cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Extending models via gradient boosting: An application to Mendelian models

Improving existing widely-adopted prediction models is often a more efficient and robust way toward progress than training new models from scratch. Existing models may: (a) incorporate complex mechanistic knowledge, (b) leverage proprietary information, and (c) have surmounted barriers to adoption. Compared to model training, model improvement and modification receive little attention. In this paper we propose a general approach to model improvement: we combine gradient boosting with any previously developed model to improve model performance while retaining important existing characteristics. To exemplify, we consider the context of Mendelian models which estimate the probability of carrying genetic mutations that confer susceptibility to disease by using family pedigrees and health histories of family members. Via simulations, we show that integration of gradient boosting with an existing Mendelian model can produce an improved model that outperforms both that model and the model built using gradient boosting alone. We illustrate the approach on genetic testing data from the USC–Stanford Cancer Genetics Hereditary Cancer Panel (HCP) study.
Connected cubic graphs with the maximum number of perfect matchings

It is proved that for $n \geq 6$, the number of perfect matchings in a simple connected cubic graph on $2n$ vertices is at most $4 f_{n-1}$, with $f_n$ being the $n$-th Fibonacci number. The unique extremal graph is characterized as well. In addition, it is shown that the number of perfect matchings in any cubic graph $G$ equals the expected value of a random variable defined on all $2$-colorings of edges of $G$. Finally, an improved lower bound on the maximum number of cycles in a cubic graph is provided.
Visionary: Vision architecture discovery for robot learning

We propose a vision-based architecture search algorithm for robot manipulation learning, which discovers interactions between low dimension action inputs and high dimensional visual inputs. Our approach automatically designs architectures while training on the task – discovering novel ways of combining and attending image feature representations with actions as well as features from previous layers. The obtained new architectures demonstrate better task success rates, in some cases with a large margin, compared to a recent high performing baseline. Our real robot experiments also confirm that it improves grasping performance by 6%. This is the first approach to demonstrate a successful neural architecture search and attention connectivity search for a real-robot task.
Room-temperature plasticity and size-dependent mechanical responses in small-scale B1-NbC(001) single-crystals

Abstract We report on the mechanical responses of NbC(001) single-crystals subjected to nanoindentation and in situ scanning electron microscopy based uniaxial microcompression tests at room-temperature. Using X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, we determine that the as-purchased bulk NbC is a 001-oriented, B1-structured, single-crystal with lattice parameter of 0.4446 ± 0.0002 nm and C/Nb ratio of ∼0.99. From nanoindentation experiments performed on the bulk crystal using a Berkovich diamond indenter, we measure an elastic modulus of 495 ± 14 GPa and an indentation-depth (h) dependent hardness decreasing from 31.0 ± 1.2 GPa at h = 0.2 µm to 26.4 ± 0.4 GPa at h = 0.9 µm. During uniaxial compression of cylindrical pillars with top diameters D between ∼0.25 µm and ∼0.75 µm, we observe strain hardening, increasing yield strengths with decreasing D, and surprisingly extensive plastic deformation with strains exceeding 2% and up to 30% in larger-size pillars. Electron microscopy characterization of the compressed pillars reveal slip traces characteristic of {110}〈1 1 ¯ 0〉 and {111}〈1 1 ¯ 0〉 slip systems. We suggest that the unexpected activation of {111}〈1 1 ¯ 0〉 facilitates plasticity in NbC(001).
Real-to-Sim Registration of Deformable Soft Tissue with Position-Based Dynamics for Surgical Robot Autonomy

Autonomy in robotic surgery is very challenging in unstructured environments, especially when interacting with deformable soft tissues. The main difficulty is to generate model-based control methods that account for deformation dynamics during tissue manipulation. Previous works in vision-based perception can capture the geometric changes within the scene, however, model-based controllers integrated with dynamic properties, a more accurate and safe approach, has not been studied before. Considering the mechanic coupling between the robot and the environment, it is crucial to develop a registered, simulated dynamical model. In this work, we propose an online, continuous, real-to-sim registration method to bridge 3D visual perception with position-based dynamics (PBD) modeling of tissues. The PBD method is employed to simulate soft tissue dynamics as well as rigid tool interactions for model-based control. Meanwhile, a vision-based strategy is used to generate 3D reconstructed point cloud surfaces based on real-world manipulation, so as to register and update the simulation. To verify this real-to-sim approach, tissue experiments have been conducted on the da Vinci Research Kit. Our real-to-sim approach successfully reduces registration error online, which is especially important for safety during autonomous control. Moreover, it achieves higher accuracy in occluded areas than fusion-based reconstruction.
An Automatic System to Monitor the Physical Distance and Face Mask Wearing of Construction Workers in COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many shutdowns in different industries around the world. Sectors such as infrastructure construction and maintenance projects have not been suspended due to their significant effect on people’s routine life. In such projects, workers work close together that makes a high risk of infection. The World Health Organization recommends wearing a face mask and practicing physical distancing to mitigate the virus’s spread. In this paper, we developed a computer vision system to automatically detect the violation of face mask wearing and physical distancing among construction workers to assure their safety on infrastructure projects during the pandemic. For the face mask detection, we collected and annotated 1000 images, including different types of face mask wearing, and added them to a pre-existing face mask dataset to develop a dataset of 1853 images and increased the dataset to 3300 images by data augmentation. Then, we trained and tested multiple Tensorflow state-of-the-art object detection models on the face mask dataset and chose the Faster R-CNN Inception ResNet V2 network that yielded the accuracy of 99.8%. For physical distance detection, we employed the Faster R-CNN Inception V2 to detect people. A transformation matrix was used to eliminate the camera angle’s effect on the object distances on the image. The Euclidian distance used the pixels of the transformed image to compute the actual distance between people. A threshold of six feet was considered to capture physical distance violation. We also used transfer learning for training the model. The final model was applied on four videos of road maintenance projects in Houston, TX, that effectively detected the face mask and physical distance. We recommend that construction owners use the proposed system to enhance construction workers’ safety in the pandemic situation.
Gender Differences in Urothelial Bladder Cancer: Effects of Natural Killer Lymphocyte Immunity

Men are more likely to develop cancer than women. In fact, male predominance is one of the most consistent cancer epidemiology findings. Additionally, men have a poorer prognosis and an increased risk of secondary malignancies compared to women. These differences have been investigated in order to better understand cancer and to better treat both men and women. In this review, we discuss factors that may cause this gender difference, focusing on urothelial bladder cancer (UBC) pathogenesis. We consider physiological factors that may cause higher male cancer rates, including differences in X chromosome gene expression. We discuss how androgens may promote bladder cancer development directly by stimulating bladder urothelium and indirectly by suppressing immunity. We are particularly interested in the role of natural killer (NK) cells in anti-cancer immunity.
Hyperbolic distance versus quasihyperbolic distance in plane domains

We examine Euclidean plane domains with their hyperbolic or quasihyperbolic distance. We prove that the associated metric spaces are quasisymmetrically equivalent if and only if they are bi-Lipschitz equivalent. On the other hand, for Gromov hyperbolic domains, the two corresponding Gromov boundaries are always quasisymmetrically equivalent. Surprisingly, for any finitely connected hyperbolic domain, these two metric spaces are always quasiisometrically equivalent. We construct an example where the spaces are not quasiisometrically equivalent.
Online Adaptation of Parameters using GRU-based Neural Network with BO for Accurate Driving Model

Testing self-driving cars in different areas requires surrounding cars with accordingly different driving styles such as aggressive or conservative styles. Calibrating a driving model (DM) makes the simulated driving behavior closer to human-driving behavior, and enable the simulation of human-driving cars. Conventional DM-calibrating methods do not take into account that the parameters in a DM vary while driving. These "fixed" calibrating methods cannot reflect an actual interactive driving scenario. In this paper, we propose a DM-calibration method for measuring human driving styles to reproduce real car-following behavior more accurately. The method includes 1) an objective entropy weight method for measuring and clustering human driving styles, and 2) online adaption of DM parameters based on deep learning by combining Bayesian optimization and a gated recurrent unit neural network. We conducted experiments to evaluate the proposed method, and the results indicate that it can be easily used to measure human driver styles. The experiments also showed that we can calibrate a corresponding DM in a virtual testing environment with up to 26% more accuracy than with fixed calibration methods.
Logarithmic Regret in Feature-based Dynamic Pricing

Feature-based dynamic pricing is an increasingly popular model of setting prices for highly differentiated products with applications in digital marketing, online sales, real estate and so on. The problem was formally studied as an online learning problem (Cohen et al., 2016; Javanmard & Nazerzadeh, 2019) where a seller needs to propose prices on the fly for a sequence of $T$ products based on their features $x$ while having a small regret relative to the best -- "omniscient" -- pricing strategy she could have come up with in hindsight. We revisit this problem and provide two algorithms (EMLP and ONSP) for stochastic and adversarial feature settings, respectively, and prove the optimal $O(d\log{T})$ regret bounds for both. In comparison, the best existing results are $O\left(\min\left\{\frac{1}{\lambda_{\min}^2}\log{T}, \sqrt{T}\right\}\right)$ and $O(T^{2/3})$ respectively, with $\lambda_{\min}$ being the smallest eigenvalue of $\mathbb{E}[xx^T]$ that could be arbitrarily close to $0$. We also prove an $\Omega(\sqrt{T})$ information-theoretic lower bound for a slightly more general setting, which demonstrates that "knowing-the-demand-curve" leads to an exponential improvement in feature-based dynamic pricing.
Resistance of Communities Against Disinformation

The spread of disinformation is considered a big threat to societies and has recently received unprecedented attention. In this paper, we propose an agent-based model to simulate the dissemination of a conspiracy in a population. The model is able to compare the resistance of different network structures against the activity of conspirators. Results show that connectedness of network structure and centrality of conspirators are of crucial importance in preventing conspiracies from becoming widespread.
Modeling Coronavirus Spike Protein Dynamics: Implications for Immunogenicity and Immune Escape.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a global public health emergency requiring urgent development of efficacious vaccines. While concentrated research efforts are underway to develop antibody-based vaccines that would neutralize SARS-CoV-2, and several first-generation vaccine candidates are currently in Phase III clinical trials or have received emergency use authorization, it is forecasted that COVID-19 will become an endemic disease requiring second-generation vaccines. The SARS-CoV-2 surface Spike (S) glycoprotein represents a prime target for vaccine development because antibodies that block viral attachment and entry, i.e. neutralizing antibodies, bind almost exclusively to the receptor binding domain (RBD). Here, we develop computational models for a large subset of S proteins associated with SARS-CoV-2, implemented through coarse-grained elastic network models and normal mode analysis. We then analyze local protein domain dynamics of the S protein systems and their thermal stability to characterize structural and dynamical variability among them. These results are compared against existing experimental data, and used to elucidate the impact and mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 S protein mutations and their associated antibody binding behavior. We construct a SARS-CoV-2 antigenic map and offer predictions about the neutralization capabilities of antibody and S mutant combinations based on protein dynamic signatures. We then compare SARS-CoV-2 S protein dynamics to SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV S proteins to investigate differing antibody binding and cellular fusion mechanisms that may explain the high transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2. The outbreaks associated with SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 over the last two decades suggest that the threat presented by coronaviruses is ever-changing and long-term. Our results provide insights into the dynamics-driven mechanisms of immunogenicity associated with coronavirus S proteins, and present a new approach to characterize and screen potential mutant candidates for immunogen design, as well as to characterize emerging natural variants that may escape vaccine-induced antibody responses.
Calibrating Predictions to Decisions: A Novel Approach to Multi-Class Calibration

When facing uncertainty, decision-makers want predictions they can trust. A machine learning provider can convey confidence to decision-makers by guaranteeing their predictions are distribution calibrated -- amongst the inputs that receive a predicted class probabilities vector $q$, the actual distribution over classes is $q$. For multi-class prediction problems, however, achieving distribution calibration tends to be infeasible, requiring sample complexity exponential in the number of classes $C$. In this work, we introduce a new notion -- \emph{decision calibration} -- that requires the predicted distribution and true distribution to be ``indistinguishable'' to a set of downstream decision-makers. When all possible decision makers are under consideration, decision calibration is the same as distribution calibration. However, when we only consider decision makers choosing between a bounded number of actions (e.g. polynomial in $C$), our main result shows that decisions calibration becomes feasible -- we design a recalibration algorithm that requires sample complexity polynomial in the number of actions and the number of classes. We validate our recalibration algorithm empirically: compared to existing methods, decision calibration improves decision-making on skin lesion and ImageNet classification with modern neural network predictors.
Terahertz technology in biology and medicine

Terahertz irradiation and sensing is being applied for the first time to a wide range of fields outside the traditional niches of space science, molecular line spectroscopy, and plasma diagnostics. This paper surveys some of the terahertz measurements and applications of interest in the biological and medical sciences.
A column generation approach to the discrete barycenter problem

Abstract The discrete Wasserstein barycenter problem is a minimum-cost mass transport problem for a set of discrete probability measures. Although an exact barycenter is computable through linear programming, the underlying linear program can be extremely large. For worst-case input, a best known linear programming formulation is exponential in the number of variables, but has a low number of constraints, making it an interesting candidate for column generation. In this paper, we devise and study two column generation strategies: a natural one based on a simplified computation of reduced costs, and one through a Dantzig–Wolfe decomposition. For the latter, we produce efficiently solvable subproblems, namely, a pricing problem in the form of a classical transportation problem. The two strategies begin with an efficient computation of an initial feasible solution. While the structure of the constraints leads to the computation of the reduced costs of all remaining variables for setup, both approaches may outperform a computation using the full program in speed, and dramatically so in memory requirement. In our computational experiments, we exhibit that, depending on the input, either strategy can become a best choice.
Legacy regions, not legacy cities: Growth and decline in city-centered regional economies

Advocates for older central cities increasingly refer to them as “legacy cities” in an attempt to shift policy discussions from their social liabilities to their economic assets. In examining this concept, we place U.S. central cities within the context of their regions and use cluster-discriminant analysis to distinguish between groups of regional economies. The cluster analysis subsets metropolitan areas according to their shared position on several theory-driven dimensions. The discriminate analysis identifies the variables that are most closely associated with the statistical grouping of each subset. The results are used to answer a series of questions: 1) Is population size a good proxy for agglomeration? 2) Do small legacy regions exist? 3) Does the typology of legacy regions provide insights about the economic performance of the clusters? Our findings suggest that the economic development paths of regional economies have to change before the future of central cities that experienced severe population losses can shift to a positive trajectory.
A COMPREHENSIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE-ENABLED ELECTROCARDIOGRAM INTERPRETATION PROGRAM

Automated computerized electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation algorithms are designed to enhance physician ECG interpretation, minimize medical error, and expedite clinical workflow. However, the performance of current computer algorithms is notoriously inconsistent. We aimed to develop and validate
The Case for an Absolute Right of Negative Association

Most legal and political philosophers take the position that even the most fundamental rights such as the freedom of speech, press, assembly, contract and association are not absolute but must be balanced against other rights. This paper challenges that position by seriously addressing the issue of whether the freedom of association should be absolute. But the paper does not dwell so much on the freedom of positive association -- the right to associate -- as with the right of negative association -- the right to not be compelled to associate. Part I of this paper provides an introduction and overview. Part II reviews the present state of the law and discusses some recent cases that limit the freedom of negative association and the legal reasoning behind each decision. Part III discusses some philosophical issues, such as the purpose of government, the nature of rights, the public policy argument and the balancing of rights argument. Part IV concludes that the reasons given for limiting the freedom of negative association do not hold up under analysis because the reasons for placing limitations on this basic right are based on faulty premises. The author proposes a constitutional amendment that would guarantee this precious freedom in a way that the present First Amendment does not. The paper concludes by speculating about the practical benefits such an amendment would have on the general population.
Ontology of Learning Objects Repository for Pedagogical Knowledge Sharing

Ontology has been receiving considerable attention in the learning objects research community. This paper discusses the key concepts of ontology of learning objects repository and proposes an ontological model for pedagogical knowledge sharing. The ontological model specifies a generic organizational structure for learning objects repository based on pedagogical design categories. An ontology that actualizes such a structure allows the user of the learning objects repository to play an active role in pedagogical development through searching semantically relevant learning objects. An example of ontology for pedagogical knowledge sharing is used to illustrate the concepts of the development and use of ontologies of learning objects repository.
Very empirical treatment of solvation and entropy: a force field derived from Log Po/w

A non-covalent interaction force field model derived from the partition coefficient of 1-octanol/water solubility is described. This model, HINT for Hydropathic INTeractions, is shown to include, in very empirical and approximate terms, all components of biomolecular associations, including hydrogen bonding, Coulombic interactions, hydrophobic interactions, entropy and solvation/desolvation. Particular emphasis is placed on: (1) demonstrating the relationship between the total empirical HINT score and free energy of association, deltaGinteraction; (2) showing that the HINT hydrophobic-polar interaction sub-score represents the energy cost of desolvation upon binding for interacting biomolecules; and (3) a new methodology for treating constrained water molecules as discrete independent small ligands. An example calculation is reported for dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) bound with methotrexate (MTX). In that case the observed very tight binding, deltaGinteraction < or = -13.6 kcal mol(-1), is largely due to ten hydrogen bonds between the ligand and enzyme with estimated strength ranging between -0.4 and -2.3 kcal mol(-1). Four water molecules bridging between DHFR and MTX contribute an additional -1.7 kcal mol(-1) stability to the complex. The HINT estimate of the cost of desolvation is +13.9 kcal mol(-1).
Mechanism of dilutional anemia in massive splenomegaly

Twenty patients with anemia and massive splenomegaly were studied in order to elucidate the mechanism by which splenomegaly results in plasma volume expansion. In 18 patients, increased plasma volume accounted for most of the anemia. Fourteen patients had an exaggerated renin response to standing, mean 1967 +/- 613 (SE) ng angiotensin ll/100 ml plasma (p less than 0.05). The mean resting forearm blood flow was increased 3.47 +/- 0.32 (SE) ml/100 ml forearm tissue (p less than 0.001). The venous capacitance was normal, as contrasted to a marked decrease in venous capacitance in patients with anemia of comparable degree without splenomegaly. Cardiac indices were increased in 10 of 11 patients (range 4.1-8.1 liters/min/sq m). In nine of ten patients oxygen consumption was increased (range 147-231 ml/min/sq m). Splenectomy was performed on 14 patients. Splenic blood flow was elevated in four of four patients (range 750-2000 ml/min). Splenic A-V oxygen difference was exaggerated in seven of seven patients and in three of three patients splenic indocyanine-green dye dilution curve failed to show an early peak suggestive of A-V shunting in the spleen. Free portal pressure was elevated in 12 of 12 patients and decreased immediately after splenectomy. The intravascular albumin mass decreased in ten patients, was unchanged in three at 2-4 mo after splenectomy, and was accompanied by a rise in the plasma albumin concentration in nine. These data suggest that a flow-induced portal hypertension with expansion of the portal vascular space is an important early hemodynamic change. This finding, together with a decreased peripheral resistance, probably results in a decrease in effective intravascular volume, resulting in stimulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and other renal hemodynamic changes necessary for salt and water retention. Splenectomy usually accomplishes a complete reversal of these abnormalities and correction of the anemia.
Organizational Variation in Implementation of an Evidence-Based Human Papillomavirus Intervention.

Introduction "1-2-3 Pap" is a video-based intervention designed to improve human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine adherence rates among young women in rural Eastern Kentucky. The efficacy trial for the original intervention linked video exposure with increased likelihood of vaccine series completion among the target audience. Given their historic focus on prevention, local health departments were selected as pilot sites to study implementation of 1-2-3 Pap in a public health setting and identify site-specific variations in its implementation. Methods A mixed-method, pre- and post-comparison pilot study conducted between October 2013 and April 2014 addressed three primary research questions: (1) how specific implementation planning activities using existing organizational resources and processes affect the selection and optimization of dissemination channels for evidence-based public health interventions; (2) what organizational resources, processes, or other attributes facilitate or impede implementation of evidence-based public health interventions; and (3) how variation in dissemination channels corresponds with intervention outcomes. Results Although analysis conducted in October 2014 found that the pilot study did not generate significant changes in HPV vaccine rates, data yielded from the Organizational Readiness to Change Assessment survey instrument and process evaluation interviews revealed variation in pre-study planning and in the use and coordination of staff, the adaptation of materials provided for implementation, and sites' ability to access HPV vaccine rate data throughout the study. Conclusions The mixed-method pilot study advances dissemination and implementation science through identification of variation in planning activities and use of organizational resources and processes for implementation of prevention interventions in public health settings.
Simple design formulas for circularly polarised microstrip antennas

Based on the cavity model theory, formulas for the design of circularly polarised (CP) rectangular patch antennas have been derived. These formulas have been found useful, even for the design of thick microstrip antennas for bandwidth enhancement. This paper will disucss both the theory and the experimental results.
Integration of ferroelectric BaTiO 3 on metallic Ni tapes for power generation

Ferroelectric BaTiO 3 thin films were integrated directly on metallic Ni tapes by using pulsed laser for energy harvesting applications. Microstructure studies from x-ray diffraction and electron microscopy indicate that the as-grown BaTiO 3 thin films have pure BaTiO 3 crystal phase which consists of the crystalline assemblage of nanopillars with average cross sections from 100 nm to 200 nm directly on the Ni tapes. The BaTiO 3 films have good interface structures and strong adhesion to the Ni metallic tapes. Dielectric measurements have shown the hysteresis loop at room temperature in the film with a large remnant polarization, indicating that the ferroelectric domains have been created in the as-deposited BTO films. The successful integration of ferroelectric thin films directly on metallic materials is considered to be very promising for the development of energy harvesting devices.
Assessing Construction Management Higher Education Strategies: Increasing Demand, Limited Resources, and Over-Enrollment

The demand for Construction Management (CM) graduates is on the rise. The problem is that as a result of demand, a growing number of CM programs are experiencing increasing enrollments which exceed their current resources. The purpose of this research was to see how ACCE-Accredited Baccalaureate CM programs were managing increased enrollment demand with limited resources. Forty-nine of the 53 accredited ACCE programs responded to the survey instrument. Over two-thirds of the respondents stated that they were either approaching or were at the limits of enrollment capacities. Most of the respondents listed limited enrollment, the use of adjunct faculty, and funding from industry as leading strategies for managing or obtaining resources. Because CM programs will not be willing to sacrifice quality, more and more CM programs will implement limited enrollment controls. As more CM programs initiate enrollment controls, it will become increasingly difficult for the construction industry to fill entry level posit...
Observed double beta decay spectra from 82Se, 100Mo, and 150Nd

Abstract Two-electron events resembling double beta decay are being observed at energies beyond the die-off of the spectrum predicted for the two-neutrino mode. The anomaly appears in three isotopes having different half lives and Q-values. Tests are now underway to determine its origin.
Graphic Sequences with a Realization Containing a Union of Cliques

An integer sequence π is said to be graphic if it is the degree sequence of some simple graph G. In this case we say that G is a realization of π. Given a graph H, and a graphic sequence π we say that π is potentially H-graphic if there is some realization of π that contains H as a subgraph. We define σ(H,n) to be the minimum even integer such that every graphic sequence with sum at least σ(H,n) is potentially H-graphic. In this paper, we determine σ(H,n) for the graph H = Km1∪ Km2∪...∪ Kmk when n is a sufficiently large integer. This is accomplished by determining σ(Kj + kK2,n) where j and k are arbitrary positive integers, and considering the case where j = m − 2k and m = ∑ mi.
TU‐G‐103‐05: Affordable Supercomputer‐Based Monte Carlo CT Dose Calculations: A Hardware Comparison Between Nvidia M2090 GPU and Intel Xeon Phi 5110p Coprocessor

Purpose: To develop a fast Monte Carlo code ARCHER (a testbed for Accelerated Radiation‐transport Computation in Heterogeneous EnviRonments) to calculate CT imaging organ doses on heterogeneous computing systems. Methods: ARCHER simulates the transport of low‐energy (1∼140keV) photons in heterogeneous media using two selectable interaction models, simple and detailed. It includes an extensive library of voxelized human phantoms such as RPI‐Pregnant women with 3, 6, 9 month gestation, extended RPI‐Adult male and female phantoms representing patients of different obesity level. It contains a validated scanner model based on a GE LightSpeed third‐generation 16‐multi‐detector CT. A series of scan protocols are predefined, including a combination of scan mode (helical or axial), beam collimation (5, 10, or 20 mm) and kVp (80, 100, 120 or 140). ARCHER is targeted for three platforms, CPU (an Intel Xeon X5650 6‐core processor), GPU (Nvidia M2090 GPU), and coprocessor (Intel Xeon Phi 5110p coprocessor), and correspondingly has three code variants developed in MPI‐OpenMP, CUDA and offload OpenMP respectively. Results: Absorbed doses to 28 organs/tissues of dosimetric interest were calculated. MCNPX was used as the accuracy benchmark. The average difference of the organ doses calculated by MCNPX and ARCHER were found to be less than 5% and 0.5% for simple and detailed interaction models respectively, indicating an excellent agreement. While ARCHER's three variants were 63∼1207x faster than MCNPX, the GPU and coprocessor codes were 1.6∼3.4x faster than the CPU (6 core) code. Conclusion: The accelerator‐based new Monte Carlo code ARCHER is developed for accurate and fast CT imaging organ dose calculations. Its full capability to simulate patients of different genders and body sizes receiving different scan protocols exhibits high clinical value.
The effect of state extraversion on four types of affect

The primary purpose of this study was to determine the effect of state extraversion on different types of affect. Ninety six participants were instructed to be extraverted or introverted in a 10-minute dyadic discussion. State extraversion had a strong effect on positive affect and smaller (but still strong) effects on pleasant and activated affect, with these latter two effects almost equal in magnitude. This pattern of findings appears to increase confidence that the effect of state extraversion is genuine rather than the result of construct overlap, in that extraversion's effect on positive affect is not dominated by its effect on activated affect. No support for reward sensitivity as a potential explanatory mechanism was found. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
γ-Glutamyl transferase of swine kidney

Abstract The enzyme of renal tissue responsible for the transfer of the γ-glutamyl grouping of glutathione to various acceptors was solubilized by a brief digestion with ficin and purified to apparent homogeneity by fractionation with ethanol and ammonium sulfate, chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, gel filtration with Sephadex, and gradient centrifugation. The enzyme was found to establish an equilibrium between products and reactants. Glutamic acid was not a product of the reaction and the enzyme was entirely without activity in the absence of an acceptor. The purified enzyme did not hydrolyze γ-glutamylnapthylamide and did not transfer the γ-glutamyl grouping of this compound to potential acceptors. An enzyme responsible for the hydrolysis of γ-glutamylnaphthylamide was separated from renal tissue and was found to be not influenced in its activity by the addition of acceptors. This enzyme was without activity in the hydrolysis of glutathione or of arylamide derivatives of other amino acids.
Student Attitudes Toward Children and Adolescents With Severe Burns

Using color photographs donated by burned and nonburned children as stimulus materials, the authors compared attitudes of 218 practice teachers, senior nursing students, and counselors-in-training toward children and adolescents described as typical, having emotional and psychological problems, or having been severely burned and scarred. With the Adjective Generation Technique and a researcher-designed Attitude Scale, the authors found that children with severe burns and facial scarring were regarded less favorably and were given fewer predictions of future success than the other 2 groups. Significantly fewer of the students expressed a willingness to work with them, and many had little confidence that they would be able to help burned clients. Questions generated by participants concerning things they wanted to know about the 3 groups before working with them revealed that burned children were most often asked about their injuries and scarring but were rarely asked about school, leisure activities, or friends.
Total Knee Arthroplasty in Patients With Parkinson's Disease

A retrospective review of 24 consecutive patients with Parkinson's disease who underwent 33 primary cemented condylar total knee arthroplasties was performed. The average follow-up period was 33 months, with a minimum follow-up period of 2 years. The pain score improved from 34 points before surgery to 89 points at the latest follow-up examination. The functional score improved from 42 points before surgery to 68 points at the latest follow-up examination. In patients whose Parkinson's disease progressed, the latest functional score was 49.5 points, significantly lower than the scores of those patients who did not progress. The results show that total knee arthroplasty is successful in patients with Parkinson's disease. Unfortunately in some patients. Parkinson's disease progresses and functional results decrease, but the benefit of pain relief persists.
Prevention of pneumococcal meningitis

With the success of the conjugated Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccines, Streptococcus pneumoniae has become one of the most important causes of bacterial meningitis worldwide, causing significant morbidity and mortality. Additionally, the increasing amount of resistance that this organism is developing to multiple classes of antimicrobial agents has made the treatment of pneumococcal infections, especially meningitis, much more difficult. Immunization has been shown to be one of most effective methods for preventing pneumococcal meningitis, resulting not only in a decrease in disease burden, but also a decrease in antimicrobial resistance. Currently, a 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine and a heptavalent protein conjugate vaccine are licensed for use. However, the 23-valent polysaccharide vaccine is poorly immunogenic in infants and young children. The continued development, licensing, and use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have the best potential to both prevent disease and decrease the prevalence of pneumococcal meningitis.
A method for computing spectral reflectance

Psychophysical experiments show that the perceived colour of an object is relatively independent of the spectrum of the incident illumination and mainly depends on the surface spectral reflectance. We first demonstrate a possible solution to this undetermined problem for a Mondrian world of flat rectangular patches. We expand the illumination and surface reflectances in terms of a finite number of basis functions. We assume that the number of colour receptors is greater than the number of basis functions. This yields a set of nonlinear equations for each colour patch. Number counting arguments show that, given a sufficient number of surface patches with the same illumination, there are enough equations to determine the surface reflectances up to an overall scaling factor. This theory is similar to previous and independent work by Maloney and Wandell (Maloney 1985). We demonstrate a simple method of solving these non-linear equations. We generalize to situations where the illumination varies in space and the objects are three dimensional shapes. To do this we define a method for detecting material changes, a colour edge detector, and illustrate a way of detecting the colour of a material at its boundaries and propagating it inwards.
Innovative approach of V and Z analysis for mix signal transceiver failure

This paper introduces the approach of V and Z analysis in solving the transceiver failure for the mix-signal product. It describes the methodology derived from the understanding of low voltage differential signal (LVDS) design at input/output (I/O) buffer. While conventional method of current/voltage (I/V) parametric analysis shows only the diode characteristic, the V and Z analysis is initiated to reveal the key parameters inside the LVDS design of the transceiver. This approach proved its feasibility for the failure analysis/fault isolation (FA/FI) that is sensitive to the fluctuation of voltage and impedance parameters.
Measured deviations from Rutherford backscattering cross sections using Li-ion beams

Abstract Bozoian et al. have developed an analytical theory which predicts the incident ion energy at which elastic-scattering cross sections begin to deviate from their Rutherford values as the result of nuclear perturbations. The predictions are in good agreement with experimental data for proton and helium-ion beams, and should be applicable to heavier projectiles. The theory has also been extended to account for isotopic variation of the incident beam. As a further test of the theory, we have performed a series of backscattering measurements using both 6Li and 7Li ion beams. Lithium-ion backscattering is of importance to thin-film analysis because it offers improved depth sensitivity and kinematic mass resolution as compared to helium. Elastic-backscattering cross sections for O, F, Al, and Ti were measured relative to those ofhigh-Z reference elements over an energy range of 2.5–9.25 MeV, and the energies at which they began to deviate from their Rutherford values were determined. The experimental results are compared to predictions from the analytical theory, and from optical-model calculations.
In Vitro Interactions Between Amyloid Beta and Islet Amyloid Polypeptide

Alzheimer's disease and type II diabetes mellitus are two prevalent protein misfolding diseases. Their co-morbidity has raised questions regarding potential interactions between the peptides that are implicated in each disease state. Islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) aggregates in type II diabetes mellitus while amyloid beta 1-42 (Aβ42) aggregates in Alzheimer's disease. Interactions between these amyloidogenic peptides may result in coaggregation that could exacerbate the cellular toxicity associated with each disease by increasing the amount of toxic oligomers over less toxic mature fibrils.We tested this hypothesis in vitro by studying aggregation kinetics, aggregate morphology, stability and cytotoxicity of IAPP / Aβ42 mixtures. Tetramethylrhodamine (TMR)-labeled Aβ42 was incubated with excess AlexaFluor 488 (A488)-labeled IAPP which revealed through colocalization analysis that both peptides coaggregate. A complimentary experiment with excess TMR-labeled Aβ42 showed similar results. We then monitored aggregation kinetics of IAPP and Aβ42 through Thioflavin T fluorescence. Equimolar mixtures of Aβ42 and IAPP displayed aggregation kinetics intermediate of Aβ42 and IAPP. While IAPP prolonged the lag-phase of Aβ42, the opposite was not observed. At the same time, the presence of equimolar or excess IAPP diminished the SDS-resistance of fibrillar Aβ42 aggregates. We then added aggregation intermediates corresponding to the lag phase, early and late growth phases, and the plateau phase to human neuroblastoma (SH-EP) cells to test for cytotoxicity. Surprisingly, the cytotoxicity of Aβ42 / IAPP mixtures was intermediate to that of Aβ and IAPP alone. Taken together, these results indicate a molecular interaction exists between these two disease-relevant peptides and may provide a link between type II diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer's disease but does not support a model in which co-aggregation with IAPP directly exacerbates Aβ toxicity by increasing oligomer formation.
LYMPHOMATOSIS, MYELOMATOSIS, AND ENDOTHELIOMA OF CHICKENS CAUSED BY A FILTERABLE AGENT : I. TRANSMISSION EXPERIMENTS.

A new transmissible strain of leukosis of chickens is described that causes (a) lymphomatosis with or without tumor formation, and with or without leukemia, (b) myelocytomatosis with or without leukemia, and (c) endothelioma. All these diseases are transmissible by material free from viable cells, and the available evidence indicates that they are caused by a single filterable agent.
EXPERIMENTAL DISPERSION CURVES FOR PHONONS IN ALUMINUM

Abstract Dispersion curves for phonons propagating in the [100] and [110] directions in an aluminum crystal at ~ 300°K have been measured in a neutron scattering experiment. These data together with the elastic constants obtained by Schmunk and Smith yield dispersion curves having average random errors of ~0·6 per cent, and estimated total errors of 1–2 per cent. Interplanar force constants were obtained by least squares analysis of the experimental dispersion curves. For phonons propagating in the [100] direction, forces due to atoms at least 5 planes distant must be included to obtain a fit to the experimental data, while for phonons in the [110] direction, at least 7 planes are required. This corresponds to an interaction having a range of 2·6 lattice spaces, and includes forces due to atoms out to at least the 15th neighbors.
Pulse Pressure and Cardiovascular Events in Postmenopausal Women With Coronary Heart Disease

Background Pulse pressure (PP) has been shown to predict risk for cardiovascular events in men; however, this association has not been well established in women. Hormone replacement therapy may improve arterial compliance, but findings from cross-sectional and prospective studies report inconsistent results. We sought to examine the relationship between PP and risk for cardiovascular events, and to determine the effect of hormone therapy on PP in postmenopausal women with coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods and results A total of 2,763 postmenopausal women (mean age, 66 ± 7 years [± SD]) with CHD in the Heart and Estrogen/Progestin Replacement Study, a randomized, placebo-controlled, secondary CHD prevention trial of estrogen plus progestin, were followed up on average for 4.1 years. BP was measured at baseline and annually. Mean baseline PP was 62 ± 16 mm Hg. There were 361 myocardial infarctions (MIs) or CHD deaths, 265 hospitalizations for congestive heart failure (CHF), and 215 strokes or transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). Women in the highest quartile of PP at baseline had a 47% increase in risk for MI or CHD death and more than a twofold increase in risk for stroke and TIA events or hospitalization for CHF (p Conclusions PP had predictive value for CHF and stroke or TIA, but not MI or CHD death in this cohort of postmenopausal women with CHD. Use of hormone replacement therapy produced a small, statistically significant increase in PP. Further research is necessary to determine the clinical utility of PP as a potential therapeutic target.
Ousmane Sembene's Hall of Men: (En)Gendering Everyday Heroism

Faat Kine (2000) and Moolaade (2004) have together generated remarkable critical attention with regard to the place of women in Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembene’s filmography. While numerous film critics and theorists see Sembene as a veritable torchbearer for African feminism, they have not sufficiently attended to the role men play in these final films. In order to contribute a more comprehensive feminist interpretation of these films, in this article I expose the complex web of power relations in which women’s issues are embedded and show how the patriarchal grip risks thwarting plural expressions of both femininity and masculinity. I further demonstrate how female characters and their issues in Faat Kine and Moolaade enable Sembene to unveil male characters that lay claim to novel paradigms of masculinities, no longer shackled to the colonial narrative of the past but rather anchored in the practice of their material experience of the everyday.
The promotional roles of the state government and Japanese manufacturing direct investment in the United States

Abstract Japanese direct investment in the United States has dramatically increased in the 1980s, particularly since 1985. Of all the Japanese direct investment in the United States, more than 60% occured in the second half of the decade. However, little is known about the roles that each of the 50 states plays in locating Japanese investment in the state. Anecdotes of the roles that some state governments play in attracting major Japanese investments are not sufficient to understand the effectiveness of various promotional measures. In this article, I examine the effectiveness of various promotional measures. An unexpected finding is reported: state government's export promotional activities are effective in attracting Japanese investments, while measures meant to attract them are not. Japanese firms have some preferred investment locations that seem weakly but positively influenced by the presence of peer Japanese firms preceding them.