cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Effective Missing Value Imputation Methods for Building Monitoring Data

To understand behaviors of natural and man-made events, such as energy consumption of buildings, which accounts for 40% of energy uses in the US, we deploy automated monitoring devices to record periodic observations. However, such experimental and observation data often contains problems and irregularities that have to be cleaned up before analyses. Due to various conditions affecting sensor operations, the communication channels, recording steps, or the recording media, the recorded data might have missing values, errors, or anomalous values. An effective way to clean up these problems is to replace these missing values, errors and anomalous values with expected values, a process generally known as imputation. In this work, we survey commonly used missing value imputation techniques and compare their performance on a set of building monitoring data. To compare the different types of sensor measurements with widely varying characteristics, we use normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE) as the key metric for the effectiveness of the imputation methods. We additionally consider periodicity and run time when considering comparing methods. Through extensive testing, we find that for small gap sizes, up to 8 consecutive missing values, linear interpolation performs the best; for larger gaps stretching up to 48 consecutive missing values, K-nearest neighbors provides the most accurate imputations; for even larger gaps, more computational intensive methods, such as matrix factorization, achieve the smallest NRMSE. Additionally, we observe that these computationally intensive algorithms not only provide accurate imputations for large gaps, but are also more robust across all types of sensors.
The Convention Against Torture and Nonrefoulement in U.S. Courts

In 1999—nine years after Senate ratification and five years after submitting its instrument of ratification—the United States finally implemented domestic regulations to fulfill its nonrefoulement obligations under Article 3 of the Convention Against Torture (CAT). Since then, the U.S. domestic definition of torture may have become one of the most litigated treaty provisions in U.S. courts. Last year alone U.S. immigration judges adjudicated over 25,000 CAT claims, and in the past four years nearly every federal circuit court has grappled with the CAT regulations. Because CAT determinations are often the last step preventing migrants from be removed from the United States, consistent application of the United States’ treaty obligations is quite literally a matter of life or death. And yet differences remain. Two circuit splits have emerged regarding the CAT definition of torture: one examining government involvement and an implied “rogue officer” exception and another considering the “consent or acquiescence” required for non-State actors. Most recently, in June 2020, the Trump administration proposed to significantly alter the CAT regulations and take a side in both circuit splits. This article aims to recontextualize U.S. circuit court interpretation of CAT provisions from a merely domestic immigration process to an international law framework. In particular, the article will examine the U.S. history related to implementing CAT, how federal circuits have created two significant splits in their interpretations of CAT Article 1, why the public international law context is integral to domestic interpretation of the CAT Article 1, and how U.S. application of CAT compares to the treaty’s drafting history and the practice of international bodies and courts. The article shows how the CAT drafting history and interpretation by international bodies consistently frame the public official nexus requirement contained in the CAT definition of torture as part of a State responsibility analysis, particularly a due diligence standard. Understanding this State responsibility context and its application to refoulement cases can help U.S. courts harmonize their divergent interpretations of torture under CAT.
Displacement current distribution on a high dielectric constant helmet and its effect on RF field at 10.5 T (447 MHz).

Purpose Investigating the designs and effects of high dielectric constant (HDC) materials in the shape of a conformal helmet on the enhancement of RF field and reduction of specific absorption rate at 10.5 T for human brain studies. Methods A continuous and a segmented four-piece HDC helmet fit to a human head inside an eight-channel fractionated-dipole array were constructed and studied with a phantom and a human head model using computer electromagnetic simulations. The simulated transmit efficiency and receive sensitivity were experimentally validated using a phantom with identical electric properties and helmet-coil configurations of the computer model. The temporal and spatial distributions of displacement currents on the HDC helmets were analyzed. Results Using the continuous HDC helmet, simulation results in the human head model demonstrated an average transmit efficiency enhancement of 66%. A propagating displacement current was induced on the continuous helmet, leading to an inhomogeneous RF field enhancement in the brain. Using the segmented four-piece helmet design to reduce this effect, an average 55% and 57% enhancement in the transmit efficiency and SNR was achieved in human head, respectively, along with 8% and 28% reductions in average and maximum local specific absorption rate. Conclusion The HDC helmets enhanced the transmit efficiency and SNR of the dipole array coil in the human head at 10.5 T. The segmentation of the helmet to disrupt the continuity of circumscribing displacement currents in the helmet produced a more uniform distribution of the transmit field and lower specific absorption rate in the human head compared with the continuous helmet design.
Putting Library Assessment Data to Work: by Selena Killick and Frankie Wilson, London, England, Facet Publishing, 2019, 170 pp., $83.99, (paperback), ISBN: 978-1-78330-220-8

Assessment – this word is daunting and full of intimations of unfamiliar territory. The library field, particularly academic libraries, is becoming well acquainted with the expectation that they wi...
Analysis of the effectiveness of face-coverings on the death ratio of COVID-19 using machine learning.

The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 led to death of millions of people worldwide. To stave off the spread of the virus, the authorities in the US employed different strategies, including the mask mandate order issued by the states' governors. In the current work, we defined a parameter called average death ratio as the monthly average of the number of daily deaths to the monthly average number of daily cases. We utilized survey data to quantify people's abidance by the mask mandate order. Additionally, we implicitly addressed the extent to which people abide by the mask mandate order, which may depend on some parameters such as population, income, and education level. Using different machine learning classification algorithms, we investigated how the decrease or increase in death ratio for the counties in the US West Coast correlates with the input parameters. The results showed that for the majority of counties, the mask mandate order decreased the death ratio, reflecting the effectiveness of such a preventive measure on the West Coast. Additionally, the changes in the death ratio demonstrated a noticeable correlation with the socio-economic condition of each county. Moreover, the results showed a promising classification accuracy score as high as 90%.
Resilient Logical Structures for Efficient Management of Replicated Data

Replicated data management protocols have been pro posed that exploit a logically structured set of copies. These protocols have the advantage that they provide limited fault-tolerance at low communication cost. The propceed protocols can be viewed as analogues of the read-one write-all protocol in the context of logical structures. In this paper, these protocols are generalized in two ways for a grid and a tree structure. First, the quorum based approach is applied to develop protocols that use structured read and write quorums, thus attaining a high degree of data availability for both read and write operations. Next, the reconfiguration or views approach is developed for both grid and tree structures resulting in protocols that attain high degrees of availability at significantly low communication cost for read operations. In this sense, the proposed protocols have the advantages of the readone write-all protocol for low cost read operations as well as the majority quorum protocol for high data availability. *This research is supported by the NSF under grant numbers IRI-9004998 and IRI-9117904. Permission to copy without fee all or part of this material is granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, the VLDB copyright notice and the title of the publication and its date appear, and notice is given that copying is by permission of the Very Large Data Base Endowment. To copy otherwise, or to republish, requires a fee and/or special permission
Self-trapping of incoherent white light

Optical pulses—wave-packets—propagating in a linear medium have a natural tendency to broaden in time (dispersion) and space (diffraction). Such broadening can be eliminated in a nonlinear medium that modifies its refractive index in the presence of light in such a way that dispersion or diffraction effects are counteracted by light-induced lensing1,2. This can allow short pulses to propagate without changing their shape2,3, and the ‘self-trapping’ of narrow optical beams1 whereby a beam of light induces a waveguide in the host medium and guides itself in this waveguide, thus propagating without diffraction4. Self-trapped pulses in space and time have been investigated extensively in many physical systems and, as a consequence of their particle-like behaviour, are known as ‘solitons’ (ref. 5). Previous studies of this phenomenon in various nonlinear media6,7,8,9,10,11,12 have involved coherent light, the one exception being our demonstration13 of self-trapping of an optical beam that exhibited partial spatial incoherence. Here we report the observation of self-trapping of a white-light beam from an incandescent source. Self-trapping occurs in both dimensions transverse to the beam when diffraction effects are balanced exactly by self-focusing in the host photorefractive medium. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first observation of self-trapping for any wave-packet that is both temporally and spatially incoherent.
A 2.4-GHz single-pole double-throw T/R switch with 0.8-dB insertion loss implemented in a CMOS process

A single-pole, double-throw transmit/receive switch for 3.0-V applications has been fabricated using 3.3-V, 0.35-µm MOS transistors in a 0.18-µm CMOS process utilizing p-substrates. The switch exhibits 0.8-dB insertion loss and 17-dBm P 1dB . The low insertion loss is achieved by optimizing the transistor widths and bias voltages, and by minimizing the source/drain-to-body capacitances and substrate resistances, while the high P 1dB is achieved by dc biasing the input and output nodes.
Quantum money and scalable 21-cm cosmology

This thesis covers two unrelated topics. The first part of my thesis is about quantum money, a cryptographic protocol in which a mint can generate a quantum state that no one can copy. In public-key quantum money, anyone can verify that a given quantum state came from the mint, and in collision-free quantum money, even the mint cannot generate two valid quantum bills with the same serial number. I present quantum state restoration, a new quantum computing technique that can be used to counterfeit several designs for quantum money. I describe a few other approaches to quantum money, one of which is published, that do not work. I then present a technique that seems to be secure based on a new mathematical object called a component mixer, and I give evidence money using this technique is hard to counterfeit. I describe a way to implement a component mixer and the corresponding quantum money using techniques from knot theory. The second part of my thesis is about 21-cm cosmology and the Fast Fourier transform telescope. With the FFT telescope group at MIT, I worked on a design for a radio telescope that operates between 120 and 200 MHz and will scale to an extremely large number of antennas N. We use an aperture synthesis technique based on Fast Fourier transforms with computational costs proportional to N log N instead of N2. This eliminates the cost of computers as the main limit on the size of a radio interferometer. In this type of telescope, the cost of each antenna matters regardless of how large the telescope becomes, so we focus on reducing the cost of each antenna as much as possible. I discuss the FFT aperture synthesis technique and its equivalence to standard techniques on an evenly spaced grid. I describe analog designs that can reduce the cost per antenna. I give algorithms to analyze raw data from our telescope to help debug and calibrate its components, with particular emphasis on cross-talk between channels and I/Q imbalance. Finally, I present a scalable design for a computer network that can solve the corner-turning problem. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Foundation of the Closest UEP Method

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction A Structure-Preserving Model Closest UEP Characterization of the Closest UEP Closest UEP Method Improved Closest UEP Method Robustness of the Closest UEP Numerical Studies Conclusions
A distinct type of GD3+, flat astrocyte in rat CNS cultures

We have identified what is apparently a distinct type of astrocyte in primary cultures from several regions of the neonatal rat CNS. These cells express GD3 ganglioside for long periods in vitro, and are GFAP+, but do not express the oligodendrocyte antigens O4 or galactocerebroside (GC). The majority, but not all, are A2B5+. The cells grow in a flat, highly spread morphology with many thin cytoplasmic processes. Gene transfer with a replication-deficient retrovirus combined with immunostaining for astro- and oligodendroglial markers (antibodies to GFAP, GD3 ganglioside, GC, and the A2B5 and O4 antibodies) demonstrated that in the neonatal rat CNS cultures these cells are clonally separate from oligodendrocytes and from the majority of (GD3-) astrocytes. The clonal analysis suggests a distinct progenitor cell and a distinct developmental sequence for these astrocytes.
A través del espejo: el proceso de concientización en Mundo, demonio y mujer

Mundo, demonio y mujer (1991) es una novela en la que le acompanamos a la protagonistaen un momento de crisis espiritual, emocional, social y existencial, el cual le sirve de iluminacionen su busqueda de auto-realizacion. El proceso por el que sufre, la lleva a una toma de concienciaen relacion con las multiples facetas de su vida que le permite forjar su propia identidad y su independencia intelectual.
Lo femenino delirante

Abstract The present article is an analysis of the emergence of a new Uruguayan author, Armonia Somers (1914–94), as well as the publication in 1950 of her first novel, La mujer desnuda (The Naked Woman). It focuses on the Uruguayan social body of the 1950s, when society lived the paradox of recognizing women in its legal structure, but limiting them in the everyday social and cultural life. In this context, Somers's novel symbolically explores what I call the “crisis of feminine subjectivity,” through the creation of a woman who on her thirtieth birthday decided to throw away all the costumes and masks with which society and tradition imposed feminine roles and, naked, tried new ways of being, new subjectivities. Central to this study is an analysis of the different ways in which historical, social, and cultural demands produce certain kinds of human bodies, especially how they produce a woman's body. The specific argument that underlies this article is that the body inserts itself in conflictive and ten...
Free Will and Luck

1. Introduction 2. Free Will and Neuroscience 3. Libertarianism, Luck, and Control 4. Frankfurt-style Cases, Luck, and Soft Libertarianism 5. A Daring Soft Libertarian Response to Present Luck 6. Compatibilism: Objections and Replies 7. My Compatibilist Proposal: Objections and Replies 8. Conclusion References Index
Differential expression of proteins in naïve and IL-2 stimulated primary human NK cells identified by global proteomic analysis.

Natural killer (NK) cells efficiently cytolyse tumors and virally infected cells. Despite the important role that interleukin (IL)-2 plays in stimulating the proliferation of NK cells and increasing NK cell activity, little is known about the alterations in the global NK cell proteome following IL-2 activation. To compare the proteomes of naive and IL-2-activated primary NK cells and identify key cellular pathways involved in IL-2 signaling, we isolated proteins from naive and IL-2-activated NK cells from healthy donors, the proteins were trypsinized and the resulting peptides were analyzed by 2D LC ESI-MS/MS followed by label-free quantification. In total, more than 2000 proteins were identified from naive and IL-2-activated NK cells where 383 proteins were found to be differentially expressed following IL-2 activation. Functional annotation of IL-2 regulated proteins revealed potential targets for future investigation of IL-2 signaling in human primary NK cells. A pathway analysis was performed and revealed several pathways that were not previously known to be involved in IL-2 response, including ubiquitin proteasome pathway, integrin signaling pathway, platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling pathway, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway and Wnt signaling pathway.
Do mirror neurons explain misattribution of emotions in music

It is speculated that certain listeners' misattribution of anger in the music of avant garde jazz saxophonists could be explained by the activity of mirror neurons. There is a neurological basis for the human tendency to imitate what is perceived in another person. This may lead to an inference that whatever comparable activity would be required to achieve a similar condition in the imitator is the condition being experienced by the person being imitated.
Radiolabeled autologous leukocyte scanning in abscess detection.

Use of ultrasonography, computed tomography,67gallium scintiscanning, and111indium scintiscanning of labeled autologous leukocytes in the detection of intra-abdominal infection is reviewed.111In scintiscanning in 405 patients demonstrated 152 sites of acute inflammation or septic foci in the abdomen in 138 patients; the calculated specificity was 92% and the overall diagnostic accuracy was approximately 90%. Success with111In scintiscanning has led us to use it routinely as a screening procedure 5 and 10 days postoperatively to detect intraperitoneal sepsis in high risk postoperative patients.
Introduction to Harlow's scientific memoir

The development of computer fluid dynamics has been closely associated with the evolution of large high-speed computers. At first the principal incentive was to produce numerical techniques for solving problems related to national defense. Soon, however, it was recognized that numerous additional scientific and engineering applications could be accomplished by means of modified techniques that extended considerably the capabilities of the early procedures. This paper describes some of this work at The Los Alamos National Laboratory, where many types of problems were solved for the first time with the newly emerging sequence of numerical capabilities. The discussions focus principally on those with which the author has been directly involved. 2003 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Unraveling the mechanism of action of a new type III secretion system effector AexU from Aeromonas hydrophila

We recently characterized a T3SS effector, AexU, from a diarrheal isolate SSU of Aeromonas hydrophila, which exhibited ADP-ribosyltransferase (ADPRT) activity. Here we provided evidence that AexU also possessed GTPase-activating protein (GAP) activity, which was mainly responsible for host cell apoptosis and disruption of actin filaments. Earlier, we showed that the DeltaaexU null mutant was attenuated in a mouse model, and we now demonstrated that while the parental A. hydrophila strain could be detected in the lung, liver, and spleen of infected mice, the DeltaaexU mutant was rapidly cleared from these organs resulting in increased survivability of animals. Further, AexU prevented phosphorylation of c-Jun, JNK and IkappaBalpha and inhibited IL-6 and IL-8 secretion from HeLa cells. Our data indicated that AexU operated by inhibiting NF-kappaB and inactivating Rho GTPases. Importantly, however, when the DeltaaexU null mutant was complemented with the mutated aexU gene devoid of ADPRT and GAP activities, a higher mortality rate in mice with concomitant increase in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokines was noted. These data indicated that either such a mutated AexU is a potent inducer of them or that AexU possesses yet another unknown activity that is modulated by ADPRT and GAP activities and results in this aberrant cytokine/chemokine production responsible for increased animal death.
Downward Spiral: A Pedagogical Game Depicting the Dangers of Substance Abuse

We have developed a pedagogical game called Downward Spiral that illuminates the dangers associated with continued drug use (including alcohol). The game provides facts, quotes, and episodic consequences that can adversely affect each player's mental and physical health, social support, and financial/legal situation over the course of the game. The conceptual and empirical foundations of the game (both a college prevention version and substance abuse treatment version) are discussed. Pilot studies with college students and residents at a substance abuse treatment facility for probationers indicate that Downward Spiral is engaging, informative, and thought provoking. Plans for examining the impact of this game as a preventive technique (for the college setting) and as an approach to increasing motivation for substance abuse treatment are described.
Efficacy of Valproate Maintenance in Patients With Bipolar Disorder and Alcoholism: A Double-blind Placebo-Controlled Study

Background More than half of all individuals with bipolar disorder have a substance abuse problem at some point in their lifetime. Patients with comorbid substance abuse disorders often are excluded from clinical trials. Thus, treatments targeting this high-risk clinical population are lacking. Objective To evaluate the efficacy of divalproex sodium (hereafter referred to as valproate) in decreasing alcohol use and stabilizing mood symptoms in acutely ill patients with bipolar disorder and alcoholism. Design A 24-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized parallel-group trial. Setting A university hospital serving as a primary catchment-area hospital and tertiary-care facility. Participants Fifty-nine subjects with diagnoses of bipolar I disorder and alcohol dependence. Intervention All study subjects received treatment as usual, including lithium carbonate and psychosocial interventions, and were randomized to receive valproate or placebo. Main Outcome Measures Primary alcohol use outcomes included changes in alcohol use as indicated by changes in proportion of heavy drinking days and number of drinks per heavy drinking day. Other alcohol use outcomes included proportion of any drinking days, number of drinks per drinking day, and relapse to sustained heavy drinking. Mood outcomes included changes in depressive and manic symptoms. We used the mixed model to analyze longitudinal data. The first model used time of assessment, bipolar subtype (mixed, manic, or depressed), and treatment group (placebo or valproate) as covariates. The second nested model included the additional covariate of medication adherence. Results The valproate group had a significantly lower proportion of heavy drinking days ( P = .02) and a trend toward fewer drinks per heavy drinking day ( P = .055) than the placebo group. When medication adherence was added as covariate, the valproate group had significantly fewer drinks per heavy drinking day ( P = .02) and fewer drinks per drinking day ( P = .02). Higher valproate serum concentration significantly correlated with improved alcohol use outcomes. Manic and depressive symptoms improved equally in both groups. Level of γ-glutamyl transpeptidase was significantly higher in the placebo group compared with the valproate group. Conclusions Valproate therapy decreases heavy drinking in patients with comorbid bipolar disorder and alcohol dependence. The results of this study indicate the potential clinical utility of the anticonvulsant mood stabilizer, valproate, in bipolar disorder with co-occurring alcohol dependence.
Coordinated tactical air traffic and airspace management

Air traffic management and airspace management reduce air traffic congestion to maintain safety. Managing traffic induces costs on airspace users and managing airspace causes additional work for air traffic controllers. This paper proposes and simulates algorithms for tactically reducing airspace congestion with coordinated air traffic and airspace management. A modified version of the Projective Cone Scheduling algorithm performs tactical air traffic management. An algorithm based on approximate dynamic programming accomplishes tactical airspace management. Three types of coordination between these air traffic and airspace management algorithms are investigated. Monte Carlo simulations of a simple problem instance involving severe congestion indicate that increased coordination between air traffic and airspace management can lead to lower costs with no increase in algorithm computation time.
A molecular basis for transmissible spongiform encephalopathy agent strain differences

Distinct strains of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy agents differ with respect to both their biological and physicochemical properties. These strain differences may be due to variability in the conformation of the disease-specific isoform of the prion protein.
Psychological Aspects of Predictive Genetic‐Test Decisions: What Do We Know So Far?

Advances in molecular biology are facilitating the elucidation of the genetic basis of disease at an astonishing rate. Consequently, predictive genetic testing of healthy individuals may soon become a routine component of medical care. How and why is the decision to have a predictive genetic test taken? This article reviews some psychological aspects of predictive genetic-test decisions and discusses the limitations of research to date. A notable limitation is the nontheoretic nature of much of the research. It is argued that theoretical models are needed from which hypotheses about decision making in this context can be derived and tested. Suggestions are offered for future research, and policy implications of research in this area are offered.
Solution-Processed Organic Light-Emitting Diodes for Lighting

In this paper, the vapor-deposited and solution-processed organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology development paradigms are described and then compared with respect to their prospects for enabling general lighting applications. Two key development needs are improved device efficiency and lower cost fabrication methods. Progress in these areas for solution-processed OLEDs is illustrated by describing recent methods for attaining high efficiency blue emission and introducing novel low cost process methods for device fabrication which enable high performance devices without the need for any vacuum processing steps
Polyurethane–poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PU–PVDF) thin film composite membranes for gas separation

Abstract Aqueous polyurethane dispersions (PUDs) with poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), or mixed poly(dimethylsiloxane)/poly(ethylene glycol) (PDMS/PEG) as the soft segment were synthesized, and made into thin films for characterization with differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogarvimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Seven thin film composite (TFC) membranes prepared on PUDs and PVDF substrates were evaluated by the separation of air as well as hydrocarbon–nitrogen mixtures. A promising membrane was then selected for further investigation of the morphological structure and permselectivities, using pure gases and binary mixtures of ethylene, ethane, propylene and propane with nitrogen at ambient temperature. It was found that PDMS/PEG-based PU membrane was typically solubility-selective for condensable hydrocarbons, and nitrogen permeance was marginally enhanced in hydrocarbon–nitrogen mixtures. It appears that the copolymer membrane with both urethane and PEG segments can effectively tolerate the swelling caused by the condensable gases. As a result, the selectivities of propylene and propane to nitrogen were substantially improved, e.g., in a mixture containing 28% propylene and 72% nitrogen, the selectivity of propylene to nitrogen reached 29.2 with a propylene permeance of 34.4 gas permeation unit (GPU).
Preparation of folic acid specifically labeled with deuterium at the 3′,5′‐positions

A method was devised for the synthesis of 3′,5′-[2H2]folic acid (d2-folic acid) for use in studies of folate metabolism in human beings. Labeling was accomplished by catalytic dehalogenation of 3′,5′-dibromofolate with deuterium gas and palladium/carbon catalyst. d2-Folic acid was separated from reduced forms and residual 3′-monobromofolate by chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex. Analysis by proton NMR and mass spectrometry indicated 70–75% deuteration of the 3′,5′-positions and lack of deuteration at other carbons.
Quantification of etheno-DNA adducts using liquid chromatography, on-line sample processing, and electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

Etheno-DNA adducts are promutagenic lesions present in normal animal and human tissues that are believed to be important in the etiology of cancer related to diet and lifestyle. A method has been developed for the quantification of trace levels of etheno-DNA adducts using on-line sample preparation coupled with liquid chromatography and electrospray tandem mass spectrometry. The use of automated solid-phase extraction and stable labeled internal standards permitted the robust determination of ethenodeoxyadenosine contained in crude DNA hydrolysates from untreated rodent and human tissues at levels on the order of one adduct in 10(8) normal nucleotides from 100 microg of DNA. Inherent analyte response and matrix interference made sensitivity for simultaneous determination of ethenodeoxycytidine approximately 5-fold lower. The method was applied to the analysis of liver DNA from untreated and urethane-treated B6C3F1 mice, untreated rat liver, human placenta, and several commercial DNA preparations. Some sources of potential artifactual formation of etheno-DNA adducts were investigated.
FOURIER -TRANSFORM FEATURE -SPACE STUDIES

ABSTRACT A hierarchial multi-level feature-space pattern recognition system is described. Multi- class distortion-invariant object identification is the purpose of this study. Attention is given to dimensionality reduction (to simplify computations) and to the use of non-unitary transformations (to achieve discrimination). A Fourier transform feature space is used. However, our basic hierarchial concepts, our theoretical analysis, and our general conclu­ sions are applicable to other feature spaces. The use of intensity versus phase features is studied and the performance of our system in the presence of noise is studied. Quantitative experimental data on 2 two-class pattern recognition databases are provided. 1. INTRODUCTION Distortion-invariant multi-class pattern recognition is considered using a feature space. Feature extraction, dimensionality reduction, discrimination and classification are addressed. A simplified block diagram of our hierarchial pattern recognition system is shown in Figure 1. We begin with a Fourier transform feature space, since such a representation is well- known [1] to allow significant data compression. We extract the amplitude, phase or both from the Fourier transform plane. As the first dimensionality reduction technique, we wedge ring detector (WRD) sample the Fourier transform plane data [2]. This reduces the dimen­ sionality of the feature space to 64. Next, we compute the dominant eigenvectors of the WRD- sampled autocorrelation matrix. This reduced subspace is calculated using a Karhunen-Loeve (K-L) transformation [3] or implemented by new efficient techniques [4] for computing the dominant eigenvectors and eigenvalues of a large matrix. This completes the dimensionality reduction steps in our system. To provide discrimination, we employ two non-unitary trans­ formation: the Fukunaga-Koontz (F-K) [5] and the Foley-Sammon (F-S) [6]. Our classifier selects the best subspace (based on the probability of error) from the K-L, F-K and F-S feature vectors.
Heat transfer in bubbling electrofluidized beds

Abstract When an electric field is applied to a fluidized bed, the resulting bed dynamics can be appreciably altered from those of a conventional bed. In the bubbling-flow regime, which is studied here, the bubbles elongate in the direction of the applied electric field, and particle mixing is reduced. Since bubble motion and particle mixing are important to the transfer of heat in a fluidized bed, measurements of the heat transfer rates in an electrofluidized bed may provide insight into the electromechanics of the bed. In addition, variations in the heat transfer rate with the applied electric field may provide a valuable control mechanism for thermal processes in fluidized beds. Heat transfer coefficients are measured for horizontal tubes immersed in a 6.35 cm square fluidized bed. An electric field is applied by supplying a voltage to the electrodes which form two of the walls of the bed. The data indicate three regimes: a low field regime in which the field has little effect on the heat transfer; an electromechanical regime in which the heat transfer coefficient decreases; and a frozen regime in which particle motion ceases and the heat transfer coefficient depends on the configuration into which the bed has frozen. A model is developed for the onset of electromechanical effects based on a calculation of the interparticle forces. This model is compared with experiment.
A paramaterization for the absorption due to the near infrared bands of CO 2

A broad band absorption parameterization for the near-infrared bands of CO 2 is described. This parameterization is in excellent agreement with more detailed line-by-line calculations for a large range of pressures, temperatures and amounts of CO 2 . The role of near IR absorption due to CO 2 is investigated for the earth’s atmosphere. It is shown that the presence of these near-lR absorption bands contributes to a heating of nearly 0.2 K/day in the upper stratosphere and 0.05 K/day in the lower stratosphere. Although the magnitude of heating in the lower stratosphere is small, it contributes more heating than ozone near the tropical tropopause region. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0889.1985.tb00068.x
Disturbance of pulmonary prostaglandin metabolism in fetuses of alloxan-diabetic rabbits

Abstract [ 14 C]Arachidonic acid conversion in lung homogenates of 28-day fetuses from control and alloxan-diabetic rabbits was studied. The major metabolites were 12- l -hydroxy-5,8,10,14-eicosatetraenoic acid and prostaglandin E 2 . Small amounts of 6-ketoprostaglandin F 1α prostaglandin F 2α , and thromboxane B 2 were also observed. Lung homogenates from fetuses of alloxan-diabetic rabbits convert significantly less [ 14 C]arachidonic acid to prostaglandin E 2 , whereas all other metabolites were present in similar quantities compared to fetuses of non-diabetic rabbits. These studies suggest that the decreased arachidonic acid conversion to prostaglandin E 2 could be partially responsible for the functional delay of lung maturation in offspring of alloxan-diabetic rabbits.
Identification and measurement of nitrous acid in an indoor environment

Abstract We report here direct observation by differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) of the formation of ppb levels of gaseous nitrous acid (MONO) from the reaction of ppm levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) with water vapor, in an indoor environment. The rate of formation of HONO displayed first order kinetics with respect to NO 2 with a rate of (0.25 ±0.04) ppb min −1 per ppm of NO 2 present. Assuming a lifetime of l h with respect to both physical and chemical removal processes for HONO, this leads to an estimated steady state concentration of ~ 15 ppb of HONO per ppm of NO 2 present. This relatively high level of HONO associated with NO 2 -air mixtures raises new questions concerning the health implications of elevated NO 2 concentrations in indoor environments e.g. HONO is a respirable nitrite known to convert secondary amines in vitro to carcinogenic nitrosamines.
A 13C Labeling Strategy Reveals a Range of Aromatic Side Chain Motion in Calmodulin

NMR relaxation experiments often require site-specific isotopic enrichment schemes in order to allow for quantitative interpretation. Here we describe a new labeling scheme for site-specific 13C–1H enrichment of a single ortho position of aromatic amino acid side chains in an otherwise perdeuterated background by employing a combination of [4-13C]erythrose and deuterated pyruvate during growth on deuterium oxide. This labeling scheme largely eliminates undesired contributions to 13C relaxation and greatly simplifies the fitting of relaxation data using the Lipari–Szabo model-free formalism. This approach is illustrated with calcium-saturated vertebrate calmodulin and oxidized flavodoxin from Cyanobacterium anabaena. Analysis of 13C relaxation in the aromatic groups of calcium-saturated calmodulin indicates a wide range of motion in the subnanosecond time regime.
Mbd3/NURD Complex Regulates Expression of 5-Hydroxymethylcytosine Marked Genes in Embryonic Stem Cells

Numerous chromatin regulators are required for embryonic stem (ES) cell self-renewal and pluripotency, but few have been studied in detail. Here, we examine the roles of several chromatin regulators whose loss affects the pluripotent state of ES cells. We find that Mbd3 and Brg1 antagonistically regulate a common set of genes by regulating promoter nucleosome occupancy. Furthermore, both Mbd3 and Brg1 play key roles in the biology of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC): Mbd3 colocalizes with Tet1 and 5hmC in vivo, Mbd3 knockdown preferentially affects expression of 5hmC-marked genes, Mbd3 localization is Tet1-dependent, and Mbd3 preferentially binds to 5hmC relative to 5-methylcytosine in vitro. Finally, both Mbd3 and Brg1 are themselves required for normal levels of 5hmC in vivo. Together, our results identify an effector for 5hmC, and reveal that control of gene expression by antagonistic chromatin regulators is a surprisingly common regulatory strategy in ES cells.
A linear complexity direct finite element solver for large-scale 3-D electromagnetic analysis

A direct finite-element solver of linear complexity is developed to analyze general 3-D electromagnetic problems where conductors and dielectrics can be arbitrarily shaped, inhomogeneous, and lossy. Numerical experiments have demonstrated its superior performance over state-of-the-art direct finite-element solvers as well as an iterative finite-element solver. A linear complexity in both CPU time and memory consumption has been theoretically proved and numerically verified with controlled accuracy. The finite-element matrix of an electrodynamic problem having over 5.64 million unknowns is factorized in less than 2.5 hours on a single core running at 2.8 GHz.
Inverse dynamics applications of discrete robot models

The authors highlight inverse dynamics applications of their recently introduced discrete-time dynamic robot model. The model is designed to guarantee conservation of energy (and momentum, if appropriate) over each sampling period, is accelerometer-free, and can reduce the computational time requirements of the real-time controller. Simulation experiments with three-degree-of-freedom cylindrical and articulated robots confirm the efficacy of the approach for inverse dynamics and trajectory planning applications.
Anaerobic myocardial abscess following myocardial infarction

Abstract An anaerobic myocardial abscess due to Bacteroides fragilis developed In a 60-year-old man when he had an acute myocardial infarction while recuperating from surgery for a paracolonic abscess. Anaerobic bacteremla is a common event and may lead to Infection In areas of low oxygen tension far removed from the original portal of entry.
Effects of psychologic stress on repolarization and relationship to autonomic and hemodynamic factors.

Psychological Stress and Repolarization. Introduction: Psychological stress can precipitate ventricular arrhythmias in patients with ICDs, as well as sudden death. However, the physiologic pathways remain unknown. We sought to determine whether psychological stress induced in the laboratory setting alters indices of repolarization associated with arrhythmogenesis. Methods and Results: Patients with ICDs and a history of ventricular arrhythmia underwent ambulatory ECG monitoring during a laboratory mental stress protocol (anger recall and mental arithmetic). Continuous changes in repolarization indices which have correlated with temporal and spatial myocardial heterogeneity of repolarization, including T-wave alternans (TWA), T-wave amplitude (Tamp), and T-wave area (Tarea) were analyzed in the time domain. In the 33 patients (85% male, 88% with coronary artery disease, mean ejection fraction 30%), norepinephrine, epinephrine, BP, and HR increased during mental stress. TWA increased from 22 (interquartile range 16-27) at baseline to 29 (21-38) uV during mental stress (P < 0.001). Changes in TWA correlated with changes in HR, systolic BP, and catecholamines. Tamp and Tarea also increased with mental stress (P < 0.01) but did not correlate with changes in other variables. Conclusion: Psychological stress increased TWA, Tamp, and Tarea. Autonomically mediated repolarization changes may be a pathophysiologic link between emotion and arrhythmia in susceptible patients.
The Present Status of Objective Social Indicators: A Review of Theory and Measurement

We will not draw sharp distinctions at the outset between social data systems, social indicators, and social accounts. A century ago there were few social data systems worthy of the name in the United States. Doctors, lawyers, clergymen, and teachers-the only educated people-thought they knew the causes and cures of social ills; mere facts would not have swayed them. Between 1885 and 1910, a handful of Ph.D.s organized the various American social science associations. Similar associations developed in Europe, and international standards of adequacy in research methods and supporting data gradually emerged. B. R. Mitchell (p. viii) asserts that "most [European] statistics prior to 1900 were byproducts of taxation or military preparedness," though the population censuses had outgrown their origins somewhat earlier than that. He cites Robson, in Man and the Social Sciences, to the effect that "the most important methodological development of the present century" is "the introduction of measurement in varying degrees in virtually every one of the social sciences." It is only with this development that there has been much collection and publication of statistical material for its relevance to the concerns of social scientists. In the 1920s there was considerable communication among the various categories of social scientists, and the Social Science Research Council was established in 1924 to sustain and improve that communication. In 1929, when President Hoover called for a systematic study of recent social trends in the United States, he appointed a committee consisting of past-presidents of the American Economic Association (Wesley Clair Mitchell), the American Political Science Association (Charles E. Merriam), and the American Sociological Association (William F. Ogburn). It was Ogburn who served as director of research for the massive report, Recent Social Trends (1933), and I believe it was Ogburn who wrote the impressive sixty-five page summary of the committee's findings. There were no conspicuous differences in the uses of data and supporting arguments by the economists, sociologists, and political scientists who authored the various signed chapters. Duncan and Shelton have documented the revolution in federal statistics from 1926 to 1976. From the early 1930s into the 1970s, serious efforts were made to coordinate the activities of the various statistical agencies, albeit loosely, and to maintain some balance among the rates of development of different data systems. But the breakdown in national and world economies 1929-32 had precipitated intense activity in economic policy, ecoKarl A. Fox is distinguished professor in sciences and humanities and a professor of economics, Iowa State University.
Cell surface tissue transglutaminase is involved in adhesion and migration of monocytic cells on fibronectin

Expression of tissue transglutaminase (transglutaminase II, tTG) was shown to increase drastically during monocyte differentiation into macrophages; however, its role in monocytic cells remains largely unknown. This study describes a novel function of cell surface tTG as an adhesion and migration receptor for fibronectin (Fn). Two structurally related transglutaminases, tTG and the A subunit of factor XIII (FXIIIA), are expressed on the surface of monocytic cells, whereas only surface tTG is associated with multiple integrins of the β1 and β3 subfamilies. Both surface levels of tTG and the amounts of integrin-bound tTG are sharply up-regulated during the conversion of monocytes into macrophages. In contrast, a reduction in biosynthesis and surface expression of FXIIIA accompanies monocyte differentiation. Cell surface tTG is colocalized with β1- and β3-integrins in podosomelike adhesive structures of macrophages adherent on Fn. Down-regulation of surface tTG by expression of antisense tTG construct or its inhibition by function-blocking antibodies significantly decreases adhesion and spreading of monocytic cells on Fn and, in particular, on the gelatin-binding fragment of Fn consisting of modules I6II1,2I7-9. Likewise, interfering with the adhesive function of surface tTG markedly reduces migration of myeloid cells on Fn and its gelatin-binding fragment. These data demonstrate that cell surface tTG serves as an integrin-associated adhesion receptor that might be involved in extravasation and migration of monocytic cells into tissues containing Fn matrices during inflammation.
Design of Catalytic Carbonylative Polymerizations of Heterocycles. Synthesis of Polyesters and Amphiphilic Poly(amide-block-ester)s

The combination of CH3C(O)Co(CO)3P(o-tolyl)3/m-methoxypyridine serves as a versatile catalyst for both the carbonylative polymerizations of epoxides and N-alkylaziridines under closely resembling mechanistic hypotheses. Diblock poly(β-alanoid-b-β-hydroxypropionate)s can be synthesized even when the aziridine and epoxide comonomers are added all together at the beginning of the reaction.