cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
EEG abnormalities in borderline personality disorder: Specific or nonspecific☆

From the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA. Supported by NIMH Grant ROI MH35392 OIA2. Presented at the Society of Biological Psychiatry 40th Annual Convention and Scientific Program, 1985. Address reprint requests to Dr. Jack R. Cornelius, Room 874, Western Psychiatric Instihtte and Clinic, 3811 O:Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Received December 19. 1985; revised February 18, 1986. ularly in the temporal lobe) have etiological significance in the behavioral symptoms of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) (Andrulonis et al. 1981; Snyder et al. 1983). There are several observations and studies that support this hypothesis. For example, several symptoms are common to both temporal lobe dysrhythmias and BPD, including derealization, depersonalization, impulsivity, transient psychosis, and labile mood (Fenwick 1981). Furthermore, Snyder and Pitts (1984) reported that patients with PBD have significantly more dysrhythmias (19%
Improved Protocols for Dielectric Breakdown Nanopore Biosensors

Solid-state nanopores are attractive single-molecule biosensors but commonly suffer from low fabrication yield, poor repeatability, and weak signal-to-noise ratios as compared to biological protein-derived pores. Recent demonstrations of nanopore fabrication by dielectric breakdown in high electric fields offer a promising alternative to established methods which rely on electron microscopes or ion beams. Breakdown-derived nanopores can be fabricated on-demand in standard electrolytes, without need for vacuum systems or harsh chemicals. However, the stochastic and nonlinear nature of electrical breakdown introduces new challenges for achieving consistent sensor quality. We will present progress towards more reliable in situ formation of small-diameter solid-state nanopores, using self-limiting protocols that improve yield and avoid the runaway growth of nanopores in high electric fields.
Moments and error expressions in polynomial minimum mean square estimatior

The mathematical complexity of the minimum mean square estimators made inevitable the consideration of suboptimal solutions, such as the linear minimum mean square (m.m.s.) estimators. The compromise between performance and complexity can be, in general, less serious if the estimator that will substitute the optimum one is polynomial. If the minimum mean square estimator happens to be equal to a polynomial one, the polynomial substitution does not involve any compromise with respect to performance. Balakrishnan found a necessary and sufficient condition satisfied by the joint characteristic functions of observations and variable to be estimated, so that the m.m.s. estimate is a polynomial. The equivalent moment relationships in this case were found in the present paper. A matrix expression of the error difference from two different m.m.s. polynomial estimators was also found. This form involves much fewer calculations than required for finding separately the two errors.
The Effects of Drop Size Distribution Truncation on Rainfall Integral Parameters and Empirical Relations

Abstract A description is given of a method of estimating the effects of truncating the raindrop size distribution (DSD) at lower and upper drop diameters Dmin and Dmax which assumes that the DSD can be approximated by a gamma distribution (including the exponential distribution). The method is used to investigate the effects of DSD truncation on rainfall integral parameters (e.g., reflectivity factor, liquid water content etc.) and on empirical relations between pairs of these integral parameters. Tests of the theoretical predictions are performed using a set of drop size data collected with a Joss disdrometer. A brief description is also given of the use of the method to determine DSD truncation effects on precipitation parameters deduced from dual-measurement techniques.
How Does Water Affect the Dynamics of the Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid 1-Hexyl-3-methylimidazolium Hexafluorophosphate and the Fluorescence Spectroscopy of Coumarin-153 When Dissolved in It?

Molecular dynamics simulations of mixtures of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([HMIM+][PF6-]) and water have been performed in order to investigate how small amounts of water affect the translational and rotational dynamics of this ionic liquid (IL). We find that water is closely associated with the anions and that its presence enhances both the translational and rotational dynamics of the IL. In agreement with experiments, we find that the fluorescence spectra of Coumarin-153 is red-shifted because of the presence of water. Small amounts of water enhance the speed of relaxation of the solvent surrounding the solute probe after photoexcitation, but only at a “local environment” level. Interconversion between environments still occurs on a long time scale compared with the fluorescence lifetime of the probe. Excitation wavelength-dependent emission is observed both in the neat IL and in the IL+water mixture.
CONSCIENCE, MORAL TRUTH, AND MORAL ERRORS: SOME RESPONSES TO EDMUND LEITES

Edmund Leites's lucid article on conscience, casuistry, and moral decision in the Church of England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries has amply demonstrated how the idea of conscience developed and changed from a background assumption of moral autonomy to that of self-reliance in addition to the belief in moral autonomy. In this shift the art of moral casuistry has gradually lost its original relevance and even become a forgotten idea. It may be wondered why this happened and what significance may be adduced from this. It may also be wondered what philosophical evaluation can be rendered of casuistry independent of the historical nexus of its transformation. From a comparative perspective in connection with the Chinese heritage, Leites's paper provides excellent evidence for the surprising existence of similar strains of thought on conscience in Chinese and Western traditions even though the metaphysical and religious contexts and backgrounds of these strains of thought are radically different. This difference in metaphysical and religious contexts and backgrounds raises some profound philosophical questions which are indicated in Leites's comments on my original article. In this response, I shall first discuss similar strains of thought on conscience in Chinese and English sources, and then explore briefly the different metaphiscal structures underlying these thoughts. I shall finally consider what theoretical conclusions are warranted in light of both the article and the comments of Edmund Leites.
Principal rotation representations of proper N × N orthogonal matrices

Abstract Three and four parameter representations of 3 × 3 orthogonal matrices are extended to the general case of proper N × N orthogonal matrices. These developments generalize the classical Rodrigues parameters, the Euler parameters, and the recently introduced modified Rodrigues parameters to higher dimensional spaces. The developments presented are motivated by, and significantly generalize and extend the classical result known as the Cayley transformation.
Density estimation for point processes

Abstract A general nonparametric density estimation problem is considered in which the data is generated by a spatial point process. Several practical problems are special cases of it, including those of estimating the common probability density of a sequence of random vectors and estimating the product density of a stationary multivariate point process. Kernel and k -nearest neighbor estimators are defined and in each case the joint asymptotic normality and consistency of the estimates of the density at a given finite number of points is derived.
Optical phantoms for ultrasound-modulated optical tomography

Optical phantoms are widely used for simulating optical properties of biological tissues. Their accurate design and fabrication are important factors in validating and designing biomedical systems. We discuss fabrication and measurement of optical phantoms in ultrasound-modulated optical tomography. The optical properties of the phantoms are measured by an oblique-incidence diffuse reflectance spectrometer, which can accurately measure the wavelength-dependent absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of optical phantoms. In addition, the acoustic properties of the phantoms are discussed.
GABA‐A receptor‐dependent mechanisms prevent excessive spine elimination during postnatal maturation of the mouse cortex in vivo

Dendritic spine dynamics are implicated in the structural plasticity of cognition-related neuroconnectivity. This study utilized the transcranial in vivo imaging approach to investigate spine dynamics in intact brains of living yellow fluorescent protein-expressing mice. A developmental switch in the net spine loss rate occurred at ∼4 months of age. The initially rapid rate slowed down ∼6-fold due to substantially reduced spine elimination with minor changes in formation. Furthermore, pharmacological blockade of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA-A) receptors resulted in significantly increased elimination of pre-existing spines without affecting new spine formation. Spine elimination returned to normal levels following treatment cessation. Thus, GABA-A receptor-dependent mechanisms act as "brakes" - keeping spine elimination in check to prevent over-pruning, thereby preserving the integrity of cognition-related cortical circuits.
Atlas of historical county boundaries

The goal of the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries project is to compile and publish all changes in American county jurisdiction from colonial times to 1990. Many people seek that information -including historians, geographers, genealogists, political scientists, librarians, and demographers and their needs have shaped the scope, content, and format of the work. The historical significance of American counties lies in their important functions, their nearly universal distribution, and their protean nature. These counties and their equivalents (that is, the parishes of Louisiana and independent cities in four other states) today embrace within their bounds every part of the forty-eight coterminous states and Hawaii. (Connecticut abolished its counties as operational institutions in 1960; Alaska is the only state that has never had counties.) The American county, a local arm of state government, was transplanted from England early in the seventeenth century. Since then its functions have grown from law enforcement to probating wills, recording deeds, and handling civil actions. The recording of births, deaths, and marriages was a natural addition, and eventually much of the work of census taking was organized around the county. Some counties also acquired many of the functions of local government, including welfare administration, road and bridge maintenance, and property evaluation and tax collection. Outside densely settled urban areas, counties were the obvious geographical units for organizing representation in the provincial, territorial, and state legislatures and for building congressional districts; in the nineteenth century, counties became the grass-roots centers for political parties. Following independence from Great Britain, American settlers pushed westward, and state and territorial governments laid out counties ahead of them, trying to attract them with an implicit promise of governmental services. Such frontier counties often were not organized and nearly as often were attached temporarily to fully operational counties for services and record keeping. Without such an attachment, an unorganized county existed only on paper as a name and a boundary description. This atlas not only shows the territory within each county's prescribed boundaries but also, for the first time, maps the arrangement of temporary attachments. The functional importance of counties is not matched by a comparable geographic stability, and today few have their original shapes and areas. Some counties were designed so that all residents could conveniently travel to the county seat, others so that one political party could control the electorate. Most important, regardless of design, is the simple fact of change. The purpose of this atlas is to help researchers find old records and interpret historical data, two tasks regularly impeded by the changes in county boundaries. Did
Superconductivity in Transition Metal Doped MoB4

Polycrystalline ingots of MoB4 have been found to be superconducting near 6 to 8 K when doped with Ti or Nb. Magnetic susceptibility measurements performed on these alloys indicate that a substantial fraction of the sam- ple volume is superconducting below the transition temper- ature, while X-ray diffraction scans provide insight into the crystallographic effects of the dopants on the layered MoB4 structure, revealing both a systematic increase of the lattice constant in the direction of the boron planes and a system- atic decrease in the inter-plane spacing as the dopant amount is increased. This structural expansion and contraction cor- responds to an increase in Tc until the dopant solubility limit is reached. These findings present a stark contrast to the ef- fects of lattice parameter modification on superconductivity in the structurally related AlB2-type alloys.
Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome (IC/PBS): Is There Anything New under the Sun?

IC/PBS can be a chronic debilitating bladder condition that has eluded a major diagnostic or treatment breakthrough since the first cases were reported nearly 130 years ago. This condition is defined by a constellation of symptoms including urinary urgency, frequency, and bladder pain without identifiable causes. Potential etiologic mechanisms include bladder urothelial dysfunction, immune dysregulation, pelvic floor myalgia, and nervous system dysfunction. The etiology of IC/PBS is likely multifactorial. Our ability to treat this condition effectively is also limited by the heterogeneity of presentation (varying phenotypes). Very few studies of high-level evidence are available to direct treatment strategies. Since there have been many reviews detailing diagnosis and treatment of IC/PBS, rather than be repetitive, we sought to frame this review by exploring six questions: What is the historical context of IC/PBS? Is it a bladder-based disease? What other conditions are associated with IC/PBS? What does “early” IC/PBS look like, and can this stage be diagnosed? With varying phenotypic presentations, what is the best approach to treat IC/PBS? And finally, what is the history and future of IC/PBS research? The fruits of research to date have minimally impacted care of IC/PBS patients. A different approach with increased research funding is needed to find new things under the sun that will advance the art and science of IC/PBS.
Description of a New Species of Microsporidia from Muscidifurax raptor (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), a Pupal Parasitoid of Muscoid Flies

. A microsporidian parasite, Nosema muscidifuracis n. sp., has been found in Muscidifurax raptor, a parasitoid of muscoid flies. Stages of the parasite developed in direct contact with the host cell cytoplasm and were detected in midgut epithelium, Malpighian tubules, ovaries (including oocytes) and fat body of larvae and adults. Spores were also detected within eggs deposited on the host. Light and electron microscopy revealed a developmental cycle with diplokaryotic stages dividing by binary fission and disporous sporulation sequences producing diplokaryotic spores of three morphological classes, differing significantly only in length of the polar filament. Two of the classes were found in larvae, pupae and adults. One of these, with about five turns in the coiled polar filament, is presumed to be responsible for transmission from cell to cell within the host (autoinfection) and the other, with about 10 turns, responsible for transmission from host to host. A third class, with about 15 turns in the polar filament, was found in eggs of M. raptor. It is, presumably, either involved in initiation and spread of the infection at eclosion or is responsible for horizontal transmission to a new host individual when eggs are cannibalized.
Synchronization motions of a two-link mechanism with an improved OPCL method

An improved OPCL method is developed and applied to both small swing and giant rotation synchronization of a two-link mechanism. Transition processes of the two kinds of synchronization are discussed. Comparisons of different motion characteristics of the two-link synchronization and the effects of different control parameters on synchronous processes are investigated with numerical simulations.
Emerging technologies and procedures: results of an online survey and real-time poll

Abstract Background Many new techniques and bariatric endoluminal procedures are being developed and used for the treatment of obesity. Clear guidelines or opinions of the new techniques are not readily available. The aim of this study was to gauge the level of interest and opinions of bariatric surgeons regarding these new techniques, using online and real poll surveys. Methods The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) Emerging Technologies committee developed a questionnaire that was distributed among the membership and conducted a live poll of attendees at Obesity Week 2013. Opinions of new technologies and techniques by practitioners were assessed. Results A total of 134 responses to the questionnaire were returned. Most responses (79%) expressed the belief that new bariatric techniques are needed to improve the practice of bariatric and metabolic surgery. The responses describing the effects of new procedures and technology as beneficial were (1) increased interest from patients or referring physicians (94%), (2) expanded indications for intervention (93%), and (3) lower risk intervention (96%). Nearly all respondents (90.2%) identified value in informational guidelines on new technologies and procedures, and most (88.7%) agreed that the ASMBS should coordinate clinical trials or registries to evaluate these therapies. Conclusion Although most bariatric and metabolic surgeons agree that new endoluminal surgical techniques are beneficial, most also are unable to offer the procedures to their patients without more clinical evidence and clear guidelines from the society.
Synthesis and Applications of Polyamine Amino Acid Residues: Improving the Bioactivity of an Analgesic Neuropeptide, Neurotensin

Conjugated polyamines are potential carriers for biotherapeutics targeting the central nervous system. We describe an efficient synthesis of a polyamine-based amino acid, lysine-trimethylene(diNosyl)-spermine(triBoc) with Dde or Fmoc orthogonal protecting groups. This nonnatural amino acid was incorporated into a neurotensin analogue using standard Fmoc-based protocols. The analogue maintained high affinity and agonist potency for neurotensin receptors and exhibited dramatically improved analgesia in mice. Our work provides a basis for use of polyamine amino acids in polypeptides.
HIS-PURKINJE ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS IN CHILDREN WITH HEART DEFECTS

Refractory periods (RP) of the atrium, atrioventricular (A-V) node and of the right ventricle have been determined with the atrial extrastimulus (AES) technique in children with and without heart defects (HD). Limited data is available on the RP of the HIS-Purkinje (HP) network in children with preoperative (preop) and postoperative (postop) HD. Electrophysiologic studies (EPS) were performed in 49 children with various preop and postop HD. Ages ranged between 2 and 20 years. EPS consisted in determining sinus node recovery times; atrial and A-V nodal RP. AES was coupled to sinus rhythm and to 1 or 2 paced cycle lengths. The relative (R) RPHP was determined in 18/49 (37%) patients (10 preop and 8 postop). Only 2/18 had prolonged H-V interval at rest. During AES coupled to sinus rhythm the RRPHP ranged between 270-530 msec. During AES coupled to atrial pacing the RRPHP ranged between 250-470 msec. These values did not differ significantly between the preop and postop patients. The RRPHP decreased when the cycle length was shortened. The effective (E) RPHP and the RRP of the His-bundle (HB) were only determined in 4/49 patients.
The thermodynamic characteristics of high efficiency, internal-combustion engines

Abstract Recent advancements have demonstrated new combustion modes for internal combustion engines that exhibit low nitric oxide emissions and high thermal efficiencies. These new combustion modes involve various combinations of stratification, lean mixtures, high levels of EGR, multiple injections, variable valve timings, two fuels, and other such features. Although the exact combination of these features that provides the best design is not yet clear, the results (low emissions with high efficiencies) are of major interest. The current work is directed at determining some of the fundamental thermodynamic reasons for the relatively high efficiencies and to quantify these factors. Both the first and second laws are used in this assessment. An automotive engine (5.7 l) which included some of the features mentioned above (e.g., high compression ratios, lean mixtures, and high EGR) was evaluated using a thermodynamic cycle simulation. These features were examined for a moderate load (bmep = 900 kPa), moderate speed (2000 rpm) condition. By the use of lean operation, high EGR levels, high compression ratio and other features, the net indicated thermal efficiency increased from 37.0% to 53.9%. These increases are explained in a step-by-step fashion. The major reasons for these improvements include the higher compression ratio and the dilute charge (lean mixture, high EGR). The dilute charge resulted in lower temperatures which in turn resulted in lower heat loss. In addition, the lower temperatures resulted in higher ratios of the specific heats which account for a more effective conversion of thermal energy to work. Other thermodynamic features are described.
Synthetic and Structural Studies of Heteroatom-Polyborane Clusters: Simple, High-Yield Syntheses of nido-11-Vertex Thia- and Phosphaboranes, Thia- and Phosphadicarbaboranes, and the First Thiaphosphaborane.

A synthetic sequence involving the reaction of a phosphorus or sulfur dihalide with a monoanionic boron cluster followed by an in situ dehydrohalogenation reaction initiated by proton sponge results in the clean insertion of the heteroatom into the cage framework. Using this method, a range of nido-11-vertex thia- and phosphaboranes, thia- and phosphadicarbaboranes, and the first thiaphosphaborane has been produced in high yields. Thus, the reaction of decaborane with SCl2 or RPCl2 and excess proton sponge gave the known anions, nido-7-SB10H11- (1-) and nido-7-RPB10H11- [2a- (R = Me) and 2b- (R = Ph)], respectively. Acidification of 1-, 2a-, and 2b- resulted in the isolation of nido-7-SB10H12 (1) and nido-7-RPB10H12 (2a and 2b), respectively, in near-quantitative yields. Reaction of nido-5,6-C2B8H12 with SCl2 or RPCl2 in the presence of proton sponge produced the new compounds, nido-7,10,11-SC2B8H10 (3) (77%) and nido-7,10,11-RPC2B8H10 [R = Me (97%) 4a, Ph (83%) 4b], respectively. Reaction of arachno-6-SB...
Some Problems in High-Energy Particle Detection and Analysis

1. The kinematic analysis of high-energy events requires, in general, particle momentum measurements with an absolute error of ±50-100 MeV/c, independent of momentum. Corresponding errors are 0.05% at 100 GeV/c, less at higher momenta. To minimize the cost of magnetic deflection of high-energy particles, improvements in angular precision, hence, in particle location accuracy, are desirable. The present analysis indicates that improving location accuracy from ±1/3 mm to ±0.1 mm is both desirable and feasible. The usefulness of still higher precision must await data on detailed systems performance. 2. For complex events, it appears likely that vidicon digitization can compete favorably in cost, convenience, and flexibility with large wire-array systems. 3. Neutral particle detectors that furnish accurate data on the location and direction of neutral particles (gamma rays, neutral hadrons) are likely to be important.
Initial Findings for Provisioning Variation in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing offers a paradigm shift in management of computing resources for large-scale applications. Using the Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) cloud computing model, users today can request dynamically provisioned, virtualized resources such as CPU, memory, disk, and network access in the form of virtualized resources. The client typically requests resources based on computational needs and pays for resource instances based on their capacity and time utilized. Mapping these virtual resource requests to physical hardware could vary for identical requests. This can potentially cause variations in the performance of applications deployed on such resources. The performance of the application can vary according to the physical layout of the provisioned hardware (the number of virtual machines (VMs), the size/configuration of the VMs and the inter-VM locality). In this paper, we study the effects of this “provisioning variation” and its impact on application performance using suitable benchmarks as well as demonstrate their effect on a few MapReduce workloads. Our initial findings indicate that provisioning variation can impact performance by a factor of 5 primarily due to I/O contention.
Regulation of mitogen-stimulated human T-cell proliferation, interleukin-2 production, and interleukin-2 receptor expression by protein kinase C inhibitor, H-7.

Abstract Recently published reports suggest that the activation of protein kinase C (PKC) plays an important role in the activation pathway of many cell types. In this study, we examined the role of PKC in human T-cell proliferation, IL-2 production, and IL-2R expression, when cultured with the mitogen PHA, the PKC inhibitor H-7, and H-7 control HA1004. H-7 inhibited the PHA-stimulated [ 3 H]thymidine uptake, IL-2 production, and IL-2R expression in a dose-related manner. Further, we found H-7 inhibited T-cell proliferation, IL-2 production, and IL-2 mRNA from PHA plus PMA-stimulated cultures. We also found that H-7 inhibited the early-stage activation of PHA-stimulated cells. The presence of exogenous purified human IL-2 or rIL-4 partly reversed the immunosuppression caused by H-7. In contrast, HA1004 had no effect on cell proliferation, IL-2 production, or IL-2R expression. Our results demonstrate that PKC activation is one major pathway through which T-cells become activated.
The oral epic and the web site: a story of convergence

Purpose – The paper seeks to illustrate the way in which internet and hyper‐text practices reflect ancient and classical literary practice, both of which differ from linear published manuscripts.Design/methodology approach – The essay traces the shifts and alterations in the transformations from oral text and protonarrative, through manuscripts, printed texts, hyper‐text. It then compares the narrative structures and practices of ancient epics with contemporary web site design.Findings – The essay argues that the linear printed narrative was a deviation from ancient practices which are being recovered in the use of the web; such that the web is actually a return to more traditional forms.Research limitations/implications – The findings are the interpretations and mediation of common patterns.Practical implications – The essay posits a new continuity of literary history from ancient pre‐writing to contemporary hypertext.Originality/value – Hyper‐text and the web have been primarily viewed as a technology w...
A regional comparison of carbon in cultivated and uncultivated alfisols and mollisols in the central United States

Abstract Several estimates of the size of the global pool of organic carbon in soil have been made, but changes in soil carbon following cultivation have not been adequately quantified. In this paper, data from 303 loess-derived soil samples, primarily Alfisols and Mollisols from the central United States, were used to estimate differences in the carbon content of cultivated and uncultivated soils. The 40% average difference in carbon concentration to a 15-cm depth between all cultivated and uncultivated soils in this study confirmed concentration differences previously reported for the plowed layer. The carbon content of the total profile however, was 28% lower in cultivated vs uncultivated Udalfs and 11% greater in cultivated vs uncultivated Udolls. Unvultivated Udolls were from only one soil series and did not adequately represent the region sampled. Series comparisons indicated that the differences in Udolls are similar to the differences in Udalfs. Carbon was lost primarily from the plowed layer. The distribution of carbon in some profiles of cultivated and uncultivated soils indicated that losses from the plowed layer may have been partially balanced in some soils by an increase in the carbon content of lower layers.
Building teacher capacity for implementing curricular coherence: mathematics teacher professional development tasks

Improving mathematics education in the United States has taken many forms. Our work has focused on two aspects: the content knowledge of teachers and a well-articulated coherent curriculum. Our aim was teacher “capacity building” that is enabling teachers to teach to coherent and significant mathematical curricular goals and describe the implementation in a large-scale project based at Michigan State University. We highlight the design, structure and use of mathematics teacher learning tasks that were intended to improve teachers’ capacity to teach to these goals and note how the teachers’ perceptions of the structure and sequencing of mathematics itself affect the ways they organize mathematics in their teaching and the ways they teach.
Suicide is painless

Comment on Berger et al, page [2294][1] In this issue of Blood, Berger and colleagues show that transducing adoptively transferred T cells with a suicide gene that should only be used in case of toxicity, leads instead to involuntary eradication of the transduced cells by a broad CD4 and CD8
IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AMELOGENIN AND TUFTELIN GENE PRODUCTS DURING TOOTH DEVELOPMENT

Amelogenins and tuftelins are highly specialized proteins secreted into the developing enamel matrix during mammalian enamel formation. Both tuftelins and amelogenins have been associated with various functions during nucleation and maturation of the developing enamel matrix. In this study we conducted experiments to investigate whether tuftelins and portions of the amelogenin molecule were deposited and processed in spatially distinguished portions of the developing enamel matrix, using antibodies specific against tuftelin or amelogenins. The amelogenin antibodies were raised against recombinant and native amelogenins and also included an antibody against a polypeptide encoded by amelogenin exon 4. To compare spatial expression patterns of enamel protein epitopes, 3-day postnatal mouse molar tooth organs were processed for paraffin histology and cut into serial sections. Adjacent sections were exposed to antibodies against either tuftelin or various amelogenin epitopes. To investigate age-related changes...
Improving software maintenance at Martin Marietta

Using data collected throughout a major project, the authors apply common statistical methods to quantitatively assess and evaluate improvements in a large contractor's software-maintenance process. Results show where improvements are needed; examining the change in statistical results lets you quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of the improvements. We selected a process-assessment methodology developed by J.E. Henry (1993) that follows Total Quality Management principles and is based on Watts Humphrey's Process Maturity Framework. It lets you use a process modeling technique based on control-flow diagrams to define an organization's maintenance process. After collecting process and product data throughout the maintenance process, you analyze it using parametric and nonparametric statistical techniques. The statistical-analysis results and the process model help you assess and guide improvements in the organization's maintenance process. The method uses common statistical tests to quantify relationships among maintenance activities and process and product characteristics. The relationships, in turn, tell you more about the maintenance process and how requirements changes affect the product. >
Practical numerical methods for stochastic optimal control of biological systems in continuous time and space

Previous studies have suggested that optimal control is one suitable model for biological movement. In some cases, solutions to optimal control problems are known, such as the Linear Quadratic Gaussian setting. However, more general cost functionals and nonlinear stochastic systems lead to optimal control problems to which direct solutions are presently unknown but these solutions would theoretically model behavioral processes. Additionally, in active exploration-based control situations, uncertainty drives control actions and therefore the separation principle does not hold. Thus traditional approaches to control may not be applicable in many instances of biological systems. In low dimensional cases researchers would traditionally turn to discretization methods. However, biological systems tend to be high dimensional, even in simple cases. Function approximation is an approach which can yield globally optimal solutions in continuous time and space. In this paper, we first describe the problem. Then, two examples are explored demonstrating the effectiveness of this method. A higher dimensional case which involves active exploration to learn unobservable parameters and the numerical challenges which arise will be addressed. Throughout this paper, multiple pitfalls and how to avoid then are discussed. This will help researchers to avoid spending large amounts of time merely attempting to solve a problem because a parameter is mistuned.
Modeling menstrual cycle length using a mixture distribution.

SUMMARY In reproductive health studies, epidemiologists are often interested in examining the effects of covariates on menstrual cycle length which is a convenient, noninvasive measure of women’s ovarian and reproductive function. Previous literature (Harlow and Zeger, 1991) suggests that the distribution of cycle length is a mixture of a major symmetric distribution and a component featuring a long right tail. Motivated by the shape of this marginal distribution, we propose a mixture distribution for cycle length, representing standard cycles from a Normal distribution and nonstandard cycles from a shifted Weibull distribution. The parameters are estimated using an estimating equation derived from the score function of an independence working model. The fitted mixture distribution agrees well with the distribution estimated using nonparametric approaches. We propose two measures to help determine whether a cycle is standard or nonstandard, developing tools necessary to identify characteristics of the menstrual cycles that are biologically indicative of ovarian dysfunction. We model the effect of a woman’s age on the mean and variation of both standard and nonstandard cycle lengths using multiple measurements of women.
NIST Mechanisms for Disseminating Measurements.

The national responsibilities assigned to the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) early in the last century for providing measurement assistance and service are carried out today by the four programs that comprise the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Office of Measurement Services (OMS). They are the Calibration Program (CP), the Standard Reference Materials Program (SRMP), the Standard Reference Data Program (SRDP), and the Weights and Measures Program (W&MP). Organized when the U.S. Congress changed the NBS name to NIST, the OMS facilitates access to the measurement and standards activities of NIST laboratories and programs through the dissemination of NIST products, data, and services. A brief historical introduction followed by a perspective of pivotal measurement developments from 1901 to the present and concluding with a look to the future of NIST measurement services in the next decade of the new millennium are presented for each OMS program.
Quality oncology practice initiative: an approach to solving the value equation.

There must be recruitment of a majority of the oncology practices (community, hospital based, and academic based) into the QOPI initiative, and payers must be encouraged to develop incentives for physicians who deliver high-quality oncology care.
Amygdala Responses to Emotionally Valenced Stimuli in Older and Younger Adults

As they age, adults experience less negative emotion, come to pay less attention to negative than to positive emotional stimuli, and become less likely to remember negative than positive emotional materials. This profile of findings suggests that, with age, the amygdala may show decreased reactivity to negative information while maintaining or increasing its reactivity to positive information. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess whether amygdala activation in response to positive and negative emotional pictures changes with age. Both older and younger adults showed greater activation in the amygdala for emotional than for neutral pictures; however, for older adults, seeing positive pictures led to greater amygdala activation than seeing negative pictures, whereas this was not the case for younger adults.
Chemokine receptor CCR5 promotes leukocyte trafficking to the brain and survival in West Nile virus infection

The molecular immunopathogenesis of West Nile virus (WNV) infection is poorly understood. Here, we characterize a mouse model for WNV using a subcutaneous route of infection and delineate leukocyte subsets and immunoregulatory factors present in the brains of infected mice. Central nervous system (CNS) expression of the chemokine receptor CCR5 and its ligand CCL5 was prominently up-regulated by WNV, and this was associated with CNS infiltration of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, NK1.1+ cells and macrophages expressing the receptor. The significance of CCR5 in pathogenesis was established by mortality studies in which infection of CCR5-/- mice was rapidly and uniformly fatal. In the brain, WNV-infected CCR5-/- mice had increased viral burden but markedly reduced NK1.1+ cells, macrophages, and CD4+ and CD8+ T cells compared with WNV-infected CCR5+/+ mice. Adoptive transfer of splenocytes from WNV-infected CCR5+/+ mice into infected CCR5-/- mice increased leukocyte accumulation in the CNS compared with transfer of splenocytes from infected CCR5-/- mice into infected CCR5-/- mice, and increased survival to 60%, the same as in infected CCR5+/+ control mice. We conclude that CCR5 is a critical antiviral and survival determinant in WNV infection of mice that acts by regulating trafficking of leukocytes to the infected brain.
Interareal coupling reduces encoding variability in multi-area models of spatial working memory.

Persistent activity observed during delayed-response tasks for spatial working memory (Funahashi et al 1989) has commonly been modeled by recurrent networks whose dynamics is described as a "bump attractor" (Compte et al 2000). We examine the effects of interareal architecture on the dynamics of bump attractors in stochastic neural fields. Lateral inhibitory synaptic structure in each area sustains stationary bumps in the absence of noise. Introducing noise causes bumps in individual areas to wander as a Brownian walk. However, coupling multiple areas together can help reduce the variability of the bump's position in each area. To examine this quantitatively, we approximate the position of the bump in each area using a small noise expansion that also assumes weak amplitude interareal projections. Our asymptotic results show the motion of the bumps in each area can be approximated as a multivariate Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. This shows reciprocal coupling between areas can always reduce variability, if sufficiently strong, even if one area contains much more noise than the other. However, when noise is correlated between areas, the variability-reducing effect of interareal coupling is diminished. Our results suggest that distributing spatial working memory representations across multiple, reciprocally-coupled brain areas can lead to noise cancellation that ultimately improves encoding.
Recalling a Difficult Past: Whites’ Memories of Birmingham*

This article examines the intersection between collective memory and autobiographical memory through in-depth interviews with twenty whites who came of age in the midst of key events in the Civil Rights Movement in Birmingham, Alabama. Most interviewees report few autobiographical memories of the events of the Civil Rights Movement and the racial conflict surrounding these events. Instead, many center their recollections on the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. The forgetting of autobiographical memories has been aided by a coalition of silence among whites about the era of integration and by reiterated media images that shaped recollections of the past. These white southerners have been able to renarrativize their pasts to forget memories that link them with the ideology of segregation and to reconstruct the self to be usable in the present. The article demonstrates ways that autobiographical memory is a social construction rather than an act of retrieval.
Hostile attributional bias in adults

This study tested the validity of hostile attributional bias as a cognitive correlate of anger/aggression in adults. Findings generalized hostile attributional bias into adult populations in ambiguous situations, and extended the construct into benign and hostile situations. Support was seen for the notion that hostile attributional bias is a separate functional entity from simple attribution of intentionality in negative social interactions, with some indication of a tiered cognitive process — attributing first intentionality then hostility of intent. Forced cognitive mediation was seen to have greater effect on angry response in ambiguous situations for aggressive than nonaggressive subjects. The findings are discussed in light of relevant cognitive-behavioral and social information processing theories.
BLOOD DESTRUCTION DURING EXERCISE : IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN BLOOD DESTRUCTION AND REGENERATION AFTER A PERIOD OF TRAINING.

Animals recently caged do not show as large a decrease in cell volume after exercise as those which have been confined several months. When a dog kept for a long time under sedentary conditions is exercised continuously for several weeks, a decrease in cell volume occurs in the 1st or 2nd week of exercise, but usually by the end of the 3rd week the loss has been made up. Apparently by this time the hematopoietic tissues have adapted themselves to the increased demands made upon them by the hastened rate of destruction. There is, furthermore, some anatomical evidence that such is the case.
A study of EWOD-driven droplets by PIV investigation

Despite the recent interest in droplet-based microfluidics using electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD), fundamental understanding of the fluid dynamics remains limited to two-dimensional (2D) reduction of the Navier–Stokes equation. Experimental data are in dire need to verify the predictions and advance the field. We report an investigation of the flow inside droplets actuated by EWODin air using micro particle image velocimetry (µ-PIV). Using the continuity equation, we reconstruct the 3D velocity field from the 2D PIV experimental data. We present some fundamental findings and build valuable insights that will help design sophisticated EWOD microfluidic devices. For example, the results confirm that efficient mixing in a droplet may be achieved by moving the droplet along an irreversible pattern that breaks the symmetry of the two circulating inner flows.
Interference to Color and Monochrome Television Receivers by Oscillator Radiation and Other CW Signals

The concept and the measurement of the Beat Size Effect in television are discussed. It is shown that as a result of this effect, a monochrome signal may tolerate interference 25 to 30 db stronger when the interference falls in the upper part of the channel as compared to the level which may be tolerated near the picture carrier. NTSC color television does not enjoy this advantage.
A Social‐Cognitive Framework of Multidisciplinary Team Innovation

The psychology of science typically lacks integration between cognitive and social variables. We present a new framework of team innovation in multidisciplinary science and engineering groups that ties factors from both literatures together. We focus on the effects of a particularly challenging social factor, knowledge diversity, which has a history of mixed effects on creativity, most likely because those effects are mediated and moderated by cognitive and additional social variables. In addition, we highlight the distinction between team innovative processes that are primarily divergent versus convergent; we propose that the social and cognitive implications are different for each, providing a possible explanation for knowledge diversity’s mixed results on team outcomes. Social variables mapped out include formal roles, communication norms, sufficient participation and information sharing, and task conflict; cognitive variables include analogy, information search, and evaluation. This framework provides a roadmap for research that aims to harness the power of multidisciplinary teams.
A comparison of workspace and force capabilities between classes of underactuated mechanisms

We propose a novel approach to study the ability of an underactuated mechanism, or a mechanism that has fewer actuators than degrees of freedom, to passively adapt to environmental constraints. While prior work in underactuated robotic hands has primarily focused on the mechanism's ability to curl its distal degrees of freedom inward even after the proximal degrees of freedom are constrained by contact with the environment, this paper explores the mechanism's adaptability in terms of both motion and force-application capabilities in the presence of external constraints. Specifically, using four different transmissions for a novel singly-actuated linear three degree-of-freedom mechanism, this paper analyzes how the system's ability to reconfigure joints and apply new contact forces varies as a function of the transmission configuration and object geometry. We show that with more extensive rerouting of a single actuator to multiple joints, the mechanism exhibits greater motion and force adaptability at the cost of decreased maximum joint travel and contact forces.
Isoflavones and gamma irradiation inhibit cell growth in human salivary gland cells

Abstract We studied the effects of isoflavones and irradiation on cell cycle in a human salivary gland cell line (HSG). Genistein and a soy isoflavone conjugate (NS) inhibited DNA synthesis. Cells deconjugated the glucoside form of isoflavones in NS to the aglycones genistein and daidzein. NS, genistein and IR increased phosphorylation of p53 and p21 CIP1 at serine 15 (phos-p53). Irradiation and NS also increased levels of p21 CIP1 . In a cologenic survival assay, cells in log phase growth had high radio-sensitivity with 2 Gy causing a reduction in survival (SF 2 = 0.45). Conclusion: isoflavones and radiation may interact to sensitize cancer cells to radiation.