cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The possibility of optical excitations at the smallest gap of Cu-delafossite nanocrystals

Even though the quantum size effect on the electronic gap of nano-structures is well-understood, its implication on the optical absorption near band gap energies is still a challenging question, especially for metal-oxides. A unique class of highly stable, self-saturated and self-charge-compensated delafossite nanocrystals has been identified in this paper. The structural and electronic properties of these nanocrystalline Cu-based delafossites have been studied using density functional theory (DFT). To better estimate the electronic excitation energies, and consequently the optical gap, a time-dependent DFT has also been employed. The goal here is to study whether a nano-phase can enhance the optical absorption of near band gap energies of delafossite nano-structures compared to their bulk state to enable their application as a photocatalyst.
Kinetic study of Berthelot reaction steps in the absence and presence of coupling reagents

Several reaction steps in the Berthelot reaction for the determination of ammonia have been separately studied. A reaction order of two has been confirmed for the reaction between HOCl and NH(3). The rate constant for this reaction has been determined to be 3.2 x 10(6)l.mole(-1).sec(-1). The first evidence for the formation of benzoquinonechlorimine is presented. Pentacyanoferrate coupling reagents which accelerate the production of indophenol have been found to operate on the reaction between NH(2)Cl and phenol. The rate constant for the final step of the reaction sequence has been determined to be 5.3 x 10(-3)l.mole(-1).sec(-1). A reaction between chlorimine and pentacyanoferrate compounds has been found to be responsible for the formation of a green product in the presence of excess of coupling reagent.
Exact solutions for one-dimensional transport with asymptotic scale-dependent dispersion

Abstract A general analytical solution is developed for one-dimensional solute transport in heterogeneous porous media with scale-dependent dispersion. The solution assumes that the dispersivity, α, increases linearly with distance, x , that is, α ( x ) = ax , until some distance x 0 , after which a reaches an asymptotic value, α L = ax 0 . The parameters a and x 0 characterize the nature of the scale-dependent dispersion process. The general solution contains as special cases the solutions of the classical convection-dispersion equation (CDE) assuming a constant dispersivity, and a recent solution by Yates assuming a linearly increasing dispersivity with distance. A simplified solution is also derived for cases where diffusion can be neglected. In addition, a solution for steady-state transport is presented. Results obtained with the proposed solutions demonstrate several features of scale-dependent dispersion in nonhomogeneous media which differ from those predicted with the CDE model and the model of Yates. 1
Visiting Again? Subjective Well-Being of Children in Elementary School and Repeated Visits to School Health Nurses

BACKGROUND Children with vague complaints are without chronic illness, and who repeatedly visit the school nurse may be at risk for limited academic success. This study compares student reports of subjective well-being between children who do and do not repeatedly visit the school nurse with vague complaints. METHODS Children in grades 4 through 6 completed the School Well-Being Profile-American English (SWBP-AE), a questionnaire with 4 well-being subscales: health status, school environment, social relationships, and school as a means of self-fulfillment. School nurses extracted data on clinic visits from clinic records. Logistic regression explored associations between well-being subscales and repeated visits to the school nurse. RESULTS Of the 320 students participating in the study, 33 (12.04%) students made repeated visits to the school nurse. Perception of health status (OR = 2.072; 95% CI = 1.037, 4.163) was the only significant (p < .05) predictor of repeated visits to the nurse. CONCLUSION Children with poor perception of their health status are more likely to repeatedly visit the school nurse. Children's perceptions of their school environment, social relationships, or school as a means of self-fulfillment are not statistically significant predictors of repeated visits to the school nurse.
K-ABC Content Bias: Comparisons between Mexican American and White Children.

Content (item) bias on the Mental Processing Scales and the Achievement Scale of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) was investigated with 100 Mexican American and 100 White fifth- and sixth-grade boys and girls. All children were English-speaking and from similar socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. An item-group (partial correlation) method that controlled for age, sex, and ability was used to examine bias. On the Mental Processing Scales, 17 (14%) of 120 items were found to be biased—the strong majority against the Mexican American children. On the Achievement Scale, it was observed that 58 (63%) of 92 K-ABC items were biased—all against the Mexican American sample. This latter finding is discussed in the context of possible differences in learning opportunities (language based, SES based, and school segregation) experienced by the two ethnic groups.
Institutional Support for Handheld Computing: Clinical and Educational Lessons Learned

Handheld computing devices, or personal digital assistants (PDAs), are used often in the health care setting. They provide a convenient way to store and carry either personal or reference information and can be used to accomplish other tasks associated with patient care. This article reports clinical and educational lessons learned from a longitudinal institutional initiative designed to provide medical students with PDAs to facilitate patient care and assist with clinical learning.
Stimulus Predifferentiation and Modification of Children's Racial Attitudes.

KATZ, PHYLLIS A. Stimulus Predifferentiation and Modification of Children's Racial Attitudes. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1973, 44, 232-237. The prediction that increased perceptual differentiation of other-group faces could reduce prejudicial attitudes was tested. The Ss were 96 black and white secondand sixth-grade children who previously obtained high prejudice scores on 2 racial attitude measures. They were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 training conditions: (a) learning distinctive names for photographs of other-race faces; (b) making same-different judgments of facial pairs, or (c) observing the faces without labels. Race of E was varied within each group. Attitude tests were subsequently readministered, and findings confirmed the hypothesis. Posttest prejudice scores of the labeling and perceptual training groups were lower than those of the control Ss. Additionally, several interactions revealed that this treatment effect was influenced by both developmental level and race of E.
Role of strike-slip faulting in the evolution of allochthonous terranes in the Philippines

Concepts of allochthonous terrane transport and emplacement are dominated by the assumption that most terranes originate on the subducting plate, collide with the upper plate, and are emplaced there. Movement of terranes along the convergent margin is recognized but is generally attributed to postcollision slip. In the northern Philippines, allochthonous terranes originate primarily within the arc system, have been translated along it by strike-slip faults, and were emplaced by cessation of that slip. The authors suggest that in the Philippines some originally vertical strike-slip boundaries may have evolved into shallow-dipping sutures marked by fold and thrust systems. This mode of terrane evolution may be more common than generally appreciated, particularly in orogenic belts developed in response to oblique convergence.
Chemoprophylaxis of colorectal cancer in inflammatory bowel disease: current concepts.

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease both confer an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer. The use of 5-aminosalicylate as a remission-inducing agent has been long accepted. Its use as a potential chemoprophylactic agent has been proposed and is used by some practitioners. This review examines the most recent data on 5-aminosacilycylate as a chemoprophylactic drug as well as ursodeoxycholic acid, folic acid, azathioprine, and 6-mercaptopurine. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2007)
Structural Basis of Peroxide-mediated Changes in Human Hemoglobin A NOVEL OXIDATIVE PATHWAY

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) triggers a redox cycle between ferric and ferryl hemoglobin (Hb) leading to the formation of a transient protein radical and a covalent hemeprotein cross-link. Addition of H2O2 to highly purified human hemoglobin (HbA0) induced structural changes that primarily resided within β subunits followed by the internalization of the heme moiety within α subunits. These modifications were observed when an equal molar concentration of H2O2 was added to HbA0 yet became more abundant with greater concentrations of H2O2. Mass spectrometric and amino acid analysis revealed for the first time that βCys-93 and βCys-112 were oxidized extensively and irreversibly to cysteic acid when HbA0 was treated with H2O2. Oxidation of further amino acids in HbA0 exclusive to the β-globin chain included modification of βTrp-15 to oxyindolyl and kynureninyl products as well as βMet-55 to methionine sulfoxide. These findings may therefore explain the premature collapse of the β subunits as a result of the H2O2 attack. Analysis of a tryptic digest of the main reversed phase-high pressure liquid chromatography fraction revealed two α-peptide fragments (α128 - α139) and a heme moiety with the loss of iron, cross-linked between αSer-138 and the porphyrin ring. The novel oxidative pathway of HbA0 modification detailed here may explain the diverse oxidative, toxic, and potentially immunogenic effects associated with the release of hemoglobin from red blood cells during hemolytic diseases and/or when cell-free Hb is used as a blood substitute.
Organizing out-of-print and replacement acquisitions for effectiveness, efficiency, and the future

AbstractThe authors recommend centralization within an acquisitions department of all aspects of out-of-print (OP) work: searching, “photo ordering,” and acquiring commercially available microformats and reprints—for new acquisitions and replacements of monographs and serials, and for collection development and preservation. Centralized organization affords flexibility for surges and decreases in workload, concentrates and reinforces staff knowledge and their ability to make informed decisions and recommendations, guarantees consistent adherence to copyright regulations, and promotes timely and pragmatic choices among acquisition methods and sources of supply.This article traces the theory and history behind centralization of OP functions, using the Photo/Search Division at the University of California, Berkeley, Library as a case study. In each type of OP work, the decision-making processes are discussed, with emphasis on how the different options for OP acquisitions are interdependent. The concepts used...
Problems in Cell Chemistry, with Applications of Infrared Absorption and X-Ray Diffraction Techniques

Most present day biologists are studying some aspect of how tissue works — some biological function. In attempting to describe the functions of living organisms, biologists have sought to measure those variables that appear to be most important in bringing about the given function. It is clear that the living state is a complex one, involving many variables many of which change in carrying out a given function. However, we believe that by evolutionary processes these changes have been integrated to bring about the given function often in much the same way in different organisms and often with greatest economy to their existence. Thus the measurement of any one of a large number of variables that change together in a reproducible manner during a given function may be adequately correlated with that function for the given conditions studied, and we have in biology a large number of seemingly simple relationships between so called
Surface-interaction exponents for surface susceptibility: Renormalization-group crossover for chi 1.

Goldschmidt's crossover dependence of the surface susceptibility ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{11}$ on the surface interaction parameter c yields a different large-c exponent from the exponent in the ${c}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ expansion used previously, leading to questions as to whether exponents and scaling relations, derived by the ${c}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ expansion, are altered by the c renormalization in the full crossover theory. We investigate this question by applying Goldschmidt's method to ${\ensuremath{\chi}}_{1}$ to O(\ensuremath{\epsilon}) and explicitly determining ordinary exponents and the scaling relations between them from the c\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty} limit of the full crossover theory.
International contrasts of information technology in teacher education: multiple perspectives on change

(2000). International contrasts of information technology in teacher education: multiple perspectives on change. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education: Vol. 9, No. 2, pp. 139-148.
Self-equivalences of pseudo-projective planes

The group E(X) is a natural one to study, being, in a sense, the most general group of “symmetries up to homotopy” of the space X. Very little is known about this group in generai (see, however, [I], [2, $61 and [ 131) and we propose to examine it here in detail for some very elementary spaces, the pseudo-projective planes. A pseudo-projective plane of order q ((I a positive integer), denoted P,, is the space formed from the unit disk by the
Writing Groups: Cross-Cultural Issues.

Abstract It may appear that writing groups, used in many English as a Second Language (ESL) composition classrooms, would be familiar to ESL students from collectivist cultures where group work is common in school both as a means of knowledge acquisition and as a vehicle for reinforcing the group ethic. However, writing groups may be problematic for students from collectivist cultures (e.g., Japan, the People's Republic of China) in at least three ways. First, writing groups, as used in composition classes in the U.S., function differently than groups in collectivist cultures: instead of functioning for the good of the collective, writing groups more often function for the benefit of the individual writer. Second, as a result of the dynamics of ingroup relationships in collectivist cultures, ESL students may be concerned primarily with maintaining group harmony at the expense of providing their peers with needed feedback on their composition drafts. Finally, the dynamics of outgroup relationships for ESL students from collectivist cultures may result in behavior that is hostile, strained, and competitive—behavior that is likely to work against effective group interactions.
Direct Observation of Helix Staggering, Sliding, and Coiled Coil Misfolding

The biological functions of coiled coils generally depend on efficient folding and perfect pairing of their α-helices. Dynamic changes in the helical registry that lead to staggered helices have only been proposed for a few special systems and not found in generic coiled coils. Here, we report our observations of multiple staggered helical structures of two canonical coiled coils. The partially folded structures are formed predominantly by coiled coil misfolding and occasionally by helix sliding. Using high-resolution optical tweezers, we characterized their energies and transition kinetics at a single-molecule level. The staggered states occur less than 2% of the time and about 0.1% of the time at zero force. We conclude that dynamic changes in helical registry may be a general property of coiled coils. Our findings should have broad and novel implications in functions and dysfunctions of proteins containing coiled coils.
Role of Minimally Invasive Surgery in the Modern Treatment of Barrett's Esophagus

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a highly prevalent disease. Population studies have demonstrated that a significant proportion of individuals weekly experience GERD symptoms. Barrett's esophagus (BE), defined by the presence of intestinal metaplasia (columnar epithelium with goblet cells), is considered a consequence of chronic reflux. This review defines the role of surgery in the modern treatment of BE, taking into consideration the pathophysiology of the disease and the new endoscopic procedures available at present.
Cytosolic fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase: A key enzyme in the sucrose biosynthetic pathway.

Fructose-1,6 bisphosphatase (FBPase) is a ubiquitous enzyme controlling a key reaction. In non-photosynthetic tissues, it regulates the rate of gluconeogenesis. In photosynthetic tissues, two FBPase isozymes (chloroplastic and cytosolic) play key roles in carbon assimilation and metabolism. The cytosolic FBPase is one of the regulatory enzymes in the sucrose biosynthetic pathway — its activity is regulated by both fine and coarse control mechanisms. Kinetic and allosteric properties of the plant cytosolic FBPase are remarkably similar to the mammalian and yeast FBPase, but differ greatly from those of the chloroplastic FBPase. Cytosolic FBPase is relatively conserved among various organisms both at amino acid and nucleotide sequence levels. There is slightly higher similarity between mammalian FBPase and plant cytosolic FBPase than there is between the two plant FBPases. Expression of plant cytosolic FBPase gene is developmentally regulated and appears to be coordinated with the expression of Rubisco and other carbon metabolism enzymes. Similar to the gluconeogenic FBPase, relatively rapid end product repression of FBPase gene occurs in plant. However, unlike the gluconeogenic FBPase, a concurrent decline in plant FBPase activity does not occur in response to increased end product levels. The physiological significance of FBPase gene repression, therefore, remains unclear in plants. Both expression and activity of the cytosolic FBPase are regulated by environmental factors such as light and drought conditions. Light-dependent modulation of FBPase activity in plants appears to involve some type of posttranslational modification. In addition to elucidating the exact nature of the presumed posttranslational modification, cloning of genomic and upstream sequences is needed before we fully understand the molecular regulation of the cytosolic FBPase in plants. Use of transgenic plants with altered rates of FBPase activity offers potential for enhanced crop productivity.
Polarization dependence of 4 × 4 optical fiber couplers

The performance of monolithic 4 × 4 couplers is calculated as a function of arbitrary input polarization. By assuming polarization-independent diagonal coupling, an analytic result is obtained that is shown to agree with experiment. The effects of polarization-dependent diagonal coupling are calculated numerically. The measured polarization dependence of 4 × 4 fused fiber couplers is presented as a function of the degree of fusion of the fibers and is shown to be ±0.5% for a medium fused device.
Synergies in the Study of Crime and the Workplace: An Editorial Introduction

L'A. porte son attention sur les pratiques criminelles sur le lieu de travail. Il montre que les theories et les cadres conceptuels elabores par les specialistes en criminologie peuvent inspirer une approche nouvelle des phenomenes de criminalite sur le lieu de travail. Reciproquement, il estime que les theories et les concepts utilises pour analyser l'organisation du lieu de travail constituent un apport de premier plan pour la criminologie.
Induction of ovulation in infertile women with hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance

The polycystic ovary syndrome is a common cause of anovulatory infertility. Women with severe insulin resistance are a unique subset of polycystic ovary syndrome. The syndrome of hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance, and acanthosis nigricans (HAIR-AN syndrome) is one presentation of the insulin-resistant subset of polycystic ovary syndrome. Insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism are caused by genetic and environmental factors. In women with anovulatory infertility caused by hyperandrogenism and insulin resistance, clomiphene citrate treatment often fails to result in pregnancy. For these women, weight loss and insulin sensitizers can be effective methods of inducing ovulation and pregnancy and may reduce the number of clomiphene-resistant women with polycystic ovary syndrome who are treated with gonadotropins, ovarian surgery, or in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer.
A computerized respiratory sinus arrhythmia program for the non-invasive assessment of parasympathetic activity.

Abstract The availability of sophisticated signal analysis methods based on the use of microcomputers allows an accurate non-invasive assessment of parasympathetic activity, through the measurement of the respiratory sinus arrhythmia. The program described herein is in Quickbasic and consists of 5 programs. At termination of the computer analysis the results are printed which include the average heart rate for inspiration and expiration, the averaged standard deviation of the R-R intervals for inspiration and expiration, and the R-R interval in milliseconds averaged for all inspiratory and expiratory cycles. Significant correlations were obtained when comparing the analyses of the computerized program with a manual method.
Simulated measurement of small metal clusters by frequency-modulation non-contact atomic force microscopy

The apparent height and lateral extent of very small metallic clusters and particles adsorbed on flat substrates have been calculated for frequency-modulation non-contact atomic force microscopy (ncAFM). The ncAFM scanning tip was modelled as a Si sphere covered by 1 nm of SiO2. This tip sphere of either 5 or 20 nm total radius (including an SiO2 layer) is attached to a cantilever of spring constant k = 40 N m−1 and oscillated with a 10 nm amplitude. The tip was rastered across the centre of a single cluster of Pd atoms or a single Pd particle located on a flat continuum substrate of alumina or Pd. The clusters were one-atom-thick close-packed arrangements of 19 or 91 atoms (1.4 or 3.0 nm wide); the particles were continuum spheres of diameter 2.0 or 4.0 nm. The tip–substrate and tip–particle interactions were modelled with 6–12 Lennard-Jones potentials. The attractive interaction was taken to be the London–van der Waals dispersion interaction whose magnitude was estimated from Hamaker constants calculated from bulk optical constants of Si, SiO2, Pd, and alumina. The repulsive interaction was determined from estimates of the atomic radii using densities of the bulk materials. These simulations show that the apparent heights of particles imaged by ncAFM range from just 12% of the actual height for the smallest Pd cluster on a Pd substrate to 95% of the actual height for the largest Pd particle on an alumina substrate. The apparent widths of the clusters were similar to those in contact AFM. These results show the most accurate height measurements occur when the lateral extent of the cluster or particle is comparable to or larger than the radius of the tip and when the Hamaker constant for the interaction of the tip with a cluster or particle is larger than that for the tip with the substrate.
Kidney disease of diabetes mellitus: NIDDK initiatives for the comprehensive study of its natural history, pathogenesis, and prevention.

Kidney disease of diabetes mellitus (KDDM) is the most common single cause of end-stage renal disease in the United States and Western Europe. Diabetic patients have increased morbidity and mortality and are more likely to develop renal failure than the general US population. In addition, the 5-year survival of patients with KDDM who are receiving dialytic therapy is less than one-half that of patients without diabetes mellitus. The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, in collaboration with public, private, and academic groups, has developed an implementation plan to enhance understanding of the underlying mechanisms in KDDM and to develop strategies to prevent the onset and the progression of KDDM.
Thermogravimetry-combustion characteristics of high-carbon fluidized-bed cyclone ashes

Abstract Thermogravimetry combustion characteristics are obtained for three samples of high-carbon cyclone ash, the samples received from an R & D fluidized bed combustion unit utilizing Ohio No. 6 bituminous coal with limestone. Non-isothermal TG combustion in air (at a programmed heating rate of 2 °C min −1 ) for a cyclone ash (25.0 wt% carbon) indicates two chemically different combustibles, ≈82 wt% of higher reactivity with maximum weight-loss rate at 490 °C and 18 wt% correspondingly of lower reactivity at 645 °C. Isothermal TG combustion of the same ash at 700 °C and at 850 °C also indicates the presence of the two types of combustibles and gives an E a of about 150 kJ mol −1 for combustion of the lower reactivity type. Additionally, each of two other samples of cyclone ash (20.1 and 6.9 wt% carbon) contains two types of combustibles as evidenced by TG combustions. Non-isothermal TG combustion of feed coal, a single maximum weight loss at 440 °C, shows the coal has greater reactivity than each of the three ashes. A combustion chemistry explanation for two types of combustibles is suggested by the postulated reactivity order for the organic matter or maceral groups of coal, i.e., vitrinite ⪢ exinite ⪢ inertinite.
Joint Estimation of Multiple CVM Scenarios under a Double Bounded Questioning Format

Contingent valuation surveys frequently ask the same respondent for willingness to pay (WTP) for either different programs or different levels of provision of a single program. When multiple scenarios are considered by the respondent, the errors in the estimates of WTP are likely to be correlated across scenarios. Failing to account for correlation may lead to erroneous inferences concerning differences in WTP. This paper presents a technique that can be used to jointly estimate WTP for multiple scenarios proposed within a survey when the double-bounded questioning format is used. Monte Carlo simulations are employed to show that estimates derived from the joint model provide lower parameter variances as well as tighter confidence intervals surrounding WTP. The model is used to estimate WTP values for data collected in telephone interviews of California residents concerning WTP for fire reduction programs in Oregon and California. Variance properties of these estimates are shown to be similar to those estimated using simulated data.
Compact current input oversampling modulator design for a scalable high frame rate focal plane arrays

This paper demonstrates a compact current input oversampling modulator for scalable high frame rate focal plane arrays. This smart pixel architecture with the proposed compact current input oversampling modulator is intended for scientific imagers with frame rates around 100 kfps operating in continuous imaging mode. All the circuits including data lines and detectors fit into a 125 micron/spl times/125 micron cell using 0.8 micron CMOS technology. Test results on a 8/spl times/8 demonstration focal-plane-array show operation at over 100 MHz sampling rate which represents a 60 kfps 8 bit per pixel image capture rate.
Conserving plant genetic diversity for dependent animal communities

While population genetic diversity has broad application in species conservation, no studies have examined the community-level consequences of this diversity. We show that population genetic diversity (generated by interspecific hybridization) in a dominant riparian tree affects an arthropod community composed of 207 species. In an experimental garden, plant cross type structured the arthropod community of individual trees, and among stands in the wild, plant genetic diversity accounted for nearly 60% of the variation in arthropod diversity. While previous experimental garden studies have demonstrated the effects of plant genotype on arthropod communities, our study extends these findings from individual trees in an experimental garden to natural stands of cottonwoods where plant population genetic diversity was a significant factor structuring arthropod diversity. These findings argue that the preservation of genetic diversity in a dominant species is far more important than previously realized, and may be particularly important in hybridizing systems.
Comparison of 360-degree versus traditional trabeculotomy in pediatric glaucoma.

Purpose To compare intraocular pressure (IOP) control of pediatric glaucoma patients undergoing traditional trabeculotomy ( Methods The medical records of pediatric glaucoma patients receiving trabeculotomy at a single institution from 2000 to 2012were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were divided into two groups: a traditional trabeculotomy group and 360-degree trabeculotomy group. IOP at baseline and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months' follow-up were compared within and each groups. Results A total of 77 eyes of 56 patients (age at surgery, 1.52 ± 2.68 years) in the traditional group and 14 eyes of 10 patients in the 360-degree group (age at surgery, 0.61 ± 0.42 years) were included. Mean baseline IOP was similar in both groups (traditional, 28.75 ± 8.80 mm Hg; 360-degree, 30.35 ± 6.04 mm Hg; t test; P = 0.43). Mean 1-year IOP was 17.05 ± 5.92 mm Hg in the traditional group and 11.0 ± 2.31 mm Hg in the 360-degree group. At 1-year, the surgical success rate was 58.44% in the traditional group and 85.71% in the 360-degree group; 32 eyes in the former and 2 eyes in the latter required another glaucoma procedure within 1 year for IOP control. For both groups, compared to baseline values, IOP decreased significantly with all postoperative measurements (paired t test, all P t test, P Conclusions Both 360-degree and traditional trabeculotomy significantly reduced IOP in children through 1 year's follow-up, although the former procedure shows better 1-year postoperative IOP control, with higher rate of surgical success.
CueTIP: a mixed-initiative interface for correcting handwriting errors

With advances in pen-based computing devices, handwriting has become an increasingly popular input modality. Researchers have put considerable effort into building intelligent recognition systems that can translate handwriting to text with increasing accuracy. However, handwritten input is inherently ambiguous, and these systems will always make errors. Unfortunately, work on error recovery mechanisms has mainly focused on interface innovations that allow users to manually transform the erroneous recognition result into the intended one. In our work, we propose a mixed-initiative approach to error correction. We describe CueTIP, a novel correction interface that takes advantage of the recognizer to continually evolve its results using the additional information from user corrections. This significantly reduces the number of actions required to reach the intended result. We present a user study showing that CueTIP is more efficient and better preferred for correcting handwriting recognition errors. Grounded in the discussion of CueTIP, we also present design principles that may be applied to mixed-initiative correction interfaces in other domains.
Design considerations for passive gamma-ray spectrometers

Passive gamma-ray spectrometers composed of attenuation filters and integrating detection materials provide important advantages for measurements in high-radiation environments and for long-term monitoring. Each of these applications has requirements that constrain the design of the instrument, such as incident energy range of interest, sensor size and weight, readout method, and cost. The multitude of parameters in passive spectrometer design (e.g., attenuation filter material and thickness, integrating sensor type, number of pixels, reconstructed energy bin structure) results in a large design space to examine. The development of generalized design optimization tools to interrogate this space and to identify promising spectrometer designs is discussed, particularly the methods used to rapidly calculate system transfer functions and the use of genetic algorithms for design optimization. Preliminary measurements to validate the design tools are described, and example results from early design optimization efforts are provided.
CLAVE DICOTOMICA PROVISIONAL PARA LOS GENEROS DE LA FAMILIA XYLARIACEAE (PYRENOMYCETES, SPHAERIALES) DE MEXICO

Resumen es: Se presenta una clave dicotomica para 24 generos de la familia Xylariaceae (Pyrenomycetes, Sphaeriales), recolectados en Mexico hasta el presente.>>>en: ...
An evaluation of the properties of attention as reinforcement for destructive and appropriate behavior.

The analogue functional analysis described by Iwata, Dorsey, Slifer, Bauman, and Richman (1982/1994) identifies broad classes of variables (e.g., positive reinforcement) that maintain destructive behavior (Fisher, Ninness, Piazza, & Owen-DeSchryver, 1996). However, it is likely that some types of stimuli may be more effective reinforcers than others. In the current investigation, we identified 2 participants whose destructive behavior was maintained by attention. We used concurrent schedules of reinforcement to evaluate how different types of attention affected both destructive and appropriate behavior. We showed that for 1 participant praise was not an effective reinforcer when verbal reprimands were available; however, praise was an effective reinforcer when verbal reprimands were unavailable. For the 2nd participant, we identified a type of attention that effectively competed with verbal reprimands as reinforcement. We then used the information obtained from the assessments to develop effective treatments to reduce destructive behavior and increase an alternative communicative response.
Results of therapy in stage IV-S neuroblastoma with massive hepatomegaly.

Abstract To document the incidence and severity of symptomatic hepatomegaly in patients with Stage IV-S neuroblastoma, we reviewed the charts of children with neuroblastoma seen at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh between 1951 and 1985. Sixteen met the criteria for IV-S disease, and 11 of these (69%) had massive hepatomegaly. Five children had symptoms referable to their liver size including respiratory distress, gastroesophageal reflux, or decreased urine output. Liver function appeared to be normal or only mildly abnormal in the 9 patients where data were available. Because therapy was so variable, it was not possible to correlate treatment regimen with outcome. However, 3 symptomatic patients who received ≤600 rad without chemotherapy had prompt subjective responses. Follow-up was available on 10 children 6 months-18 years (median 18 years) from diagnosis. Eight were alive with resolved or resolving hepatomegaly. High dose (≥3,300 rad) radiation-related side effects included multiple rib chondromas, chest- and pelvic-wall hypoplasia in one patient, and radiation nephritis with hepatic fibrosis resulting in death of a second patient. Our results support prior recommendations that for symptomatic hepatomegaly, low doses of radiation be considered.
Efficacy of Rodenticide Baits for the Control of Three Invasive Rodent Species in Hawaii

We tested the efficacy and palatability of nine commercial rodenticide bait formulations on Polynesian rats (Rattus exulans), roof rats (R. rattus), and house mice (Mus musculus). Efficacy varied by rodenticide tested and rodent species. Generally, rodenticides were more effective against mice than for either of the rat species, and mice tended to consume more rodenticide bait than the laboratory chow alternative food. Efficacy was generally highest for the second-generation anticoagulants tested; however, this varied across products and one-first-generation rodenticide had similar effectiveness. Bait acceptance (palatability) also varied both by rodenticide and by rodent species. Acceptance was the lowest for the acute rodenticides. Bait acceptance appeared to substantially affect the efficacy of rodenticides; materials that were not well accepted produced lower mortality rates. Rodenticide products currently registered for use in Hawaii performed less effectively in this study than other available products not yet registered. Although markets for rodent control products for use on islands are limited, there are advantages to having additional products registered for island use in agriculture, conservation, and public health.
Network management using database discovery tools

As the volume of network traffic increases due to the proliferation of distributed systems and the growth of real-time applications, a good understanding of traffic distribution and patterns becomes critical in network control and performance management. The authors upgrade the facilities of network management from traditional file systems to database and knowledge base systems and apply machine learning techniques to discover traffic patterns which are difficult to discern by human operators among a large volume of measurements. An experiment on interconnected LANs is conducted where some interesting patterns are found. The results show a strong traffic locality and some cyclic traffic patterns. The discovered rule base can describe the traffic distribution and patterns which need to be captured for any sophisticated performance management. The experiment has shown the high applicability of induction techniques to network management. >
Guaranteed-cost design of continuous-time Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy controllers via linear matrix inequalities

In this paper, we extend some recent results regarding the synthesis of Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy controllers via linear matrix inequalities using a guaranteed-cost approach. This method not only guarantees stability, but also minimizes an upper bound on a linear quadratic performance measure. A numerical example is presented to show the effectiveness of this method.
Alfalfa-grass biomass, soil organic carbon, and total nitrogen under different management approaches in an irrigated agroecosystem

Management approach may influence forage production as well as soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil total nitrogen (STN) accrued beneath perennial grass-legume components of irrigated crop rotations. This study aimed to evaluate effects of conventional, certified organic, and reduced-tillage management approaches on above- and belowground biomass production and C and N content in alfalfa-grass mixture, and their relationships with SOC and STN. An alfalfa-grass mixture was established in 2009 on four replications under a sprinkler irrigation system. Soil characteristics were analyzed at planting time in 2009. Aboveground biomass production, coarse and fine roots, SOC, STN, aboveground biomass C and N, and coarse- and fine-root C and N were quantified in samples collected during 2009–2011. Conventional management produced more aboveground biomass than reduced-tillage and organic, but production under organic matched conventional and exceeded reduced-tillage in the last two harvests of the study. Root production was constant under the three approaches, but resulted in more SOC accrued under reduced-tillage than under the other two approaches. Biomass production was favored by conventional seedbed preparation and soil fertility management while SOC accrual was favored by minimum soil disturbance. In addition, aboveground biomass was influenced by seasonal air temperature, precipitation, and nutrient mineralization from the previous season, so above-/belowground allocation changed seasonally.
Middle east climate simulation and dominant precipitation processes

The ability of both the ECMWF-TOGA analyses and regional model RegCM2 to simulate the climate of the Middle East is examined. The climate of the region displays high spatial, seasonal and interannual variability, providing a strong test of a climate model’s abilities. The higher resolution of RegCM2, compared with the ECMWF analyses, allows it to capture the spatial variability of temperature and precipitation better despite model biases being present. Both RegCM2 and the analyses have a cold bias, exacerbated in RegCM2 by a bias present in the prescribed sea-surface-temperature forcing. RegCM2 does not capture the annual cycle of precipitation on the Black and Caspian Sea coasts, where very steep topography exists, nor on the eastern Mediterranean coast, where the coastal mountains are not resolved. RegCM2 does capture the seasonal cycle in the Fertile Crescent and Zagros Mountains, where it is strongly influenced by a plateau circulation above the Iranian plateau. It is shown that accurate simulation of precipitation in these regions requires the correct simulation of storm tracks, topographic interactions and atmospheric stability. RegCM2 is better able to simulate the interannual variability averaged over the entire domain compared with the ECMWF analyses; however, they both have difficulty reproducing the interannual variability in particular subregions. It is also shown that processes controlling the seasonality of precipitation differ in different subregions and are often different from the processes controlling interannual variability. This suggests that, in order to model precipitation successfully, a horizontal scale that allows differentiation of precipitation zones dominated by different precipitation processes, both seasonally and interannually, is required. Copyright  2004 Royal Meteorological Society.
On the Aggregatability of Router Forwarding Tables

The rapid growth of global routing tables has raised concerns among many Internet Service Providers. The most immediate concern regarding routing scalability is the size of the Forwarding Information Base (FIB), which seems to be growing at a faster pace than router hardware can support. This paper focuses on one potential solution to this problem - FIB aggregation, i.e., aggregating FIB entries without affecting the forwarding paths taken by data traffic. Compared with alternative solutions to the routing scalability problem, FIB aggregation is particularly appealing because it is a purely local software optimization limited within a router, requiring no changes to routing protocols or router hardware. To understand the feasibility of using FIB aggregation to extend router lifetime, we present several FIB aggregation algorithms and evaluate their performance using routing tables and updates from tens of networks. We find that FIB aggregation can reduce the FIB table size by as much as 70% with small computational overhead. We also show that the computational overhead can be controlled through various mechanisms.
A common β1-adrenergic receptor polymorphism (Arg389Gly) affects blood pressure response to β-blockade

Background A common polymorphism of the β1-adrenergic receptor Arg389Gly markedly affects function in vitro, but little is known about its in vivo significance. Methods and results Resting and exercise hemodynamic responses were measured in subjects homozygous for Arg389 (n = 21) or Gly389 (n = 13) alleles before and 3 hours after administration of a β-blocker, atenolol. Demographic characteristics and atenolol concentrations were similar in the two genotypic groups. Genotype had a marked effect on resting hemodynamic responses to atenolol, with Arg389-homozygous subjects having a larger decrease in resting systolic blood pressure (8.7 ± 1.3 mm Hg versus 0.2 ± 1.7 mm Hg, P < .001) and mean arterial blood pressure (7.2 ± 1.0 mm Hg versus 2.0 ± 1.7 mm Hg, P = .009). Attenuation of exercise-induced hemodynamic responses by atenolol was not affected by genotype. Conclusions There is reduced sensitivity of Gly389 homozygotes to a β-adrenergic receptor antagonist, and this polymorphism may be an important determinant of variability in response to β-blockade. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2003) 73, 366–371; doi: 10.1016/S0009-9236(02)17734-4
Efficacy of prophylactic sclerotherapy for prevention of a first variceal hemorrhage.

Abstract The efficacy of prophylactic sclerotherapy is unclear because published studies of prophylactic sclerotherapy have reached conflicting conclusions. Meta-analysis was used to determine the efficacy of prophylactic sclerotherapy of esophageal varices. The meta-analysis included all English-language articles reporting results of randomized controlled trials of prophylactic sclerotherapy in adults. Prophylactic sclerotherapy reduced the 13-month mortality rate by 11% (95% confidence interval, 4%–19%), which represents a 41% relative reduction in mortality rate. Across studies, the mortality rate reductions were positively correlated with the bleeding rate reductions and negatively correlated with complication rates. The pooled mortality reduction remained significant when sensitivity analyses included the interim results from the abstracts and foreign-language articles. Nonetheless, prophylactic sclerotherapy should not be widely applied at present because complication rates are high and less costly treatments are available. Furthermore, all published studies offered more intensive follow-up to treated patients, which may have confounded the results and consistently inflated the benefits of sclerotherapy.
Language Forbidding-Enforcing Systems Defining DNA Codewords

DNA code word design is an interesting and important area of research in DNA computing and generating a large set of DNA strands that satisfy a given set of constraints is a difficult and important problem. On the other hand, forbidding and enforcing systems (fe-systems) are a molecularly inspired model of computation that defines structures based on constraints. This paper reinforces the connection between fe-systems and DNA codes by using the single language model of fe-systems to characterize a variety of DNA codes that avoid certain types of cross hybridizations. Some known methods of generating good DNA code words which have been tested experimentally are generalized by fe-systems. Finally, it is shown how the theoretical definitions by fe-systems can be used as a computational tool and also to model laboratory experiments.
Synergistic Antiviral Activity of Inhibitors of S-Adenosylhomocysteine Hydrolase and Ribavirin

(1′R,2′S,3′R)-9-(2′,3′-Dihydroxycycloperrt-4′-en-1′-yl)-adenine (DHCeA) and -3-deazaadenine (3-deaza-DHCeA), which are potent inhibitors of S-adenosylho-mocysteine (AdoHcy) hydrolase, and ribavirin, which is an inhibitor of IMP-dehydrogenase, were found in this study to have synergistic effects on inhibiting vaccinia virus replication in murine L929 cells without creating a synergistic effect on cellular toxicity. Thus, the antiviral effectiveness of this drug combination was 5–10× higher than the antiviral effectiveness observed with the AdoHcy hydrolase inhibitors alone. Ribavirin does not alter the ability of DHCeA and 3-deaza-DHCeA to elevate the intracellular AdoHcy/S-adeno-sylmethionine (AdoMet) ratio. Increases in this ratio were shown earlier to correlate with the antiviral effects of these carbocyclic nucleosides. Ribavirin was also shown to significantly reduce the cellular level of GTP, which is consistent with its activity as an inhibitor of IMP-dehydrogenase and its proposed mechanism of anti...
Turning a 14 week non-major class into a 7 week fast forward class

Challenges are faced when a full semester undergraduate non-CS major course is taught as a 7 week fast forward course. The format was downsized to one weekly 2.5 hour night session. Changing from traditional undergraduate students to adult students meant an additional goal of keeping the students interested in the materials after they have worked a full day. What worked or did not and what lessons were drawn are to be discussed. Instructors who teach or will teach adults will gain from attending this workshop. Together we will explore the challenges and solutions of condensing a course and teaching the adult learner.