cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY ACQUISITION FROM ORAL AND WRITTEN DIALOGUE JOURNALS

This paper is in answer to Ellis's (1994) call for more research about vocabulary acquisition from oral input in four areas. It is a hypothesis-generating study of nine advanced university EFL learners' incidental vocabulary acquisition from oral and written dialogue journals over a semester's time. All teacher and student entries in the two types of journals were transcribed and analyzed using WordCruncher (1993). The analyses compare the characteristics of the input to the learners in the two modes as well as quantitative and qualitative evidence of vocabulary acquisition by the learners from the two modes. Findings of this study indicate several specific places (14 statements) where further research could be undertaken. These fit in three of the areas Ellis named for exploration: (a) “the nature of the input,” (b) “the role of interaction,” and (c) “individual learner factors” (p. 1). The findings suggest measures that can be used for quantitative and qualitative evidence of vocabulary acquisition from natural sources
REGULATION OF SINGULAR ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS MODELLING OSCILLATING SYSTEMS

A method has been presented to regularize singular ODE's that occur in the modelling of certain non linear oscillating systems. The procedure transforms the singular points out to the boundary at infinity; Consequently, the usual methods of numerical, phase space and analytic analysis can be directly applied to the new ODE, which does not contain singularities
Free Fatty Acid Effects on Mitochondrial Permeability: An Overview

Abstract A variety of experimental conditions elicit increases in mitochondrial permeability that can be differentiated from the classic cyclosporin A (CsA)-sensitive mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT). For example, butylated hydroxytoluene, signal peptides, and the hormone thyroxine have been shown to promote increases in mitochondrial permeability that are CsA-insensitive. Our laboratory has recently demonstrated that palmitic acid, a saturated 16-carbon free fatty acid (FFA), can also open a CsA-insensitive pore. This nonclassic permeability transition (NCPT) is further distinguished by a nonselective dependence on divalent cations and by spontaneous closure. To determine if induction of the NCPT is specific to palmitic acid and to resolve conflicting reports as to the mechanisms by which FFAs alter mitochondrial permeability, we examined in detail mitochondrial swelling induced by FFAs that differ in chain length and degree of saturation. The following results were obtained: (1) In the presence of modest Ca2+ concentrations (75 nmol/mg protein), medium-chain FFAs (C12–C18) were more effective in eliciting mitochondrial swelling than were shorter or longer FFAs; medium-chain alkanols and amines had no effect. (2) Under these conditions, saturated FFAs induced CsA-insensitive swelling with all the characteristics of the NCPT, while unsaturated FFAs triggered the MPT. (3) When matrix Ca2+ concentration was further elevated, unsaturated FFAs triggered the NCPT. (4) Mitochondrial swelling induced by saturated FFAs was inhibited by unsaturated FFAs but not by other saturated FFAs or medium-chain alkanols. These results suggest that ambient conditions can greatly influence the nature of the increase in mitochondrial permeability induced by FFAs. They are also consistent with our earlier proposal that Ca2+ (or Sr2+) binding to FFAs in the inner leaflet of the inner mitochondrial membrane underlies the NCPT.
Selectors, subject knowledge, and digital collections

Quelles sont les voies d'avenir de la gestion des collections a l'ere du numerique ? Les competences necessaires aux bibliothecaires responsables du developpement et de la selection des collections electroniques different-elles sensiblement de celles requises dans l'environnement traditionnel ? L'expertise et la connaissance du sujet sont des caracteristiques importantes du selectionneur a l'heure ou les bibliotheques de recherche s'efforcent de developper des portails fonctionnels, d'implementer des collections federees, de gerer le chaos du Web et de repondre aux defis de la gestion des connaissances.
Some properties of three-periodic sphere packings

Some properties of sphere packings are reviewed. Candidates for the least-dense packings of one kind of sphere for different coordination numbers are identified and described. Some topological properties of sphere packing nets are also described.
Effect of nicotine chewing gum on plasma nicotine levels of cigarette smokers

This study was designed to determine whether the use of nicotine chewing gum modifies the inhalation and absorption of nicotine by cigarette smokers. Our subjects, 12 subjects who smoked cigarettes regularly, were studied for 4 days. On the first day, they smoked as usual, and on the second, third, and fourth days they also chewed a placebo gum, 2-mg nicotine gum, or 4-mg nicotine gum. They were instructed to smoke as usual throughout the study. Mean plasma nicotine concentration was 29.5 ng/ml with the placebo gum, 30.9 ng/ml with the 2-mg gum, and 40.7 ng/ml with the 4-mg gum. Peak carbon monoxide level was lower with nicotine gum than with placebo gum. Data indicate self-regulation of blood nicotine levels. The subjects appear to have compensated almost completely for the increased intake of nicotine from the 2-mg nicotine gum by decreasing the inhalation of tobacco smoke. Nicotine compensation provided by the 4-mg nicotine gum is only partial.
The relationship between sleep problems and challenging behavior among children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract Prior research has indicated fairly consistently that sleep problems appear to worsen ASD core symptomatology. As such, the present study was conducted to examine whether or not sleep problems also exacerbate behavior problems commonly exhibited by children and adolescents with ASD in terms of total, internalizing, and externalizing challenging behavior. Results indicated that presence of sleep problems increased the ratings of challenging behavior across types, as hypothesized. Unexpectedly, degree of sleep problem (i.e., mild versus severe) only affected total and externalizing challenging behavior, whereas ratings of internalizing challenging behavior were not significantly different between mild and severe sleep problem groups. Clinical applications of findings, as well as future directions for additional research on the topic of sleep among individuals with ASD, are discussed.
On the uniqueness and sensitivity issues in determining the elastic and plastic properties of power-law hardening materials through sharp and spherical indentation

A systematic study of the uniqueness, reversibility and sensitivity issues associated with seven indentation-based methods of property extraction demonstrates that: (i) The indentation algorithms generally identify the elastic and plastic properties of materials uniquely for most materials. (ii) The indentation forward algorithms (wherein the indention responses are determined from the elastic and plastic properties of the indented materials) and the reverse algorithms (wherein the elastic and the plastic properties of materials are extracted from the indentation responses) are distinct for each indentation method and are internally consistent in that the differences in the elastic and plastic properties determined through the reverse analysis and the ‘true’ material properties are generally small for a large number of materials, for each of the seven methods. (iii) While the differences in the indentation response parameters predicted by each of the seven indentation methods (for a particular material) c...
National Identity After Communism: Hungary’s Statue Park

This article analyzes the development of national identity and political ideology in Hungary’s Szoborpark (Statue Park), where resides a collection of Soviet-era statues relocated from the city streets and public squares of Budapest in 1993. Although a narrative of the Cold War and the theory of postcommunism enable understandings of the park as a decisive break with the past, this article argues that Statue Park constructs a more ambivalent sense of politics, identity, and history in Hungary. By showing that the park represents a number of conflicting and unresolved features of Hungarian national identity and politics, the article helps demonstrate the way that a sweeping historical narrative like the Cold War can produce inaccurate understandings of local political developments in post-Soviet countries.
Parent-investigators: a dilemma.

A recent news story reported that some psychologists and neuroscientists have used their children as study participants.1 In one case, a neurology professor had 3 of his children undergo a brain scan with magnetic resonance imaging. In a language development study, a psychologist videotaped 70% of his son’s waking hours for the first 3 years of his life.1 Other investigators have also conducted research on their own children, including Edward Jenner,2 who tested his smallpox vaccine on his 11-month-old son; Jonas Salk, who tested his polio vaccine on his own children; and psychologist Jean Piaget, who constructed his theories of child development based on studies of his own children. Should investigators conduct research on their own children? Federal research regulations3 do not address this issue and regulatory agencies, such as the Office of Human Research Protections,4 have no policies dealing with it. Other research guidelines, such as the Nuremberg Code5 and the Helsinki Declaration,6 also do not address the issue of parent-investigators. When laws and professional codes do not provide guidance concerning human research, investigators and committees that oversee research, such as institutional review boards (IRBs), must rely on their ethical judgment to decide.7
"3 . . 2 . . 1 . . Impact [factor]: target [academic career] destroyed!": just another statistical casualty.

“Publish or perish” is the time-honored “principle” for academicians who race to accumulate lines under the “publications” section of a curriculum vitae. The original intent of publication—to inform others of findings and further scientific knowledge—has been corrupted by factors including (1) exponential growth of journals and the journal industry, fueled in part by intrusion of the Internet into all aspects of academic life; and (2) adoption of journal metrics (rather than written content) as the measure of scientific quality. The proprietary Thomson Reuters Impact Factor is the most pernicious metric, having caused editors and publishers to change editorial practices to boost the number. At the same time, gullible administrators and government agencies have been persuaded that metrics for the journal in which materials are published can be used as a measure of the worth of individual investigators (and institutions) and their research efforts: simple numbers can be substituted for the burdensome effort...
The effect of different carbohydrates on the glycogen content and growth of Trichomonas gallinae

Abstract 1. 1. Glucose, maltose and galactose, in media, were compared regarding their effects on cell constituents and growth of Trichomonas gallinae. 2. 2. Cells grown in galactose contained more glycogen and protein than cells grown in maltose. Cells from glucose medium contained the least glycogen and protein. 3. 3. Glycogen and protein contents were highest for galactose cells throughout the growth cycle compared to other two sugars. 4. 4. Glycogen from galactose-grown cells contained no galactose. 5. 5. Cells in galactose medium grew slower and attained less total numbers than cells in glucose medium.
Structural analysis of network traffic flows

Network traffic arises from the superposition of Origin-Destination (OD) flows. Hence, a thorough understanding of OD flows is essential for modeling network traffic, and for addressing a wide variety of problems including traffic engineering, traffic matrix estimation, capacity planning, forecasting and anomaly detection. However, to date, OD flows have not been closely studied, and there is very little known about their properties.We present the first analysis of complete sets of OD flow time-series, taken from two different backbone networks (Abilene and Sprint-Europe). Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), we find that the set of OD flows has small intrinsic dimension. In fact, even in a network with over a hundred OD flows, these flows can be accurately modeled in time using a small number (10 or less) of independent components or dimensions.We also show how to use PCA to systematically decompose the structure of OD flow timeseries into three main constituents: common periodic trends, short-lived bursts, and noise. We provide insight into how the various constitutents contribute to the overall structure of OD flows and explore the extent to which this decomposition varies over time.
Robust data assimilation in hydrological modeling – A comparison of Kalman and H-infinity filters

Abstract Hydrological model and observation errors are often non-Gaussian and/or biased, and the statistical properties of the errors are often unknown or not fully known. Thus, determining the true error covariance matrices is a challenge for data assimilation approaches such as the most widely used Kalman filter (KF) and its extensions, which assume Gaussian error nature and need fully known error statistics. This paper introduces H-infinite filter (HF) to hydrological modeling and compares HF with KF under various model and observation error conditions. HF is basically a robust version of KF. When model performance is not well known, or changes unpredictably, HF may be preferred over KF. HF is especially suitable for the cases where the estimation performance in the worst error case needs to be guaranteed. Through the application of HF to a hypothetical hydrologic model, this paper shows that HF is less sensitive to the uncertainty in the initial condition, corrects system bias more effectively, and converges to true state faster after interruptions than KF. In particular, HF performs better in dealing with instant human inputs (irrigation is used as an example), which are characterized by non-stationary, non-Gaussian and not fully known errors. However HF design can be more difficult than KF design due to the sensitivity of HF performance to design parameters (weights for model and observation error terms). Through sensitivity analysis, this paper shows the existence of a certain range of those parameters, in which the “best” value of the parameters is located. The tuning of HF design parameters, which can be based on users’ prior knowledge on the nature of model and observation errors, is critical for the implementation of HF.
Criteria for operability and reduction of surgical mortality in patients with severe left ventricular ischemia and dysfunction.

Abstract A series of 188 patients who were operated on for left ventricular ischemia and dysfunction is presented. Angina was a prominent symptom in all patients, and a history of congestive heart failure could be elicited in 20%. Mean ejection fraction for the series was 0.35, with 67% having an ejection fraction of 0.35 or less and 24%, 0.20 or less. Complete revascularization was accomplished whenever possible; more than 70% of the patients had triple-vessel disease, and single bypass was performed infrequently (5%). Factors thought to be important in achieving a low operative mortality (2.1%) were: precise prebypass monitoring, particularly with the V5 precordial lead; maintaining a low rate-pressure product (
Ion kinetic energy spectroscopy

Preliminary results indicate the value of ion kinetic energy (1KE) spectra in adding a new dimension to structural information obtained by mass spectrometry. These spectra are especially useful in the distinction of some isomer pairs. Energy spectra provide a summary of gaseous ion chemistry occurring as metastable transitions in the first-field free-drift region of the double-focusing (Mattauch-Herzog geometry) mass spectrometer and are produced by scanning the electrostatic sector voltage while recording the ions transmitted by the sector with the beam monitor electrometer.
The Automatic Sweetheart: An Assignment in a History of Psychology Course

This article describes an assignment in a History of Psychology course used to enhance student retention of material and increase student interest and discussion of the long-standing debate between...
Fuzzy neuron adaptive modeling to predict surface roughness under process variations in CNC turning

Many surface roughness control models for turning operations are based on experimental data models that are often expensive and time consuming to construct. Empirical models are limited to domain-specific applications and are very sensitive to process variations that may occur during the implementation stages. Over time, a machining process output may drift due to changes in a machine tool structure and the environment. Empirical models have no means of compensating for changes in the process or responding to process variations. In this study, a fuzzy adaptive modeling technique, which adapts the membership functions in accordance with the magnitude of the process variations, is used to predict surface roughness. This approach can be viewed as a way to expand the domain of a cutting experiment. Test results show good agreement between the actual process output and the predicted surface roughness. Further development of the method may lead to an improved automated process control for machining operations.
Congener-specific dechlorination of dissolved PCBs by microscale and nanoscale zerovalent iron in a water/methanol solution.

Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated sediments remain a significant threat to humans and aquatic ecosystems. Dredging and disposal is costly, so viable in situ technologies to dechlorinate PCBs are needed. This study demonstrates that nanoscale zerovalent iron (ZVI) dechlorinates PCBs to lower-chlorinated products under ambient conditions, provides insight into structure−activity relationships between PCB isomers, and compares the reactivity of nanoscale ZVI to that of palladized microscale ZVI. Six PCB congeners were studied (22‘, 34‘, 234, 22‘35‘, 22‘45‘, and 33‘44‘) to compare the initial rate of dechlorination of each and to monitor the order in which chlorines are removed. Using 200 g/L of nanoscale ZVI in a 30% MeOH/water mixture, observed surface-area-normalized pseudo-first-order PCB dechlorination rate constants ranged from 1 × 10-6 to 5.5 × 10-4 L yr-1 m-2 depending on the PCB congener tested. Using 200 g/L of palladized (0.05 wt %) microscale ZVI, surface-area-normalized pseudo-first-ord...
Stochastic earthquake response of structures on sliding foundation

Abstract Stochastic earthquake response of structures on sliding foundation is studied. The structure is modeled by a rigid mass and Coulomb friction is considered between the structure and its foundation. A nonstationary white noise model of earthquake ground motion is employed and the response of the system is investigated by the generalized method of equivalent linearization. The results are compared with those of the stationary analysis and some estimates for the maximum slip are obtained and discussed.
The examination of fatty acid taste with edible strips

The objective of this study was to determine whether humans could detect long-chain fatty acids when these lipid molecules are delivered to the oral cavity by edible taste strips. For suprathreshold studies, up to 1.7 μmol of stearic acid or linoleic acid was incorporated into 0.03 mm thick, one-inch square taste strips. Normalized taste intensity values for stearic acid were in the barely detectable range, with values equal to, or slightly above control strips. One-third of test subjects described the taste quality as oily/fatty/waxy. Approximately 75% of test subjects could detect the presence of linoleic acid when this fatty acid was incorporated into dissolvable strips. Normalized taste intensity values for linoleic acid were in the weak to moderate range. The most commonly reported taste quality responses for linoleic acid were fatty/oily/waxy, or bitter. When nasal airflow was obstructed, the perceived taste intensity of linoleic acid decreased by approximately 40%. Taste intensity values and taste quality responses for linoleic acid were then compared among tasters and non-tasters of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). Individuals who could detect the bitter taste of PROP reported higher taste intensity values for linoleic acid compared with PROP non-tasters. However, taste quality responses for linoleic acid were similar among both PROP tasters and PROP non-tasters. These results indicate that humans can detect long-chain fatty acids by both olfactory and non-olfactory pathways when these hydrophobic molecules are delivered to the oral cavity by means of edible taste strips. These studies further show that genetic variation in taste sensitivity to PROP affects chemosensory responses to the cis-unsaturated fatty acid (linoleic acid) in the oral cavity.
Resolving power: a quantitative measure of electrophoretic resolution.

Resolving power is a quantitative measure of the ability of an electrophoretic system to separate DNA (and other) molecules of similar size. It is a dimensionless quantity, and hence facilitates comparison of the performance of electrophoretic systems that operate very differently. Resolving power can be determined as a function of molecular length from experimental data consisting of a series of completely resolved bands on a gel or blot; closely spaced bands are not required. We discuss factors such as the mass of DNA in a particular band and the spatial resolution of the system used to image the distribution of DNA on a gel or blot that, while not an intrinsic part of the electrophoretic system, may influence the observed resolving power. We derive an empirical global dispersion function that applies both to images of gels obtained after a fixed time of electrophoresis of all the samples and to images obtained as each species reaches a detector located at a fixed distance from the starting well. We use this dispersion function to show that the improvement in resolving power produced by extending the time or distance of electrophoresis in a static, uniform electric field asymptotically approaches a limiting value that is a function of the length of the DNA. When plotted as a function of molecular length, this limiting value defines an envelope that characterizes the intrinsic limits of performance of a particular electrophoretic system (e.g., electric field strength, gel type and concentration, buffer, temperature). Comparing the resolving power of static field agarose gel electrophoresis as routinely practiced for separating DNA molecules from 10(3) to 10(5) bp long with other electrophoretic schemes suggests that significant improvements should be achievable.
On the Representation of Shift-Varying Linear System Maps

We give an expression for the most general continuous linear input-output map that takes the space of (Lebesgue) integrable functions into itself. This expression is a function-space limit of an integral. As an application, a representation result is given for an important family of linear maps that take the space of bounded measurable functions into itself and satisfy a certain continuity condition, and it is noted that no such result holds for a general continuous linear maps that takes the space into itself and meets the continuity condition. Some related material concerning engineering education is also given.
Social inhibition as a function of observation and recording of performance

Abstract In order to compare the relative effects of observation of performance and recording of information about performance on social facilitation/inhibition, 256 college students solved three concept-attainment problems in an orthogonal design. The variables were (a) number of observers (an additional observer or the experimenter alone), (b) videorecording (yes or no), (c) audiorecording (yes or no), (d) task complexity (four, six, eight, or ten total attributes in the problems). Each of videotaping, filming, and audiotaping resulted in poorer performance than the control condition, with no differences between these three recording conditions. The presence of an additional observer had no effect on performance. Pulse measures indicated that the presence of an additional observer increased arousal, but covariance analysis indicated no association between differences in performance and arousal.
Autumn Defoliation Effects on Alfalfa Winter Survival, Root Physiology, and Gene Expression

Harvesting alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) after mid-September in the North-Central USA often reduces plant winter survival, but the physiological mechanisms associated with poor winter survival are not understood. Our objective was to determine how autumn harvesting affects alfalfa root physiology, gene expression, and plant winter survival. In Exp. 1, seven fall harvest dates were used to identify 1 to 15 October as a critical interval where significant changes in alfalfa winter survival and root physiology occur in Indiana. In Exp. 2, rows of six alfalfa cultivars possessing contrasting fall dormancy (FD) were established in May. Plants in one-half of each row were defoliated in mid-October, and roots were sampled at this defoliation and again in December. Winter injury was determined in mid-April. Shoot removal in mid-October increased winter injury and reduced plant vigor in spring. As expected, the October defoliation reduced root protein and starch concentrations in December, but unexpectedly increased root sugar concentrations. In addition, defoliation did not reduce the steady state transcript levels of several cold-acclimation responsive (car) genes that are associated with genetic variation in winter survival. Although positively associated with genetic differences in winter hardiness, factors other than root sugar accumulation and expression of these cargenes regulate defoliation-induced changes in winter survival of these alfalfa cultivars.
Revisiting Section 504, Physical Education, and Sport

(1998). Revisiting Section 504, Physical Education, and Sport. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance: Vol. 69, No. 7, pp. 57-63.
Slit Radiography: Problems And Potential

Slit radiography is a highly efficient technique for rejecting scattered radiation in x-ray imaging. In slit radiography, a large-field image is recorded by scanning a narrow x-ray beam across the object, so that all parts of the image are formed by a small x-ray field. Several investigators, including ourselves, have constructed slit radiography machines to test this principle. In general, slit radiography has been shown to be highly effective for eliminating scattered radiation, capable of reducing scatter intensity to less than 20% of the recorded x-ray beam. Problems with the technique also have been revealed, including: 1) the need for a very precise and mechanically rugged collimating apparatus to shape and scan the slit x-ray beams, 2) exceptionally high tube loading and/or exposure time requirements due to inefficient utilization of x-rays in forming narrow slit beams, and 3) insufficient latitude of currently available x-ray film types for recording the high contrast images generated by the slit technique, especially in procedures that already are latitude limited, such as chest radiography. The potential for practical implementation of slit radiography techniques, and their impact on diagnostic accuracy in light of these problems is discussed.
Intending to Forget: The Development of Cognitive Inhibition in Directed Forgetting

Abstract The thesis of this research is that children's cognitive inhibition increases in efficiency with age over the middle childhood years, and this increasing efficiency contributes to developmental improvements in memory performance. To explore this thesis, the development of efficient retrieval inhibition, defined as the suppression of activation and retrieval paths to information stored in long-term memory, was investigated. In Experiment 1, first, third, and fifth graders and adults participated in a directed-forgetting experiment. Using a blocked-cuing procedure, subjects were given a “forget” or “remember” cue halfway through an unrelated free-recall list. At recall, subjects were asked either to remember all the words (even the ones they had been instructed to forget) or to remember only to-be-remembered words. The results suggested that the ability to intentionally inhibit the maintenance and recall of irrelevant information improves gradually over the elementary school years, but is not fully mature by fifth grade. Children were less able than adults to inhibit the to-be-forgotten words, and they were less able to withhold production of remembered to-be-forgotten words than were adults. Experiment 2 replicated the developmental effects found in the first experiment and demonstrated that the developmental differences in performance were due to differences in mnemonic processing rather than differences in the ability to understand the instructions of the task.
Effects of substrate temperature on the optical properties of polycrystalline CuInSe 2 thin films

Polycrystalline CuInSe 2 (CIS) thin films ∼100 nm thick were deposited using the co-evaporation method onto fused quartz substrates held at three different substrate temperatures (Ts): 450°C, 525°C, and 600°C. The films were characterized with spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) both from the film side and through the glass. These SE data with both measurement geometries were analyzed together, based on an optical model containing a bulk CIS layer and a thin surface over-layer. The resulting optical properties of the CIS films were analyzed with the critical point (CP) parabolic band approximation. CP parameters indicate that CIS grain size increases significantly from 450°C to 525°C, but the difference between 525°C and 600°C is small. This is consistent with the scanning electron microscopy measurements. A steady blue shift in CP energies with increasing T s was also observed, possibly due to the tensile strain in the CIS films, which was confirmed by the X-ray diffraction characterizations.
SLA RESEARCH AND LANGUAGE TEACHING.Rod Ellis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp. viii + 280. £19.10 paper.

Rod Ellis's latest offering addresses issues relating to the interface between SLA research and language pedagogy. To this end, the book opens with an informative and thought-provoking examination of applied SLA (research simultaneously encompassing the theory and practice of SLA and pedagogy), which, following Widdowson, Ellis distinguishes from SLA applied (extension of SLA findings to teaching). In this regard he discusses the difference between technical knowledge and “confirmatory,” often experimental, research on the one hand, and practical knowledge and “interpretative,” real world, observation-interactional research on the other. According to Ellis, the confirmatory tradition, which promotes an applied science (i.e., SLA applied) view of education, has been the dominant paradigm in the field. This tradition situates researchers at the top of the research-practice hierarchy as producers of information and locates teachers lower down on the hierarchy as information consumers.
Datacenters as Controllable Load Resources in the Electricity Market

Data centers, being major consumers of power, can play an important role in the efficient operation of electrical grids. This paper develops an optimization framework to allow data centers to operate as controllable load resources within the demand dispatch regime, a demand response (DR) program in which incentives are designed to induce lower electricity use not just during times of high prices but also when the reliability of the local grid is jeopardized or when the electricity supply and demand are unbalanced. Assuming the availability of geographically distributed and virtualized data centers situated in multiple regional electrical markets, the basic idea is to migrate the workload in the form of virtual machines (VMs) between these centers to maximize the expected payoff. The proposed framework addresses issues specific to the demand dispatch of data centers such as timeliness of VM migrations and the impact of geographic distance on migration times. It also explicitly incorporates risks that may cause the load curtailment operation to be ultimately unsuccessful and result in monetary losses to data center operators; specifically, variability in network bandwidth that can cause uncertainty in VM migration times as well as the uncertain payoff when participating in DR markets. A set of case studies involving datacenters participating in an economic DR program is used to validate the framework.
Power-law breakdown and the dislocation microstructure in type 304 stainless steel

Abstract The dislocation microstructure was examined in type 304 stainless-steel specimens torsionally deformed to large strains (0.92) at temperatures corresponding to the power-law and power-law-breakdown regimes. New evidence is presented that shows that while subgrain boundaries readily form at higher (power-law) temperatures, they are not generally stable at lower (power-law-breakdown) temperatures.
Osmotic compression of skinned cardiac and skeletal muscle bundles: effects on force generation, Ca2+ sensitivity and Ca2+ binding.

Length-dependence of myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity is now considered to be an important component of the steep relationship between active force and sarcomere length along the ascending limb of the cardiac force-length curve. Studies with skinned cardiac muscle preparations have demonstrated that Ca2+-troponin C affinity is significantly increased as sarcomere length is increased over the range 1.7–2.3 μm. Increase in sarcomere length is accompanied by a reduction in interfilament spacing. In skinned fiber preparations from both cardiac and skeletal muscle osmotic compression of the filament lattice enhances myofilament Ca2+ sensitivity. This study was undertaken to evaluate the hypothesis that a change in filament separation may contribute to the length-dependent activation seen in cardiac muscle. Moderate reduction in interfilament spacing caused by exposure to Dextran T-500 (5–10%) produced an increase in force generation in both maximally activated and partially activated preparations of skinned bovine ventricular muscle. With fiber bundles of mean sarcomere length 1.7 μm the addition of 5% Dextran T-500 produced an increase in Ca2+ sensitivity of about 0.25 pCa units and a significant increase in Ca2+ binding in the pCa range (6.0–5.0) in which the single regulatory site of cardiac troponin C is titrated. This concentration of Dextran T-500 produced a reduction in fiber width equivalent to that produced by stretching fibers from sarcomere length 1.7 μm to sarcomere length 2.3 μm. Osmotic compression of skinned rabbit psoas muscle fibers also enhanced Ca2+ sensitivity but there was no significant change in Ca2+-troponin C affinity. These data suggest that 1) an important component of length-dependent Ca2+ sensitivity in both cardiac and skeletal muscle is the change in interfilament spacing, and 2) in cardiac muscle a reduction in spacing, like increase in length, leads to a specific increase in Ca2+-troponin C affinity. Thus both filament overlap and filament separation contribute to the length dependence of Ca2+ sensitivity and Ca2+ binding in cardiac muscle.
Nephron-sparing surgery

Nephron-sparing surgery is increasingly being used to treat patients with solid renal tumors in both adults and children. A contemporary review of the indications, techniques and outcomes is presented for nephron-sparing approaches to primary renal tumors during childhood. Additionally, this review addresses current evidence on the potential risk of renal dysfunction carried by nephrectomized children in the setting of a normally functioning contralateral kidney.
Determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in environmental standard reference materials.

The total concentrations (∑PBDE) of 15 polybrominated diphenyl ethers, BDEs 17, 28, 47, 49, 66, 71, 85, 99, 100, 138, 153, 154, 183, 190, and 209, and a predominant polybrominated biphenyl (PBB) congener, 2,2‘,4,4‘,5,5‘-polybrominated biphenyl (PBB-153) were determined in six natural matrix Standard Reference Materials (SRM) provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The ∑PBDE concentrations (± one standard deviation) in SRM 1945 (whale blubber), SRM 1946 (fish tissue), SRM 1947 (fish tissue), and SRM 1974b (mussel tissue) were 126 ± 7, 79 ± 3, 134 ± 5, and 7.9 ± 0.2 ng/g of wet wt, respectively. The ∑PBDE concentrations were 54 ± 2 and 163 ± 4 ng/g of dry wt for SRM 2977 (mussel tissue) and SRM 2978 (mussel tissue), respectively. Among the three kinds of marine animals, mussel tissue had the lowest total concentration of PBDEs. These values can provide an informal reference or benchmark to laboratories who measure these compounds.
Pulsed dye laser and pulsed dye laser-mediated photodynamic therapy in the treatment of dermatologic disorders.

BackgroundThe pulsed dye laser (PDL) is used for treating cutaneous vascular disorders. Recent reports have also shown its effectiveness in conditions of other etiologies, although the precise mechanisms of action are unknown. PDL has also been used in photodynamic therapy (PDT) for many dermatologi
Enhancing the usability of parallel debuggers

The author addresses the design of a useful parallel debugger, i.e. one whose cost (in terms of programmer effort) is outweighed by the benefits of using it. The level of usefulness encompasses both the functionality the debugger provides and the presentation of relevant information gathered by the debugger. Specific features of parallel programming that make debugging such a difficult task have been examined. From this, an attempt has been made to determine what functionality must be provided to deal with these features effectively. >
Outcomes and complications of open abdomen technique for managing non-trauma patients.

Background : Damage control surgery and the open abdomen technique have been widely used in trauma. These techniques are now being utilized more often in non-trauma patients but the outcomes are not clear. We hypothesized that the use of the open abdomen technique in non-trauma patients 1) is more often due to peritonitis, 2) has a lower incidence of definitive fascial closure during the index hospitalization, and 3) has a higher fistula rate. Methods : Retrospective case series of patients treated with the open abdomen technique over a 5-year period at a level-I trauma center. Data was collected from the trauma registry, operating room (OR) case log, and by chart review. The main outcome measures were number of operations, definitive fascial closure, fistula rate, complications, and length of stay. Results : One hundred and three patients were managed with an open abdomen over the 5-year period and we categorized them into three groups: elective (n = 31), urgent (n = 35), and trauma (n = 37). The majority of the patients were male (69%). Trauma patients were younger (39 vs 53 years; P Conclusion : Intra-abdominal infection was a common reason for use of the open abdomen technique in non-trauma patients. However, the definitive fascial closure and fistula rates were similar in the three groups. Despite differences in indications, damage control surgery and the open abdomen technique have been successfully transitioned to elective and urgent non-trauma patients.
A framework for object representation and recognition

The recognition task is transformed into simpler subtasks. Two assumptions are vital in this approach: (a) the object representation is pictorial, and (b) the parts of the object do not bear any information about the shape of the object. The aim is to find a framework which will make the problem of recognition easier. The recognition consists of two subtasks: classification of the object into its proper class and identification of the particular member of the class. The classification is performed on the basis of the object's iconic representation; the identification is based on the pattern representation. This fact is used to propose a multiresolution architecture which features classification of the whole object at only one resolution. It provides a framework in which the contemporary neural networks being applied to simple problems may be applied to real-world problems of visual object recognition. >
MPI Collectives on Modern Multicore Clusters: Performance Optimizations and Communication Characteristics

The advances in multicore technology and modern interconnects is rapidly accelerating the number of cores deployed in today's commodity clusters. A majority of parallel applications written in MPI employ collective operations in their communication kernels. Optimization of these operations on the multicore platforms is the key to obtaining good performance speed-ups. However, designing these operations on the modern multicores is a non-trivial task. Modern multicores such as Intel's Clovertown and AMD's Opteron feature various architectural attributes resulting in interesting ramifications. For example, Clovertown deploys shared 12 caches for a pair of cores whereas in Opteron, 12 caches are exclusive to a core. Understanding the impact of these architectures on communication performance is crucial to designing efficient collective algorithms. In this paper, we systematically evaluate these architectures and use these insights to develop efficient collective operations such as MPI_Bcast, MPI_Allgather, MPI_Allreduce and MPI_Alltoall. Further, we characterize the behavior of these collective algorithms on multicores especially when concurrent network and intra-node communications occur. We also evaluate the benefits of the proposed intra-node MPI_Allreduce over Opteron multicores and compare it with Intel Clovertown systems. The optimizations proposed in this paper reduce the latency of MPI-Bcast and MPI_Allgather by 1.9 and 4.0 times, respectively on 512 cores. For MPI_Allreduce, our optimizations improve the performance by as much as 33% on the multicores. Further, we observe up to three times improvement in performance for matrix multiplication benchmark on 512 cores.
Recognizing Head Movement

Previous studies have provided logical representations and efficient recognition algorithms for a simple kind of "minimalist grammars." This paper extends these grammars with head movement ("incorporation") and affix hopping. The grammars are presented as lexicons together with CKY-like reduction rules, so an efficient CKY-like recognition method is immediately given, and logical perspectives are briefly considered.
A Study of Rough Amplitude Quantization by Means of Nyquist Sampling Theory

Quantization is an operation that takes place when a physical quantity is represented numerically. It is the assignment of an integral value to a physical quantity corresponding to the nearest number of units contained in it. Quantization is like "sampling-in-amplitude," which should be distinguished from the usual "sampling-in-time." The probability density distribution of the signal is sampled in this case, rather than the signal itself. Quantized signals take on only discrete levels and have probability densities consisting of uniformly-spaced impulses. If the quantization is fine enough so that a Nyquist-sampling restriction upon the probability density is satisfied, statistics are recoverable from the grouped statistics in a way similar to the recovery of a signal from its samples. When statistics are recoverable, the nature of quantization "noise" is understood. As a matter of fact, it is known to be uniformly distributed between plus and minus half a unit, and it is entirely random (first order) even though the signal may be of a higher-order process, provided that a multidimensional Nyquist restriction on the high-order distribution density is satisfied. This simple picture of quantization noise permits an understanding of round-off error and its propagation in numerical solution, and of the effects of analog-to-digital conversion in closed-loop control systems. Application is possible when the grain size is almost two standard deviations. Here the dynamic range of a variable covers about three quantization boxes.
Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate : A biomarker of primate aging slowed by calorie restriction

The adrenal steroids, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfate (DHEAS), have attracted attention for their possible antiaging effects. DHEAS levels in humans decline markedly with age, suggesting the potential importance of this parameter as a biomarker of aging. Here we report that, as seen in humans, male and female rhesus monkeys exhibit a steady, age-related decline in serum DHEAS. This decline meets several criteria for a biomarker of aging, including cross-sectional and longitudinal linear decreases with age and significant stability of individual differences over time. In addition, the proportional age-related loss of DHEAS in rhesus monkeys is over twice the rate of decline observed in humans. Most important is the finding that, in rhesus monkeys, calorie restriction, which extends life span and retards aging in laboratory rodents, slows the postmaturational decline in serum DHEAS levels. This represents the first evidence that this nutritional intervention has the potential to alter aspects of postmaturational aging in a long-lived species.
Leaf δ13C variability with elevation, slope aspect, and precipitation in the southwest United States.

Leaves from several desert and woodland species, including gymnosperms and angiosperms with both C3 and C4 physiology, were analyzed to detect trends in δ13Cleaf with elevation and slope aspect along two transects in southeastern Utah and south-central New Mexico, USA. The main difference between the two transects is the steeper elevational gradient for mean annual and summer precipitation in the southern transect. For any given species, we found that isotopic differences between individual plants growing at the same site commonly equal differences measured for plants along the entire altitudinal gradient. In C3 plants, δ13Cleaf values become slightly enriched at the lowest elevations, the opposite of trends identified in more humid regions. Apparently, increasing water-use efficiency with drought stress offsets the influence of other biotic and abiotic factors that operate to decrease isotopic discrimination with elevation. For some species shared by the two transects (e.g., Pinus edulis and Cercocarpus montanus), δ13Cleaf values are dramatically depleted at sites that receive more than 550 mm mean annual precipitation, roughly the boundary (pedalfer-pedocal) at which soils commonly fill to field capacity in summer and carbonates are leached. We hypothesize that, in summer-wet areas, this may represent the boundary at which drought stress overtakes other factors in determining the sign of δ13Cleaf with elevation. The opposition of isotopic trends with elevation in arid versus humid regions cautions against standard correction for elevation in comparative studies of δ13Cleaf.