cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Clinical report: A patient with a late diagnosis of cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis and a response to treatment.

Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis (CTX) is a rare, autosomal recessive, inborn error of bile acid metabolism characterized by diarrhea in infancy, juvenile cataracts in childhood, tendon xanthomas developing in the second to third decades of life, and progressive neurologic dysfunction in adulthood. The condition is caused by mutations in the CYP27A1 gene that result in decreased production of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) and elevated levels of cholestanol and bile alcohols. We present a 36-year-old male of Han ethnicity who developed xanthomas of his Achilles tendons and suffered neurocognitive declines and gait deterioration in his second decade. The diagnosis of CTX was confirmed by marked elevation of the serum cholestanol level. Sequencing of CYP27A1 showed a paternally inherited splice mutation, c.446 + 1G>T, and a maternally inherited nonsense mutation, c.808C>T, predicting p.(Arg270*). Despite the advanced disease in this patient, treatment with CDCA reduced the xanthoma size and improved his cognition and strength, and the patient made significant gains in his ambulation and coordination. We report this case to illustrate the potential benefits of therapy in patients with CTX who have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis.
Beyond the rigid lid: Baroclinic modes in a structured atmosphere

AbstractThe baroclinic-mode decomposition is a fixture of the tropical-dynamics literature due to its simplicity and apparent usefulness in understanding a wide range of atmospheric phenomena. However, its derivation relies on the assumption that the tropopause is a rigid lid, which artificially restricts the vertical propagation of wave energy. This causes tropospheric buoyancy anomalies of a single vertical mode to remain coherent for all time in the absence of dissipation. Here, we derive the Green’s functions for these baroclinic modes in a two-dimensional troposphere (or, equivalently, a three-dimensional troposphere with one translational symmetry) that is overlain by a stratosphere. These Green’s functions quantify the propagation and spreading of gravity waves generated by a horizontally localized heating, and they can be used to reconstruct the evolution of any tropospheric heating. For a first-baroclinic two-dimensional right-moving or left-moving gravity wave with a characteristic width of 100 ...
The True Nature of Transients

Early observations of the flaring object ASASSN-15lh led astronomers to cast it as the most luminous supernova ever. Now, convincing evidence indicates that this object is not as it seemed. In fact, fitting it into any known box is a challenge.
Cultura del "control del miedo al delito" como estrategia de dominación del poder global

La ponencia explora el giro que se observa en la politica penal planetaria que desde finales del siglo XX tiende a un resurgir del punitivismo en todo el hemisferio occidental, tanto en los paises centrales como perifericos, en contraste con los pronosticos de comienzos de la decada de los 80´s que proyectaban una reduccion significativa del control penal. Esa tendencia punitivista, esta intimamente ligada con los procesos de reacomodacion de los poderes mundiales tras la caida del muro de Berlin, el final de la guerra fria y una nueva forma de estrategia de penetracion del capital economico planetario caracterizada por la descentracion, la transnacionalizacion y la ubicuidad, que tiene como una de sus estrategias de dominacion la criminalizacion de ciertos sectores locales que no logran ser integrados al nuevo mercado mundial caracterizado por el control sinoptico y el autoabastecimiento en una sociedad de prosumidores globales.
INVITED EDITORIAL COMMENT: Taking Stationarity Seriously

1. Bradford Cornell 1. is a professor of finance at the California Institute of Technology and managing director at SMBP LLC in Pasadena, CA . (bcornell{at}caltech.edu) I wear two hats. For 40 years, I have been a professor of finance. For the last 10 years, I have run a small hedge fund. In
Developing a novel noise artifact detection algorithm for smartphone PPG signals: Preliminary results

Pulsatile signals recorded from a smartphone are often corrupted with noise artifacts, which hampers accuracy of the peak detection and consequently leads to inaccurate heart rate estimation. In this paper, we propose a novel approach which uses an algorithm based on variable frequency complex demodulation (VFCDM) to detect noise artifacts in the smartphone's pulsatile signal recorded from a fingertip video. The ultimate goal is to increase the accuracy of atrial fibrillation (AF) detection. In the time-frequency spectra obtained from VFCDM, thresholds are imposed on both the magnitude of the dominant frequency component at each time instant and on the successive difference of the significant frequency component in the heart rate range to enable accurate noise artifact detection. For this preliminary analysis, the performance of the proposed method has been evaluated on 200 subjects; the data were collected during a smartphone-based AF screening study in India. The proposed method is shown to detect noise artifacts in pulsatile signals with 91.16% accuracy, demonstrating the potential to reduce false alarms when only data segments identified as clean are used for AF detection.
Efficacy of a Word- and Text-Based Intervention for Students With Significant Reading Difficulties:

We examine the efficacy of an intervention to improve word reading and reading comprehension in fourth- and fifth-grade students with significant reading problems. Using a randomized control trial design, we compare the fourth- and fifth-grade reading outcomes of students with severe reading difficulties who were provided a researcher-developed treatment with reading outcomes of students in a business-as-usual (BAU) comparison condition. A total of 280 fourth- and fifth-grade students were randomly assigned within school in a 1:1 ratio to either the BAU comparison condition ( n = 139) or the treatment condition ( n = 141). Treatment students were provided small-group tutoring for 30 to 45 minutes for an average of 68 lessons (mean hours of instruction = 44.4, SD = 11.2). Treatment students performed statistically significantly higher than BAU students on a word reading measure (effect size [ES] = 0. 58) and a measure of reading fluency (ES = 0.46). Though not statistically significant, effect sizes for students in the treatment condition were consistently higher than BAU students for decoding measures (ES = 0.06, 0.08), and mixed for comprehension (ES = -0.02, 0.14).
The Acutely Ill Baby

Acute liver failure is due to necrosis of the liver leading to loss of liver function. The definition includes coagulopathy and encephalopathy. Other organs are often affected and there is a high mortality rate despite intensive care support. The initial clinical features are subtle with poor feeding, difficulty waking and poor temperature control, which can be difficult to detect in young infants. Initial investigations will show prolonged prothrombin time, hypoglycaemia, increased transaminases and bilirubin. A neonate with acute liver failure or liver dysfunction should be referred immediately to a tertiary paediatric liver centre for further advice, investigations and management. Many will require timely transfer for specialised care and consideration for transplantation. The most common causes are infection and metabolic disease (Tables 2.1 and 2.2) whilst liver vascular disease e.g. haemangioendotheliomas also present as an acutely ill baby with hepatomegaly, preserved liver biochemistry, heart failure and consumptive coagulopathy.
A Bibliography of Reference Works Bearing on Human Genetics: 1962–1974

The scientific literature bearing on human genetics is overwhelming. To aid students who wish to gain entrance to it, I have attempted to assemble data concerning most of the books dealing with various aspects of this subject published in English during the past 12 years. Citations to 381 books are presented in Table 1, and these have been grouped into 19 categories for convenience. The topics are presented with the category containing the largest number of books first and the smallest last. A listing of journals and monographic series devoted wholly or in part to human genetics is presented as Table 2. An additional aid to keeping abreast of the scientific literature is Human Genetics, a collection of abstracts of scientific papers and books published by Excerpta Medica, P.O. Box 211, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Ten fully indexed issues are produced annually, totaling 6000 abstracts.
In situ calibration of fura-2 and BCECF fluorescence in adult rat ventricular myocytes

Quantitation of Ca+ and H+ activities within cells using presently available fluorescent probes is optimal when the fluorescence signal is calibrated in situ after each experiment. Fura-2 and 2',7'-bis(2-carboxy-ethyl)-5,6-carboxyfluoroscein (BCECF) are difficult to calibrate in freshly dissociated adult cardiac myocytes because calibration procedures produce cellular hypercontracture. In situ calibration was accomplished in rat ventricular cells by saturating fura-2 with La3+, an agent known to produce myocardial relaxation. Since fura-2 has different spectral properties when complexed with La3+ than with Ca2+, scaling factors were defined in vitro and then verified by experiments in cultured neonatal myocytes. In adult rat myocytes using the La3+ method, intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was 131 +/- 47 nM (n = 14) in quiescent cells; diastolic [Ca2+]i and systolic [Ca2+]i in myocytes stimulated at 1 Hz were 140 +/- 56 and 1,088 +/- 211 nM (n = 5), respectively. BCECF fluorescence was calibrated in situ by a method that prevented cellular hypercontracture and reported a pH value of 7.10 +/- 0.10 in cells stimulated at 1.5 Hz. An additional advantage of both methods is that the buffers employed prevented large changes in the redox state of intracellular pyridine nucleotides, thus preventing a change in cellular autofluorescence during the calibration procedure.
GLACIERS AND ICEBERGS

ABSTRACT In all scientific disciplines there is both jargon and a set of basic concepts that are taken for granted by the people in that particular field – glaciology is no exception. As this conference has brought together people of diverse backgrounds it is considered appropriate to set the stage by familiarizing the participants with the glacial environment. This environment has always held the imagination of man as exhibited in the writings of Samuel T. Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and Edgar Allen Poe, “Manuscript Found in a Bottle.” These writings were generated after some of the early expeditions to the polar regions. But even today, we find a fascination with glaciers and especially with the elusive and ephemeral icebergs. In a series of color slides and motion picture clips the glaciers and icebergs of the northern and southern hemispheres are described. Some of the terms explained are ice sheet, valley glacier, tidal glacier, ice island, ice front, ice shelf, and tabular berg. As this conference is to consider the utilization of icebergs for fresh water, it is appropriate to note one of the very early successful operations of this kind. In January, 1773, Captain James Cook was lying off the coast of Antarctica and made the following entry in his logbook: “Finding loose pieces of ice about, we hoisted out three boats and took up as much as yielded 15 tons of fresh water. We were obliged to break them with our ice axes before they could be taken into the boats. The salt water that adhered to the pieces was so trifling as not to be tasted and, after they had lain on deck a little while, entirely drained off. The melting of the ice is a little tedious, otherwise this is the most expeditious way of watering I ever met with.”
SVM-Based Parameter Identification for Static Load Modeling

Load modeling is critical to power system studies. This paper proposes a parameter identification technique for the ZIP load model by leveraging the support vector machine (SVM) approach. The ZIP load model is represented as a linear regression expression. To improve the accuracy of parameter identification, one filter, i.e., Hampel filer, is used to preprocess measurements to reduce noises. The data after noise reduction are used as training data of the regression model, which is handled by the SVM approach. Several case studies show that the SVM with filters can identify the parameters for the static load model with high accuracy.
Synthetic Data Made to Order: The Case of Parsing

To approximately parse an unfamiliar language, it helps to have a treebank of a similar language. But what if the closest available treebank still has the wrong word order? We show how to (stochastically) permute the constituents of an existing dependency treebank so that its surface part-of-speech statistics approximately match those of the target language. The parameters of the permutation model can be evaluated for quality by dynamic programming and tuned by gradient descent (up to a local optimum). This optimization procedure yields trees for a new artificial language that resembles the target language. We show that delexicalized parsers for the target language can be successfully trained using such “made to order” artificial languages.
Antisolvent processing of lead halide perovskite thin films studied by in situ X-ray diffraction

The conversion mechanism from the precursor ink to the perovskite film using antisolvent-induced crystallization has been studied using in situ X-ray diffraction during blade coating and antisolvent deposition. We study various solvent systems forming methylammonium lead iodide perovskite. We find that it is critical to add the antisolvent before the formation of a crystalline intermediate phase. Compared to thermal crystallization, the antisolvent-induced crystallization alters the conversion route. Instead of heterogeneous nucleation and conversion through a crystalline intermediate phase, antisolvent-assisted annealing leads to a rapid direct crystallization, resulting in highly regular smooth films.
Analysing protein post-translational modform regions by linear programming

Post-translational modifications (PTMs) at multiple sites can collectively influence protein function but the scope of such PTM coding has been challenging to determine. The number of potential combinatorial patterns of PTMs on a single molecule increases exponentially with the number of modification sites and a population of molecules exhibits a distribution of such "modforms". Estimating these "modform distributions" is central to understanding how PTMs influence protein function. Although mass-spectrometry (MS) has made modforms more accessible, we have previously shown that current MS technology cannot recover the modform distribution of heavily modified proteins. However, MS data yield linear equations for modform amounts, which constrain the distribution within a high-dimensional, polyhedral "modform region". Here, we show that linear programming (LP) can efficiently determine a range within which each modform value must lie, thereby approximating the modform region. We use this method on simulated data for mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 with the 7 phosphorylations reported on UniProt, giving a modform region in a 128 dimensional space. The exact dimension of the region is determined by the number of linearly independent equations but its size and shape depend on the data. The average modform range, which is a measure of size, reduces when data from bottom-up (BU) MS, in which proteins are first digested into peptides, is combined with data from top-down (TD) MS, in which whole proteins are analysed. Furthermore, when the modform distribution is structured, as might be expected of real distributions, the modform region for BU and TD combined has a more intricate polyhedral shape and is substantially more constrained than that of a random distribution. These results give the first insights into high-dimensional modform regions and confirm that fast LP methods can be used to analyse them. We discuss the problems of using modform regions with real data, when the actual modform distribution will not be known.
Targeted MR Imaging in Cardiovascular Disease

Molecular imaging refers to the use of targeted imaging agents to detect molecular and cellular processes in the body. Some of these processes are associated with highly expressed targets, which can be imaged with only slight modifications to conventional small gadolinium chelates. However, many biological processes of interest occur in the low nanomolar range and require larger constructs with higher sensitivity to be developed. A large number of probes have been developed for preclinical imaging, targeting processes in both the vessel wall and myocardium. Several of these probes have been used in the clinical setting too, with excellent results and no adverse effects. The development of 19F (fluorine)-based imaging agents and integrated positron emission tomography magnetic resonance (PET-MR) scanners offers further opportunities. While the clinical translation of radiolabeled probes is in some ways easier, molecular MR agents have several conceptual advantages and could play an important role in the development of personalized therapies for cardiovascular disease.
Di­chlorido­(2,2′-methyl­enedipyridine)­zinc(II)

The title complex, [ZnCl2(C11H10N2)], crystallizes in the P21/c space group with di-2-pyridyl­methane acting as a bidentate ligand coordinating the zinc atom in a distorted tetra­hedral geometry. The asymmetric unit consists of a single mol­ecule of the title complex. The title complex folds with an angle of 53.82 (5)° between the planes of the two pyridine rings. The crystal packing is stabilized by hydrogen bonds and π–π inter­actions involving both pyridine rings.
Measuring Motivation Orientation and School Readiness in Children Served by Head Start.

Currently, the most widely used direct assessment of motivation orientation for preschoolers has little to no research on its reliability and validity. This study examined the test–retest reliabili...
Skeleton-based generalized cylinder deformation under the relative curvature condition

Deformation of a generalized cylinder with a parameterized shape change of its centerline is a non-trivial task when the surface is represented as a high-resolution triangle mesh, particularly when self-intersection and local distortion are to be avoided. We introduce a deformation approach that satisfies these properties based on the skeleton (densely sampled centerline and cross sections) of a generalized cylinder. Our approach uses the relative curvature condition to extract a reasonable centerline for a generalized cylinder whose orthogonal cross sections will not intersect. Given the desired centerline shape as a parametric curve, the displacements on the cross sections are determined while controlling for twisting effects, and under this constraint a vertex-wise displacement field is calculated by minimizing a quadratic surface bending energy. The method is tested on complicated generalized cylindrical objects. In particular, we discuss one application of the method for human colon (large intestine) visualization.
Dying To Access Methadone.

A cancer patient who uses heroin can’t gain reasonable access to methadone to treat his disorder until he qualifies for hospice.
The effects of e-cigarette vapor exposure on the transcriptome and virulence of Streptococcus pneumoniae

Abstract The effects of e-cigarette vapor (EV) exposure on the physiology of respiratory microflora are not fully defined. We analyzed the effects of exposure to vapor from nicotine-containing and nicotine-free e-liquid formulations on virulence and transcriptome of Streptococcus pneumoniae strain TIGR4, a pathogen that asymptomatically colonizes human nasopharyngeal mucosa. TIGR4 was pre-exposed for 2h to nicotine-containing EV extract (EVE+NIC), nicotine-free EV extract (EVE−NIC), cigarette smoke extract (CSE), or nutrient-rich TS broth (control). The differences in the treatment and control TIGR4 were explored using transcriptome sequencing, in vitro virulence assays, and in vivo mouse model of acute pneumonia. The analysis of RNASeq profiles revealed modest changes in the expression of 14 genes involved in sugar transport and metabolism in EVE−NIC pre-exposed TIGR4 compared to the control. While, EVE+NIC or CSE exposure altered expression of 264 and 982 genes, respectively, most of which were involved in metabolism and stress response. Infection in a mouse model of acute pneumonia with control TIGR4 or with TIGR4 pre-exposed to EVE+NIC, EVE−NIC, or CSE did not show significant differences in disease parameters, such as bacterial organ burden and respiratory cytokine response. Interestingly, TIGR4 exposed to CSE or EVE+NIC (but not EVE−NIC) exhibited moderate induction of biofilm formation. However, none of the treatment groups showed significant alterations in pneumococcal hydrophobicity or epithelial cell adherence. In summary, our study reports that exposure to EV significantly alters the S. pneumoniae transcriptome in a nicotine-dependent manner without affecting pneumococcal virulence. Importance With the increasing popularity of e-cigarettes amongst cigarette smoking and non-smoking adults and children, and the recent reports of vaping related lung illnesses and deaths, further analysis of the adverse health effects of e-cigarette vapor (EV) exposure is warranted. Since pathogenic bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae can colonize the human nasopharynx as commensals, they may be affected by the exposure to bioactive chemicals in EV. Hence in this study we examined the effects of EV exposure on the physiology of S. pneumoniae strain TIGR4. In order to differentiate between the effects of nicotine and non-nicotine components, we specifically compared RNASeq profiles and virulence of TIGR4 exposed to vapor from nicotine-containing and nicotine-free e-liquid formulations. We observed that nicotine-containing EV augmented TIGR4 biofilms and altered expression of TIGR4 genes predominantly involved in metabolism and stress response. However, neither nicotine-containing nor nicotine-free EV affected TIGR4 virulence in a mouse model.
Nodular amyloidosis of the lips as a presenting feature of systemic amyloidosis associated with multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an uncommon malignancy that involves proliferation of atypical plasma cells in the bone marrow, generally diagnosed in the seventh decade of life.1 Initial clinical signs and symptoms associated with MM are variable but usually include bone pain, anemia, hypercalcemia, and renal insufficiency. It is estimated that approximately 10% to 15% of patients with MM have concomitant immunoglobulin amyloid light-chain (AL) amyloidosis2, 3; of those patients, 29% to 40% have mucocutaneous disease.4 Here, we report a case of isolated nodules on the bilateral oral commissures as an unusual presenting sign of systemic AL amyloidosis, uncovering a diagnosis of MM.
Dietary Determinants of Metabolic Syndrome Parameters Differ by Gender in College Students

MyPlate is a guidance system for healthier eating choices. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the influence of MyPlate food group consumption and exercise on metabolic syndrome (MetS) parameters in college students. Participant (n = 462) blood was analyzed using Cholestech for triglycerides (TG), glucose, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). In addition, weight, waist circumference (WC), and blood pressure (BP) were measured. Diet and Wellness Plus was used to compute participant diet records. Regression analysis and a recursive decision tree were made to predict MetS using RStudio (V.1.1.463). BP decision tree predicted high risk of elevated blood pressure with a recall rate of 93.7%. For males; exercise, empty calories, dairy, and protein were main predictors. For females, vegetable and empty calorie consumption were primary determinants. HDL-C decision tree had a recall rate of 91.8% and showed that the main low HDL-C risk determinants for males were; exercise and grain consumption. Conversely, for females; empty calories, grain, and vegetable consumption were the key factors determining low HDL-C risk. This study shows that MyPlate recommendations are valuable to achieve adequate HDL-C and blood pressure and provides insight into the importance of tailoring food intake guidance based on gender.
Two new species of Neotropical cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae) from southeastern Brazil

Two new cicada species, Calyria uncinata sp. nov. (Parnisini Distant, 1905a) and Herrera chelappendicula sp. nov. (Carinetini Distant, 1905b) are described and illustrated from southeastern Brazil. Additional information is provided to distinguish these species from related Brazilian cicadas. Key words: Taxonomy, Calyria, Herrera, Neotropics, South America
Modeling swine population dynamics at a finer temporal resolution

The United States Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) uses probability surveys of hog owners to estimate quarterly hog inventories in the United States at the national and state levels. NASS also receives data from external sources. A panel of commodity experts forms the Agricultural Statistics Board (ASB). The ASB establishes the NASS official estimates for each quarter by taking into account survey estimates and other relevant sources of information that are available in numerical and non‐numerical form. The aim of this article is to propose an estimation method of hog inventories by combining the NASS proprietary survey results, the hog transaction data, the past ASB panel expert analyses, biological dynamics, and the inter‐inventory relationship constraints. This approach downscales the official estimates to provide monthly estimates according to well‐defined biological growth patterns. The model developed in this study provides national estimates that may inform the quarterly reports.
The Golgi apparatus: protein transport and packaging in secretory cells.

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the structural basis of secretory protein transport and packaging by the Golgi apparatus. Recent evidence points to distinct structural, chemical, and functional specialization within the Golgi region, which may be altered or modulated by changes in cellular activity. Insofar as they bear on the processes of protein transport and packaging, aspects of membrane dynamics and the segregation and sorting of various synthetic products are discussed in the chapter. The Golgi apparatus plays a central role in secretory cells. The heterogeneity of the Golgi apparatus—demonstrated in structural, cytochemical, and biochemical studies—suggests that specialized regions of the Golgi apparatus may be responsible for specific functions. The identification of Golgi–Endoplasmic Reticulum Lysosome (GERL) at the trans face of the Golgi apparatus and its apparent role in secretory granule formation add additional complexity to the understanding of the functioning of the Golgi apparatus.
Impact of Drive Cycles on PHEV Component Requirements

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) offer the ability to significantly reduce petroleum consumption. Argonne National Laboratory, working with the FreedomCAR and Fuels Partnership, participated in the definition of the battery requirements for PHEVs. Previous studies have demonstrated the impact of such vehicle characteristics as vehicle class, mass, or electrical accessories on battery requirements. However, outstanding questions remain regarding the impact of drive cycles on the requirements. In this paper, we will first evaluate the consequences of sizing the electrical machine and battery power to follow the Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule (UDDS) to satisfy California Air Resources Board (CARB) requirements and determine the number of other driving cycles that can be followed in Electric Vehicle (EV) mode. Then, we will study the impact of sizing the electrical components on other driving cycles.
The Genetic/Evolutonary Basis of Prejudice and Hatred

I believe that prejudice underlies the development of hatred toward various outgroups. Hence, in order to understand the origins of hatred, it is essential to understand the origins of prejudice. Our genetic/evolutionary heritage provides the initial push toward prejudice. My essential argument is that three sets of genetic/evolutionary processes that lead to prejudice and discrimination evolved in hunter-gatherer tribes. They were appropriate and necessary for that subsistence mode, which characterizes 99% of human existence. These three sets of processes—inclusive fitness, authority-bearing systems, intergroup hostility— are put into motion in nonhunter-gatherer contexts because they have been incorporated into our epigenetic systems. A fourth set of processes, outgroup attractiveness, which is based on the necessity of gene flow, to some extent counteracts the above processes and may lead to the reduction of prejudice and discrimination.
Magnetoanisotropy in Zn 1 − x Mn x Se strained epilayers

The magnetoanisotropy of free excitons in strained ${\mathrm{Zn}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{x}}$${\mathrm{Mn}}_{\mathit{x}}$Se epilayers (x\ensuremath{\le}0.15) grown on GaAs substrates was studied at 4.2 K and in magnetic fields up to 8 T in the Voigt geometry. A reversal in the sequence of the light-hole exciton components was observed for x=0.15 in the Faraday geometry. These results can be explained by considering the effects of strain on the valance band.
BATTERIES FOR ELECTRIC DRIVE VEHICLES EVALUATION OF FUTURE CHARACTERISTICS AND COSTS THROUGH A DELPHI STUDY.

Uncertainty about future costs and operating attributes of electric drive vehicles (EVs and HEVs) has contributed to considerable debate regarding the market viability of such vehicles. One way to deal with such uncertainty, common to most emerging technologies, is to pool the judgments of experts in the field. Data from a two-stage Delphi study are used to project the future costs and operating characteristics of electric drive vehicles. The experts projected basic vehicle characteristics for EVs and HEVs for the period 2000-2020. They projected the mean EV range at 179 km in 2000, 270 km in 2010, and 358 km in 2020. The mean HEV range on battery power was projected as 145 km in 2000, 212 km in 2010, and 244 km in 2020. Experts` opinions on 10 battery technologies are analyzed and characteristics of initial battery packs for the mean power requirements are presented. A procedure to compute the cost of replacement battery packs is described, and the resulting replacement costs are presented. Projected vehicle purchase prices and fuel and maintenance costs are also presented. The vehicle purchase price and curb weight predictions would be difficult to achieve with the mean battery characteristics. With the battery replacement costs added to the fuel and maintenance costs, the conventional ICE vehicle is projected to have a clear advantage over electric drive vehicles through the projection period.
Automatic tumor lesion detection and segmentation using modified winnow algorithm

Automated recognition of brain tumors in magnetic resonance images (MRI) is a difficult procedure due to the variability and complexity of the location, size, shape, and texture of these lesions. Due to intensity similarities between brain lesions and normal tissues, most approaches make use of multi-spectral MRI images. However, the time, cost, and data process restrictions for collecting multi-spectral MRI necessitate developing a lesion detection and segmentation approach that can detect lesions using a single anatomical MRI image. In this paper, we present a fully automatic system, which is able to detect the MRI images that include tumor and to segment the tumor area. Fully anisotropic complex Morlet transform, and dual tree complex wavelet transform are introduced for tumor textural characterization. Perhaps most importantly, we propose a novel feature selection technique that is based on regularized Winnow algorithm. An active contour model implemented with selective binary and Gaussian filtering regularized level set (SBGFRLS) is used for final segmentation step. The experimental results on both simulated and real brain MRI data prove the efficacy of our technique in successfully segmenting brain tumor tissues with high accuracy and low computational complexity.
Tumorous head in Drosophila.

Publisher Summary Four different maternal effects have been discussed in this chapter, which are associated with the tumorous-head genetic system in drosophila melanogaster. A third chromosome semidominant gene (tu-3) is basic to the entire system. In the presence of the tu-3, the maternal effect associated with the manifestation of abnormal growths in the head region is controlled by a sex-linked, recessive gene tu-1. It discusses that fertility is influenced by a maternal effect and the viability of one chromosome type also responds to a maternal effect. In addition to tu-3 and tu-1 alleles, modifiers, particularly those in the second chromosome influence the maternal effects. Reduced productivity of homokaryotype females is a function of reduced fecundity, fertility, and longevity. The chapter also explores that, in developmental studies, larvae is examined at different stages, which indicates that the head abnormality was present in structures arising from the eye-antenna1 disc during late third instar. Morphological changes, observable microscopically at this time, were presumed to reflect physiological changes that had occurred during the temperature-sensitive period in the early stages of larval development. Autonomy of the genetic determination through the developmental period was demonstrated by ovary transplantation.
Developing Responsive IEPs Through Holistic Assessment

The IEP can be an invaluable part of a child's education-if it is responsive to the child's true needs
Enhanced disease characterization through multi network functional normalization in fMRI

Conventionally, structural topology is used for spatial normalization during the preprocessing of fMRI. The co-existence of multiple intrinsic networks which can be detected in the resting brain are well studied. Also, these networks exhibit temporal and spatial modulation during cognitive task versus rest which shows the existence of common spatial excitation patterns between these identified networks. Previous work (Khullar S et al., 2011) has shown that structural and functional data may not have direct one-to-one correspondence and functional activation patterns in a well-defined structural region can vary across subjects even for a well-defined functional task. The results of this study and the existence of the neural activity patterns in multiple networks motivates us to investigate multiple resting-state networks as a single fusion template for functional normalization for multi groups of subjects. We extend the previous approach (Khullar S et al., 2011) by co-registering multi group of subjects (healthy control and schizophrenia patients) and by utilizing multiple resting-state networks (instead of just one) as a single fusion template for functional normalization. In this paper we describe the initial steps towards using multiple resting-state networks as a single fusion template for functional normalization. A simple wavelet-based image fusion approach is presented in order to evaluate the feasibility of combining multiple functional networks. Our results showed improvements in both the significance of group statistics (healthy control and schizophrenia patients) and the spatial extent of activation when a multiple resting-state network applied as a single fusion template for functional normalization after the conventional structural normalization. Also, our results provided evidence that the improvement in significance of group statistics lead to better accuracy results for classification of healthy controls and schizophrenia patients.
General analysis of two-body nucleon decays

Abstract An effective nucleon decay theory has been developed by Weinberg and Wilczek-Zee consistent with low-energy phenomenology. This theory, together with the SU(6) quark model, is used to derive two-body nucleon decay branching ratios. Scalar boson exchange effects are included and lead to non-trivial modifications of the pure vector boson exchange results. Contributions from both spectator and nucleon pole diagrams are considered.
‘Nature’, illusion and excess in Sokurov's Mother and Son

AbstractAleksandr Sokurov's Mother and Son (1997) presents a highly allusive pictorialized vision of landscape, one highly derivative of the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. But the film's denaturalizing of nature goes even further than this, mobilizing peripheral space, chance, soundtrack/picture disjunction and cinematic excess — all traces of the ‘Sokurovian unconscious’, a puckish counter-text working to subvert the work's received elegiac mood.
Aggressiveness of Stagonospora nodorum Isolates from Perennial Grasses on Wheat.

ABSTRACT Isolates of Stagonospora nodorum from 13 perennial grasses were tested on detached wheat leaves. Grass isolates that were consistently associated with large or small lesions were statistically differentiated. Some grass isolates were detected that were associated with large lesions on wheat (high symptom severity), but most isolates produced small lesions (mild level of symptom severity). The ability of grass isolates to cause significant differences in symptom severity, as measured by lesion length, was interpreted as differences in aggressiveness. Grass isolates that were associated with high symptom severity were found to be similar to selected wheat isolates in their level of aggressiveness. Results were confirmed with inoculations of seedling wheat plants in the glasshouse. Wheat cultivars were statistically differentiated from one another with all types of isolates. The cultivar × isolate interactions were, generally, not significant with unselected isolates, indicating a low possibility of...
No specific recognition of leader peptide by SecB, a chaperone involved in protein export

Most proteins destined for export from Escherichia coli are made as precursors containing amino-terminal leader sequences that are essential for export and that are removed during the process. The initial step in export of a subset of proteins, which includes maltose-binding protein, is binding of the precursor by the molecular chaperone SecB. This work shows directly that SecB binds with high affinity to unfolded maltose-binding protein but does not specifically recognize and bind the leader. Rather, the leader modulates folding to expose elements in the remainder of the polypeptide that are recognized by SecB.
Cross command collaboration effort (3CE)

The Cross Command Collaboration Effort (3CE) is an effort to establish and evolve a consistent and core set of modeling and simulation (M&S) tools, data, and business processes that meet the common environment requirements of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), U.S. Army Test and Evaluation Command (ATEC), and U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, (RDECOM). This common environment will facilitate those organizations's interoperability with the materiel development community to help conduct distributed development of doctrine, organizations, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities.
Heterotopic ossification in critical illness and cancer: A report of 2 cases

Heterotopic ossification is the abnormal development of bone tissue within periarticular soft tissue. We present 2 Turkish patients with malignant thoracic cancer who underwent extensive thoracic surgery and required prolonged postoperative chemical paralysis and cardiorespiratory support for respiratory complications. Both patients were found by the physiatrist to have multiple, extensive heterotopic ossifications. Clinical findings in both patients included joint swelling and severe limitation in range of motion (ROM) associated with pain. The diagnoses were confirmed radiographically. After an extended length of inpatient rehabilitation, both patients improved their cumulative FIM instrument motor scores by 23 and were discharged with a trained family member. Our findings suggested that heterotopic ossification should be suspected in patients presenting with decreased ROM, increased pain, and joint swelling after prolonged immobilization. Serum alkaline phosphatase might be used as an effective screening tool.
Timing of valve replacement for aortic stenosis.

Timing of valve replacement for aortic stenosis ISSN: 1524-4539 Copyright © 1990 American Heart Association. All rights reserved. Print ISSN: 0009-7322. Online 72514 Circulation is published by the American Heart Association. 7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 1990, 82:310-312 Circulation http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/82/1/310.citation located on the World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is
Coherency Strain Modeling of Elastic Moduli in CU/NB Multilayers

An anomalous decrease in the elastic moduli of Cu/Nb multilayers has been observed via acoustic wave measurements. The decrease occurs for (111) fcc Cu and (110) bcc Nb layered structures with repeat periods between 1 and 5 nm. The coherency strain model has been used to simulate modulus enhancement in noble/transition metal multilayers. This approach addresses the atomic displacements corresponding with the lattice distortions of biaxially stressed layers. Elastic moduli are derived with respect to higher order differentials of a Born-Mayer type potential for nearest neighbor ions. The elastic moduli anomalies of Cu/Nb multilayers will be modelled within this conceptual framework.
Modeling the Free Surface of an Unconfined Aquifer Near a Recirculation Well

We examine flow in an unconfined aquifer near a recirculation well, which consists of a source and a sink of equal discharge, with emphasis on understanding the behavior of the free surface. The well is vertical with a pump located between an inlet above and an outlet below to induce recirculation of ground water and thus enhance mixing. The boundary element method is used to model the flow with the free-surface boundary condition. Numerical simulations show that for this arrangement there is a critical pumping rate beyond which the free surface becomes unstable and is drawn down to the well. The value of this critical rate as well as the maximum drawdown of the phreatic surface were determined for a range of well-screen (inlet and outlet) separations. In addition to the numerical model, we developed an analytical approximation that yielded an estimate of the critical pumping rate. The analytical estimate is shown to be in reasonably good agreement with the numerical results. We also examined the effect of approximating the free-surface boundary by a horizontal confining layer. The radius of influence of a single well source-sink pair was only slightly affected by making this approximation, as long as the pumping rate remained below the critical value.
Pediatric cervical spondylolysis and American football

Abstract Background context Cervical spondylolysis (CS) is a rare condition and is even more uncommon in pediatric patients. It is characterized by a disruption of the articular mass at the junction of the superior and inferior facet joints and often is diagnosed incidentally. The C6 level is most commonly involved, and the cause of CS remains unknown. There are no recommendations in the literature regarding activity modification in patients with CS and no discussion as to risks of participation in American football or other contact sports. Purpose To report a case of C6 bilateral cervical spondylolysis with bicuspid spinous process and to discuss radiographic/clinical findings and issues related to participation in contact sports and minimizing the risk of spinal cord injury. Study design/setting Case report with 6 months clinical/radiographic follow-up Methods Radiographic description, clinical findings, and current review of the literature. Results A pediatric patient presented with a bilateral C6 cervical spondylolysis and bicuspid spinous process after an American football–related minor cervical spine trauma. Findings on radiographs indicated that the spondylolysis appeared to be chronic in nature, without evidence of instability. The patient and his family were educated on ways to decrease the risk of spinal cord injury with contact sports, after which the patient was allowed to participate fully in sports without restrictions or adverse events. Conclusion Pediatric cervical spondylolysis is a rare condition, the cause of which remains debated. Although there is theoretical risk, more than 1.5 million youth participate in American football annually, and there have been no reported cases of significant spinal cord injury in patients with CS from football or other contact sports.
A distributed detection framework for Steganalysis

Many watermarking algorithms have been proposed and studied for their robustness and other properties. But, there has been little effort is analyzing these algorithms for their vulnerability against detection by an adversary. As a general philosophy for robust watermarking the host signal and the watermarked signal are well separated in a statistical distance sense. This very nature can be exploited by an adversary to easily detect the watermark and perhaps remove it. We argue that the ability of a watermark to avoid detection by an adversary is a key factor that needs more attention. In this paper, we propose a framework, based on a distributed detection technique, that can be used by the adversary to study signals for the presence/absence of watermarks. We choose a particular spatial domain image watermarking algorithm and explain how the proposed framework can be applied to detect the watermark with very little knowledge about the watermark insertion procedure. The false alarm probability can be optimally traded-off with the probability of detection using the receiver operating characteristic function.
A cost-benefit analysis of nocturnal feeding in the rat

Rats are nocturnal feeders. The present results show that when either the cost of procuring a meal or the cost of consuming it increases differentially in the dark relative to the light, rats shift their feeding activity to the light phase of the light/dark cycle. These results suggest that some of the same factors that presumably provided the selection pressure for nocturnal feeding in the phylogeny of the rat are still capable of modifying its current patterns of feeding.
The Friedman embedding theorem

Abstract In this paper, we will present an explicit construction of Harvey Friedman which to every finitely generated group G associates a 2-generator subgroup K G ⩽ Sym ( N ) such that G embeds into K G and such that if G ≅ H , then K G = K H .
Development of EXELFS for Nanoscale Atomic Structure Determination

EXELFS spectroscopy contains the same local atomic structural information as XAFS; furthermore, it is readily applied to low Z elements, has high spatial resolution, and the capacity of combining other local WM measurements. Due to hitherto relatively poor quality of the EELS data, the EXELFS technique has not been developed to its full advantage until recently. We introduced various new methods to improve the data acquisition including real-time alignment and accumulation of virtually unlimited number of spectra while monitoring sample drift, radiation damage, and changes in energy resolution. We also developed a systematic data analysis procedure which corrects for the differences between EXELFS and XAFS, and adopts the UWXAFS data analysis software package to perform EXELFS data analysis with the same level of sophistication. The technique is demonstrated for SiC.