cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Preconditioned Accelerated Gradient Descent Methods for Locally Lipschitz Smooth Objectives with Applications to the Solution of Nonlinear PDEs

We develop a theoretical foundation for the application of Nesterov’s accelerated gradient descent method (AGD) to the approximation of solutions of a wide class of partial differential equations (PDEs). This is achieved by proving the existence of an invariant set and exponential convergence rates when its preconditioned version (PAGD) is applied to minimize locally Lipschitz smooth, strongly convex objective functionals. We introduce a second-order ordinary differential equation (ODE) with a preconditioner built-in and show that PAGD is an explicit time-discretization of this ODE, which requires a natural time step restriction for energy stability. At the continuous time level, we show an exponential convergence of the ODE solution to its steady state using a simple energy argument. At the discrete level, assuming the aforementioned step size restriction, the existence of an invariant set is proved and a matching exponential rate of convergence of the PAGD scheme is derived by mimicking the energy argument and the convergence at the continuous level. Applications of the PAGD method to numerical PDEs are demonstrated with certain nonlinear elliptic PDEs using pseudo-spectral methods for spatial discretization, and several numerical experiments are conducted. The results confirm the global geometric and mesh size-independent convergence of the PAGD method, with an accelerated rate that is improved over the preconditioned gradient descent (PGD) method.
Inference of Gene Regulatory Network Uncovers the Linkage between Circadian Clock and Crassulacean Acid Metabolism in Kalanchoë fedtschenkoi.

The circadian clock drives time-specific gene expression, enabling biological processes to be temporally controlled. Plants that conduct crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) photosynthesis represent an interesting case of circadian regulation of gene expression as stomatal movement is temporally inverted relative to stomatal movement in C3 plants. The mechanisms behind how the circadian clock enabled physiological differences at the molecular level is not well understood. Recently, the rescheduling of gene expression was reported as a mechanism to explain how CAM evolved from C3. Therefore, we investigated whether core circadian clock genes in CAM plants were re-phased during evolution, or whether networks of phase-specific genes were simply re-wired to different core clock genes. We identified candidate core clock genes based on gene expression features and then applied the Local Edge Machine (LEM) algorithm to infer regulatory relationships between this new set of core candidates and known core clock genes in Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi. We further inferred stomata-related gene targets for known and candidate core clock genes and constructed a gene regulatory network for core clock and stomata-related genes. Our results provide new insight into the mechanism of circadian control of CAM-related genes in K. fedtschenkoi, facilitating the engineering of CAM machinery into non-CAM plants for sustainable crop production in water-limited environments.
Demonstrating Touch&Fold: A Foldable Haptic Actuator for Rendering Touch in Mixed Reality

We propose a nail-mounted foldable haptic device that provides tactile feedback to mixed reality (MR) environments by pressing against the user's fingerpad when a user touches a virtual object. What is novel in our device is that it quickly tucks away when the user interacts with real-world objects. Its design allows it to fold back on top of the user's nail when not in use, keeping the user's fingerpad free to, for instance, manipulate handheld tools and other objects while in MR. To achieve this, we engineered a wireless and self-contained haptic device, which measures 24×24×41 mm and weighs 9.5 g. Furthermore, our foldable end-effector also features a linear resonant actuator, allowing it to render not only touch contacts (i.e., pressure) but also textures (i.e., vibrations). We demonstrate how our device renders contacts with MR surfaces, buttons, low- and high-frequency textures.
A projection-based reduced-order method for electron transport problems with long-range interactions.

Long-range interactions play a central role in electron transport. At the same time, they present a challenge for direct computer simulations since sufficiently large portions of the bath have to be included in the computation to accurately compute the Coulomb potential. This article presents a reduced-order approach by deriving an open quantum model for the reduced density matrix. To treat the transient dynamics, the problem is placed in a reduced-order framework. The dynamics described by the Liouville–von Neumann equation is projected to subspaces using a Petrov–Galerkin projection. In order to recover the global electron density profile as a vehicle to compute the Coulomb potential, we propose a domain decomposition approach, where the computational domain also includes segments of the bath that are selected using logarithmic grids. This approach leads to a multi-component self-energy that enters the effective Hamiltonian. We demonstrate the accuracy of the reduced model using a molecular junction built from lithium chains.
Interference and Oscillation in Nambu Quantum Mechanics

Nambu quantum mechanics, proposed in [Phys. Lett. B 536, 305 (2002)], is a deformation of canonical quantum mechanics in which only the time-evolution of the ``phases'' of energy eigenstates is modified. We discuss the effect this theory will have on oscillation phenomena, and place a bound on the deformation parameters utilizing the data on the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{23}$.
The distribution of the Lasso: Uniform control over sparse balls and adaptive parameter tuning

The Lasso is a popular regression method for high-dimensional problems in which the number of parameters θ1,…,θN, is larger than the number n of samples: N>n. A useful heuristics relates the statistical properties of the Lasso estimator to that of a simple soft-thresholding denoiser, in a denoising problem in which the parameters (θi)i≤N are observed in Gaussian noise, with a carefully tuned variance. Earlier work confirmed this picture in the limit n,N→∞, pointwise in the parameters θ and in the value of the regularization parameter. Here, we consider a standard random design model and prove exponential concentration of its empirical distribution around the prediction provided by the Gaussian denoising model. Crucially, our results are uniform with respect to θ belonging to lq balls, q∈[0,1], and with respect to the regularization parameter. This allows us to derive sharp results for the performances of various data-driven procedures to tune the regularization. Our proofs make use of Gaussian comparison inequalities, and in particular of a version of Gordon’s minimax theorem developed by Thrampoulidis, Oymak and Hassibi, which controls the optimum value of the Lasso optimization problem. Crucially, we prove a stability property of the minimizer in Wasserstein distance that allows one to characterize properties of the minimizer itself.
On the non-blow up of energy critical nonlinear massless scalar fields in ‘$3+1$’ dimensional globally hyperbolic spacetimes: light cone estimates

Here we prove a global existence theorem for the solutions of the semi-linear wave equation with critical non-linearity admitting a positive definite Hamiltonian. Formulating a parametrix for the wave equation in a globally hyperbolic curved spacetime, we derive an apriori pointwise bound for the solution of the nonlinear wave equation in terms of the initial energy, from which the global existence follows in a straightforward way. This is accomplished in two steps. First, based on Moncrief's light cone formulation we derive an expression for the scalar field in terms of integrals over the past light cone from an arbitrary spacetime point to an `initial', Cauchy hypersurface and additional integrals over the intersection of this cone with the initial hypersurface. Secondly, we obtain apriori estimates for the energy associated with three quasi-local approximate time-like conformal Killing and one approximate Killing vector fields. Utilizing these naturally defined energies associated with the physical stress-energy tensor together with the integral equation, we show that the spacetime $L^{\infty}$ norm of the scalar field remains bounded in terms of the initial data and continues to be so as long as the spacetime remains singularity/Cauchy-horizon free.
Mechanical overstimulation causes acute injury and synapse loss followed by fast recovery in lateral-line neuromasts of larval zebrafish

Excess noise damages sensory hair cells, resulting in loss of synaptic connections with auditory nerves and, in some cases, hair-cell death. The cellular mechanisms underlying mechanically induced hair-cell damage and subsequent repair are not completely understood. Hair cells in neuromasts of larval zebrafish are structurally and functionally comparable to mammalian hair cells but undergo robust regeneration following ototoxic damage. We therefore developed a model for mechanically induced hair-cell damage in this highly tractable system. Free swimming larvae exposed to strong water wave stimulus for 2 hr displayed mechanical injury to neuromasts, including afferent neurite retraction, damaged hair bundles, and reduced mechanotransduction. Synapse loss was observed in apparently intact exposed neuromasts, and this loss was exacerbated by inhibiting glutamate uptake. Mechanical damage also elicited an inflammatory response and macrophage recruitment. Remarkably, neuromast hair-cell morphology and mechanotransduction recovered within hours following exposure, suggesting severely damaged neuromasts undergo repair. Our results indicate functional changes and synapse loss in mechanically damaged lateral-line neuromasts that share key features of damage observed in noise-exposed mammalian ear. Yet, unlike the mammalian ear, mechanical damage to neuromasts is rapidly reversible.
Weaving attention U-net: A novel hybrid CNN and attention-based method for organs-at-risk segmentation in head and neck CT images.

PURPOSE In radiotherapy planning, manual contouring is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Accurate and robust automated segmentation models improve the efficiency and treatment outcome. We aim to develop a novel hybrid deep learning approach, combining convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and the self-attention mechanism, for rapid and accurate multi-organ segmentation on head and neck computed tomography (CT) images. METHODS Head and neck CT images with manual contours of 115 patients were retrospectively collected and used. We set the training/validation/testing ratio to 81/9/25 and used the 10-fold cross-validation strategy to select the best model parameters. The proposed hybrid model segmented 10 organs-at-risk (OARs) altogether for each case. The performance of the model was evaluated by three metrics, that is, the Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC), Hausdorff distance 95% (HD95), and mean surface distance (MSD). We also tested the performance of the model on the head and neck 2015 challenge dataset and compared it against several state-of-the-art automated segmentation algorithms. RESULTS The proposed method generated contours that closely resemble the ground truth for 10 OARs. On the head and neck 2015 challenge dataset, the DSC scores of these OARs were 0.91 ± 0.02, 0.73 ± 0.10, 0.95 ± 0.03, 0.76 ± 0.08, 0.79 ± 0.05, 0.87 ± 0.05, 0.86 ± 0.08, 0.87 ± 0.03, and 0.87 ± 0.07 for brain stem, chiasm, mandible, left/right optic nerve, left/right submandibular, and left/right parotid, respectively. Our results of the new weaving attention U-net (WAU-net) demonstrate superior or similar performance on the segmentation of head and neck CT images. CONCLUSIONS We developed a deep learning approach that integrates the merits of CNNs and the self-attention mechanism. The proposed WAU-net can efficiently capture local and global dependencies and achieves state-of-the-art performance on the head and neck multi-organ segmentation task.
Learning a Centroidal Motion Planner for Legged Locomotion

Whole-body optimizers have been successful at automatically computing complex dynamic locomotion behaviors. However they are often limited to offline planning as they are computationally too expensive to replan with a high frequency. Simpler models are then typically used for online replanning. In this paper we present a method to generate whole body movements in real-time for locomotion tasks. Our approach consists in learning a centroidal neural network that predicts the desired centroidal motion given the current state of the robot and a desired contact plan. The network is trained using an existing whole body motion optimizer. Our approach enables to learn with few training samples dynamic motions that can be used in a complete whole-body control framework at high frequency, which is usually not attainable with typical full-body optimizers. We demonstrate our method to generate a rich set of walking and jumping motions on a real quadruped robot.
Relational World Knowledge Representation in Contextual Language Models: A Review

Relational knowledge bases (KBs) are commonly used to represent world knowledge in machines. However, while advantageous for their high degree of precision and interpretability, KBs are usually organized according to manually-defined schemas, which limit their expressiveness and require significant human efforts to engineer and maintain. In this review, we take a natural language processing perspective to these limitations, examining how they may be addressed in part by training deep contextual language models (LMs) to internalize and express relational knowledge in more flexible forms. We propose to organize knowledge representation strategies in LMs by the level of KB supervision provided, from no KB supervision at all to entity- and relation-level supervision. Our contributions are threefold: (1) We provide a high-level, extensible taxonomy for knowledge representation in LMs; (2) Within our taxonomy, we highlight notable models, evaluation tasks, and findings, in order to provide an up-to-date review of current knowledge representation capabilities in LMs; and (3) We suggest future research directions that build upon the complementary aspects of LMs and KBs as knowledge representations.
Genetic evidence for signal transduction within the Bacillus subtilis GerA germinant receptor.

Bacterial spores can rapidly exit dormancy through the process of germination. This process begins with the activation of nutrient receptors embedded in the spore membrane. The prototypical germinant receptor in Bacillus subtilis responds to L-alanine and is thought to be a complex of proteins encoded by the genes in the gerA operon: gerAA, gerAB, and gerAC. The GerAB subunit has recently been shown to function as the nutrient sensor, but beyond contributing to complex stability, no additional functions have been attributed to the other two subunits. Here, we investigate the role of GerAA. We resurrect a previously characterized allele of gerA (termed gerA*) that carries a mutation in gerAA and show it constitutively activates germination even in the presence of a wild-type copy of gerA. Using an enrichment strategy to screen for suppressors of gerA*, we identified mutations in all three gerA genes that restore a functional receptor. Characterization of two distinct gerAB suppressors revealed that one (gerAB[E105K]) reduces the GerA complex's ability to respond to L-alanine, while another (gerAB[F259S]) disrupts the germinant signal downstream of L-alanine recognition. These data argue against models in which GerAA is directly or indirectly involved in germinant sensing. Rather, our data suggest that GerAA is responsible for transducing the nutrient signal sensed by GerAB. While the steps downstream of gerAA have yet to be uncovered, these results validate the use of a dominant-negative genetic approach in elucidating the gerA signal transduction pathway. Importance Endospore formers are a broad group of bacteria that can enter dormancy upon starvation and exit dormancy upon sensing the return of nutrients. How dormant spores sense and respond to these nutrients is poorly understood. Here, we identify a key step in the signal transduction pathway that is activated after spores detect the amino acid L-alanine. We present a model that provides a more complete picture of this process that is critical for allowing dormant spores to germinate and resume growth.
The Association of COVID-19 Incidence with Sport and Face Mask Use in United States High School Athletes.

CONTEXT: The relationships between different sports, face mask use and COVID-19 risk among high school athletes remains unknown. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of sport characteristics and face mask use on COVID-19 incidence among high school athletes. DESIGN: Descriptive Epidemiology Study Setting: United States High School Athletic Departments Participants: Athletic Directors Interventions: None Main Outcome Measures: Surveys were completed regarding sport re-initiation, COVID-19 cases, and risk reduction procedures in fall 2020. Separate mixed effects Poisson regression models were developed to evaluate the associations between reported COVID-19 incidence and 1) sport characteristics (contact/non-contact, individual/team, indoor/outdoor) and 2) face mask use while playing (yes/no). RESULTS: 991 schools had restarted fall sports, representing 152,484 athletes on 5,854 teams. 2,565 cases of COVID-19 were reported, representing a case rate of 1,682 cases per 100,000 athletes and an incidence rate of 24.6 cases per 100,000 player-days. COVID-19 incidence was lower among outdoor versus indoor sports (incidence rate ratio [IRR]=0.54, 95% CI=0.49-0.60, p<0.001) and non-contact versus contact sports (IRR=0.78 [0.70-0.87], p<0.001), but not team versus individual sports (IRR=0.96 [0.84-1.1], p=0.49). Face mask use was associated with a decreased incidence in girls' volleyball (IRR=0.53 [0.37-0.73], p<0.001), boys' basketball (IRR=0.53 [0.33-0.83], p=0.008) and girls' basketball (IRR=0.36 [0.19-0.63], p<0.001), and approached statistical significance in football (IRR=0.79 [0.59-1.04], p=0.10) and cheer/dance (IRR=0.75 [0.53-1.03], p=0.081). CONCLUSIONS: In this nationwide survey of high school athletes, lower COVID-19 incidence was independently associated with participation in outdoor versus indoor and non-contact versus contact sports, but not team versus individual sports. Face mask use was associated with decreased COVID-19 incidence among indoor sports, and may be protective among outdoor sports with prolonged close contact between participants.
The Wiener index of signed graphs

Abstract The Wiener index of a graph W ( G ) is a well studied topological index for graphs. An outstanding problem of Soltes is to find graphs G such that W ( G ) = W ( G − v ) for all vertices v ∈ V ( G ) , with the only known example being G = C 11 . We relax this problem by defining a notion of Wiener indices for signed graphs, which we denote by W σ ( G ) , and under this relaxation we construct many signed graphs such that W σ ( G ) = W σ ( G − v ) for all v ∈ V ( G ) . This ends up being related to a problem of independent interest, which asks when it is possible to 2-color the edges of a graph G such that there is a path between any two vertices of G which uses each color the same number of times. We briefly explore this latter problem, as well as its natural extension to r -colorings.
Combining Latent Space and Structured Kernels for Bayesian Optimization over Combinatorial Spaces

We consider the problem of optimizing combinatorial spaces (e.g., sequences, trees, and graphs) using expensive black-box function evaluations. For example, optimizing molecules for drug design using physical lab experiments. Bayesian optimization (BO) is an efficient framework for solving such problems by intelligently selecting the inputs with high utility guided by a learned surrogate model. A recent BO approach for combinatorial spaces is through a reduction to BO over continuous spaces by learning a latent representation of structures using deep generative models (DGMs). The selected input from the continuous space is decoded into a discrete structure for performing function evaluation. However, the surrogate model over the latent space only uses the information learned by the DGM, which may not have the desired inductive bias to approximate the target black-box function. To overcome this drawback, this paper proposes a principled approach referred as LADDER. The key idea is to define a novel structure-coupled kernel that explicitly integrates the structural information from decoded structures with the learned latent space representation for better surrogate modeling. Our experiments on real-world benchmarks show that LADDER significantly improves over the BO over latent space method, and performs better or similar to state-of-the-art methods.
Mining Domain Knowledge

Basic data-mining skills can be useful for processing domain documents early during requirements engineering. An example from the electronic-healthcare-records domain shows how. The Web extra at http://youtu.be/tHvi3pHEP8c is an audio podcast in which author Jane Cleland-Huang provides an audio recording of the Requirements column, in which she discusses how basic data-mining skills can be useful for processing domain documents early during requirements engineering.
Correlation between Olfactory Receptor Cell Type and Function in the Channel Catfish

The olfactory epithelium of fish contains three intermingled types of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs): ciliated, microvillous, and crypt. The present experiments were undertaken to test whether the different types of ORNs respond to different classes of odorants via different families of receptor molecules and G-proteins corresponding to the morphology of the ORN. In catfish, ciliated ORNs express OR-type receptors and Gαolf. Microvillous ORNs are heterogeneous, with many expressing Gαq/11, whereas crypt ORNs express Gαo. Retrograde tracing experiments show that ciliated ORNs project predominantly to regions of the olfactory bulb (OB) that respond to bile salts (medial) and amino acids (ventral) (Nikonov and Caprio, 2001). In contrast, microvillous ORNs project almost entirely to the dorsal surface of the OB, where responses to nucleotides (posterior OB) and amino acids (anterior OB) predominate. These anatomical findings are consistent with our pharmacological results showing that forskolin (which interferes with Gαolf/cAMP signaling) blocks responses to bile salts and markedly reduces responses to amino acids. Conversely, U-73122 and U-73343 (which interfere with Gαq/11/phospholipase C signaling) diminish amino acid responses but leave bile salt and nucleotide responses essentially unchanged. In summary, our results indicate that bile salt odorants are detected predominantly by ciliated ORNs relying on the Gαolf/cAMP transduction cascade. Nucleotides are detected by microvillous ORNs using neither Gαolf/cAMP nor Gαq/11/PLC cascades. Finally, amino acid odorants activate both ciliated and microvillous ORNs but via different transduction pathways in the two types of cells.
Redesign of Robust Controllers for RLFJ Robotic Manipulators Actuated with Harmonic Drives

In this paper, we redesign a previously developed robust tracking controller for rigid-link flexible-joint (RLFJ) robot manipulators to handle flexibilities specifically introduced by harmonic drive gasing. A non realistic, and consequently super complex model for the input transmission dynamics which includes frictional losses, kinematic order and nonlinear compliances is utilised. The stability result achieved for our proposed nonlinear custmos that the link tracking error is Globally Uniformly Ultimately Bounded (GUUB), in spite of additive bounded disturbances, parametric uncertainty, and the process of complex non-negligible actuator dynamics.
SCHOOLING AND IDENTITY: AMERICAN MUSLIM’S ATTITUDE TOWARD ISLAMIC SCHOOLING

Penelitian ini mengkaji sebuah sekolah Islam yang terletak di Barat Daya Amerika Serikat. Dengan mempertimbangkan bahwa sekolah Islam di AS hanya melayani tiga persen dari jumlah total siswa Muslim nasional, rumusan masalah pada penelitian ini adalah pertanyaan yang timbul berkaitan dengan sikap Muslim Amerika terhadap sekolah-sekolah Islam. Penelitian ini dilakukan terhadap tujuh orang partisipan yang dikategorikan ke dalam tiga kelompok, yaitu staf akademik, orang tua, dan siswa. Untuk mengumpulkan data dilakukan observasi di sekolah dan wawancara. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan temuan bahwa sekolah Islam disikapi positif oleh semua partisipan. Sekolah ini dianggap sebagai tempat untuk mempersiapkan generasi muda Muslim yang siap berintegrasi ke dalam lingkungan yang lebih heterogen tanpa menjadi larut dan terbawa arus gelombang yang sedang berlangsung. Meskipun dianggap positif, masa depan pendidikan Islam masih dipertanyakan karena masalah keuangan yang tidak menjanjikan kelangsungan sekolah tersebut. Walaupun demikian, perlu dicatat bahwa jumlah Muslim di Amerika Serikat terus meningkat. Artinya, permintaan terhadap sekolah-sekolah Islam akan terus meningkat. Kata kunci: sekolah islam, muslim, pendidikan This study examined an Islamic school located in the Southwestern United States. By considering that Islamic schools in US only cater three percents of the total Muslim students nationwide, questions arised with regards to the attitude of American Muslims toward Islamic schools. Seven participants, who were classified into three groups, namely academic staffs, parents, and students, were recruited. To collect data, observations in the school and interviews were conducted. The findings showed that Islamic school was perceived positively by all participants. This is a place to prepare young generation of Muslims to integrate in a more heterogeneous environment without being melted in the mainstream wave. Even though perceived positively, the future of Islamic education is still questionable due to the financial problems which jeopardize the continuity of such schools. However, it is worth noting that the number of Muslim in the United States keeps growing, which means that the demand for Islamic schools will increase respectively. Keywords: islamic schools, muslim, education
Relationships of Ether-Extractable Fat vs Folch Fat and Fat Content vs Cholesterol Content for Beef Longissimus Muscles

The relation between ether-extractable fat and chloroform-methanol (2:1)-extractable fat (or Folch fat) and that between fat and cholesterol were evaluated for raw and cooked beef longissimus muscles. Folch fat values were, on average, 6.2% higher than ether-extractable fat values for raw samples and 13.4% higher for cooked samples. Cholesterol was correlated (P<0.05) with fat for both raw and cooked samples, but correlation coefficients were very low (0.37 or lower). The relation between moisture and fat values also was determined.
Resolution of metabolic columns by a double-label 2-DG technique: interdigitation and coincidence in visual cortical areas of the same monkey.

A double-label modification of the 2-deoxyglucose (DG) technique uses both 3H-2-DG and 14C-2-DG and allows for metabolic activity engaged by 2 distinct experimental conditions to be dissociated throughout the brain of a single subject. In the present study, we used this double- label method to examine the relationship between metabolic columns subserving the 2 eyes in cortical visual areas V1 and V2. The left and right eye's ocular dominance columns were separately activated in the same monkey to demonstrate that the double-label 2-DG method can resolve metabolic differences at the level of the cortical column. In 2 monkeys, 14C-2-DG was injected first and one eye was occluded while the other eye was visually stimulated for 30 min. Then 3H-2-DG was injected, and the occluder was switched so that the alternate eye was stimulated with the same pattern for 30 min. Autoradiographs depicting the 2 labels separately were obtained by exploiting the differential sensitivity of X-ray film and Ultrofilm to 3H and 14C emissions and by applying a radioactivity-subtraction algorithm to pairs of digitized images of the same section (Friedman et al., 1987). Columnar regions of increased activity were evident throughout V1, excepting the representations of the optic disk and monocular crescent. Superimposition of the 3H and 14C images from the same sections demonstrated that columns of increased 3H label were interdigitated with columns of increased 14C label in V1. In contrast, bands of increased 3H-2-DG uptake in extrastriate area V2 were largely coincident with the bands of increased 14C-2-DG uptake. These results illustrate the value of the double-label 2-DG technique for studying fluctuations of metabolic activity under different experimental conditions in the same subject. In the present example, the demonstration that ocular dominance columns are interdigitated in V1, whereas metabolically active bands are coincident in V2, would not have been fully appreciated by comparing 2-DG labeling across separate animals.
Chapter 26. Drugs and Memory and Learning

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the various aspects of drugs and memory and learning and presents the study of effects of RNA on memory. In aged patients yeast-derived RNA exerts a favorable effect on retention. Prolonged administration of yeast-derived RNA increased the rare of learning in a pole-jump avoidance task; resistance to extinction was also increased in the RNA group. Mayeaium pemoline stimulates brain RNA polymerase in vitro. The tryptophan hydroxylase blocker, p-chlorophenylalanine was found to accelerate learning by rats of a shock-avoidance task and careful behavioral analysis revealed that the effect is probably caused by a hyperalgesic action, making foot shock more aversive. It is suggested that if magnesium pemoline has a generalized acquisition-enhancing effect in rats, independent of its stimulant effect, it can be expected to facilitate acquisition under conditions where response restraint indicates appropriate behavior, as well as in rapid response situations. The tricyanoaminopropene was found to accelerate fixation of a postural asymmetry in an unusual rat preparation, an effect which could conceivably be considered enhanced consolidation of memory.
Parental perceptions, early maladaptive schemas, and depressive symptoms in young adults

Cognitive models of depression propose that negative schemas contribute to depressive symptoms. Early experiences, particularly parenting, have been proposed to influence cognitive schemas and have also been shown to correlate with depression. This study explores the concurrent relationship between retrospective reports of parenting, Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMSs) described by J. E. Young (1994), and symptoms of depression in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 194). The EMSs of defectiveness/shame, insufficient self-control, vulnerability, and incompetence/inferiority were associated with perceptions of parenting and depressive symptomatology. There was evidence that these four EMSs partially mediate the relationship between parental perceptions and depressive symptomatology. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings, theory, and the measurement of EMSs.
Electrodeposited NixCo3−xO4 nanostructured films as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts

Nanostructured NixCo3−xO4 films serve as effective electrocatalysts for both the oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions in alkaline electrolyte.
Let them eat nuts--this snack is safe for diverticulosis patients.

Nuts have many health benefits, and we now know there’s no reason for patients at risk of diverticulitis to avoid them.
Analyzing information content of MR images

The information content of magnetic resonance images is analyzed for the purpose of achieving more compression using the existing algorithms. It is found that the first five bits of all images contain no information and therefore can be totally compressed. The experiments also showed that, by segmenting and transforming the image, the entropy and therefore the compression rate can change. A vertical (along z axis) segmentation method is presented which can improve the compression rate by 10%. Other types of segmentation method (along x or y axes) can also be studied. The transformation method used was a simple differential coding method which resulted in almost no improvement in compression. This was an interesting observation, since this same transformation can drastically improve the compression of other types of data such as satellite imagery. >
Reasoning About Linear Constraints Using Parametric Queries

We address the problem of building intelligent query systems to reason about linear arithmetic constraints. The central issue is the development of tools for testing solvability, for constraints representation, for incremental updates and for intelligent feedback. The concept of parametric queries introduced in the context of constraint logic programming provides the starting point for this study. The relevance of this approach is illustrated by examples from the domain of spatial reasoning.
Modeling the Expected Data Collection Time for Vehicular Networks Using Random Walks on a Torus

We are interested in modeling the total expected data collection time for a set of cars (or other mobile nodes) to aggregate the information that they are each carrying to a single vehicle. Data collection processes between cars -- or other mobile nodes -- can be modeled as random walks of particles on a graph, and in this model, data is transferred between data-possessing cars once they encounter each other on the same node of the graph. We analyze this process in the special case in which this graph is a square grid torus graph. Recursion occurs in the system because once an encounter between multiple cars that possess data occurs, the system becomes analogous to simpler systems with the same graph and with fewer cars that possess data. We make approximations for the total data collection time using this recursive property.
Ascorbate status and xerostomia.

Abstract Xerostomia, the subjective feeling of dry mouth, affects millions of people particularly the elderly. It is invariably associated with hypofunction of the salivary glands. The amount, rate of secretion, and composition of saliva are regulated by both sympathetic and parasympathetic receptor systems whose stimulation transmits signals through intracellular messengers (cations, nucleotides, phospholipid derivatives) to structures and enzymes within the cell. Salivary glands express a variety of cell-surface receptors including adrenergic (α and β), muscarinic-cholinergic, substance P, vasoactive intestinal peptide hormone, and ATP receptors. Ascorbate which is present in salivary acinar cells in relatively high concentrations, is closely involved in many cellular functions including the metabolism of pyrimidines, intracellular calcium, the catecholamines and other neurotransmitters which regulate salivary gland exocytosis. Ascorbate-dependent carboxyl-terminal peptide α-amidation enzyme similar to the pituitary peptidyl-glycine α-amidating monooxygase, is also present in salivary glands. It is therefore not fortuitous that the seemingly unrelated numerous factors like aging, drug ingestion, pregnancy, smoking, ionizing radiation, stress, and various pathological states such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension often implicated in the causation of xerostomia, all promote increased tissue requirement for and/or depletion of ascorbate.
E.P.R. study of potassium-doped poly(p-perfluorophenylene): A conducting polymer with non-degenerate ground states

Abstract Samples of poly(p-perfluorophenylene) heavily doped with potassium (K-FPPP) give rise to a conductivity that is slightly larger than that of the analogously doped poly(p-phenylene), K-PPP, but the unpaired spin concentration is decreased by an order of magnitude. Even so, the measured e.p.r. susceptibilities have a temperature dependence that suggests equilibrium between separated polaron defects and the ground state bipolarons, similar to that observed for K-PPP.
EFFECT OF PREHYDROGENATION ON HYDROCONVERSION OF MAYA RESIDUUM, PART I: PROCESS CHARACTERIZATION

ABSTRACT Maya 650°F residuum was mildly prehydrogenated over a standard, commercially available, hydrodesulfurization catalyst. The product was then distilled to yield hydrogenated Maya 650°F residuum. This prehydrogenated residuum, and the untreated Maya 650°F residuum were separately hydroprocessed further at different process severities. The resulting products were then examined by elemental analyses to determine the effects of die prehydrogenation step on overall conversion and product quality. The primary effect of the prehydrogenation step was to increase the overall conversions for sulfur, MCR, nitrogen, and asphaltenes. As a result, the hydro-conversion products derived from the prehydrogenation were substantially better quality than the corresponding direct hydroconversion products. The prehydrogenation step also lowered the severity required for equivalent residuum hydroconversion upgrading.
Comparative study of temperature data from NOAA7-AVHRR and WMO: An interpretation through the use of a soil-vegetation model

Abstract NOAA7-AVHRR IR images on clear days of various seasons are used to derive surface temperatures over France. These temperatures are then compared to the shelter-height temperatures collected at the WMO standard meteorological stations during the time of satellite overpass. The difference between the two temperatures varies both with season and latitude. To analyze those results we use a model of the soil-vegetation interface, forced by a reconstruction of the surface fluxes derived from the WMO data. The model simulates reasonably well the seasonal trends in the difference between satellite surface temperature and surface-air temperature, and provides a physical interpretation of the latitudinal variation in summer as resulting from a North-South gradient in the soil moisture conditions.
Quantitative determination of endogenous compounds in biological samples using chromatographic techniques

Abstract Chromatographic methods are increasingly being used for the quantitative determination of endogenous compounds in biological samples. This article presents an overview of the specific issues, which have to be taken into account for the development, validation and application of these methods. The usual lack of analyte-free samples of the biological matrix implies that alternative strategies for calibration have to be followed. This article compares and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of two strategies – the use of the authentic analyte in a surrogate matrix and the use of a surrogate analyte in the authentic matrix. In addition, it highlights important aspects of the validation of chromatographic methods for endogenous analytes.
Action and embodiment within situated human interaction

Abstract A theory of action must come to terms with both the details of language use and the way in which the social, cultural, material and sequential structure of the environment where action occurs figure into its organization. In this paper it will be suggested that a primordial site for the analysis of human language, cognition, and action consists of a situation in which multiple participants are attempting to carry out courses of action in concert with each other through talk while attending to both the larger activities that their current actions are ambedded within, and relevant phenomena in their surround. Using as data video recordings of young girls playing hopscotch and archaeologists classifying color, it will be argued that human action is built throught the simultaneous deployment of a range of quite different kinds of semiotic resources. Talk itself contains multiple sign systems with alternative properties. Strips of talk gain their power as social action via their placement within larger sequential structures, encompassing activities, and participation frameworks constituted through displays of mutual orientation made by the actors' bodies. The body is used in a quite different way to perform gesture, again a class of phenomena that encompasses structurally different types of sign systems. Both talk and gesture can index, construe or treat as irrelevant, entities in the participants' surround. Moreover, material structure in the surround, such as graphic fields of various types, can provide semiotic structure without which the constitution of particular kinds of action being invoked through talk would be impossible. In brief it will be argued that the construction of action through talk within situated interaction is accomplished through the temporally unfolding juxtaposition of quite different kinds of semiotic resources, and that moreover through this process the human body is made publicly visible as the site for a range of structurally different kinds of displays implicated in the constitution of the actions of the moment.
A stationary evacuated collector with integrated concentrator

Abstract A comprehensive set of experimental tests and detailed optical and thermal models are presented for a newly developed solar thermal collector. The new collector has an optical efficiency of 65 per cent and achieves thermal efficiencies of better than 50 per cent at fluid temperatures of 200°C without tracking the sun. The simultaneous features of high temperature operation and a fully stationary mount are made possible by combining vacuum insulation, spectrally selective coatings, and nonimaging concentration in a novel way. These 3 design elements are “integrated” together in a self contained unit by shaping the outer glass envelope of a conventional evacuated tube into the profile of a nonimaging CRC-type concentrator. This permits the use of a first surface mirror and eliminates the need for a second cover glazing. The new collector has been given the name “Integrated Stationary Evacuated Concentrator”, or ISEC collector. Not only is the peak thermal efficiency of the ISEC comparable to that of commercial tracking parabolic troughs, but projections of the average yearly energy delivery also show competitive performance with a net gain for temperatures below 200°C. In addition, the ISEC is less subject to exposure induced degradation and could be mass produced with assembly methods similar to those used with fluorescent lamps. Since no tracking or tilt adjustments are ever required and because its sensitive optical surfaces are protected from the environment, the ISEC collector provides a simple, easily maintained solar thermal collector for the range 100–300°C which is suitable for most climates and atmospheric conditions. Potential applications include space heating, air conditioning, and industrial process heat.
Magnetic resonance imaging of extrahepatic bile duct disruption

Blunt injury of the extrahepatic bile duct is rare and hence a large series of scientific study of its MRI is difficult to perform. We present the MRI and MR cholangiography of a case of blunt extrahepatic bile duct injury proven at surgery. The diagnosis could be established based on MRI findings of an abrupt tapering of the extrahepatic bile duct with a retracted end, a discordant small-caliber proximal duct, massive ascites, and a hematoma in proximity to the bile duct injury. This non-invasive MRI study is a promising imaging modality to evaluate biliary tract injury.
Hard x-ray microanalytical beam line at the CAMD synchrotron

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is collaborating with Louisiana State University (LSU) in constructing a synchrotron x-ray micro-analytical beamline at the Center for Advanced Microstructures and Devices (CAMD) in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This project grew from earlier work at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), where a team of ANL researchers developed techniques to examine small-scale structures in diffusion zones of a variety of materials. The ANL/CAMD beamline will use x-ray fluorescence, diffraction, and absorption spectroscopy techniques to reveal both compositional and structural information on a microscopic scale.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Design of high-affinity peptide conjugates with optimized fluorescence quantum yield as markers for small peptide transporter PEPT1 (SLC15A1).

Abstract We employed a computational approach to design and synthesize a series of fluorescently labeled hPEPT1 substrates. Five Alexa Fluor-350™-labeled peptides were assessed for their in vitro inhibitory activity in hPEPT1-transfected CHO cells. At least four labeled peptides show potent inhibitory activity toward hPEPT1-mediated uptake of [ 3 H]-GlySar and three compounds displayed a significant cellular uptake specifically mediated by hPEPT1.
EEG feedback-controlled transcranial alternating current stimulation

Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) is a novel non-invasive brain stimulation modality. tACS passes weak, oscillating electric currents through the scalp to generate electric fields in the cerebral cortex. tACS has been shown to modulate both cortical oscillations and cognitive function in humans. These findings suggest that tACS is a promising neurotherapeutic for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses with aberrant underlying cortical dynamics such as schizophrenia. Due to the complexity of the network dynamics in brains of patients with neuropsychiatric disorders, it is unlikely that the feedforward application of tACS without neuronal feedback will be sufficient to effectively control the pathological network dynamics. To our knowledge, no successful EEG-based feedback brain stimulation with tACS has been reported to date. We here present an EEG feedback-controlled tACS system that controls cortical state dynamics. We used occipitoparietal stimulation in the gamma frequency band (40 Hz) in response to the endogenous alpha frequency activity in the visual cortex. We found that EEG feedback-controlled 40 Hz tACS (FB tACS) was more effective at controlling the amplitude of alpha-band cortical oscillations than dose-matched randomly-administered 40 Hz tACS (RA tACS). Our novel system therefore represents an important step towards the development of individualized therapeutic brain stimulation that is based on feedback control.
Structural studies on Li4UO5 and Na4UO5

Abstract A complete crystal structure determination of Li4UO5 and Na4UO5, based on X-ray and neutron diffraction data, is given. The compounds are body-centered tetragonal, space group I4/m-C4h5, with two molecules in the unit cell. The cell parameters are a = 6·736, c = 4·457 A for Li4UO5 and a = 7·576, c = 4·641 A for Na4UO5. The infrared spectra of these compounds are shown to be in accord with the structures.
Relative zinc-binding activities of ligands in the cytosol of rat small intestine

Abstract 1. Relative zinc-binding activities of high-molecular-weight zinc-binding ligand (HMW-ZBL), metallothionein (MT) and low-molecular-weight zinc-binding ligand (LMW-ZBL) in the cytosols of rat small intestines under various experimental conditions were examined. 2. Zinc-binding activities of MT decreased and those of LMW-ZBL increased in the intestinal cytosols from most of the experimental rat groups after incubating at 37°C for 2 hr. 3. The relative zinc-binding activity of MT increased with increasing doses of injected zinc and decreased with orally-administered zinc. 4. Isolated MT did not lose zinc-binding activity during incubation at 37°C for 48 hr, but moved from the MT eluting peak to the LMW-ZBL eluting peak after 1 week.