cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Reimagining online grading, assessment, and testing using situated cognition

Increased online learning is helping many appreciate that online grading, formative assessment, and summative testing can cause instructor burnout and leave little time for more productive instruct...
Does drone remote sensing accurately estimate soil pH in a spring wheat field in southwest Montana

Soil acidification is a growing problem in semi-arid agroecosystems. In the state of Montana, USA, soil pH levels below 5.5 have been documented in nearly half of the counties. Acidic soils have the potential to reduce crop yield, but methods to identify and remediate acidic soils are costly and time-intensive. This study tests a relatively new approach for identifying areas of acidic soils using imagery derived from UAS (unmanned aerial systems). UAS provide a means to collect fine-scale, multi-spectral imagery at user-defined intervals for an area of interest—in this case, a 22 ha spring wheat field in southwestern Montana. In addition to 12 dates of spectral observations across a growing season, field measurements of soil pH and other soil attributes were collected to analyze their relationship with the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) using linear regression models, and to spatially predict soil pH across the field using a random forest model. The linear regression models indicated that most of the variation in early-season NDVI was attributed to differences in soil pH and soil organic matter, whereas variation in later-season NDVI was less related to soil pH. The random forest model predicted soil pH with reasonable accuracy (RMSE = 0.72). This study helps to fill a knowledge gap by bridging UAS-derived observations of NDVI with field-derived measurements of soil pH to identify areas of soil acidity. The methodology put forth by this study would enable land managers to easily identify and hence, remediate acidic soils in a more cost-efficient and timely manner.
'Preface to' Political Civilization and Modernization in China: The Political Context of China's Transformation

This volume is the first comprehensive study of China’s “political civilization” since the term was introduced by then Party Secretary Jiang Zemin in 2002. Selected among about 200 papers delivered at an international conference in Beijing in 2004, this collection of ten essays discusses the relations between “political civilization” and political reform in China from the different perspectives of institution building, political culture, political theory, intra-party democracy, political participation, judiciary reform, legislative reform, and media reform. While the contributors are aware of the enormous difficulties China faces in reforming its political system and political culture, most are optimistic about the prospect of reform. Through theoretical discussions, the institutional analysis and other empirical methods in the book contribute to our understanding of Chinese politics in unique ways.
Moral failure and the evolution of appearing moral

Standard adaptationist accounts of our moral psychology are motivated largely by our moral successes—empathy, altruism, cooperation, and so on. But a growing body of social psychology research indi...
Development of Gridded Reference Graphics Using Machine Learning and a Customized Geoprocessing Workflow

The United States Department of Defense (DoD) does not have an automated way in which they create Gridded Reference Graphics (GRGs). The current process is time intensive and requires expertise in numerous domains. We developed a two-step method using python scripting and machine learning to semi-automate the GRG development process. The two steps include 1) analyzing satellite imagery of the site to detect buildings and roads, 2) categorize and label buildings, and roads to meet DoD standards. The proposed methodology requires minimal expertise and enables the user to control various aspects of the workflow. Results revealed a 90% reduction in processing time when compared to the conventional approach.
Adults, but not children, benefit from a pretrial signal cue in a random-frequency, two-tone masker

This study examined the benefit of a pretrial cue, a preview of the signal, on children's (5–10 years) and adults' detection of a 1000-Hz pure-tone signal in a broadband noise or a random-frequency, two-tone masker. No cuing effect was observed with the noise masker, regardless of listener age. In contrast, all but one adult benefited from the cue with the two-tone masker (average = 9.4 dB). Most children showed no cuing effect (average = 0.1 dB) with the two-tone masker. These results suggest that, unlike adults, the provision of a pretrial cue does not promote frequency-selective listening during detection for 5- to 10-year-olds.
Development of a survivable tire

An overview is presented of military requirements for survivable tires. Results from the Tire Task Force published in the 'Tire R&D Program' in February 1986 are also discussed. >
The effectiveness of Ponseti technique in the management of congenital club foot: A systematic review of the literature

Objectives The general objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of Ponseti method in the management of congenital talipes equino varus (club foot) Research questions What is the evidence of effectiveness of the Ponseti method versus other conservative treatments in the management of congenital talipes equinovarus (club foot)? Types of participants This review will include any study using the Ponseti method to children 0-2 years old with idiopathic clubfoot born full term. Children with co-existing pathologies and those who underwent surgical procedures prior to commencing of Ponseti treatment will be excluded. Types of interventions The Ponseti method is a very well defined technique involving a number of manipulations and serial application of casts which gradually corrects plantar flexion of the ankle, inversion of the heel and the adduction of the hind and forefoot. This review will consider studies that include the Ponseti technique as an intervention. Outcome measures Correction of the position of the foot measured by: range of motion, time required for correction (weeks), number of relapses, number of children sent for extensive surgery.
The application of radiocarbon age estimates to the dating of glacial sequences: An example from the Miami sublobe, Ohio, U.S.A.

Abstract Despite the importance of dating glacial sequences, little evidence has been available to highlight the stratigraphic issues associated with the interpretation of age analysis. A compilation of radiocarbon data from the Miami sublobe of the Laurentide ice sheet, provides a large enough data set (more than 133 dates) to identify at least two sources of error: sample and unit variability, and transportation problems. Analysis of different samples from the same stratigraphic level commonly differ by more than the reported one-sigma error, and 2,000-year differences do occur. Glacial entrainment and transportation emplace older organic material over younger in situ materials and this effect may also give age errors in the data set of up to 2,000 years. At a minimum, multiple radiocarbon ages from a sequence of units are necessary to assign a reliable age to events within a glacial sequence. However, representing multiple ages poses its own problems—a graphical representation that combines the probability of each sample appears to be one solution.
Design of a battery intermediate storage system for rep-rated pulsed power loads

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is developing a battery-powered, rep-rate charger for a 60-kJ capacitor bank. The capacitor will be charged with a bank of LiFePO4 batteries in conjunction with a DC-DC converter. During discharge, the batteries will generate heat from the internal resistance. If the heat is not addressed, damage to the cell may occur, leading to degraded cell lifetime and the potential for cell venting. NRL has developed an integrated cooling system for high power batteries that can limit the residual heat in the battery cells. Results from experiments will be presented, both at the cell and the module level.
Effects of a laboratory-based skills curriculum on laparoscopic proficiency: a randomized trial

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect and validity of an intensive laboratory-based laparoscopic skills training curriculum on operative proficiency in obstetrics and gynecology residents. Study design: This was a prospective, randomized, block-design trial of postgraduate year 3 and 4 residents. The following study schedule was used: week 1 (prerandomization) included an orientation to study objectives, the administration of a laparoscopic experience questionnaire, timed video-laparoscopic drills (5 total), and the performance of a video-recorded laparoscopic partial salpingectomy; during weeks 2 and 3, the skills group residents repeated the laparoscopic drills 30 minutes daily for 10 days, and the control group residents had no formal practice sessions; during week 4, the week 1 evaluation was repeated. Operative proficiency was quantified by the Global Skills Assessment Tool through blinded, independent scoring of videotapes. Results: Twenty-six residents (skills group, 12; control group, 14) consented to the trial. Patient-related issues excluded 8 residents (30%). At week 1, no significant differences existed in previous laparoscopic experience, timed video skills, or resident operative proficiency (Global Skills Assessment Tool score) between cohorts. At week 4, both groups significantly improved their timed drill test scores. The percent reduction in time from baseline was of greater magnitude in the skills group versus control group (51% vs 18%, P P = .002). However, only the skills group demonstrated significant intracohort improvement from baseline (mean, 4.9 points; P = .015; 95% CI, 1–7.5). Conclusion: A core curriculum of intensive video laparoscopic skills training improves not only technical but also operative performance among postgraduate year 3 and 4 residents. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2002;186:836-42.)
Cacosmia in healthy workers

Self-reported cacosmia (i.e. feeling ill from the odour of xenobiotic substances) was studied in 151 young, healthy workers, unexposed to unpleasant odours and working in food stores without air-conditioning. Almost half (46%) of the sample reported feeling ill from the smell of chemical materials. Chemical odour intolerance induced headache, itching eyes, irritated or congested nose, dry and/or sore throat, cough, dizziness, and itching or rash. Cacosmic subjects showed a slight prevalence of the female sex, and had significantly higher symptom scores, anxiety, and depression than non-cacosmic subjects. Cacosmia may be related to multiple chemical sensitivity, sick-building syndrome and psychopathology. Individual variability in odour tolerance may substantially bias epidemiological studies on indoor air quality and health.
Neurotensin-dopamine interactions in the CNS

Abstract Data furnished from a diverse number of subdisciplines of neurobiology (e.g. neuroanatomy, neurochemistry and neuropharmacology) over the past decade provide compelling evidence that neurotensin, an endogenous tridecapeptide, interacts with dopaminergic systems in the CNS. Charles Nemeroff and Scott Cain discuss these findings and their implications for the pathophysiology and development of novel treatments for schizophrenia.
Using discrete wavelet transform and eigenfaces for recognizing avatars faces

It has been observed that the security of virtual worlds is becoming an important issue for law enforcement agencies. Accurate and automatic tracking of people in the virtual world is an interesting problem for terrorism and security experts. One way to track and recognize the identity of a person in the virtual world is to recognize the face of the avatar that represents this person. To deal with this problem two algorithms capable of recognizing avatar faces with a high degree of accuracy are described in this paper. Experiments conducted on two datasets of avatars from the Second Life and Entropia Universe virtual worlds show the effectiveness of using these algorithms for recognizing avatar faces.
Interpretation of Raman Spectra of Nitro-Containing Explosive Materials. Part I: Group Frequency and Structural Class Membership

Fourier transform (FT)-Raman spectroscopy has been used to obtain high-quality spectra of 32 explosive materials. The majority of the spectra of these explosives have not previously been reported. Twenty-eight of the explosives have been categorized into three classes (nitrates esters, nitro-aromatics, and nitramines) based on their chemical structure, the position of the antisymmetric and symmetric stretching vibrations of the nitro group, and the shapes of the band envelopes. The spectra of exceptional explosives are discussed in terms of their unique structures or compositions.
Synthesis of Au130(SR)50 and Au130−xAgx(SR)50 nanomolecules through core size conversion of larger metal clusters

Gold nanomolecules with a precise number of metal atoms and thiolate ligands are being used for catalysis, biosensing, drug delivery and as alternative energy sources. Highly monodisperse products, with reproducible synthesis and complete characterization, are essential for these purposes. Post synthetic etching is used to synthesize highly stable gold nanomolecules. We report a synthetic protocol for the scalable synthesis of Au130(SR)50 for the first time, by etching of larger clusters via a core conversion process. Au130(SR)50 is not present in the crude product, but, is exclusively formed by etching larger clusters (>40 kDa). This is the first evidence that larger nanocluster cores convert to Au130(SR)50. The special stability of Au130(SR)50 is confirmed by the formation of Au130−x(metal)x(SR)50, where R = CH2CH2Ph, C6H13, C12H25 and metal = Ag, Pd. AuxAg130−x(SR)50 is isolated and characterized with two different Au : Ag precursor ratios. Upon alloying there is a change in the optical features of this 130-metal atom nanomolecule. To understand the process of etching and core conversion, a possible mechanism is being proposed. Highly stable nanomolecules like this can find potential applications in high temperature catalysis and sensing.
Turbulent Convection From Deterministic Roughness Distributions With Varying Thermal Conductivities

Many flows of engineering interest are bounded by surfaces that exhibit roughness with thermal conductivities much lower than common metals and alloys. Depending on the local roughness element convection coefficients, the low thermal conductivities of the roughness elements may create situations where temperature changes along the heights of the elements are important and must be considered in predicting the overall surface convection coefficient. The discrete-element model (DEM) for flows over rough surfaces was recently adapted to include the effects of internal conduction along the heights of ordered roughness elements. While the adapted DEM provided encouraging agreement with the available data, more data are required to validate the model. To further investigate the effects of roughness element thermal conductivity on convective heat transfer and to acquire more experimental data for DEM validation, four wind tunnel test plates were made. The test plates were constructed using Plexiglas and Mylar film with a gold deposition layer creating a constant flux boundary condition with steady state wind tunnel measurements. The four test plates were constructed with hexagonal distributions of hemispheres or cones made of either aluminum or ABS plastic. The plates with hemispherical elements had element diameters of 9.53 mm and a spacing-to-diameter ratio of 2.099. The plates with conical elements had base element diameters of 9.53 mm and a spacing-to-base-diameter ratio of 1.574. An infrared camera was used to measure the temperature of the heated plates in the Baylor Subsonic Wind Tunnel for free stream velocities ranging from 2.5 m/s to 35 m/s (resulting in Reynolds number values ranging from 90,000 to 1,400,000 based on the distance from the knife-edge to the center of the infrared camera image) in turbulent flow. At lower Reynolds numbers, the thermal conductivity of the roughness elements is a primary factor in determining the heat transfer enhancement of roughness distributions. At the higher Reynolds numbers investigated, the hemispherical distribution, which contained more sparsely spaced elements, did not exhibit a statistically significant difference in enhancement for the different thermal conductivity elements used. The results of the study indicate that the packing density of the elements and the enhancement on the floor of the roughness distribution compete with the roughness element thermal conductivity in determining the overall convection enhancement of rough surfaces.© 2011 ASME
CRITIQUE—Consumer product safety: Risk assessment of exposure to asbestos emissions from hand-held hair dryers

The paper by Dr. William Hallenbeck of the University of Illinois on pp. 23–32 of this issue ofEnvironmental Management contains an estimate of the risk of respiratory cancer resulting from exposure to asbestos fibers emitted from asbestos-containing hairdryers. The study, which is described as a worst case analysis, concludes that the use of these hairdryers would result in a maximum of 0.15 deaths from respiratory cancer per year in the United States, based on a median case estimate of asbestos fiber emission from hair-dryers. This estimate of risk was developed using data from one epidemiologic study.
Prenatal cocaine administration stimulates fetal brain tyrosine hydroxylase activity

Functional effects of prenatal cocaine exposure may be mediated in part by changes in catecholaminergic development. The present study examined whether cocaine administration influenced fetal brain activity of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme in catecholamine biosynthesis. Subcutaneous (s.c.) injection of pregnant rats with 40 mg/kg of cocaine HCl daily from gestational day (GD) 8 to GD20 resulted in an 8.7% stimulation of fetal whole-brain TH activity compared to controls. We then switched to a s.c. implantation procedure involving Silastic capsules filled with 80 mg of cocaine base dissolved in polyethylene glycol (PEG). Implantation of 2 such capsules on GD18 produced a 28% increase in fetal TH activity measured only 3 days later on GD21. Subsequent experiments demonstrated that GD14 implantation was equally effective in stimulating fetal TH activity on GD17, but that the enzyme was unaffected in the brains of the treated dams. When cocaine-containing capsules were implanted on GD18, removed on GD21, and the females were allowed to deliver normally, offspring TH activity was still elevated on postnatal day 10 but not later. Finally, the presence of cocaine implants from GD18 to GD21 had no influence on fetal brain neurotransmitter and metabolite concentrations, however, the treated dams exhibited significant reductions in dopamine (DA) and the serotonin metabolite, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid. We conclude that maternal cocaine implants rapidly but transiently stimulate TH activity in the fetal brain, and that such stimulation prevented the DA depletion observed in the dams.
Quantifying Variations in Collagen Matrix Deformation in Loaded Articular Cartilage

Mechanical loads have been shown in numerous studies to affect the health of articular cartilage [1]. Regional variations in the local deformation within articular cartilage under both normal and abnormal loading are, however, poorly understood. Understanding these deformation patterns is important, since conditions such as anterior cruciate ligament injury have been suggested to initiate cartilage breakdown by shifting the regions of frequent loading within the joint [2]. Quantifying variations in the deformation behavior of the collagen matrix in cartilage under load will therefore provide insight into the mechanical environment within cartilage and test the feasibility of a kinematic pathway to the initiation of osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the collagen matrix in two regions of cartilage that normally experience different applied loads will deform differently under the same applied load.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
GROWTH, BODY WEIGHT AND INSULIN REQUIREMENT IN DIABETIC CHILDREN

The weight and height development of 51 boys and 48 girls who had developed diabetes prior to the age of 15 years was followed for a minimum of 3 years, mean 8.3 years, up to the age of 18 for the girls and 20 for the boys. In addition, the insulin requirements were recorded. Weight and height proved to be within the normal range, and height at onset of diabetes was normal. After a long duration of diabetes, however, there occurred a reduction of height increment of obout 1/2cm/year. This reduction was greater in children who rarely attended as compared with those who frequently attended a sub-specialized clinic. The daily dose of insulin increased with age, the greatest increase coinciding with the growth spurt. During the first 4 years of diabetes the 24-hour dose/kg body weight increased, indicating a decreasing endogenous insulin production. Later it was constant at around 0.9 i.u./kg. Modern management of diabetic children leads to normal adult stature.
Diffusion in highly defective solids the Haven ratio in the athermal lattice gas

Abstract The chemical potential μ and the kinetics of the nearest-neighbour-site-exclusion simple-cubic lattice gas have been investigated using the Monte Carlo method. The existence of a second-order phase transition at a reduced density of 0-43 and with μ/kT = 0.06 has been verified. It is shown that the Haven ratio, the ratio of the tracer-atom correlation factor to the physical correlation factor, exhibits a minimum at this second-order phase transition. The consequences and possibilities of this finding are discussed. We have also calculated the rigorous compositional form of the athermal lattice-gas ionic conductivity for comparison with fluorite-related oxides. The tracer-atom diffusivity was also calculated for qualitative comparison with some light-atom diffusivities in interstitial alloys.
Synthesis and Advection of Isotropic Turbulence to a Target Intensity and Spectrum

An isotropic turbulent flow field was synthesized and advected to a targeted turbulence intensity and wave number spectrum using a large eddy simulation (LES). The turbulence was synthesized at the inflow boundary of the computational domain using the Random Flow Generation (RFG) technique. In this particular implementation of the RFG method, the turbulent velocity fluctuations are synthesized from samples of a Gaussian velocity distribution that is deconstructed into its Fourier harmonics. The synthesized turbulence was then advected downstream to a spatial location where a target turbulence intensity and wave number spectrum were specified. Controllable parameters at the inflow boundary were inflow turbulence intensity and length scale. These two parameters, along with the size and spatial resolution of the computational domain, and the advection time step, were varied until the target turbulence intensities and spectrum were achieved. In the LES technique, the filtered, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations were discretized using a second order, bounded central difference scheme. Time advancement was implicit and second order accurate using a fractional step method. The sub-grid scale turbulence was accounted for with a dynamic Smagorinsky model. The final turbulence intensity and wave number spectrum are reasonably close to the targeted values.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND FUTURE LAND USE IN THE UNITED STATES: AN ECONOMIC APPROACH

An econometric land-use model is used to project regional and national land-use changes in the United States under two IPCC emissions scenarios. The key driver of land-use change in the model is county-level measures of net returns to five major land uses. The net returns are modified for the IPCC scenarios according to assumed trends in population and income and projections from integrated assessment models of agricultural prices and agricultural and forestry yields. For both scenarios, we project large increases in urban land by the middle of the century, while the largest declines are in cropland area. Significant differences among regions in the projected patterns of land-use change are evident, including an expansion of forests in the Mountain and Plains regions with declines elsewhere. Comparisons to projections with no climate change effects on prices and yields reveal relatively small differences. Thus, our findings suggest that future land-use patterns in the U.S. will be shaped largely by urbanization, with climate change having a relatively small influence.
Do sex and perception of immediate stress affect optimism

The purpose was to assess differences in mean optimism scores of men and women of low immediate stress (23 men, 28 women) and high immediate stress (11 men, 34 women). Using factorial analysis of variance, mean differences on the Coping Resources Inventory, Cognitive Domain, were not significant for sex, immediate stress, or their interaction.
RNA polymerase III transcription of genes that lack internal control regions.

Revue traitant de la structure et de l'organisation du promoteur des genes de classe III des Eucaryotes (codant pour les ARN 55, VA, U6 et 75 K). Analyse de leur transcription grâce a la RNA polymerase pol III. Proposition d'un schema precisant les differents facteurs impliques et leur fonctionnement probable
R-(−)-α-methyl-histamine has nitric oxide-mediated vasodilator activity in the mesenteric vascular bed of the cat

Abstract Responses to the histamine H 3 receptor agonist R -(−)- α -methyl-histamine were investigated in the mesenteric vascular bed of the cat under constant-flow conditions. Injections of R -(−)- α -methyl-histamine and histamine caused dose-related decreases in mesenteric perfusion pressure with R -(−)- α -methyl-histamine being 1000-fold less potent than histamine when doses were compared on a nmol basis to take molecular weight into account. Responses to R -(−)- α -methyl-histamine were not altered by histamine H 1 or H 2 receptor antagonists at a time when responses to histamine were significantly reduced. The histamine H 3 receptor antagonist thioperamide reduced responses to R -(−)- α -methyl-histamine but was without effect on responses to histamine {6-[2-(4-imidazolyl)ethylamino]- N -(4-trifluoro-methylphenyl)heptanecardoxamide dimaleate] (HTMT), or dimaprit. These data suggest the presence of histamine H 1 , H 2 and H 3 receptors mediating vasodilation in the mesenteric vascular bed. Responses to R -(−)- α -methyl-histamine and histamine were reduced by the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N ω -nitro- l -arginine methyl ester ( l -NAME) but were not altered by the cyclooxygenase inhibitor meclofenamate, the α -adrenoceptor blocker phentolamine, or adrenergic nerve terminal depleting agent reserpine. The present data suggest that histamine H 3 receptors mediating vasodilation are present in the mesenteric vascular bed and that responses are mediated by the release of nitric oxide but not vasodilator prostaglandins or an effect on the adrenergic nervous system. These results indicate that vasodilator responses to histamine involve the activation of histamine H 1 and H 2 receptors and the release of nitric oxide in the mesenteric vascular bed of the cat.
FIXED-POINT STRUCTURE OF SCALAR FIELDS

We search for alternatives to the trivial ${\ensuremath{\varphi}}^{4}$ field theory by considering nonpolynomial potentials. Such theories are renormalizable when the natural cutoff dependences of the coupling constants are taken into account. We find a continuum of fixed points, which includes the well-known Gaussian fixed point. The fixed-point density has a maximum at a location corresponding to a theory with a Higgs boson mass of approximately 2700 GeV. The Gaussian fixed point is UV stable in some directions in the extended parameter space. Along such directions we obtain nontrivial asymptotically free theories.
The etiology of frugal spending: a partial replication and extension1

Frugal behavior is infrequently studied in both psychology and marketing. As a consumption pattern it deserves greater attention because frugal consumer behavior is a desirable goal for both individuals and societies. Paradoxically, targeting frugal consumers might also be a profitable strategy for savvy marketers. The present study builds on previous research into the nature and motivations for frugal behavior. Data analysis from a survey of 464 U.S. student respondents shows that three individual-difference characteristics are associated with frugality. Consistent with a prior study, frugality was negatively correlated with materialism and positively correlated with consumer independence. In addition, frugality was positively correlated with self-control, suggesting that frugal consumers tend to be less materialistic, more independent, and have more self-control than are their less frugal counterparts.
RNA-binding proteins switch gears to drive alternative splicing in neurons.

A new study reveals that cells naturally switch from expressing one polypyrimidine tract–binding protein (PTB) to a highly similar family member, nPTB, during the development of neurons, and shows that PTB itself regulates this transition. Ensembles of coregulated exons simultaneously change their splicing patterns, suggesting that this phenomenon could potentially mediate widespread changes in proteins composed of modular functional domains, thus driving neuronal phenotypes or disfavoring non-neuronal ones.
Printing Better dBASE Program Documentation with M3 WRITE

Have you installed M3WRITE (OCLC Micro Disk 2) or some full‐featured text editor as your dBASE III editor? If you have over 256K memory in your Workstation you can. If you have done so, then you know‐how much more efficiently you can create your dBASE command language programs.
Shared kinase fluctuations between two enzymatic reactions

Kinases serve crucial roles in many cellular signaling pathways that process and transfer information. When signaling kinases phosphorylate two targets, these can serve as branch points that distribute information among two pathways. Responses to stimuli transmitted by activated kinases show high levels of cell-to-cell variation that influence cellular function. We ask how fluctuations around a steady state, due to kinase fluctuations and intrinsic noise, are distributed between two reactions with substrates phosphorylated by a shared kinase. We develop the formalism to answer this question and, for a realistic set of biological constants, we illustrate various features of fluctuations and relaxation times to a steady state. We find that the steady-state response determines the size and range in enzyme concentration of phosphorylated substrate fluctuations, and that the choice of an operating point can have a large impact on how shared kinase noise is distributed among two available pathways.
Aspirin Decreases Heterotopic Ossification After Hip Resurfacing

Background Heterotopic ossification (HO) is a concern for patients undergoing hip surgery, especially surface replacement arthroplasty (SRA) who tend to be younger, more active, and anticipate good motion. It is unclear, however, whether HO occurs more frequently after SRA than traditional total hip arthroplasty (THA) and whether aspirin influences the risk.
Boundary crossing probabilities by nondifferentiable processes and applications to two-phase regression☆

Abstract We derive a first order approximation for the probability that a general two-dimensional random walk crosses a circular boundary. Simulations are performed to assess the accuracy of the approximation, and statistical applications are discussed.
Limited Exposure: Children’s Activities and Neighborhood Effects in the Gautreaux Two Housing Mobility Program

ABSTRACT:Housing mobility programs intend to improve the well-being of low-income families by changing the neighborhood environment in which they live, and thereby creating access to a new set of opportunities and resources. Using data collected in a study of the Gautreaux Two (G2) Housing Mobility program, which offered housing vouchers to public housing residents in Chicago to move to lower-poverty and less segregated “opportunity” neighborhoods, this article explores families’ access to programs and services for their children in the neighborhoods where they move. The analysis is based on a sample of 46 families who moved through the G2 program. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with mothers in four waves, which started when the family still lived in public housing. The results show that almost three-quarters of the families utilized activities for their children in the baseline neighborhoods, but mothers also expressed concerns about the safety and lack of program variety available in the...
Surgical management of the Budd-Chiari syndrome: no place for a procrustean bed.

Over 12 years, 22 patients with the Budd-Chiari syndrome were treated surgically. Eighteen underwent a mesenterico-caval shunt (MCS); two, a side-to-side portacaval shunt; one, a mesentericoatrial shunt (MAS); and one, a liver transplantation (OLT). One patient died after operation from the precipitating condition, and two MCS grafts that thrombosed were restored. All 21 surviving patients remain well, free from ascites, and all shunts are patent after a mean follow-up of 5.6 ± 1 years, five patients with more than 10 years' follow-up. This long-term survival achieved by portasystemic shunts suggests that they have a major role in the treatment of the Budd-Chiari syndrome. The authors prefer the mesenterico-caval shunt using a jugular graft. This ensures a total portasystemic shunt, avoids subhepatic surgery, and reduces the long-term risk of prosthetic graft thrombosis. The MAS was reserved for cases with complete caval thrombosis. Patients with significant degrees of caval compression were satisfactorily decompressed by MCS. In patients not promptly treated, the disease progresses to cirrhosis and such patients must be evaluated for transplantation similarly to those with other hepatopathies.
Exact reconstruction techniques for tree-structured subband coders

In recent years, tree-structured analysis/reconstruction systems have been extensively studied for use in subband coders for speech. In such systems, it is imperative that the individual channel signals be decimated in such a way that the number of samples coded and transmitted do not exceed the number of samples in the original speech signal. Under this constraint, the systems presented in the past have sought to remove the aliasing distortion while minimizing the overall analysis/reconstruction distortion. In this paper, it is shown that it is possible to design tree-structured analysis/reconstruction systems which meet the sampling rate condition and which result in exact reconstruction of the input signal. The conditions for exact reconstruction are developed and presented. Furthermore, it is shown that these conditions are not overly restrictive and high-quality frequency division may be performed in the analysis section. A filter design procedure is presented which allows high-quality filters to be easily designed.
Organized Endothelial Cell Surface Signal Transduction in Caveolae Distinct from Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored Protein Microdomains

Regulated signal transduction in discrete microdomains of the cell surface is an attractive hypothesis for achieving spatial and temporal specificity in signaling. A procedure for purifying caveolae separately from other similarly buoyant microdomains including those rich in glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored proteins has been developed (Schnitzer, J. E., McIntosh, D. P., Dvorak, A. M., Liu, J., and Oh, P. (1995) Science 269, 1435-1439) and used here to show that caveolae contain many signaling molecules including select kinases (platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) receptors, protein kinase C, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, and Src-like kinases), phospholipase C, sphingomyelin, and even phosphoinositides. More importantly, two different techniques reveal that caveolae function as signal transducing subcompartments of the plasma membrane. PDGF rapidly induces phosphorylation of endothelial cell plasmalemmal proteins residing in caveolae as detected by membrane subfractionation and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy. This PDGF signaling cascade is halted when the caveolar compartment is disassembled by filipin. Finally, in vitro kinase assays show that caveolae contain most of the intrinsic tyrosine kinase activity of the plasma membrane. As signal transducing organelles, caveolae organize a distinct set of signaling molecules to permit direct regionalized signal transduction within their boundaries.
Dispelling a few false-positives: A reply to MacGregor and McNamee on doping

McGregor and MacNamee recently, in this journal, offered several criticisms of an earlier article in which I attempted to refute a number of arguments for the claim that doping in sports is morally wrong. Their criticisms are numerous, but focus on four domains. First, they sketch a view on which the risk profiles of different sports may make doping permissible in some and impermissible in others. Second, they suggest that my criticisms of safety-based arguments assume that doping opponents are bent on harm elimination, rather than harm management. Finally, they offer two methodological criticisms, the first pertaining to my use of analogical arguments, and the second pertaining to the general difficulties of making revisionist arguments in ethics. I defend my criticisms of safety-based arguments by showing that these do not rest on the assumptions McGregor and MacNamee attribute to me and by noting that their own view about the variable relevance of safety considerations is underdeveloped. As for their methodological arguments, I endeavor to show that these are misplaced, in that they either rest on misinterpretations of my earlier article or on an excessively high standard for ethical argumentation.
Hydrothermal synthesis of nano-meter microporous zinc ferrite

Abstract Nano-meter microporous zinc ferrite was prepared by a hydrothermal method, using triethylamine as a template. Adsorption curves showed that the product had a microporous structure. The effects of precursor pH, reaction temperature and reaction time on the preparation were studied, yielding optimal conditions: pH=11, 448 K, 360 min. The morphology of zinc ferrite as observed by TEM, showed that zinc ferrite was well-crystallized and well-dispersed with little conglomeration.
Chunks of thought: Finding salient semantic structures in texts

As the availability of large, digital text corpora increases, so does the need for automatic methods to analyze them and to extract significant information from them. A number of algorithms have been developed for these applications, with topic modeling-based algorithms such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) enjoying much recent popularity. In this paper, we focus on a specific but important problem in text analysis: Identifying coherent lexical combinations that represent "chunks of thought" within the larger discourse. We term these salient semantic chunks (SSCs), and present two complimentary approaches for their extraction. Both these approaches derive from a cognitive rather than purely statistical perspective on the generation of texts. We apply the two algorithms to a corpus of abstracts from IJCNN 2009, and show that both algorithms find meaningful chunks that elucidate the semantic structure of the corpus in complementary ways.
Conformational substates of bovine heart cytochrome c oxidase: the modified Volpe-Caughey variant

Kinetic and equilibrium binding studies using optically correlated, quantitative electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy are reported for the reaction of a modified Volpe-Caughey preparation of bovine heart cytochrome c oxidase with anionic (F-, CN-) and gaseous (NO) ligands. A fast phase of cyanide and fluoride ligation can be attributed to an EPR-silent conformer(s), while the slow and medium phases of cyanide binding are correlated with the g = 12 conformer(s). Using dioxygen or ferricyanide, it is possible to modulate reciprocally the relative amounts of these two species, that together account for at least 95% of the active-site conformers of the resting form of the enzyme.
Second order adjoint matrix equations

Abstract A number of preliminary results are given leading to a general solution to certain second order adjoint matrix equations of the form X ∗ AX+B ∗ X+C=0 . A general solution is also given to an equation of the form CX ∗ AX−AX+CD=0 which arises from a problem in regression analysis.
The good city: reflections and imaginations

The good city: reflections and imaginations, by Allan B. Jacobs, Abingdon, Routledge, 2011, 196 pp., £20 (paperback). What is a ‘good city’? Allan B. Jacobs has spent a career considering how to id...
A new generation of C-base synthesis tool and domain-specific computing

The first part of the tutorial presents a platform-based compilation and synthesis system, named xPilot, developed at UCLA. The xPilot provides advanced behavioral synthesis capability for compiling C, C++, or SystemC applications to high quality RTL code optimized for a given FPGA or ASIC platforms for logic, interconnects, and memory optimization with flexible performance and area trade-off. It includes a number of algorithmic innovations, such as scheduling based on the system of difference constraints, resource binding for distributed memory architectures, simultaneous register and functional unit binding, etc. The xPilot system has been licensed by AutoESL Design Technologies, Inc. for commercialization. The AutoPilot tool from AutoESL, derived from xPilot, has been successfully used for a number of FPGA designs. One application of using such C-to-FGPA compilation systems as xPilot or AutoPilot is to enable domain-specific computing using FPGAs as customized computing engines for accelerating a wide range of applications. The recent developments by AMD to open up its HyperTransport bus and Intel to open up its Front-side Bus lead to new high-performance computing platforms with high-bandwidth communication between CPUs and FPGAs, which make it possible to develop high-performance, power-efficient domain-specific computing platforms.
Serum selenium measurements in women with early-stage breast cancer with and without chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure

Blood selenium has been shown to decline as breast cancer progresses and fluctuate with estrogen. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of estrogen depletion resulting from chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure on serum selenium and selenoproteins in stage I/II premenopausal breast cancer patients. Serum selenium, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, and selenoprotein P (SelP) were measured and a dietary questionnaire was completed at baseline (before chemotherapy) and 6, 12, and 24 months after start of chemotherapy. Twelve months after the start of adjuvant chemotherapy 33 (75%) patients developed ovarian failure (OF) and 11 (25%) retained menstrual function (non-OF). Dietary selenium intake was 30–58% above the Recommended Dietary Allowance for both groups. By six months the mean estradiol (pg/ml) was lower in the OF group than in the non-OF group (32±5 versus 140±62 pg/ml, p=0.01) and this difference was maintained at 12 and 24 months. However, there was no differences in serum selenium, GPx activity, or SelP in the OF and non-OF groups at 6, 12, and 24 months. Selenium status in premenopausal breast cancer patients, as measured by serum selenium, GPx and SelP, was within the normal range before and following adjuvant chemotherapy, and was not affected by chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure.
First-principles calculations of atomic and electronic structure of the GaAs(110) surface.

The (110) surface of GaAs is studied using self-consistent density-functional calculations implemented with soft ab initio pseudopotentials. The calculated atomic structure and relaxation energy of GaAs(110) surfaces are in good agreement with previous theoretical calculations and with measurements by low-energy electron diffraction. In addition, we have calculated the cleavage energy for this surface. We find a value of 1.22 eV per surface unit cell, which agrees nearly exactly with the experimentally measured energy of 1.21 eV per surface unit cell. To our knowledge this is the first comparison of density-functional calculations with experiment for the cleavage energy of any heteropolar semiconductor surface. We have also calculated the photoelectric threshold to be 4.94 eV, compared to the experimental values of 5.15--5.75 eV.
Ultrasonic clot disruption: an in vitro study.

Abstract We studied in vitro the efficacy of ultrasound in human blood clot disruption, as well as the effects of clot age, wire probe length, and streptokinase on the outcome. The study included sizing the resulting particulate debris. Clot age (1 to 7 days) had no effect on the time required for disruption. Three groups of 1-day-old clots ( n = 10 for each) were exposed to the same ultrasonic power source via probes of different lengths. The time required for clot disruption varied approximately as the square of the length for probes of 31, 56, and 105 cm, but was less than 3 minutes even for the longest probe employed. Disrupted whole-blood clot as well as cell-free fibrin clot solutions were analyzed for particulates by the resistive-pulse technique (size range: 2.5 to 80 μm). Debris as large as 80 μm were seen after disruption of whole blood clots, while cell-free fibrin clots contributed little above 40 μm. In all size ranges, whole blood clots produced two orders of magnitude more particulates than cell-free fibrin clots. Addition of streptokinase (7500 U/mL) had little effect on the size distribution of debris, with 99% of all particulates being smaller than 10 μm. D-dimer analysis was performed on the dissolved cell-free fibrin clots with and without streptokinase. While the former had analytically higher D-dimer concentrations than the latter (from eight- to 16-fold), the levels in both cases would be below detectability if measured in vivo. Hence the present study supports the concept that ultrasound can be employed to disrupt human blood clots by mechanisms (mechanical and cavitational) other than fibrinolysis.
Pore space percolation in sea ice single crystals

[1] We have imaged sea ice single crystals with X-ray computed tomography, and characterized the thermal evolution of the pore space with percolation theory. Between −18°C and −3°C the porosity ranged from 2 to 12% and we found arrays of near-parallel intracrystalline brine layers whose connectivity and complex morphology varied with temperature. We have computed key porosity-dependent functions of classical percolation theory directly from the thermally driven pore space evolution of an individual sample. This analysis is novel for a natural material and provides the first direct demonstration of a connectivity threshold in the brine microstructure of sea ice. In previous works this critical behavior has been inferred indirectly from bulk property measurements in polycrystalline samples. From a finite-size scaling analysis we find a vertical critical porosity pc,v = 4.6 ± 0.7%. We find lateral anisotropy with pc,pll = 9 ± 2% parallel to the layers and pc,perp = 14 ± 4% perpendicular to them. Lateral connectivity is established at higher brine volumes by the formation of thin necks between the brine layers. We relate these results to measured anisotropy in the bulk dc conductivity and fluid permeability using a dual porosity conceptual model. Our results shed new light on the complex microstructure of sea ice, highlighting single crystal anisotropy and a step toward a realistic transport property model for sea ice based on percolation theory. We present full experimental details of our imaging and segmentation methodology based on a phase relation formulation more widely applicable to ice-solute systems.