cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A eukaryotic DNA glycosylase/lyase recognizing ultraviolet light-induced pyrimidine dimers

Cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) are the predominant product of photodamage in DNA after exposure of cells to ultraviolet light and are cytotoxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic in a variety of cellular and animal systems. In prokaryotes, enzymes and protein complexes have been characterized that remove or reverse CPDs in DNA. Micrococcus luteus and T4 phage-infected Escherichia coli contain a specific N-glycosylase/apurinic-apyrimidinic lyase that catalyses a two-step DNA incision process at sites of CPDs, thus initiating base excision repair of these lesions. It is well established that CPDs are recognized and removed from eukaryotic DNA by excision repair processes but very little information exists concerning the nature of the proteins involved in CPD recognition and DNA incision events. We report here that an enzyme functionally similar to the prokaryotic N-glycosylase/apurinic-apyrimidinic lyases exists in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To our knowledge, this is the first time such an activity has been found in a eukaryote and is also the first example of an organism having both direct reversal and base excision repair pathways for the removal of CPDs from DNA.
Sand dollar, Mellita quinquiesperforata (Leske), and sea pansy, Renilla reniformis (Cuvier) effects on meiofaunal abundance

Abstract The effect of disturbance by two macroinvertebrates, the sand dollar Mellita quinquiesperforata (Leske) and the sea pansy Renilla reniformis (Cuvier) on meiofauna was studied on a sandbar in North Inlet, Georgetown, South Carolina. Abundances of nematodes and the harpacticoid copepod Apodopsyllus unguiformis Coull & Hogue decreased significantly in the presence of sand dollars; other taxa were not affected. In two Renilla experiments, one natural and another where artificial and real Renilla were implanted, we could determine no consistent effect on any meiobenthic taxon. However, sediments disturbed by implanting living and artificial Renilla returned to ambient levels within 1 h.
The recovery of amino acids from acid hydrolysates of whole urine from patients with thermal burns

Abstract Whole urine samples, obtained from patients after a thermal burn, were hydrolyzed with 6 N HC1 at 100° for varying periods of time. There was no uniform relationship between the hydrolysis time and the recovery of any of the amino acids. For maximum recovery the hydrolysis times varied from 3 h, for aspartic acid, proline, and glutamic acid to 24 h for valine, isoleucine, leucine and phenylalanine. The maximum recoveries of the basic amino acids were achieved with hydrolysis times of 12 h or less. Determination of the basic amino acids was complicated by the formation of considerable ammonia, which accounted for nearly 50% of the nitrogen in the sample after 46 h hydrolysis. The observations indicate the diverse nature of the peptide components of urine, and delineate the difficulties involved in determining the total concentration of any of the amino acids.
Activation of IKK/NF-κB provokes renal inflammatory responses in guanylyl cyclase/natriuretic peptide receptor-A gene-knockout mice

The present study was aimed at determining the consequences of the disruption of guanylyl cyclase/natriuretic peptide receptor-A (GC-A/NPRA) gene (Npr1) on proinflammatory responses of nuclear fact...
Ultrafast excitation of molecular adsorbates on flash-heated gold surfaces.

An ultrafast flash-thermal conductance technique is used to study energy transfer from a flash-heated polycrystalline Au(111) surface to adsorbed thiolate self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The focus is on understanding energy transfer processes to parts of SAM molecules situated within a few carbon atoms of the Au surface, by probing specific SAM functional groups with vibrational sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy. The SFG intensity drop after flash-heating for benzenethiol (BT) CH-stretch transitions shows a substantial overshoot lasting several tens of picoseconds before BT and Au equilibrate at a higher temperature estimated at 600 °C. The thermal redshift of BT CH-stretch transitions also shows an overshoot. Other aromatic molecules and aliphatic molecules such as cyclohexanethiol (CHT) and hexanethiol (C6) have an overshoot as well. A model is proposed where the overshoot is primarily the result of hot surface electrons existing only during the flash-heating pulses. The intensity overshoot ...
Mixed criteria control design with finite-time boundedness and H ∞ property for a class of discrete-time nonlinear systems

A feedback controller design which guarantees both finite-time boundedness and H ∞ attenuation for a class of nonlinear systems with conic type nonlinearities and additive disturbances is presented. Conditions which guarantee the existence of a robust state-feedback controller for maintaining a bound on the transient response and satisfying an H ∞ bound in the steady state for this class of systems are derived. A solution for the controller gain is obtained through the application of linear matrix inequality techniques. The controller developed is robust for all nonlinearities satisfying the conic inequality and all admissible disturbances. We conclude the paper with a numerical example illustrating the applicability of the controller design.
Acute and chronic toxicity of copper to the fathead minnow in a surface water of variable quality

Abstract Acute and chronic toxicity tests conducted with the fathead minnow and copper used as the source of dilution water a natural stream to which a sewage treatment plant upstream contributed a variety of materials known to affect acute copper toxicity. Nominal total copper 96-h median tolerance limit values (96-h TL50), determined with static testing procedures, ranged from 1.6 to 21 mg l−1. Dissolved copper 96-h TL50 values ranged from 0.60 to 0.98 mg l−1. The maximum acceptable toxicant concentration (MATC) based on survival, growth, reproduction, and hatchability of eggs was between 0.066 and 0.118 mg l−1.
The effects of brain damage on the phantom limb.

Summary The effects of brain damage either prior or subsequent to amputation were studied in 108 cases of CVA: 78 cases with unilateral amputation of a lower extremity, 22 cases with bilateral amputation of the lower extremities, and 8 miscellaneous cases. For the 40 cases with amputations prior to CVA: 1. a CVA following an existing phantom caused its disappearance in 25 per cent (2 of 8) of all contralateral amputations, 2. no phantom disappeared following 25 instances of ipsilateral CVA. In general a CVA, prior or subsequent to amputation, was not associated with differences in the phantom with regard to the following variables: (a) incidence of phantom sensation in the population, (b) frequency of phantom sensation in the individual, (c) duration of phantom sensation, (d) quality of phantom sensation. A prior right CVA, however, was significantly associated with a delay in the time of onset of the initial occurrence of the phantom following amputation of the ipsilateral or contralateral limb.
The Respiratory Chain of Plant Mitochondria: XIV. Ordering of Ubiquinone, Flavoproteins, and Cytochromes in the Respiratory Chain.

The effect of initial oxygen concentration on the rate and extent of oxidation of the respiratory chain carriers of anaerobic mitochondria from mung bean ( Phaseolus aureus ) seedlings was examined. The substrate was succinate, with malonate added to give malonate to succinate ratios of 6 to 12, thereby minimizing the flow of reducing equivalents from substrate and insuring maximal extent of oxidation of the carriers. The ratio of oxidizing equivalents available from oxygen to reducing equivalents available from reduced ubiquinone, designated the equivalents ratio, varied from 30 to 1. Cytochromes aa 3 and c 547 have unaltered oxidation half-times, designated t ½ on , as the equivalents ratio is reduced from 30 to 3, and the extent of oxidation is decreased by about 25%. The time of the oxidation-reduction cycle induced by the oxygen pulse, calculated from the point of half oxidation to that of half reduction and designated t ½ off , decreases 200 fold with this reduction in equivalents ratio. The oxidation half-time, t ½ on , for ubiquinone is unaltered by decreasing the equivalents ratio from 6 to 1; the value of t ½ off decreases only 30% while the extent of oxidation decreases 50%. The values of t ½ on and t ½ off and the extent of oxidation of cytochrome b 553 and flavoprotein Fp ha were all much reduced at low equivalents ratios. The results, plus results from previous studies, indicate that there is the following linear sequence of components in the plant respiratory chain: Dehydrogenase·UQ·Fp ha · b 553 · c 549 · a · a 3 Cytochrome b 557 and the low potential flavoproteins do not fit into this linear sequence.
Neo-mythologism: Apollo and the Muses on the screen

In antiquity, the idea of myth was fluid enough to accommodate a wide variety of divergent, even contradictory, versions of the same story. This tradition continues in modern times: myths, whether ancient or later, preserve their Protean nature. Striking examples for this flexibility of mythical tales are the adaptations of ancient myths to the screen. Classical antiquity has always played a major part in the history of film (and television), but screenwriters and directors as a rule take great liberties with their source materials. In films based on Greek and Roman literature, especially epic and tragedy, and in films with invented or modern settings, figures familiar to us from classical sources recur with surprising variability. Vittorio Cottafavi, director of several films set in antiquity, coined the term “neo-mythologism” for this phenomenon.
Comparison of two models for simulating the soil-vegetation composite reflectance of a developing cotton canopy

Abstract The experimental reflectance data of Huete et al. (1985) for field-grown cotton, beneath whose canopy soils differing widely in brightness had been inserted, were applied to two composite-scene reflectance models. In the additive-independent reflectance model (AIRM), the Sunlit soil, shadowed soil and Sunlit vegetation responses are considered as independent signals that are added linearly in porportion to the fractional ground area each component occupies. The transmittance-reflectance interactive model (TRIM) developed herein considers the reflectance of transmitted light up through the canopy from the soil as well as that reflected from the canopy itself. The TRIM model simulated the experimental measurements satisfactorily over the 0–100 per cent plant cover range for all soil backgrounds, whereas the AIRM model did not. The greenness lines closely paralleled the soil line for the AIRM model and thereby deviate from the measured lines at all plant covers. The greenness line slopes increased a...
Development of a novel constellation based landmark detection algorithm

Anatomical landmarks such as the anterior commissure (AC) and posterior commissure (PC) are commonly used by researchers for co-registration of images. In this paper, we present a novel, automated approach for landmark detection that combines morphometric constraining and statistical shape models to provide accurate estimation of landmark points. This method is made robust to large rotations in initial head orientation by extracting extra information of the eye centers using a radial Hough transform and exploiting the centroid of head mass (CM) using a novel estimation approach. To evaluate the effectiveness of this method, the algorithm is trained on a set of 20 images with manually selected landmarks, and a test dataset is used to compare the automatically detected against the manually detected landmark locations of the AC, PC, midbrain-pons junction (MPJ), and fourth ventricle notch (VN4). The results show that the proposed method is accurate as the average error between the automatically and manually labeled landmark points is less than 1 mm. Also, the algorithm is highly robust as it was successfully run on a large dataset that included different kinds of images with various orientation, spacing, and origin.
Signpost: matching program behavior against known faults

To reduce debugging time and effort, Signpost uses a program's behaviour to query a knowledge base and automatically retrieve articles that describe known bugs and approaches to solving them.
A Conserved Degradation Signal Regulates RAG-2 Accumulation during Cell Division and Links V(D)J Recombination to the Cell Cycle

The proteins RAG-1 and RAG-2 are essential for initiation of V(D)J recombination. In dividing cells, RAG-2 accumulates during G1 and is undetectable during the S and G2/M cell cycle phases. A conserved degradation signal, including an essential CDK phosphorylation site at Thr-490, regulates RAG-2 accumulation during cell division and links V(D)J recombination to the cell cycle. Mutations within this signal abolish periodic degradation of RAG-2 protein in dividing cells. In mice expressing endogenous or wild-type transgenic RAG-2, V(D)J recombination intermediates accumulate preferentially in G0/G1 thymocytes; this restriction is relieved by mutation of Thr-490 to alanine (T490A). Thus, periodic destruction of RAG-2 protein couples V(D)J recombination to cell cycle phase. Using transgenic mice expressing the T490A RAG-2 mutant and a functional T cell receptor beta chain, we demonstrate that coupling of V(D)J recombination to the cell cycle is not essential for enforcement of allelic exclusion.
Vitamin D Level and Risk of Community-Acquired Pneumonia and Sepsis

Previous research has reported reduced serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels is associated with acute infectious illness. The relationship between vitamin D status, measured prior to acute infectious illness, with risk of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and sepsis has not been examined. Community-living individuals hospitalized with CAP or sepsis were age-, sex-, race-, and season-matched with controls. ICD-9 codes identified CAP and sepsis; chest radiograph confirmed CAP. Serum 25(OH)D levels were measured up to 15 months prior to hospitalization. Regression models adjusted for diabetes, renal disease, and peripheral vascular disease evaluated the association of 25(OH)D levels with CAP or sepsis risk. A total of 132 CAP patients and controls were 60 ± 17 years, 71% female, and 86% Caucasian. The 25(OH)D levels <37 nmol/L (adjusted odds ratio (OR) 2.57, 95% CI 1.08–6.08) were strongly associated with increased odds of CAP hospitalization. A total of 422 sepsis patients and controls were 65 ± 14 years, 59% female, and 91% Caucasian. The 25(OH)D levels <37 nmol/L (adjusted OR 1.75, 95% CI 1.11–2.77) were associated with increased odds of sepsis hospitalization. Vitamin D status was inversely associated with risk of CAP and sepsis hospitalization in a community-living adult population. Further clinical trials are needed to evaluate whether vitamin D supplementation can reduce risk of infections, including CAP and sepsis.
Quantification of acetylation at proximal lysine residues using isotopic labeling and tandem mass spectrometry

With the emergence of the histone code as a key determinant in the regulation of gene expression, it has been important to develop tools that can not only identify the types and locations of myriad modifications, but also determine how the levels of these modifications change as a result of various processes in a cell. Mass spectrometry has become a method of choice for the investigation of post-translational modifications in histone proteins. Described in this article is a mass spectrometric method that is useful for direct quantification of levels of acetylation at lysines residues in close proximity to one another, as is the case for the amino terminal tail of histone H4. This method involves fragmentation of peptides into b and y ions that contain one or more sites of modification and isotopic labeling which ensures equivalent ionization and fragmentation.
Analysis of GIRK Subunit Intracellular Domain Association and Channel Function

The G protein coupled inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) channels are key mediators of cell excitability. In previous studies, we have identified important GIRK1 subunit residues that are critical to channel function and N- and C-terminal domain association. To further explore the specificity of these interactions and the functional implications, we have focused on determining if the nature of these associations is dependent upon a hydrophobic region in the N- and C-terminal domains of the GIRK1 and GIRK4 subunits. Mutations of the GIRK1 N- or C-terminal residue to the complementary residue did not significantly alter the carbachol-induced channel activation whereas mutation to a charged arginine greatly altered the association of domains and channel function. Similarly, mutation of the homologous GIRK4 subunit N- and C-terminal residues alters channel function and affects association between domains. Further analysis confirms that the C-terminal mutation to the complementary N-terminal residue preserved the termini association while mutation to a charged residue disrupts the association suggesting that this region is critical for interaction.
Family transitions and later delinquency and drug use

Changes in the family structure can be very disruptive to adolescents who live in those families. This article examines the impact of the number of family transitions on delinquent and drug-using behavior. Specifically, the effect of family transitions is hypothesized to be mediated by problems within the family, school, and peer settings. A sample of 646 boys (73%) and girls (27%) taken from a longitudinal panel study of high-risk adolescents are used to examine these hypotheses. For girls, little support is found for the direct or the indirect effect of family transitions on delinquent behavior or drug use. For boys, however, both forms of problem behavior are influenced by family transitions directly and indirectly through changes in, and problems with, peer associations. The findings suggest that during times of family turmoil, the friendship network of adolescent male children is also disrupted, leading to an increase in associations with delinquent others and, in turn, an increase in problematic behaviors.
Endothelial progenitor cell function, apoptosis, and telomere length in overweight/obese humans

Excess adiposity is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play an important role in vascular repair. We tested the hypothesis that increased adiposity is associated with EPC dysfunction, characterized by diminished capacity to release angiogenic cytokines, increased apoptotic susceptibility, reduced cell migration, and shorter telomere length. A total of 67 middle-aged and older adults (42-67 years) were studied: 25 normal weight (normal weight; BMI: 18.5-24.9 kg/m(2)) and 42 overweight/obese (overweight/obese; BMI: 25.0-34.9 kg/m(2)). Cells with phenotypic EPC characteristics were isolated from peripheral blood. EPC release of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) was determined in the absence and presence of phytohemagglutinin (10 microg/ml). Intracellular active caspase-3 and cytochrome c concentrations were determined by immunoassay. Migratory activity of EPCs in response to VEGF (2 ng/ml) and stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha (SDF-1alpha; 10 ng/ml) was determined by Boyden chamber. Telomere length was assessed by Southern hybridization. Phytohemagglutinin-stimulated release of VEGF (90.6 +/- 7.6 vs. 127.2 +/- 11.6 pg/ml) and G-CSF (896.1 +/- 77.4 vs. 1,176.3 +/- 126.3 pg/ml) was ~25% lower (P < 0.05) in EPCs from overweight/obese vs. normal weight subjects. Staurosporine induced a ~30% greater (P < 0.05) increase in active caspase-3 in EPCs from overweight/obese (2.8 +/- 0.2 ng/ml) compared with normal weight (2.2 +/- 0.2) subjects. There were no significant differences in EPC migration to either VEGF or SDF-1alpha. Telomere length did not differ between groups. These results indicate that increased adiposity adversely affects the ability of EPCs to release proangiogenic cytokines and resist apoptosis, potentially compromising their reparative potential.
Comparison of three rating scales as outcome measures for treatment trials of depression in Alzheimer disease: findings from DIADS

Context Major depression affects about 25% of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and has serious adverse consequences for patients as well as caregivers. Studies of treatments for depression in AD, like most treatment studies, depend on the ability of the scales used to measure outcome to detect a difference between the effects of treatment and control, particularly in trials conducted over waves. Objective To compare the ability of three depression scales, and some of their subscales, to detect the difference in the effects of drug (treatment) and placebo (control). Design Comparison of three scales of depression in terms of percent variance explained as indicated by the adjusted or partial eta-squared for the effect of drug versus placebo, controlling for baseline depression, in a randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel, 12-week, clinical trial of sertraline for the treatment of depression with AD. Setting University outpatient clinic. Participants Forty-four patients with probable Alzheimer's disease and Major Depressive Episode. Outcome measures The Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), and the Neuropsychiatric-Inventory Mood Domains (NPI-M). Results Examination of the treatment effects as indicated by the partial eta-squared's for each scale at each wave, revealed a slight, but not significant, advantage for the use of the CSDD over the HDRS, and a significant advantage for the use of either of these over the NPI-M. Treatment effects, as reflected in the partial eta-squared's computed for the subscales at each wave, were significant for all four subscales, and were largest for the CSDD ‘mood’ subscale although they were not significantly greater than for the other subscales. Conclusions The CSDD, and particularly its mood subscale, appears to be more sensitive than the HDRS, it's subscales or the NPI-M, for comparing drug to placebo in treating major depression in AD patients. Treatment effects as reflected in the partial eta-squared's were largest on the CSDD mood subscale and increased over time. The pattern for the other subscales was non-monotonic over waves and resembled the pattern for the entire scale. Perhaps combining the CSDD two subscales obscures the treatment effects for the separate subscales. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Journal Finder: A Solution for Comprehensive and Unmediated Access to Journal Articles

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro's Jackson Library has introduced a new journal information service that makes finding and accessing journal articles easier and more effective than traditional methods. Journal Finder is part of a broader program to provide location-independent information access and through a single interface it allows users to connect directly to an electronic, full-text version of a journal; obtain local holdings and format information about a specific title; order a specific article from any journal through an unmediated document delivery service or interlibrary loan; and search other libraries' catalogs for journal holdings data. Developed in-house using a relational database structure, Journal Finder offers unique service advantages, while signaling a shift in the delivery of journal information from print subscriptions to access by means of separate articles in electronic or print formats. Serials Review 2002; 28:13–20.
A practical, general‐purpose, two‐state HLL Riemann solver for hyperbolic conservation laws

We construct a general-purpose Riemann solver for hyperbolic conservation laws that does not involve extensive characteristic analysis of governing equations but can nevertheless sharply resolve discontinuities. To achieve this goal, we revisit the class of two-state HLL schemes and show that inexpensive, accurate solvers within this class can be designed using only geometric interpretations of the Rankine-Hugoniot conditions. We argue that the small cost and nearly uniform algorithmic complexity of resulting methods make them attractive for quick computations of practical, especially very complex, problems for which more accurate solvers are either not available or their development cost is not justified
Molecular Dynamics Simulations of a Single 11-Residue Beta-Sheet Adhesive and its Assembly

Thirty synthetic peptides with varying degrees of adhesion strength toward wood strips are prepared and tested as glues by checking adhesive strength at different pHs and curing temperatures. Lysine-Lysine-Lysine repeats on both the N- and C-termini of the hydrophobic core give the highest adhesion strength. In the absence of water, the peptide retains a β-sheet structure. Experimental results show that these peptides form a nano fiber-like structure in the absence of water. Simulations of three of the adhesive sequences, KKKFLIVIKKK, KKKIGSIIKKK, and KKKIVIGSKKK, obtained via Discrete Molecular Dynamics, show that they assemble to form organized associations. For each of these peptides, sixteen peptides are randomly positioned within a cubic simulation box, leading to several initial configurations in which peptides are spatially separated in nonnumeric, random, coil-like forms. For each system, eight starting configurations are used in the production runs. The figure shows the assembly of each, with KKKFLIVIKK exhibiting a flat planar structure, KKKIGSIIKKK a stacked β hairpin, and KKKIVIGSKKK being amorphous. Molecular dynamics simulations are performed to understand the dynamics and functionality of beta-sheet adhesives, using CHARMM and NAMD. A detailed analysis of the results is presented.View Large Image | View Hi-Res Image | Download PowerPoint Slide
Stability analysis of structured chemical engineering systems via decomposition

Abstract The stability properties of highly dimensional chemical engineering systems are investigated using a decomposition method and vector Lyapunov functions. Finite stability regions are found for sequences of three and sixteen stirred tank reactors within which a first order exothermic reaction occurs. The stabilty region is of a shape one would expect intuitively on the basis of the sequential structure of the system and of a much larger size than was previously reported in the literature. The computational effort involved is negligible. In addition bounds on the input fluctuations are developed for which the system is stable. These input-output stability criteria can generally not be obtained from a direct application of Lyapunov's theory and appear to be of practical interest.
Factors associated with favorable response to hyperbaric oxygen therapy among patients presenting with iatrogenic cerebral arterial gas embolism.

Iatrogenic cerebral arterial gas embolism (CAGE) is an uncommon but potentially a fatal condition. Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO2) therapy is the only definitive treatment for patients with CAGE presenting with acute neurologic deficits. We reviewed medical records and neuroimaging of consecutive CAGE patients treated with HBO2 at a state referral hyperbaric facility over a 22-year period. We analyzed the effect of demographics, source of intra-arterial gas, signs and symptoms, results of imaging studies, time between event and HBO2 treatment, and response to HBO2 treatment in 36 consecutive patients. Favorable outcome was defined by complete resolution or improvement of CAGE signs and symptoms at 24 h after HBO2 treatment. Unfavorable outcome was defined by unchanged or worsened neurologic signs and symptoms or in hospital death. A total of 26 (72%) of the 36 patients had favorable outcome. Patients with favorable outcome were younger compared to those with unfavorable outcome (mean age [years, SD] 44.7 ± 17.8 vs. 58.1 ± 24.1, p = 0.08). Cardiopulmonary symptoms were significantly more common in CAGE related to venous source of gas compared to arterial source (p = 0.024) but did not influence the rate of favorable outcomes. Adjusted multivariate analysis demonstrated that time from event to HBO2 ≤6 h (positively) and the presence of infarct/edema on head computerized tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before HBO2 (negatively) were independent predictors of favorable outcome at 24 h after HBO2 treatment [odds ratio (OR) 9.08 confidence interval (CI) (1.13–72.69), p = 0.0376, and (OR) 0.034 (CI) (0.002–0.58), p = 0.0200, respectively]. Two of the 36 patients were treated with thrombolytics because of acute focal deficits and suspected ischemia—one with intravenous and the second with intra-arterial thrombolysis. The latter patient developed fatal intracerebral hemorrhage. A high proportion of CAGE patients treated with HBO2 had favorable outcomes. Time-to-HBO2 ≤6 h increased the odds of favorable outcome, whereas the presence of infarct/edema on CT/MRI scan before HBO2 reduced the odds of a favorable outcome. Timely diagnosis and differentiation from thrombo-embolic ischemic events appears to be an important determinant of successful HBO2 treatment.
Multiagent Transfer Learning via Assignment-Based Decomposition

We describe a system that successfully transfers value function knowledge across multiple subdomains of real-time strategy games in the context of multiagent reinforcement learning. First, we implement an assignment-based decomposition architecture, which decomposes the problem of coordinating multiple agents into the two levels of task assignment and task execution. Second, a hybrid model-based approach allows us to use simple deterministic action models while relying on sampling for the opponents' actions. Third, value functions based on parameterized relational templates enable transfer across sub-domains with different numbers of agents.
A multi-sender asynchronous extension to the AER protocol

The address-event representation (AER) is an asynchronous point-to-point communications protocol for silicon neural systems. This paper describes an extension of the AER protocol that allows multiple AER senders to share a common bus. A fully-functional silicon implementation of the extended protocol is described, as well as a functional board-level system of several of these chips sharing a common bus.
Detection and relief of upper airway obstruction in a dog model

Electrical stimulation of upper airway (UAW) muscles has been proposed as a treatment method for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Particular emphasis has been placed on the stimulation of the hypoglossal nerve in order to activate the genioglossus muscle, the main tongue protrusor. In this paper, we first present evidence that a recording electrode placed on the hypoglossal nerve can detect the onset of the obstruction with a short delay. We also show that selective activation of the various muscles involved in controlling the upper airways can be achieved using the Flat Interface Nerve Electrode. The data demonstrate the feasibility of the closed-loop stimulation of the HG nerve using its activity as the feedback signal.
HEAT: hierarchical energy analysis tool

This paper presents an algorithm for the estimation of power in static CMOS digital circuits using a stochastic approach. The salient feature of this approach is that it can be used to estimate the power of reasonably large digital circuits in a very short time, due to its hierarchical nature. Here, the given circuit is first partitioned into smaller sub-circuits. Then, the sub-circuits are modeled using state transition diagrams (stds), and the steady-state probabilities associated with the various states are computed by treating them as irreducible Markov chains. Finally, the energy associated with each sub-circuit is computed, and the total energy of the circuit is obtained by summing up the energies of its constituent sub-circuits. In the proposed hierarchical approach, the energies associated with various edges in a subcircuit are calculated only once using SPICE and these values are used several times; this results in large savings in computation time. Another advantage of the proposed approach is that we can accommodate switching activities at the transistor level and not necessarily at gate or higher levels. Experimental results show that the estimated power is in close agreement with the actual power obtained from exhaustive SPICE simulations, but the computation time required by the proposed approach is orders of magnitude less than that of SPICE.
Problems of females in the world of work

Affirmative action programs aimed at expanding the vocational opportunity for women are in operation in most schools and businesses today. But, these programs are limited in their effectiveness when the attitudes of those responsible for their implementation are not supportive. And, unfortunately, those who hold sexist attitudes are not always aware of their true feelings-or that the feelings are showing in subtle and not-so-subtle ways.
First audit of macroinvertebrate samples from an EU Water Framework Directive monitoring program: human error greatly lowers precision of assessment results.

AbstractInvertebrates are often used in biological monitoring of soil and water ecosystems. Because of the huge number of invertebrate species, sample processing (sorting and identification) is a labor-intensive and often difficult task that is prone to error. These errors can bias assessment results, which often are used by environmental managers to guide funding decisions for costly restoration measures. However, quality control of assessment results is not implemented in many freshwater monitoring programs. We conducted the first audit of an official European freshwater monitoring program based on 414 macroinvertebrate samples from streams and rivers in Germany. The samples were collected by personnel at 7 different commercial environmental laboratories using the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive protocol. We audited 12% of all samples at 3 different levels: 1) a sorting audit, 2) an identification audit, and 3) a total audit based on both sorting and identification. The sorting audit revea...
Enhanced Cortical Activation in the Contralesional Hemisphere of Chronic Stroke Patients in Response to Motor Skill Challenge

The brain processes involved in the restoration of motor skill after hemiparetic stroke are not fully understood. The current study compared cortical activity in chronic stroke patients who successfully recovered hand motor skill and normal control subjects during performance of kinematically matched unskilled and skilled hand movements using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that cortical activation during performance of the unskilled movement was increased in the patients relative to controls in the contralesional primary sensorimotor cortex. Performance of the skilled movement elicited increased activation in the patients relative to controls in the contralesional primary sensorimotor cortex, ventral premotor cortex, supplementary motor area/cingulate, and occipitoparietal cortex. Further, the activation change in the contralesional occipitoparietal cortex was greater in the patients relative to controls with the increase in motor skill challenge. Kinematic differences, mirror movements, and residual motor deficits did not account for the enhanced activation in the contralesional cortices in the patients. These results suggest that activation in the contralesional cortical network was enhanced as a function of motor skill challenge in stroke patients with good motor recovery. The findings of the current study suggest that successful recovery of motor skill after hemiparetic stroke involves participation of the contralesional cortical network.
Quality and Shelf Life of Fresh Chicken Breasts Subjected to Crust Freezing with and without Skin

The effect of crust freezing (20m-85C) on raw chicken breast quality, with or without skduring aerobic, refrigerated storage for up to 18 days was assessed using the International Commission on Illumination color parameters L*, a* and b*; tenderness; total aerobic (aerobic plate counts [APC]) and yeasts/molds counts. Skin on had significantly higher L* values compared with skinless breasts (average 75 versus 55), whereas a* and b* remained relatively constant regardless of the presence or absence of skfreezing or time. For a* and b*, values oscillated between -2.10-0.78 and 1.38-3.77, respectively. Shear energy varied for skinless samples but tended to remain constant throughout time for skin-on breasts. APC increased over time, exceeding 8.0logcfu/mL of rinse, between 6 and 12 days of storage. Crust freezing did not affect color or tenderness of raw chicken breasts, with or without skbut also did not extend microbiological shelf life.
On the decomposition of n -cubes into isomorphic trees

We prove that if T is any tree having n edges (n ≥ 1), then the n-cube Qn can be decomposed into 2n-1 edge-disjoint induced subgraphs, each of which is isomorphic to T. We use this statement to obtain two results concerning decompositions of Qn into subgraphs isomorphic to members of a specified family of trees.
An analytic model for a mantle plume fed by a boundary layer

Summary. An approximate analytical solution for flow in a mantle plume of constant radius, viscosity, and density contrast is obtained in cylindrical coordinates. the differential equations for vertical velocity of the mantle surrounding the plume and for topography are homologous to the equation for flexure of an elastic plate. Although the model is too simple to be fully applicable to the Earth, one can conclude that the vertical velocity in the mantle changes significantly away from plumes, that the viscosity of the plume is important for controlling flow rate, and that the long-wavelength geoid anomalies are sensitive to the viscosity of the surrounding mantle. the first induced upwelling away from a plume is quite weak and unlikely to control the spacing of plumes.
Void Fraction Variations in a Fractal-Like Branching Microchannel Network

Based on predictions of lower pressure drop penalties in fractal-like branching channels compared to parallel channels, an experimental investigation of two-phase void fraction variations was performed. The flow network, mimicking flow networks found in nature, was designed with a self-similar bifurcating channel configuration and etched 150 μ m into a 38.1 mm diameter silicon disk. A Pyrex® cover was anodically bonded to the silicon disk to allow for flow visualization. The length and width scale ratios between channels on either side of a bifurcation are fixed. The channel widths range in size from 100 μ m to 400 μm over a total channel length of approximately 17 mm. Experimental results of flow boiling are presented for a heater energy input power of 66 W and an inlet water flow rate of 45 g/min at a fixed inlet fluid temperature of 88°C. High-speed, high-resolution imaging was used to visualize the flow and quantify void fraction values in several channels within a branching structure. Both time-avera...
The first candidate gene for dyslexia: Turning the page of a new chapter of research

The subfield of research on both typical and atypical reading development is one of the most saturated with ideas, researchers, and financial support with respect to the fields of human development and education. The article by Taipale et al . (1) in this issue of PNAS is an outcome of a truly multidisciplinary field, attended by researchers from different areas. There are multiple reasons for such a high level of attention. First, reading is a distinctly human skill, the functional role of which in human society has been increasingly synchronous with society's modernization so that gross national products highly correlate with literacy rates (www.unesco.org/education). Second, the acquisition of this skill has to be performed anew by every individual child, with enormous amounts of interindividual variability existing in the development of the skill (2). Third, the emergence of this skill occurs at multiple levels engaging genes, brain, and behavior (3). Finally, the biological machinery underlying the construction of reading competency appears to be general for different linguistic systems (4). Thus, the development of the skill of reading presents a wonderful opportunity to study a specifically human skill that is biologically rooted but that cannot be acquired outside of a social context. Its acquisition is individualized and results in suboptimal performance in up to 5% of the general population (5). The prevalence of specific reading difficulties (dyslexia) and their lifelong persistence and effects place dyslexia among the most important public health problems (www.nichd.nih.gov and ref. 6). Early evidence from the turn of the 20th century showed that suboptimal performance on reading tasks could occur in the absence of severe neurological problems and in the context of adequate education (7). In the 1950s, dyslexia was shown to be familial (8). Extensive effort has been invested in understanding the mechanisms of the familiality of …
Estimation of Rigid-Body and Respiratory Motion of the Heart From Marker-Tracking Data for SPECT Motion Correction

Motion of patients undergoing cardiac SPECT perfusion imaging causes artifacts in the acquired images which may lead to difficulty in interpretation. Our work investigates a technique of obtaining patient motion estimates from retro-reflective markers on stretchy bands wrapped around the chest and abdomen of patients being imaged clinically. Motion signals obtained from the markers consist of at least two components, body motion (BM) and periodic motion (PM) due to respiration. We present a method for separating these components from the motion-tracking data of each marker, and then report a method for combining the BM estimated from chest markers to estimate the 6-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) rigid-body motion (RBM) of the heart. Motion studies of volunteers and patients are used to evaluate the methods. Illustrative examples of the motion of the heart due to patient body movement and respiration (upward creep) are presented and compared to estimates of the motion of the heart obtained directly from SPECT data. Our motion-tracking method is seen to give reasonable agreement with the motion-estimates from the SPECT data while being considerably less noisy.
Two New Species of Sarcocystis (Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae) Infecting the Wolverine (Gulo gulo) From Nunavut, Canada

Infection with Sarcocystis species is common in many species of animals, but it has not yet been reported in wolverines (Gulo gulo). Histological sections of tongues from 41 wolverines in the Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut, Canada, were examined for sarcocysts. Sarcocysts were found in 33 (80.4%) wolverines. Two structurally distinct types of sarcocysts were found. Type A sarcocysts were thin (,1 mm thick) walled. Ultrastructurally, the parasitophorous vacuolar membrane (Pvm) had minute undulations, but it lacked villar protrusions and was not invaginated into the granular layer. The bradyzoites were slender, about 5 3 1 mm in size. Structurally, these sarcocysts were distinct from known species of Sarcocystis and possessed a novel 18S and ITS-1 sequence, sharing 98% and 78% sequence similarity with Sarcocystis canis. A new species name, Sarcocystis kalvikus, is proposed for type A sarcocysts. In contrast, type B sarcocysts had relatively thicker (about 2 mm) cyst walls and larger bradyzoites, each about 10 3 2-3 mm. Ultrastructurally, the Pvm on the sarcocyst wall had villar protrusions that were either mushroom-like or sloping. Molecular analysis identified a unique 18S and ITS-1 sequence that placed them in a clade within the Sarcocystidae. Based on histology, TEM, and genetic data, the new name, Sarcocystis kitikmeotensis, is proposed. Sarcocystis kalvikus was found in 14 (34.1%), S. kitikmeotensis was found in 7 (17%), and both species were found in 12 (29.2%) of 41 wolverines.
A Price-Directed Approach to Stochastic Inventory/Routing

We consider a new approach to stochastic inventory/routing that approximates the future costs of current actions using optimal dual prices of a linear program. We obtain two such linear programs by formulating the control problem as a Markov decision process and then replacing the optimal value function with the sum of single-customer inventory value functions. The resulting approximation yields statewise lower bounds on optimal infinite-horizon discounted costs. We present a linear program that takes into account inventory dynamics and economics in allocating transportation costs for stochastic inventory routing. On test instances we find that these allocations do not introduce any error in the value function approximations relative to the best approximations that can be achieved without them. Also, unlike other approaches, we do not restrict the set of allowable vehicle itineraries in any way. Instead, we develop an efficient algorithm to both generate and eliminate itineraries during solution of the linear programs and control policy. In simulation experiments, the price-directed policy outperforms other policies from the literature.
A couple of white guys sitting around talking: The collective rationalization of cigar smokers

At a small, independently owned cigar shop in a moderate-sized southern city, approximately thirty customers regularly gather at what has become a de facto men's smoking club to discuss sports, politics, religion, and the joys of cigar smoking. Of all the conversations to take place at Tullio's, however, none are as passionate or as recurring as the discussions on the health risks associated with cigar smoking. During these encounters, the “regulars” collectively create a linguistic defense shield that, ironically, protects them from the anxiety produced by antismoking messages. Specifically, the regulars at the shop collectively craft and share five prosmoking arguments that (1) refute the findings of the medical establishment, (2) anesthetize them from the impact of antismoking messages, and (3) relieve their cognitive dissonance and anxiety created by the act of smoking.
Selective Atomic Layer Deposition (SALD) of Titanium Dioxide on Silicon and Copper Patterned Substrates

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) of TiO 2 has potential applications in the microelectronics industry for purposes such as formation of the copper barrier layer. In this paper, TiO 2 deposition on silicon and copper substrates is studied, with a focus on the initial growth and nucleation period on different substrates. Silicon with native oxide about 1.5 nm-thick, silicon with reduced oxide <1 nm-thick, and silicon/copper patterned substrates with native oxide are tested for TiO 2 deposition. The temperature-independent window on silicon is studied, and findings are used encourage selective deposition on the silicon portions of a copper-patterned silicon substrate. Selective ALD is found to be possible on silicon portions by taking advantage of the 15-20 cycle TiO 2 nucleation period on copper, allowing a film approximately 2.5 nm-thick to grow on silicon while less than two monolayers grow on copper. Findings can be used in future work to further promote selective deposition of TiO 2 .
Training the next generation of counseling psychologists in the practice of telepsychology

Training programs that integrate the use of technology are needed to prepare students for the future of service delivery in psychology. Training opportunities in telepsychology can equip students t...