cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Electrocardiographic Associations Seen with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Background. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a chronic respiratory disorder associated with repeated nocturnal partial or complete collapse that is often underdiagnosed and associated with multiple comorbidities. The association between specific features on an electrocardiogram and OSA has not been well studied. This retrospective study attempts to bridge this gap in knowledge. Methods. A total of 265 patients’ medical records were reviewed retrospectively. Specific features of their electrocardiograms and their association with the severity of OSA were studied from April 2014 to May 2016. 215 patients were included in the final analysis. Tests of group difference between OSA patients and controls were done using student’s t-tests for continuous variables and using chi-square tests for categorical outcomes. Multivariate tests of differences between OSA and control patients were done using logistic regression to control for possible confounding factors. Results. A total of 215 patients with diagnosed OSA and 41 controls in whom OSA was ruled out using polysomnography were compared. Males were more likely to present with OSA than females (93 % versus 76 %; p < 0.001). OSA patients were also significantly older: 52.18 ± 14.04 versus 44.55 ± 14.64; p = 0.002. Deep S waves in V5-6 (p=0.014) and RS pattern with Deep S waves in leads I and AVF (p=0.017) were both significantly associated with OSA based on univariate comparisons. These findings lost significance in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion. The idea of using an electrocardiogram in aiding in the assessment of OSA is attractive and feasible, as it is a safe, noninvasive, and cost-effective method. Our results can be used for early risk stratification in patients with OSA.
The distributional impacts of U.S. energy policy

Abstract This paper surveys energy policy in the United States from a distributional perspective. Focusing on the distributional impacts of energy taxes is too narrow a framework. The United States relies much more heavily on regulation than taxation to address energy-related market failures. It argues that most regulatory policies and tax subsidies to achieve energy policy goals are regressive. This includes fuel economy standards, EV purchase incentives, and energy efficiency tax incentives. In contrast, a carbon tax is likely to be progressive, even when ignoring the use of revenue. The view that carbon taxes are regressive stems from an incomplete distributional analysis that assumes all impacts arise from increases in the costs of consumer goods and services. Recent analyses have emphasized the importance of impacts on sources of income. In particular, a carbon tax is likely to reduce returns to capital more than wages. With capital disproportionately held by higher income households, this differential factor income effect is progressive. In addition, transfer income, more important for lower income households, tends to be indexed and so contributes to a carbon tax's progressivity. How carbon tax revenue is used can add even greater progressivity to a carbon tax reform.
Might Relationship “Techniques” Extend the Reach, Efficacy, and Efficiency of the Psychotherapies? The Challenge of Treatment-Resistant Outpatients

Study-based clinical observations and two premises are presented as indications for a need to identify “therapeutic relationship techniques” or the like that can extend the reach and efficiency of the psychotherapies. The premises are: (1) advances in psychotherapy practice and research now highlight one of the field's most longstanding challenges, signified by terms like “treatment resistance”; and (2) some proportion of outpatients whose problems are resistant to the psychotherapies (and medications) have marked limitations in the capacity to relate positively and productively to others, including therapists. Thus, ironically, they cannot optimally utilize a treatment modality that largely has developed to ameliorate problems relating to others.
Learning Movement through Human-Computer Co-Creative Improvisation

Computers that are able to collaboratively improvise movement with humans could have an impact on a variety of application domains, ranging from improving procedural animation in game environments to fostering human-computer co-creativity. Enabling real-time movement improvisation requires equipping computers with strategies for learning and understanding movement. Most existing research focuses on gesture classification, which does not facilitate the learning of new gestures, thereby limiting the creative capacity of computers. In this paper, we explore how to develop a gesture clustering pipeline that facilitates reasoning about arbitrary novel movements in real-time. We describe the implementation of this pipeline within the context of LuminAI, a system in which humans can collaboratively improvise movements together with an AI agent. A preliminary evaluation indicates that our pipeline is capable of efficiently clustering similar gestures together, but further work is necessary to fully assess the pipeline's ability to meaningfully cluster complex movements.
Academic goal-setting among college students experiencing food insecurity, housing instability, and other challenges in a diverse public university

In recent years, a growing body of research has documented the prevalence of homelessness and food insecurity on college campuses. Related literature calls attention to low retention and degree com...
Effect of Changing Apnea Time in Premature Neonates Ventilated With NIV NAVA

Background: Neurally-adjusted ventilatory assist (NAVA) provides proportional ventilatory support based on the patient9s respiratory drive using a specialized catheter to measure the electrical activity of the diaphragm (EAdi). Respiratory variability and apnea are challenges when treating the premature infant. With NAVA, if the neonate has a respiratory pause lasting more than a predetermined time (apnea time), back up pressure control ventilation is provided until an EAdi is detected and NAVA ventilation resumes. In theory, this allows the clinician to set a minimum spontaneous respiratory rate. Short apnea times provide backup ventilation during periods of normal physiologic respiratory variability potentially resulting in over ventilation and suppression of spontaneous respiratory drive. Longer apnea times may allow more spontaneous ventilation but potentially result in clinical deterioration from insufficient respiratory support because of longer periods without ventilation. The objective of this study is to determine the effect of changing the apnea time in neonates on noninvasive NAVA (NIV-NAVA). Methods: Two center, prospective, one-factorial, interventional study of neonates on NIV-NAVA. Apnea time was randomly set at either 2 or 5 s for 2 hours and then interchanged. Clinically significant events (CSE), EAdi peak/min, and switches/min to backup (switches/min) and %/minute in backup (%/min) were collected. Statistics were paired t-tests. IRB approval obtained. Results: Fifteen neonates 26+1.6 weeks gestational age weighing 893+202 grams at birth were studied at 15+16 days. Diagnoses included respiratory distress syndrome, apnea of prematurity. All neonates received caffeine. At 2-s versus 5-s apnea time, switches into backup decreased from 2.5 to 0.5 switches/min (p Conclusions: Neonates on NIV NAVA have fewer CSE while on a shorter apnea time, although they spend slightly more time in back up ventilation. Over 90% of ventilation was spontaneous in NAVA for both groups. EAdi peak and min remained similar despite changes in apnea time; therefore, neonates were not over supported during periods of normal respiratory variability. This suggests short apnea times should be utilized for patients ventilated with NIV NAVA to promote clinical stability and decrease CSE.
The effects of a teaching development institute for early career researchers on their intended teaching strategies, course design, beliefs about instructors’ and students’ knowledge, and instructional self-efficacy: The case of the Teaching Institute at Johns Hopkins University

Abstract Despite the importance of both research and teaching, doctoral and postdoctoral programs tend to focus on research. One approach to address the lack of teaching development for early career researchers (ECRs) is to train them on instruction. The purpose of this two-year study was to examine the effects of a Teaching Development Institute (TDI) on ECRs’ intended teaching strategies, course planning, beliefs about instructors’ and students’ knowledge, and instructional self-efficacy. We used the Approaches to Teaching (ATI) and the College Teaching Self-Efficacy (CTSE) instruments in a one-group pretest-posttest design. The sample was 109 and 140 ECRs who participated at the Teaching Institute at Johns Hopkins University in 2018 and 2019, respectively. The results of the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test indicated that the TDI intervention was effective. The theoretical implications of the paper include (a) reinterpreting the ATI according to the interactive, constructive, active, and passive (ICAP) cognitive engagement framework, and (b) proposing the professional development to student achievement (PDSA) model.
Stochastic stability of a piezoelectric vibration energy harvester under a parametric excitation and noise-induced stabilization

Abstract Vibration energy harvesters seek to convert the energy of ambient, random vibrations into electrical power, often using piezoelectric transduction. The stochastic dynamics of a piezoelectric harvester subjected to a parametric (state-dependent) excitation has not been comprehensively investigated in the nonequilibrium regime. Motivated by mathematical results that establish the stabilization of dynamic response using noise, we investigate the stochastic stability of a generic harvester in the linear and the monostable nonlinear regimes excited by a multiplicative noise process characterized by both Brownian and Levy distributions. Stability is characterized in each case by studying the approach of the harvester response towards equilibrium in the time domain, longer term proximity (or divergence) of two solutions starting with nearby initial conditions in the phase plane as well as the Lyapunov exponent. In the linear case, we analytically obtain a lower bound on the magnitude of the noise intensity that guarantees stability. The bound is derived as an inequality in terms of the system parameters. This analytic result is validated numerically using the Euler-Maruyama scheme by: (1) computing the harvester response and its approach to equilibrium in terms of its displacement, velocity and voltage, (2) computing the trajectories of two solutions with nearby initial conditions in the phase plane and (3) the sign of the maximal Lyapunov exponent in terms of energy. We find that noise-induced stabilization occurs consistently for the noise intensities greater than the lower bound in linear and weakly nonlinear harvesters, for both Brownian and Levy excitation. Instabilities emerge for the noise intensities lower than the bound. The results lead to the interesting conclusion that noise of appropriate strength can induce stabilization and are expected to be useful in the design of energy harvesters. In addition, the results are expected to be significant in the study of phenomena such as noise-induced transport in Brownian rotors where stability is an important aspect of the stochastic dynamics.
Valuing Shorebirds: Bureaucracy, Natural History, and Expertise in North American Conservation.

This article follows shorebirds—migratory animals that have gone from game to nongame animals over the course of the past century in North America—as a way to track modern field biology, bureaucratic institutions, and the valuation of wildlife. Doing so allows me to make interrelated arguments about the history of wildlife management and science. The first is to note the endurance of observation-based natural history methods in field biology over the long twentieth century and the importance of these methods for the persistent contribution of amateurs. The second major line of argument advances the historical significance of scientific, government bureaucracies as sites of natural knowledge production. Historians of biology and ecology have tended to stress scientists with institutional homes in universities, museums, and at land-grant field stations—particularly as various forms of field biology became professionalized over the twentieth century. In contrast, migratory animals like shorebirds, whether under the auspices of the US Biological Survey or the contemporary Fish and Wildlife Service, were primarily studied and conserved by biologists in bureaucratic agencies. Mid- to low-level bureaucrats, along with avocational birders, have mainly been responsible for developing what we know about shorebird migration, behavior, and life history. And third, shorebirds foreground the importance of bureaucratic context for the valuation of nature, from their economic value to agriculture in the early twentieth century to their value as rare, endangered species in the twentyfirst.
Attraction of mesoscale objects on the surface of a thin elastic film supported on a liquid.

We study the interaction of two parallel rigid cylinders on the surface of a thin elastic film supported on a pool of liquid. The excess energy of the surface due to the curvature of the stretched film induces attraction of the cylinders that can be quantified by the variation of their gravitational potential energies as they descend into the liquid while still floating on the film. Although the experimental results follow the trend predicted from the balance of the gravitational and elastic energies of the system, they are somewhat underestimated. The origin of this discrepancy is the hysteresis of adhesion between the cylinder and the elastic film that does not allow the conversion of the total available energy into gravitational potential energy, as some part of it is recovered in stretching the film behind the cylinders while they approach each other. A modification of the model accounting for the effects of adhesion hysteresis improves the agreement between theoretical and experimental results. The c...
ICCAD-2020 CAD Contest in X-value Equivalence Checking and Benchmark Suite : Invited Talk

Equivalence checking is the practical industrial solution to signoff digital functionality for large-scale circuits. However, when design contains implicit and explicit X-values, the complexity of equivalence checking increases and heuristics used in binary-value equivalence checking may not be applicable for X-value equivalence checking. The goal of the ICCAD 2020 CAD contest is to ask the good algorithm and heuristic to solve the X-value equivalence checking. In this contest, we provide the benchmark suites for contestant to evaluate their program. We hope the contest result can improve industry applications and bring more research interests.
Regional and global resting-state functional MR connectivity in temporal lobe epilepsy: Results from the Epilepsy Connectome Project.

Abstract Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) has been conceptualized as focal disease with a discrete neurobiological focus and can respond well to targeted resection or ablation. In contrast, the neuro-cognitive deficits resulting from TLE can be widespread involving regions beyond the primary epileptic network. We hypothesize that this seemingly paradoxical findings can be explained by differences in connectivity between the primary epileptic region which is hyper-connected and its secondary influence on global connectome organization. This hypothesis is tested using regional and global graph theory metrics where we anticipate that regional mesial-temporal hyperconnectivity will be found and correlate with seizure frequency while global networks will be disorganized and be more closely associated with neuro-cognitive deficits. Resting-state fMRI was used to examine temporal lobe regional connectivity and global functional connectivity from 102 patients with TLE and 55 controls. Connectivity matrices were calculated for subcortical volumes and cortical parcellations. Graph theory metrics (global clustering coefficient (GCC), degree, closeness) were compared between groups and in relation to neuropsychological profiles and disease covariates using permutation testing and causal analysis. In TLE there was a decrease in GCC (p = 0.0345) associated with a worse neuropsychological profile (p = 0.0134). There was increased connectivity in the left hippocampus/amygdala (degree p = 0.0103, closeness p = 0.0104) and a decrease in connectivity in the right lateral temporal lobe (degree p = 0.0186, closeness p = 0.0122). A ratio between the hippocampus/amygdala and lateral temporal lobe—temporal lobe connectivity ratio (TLCR) revealed differences between TLE and controls for closeness (left p = 0.00149, right p = 0.0494) and for degree on left p = 0.00169; with trend on right p = 0.0567. Causal analysis suggested that “Epilepsy Activity” (seizure frequency, anti-seizure medications) was associated with increase in TLCR but not in GCC, while cognitive decline was associated with decreased GCC. These findings support the hypothesis that in TLE there is hyperconnectivity in the hippocampus/amygdala and hypoconnectivity in the lateral temporal lobe associated with “Epilepsy Activity.” While, global connectome disorganization was associated with worse neuropsychological phenotype.
Malware Classification using Recurrence Plots and Deep Neural Network

In this paper, we introduce a method for visualizing and classifying malware binaries. A malware binary consists of a series of data points of compiled machine codes that represent programming components. The occurrence and recurrence behavior of these components is determined by the common tasks malware samples in a particular family carry out. Thus, we view a malware binary as a series of emissions generated by an underlying stochastic process and use recurrence plots to transform malware binaries into two-dimensional texture images. We observe that recurrence plot-based malware images have significant visual similarities within the same family and are different from samples in other families. We apply deep CNN classifiers to classify malware samples. The proposed approach does not require creating malware signature or manual feature engineering. Our preliminary experimental results show that the proposed malware representation leads to a higher and more stable accuracy in comparison to directly transforming malware binaries to gray-scale images.
The Wealth of Zaibatsu Owner Families: The Impact of Zaibatsu Busting in Occupied Japan

Contrary to widely accepted views, the former zaibatsu owner families, despite the drastic reduction in their enormous wealth, emerged from the U.S. Occupation with relatively sizable assets. The Holding Company Liquidation Commission, the Japanese agency that at the direction of Occupation Headquarters (GHQ) seized stocks that the zaibatsu families had held either directly or through their holding companies, worked to protect the families, especially by convincing GHQ to switch compensation from nonnegotiable bonds to cash. Furthermore, in the sale of stocks, the policy of giving purchase priority to zaibatsu company employees appears to have made it possible in some cases for the families to buy back shares and regain control over their former enterprises after 1952. As it turned out, the confiscatory measure was not so much the appropriation of the families’ assets under the GHQ-mandated dissolution of the combines as it was the Japanese government’s own punitive capital levy.
Explainable Multi-task Flight Arrival Delay Prediction

Flight delays could disturb passengers' travel plans and cause financial loss to the airlines. Therefore, efforts have been spent in the past to conduct flight delay prediction, which could assist passengers, airports and airlines in better planning. Existing methods focus on predicting whether a flight will delay and how long the delay will be, but lack an effective explanation revealing possible reasons causing the delay, which is useful for timely decisions. Motivated by the demand of such cause-aware flight delay prediction, we propose an explainable multi-task framework to predict not only the delay duration but also the delay causes. The proposed framework consists of three modules: (1) flight record encoder that derives record embeddings, (2) flight sequence encoder integrating useful signals from other related flights, and (3) flight delay predictor that outputs delay duration as well as the possible causes of the delay. The proposed framework is evaluated on three real-world datasets. The results show that the proposed model outperforms multiple baselines on the flight arrival delay prediction task and is able to provide the causes behind the flight delay.
U.S./European Environmental Cooperation

I would first like to focus on a bit of chronology, based on my own involvement with these issues over the last several years, to share with you the way I’ve seen the relationship between the U.S. and the European Union on trade and environment questions evolve. It has been a changing story, and one that has important implications for where we are going to move in the future, as we try to come to resolution on these issues that have so vexed cooperative agreements over the last several years.
Extraterrestrial Handedness: A Reply

Recent investigations of stable isotope ratios of amino acids from the Murchison meteorite have shown them to be of unambiguous extraterrestrial origin, and examinations of their enantiomeric compositions, where terrestrial contamination can be excluded, have found a consistent excess of L-enantiomers. One explanation for this observation has been the asymmetric photolysis of racemic extraterrestrial amino acids by circularly polarized light (CPL) in the synchrotron radiation from orbiting electrons around the pulsar remnants of supernovae. Mason (1997) has attempted to discredit this mechanism on the grounds that circular dichroism (CD) bands for optically active molecules alternate in sign and sum to zero over the entire spectrum, and hence enantioselective photochemical reactions cannot be induced by broad band CPL. We submit arguments disputing this conclusion and present reasons for expecting that broad band CPL synchrotron radiation would be quite capable of inducing asymmetric photolysis, particularly in aliphatic amino acids.
Integrin mediated mechanotransduction in renal vascular smooth muscle cells

Myogenic response is an intrinsic property of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) by which VSMCs contract when transmural pressure is increased, and dilates when transmural pressure is decreased. Myogenic response in resistance arterioles is one primary mechanisms for blood flow autoregulation. There is emerging evidence that the dynamic interactions between specific extracellular matrix (ECM) and integrins are required for mechanotransduction in myogenic response. Studies in VSMCs and microvessels show that myogenic response is linked to Ca2+ influx as well as local and global Ca2+ release from ryanodine-gated stores. Electrophysiological evidences suggest that Ca2+-activated channels might provide the link between activation of integrins and membrane potential modulation in myogenic response. Aside from myogenic vasoconstriction, the elevated mechanical stress imposed on the integrin signaling complex might play important roles in vascular remodeling and hypertension.
One-hour glucose tolerance in relation to the use of contraceptive drugs

Abstract One-hour glucose tolerance tests on 4,815 women of reproductive age having multiphasic health checkups were cross-sectionally analyzed in relation to the use of contraceptive drugs. One-hour serum glucose levels were found to be higher in women taking a contraceptive drug than in others. The mean difference between pill users and nonusers of like age was 11 mg. per 100 ml. There was no observable variation in the glucose response of women taking oral contraceptives associated with the formulation and steroid components of the drug used or the duration of use. The effect of the contraceptive drugs on one-hour glucose tolerance was found to be additive to the effects of age, obesity, and a family history of diabetes. No discernible difference in glucose response was found between past users of contraceptive drugs and “never users,” regardless of the duration of use or the interval since discontinuation.
Compiler and Run-Time Support for Adaptive Load Balancing in Software Distributed Shared Memory Systems

Networks of workstations offer inexpensive and highly available high performance computing environments. A critical issue for achieving good performance in any parallel system is load balancing, even more so in workstation environments where the machines might be shared among many users. In this paper, we present and evaluate a system that combines compiler and run-time support to achieve load balancing dynamically on software distributed shared memory programs. We use information provided by the compiler to help the run-time system distribute the work of the parallel loops, not only according to the relative power of the processors, but also in such a way as to minimize communication and page sharing.
Program derivation using analogy

We present a methodology for using analogy to derive programs based on a derivational transformation method. The derived programs are deductively closed under the rules in the knowledge base, and the emphasis is on speeding up the derivation of a solution. We describe certain heuristics to find a good source analogue to the target problem efficiently, show how the derivation trace of that program can be used to guide the derivation of the new program.
Experimental evaluation of an ebay-style self-reporting reputation mechanism

We experimentally studied the effects of a eBay-style self-reporting reputation mechanism in an double-sided exchange economy in which participants have the option of not fulfilling their contracts. We found that submitted reports quite accurately reflected their transactions and this mechanism maintaining a high contract fulfillment rate. The inaccurate reports, which were about 5% of the total, were heavily biased towards bad ratings when the transaction is successful. This is strong evidence that the inaccurate reports were not results of random errors, but derived from an underlying behavior effect. Our experimental design allowed identifying the effect of reputation mechanism on endogenous market behavior.
A biomechanical model for the upper extremity using optimization techniques.

A biomechanical model for predicting paths of motion and the associated motion characteristics for the arm articulation joints is presented. The underlying principle of the model is that the average individual follows an optimizing criterion in performing his tasks. A detailed description of the model assumptions, mechanics, and formulation is presented for three-dimensional motions. Three approaches are presented for solving the model: (1) suboptimization (linear and geometric programming); (2) dynamic programming; and (3) simulation. The accuracy and the adequacy of the model in predicting human motion under planar conditions were tested and evaluated. Future perspectives and limitations of modeling human motion are outlined and discussed.
High voltage ESD protection strategies for USB and PCI applications for 180nm/130nm/90nm CMOS technologies

A new substrate pump based cascoded NTNMOS (NMOS-Triggered-NMOS) structure or CNTNMOS is presented for protecting high voltage power supplies for deep submicron CMOS processes. Use of this novel approach of a cascoded circuit is also reported for 5 V fail-safe and 5 V tolerant signal operation with examples of application for USB and PCI high speed interface technologies in 180 nm, 130 nm and 90 nm CMOS processes. The circuit displays reliable immunity to conventional and signal latchup as well as robust HBM performance to a level well over 2 kV.
Rheological and thermal characteristics of Technikure® binder system used in core-box process

Viscous and thermal properties of Technikuree® chemical binder system used in the cold-box process were investigated by using rotational viscometry The elastic properties of the system were investigated by means of a jet thrust technique, using a straight capillary tube. The theological and thermal properties of the system were dependent on the blend composition and temperature. Although both materials are Newtonian liquids, their blends exhibit non-Newtonian liquid flow behavior and elasticity. A thermo-reaction has been observed and investigated after mixing the two components of the system.
Software Outsourcing in Vietnam: A Case Study of a Locally Operating Pioneer

This paper explores the following question of key interest to researchers and practitioners concerned with offshore IS outsourcing in developing countries: How are potential offshore partners operating in developing nations to mature to be considered more attractive to suitors? Indeed, for firms located in what Carmel (2003) refers to as Tier Four, or less developed IS producing and exporting nations, an advancement to become a strategic partner challenges conventional wisdom and theoretical expectations. However our work has identified a firm that has become a strategic partner despite being headquartered in a Tier Four country. In exploring this question and examining our exemplar firm, the paper makes three key contributions: First, the contemporary context for offshore outsourcing in a Tier Four nation (Vietnam) is explored, illustrating the nation's advantages as well as key challenges that limit expansion. Second, against this backdrop we offer a case study of a successful strategic partner that has emerged despite being headquartered in a Tier Four nation. A theory-grounded analysis of the firm, Glass Egg Digital Media, provides a lens for identifying success factors that enable firms in developing nations to emerge as strategic technology outsourcing partners. Finally, we end by exploring how existing models for considering firm attitudes toward offshore outsourcing can be expanded and we highlight potential areas for future research. Our work demonstrates the important interplay of firm, industry, and national factors in enabling a firm operating in a Tier-Four nation to make the leap to strategic partner.
Cognitive remediation for adolescents with 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS): A preliminary study examining effectiveness, feasibility, and fidelity of a hybrid strategy, remote and computer-based intervention

Abstract Background 22q11DS is a multiple anomaly syndrome involving intellectual and behavioral deficits, and increased risk for schizophrenia. As cognitive remediation (CR) has recently been found to improve cognition in younger patients with schizophrenia, we investigated the efficacy, feasibility, and fidelity of a remote, hybrid strategy, computerized CR program in youth with 22q11DS. Methods A longitudinal design was implemented in which 21 participants served as their own controls. Following an eight month baseline period in which no interventions were provided, cognitive coaches met with participants remotely for CR via video conferencing three times a week over a targeted 8 month timeframe and facilitated their progress through the intervention, offering task-specific strategies. A subset of strategies were examined for fidelity. Outcomes were evaluated using a neurocognitive test battery at baseline, pre-treatment and post-treatment. Results All participants adhered to the intervention. The mean length of the treatment phase was 7.96 months. A moderately high correlation (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.73) was found for amount and type of strategies offered by coaches. Participants exhibited significant improvements (ES = .36–.55, p ≤ .009) in working memory, shifting attention and cognitive flexibility. All significant models were driven by improvements in pre to post-treatment scores. Conclusions Based on our preliminary investigation, a remote, hybrid strategy, computerized CR program can be implemented with 22q11DS youth despite geographic location, health, and cognitive deficits. It appears effective in enhancing cognitive skills during the developmental period of adolescence, making this type of CR delivery useful for youth with 22q11DS transitioning into post-school environments.
All-optical add-drop of an OTDM channel using an ultra-fast fiber based wavelength converter

In conclusion we have demonstrated an all-optical OTDM add-drop multiplexer based on an ultra-fast fiber wavelength converter. A 10 Gb/s data channel is stripped from an incoming 40 Gb/s OTDM signal and a new 10 Gb/s data channel is added in its place and transmitted through 50 km of DSF. A maximum power penalty of 1 dB was obtained between the back-to-back and the worst through going channel. The system is robust to environmental disturbances and the transmitted channels performed well under transmission conditions. A clock-recovery unit can be integrated in the system to achieve synchronization between the incoming data stream and the local drop and through clocks. There is a polarization dependence of about 1 dB in the wavelength converter, however it can be made polarization independent as shown in. This technique can be scaled to very high bit-rates. Using highly non-linear fiber of appropriate dispersion value can increase the bandwidth of conversion to cover the entire C band and also reduce the power requirement.
Quantitative aspects of proliferation in the nasal epithelium of the rhesus monkey embryo

Proliferation was studied in the nasal epithelium of rhesus monkey embryos ranging in age from 26 through 41 days of gestation (stages 13–20). Labeling indices were tabulated 1 h after an intrachorionic injection with [3H]thymidine, and the distribution of labeled cells was determined at intervals ranging from 1 h to 11 h after injection. The labeling index showed a chronological decrease from 69·4% in the nasal placode at stage 13 to 31·6% in the nasal pit at stage 20. The vomeronasal epithelium was distinctive in that the basal cells lost their ability to incorporate [3H]thymidine as early as stage 18. In the remainder of the nasal epithelium, mitotic figures were initially confined to apical regions but later occurred in basal regions as the embryonic pattern of proliferation became converted to the adult type.
A critical look at currently available radiation oncology information management systems

Many complicated technical factors are involved in selecting a radiation oncology information management system. This report presents a discussion of some important information systems components and concepts which should be considered when evaluating vendor options. Network operating systems, database management systems, network infrastructure, and client issues are all presented. The current marketplace of products is analyzed from both a features and a systems standpoint. Because selection of an appropriate system is a highly site-specific matter taking into account many important factors, general recommendations are difficult. Nonetheless, current market leadership by certain vendors and a broad sense of the future direction are indicated in the conclusions.
Growth response of Alstroemeria Parigro Pink' to phosphate supply in vitro

Rhizome tip explants of Alstroemeria ‘Parigo Pink’ were established on modified Murashige & Skoog medium with P added as KH2PO4 at 0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.25, 1.25 or 2.5 mM. Cultures were transferred to fresh media every 4 weeks. Five explants were harvested from each P treatment after 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 weeks in culture. Explants were separated into rhizome and shoot, weighed, dried and wet-ashed. Phosphorus content of the ash was determined colorimetrically. Explants supplied 1.25 or 2.5 mM P produced significantly more shoots and growing points, and greater fresh weight of rhizomes and shoots, than those provided with lower P concentrations. Phosphorus accumulation rates in shoots in the two highest P treatments were significantly greater than in the lower P treatments. Shoot tissue P concentrations greater than 7 mmol kg-1 fwt evidently are required for maximum in vitro growth of Alstroemeria ‘Parigro Pink’. Explants provided the two highest P treatments partitioned a greater proportion of fresh weight and total P to shoots vs rhizomes than lower P treatments.
Distributions on Groups of Type H

Abstract A "Fourier" transform for tempered distributions on groups of Heisenberg type is introduced. It is defined on test functions based on an automorphism group which acts transitively on the nonidentity elements of the center of the group. The transforms of homogeneous and invariant distributions are then described along with explicit results for those groups of Heisenberg type occuring for rank one simple groups.
Shape-selective reactions with zeolite catalysts: V. Alkylation or disproportionation of ethylbenzene to produce ϱ-diethylbenzene

Abstract Alkylation of ethylbenzene (EB) with ethylene produces diethylbenzene (DEB) over ZSM-5 zeolite catalysts. Disproportionation of EB over these catalysts gives benzene and DEB. Less ortho-DEB forms than expected for equilibrium. Large-crystal ZSM-5 gives higher concentrations of para-DEB (PDEB) than small-crystal ZSM-5. Alkylations and disproportionation over ZSM-5 modified with magnesium and phosphorus yield 98–99+% PDEB. These observations establish the elements necessary for development of a commercial PDEB process.
Divergent effects of propranolol and furosemide pretreatment on acute cardiomyopathy induced by minoxidil in beagle dogs.

Abstract Previous studies have shown that oral administration of minoxidil on 2 consecutive days produces an increase in heart rate and myocardial necrosis in Beagle dogs. Propranolol treatment (1.0 or 3.0 mg/kg every 8 h) did not abolish tachycardia and did not alter the incidence or sensitivity of minoxidil-induced necrosis. In the present studies, pretreatment with either furosemide (10 mg/kg) or hydrochlorothiazide (250 mg/kg) reduced serum potassium levels. However, only furosemide (for 11 days) reduced significantly the incidence of minoxidil-induced necrosis; only 2 of 10 animals (20%) developed myocardial lesions compared to 11 of 14 (79%) in the non-treated group. The incidence and severity of lesions in hearts from animals treated with furosemide for 3 days or hydrochlorothiazide for 11 days were essentially the same as in animals given minoxidil alone. Thus, furosemide, under certain conditions, can reduce the incidence of acute ventricular lesions induced by minoxidil.
Mating of Untreated and Tepa-Chemosterilized Fall Armyworm Moths

As the length of confinement and the ratio of male to female Spodoptera frugiperda (J. E. Smith) were increased, the frequency of mating also increased. Generally, females do not mate more than once during a given night but may male as many as 7 limes during 5 days. Males were capable of mating each night but never more than once each night. The record number of matings for 1 male was 12. Males were sterilized with tepa and allowed to compete with untreated males (ratios ranging from 4:1 to 8:1) for untreated females (male to female ratios ranging from 1:1 to 4:1). Based on reduction in egg hatch, the criterion of competitiveness, the sterile male is not able to compete effectively with untreated males for females.
Backward motion compensation for interlaced HDTV

Abstract The pel-recursive approach to motion estimation has been widely studied for compensating progressively scanned, moderate-resolution video. Although pel-recursive algorithms may not be suitable for application to interlaced high-definition television (HDTV), the underlying principle of backward motion compensation, upon which pel-recursive algorithms are based, can be exploited to improve the existing motion compensation algorithms. This paper proposes applying a backward approach to motion compensation to improve the performance of standard block-based algorithms for motion-compensated interlaced HDTV sequences. First, we describe a framework for motion compensation in which motion information is parameterized by a motion operator and a domain for that operator. Within this framework, we characterize the type of motion information represented by forward (e.g. block-based) and backward approaches to motion compensation. We propose a method for combining these two sources of motion information to form an optimal motion-compensated prediction. Simulations on two interlaced HDTV sequences demonstrate performance improvements between 1 and 2 dB over standard block-based methods.
Trichomonas vaginalis: Reevaluation of Its Clinical Presentation and Laboratory Diagnosis

Vaginal discharge is the most common complaint and Trichomonas vaginalis vaginitis the most frequently diagnosed problem among women attending the DeKalb County Georgia, Veneral Disease Clinic. Despite this prevalence, the 1837 observations of Donne are the criteria frequently used in the clinical and laboratory diagnosis of trichomoniasis. Our study shows that a purulent, frothy discharge is indeed a characteristic of trichomonal vaginitis, but if it is used as the sole diagnostic criterion, 88% of women with trichomonal vaginitis will not be identified and 29% will be erroneously diagnosed as infected. Donne's wet-mount test remains highly specific, but culture will detect twice as many trichomonas infections. There is a positive association between trichomoniasis and gonococcal cervicitis, failure to use contraceptive techniques, and lack of yeast in the wet mount of vaginal secretions.
Written corrective feedback for individual L2 writers

Abstract In this study, the controversial issue of written corrective feedback (WCF) is examined through a longitudinal (16-week semester) multiple-case study approach. Ten L2 writers (from “Generation 1.5” backgrounds) in a developmental ESL writing class at a U.S. university wrote four in-class texts, revised them after receiving WCF, and participated in retrospective interviews after each of the first three writing and revision sessions. Data collected included student background questionnaires (N = 10), four student texts (originals plus revisions) per participant (N = 40), recordings and field notes from interviews with participants (N = 30), and recordings and notes from an end-of-semester interview with the classroom teacher. Analyses focused primarily on students’ descriptions of their own self-monitoring processes as they revised marked papers and wrote new texts and individual and contextual factors that appeared to influence their writing development. Students found the techniques used in the study (focused WCF, revision, and one-to-one discussion about errors) useful, but formal knowledge of language rules played a limited and sometimes even counterproductive role in their self-editing and composing. Our findings suggest that teachers should take a more finely tuned approach to corrective feedback and that future research designs investigating WCF should go beyond consideration of only students’ written products.
Effects of dissipation on photon statistics and the lifetime of a pure number state.

The time evolution of photon statistics is solved for a mode of damped electromagnetic field in an arbitrary state. It is shown that the cavity dissipation changes the photon number variance but does not affect the normalized second-order correlation function. The lifetime of a pure number (Fock) state \ensuremath{\Vert}m〉 is found to be only one mth of the photon lifetime.
Histamine and histamine receptors: behavioral thermoregulation in the salamander Necturus maculosus.

Abstract 1. 1. Low doses (0.01, 0.1 mg/kg, i.p.) of histamine (HA) caused selection of significantly lower temperatures, and higher doses (0.5, 1.0 mg/kg) increased temperatures by mudpuppies in linear thermal gradients. 2. 2. Injection of the HA precursor, l -histidine (500 mg/kg) produced an increase in the temperatures selected. 3. 3. Results from injections of HA H 1 ,-receptor agonist (2-pyridylethylamine) and antagonist (pyrilamine), and H 2 -receptor agonist (dimaprit) and antagonist (cimetidine) had significant effects on thermoregulation; H 1 -receptors may mediate behavioral hyperthermia and H 2 -receptors behavioral hypothermia. 4. 4. Responses to these histaminic compounds are significantly influenced by the time of day at which the responses are measured and by season and acclimation temperature. 5. 5. The equivalent behavioral responses in both endotherms and ectothenns to agents which produce physiological hyperthermia and hypothermia are probably behavioral hypothermia (“cold seeking”) and behavioral hyperthermia (“heat seeking”), respectively.
Approaches to the Visual in Religion. Edited by Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati and Christopher Rowland

Gottingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011. 268 pp., $109.00 hardcover. Over the last two decades, a host of books have appeared that take the visuality of religions seriously in a variety of...
The reconnection rate of magnetic fields.

Rapid reconnection of magnetic lines of force occurs whenever two regions of opposite field are pressed together without sufficient fluid pressure between to keep them apart. It has been suggested that rapid reconnection is the basis for solar flares, and that in the magnetopause and the neutral sheet of the geomagnetic tail it plays an essential role in geomagnetic activity. It is pointed out that the escape of fluid from between the fields is the result of magnetohydrodynamic exchange instabilities, leading to reconnection rates which are generally some fraction of the Alfven speed.
Thoracic intraspinal lipoma: Short Report

Intraspinal lipomas are rare congenital tumours that most commonly occur at the conus. We describe a thoracic intraspinal lipoma presenting with a myelopathy and imaged by MRI. Surgical decompression and dural enlargement appears to be the treatment of choice in those patients who develop spinal cord dysfunction associated with an intraspinal lipoma.
Arrays of self-assembled monolayers for studying inhibition of bacterial adhesion.

This paper describes a simple and convenient method for the rapid screening of potential inhibitors of bacterial adhesion and for the quantitative evaluation of the efficacy of the inhibitors using arrays of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of alkanethiolates on gold that are presented on a 96-well microtiter plate. The SAMs present mixtures of α-d-mannopyranoside (a ligand that promotes the adhesion of uropathogenic Escherichia coli by binding to the FimH proteins on the tip of type 1 pili), and tri(ethylene glycol) moieties (organic groups that resist nonspecific adsorption of proteins and cells). The SAMs provide surfaces for studies of adhesion of uropathogenic E. coli to specific ligands; they also provide excellent resistance to nonspecific adhesion. Using arrays of mannoside-presenting SAMs, inhibitors of bacterial adhesion were easily screened by observing the number of bacteria that adhered to the surface of the SAMs in the presence of inhibitor. The potency of the inhibitor was quantified by mea...
The Use of Statistics in the American Journal of Health Education from 1994 through 2003: A Content Analysis

Abstract This study identifies the extent that knowledge of selected study designs and statistical techniques may assist readers in understanding the statistical component of articles in the American Journal of Health Education. The frequency of and trend in use of selected statistical research designs and statistical methods is reported, based on 366 research and review articles in volumes 25 to 34, covering 1994 to 2003, of the Journal. Almost 85% of the articles employed a descriptive study design. An increase in cross-sectional surveys that was offset by a decrease in review articles over the study period characterized almost all of the descriptive study designs. Analytic study designs were represented primarily by clinical trials and quasi-experiments. Their use did not significantly increase over the study period. Although descriptive statistics were present in more than 83% of the articles, many other articles relied on statistics beyond the descriptive statistics, such as statistics associated wit...