arthritis.

Under most circumstances, Foxp3+ regulatory T (Treg) cells are a stable T cell population essential for maintaining self-tolerance. A study now shows that the inflammatory environment in autoimmune arthritis induces conversion of a subset of Foxp3+ T cells into interleukin-17–producing cells that contribute to disease pathogenesis (pages 62–68).
Using As/P exchange processes to modify InAs/InP quantum dots

We have used low temperature photoluminescence and atomic force microscopy to study the growth, by chemical beam epitaxy, of self-assembled InAs/InP quantum dots. By modifying the procedure for capping the dots we have been able to control their emission energy by adjusting their height. This process relies on the As/P exchange process that occurs when an InAs surface is exposed to a phosphorus flux. This exchange is shown to occur for both continuous and discontinuous capping procedures.
Effect of the Pauli principle on ion-ion cross sections in the impulse approximation

The behavior of the ion-ion cross sections under the effect of the Pauli principle is examined in the framework of the Fermi gas model and the impulse approximation. The importance of center-of-mass motion of interacting pairs of nucleons is analyzed. Interesting features of the Pauli corrections in the low-momentum range are discussed.
Impact Coefficients and Tangential Impacts

This analysis speaks for itself in showing that Newton's coefficient of restitution can be useful in analysing collisions, even tangential ondes
Culturomics: periodicals gauge culture's pulse.

From the perspective of an artist who mines digital information to understand shifts in temporal culture, the analysis of Google books and the initial description of trends in our culture by J.-B. Michel et al. (“Quantitative analysis of culture using millions of digitized books,” Research Article, 14 January, p. [176][1]) is an important step forward in using current digital techniques as a window into history. Although Michel et al. 's study was rigorous, the selection of books has certain drawbacks. First, the sample reflects not all published books, but only those that Google or their partners deemed worthy of digital reproduction. Second, and more important, books are inherently more distant from the pulse of a culture than periodicals, in particular newspapers. Book publishing has a substantial lag time to print; periodicals are closer to real-time. Furthermore, as we move further away from news media, we see a shift toward greater analysis, filtering, and a narrowing of subjects. For these reasons, analyses of culture based on the written record should include a wide variety of texts. One of the ultimate challenges to this type of research is representing information in a manner that is effective and relevant to viewers within our culture. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1199644
A Designer’s Spreadsheet

We have observed that many designers use spreadsheet programs for preliminary parametric design calculations. The primary reason for this appears to be the flexibility and ease of use of spreadsheets as compared to more advanced analysis tools. However, current commercially available spreadsheets were originally designed for finance and accounting and do not naturally support the analytical techniques used in design and engineering. In this paper, we propose a fundamentally different kind of spreadsheet for use in preliminary parametric design. We describe the features of this spreadsheet that make it especially suitable for preliminary parametric design, discuss the theoretical basis for implementing it and present the results of preliminary user tests.
A Half Century of Burn Epidemiology and Burn Care in a Rural State

The aim of this study is to quantify the changes in incidence, severity, and mortality in burn injuries in the state of Maine over the past 50 years from both prevention and treatment perspectives. The authors analyzed the data from multiple sources, including the U.S. Census, death certificates, hospital discharge abstracts, and institutional burn registries in Maine and Boston. The average annual number of burn-related deaths decreased from 53 in 1960-1964 to 14 in 2004-2008. The Maine age-adjusted rate of burn deaths was 8.6% above the national rate in 1960 and 1.4% below it in 2006. The annual number of burn patients admitted to Maine hospitals declined by 65% from 1978 to 2009. Since 1999, 12% of hospitalized patients in Maine were treated in an American Burn Association-certified burn center in Boston. Mortality for Maine burn patients, including those treated at Boston hospitals, is directly related to age and burn severity and similar to stratified mortality in the National Burn Repository. Incidence, severity, and mortality of burn injuries in Maine have decreased dramatically over the past 5 decades. Prevention programs, legislation, and a regionalized system of burn care have all likely contributed to bringing Maine's morbidity and mortality rate below the national average. Language: en
On the linear driving force model for sorption kinetics of organic compounds on suspended sediment particles

Sorption kinetics of hydrophobic organic compounds on suspended sediments in the water column are analyzed using the linear driving force (LDF) model. The LDF model succinctly captures the different mass transfer resistances for uptake by aqueous suspended particles. The LDF model is appropriate for those situations where both water- and particle-side processes are important. It is shown that departure from equilibrium sorption may be responsible for the near constancy in experimental sorption coefficients obtained for strongly hydrophobic compounds towards aqueous suspended particles in the sedimentary environment. The time to equilibrium for sorption diminishes with decreasing particle radius and increases with increasing compound hydrophobicity. For strongly hydrophobic compounds, the apparent partition coefficient is shown to be inversely proportional to the suspended solids concentration when sorption is far from equilibrium.
Vascular atrophy in the retinal degenerative rd mouse

We have observed that the lectin Ricinus communis agglutinin I (RCA), which binds to terminal galactose moieties, serves as a marker for vasculature in the mouse retina. The binding of fluorescein-isothiocyanate-conjugated RCA was used to study the development of retinal vasculature in normal mice and in rd (retinal degeneration) mutant mice, which exhibit a massive loss of photoreceptor cells during the first month of life. In the normal mouse, retinal capillaries develop in an ordered manner and are concentrated in three major zones between the inner limiting membrane and the outer plexiform layer. In the rd mouse, the vessels appear to form normally but begin to degenerate by the end of the second postnatal week. By the end of the fourth postnatal week there is approximately a 35% reduction in the total number of vascular profiles in the rd retina compared to normal littermate controls. This reduction in vascularity is temporally associated with the photoreceptor degeneration.
Comparing process flow of monolithic CMOS-MEMS intergration on SOI wafers with monolithic BiMOS-MEMS integration on Silicon wafer

This paper describes the two different integrated fabrication process flows for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer with surface micromachining technology at Analog Devices (ADI). Each method has its own identity with several advantages and disadvantages with respect to each other. CMOS-MEMS are fabricated using silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate, which allows the monolithic integration of the mechanical transducer and the control electronics on the device single crystal silicon layer. However, BiMOS-MEMS are fabricated on silicon substrates for building the control electronics and where thick poly-silicon is added to form the mechanical sensor. The integrated circuit (IC) industry evolution in two decades has made great strides and provided a mature infrastructure for surface micromachining by which successful miniaturization and multiplicity of traditional electronics systems have been applied to MEMS devices. . We report the fabrication flow for the two integrated MEMS processes incorporating MEMS with the control electronics and how they compare.
Detection and characterization of the tetracycline resistance determinant, tetM, in Haemophilus ducreyi

A single tetracycline- and penicillin-resistant isolate ofHaemophilus ducreyi was shown by hybridization to contain the streptococcal tetracycline resistance determinant TetM. TetM was not plasmid-borne but was located in the bacterial chromosome. Restriction analysis of thetetM gene with two probes derived from a clonedtetM gene indicated that it was duplicated inH. ducreyi and that both copies of thetetM gene were intact.
High cloud increases in recent years

Summary Changes in cloud amounts will disturb the existing complex balance of radiative energy. An increase in high cloud would reduce the initial input of energy into the atmosphere, and this study is directed to examine the high cloud amounts during the periods 1950–54 and 1966–70. Using information from Albuquerque, Denver and Lander increases of 25, 68 and 57 % in amount, respectively, are shown. Even at a Pacific island an increase of 152% is noted while three stations in the Sudan average 47% increases. Eight stations in western Chad, well removed from major airlines, showed only an 11 % increase. This investigation suggests that the increases may be due to long‐term changes in atmospheric turbidity, perhaps aggravated by jet aircraft contrails.
The projection from the parataenial thalamic nucleus, as demonstrated by the Phaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) method, identifies a subterritorial organization of the ventral striatum

The thalamic projection to the ventral striatum was examined in the rat by immunohistochemistry after iontophoretic injections of Phaseolus vulgaris-leucoagglutinin (PHA-L) into the parataenial thalamic nucleus. A continuous dense terminal field was observed in the nucleus accumbens and the striatal cell bridges, as well as in the adjoining striatal parts of the olfactory tubercle. These observations provide further evidence of the relevance of the ventral striatal concept.
Initiation and suppression of apical hairs of Fucus embryos

Abstract Eggs of Fucus vesiculosus L. were fertilized and cultured in vitro, and attention was focused on the formation of apical hairs. Each of these hairs is an outgrowth of one of the enlarged internal cells of the embryonal “head.” One of the basal hair cells is converted into the apical meristematic cell from which the entire future plant develops. Thus, apical hair formation plays a primary role in morphogenesis in Fucus. Apical hairs appear in most cultured embryos 6 days after fertilization (under continuous illumination, and 1–2 days later under 12 hours light). When cultured in seawater supplemented with 10−5 to 10−3 M 5-fluorouracil (FU) growth proceeded at almost the normal rate and continued indefinitely, but no apical hairs were ever found. Thymidine and uracil, applied separately in seawater, had no effect on hair formation. Uracil, but not thymidine, counteracted the effect of FU. A 2-day application of FU, followed by recovery in uracil, prevented hair formation, provided the 2-day treatment period included day 3 after fertilization. Application of FU after day 4, even given continuously, had only a slight effect on hair formation or no effect at all. These and other results showed that FU exerted its strongest effect at least 2 days before any cellular indication of hair initiation. Using FU-3H as the inhibitor, it could be demonstrated that FU is incorporated into a KOH-hydrolyzable fraction presumed to be RNA. It is speculated that the RNA involved in hair initiation is transcribed between 2 and 4 days after fertilization, and that the specific effect of FU is based on the involvement of regulatory allosteric proteins which are rendered inactive with even slight mistakes in configuration mediated through the falsification of RNA by FU, while enzymes and other nonregulatory proteins are less affected by FU and retain their function.
Effect of restraint stress on gonadal proopiomelanocortin peptides and the pituitary-testicular axis in rats

Abstract We examined the effect of restraint on testicular interstitial fluid (TIF) concentrations of ACTH, β-endorphin-lipotropin (β-E-LI) and testosterone and correlated those changes with plasma concentrations of ACTH, β-E-LI, corticosterone, LH and testosterone in adult rats. Animals were subjected to 1, 2, or 3 h of restraint and were killed immediately following the stress period. Plasma values of ACTH and β-E-LI were elevated above control values after 1 and 2 h, but not after 3 h of restraint. Plasma corticosterone showed a similar response to restraint except that concentrations were also elevated after 3 h. Plasma testosterone concentrations were elevated after 1 h of restraint, but after 3 h of restraint had fallen below control values. Restraint reduced plasma testosterone concentrations without altering plasma LH concentrations. The decline in plasma testosterone during restraint was associated with a parallel decrease in testosterone in the TIF. Concentrations of ACTH and β-E-LI were 6- and 3-fold greater in TIF than in the plasma. While 1 or 2 h of restraint did not affect ACTH and β-E-LI in TIF, values of these hormones were elevated in rats exposed to 3 h of restraint. These data, coupled with recent reports that testicular proopiomelanocortin (POMC)-derived peptides may modulate testicular steroidogenesis, suggest that these factors may play an autocrine or paracrine role in mediating stressor-induced changes in testicular function.
Structural, metabolic and endocrine analysis of the diabetes (db/db) hypogonadal syndrome: relationship to hypophyseal hypercytolipidemia

Expression of the diabetes (db/db) mutation in C57BL/KsJ mice results in functional suppression of the female pituitary-gonadal axis accompanied by premature utero-ovarian cytolipoatrophy. Cellular gluco- and lipo-metabolic disturbances promoted by the db/db systemic hyperglycemic-hyperinsulinemic state suppress pituitary gonadotropin release in response to gonadotropin-releasing hormone and gonadal steroid stimulation and results in a hypogonadal-infertility syndrome. Adult female C57BL/KsJ control (+/+ and +/? genotypes) and db/db littermates were monitored for associations in systemic and cellular alterations in luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), gonadal steroid (binding) levels, and pituitary glucometabolic indices associated with db/db-enhanced lipid imbibition and cytostructural disruption. Obesity, hyperglycemia, and hyperinsulinemia characterized all db/db mutants relative to controls. Serum and pituitary progesterone and estradiol concentrations were suppressed in db/db mutants, in association with serum LH and FSH levels, but not with pituitary LH and FSH concentrations, which were comparable between groups. Pituitary insulin receptor binding and glucose utilization rates were suppressed in db/db groups relative to +/? indices. Structural and cytochemical analysis of anterior (AP), intermediate (IL), and neuro-(NP) hypophyseal lobes demonstrated prominent hypercytolipidemia in db/db mutants relative to controls. Prominent cytolipidemia was localized within well-granulated basophilic gonadotrophs and within IL and NP pituicytes. Vasolipidemia and interstitial cytoadiposity were prominent throughout all db/db pituitary lobes. Thus, disturbances associated with pituitary hypercytolipidemia are functional components of the expressed diabetes-associated hypogonadal syndrome in db/db mutants. Progressive alterations in hypophyseal cytoarchitecture are correlated with suppression of pituitary metabolic and endocrine indices, alterations that contribute to functional disruption of the pituitary-hypogonadal axis in C57BL/KsJ-db/db mice.
Role of eIF3 p170 in controlling synthesis of ribonucleotide reductase M2 and cell growth.

Translation initiation in eukaryotes is a rate-limiting step in protein synthesis. It is a complicated process that involves many eukaryotic initiation factors (eIFs). Altering the expression level or the function of eIFs may influence the synthesis of some proteins and consequently cause abnormal cell growth and malignant transformation. P170, the largest putative subunit of eIF3, has been found elevated in human breast, cervical, esophageal, and lung cancers, suggesting that p170 may have a potential role in malignant transformation and/or cell growth control. Our recent studies suggested that p170 is likely a translational regulator and it may mediate the effect of mimosine on the translation of a subset mRNAs. Mimosine, a plant nonprotein amino acid, inhibits mammalian DNA synthesis, an essential event of cell growth. The rate-limiting step in DNA synthesis is the conversion of the ribonucleotides to their corresponding deoxyribonucleotides catalysed by ribonucleotide reductase of which the activity is regulated by the level of its M2 subunit. It has been reported that inhibiting the activity of M2 also inhibits cell growth. To understand the relationship between protein and DNA synthesis and between p170 and cell growth control, we investigated in this study whether p170 regulates the synthesis of M2 and, thus, cell growth. We found that altering the expression level of p170 changes the synthesis rate of both M2 and DNA. Decreasing p170 expression in human lung cancer cell line H1299 and breast cancer cell line MCF7 significantly reversed their malignant growth phenotype. However, the overall [35S]methionine incorporation following dramatic decrease in p170 expression was only ∼25% less than the control cells. These observations, together with our previous findings, suggest that p170 may regulate the translation of a subset mRNAs and its elevated expression level may be important for cancer cell growth and for maintaining their malignant phenotype.
Open field locomotion by zinc deficient adult male mice.

Adult male mice maintained on a zinc-free diet display a statistically significant increase in open field locomotion compared to controls. However, excess zinc (100 times the established recommended daily allowance) does not produce a change compared to controls.
Digital adaptive flight controller development

Digital fly-by-wire flight control systems are currently of interest because simple mechanical linkages are no longer able to cope with the many control problems associated with high performance aircraft. In view of this, a digital adaptive flight control algorithm has been developed by combining a weighted least squares estimator with optimal linear regulator control logic designed to minimize a quadratic model following performance index. Results for a typical fighter aircraft's trajectory over six distinct flight conditions are very promising.
THERMAL DEGRADATION AND LEACHING OF VITAMIN C FROM GREEN PEAS DURING PROCESSING

Pea samples were collected after various unit operations in a commercial cannery and the vitamin C losses at these points were investigated. Blanching and retorting accounted for the major losses. A substantial amount of vitamin C in peas leached into the brine. Approximately two-thirds of the original vitamin C in fresh peas was lost during processing. Shelled peas were also blanched in steam, water, and in an agitated water system under laboratory conditions. Vitamin C retention in water-blanched peas appeared to be independent of agitation rate, indicating that diffusion may be the controlling mechanism. The diffusivity of vitamin C in peas at 85°C was estimated to be 1.4 × 10−4 cm2/sec.
Climatology and Ensemble Predictions of Nonconvective High Wind Events in the New York City Metropolitan Region

AbstractDamaging wind events not associated with severe convective storms or tropical cyclones can cause significant problems with transportation, infrastructure, and public safety over the northeastern United States. These nonconvective wind events (NCWEs) are difficult to forecast in New York City and surrounding regions as revealed by the relatively poor probability of detection (POD) and false alarm ratio (FAR) in recent years. This paper investigates the climatology of NCWEs between 15 September and 15 May over 13 cool seasons from 2000/01 through 2012/13. The events are separated into three distinct synoptic patterns: pre-cold-frontal (PRF), post-cold-frontal (POF), and nor’easter/coastal storm (NEC) cases. Relationships between observed winds and some atmospheric parameters such as 900-hPa geopotential height gradient, 3-h mean sea level pressure (MSLP) tendency, low-level wind profile, and stability are also presented. Overall, PRF and NEC have the largest FAR, because several events with a low-le...
Acceleration of proteolysis in perfused rat liver by deletion of glucogenic amino acids: regulatory role of glutamine.

Glutamine at 1 and 4 times (x) normal plasma concentration (0.74 and 3 mM) suppressed hepatic proteolysis moderately and in proportion to responses of a complete amino acid mixture. The inhibition, however, increased disproportionately between 4 and 10x. Responses at 4x and lower were not associated with alterations in 125 I-asialofetuin uptake whereas higher levels inhibited uptake in a concentration-dependent manner. Thus proteolytic effects below 4x appeared to relate directly to glutamine while those above 4x very likely reflected increased levels of ammonia. The deletion of glutamine from a 1x complete mixture accelerated proteolysis by an amount equal to its inhibitory effect alone. Surprisingly, rates increased dramatically to near-maximum when alanine, glutamate, and glycine were also deleted.
Disseminated Rhizopus infection in a premature infant.

Abstract: A 16-day-old premature male infant developed rapidly expanding necrotic facial plaques. Histology and cultures of tissue biopsy specimens revealed infection with Rhizopus arrhizius. The patient was treated aggressively with surgical debridement, amphotericin B, and rifampin, but had a progressive spread of the cutaneous infection and a fatal clinical course. He had gastrointestinal and pulmonary involvement on autopsy. Zygomycoses are rapidly progressive infections which generally affect immunocompromised hosts. Premature infants should be included as individuals at risk for disseminated zygomycotic disease.
Students perceptions on the long-range value of information literacy instruction through a learning community

Abstract Whereas academic library participation in learning communities has become visible in recent years, the literature is still lacking research studies providing assessment data. This article offers the first perspective from students on the value of information literacy instruction through a learning community and the impact that instruction has on academic careers. A qualitative research method of focus group interviews was employed to solicit opinions from students who completed during a three-year period the University of Hawaii at Manoa's (UHM) Libraries, Scholarship, and Technology (LIS 100) learning community course. The findings indicate learning communities provide a valuable context for learning both affective and cognitive information literacy skills necessary in an undergraduate education.
Quantum Monte Carlo algorithms for electronic structure at the petascale; the Endstation project

Over the past two decades, continuum quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) has proved to be an invaluable tool for predicting of the properties of matter from fundamental principles. By solving the Schrodinger equation through a stochastic projection, it achieves the greatest accuracy and reliability of methods available for physical systems containing more than a few quantum particles. QMC enjoys scaling favorable to quantum chemical methods, with a computational effort which grows with the second or third power of system size. This accuracy and scalability has enabled scientific discovery across a broad spectrum of disciplines. The current methods perform very efficiently at the terascale. The quantum Monte Carlo Endstation project is a collaborative effort among researchers in the field to develop a new generation of algorithms, and their efficient implementations, which will take advantage of the upcoming petaflop architectures. Some aspects of these developments are discussed here. These tools will expand the accuracy, efficiency and range of QMC applicability and enable us to tackle challenges which are currently out of reach. The methods will be applied to several important problems including electronic and structural properties of water, transition metal oxides, nanosystems and ultracold atoms.
Biomechanical and Biotribological Correlation of Induced Wear on Bovine Femoral Condyles

Characterizing the biomechanical and biotribological properties for articular surfaces in healthy, damaged, and repaired states will both elucidate the understanding of mechanical degradation and lubricating phenomena and enhance the development of functional tissue engineered cartilage and surgical repair techniques. In recent work, a new methodology involving concomitant linear translational and oscillating rotational motion was developed to determine the frictional and wear characteristics of articular cartilage. The impetus of this work was to further characterize the biomechanical characteristics from stress relaxation and dynamic cyclical indentation testing of normal and damaged articular cartilage and to correlate the biotribological characteristic findings with the biomechanical data. Quasilinear viscoelastic (QLV) theory was used to curve fit the stress-relaxation data, while the dynamic data were used both to determine the dynamic properties through fast Fourier transform analysis and to validate the dynamic behavior based on the properties obtained from the QLV theory. Comparisons of the curve-fit parameters showed a significant decrease in pre- versus postwear elastic response, A (p <0.04), and viscous response, c (p <0.01). In addition, the short term relaxation time, τ 1 (p <0.0062), showed a significant decrease between surfaces with and without a defect. The magnitude of the complex modulus from dynamic tests revealed a decrease due to wear, lGl posntwear/ lGl pewear <1 (p<0.05). The loss factor, tan δ, was generally greater while lGl was less for those specimens experiencing rotation. A linear regression analysis was performed to correlate μ sratic and μ initial with the curve-fit QLV parameters, A, B, c, τ 1 , and τ 2 . Increasing coefficients of friction correlated with decreases in the elastic response, A, viscous response, c, and the short term relaxation time constant, τ 1 , while B became increasingly nonlinear and τ 2 became shorter postwear. Qualitatively, scanning electron microscopy photographs revealed the mechanical degradation of the tissue surface due to wear. Surfaces with a defect had an increased amount of wear debris, which ultimately contributed to third body wear. Surfaces without a defect had preferentially aligned abrasions, while those surfaces not within the wear path showed no signs of wear. The efficacy of various repair techniques and innovative repair tissue models in comparison to normal and worn articular surface tissue can be determined through experimental designs involving both biomechanical and biotribological parameter characterizations. The development of this comprehensive testing scenario involving both biotribological and biomechanical characteristics is essential to the continued development of potential articular repair tissue.
Continuous recognition of sonar targets using neural networks

A neural network (NN) approach for the continuous recognition of undersea targets from side- scan sonar returns is presented. This approach takes more than one return at a time, thereby enabling the network to learn the spectral temporal dependencies of consecutive returns. The horizontal distance scanned at a time could be expanded by increasing the number of groups in the input layer of the network. Also, a simple and powerful stochastic algorithm called Alopex is described for the training of the network. The studies and results with approach are described.© (1991) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Metropolis Monte Carlo calculations of DNA structure using internal coordinates and NMR distance restraints: an alternative method for generating a high-resolution solution structure.

A new method, a restrained Monte Carlo (rMC) calculation, is demonstrated for generating high-resolution structures of DNA oligonucleotides in solution from interproton distance restraints and bounds derived from complete relaxation matrix analysis of two-dimensional nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) spectral peak intensities. As in the case of restrained molecular dynamics (rMD) refinement of structures, the experimental distance restraints and bounds are incorporated as a pseudo-energy term (or penalty function) into the mathematical expression for the molecular energy. However, the use of generalized helical parameters, rather than Cartesian coordinates, to define DNA conformation increases efficiency by decreasing by an order of magnitude the number of parameters needed to describe a conformation and by simplifying the potential energy profile. The Metropolis Monte Carlo method is employed to simulate an annealing process. The rMC method was applied to experimental 2D NOE data from the octamer duplex d(GTA-TAATG)·d(CATTATAC). Using starting structures from different locations in conformational space (e.g. A-DNA and B-DNA), the rMC calculations readily converged, with a root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) of <0.3 A between structures generated using different protocols and starting structures. Theoretical 2D NOE peak intensities were calculated for the rMC-generated structures using the complete relaxation matrix program CORMA, enabling a comparison with experimental intensities via residual indices. Simulation of the vicinal proton coupling constants was carried out for the structures generated, enabling a comparison with the experimental deoxyribose ring coupling constants, which were not utilized in the structure determination in the case of the rMC simulations. Agreement with experimental 2D NOE and scalar coupling data was good in all cases. The rMC structures are quite similar to that refined by a traditional restrained MD approach (RMSD<0.5 A) despite the different force fields used and despite the fact that MD refinement was conducted with additional restraints imposed on the endocyclic torsion angles of deoxyriboses. The computational time required for the rMC and rMD calculations is about the same. A comparison of structural parameters is made and some limitations of both methods are discussed with regard to the average nature of the experimental restraints used in the refinement.