cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Strategies for monitoring social media for small restaurants

Recently, social media has emerged as a relatively low-cost option for all restaurants that offers more opportunities for monitoring performance than traditional types of media. To date, social med...
Photonic-Crystal-Reflector Nanoresonators for Kerr-Frequency Combs

We demonstrate Kerr-frequency-comb generation with nanofabricated Fabry–Perot resonators, which are formed with photonic-crystal-reflector (PCR) mirrors. The PCR group-velocity dispersion (GVD) is ...
Amblyomma americanum ticks utilizes countervailing pro and anti-inflammatory proteins to evade host defense

Feeding and transmission of tick-borne disease (TBD) agents by ticks are facilitated by tick saliva proteins (TSP). Thus, defining functional roles of TSPs in tick evasion is expected to reveal potential targets in tick-antigen based vaccines to prevent TBD infections. This study describes two types of Amblyomma americanum TSPs: those that are similar to LPS activate macrophage (MΦ) to express pro-inflammation (PI) markers and another set that suppresses PI marker expression by activated MΦ. We show that similar to LPS, three recombinant (r) A. americanum insulin-like growth factor binding-related proteins (rAamIGFBP-rP1, rAamIGFBP-rP6S, and rAamIGFBP-rP6L), hereafter designated as PI-rTSPs, stimulated both PBMC -derived MΦ and mice RAW 267.4 MΦ to express PI co-stimulatory markers, CD40, CD80, and CD86 and cytokines, TNFα, IL-1, and IL-6. In contrast, two A. americanum tick saliva serine protease inhibitors (serpins), AAS27 and AAS41, hereafter designated as anti-inflammatory (AI) rTSPs, on their own did not affect MΦ function or suppress expression of PI markers, but enhanced expression of AI cytokines (IL-10 and TGFβ) in MΦ that were pre-activated by LPS or PI-rTSPs. Mice paw edema test demonstrated that in vitro validated PI- and AI-rTSPs are functional in vivo since injection of HEK293-expressed PI-rTSPs (individually or as a cocktail) induced edema comparable to carrageenan-induced edema and was characterized by upregulation of CD40, CD80, CD86, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, and chemokines: CXCL1, CCL2, CCL3, CCL5, and CCL11, whereas the AI-rTSPs (individually and cocktail) were suppressive. We propose that the tick may utilize countervailing PI and AI TSPs to regulate evasion of host immune defenses whereby TSPs such as rAamIGFBP-rPs activate host immune cells and proteins such as AAS27 and AAS41 suppress the activated immune cells.
Rhythmic auditory stimulation increases 6-Minute walk distance in individuals with COPD: A repeated measures study.

Abstract Objective To evaluate if there is an increase in 6-minute walk distance in individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) while walking to rhythmically enhanced music. Background Individuals with COPD are less active. Walking with rhythmically enhanced music may help Participant's walk farther while simultaneously distracting from symptoms of dyspnea. Methods Twenty-five men (age = 70.7 ± 4.5 yr), with moderate-to-severe COPD (FEV1 = 47.4 ± 9.7% predicted) completed three, 6 min walk tests (6MWT) in random order. Walks were completed with music, with music that was rhythmically enhanced, or without music. Walking distance and perceived dyspnea were measured. Results Participant's walked 12 m, 95% CI [20.5-, 2.6], p = 0.015 further during the 6MWT when listening to rhythmically enhanced music when compared to no music. Onset of dyspnea was not different between the three walking conditions. Conclusions Rhythmically-enhanced music may be a useful tool to increase walking distance in Participant's with COPD.
Implications of Telemedicine on Educational Outcomes and Healthcare Accessibility, Case Study of a Local College in Upstate New York

Abstract Importance: There is a dearth of empirical research addressing the healthcare component on the academic performance of college students. It is unknown how discrepancies in healthcare access manifest in college students. Objective: To improve awareness of the current healthcare issues facing college students and find ways to minimize the healthcare gap. Design, Setting, and Participants: Local college students were assessed for health status, usage of the health system, potential factors discouraging the use of health benefits, and the educational outcomes of the students. Main Outcomes and Measures: Educational outcomes associated with differing levels of healthcare access, averages, Pearsons r, odds ratios and 95% CIs. Results: Nearly 1 in 4 students (26.1% [SE, 3.7%]) reported having inadequate healthcare access. Healthcare accessibility was strongly correlated with academic performance (r = .336 [95% CI, .179-.476]; P .99). Though the adoption of telemedicine among college students is staggeringly low, with fewer than 1 in 12 students (7.9% [SE 2.4%]) reporting at least some telemedical usage. Conclusions and Relevance: Over a quarter of college students report inadequate healthcare access despite fewer than 1 in 12 students utilizing telemedicine. Further research is needed to determine the extent to how much the current healthcare norms affect college students, but fostering a pedagogical approach to telemedicine may serve to bridge the healthcare gap.
Minocycline Topical Foam: A New Drug for the Treatment of Acne.

Objective:To review the safety and efficacy of minocycline 4% topical foam for the treatment of moderate to severe acne vulgaris in adults and pediatric patients aged 9 years and older.Data Sources...
Health Care-Specific Enacted HIV-Related Stigma's Association with Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence and Viral Suppression Among People Living with HIV in Florida.

Among people living with HIV (PLWH) in Florida, <2/3 are virally suppressed (viral load <200 copies/mL). Previous theoretical frameworks have pointed to HIV-related stigma as an important factor fo...
Outcomes in Severe Upper GI Hemorrhage from Dieulafoy's Lesion with Monitoring of Arterial Blood Flow.

Dieulafoy’s lesion (DL) is a rare but increasingly recognized cause of severe upper GI hemorrhage (SUGIH). There is little consensus regarding the endoscopic approach to management of bleeding from DL. Our purposes were to compare 30-day outcomes of patients with SUGIH from DL with Doppler endoscopic probe (DEP) monitoring of blood flow and guided treatment versus standard visually guided hemostasis (VG). Eighty-two consecutive DL patients with SUGIH were identified in a large CURE Hemostasis database from previous prospective cohort studies and two recent RCTs at two university-based medical centers. 30-day outcomes including rebleeding, surgery, angiography, death, and severe medical complications were compared between the two treatment groups. 40.2% of DL bleeds occurred in inpatients. 43.9% of patients had cardiovascular disease, and 48.7% were taking medications associated with bleeding. For the entire cohort, 41.3% (26/63) of patients treated with VG had a composite 30-day outcome as compared to 10.5% (2/19) of patients treated with DEP (p = 0.017). Rebleeding occurred within 30 days in 33.3% and 10.5% of those treated with VG and DEP, respectively (p = 0.051). After propensity score matching, the adjusted 30-day composite outcome occurred in 39.0% in the VG group compared to 2.6% in the DEP group (p < 0.001). Adjusted 30-day rebleeding occurred in 25.3% in the VG group versus 2.6% in the DEP group (p < 0.001). DL patients with SUGIH were frequently inpatients and had severe cardiovascular comorbidities and recurrent bleeding. Lesion arterial blood flow monitoring and obliteration are an effective way to treat bleeding from DL which reduces negative 30-day clinical outcomes.
Biodiesel hedging under binding renewable fuel standard mandates

Abstract We apply an encompassing framework to assess the viability of hedging spot biodiesel price risk for four U.S. markets with a conventionally used heating oil futures contract and a soybean oil futures contract based on the logic that supply shifts (i.e., price of soybean oil as an input) drive biodiesel prices when binding blending mandates are in place. Results indicate that soybean oil futures should in fact be part of a composite hedge, and that in some instances greater hedging weight should be placed on the soybean oil futures contract than the conventionally used heating oil futures contract.
Abstract P176: Proportionate Cardiovascular Mortality Patterns Among Patients With Inflammatory Disease In The United States, 1999-2018

Introduction: Novel therapies have changed the clinical course of several chronic viral and inflammatory conditions over the past two decades. As the morbidity burden of these conditions has change...
Quantitative assessment of velocity and flow using compressed SENSE in children and young adults with adequate acquired temporal resolution.

Background Phase contrast (PC) cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging with parallel imaging acceleration is established and validated for measuring velocity and flow. However, additional acceleration to further shorten acquisition times would be beneficial in patients with complex vasculature who need multiple PC-CMR measurements, especially pediatric patients with higher heart rates. Methods PC-CMR images acquired with compressed sensitivity encoding (C-SENSE) factors of 3 to 6 and standard of care PC-CMR with sensitivity encoding (SENSE) factor of 2 (S2) acquired as part of clinical CMR examinations performed between November 2020 and January 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. The velocity and flow through the ascending aorta (AAo), descending aorta (DAo), and superior vena cava (SVC) in a transverse plane at the level of pulmonary artery bifurcation were compared. Additionally, frequency power distribution and dynamic time warp distance were calculated for these acquisitions. To further validate the adequate temporal resolution requirement, patients with S2 PC-CMR in the same acquisition plane were added in frequency power distribution analysis. Results Twenty-eight patients (25 males; 15.9 ± 1.9 years; body surface area (BSA) 1.7 ± 0.2 m2; heart rate 81 ± 16 bpm) underwent all five PC-CMR acquisitions during the study period. An additional 22 patients (16 males; 17.5 ± 7.7 years; BSA 1.6 ± 0.5 m2; heart rate 91 ± 16 bpm) were included for frequency power spectrum analysis. As expected, scan time decreased with increasing C-SENSE acceleration factor = 3 (37.5 ± 6.5 s, 26.4 ± 7.6%), 4 (28.1 ± 4.9 s, 44.7 ± 5.6%), 5 (21.6 ± 3.6 s, 57.6 ± 4.4%), and 6 (19.1 ± 3.2 s, 62.3 ± 4.2%) relative to SENSE = 2 (51.3 ± 10.1 s) PC-CMR acquisition. Mean peak velocity, net flow, and cardiac output were comparable (p > 0.87) between the five PC-CMR acquisitions with mean differences less than 0.2), and dynamic time warp distance (p > 0.3) on the C-SENSE acceleration factor used. There was a strongly correlated (r = 0.74) increase in fmax99 (10.5 ± 2.2, range: 7.1-16.4 Hz) with increasing heart rate. The computed minimum required cardiac phase number was 15 ± 2.0 (range: 11-20) over the heart rate of 86 ± 15 bpm (range: 58-113 bpm). Conclusions Stroke volume, cardiac output, and mean peak velocity measurements using PC-CMR with C-SENSE of up to 6 agree with measurements by standard of care PC-CMR with SENSE = 2 and resulted in up to a 65% reduction in acquisition time. Adequate temporal sampling can be ensured by acquiring 20 cardiac phases throughout the entire cardiac cycle over a wide range of pediatric and young adult heart rates.
Muscular fatigue and learning a discrete motor skill.

Abstract A number of theoretical statements of motor learning predict that fatigue should be detrimental to learning, but recent evidence has produced varied results. Some methodological weaknesses of the earlier work were eliminated in the present experiment in which 32 women engaged in 2 min. of arm ergometer cranking followed by the first trial of the discrete sigma task, with cranking interpolated between each of 20 subsequent trials. A control group of 32 subjects engaged in a left-hand tapping task in place of the ergometer cranking. On Day 2 (72 hr. later) all subjects practiced under nonfatigued conditions. The transfer from fatigued to nonfatigued practice was only moderate, indicating that fatigue was a powerful learning variable as predicted by theory.
A model validation approach to fault detection

A model validation methodology in l/sub 1/ has previously been proposed. This paper demonstrates the application of this method to the validation of a simplified SISO model. The minimum unmeasured disturbance and model perturbation that explain the measured input-output data are calculated.
Diagnostic electromigration reliability evaluation with a local sensing structure

EM reliability evaluations generally rely on monitoring an EM test structure resistance increase caused by void formation during current stress. With technology scaling, the height and width of interconnects are shrinking. Therefore, the base resistance of EM test structures increases substantially, and the detection of the absolute resistance change caused by the same size of void at the latest technology nodes becomes very challenging. In this paper, an improved EM test structure based on a local resistance sensing concept is developed and evaluated. With this new test structure and associated method, the location of local void formation can be electrically determined, the details of void evolution can be more fully characterized, and a great improvement of void detection sensitivity can be achieved.
Halomethyl—metal compounds : LXXVIII. Cyclohexyl- and /gb-phenylethyl-(trihalomethyl)mercury compounds as dihalocarbene precursors at room temperature☆

Abstract Alkyl(trihalomethyl)mercury compounds, RHgCXYBr (R = cyclohexyl and PhCH 2 CH 2 ; X, Y = Cl, Cl; Cl, Br; Br, Br) as well as the corresponding RHgCCl 3 compounds have been prepared and evaluated as divalent carbon transfer reagents. All were found to be much more reactive than the corresponding phenyl(trihalomethyl)mercurials. The cyclo-C 6 H 11 HgCXYBr (X, Y = Cl, Cl; Cl, Br) compounds were found to be quite effective carbene transfer reagents at room temperature.
Coordinated Patterns on Smooth Curves

We show methods that control cooperative Newtonian particles to generate patterns on smooth curves. The spacing between neighboring particles is measured by the relative arc-length and the distance between a particle and the desired curve is measured using an orbit function. The orbit value and the relative arc-length are then used as feedback to control the motion of each particle to a pattern on the desired curve asymptotically. Possible applications of the methods to underwater mobile sensor networks are discussed.
Software engineering is not computer science

One of the many confusing issues in today's software world is the use of many names that describe different aspects of the software sciences, but which have widely overlapping activities. One such area is the distinction between computer science and software engineering. Undergraduate programs to teach software sciences should decide upon an area in which to concentrate, either computer science or software engineering. The distinction is more than semantics; there are practical differences in the philosophy of each of these subjects. Computer science, though beyond its infancy, is still a dynamic area, but is suitable for undergraduate curricula due to the body of knowledge which exists to support it. Software engineering, in contrast, is still in its infancy and is not yet well enough understood to warrant a separate undergraduate curriculum.
Parametric response surface models for analysis of multi-site fMRI data

Analyses of fMRI brain data are often based on statistical tests applied to each voxel or use summary statistics within a region of interest (such as mean or peak activation). These approaches do not explicitly take into account spatial patterns in the activation signal. In this paper, we develop a response surface model with parameters that directly describe the spatial shapes of activation patterns. We present a stochastic search algorithm for parameter estimation. We apply our method to data from a multi-site fMRI study, and show how the estimated parameters can be used to analyze different sources of variability in image generation, both qualitatively and quantitatively, based on spatial activation patterns.
Toward practical fiber optical parametric amplifiers

We review the characteristics of fiber optical parametric amplifiers, and some of their potential applications. We describe recent developments, and discuss some of the challenges that remain to be addressed before they can be used in optical communication systems.
The impact of NAFTA and options for tax reform in Mexico

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has had a profound impact on Mexico's economy and institutions. Clearly, no consideration of tax reform can ignore its role. The thinking about tax reform in Mexico requires evaluating NAFTA's effect on Mexico's economy, including its tax structure, and the effects of its tax system on trade and capital flows between Mexico and its NAFTA partners, the United States and Canada. The authors review the evidence on NAFTA's economic effects, focusing on the changes in foreign trade and foreign direct investment flows in Mexico and the effects of these changes on Mexico's tax base and ability to raise tax revenues. Using marginal effective tax rate analysis, the authors also compare Mexico's tax system with those of Canada and the United States in terms of the effect on foreign direct investment. The authors draw two main conclusions from their analysis. First, by fueling Mexico's exports and foreign direct investment inflows, NAFTA has altered the country's economic structure and hence the industrial distribution of the tax base. This transformation calls for adapting the tax structure to an economy oriented toward services and manufacturing exports. And second, Mexico's membership in NAFTA provides no significant reasons for fundamental change in its tax structure. The new wave of tax reform should concentrate on raising revenues, simplifying the tax structure, and increasing the efficiency and overall equity of the tax system.
Management of significant left main coronary disease before and after trans-apical transcatheter aortic valve replacement in a patient with severe and complex arterial disease

We report the case of an 81-year-old woman with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis, extremely significant peripheral arterial disease, and obstructive coronary artery disease who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention via a transaxillary conduit immediately before a trans-apical transcatheter aortic valve replacement performed with a transfemoral device. After deployment of the transcatheter heart valve, there was a left main coronary obstruction and the patient required an emergent PCI. This multifaceted case clearly underlines the importance of a well functioning heart team including the interventional cardiologist, the cardiovascular surgeon, and the echocardiographer. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Colon Cancer: The Role of Sphingolipid Metabolic Enzymes

Colorectal cancer is one of the most common tumors worldwide, with sustained incidence in developed countries and increasing incidence in developing countries. Although recent studies provide knowledge of the molecular signaling pathways that are implicated in colon carcinogenesis, treatments and outcomes still need further improvement. Bioactive sphingolipids, such as ceramide, sphingosine, and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), are signaling molecules that regulate cellular events including cell proliferation, apoptosis, senescence, angiogenesis, and transformation in response to diverse stimuli. Ceramide and sphingosine mediate numerous cell-stress responses, including induction of apoptosis and cell senescence. In contrast, S1P plays pivotal roles in cell survival, migration, and inflammation. These sphingolipids with opposing roles can be quickly metabolized and catabolized within cells, suggesting that the balance between these potent bioactive lipids may dictate cell fate. In this chapter, we review the roles of these bioactive sphingolipids and their metabolic enzymes in colitis, colitis associated cancer, and colorectal cancer.
Differential regulation of sympathetic neuron neuropeptide Y and catecholamine content and secretion

Cultured principal neurons of the superior cervical ganglion (SCG), which coexpress high levels of catecholamines and neuropeptide Y (NPY), were used as a model to simultaneously examine whether sympathetic neuronal peptide and transmitter content or secretion are differentially regulated. Accumulation of NPY immunoreactivity and the dopamine metabolites DOPAC and HVA in SCG neuronal conditioned culture medium was used as an index of NPY and catecholamine secretion, respectively. Release of NPY and catecholamines was linear with time; SCG neurons exhibited a basal NPY secretory rate of approximately 0.9–3 fmol NPY immunoreactivity/10(4) cells/hr, and basal DOPAC plus HVA accumulation was about 10–20 pmol total metabolites/10(4) cells/hr. While sympathetic neuronal NPY and total catecholamine cell content increased more than 6–10-fold by 14 d of culture, secretion remained constant. Depolarization stimulated the rate of NPY secretion 18-fold, whereas medium catecholamine metabolite levels increased 3-fold. Activation of intracellular signaling pathways was shown to be an important point of regulation of sympathetic neuron peptide and transmitter content and secretion. Differential regulation of SCG neuron NPY and catecholamine expression was second messenger system specific. Activation of the protein kinase A pathway with the cAMP analog dibutyryl cAMP, or the adenylyl cyclase activator forskolin, produced a concentration-dependent, sustained stimulation of NPY secretion; maximal stimulation resulted in decreased cellular NPY content. Parallel stimulated neuronal catecholamine release was observed, but in contrast to NPY, total cellular catecholamine content was also increased. Regulation of the protein kinase C pathway with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) stimulated SCG neuronal NPY secretion to a lesser degree than activation of protein kinase A, but did not alter cellular NPY levels. PMA minimally stimulated catecholamine release and content. NPY secretion induced by the calcium ionophore A23187 was paralleled by a concomitant decrease in cellular NPY. A23187 decreased catecholamine release, but did not change cellular total catecholamine levels. The magnitude of the secretory responses of sympathetic neurons to these regulators was far greater than changes in NPY or catecholamine content, biosynthesis or mRNA levels, suggesting that release is a primary site of regulation. The independent regulation of sympathetic neuronal NPY and catecholamine content and release is consistent with the fundamental differences in the biosynthetic pathways, vesicular compartmentalization, uptake and metabolism of neuropeptides and neurotransmitters.
The trap-like relaxin-binding site of the leucine-rich G-protein-coupled receptor 7.

The pleated sheet region of the leucine-rich G-protein-coupled receptor 7 supports a relaxin-binding group of amino acids that perfectly matches the binding cassette of relaxin. Arginines B13 and B17 are each chelated by an aspartic acid/glutamic acid pair and by isoleucine B20, which, offset by a one-quarter helix turn from a straight line connecting the arginines, interacts with a cluster of hydrophobic amino acids. The binding cassette of relaxin cuts at an angle of ∼45° across five parallel leucine-rich repeats. The arginine residues 13 and 17, which evolve parallel from the B-chain α-helix of relaxin, neutralize the charge repulsion of the juxta-posed acidic groups on the receptor and thereby trigger closure of a hydrogen bonding network around the guanidinium groups. Thus, relaxin is bound by synchronized chelation of two arginines and stabilized by hydrophobic interaction of isoleucine B20 with tryptophan, isoleucine, and leucine in neighboring leucine-rich repeats of the receptor. Deletion of any one of the three features diminishes interaction to the level of nonspecific binding. This model explains the exquisite sensitivity of relaxin binding avidity to minute changes in the disposition of the guanidinium and the size dependence of the hydrophobic binding residue in position B20.
Neoliberalism and environmental justice in the United States environmental protection agency: Translating policy into managerial practice in hazardous waste remediation

Abstract In response to the failings of the aggressive neoliberalism of the Reagan era, the Clinton administration sought new ways to promote and deepen the neoliberal project. One of its strategies was to develop “neocommunitarian” programs to support political empowerment and economic self-sufficiency in marginalized communities. Its environmental justice policy became an important vehicle for delivering these programs. This paper examines ways in which one regional office of the US Environmental Protection Agency translated the Clinton administration's environmental justice policy into practical guidelines for its managers. It investigates how these guidelines affected the work of personnel in the EPA's program to clean up hazardous waste sites. It asks how the Clinton administration's approach to environmental justice––emphasizing data analysis, managed public participation, and economic opportunity––helped both to deepen the neoliberal project and to transform the geography of risk and remediation. Although the EPA was unable to “normalize” the environmental justice community––to make it a standardized target for the Clinton administration's empowerment programs––its environmental justice policy both contributed to subtle changes in the distribution of hazardous waste risk and made the delivery of neocommunitarian programs an important part of the work of remedial personnel.
Music Education Preservice Teachers' Confidence in Resolving Behavior Problems.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there would be a change in preservice teachers’ (a) confidence concerning the resolution of behavior problems, (b) tactics for resolving them, (...
Application-level power and performance characterization and optimization on IBM Blue Gene/Q systems

In order to understand application-level power/performance tradeoffs on current computer systems, runtime monitoring capabilities are needed. Specifically, very fine-grained monitoring capabilities are needed to gain detailed insights on power and performance behavior. Performing fine-grained application-level characterizations not only helps fine-tune application code, but it also increases the chances to detect optimization opportunities for improving next-generation systems. In this paper, we describe a new experimental technique to perform automatic fine-grained power and performance characterization of applications on the IBM Blue Gene®/Q platform. We use it to perform high-resolution measurements and attendant characterizations of key benchmarks for high-performance computing systems: the Tier-1 Sequoia suite and Linpack. The characterization shows that these benchmarks exhibit large time periods in which the memory and network resources are underutilized. We quantify these periods to predict the performance gains of shifting power from the underutilized resources (the network and the memory) to the processor. We explore potential improvements in energy efficiency if power-saving and shifting mechanisms are implemented in future generation systems.
Microstructure refinement and significant improvements of magnetic properties in Pr2Fe14B/α-Fe nanocomposites

Abstract Exchange coupled (Pr,Tb) 2 (Fe,Nb,Zr) 14 B/α-Fe nanocomposites have been produced by melt spinning. A trend for perpendicular and planar c -axis orientation of the 2:14:1 phase was observed in the free surface of ribbons spun at speeds below 10 m/s and at optimal speeds, respectively. Higher wheel speeds led to the formation of an amorphous phase that transformed to 2:14:1 phase around 680°C. Optimum magnetic properties were found in samples spun at 14–17 m/s and annealed at 700°C for 20 min. The loop squareness was also found to depend mainly on the microstructure that is very sensitive to the sample composition. A few percentage of Nb and Zr suppressed the grain growth, resulting in a drastic improvement of magnetic properties, with approximate 50% enhancement in the intrinsic coercivity and an increase in maximum energy product from 5.6 kOe and 14.7 MGOe for the (Nb,Zr)-free sample to 8.2 kOe and 20.3 MGOe for the (Nb,Zr)-substituted samples, respectively. The significant improvement in magnetic properties originated from a much finer and homogeneous nanocomposite microstructure with an average grain size of 20 nm, leading to a high remanence of 0.73 M s . Henkel plots indicate the enhancement of exchange coupling between hard and soft magnetic phases.
Technology assessment--an American view

Technology assessment of an imaging method such as magnetic resonance (MR) is a complicated concept that includes aspects of epidemiology, biostatistics, clinical efficacy determination, outcomes assessment, and knowledge of the technical and medical bases of the imaging method under study. To enhance understanding of the interrelations of the different aspects of technology assessment, a hierarchical model is proposed. This extends from the basic imaging physics domain through clinical applications in diagnosis and treatment decisions to patient outcomes and ultimately societal considerations. This overview paper presents the conceptual continuum of the hierarchical model, and then describes the interrelationships among efficacy, cost effectiveness, and outcomes research as components embedded within the context of technology assessment. It also points out how scientific quality of research in MR imaging assessment can be enhanced through improved research design that takes into account basic concepts of the model.
How robust is the Fed reaction function to changes in the output-gap specification?

Using alternative measures of the output gap, we estimate a forward-looking monetary policy reaction function, similar to those estimated by Clarida et al. (1998, 2000), for Greenspan's period as a chairman of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System. We are able to show that the reaction function that considers an output gap based on the industrial production index instead of the unemployment rate better captures the behaviour of the Federal Reserve during Greenspan's period.
Experimental tests of resolution-based theorem-proving strategies

Many potential applications of mechanical theorem proving exist in such areas as question answering, robot control, program writing, proof of program correctness, verification of mathematical proofs, general problem solving, and command and control systems. Theorem-proving systems must become much more efficient before applications become generally practical, and much statistical testing will be necessary to select the strategies to be used in practical systems. This paper reports on the results of experimental testing of some major theorem-proving strategies and their interactions. Test results are based on CPU time. The paper concludes that (1) subsumption and factoring should not be used (at least, in this implementation), (2) set of support and P1-deduction should be used, (3) the choice between breadth-first searching and unit preference searching is highly problem dependent, and (4) merge and linear strategies have little effect on the proof process. No statistically significant interaction among the strategies was discovered.
Entrainment of the circadian activity rhythm of a lizard to melatonin injections.

Abstract The circadian activity rhythms of lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) can be entrained (synchronized) to a period of 24 hr by melatonin injections given every other day at the same time of day, but not by saline injections. The activity onsets of the entrained lizards exhibited two preferred phase-relationships (∼165° and ∼30°) with the time of melatonin injections with the 30° phase only rarely observed. These results suggest that endogenous rhythms of melatonin secretion (i.e., from the pineal organ) may be involved in synchronizing circadian oscillations within the lizard's multioscillator circadian system.
Toll-Like Receptor 2-Mediated Interleukin-8 Expression in Gingival Epithelial Cells by the Tannerella forsythia Leucine-Rich Repeat Protein BspA

Tannerella forsythia is a gram-negative anaerobe strongly associated with chronic human periodontitis. This bacterium expresses a cell surface-associated and secreted protein, designated BspA, which has been recognized as an important virulence factor. The BspA protein belongs to the leucine-rich repeat (LRR) and bacterial immunoglobulin-like protein families. BspA is, moreover, a multifunctional protein which interacts with a variety of host cells, including monocytes which appear to respond to BspA through Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling. Since gingival epithelium forms a barrier against periodontal pathogens, this study was undertaken to determine if gingival epithelial cells respond to BspA challenge and if TLRs play any role in BspA recognition. This study was also directed towards identifying the BspA domains responsible for cellular activation. We provide direct evidence for BspA binding to TLR2 and demonstrate that the release of the chemokine interleukin-8 from human gingival epithelial cells by BspA is TLR2 dependent. Furthermore, the LRR domain of BspA is involved in activation of TLR2, while TLR1 serves as a signaling partner. Thus, our findings suggest that BspA is an important modulator of host innate immune responses through activation of TLR2 in cooperation with TLR1.
Patterns of Authoritarianism Between Generations

Summary Family units, consisting of one young adult offspring of either sex and both parents, were given two measures of authoritarianism: The California F Scale and the Traditional Family Ideology (TFI) Scale developed by Levinson and Huffman. The final sample of those families completing all scales consisted of 43 families of female young adults and 25 families of male young adults. As expected, the young adults were significantly less authoritarian than their parents on both measures. Previous research had reported mixed results on sex differences in authoritarianism, some reporting males more authoritarian, others females more authoritarian, and still others no difference. The present study found no sex differences. Mixed results have also been reported in parent-child similarities, with some studies finding cross-sex similarities and others reporting same-sex similarities. The present research supported neither pattern, since none of the parent-offspring correlations was significant for either sex. T...
Insult, Aggression, and the Southern Culture of Honor: An "Experimental Ethnography"

Three experiments examined how norms characteristic of a "culture of honor" manifest themselves in the cognitions, emotions, behaviors, and physiological reactions of southern White males. Participants were University of Michigan students who grew up in the North or South. In 3 experiments they were insulted by a confederate who bumped into the participant and called him an "asshole". Compared with northerners--who were relatively unaffected by the insult--southerners were (a) more likely to think their masculine reputation was threatened, (b) more upset (as shown by a rise in cortisol levels), (c) more physiologically primed for aggression (as shown by a rise in testosterone levels), (d) more cognitively primed for aggression, and (e) more likely to engage in aggressive and dominant behavior. Findings highlight the insult-aggression cycle in cultures of honor, in which insults diminish a man's reputation and he tries to restore his status by aggressive or violent behavior.
Accounting for non-renewable natural resources in Louisiana's gross state product

Abstract Current national-income measures are inadequate indicators of sustainable development for natural resource-based economies because they exclude depletion of exhaustible resources. They are two primary methods of including natural resource depletion in national income measures: the depreciation and user cost approach. The depreciation approach values the resource and then subtracts physical depletionmultiplied by this value from the gross domestic product of extractive industries. The user cost approach divides the net receipts of extractive industries into income and user cost components depending on a chosen real interest rate and the expected lifetime of the resource. This study uses both the depreciation and user cost approaches to construct adjusted state production measures for Louisiana (U.S.A.) which include net depletion of oil and gas. Over the 1963–1986 period, the average annual state product was 3.3% lower using the depreciation approach and 13.8% and 8.7% lower using the user cost approaches with 5% and 10% interest rates, respectively.
Effect of CO2 laser-pulse mode quality on multiple photon absorption in SF6

Abstract Unimolecular multiple-photon absorption cross sections are measured for SF 6 for both single and multiple longitudinal mode CO 2 laser pulses at three different frequencies over a four-decade range of energy fluence. The results indicate only a weak dependence on pulse mode structure for fluence levels corresponding to as little as 0.02 photons absorbed per molecule.
The Efficiency of the Treasury Bill Futures Market: An Analysis of Alternative Specifications

Until the existence of financial futures, testing the determinants and the informational content of futures market prices has been difficult because of the vagaries associated with commodity markets. In the case of Treasury bill futures, the existence of an active secondary market and the resulting term structure of interest rates enables one to test alternative hypotheses about the prices of futures contracts. This study compares two alternative specifications of equilibrium futures prices, i.e., those implied by carrying charges and those derived from the unbiased expectations hypothesis of the theory of the term structure of interest rates. In general, the results show that the overnight cost-of-carry model is better for explaining futures prices than are forward rates derived from the yield curve.
Source connectivity analysis from MEG and its application to epilepsy source localization.

We report an approach to perform source connectivity analysis from MEG, and initially evaluate this approach to interictal MEG to localize epileptogenic foci and analyze interictal discharge propagations in patients with medically intractable epilepsy. Cortical activities were reconstructed from MEG using individual realistic geometry boundary element method head models. Directional connectivity among cortical regions of interest was then estimated using directed transfer function. The MEG source connectivity analysis method was implemented in the eConnectome software, which is open-source and freely available at http://econnectome.umn.edu. As an initial evaluation, the method was applied to study MEG interictal spikes from five epilepsy patients. Estimated primary epileptiform sources were consistent with surgically resected regions, suggesting the feasibility of using cortical source connectivity analysis from interictal MEG for potential localization of epileptiform activities.
Solvent evaporation rates in the closed capillary vapor diffusion method of protein crystal growth

Abstract The rate of transport of water vapor from the evaporator end to the condenser end through the intervening air space in closed protein crystal growth capillaries of the Plaas-Link design has been analyzed both theoretically and experimentally. The theory is based upon the assumptions that (1) the concentration of the precipitating agent exceeds that of all other solutes and (2) the process determining the rate of approach to equilibrium is the diffusion of water vapor through the air space. According to the theory, the rate of equilibrium depends upon ten parameters. These include the absolute temperature, the vapor pressure of pure water, the vapor pressure lowering coefficient of the precipitating agent, the diffusion coefficient of water vapor through air, the length of the air space, the cross sectional area of the capillary, the total numbers of moles of water and of precipitant, and also their differences at the beginning of the experiment. Equilibration data taken with aqueous ammonium sulfate in tubes oriented with the evaporation flux both parallel and antiparallel the ambient gravity are essentially identical and in quantitative agreement with the theory.
Flow of liquid He II under large temperature and pressure gradients

Abstract Two previous papers from this laboratory have reported measurements of heat conduction and fountain pressure for liquid He II flowing through narrow slits (0.3 μ d μ ) for temperature differences as large as 1°K. For the lower, yet appreciable, temperature differences the linear two-fluid equations of london and Zilsel were quantitatively verified; integration over the temperature interval was required. The present paper extends the analysis of the measurements to still larger ΔT 's, for which the linear equations are no longer applicable. For this purpose integrated solutions of the Gorter-Mellink nonlinear thermohydrodynamic equations, based on the concept of mutual friction, are derived with special emphasis placed on the assumptions and restrictions necessitated by the model. The integrals for heat flow and fountain pressure have been solved numerically using a high-speed computer and the results are compared with the experiments. When Vinen's values of the mutual friction parameter A ( T ) are employed in the solutions, the comparison is quite good, except near the λ-point; it is also shown that other values of A ( T ) are not compatible with the observations. An explanation in terms of the vortex line model is proposed for the deviations near T λ . Despite the agreement between the vortex line theory and experiment obtained here, several as yet unresolved difficulties are associated with flow phenomena in small slits; certain aspects of these problems are discussed, most notably the criteria for the onset of the nonlinear dissipation effects.
Locating RF emitters with large UAV teams

The rapidly improving availability of small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and their ever reducing cost is leading to considerable interest in multi-UAV applications. However, while UAVs have become smaller and cheaper, there is a lack of sensors that are light, small and power efficient enough to be used on a small UAV yet are capable of taking useful measurements of objects often several hundred metres below them. Static or video cameras are one option, however image processing normally requires human input or at least computationally intensive offboard processing, restricting their applicability to very small UAV teams. In this paper, we look at how teams of UAVs can use very small Relative Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) sensors whose only capability is to detect the approximate strength of a Radio Frequency (RF) signal, to search for and accurately locate such sources. RSSI sensors give at most an approximate range to an RF emitter and will be misleading when signals overlap. Applications of such UAV teams range from finding lost hikers or skiers carrying small RF beacons to military reconnaissance operations. Moreover, the core techniques have a wider applicability to a range of robotic teams that rely on highly uncertain sensors, e.g., search and rescue in disaster environments.
Invariant strings and pattern-recognizing properties of one-dimensional cellular automata

A cellular automaton is a discrete dynamical system whose evolution is governed by a deterministic rule involving local interactions. It is shown that given an arbitrary string of values and an arbitrary neighborhood size (representing the range of interaction), a simple procedure can be used to find the rules of that neighborhood size under which the string is invariant. The set of nearestneighbor rules for which invariant strings exist is completely specified, as is the set of strings invariant under each such rule. For any automaton rule, an associated “filtering” rule is defined for which the only attractors are spatial sequences consisting of concatenations of invariant strings. A result is provided defining the rule of minimum neighborhood size for which an arbitrarily chosen string is the unique invariant string. The applications of filtering rules to pattern recognition problems are discussed.
Allometry of workers of the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta

The relationship between worker body size and the shape of their body parts was explored in the polymorphic ant, Solenopsis invicta. The data consisted of 20 measurements of body parts as well as sums of some of these measurements. Size-free shape variables were created by taking the ratios of relevant measures. After log-transformation, these ratios were regressed against the logarithm of total body length, or against the log of the size of the parent part. Slopes of zero indicated that shape did not change with size, and non-zero slopes signaled a size-related change of shape. Across the range of worker sizes, the head length retained a constant proportion to body length, but relative headwidth increased such that head shape changed from a barrel-profile to a somewhat heart-shaped profile. Antennae became relatively smaller, with the club contributing more to this decline than the other parts. The alinotum became relatively shorter and higher (more humped), and the gaster increased in both relative width and length, and therefore in volume. All three pairs of legs were isometric to body length. The component parts of the legs, with one exception, were isometric to their own total leg length. The body of S. invicta is therefore dominated by mostly modest allometries, giving large workers a somewhat different shape than small ones. None of these size-shape relationships was different for different colonies. The functional meaning of these shape changes is unknown, but that does not stop us from speculating.
War and local collective action in Sierra Leone

Abstract We study the brutal 1991–2002 Sierra Leone civil war using nationally representative household data on conflict experiences, postwar economic outcomes, local politics and collective action. Individuals whose households directly experienced more intense war violence are robustly more likely to attend community meetings, more likely to join local political and community groups, and more likely to vote. Tests using prewar controls and alternative samples suggest that selection into victimization is unlikely to be driving the results. More speculatively, the findings could help partially explain the rapid postwar political and economic recoveries observed in Sierra Leone and after several other recent African civil wars.
Structure, reactivity, and magnetism: adsorption of NH3 around Nin

Abstract Theoretical electronic structure studies of NH 3 adsorption around Ni n ( n =1–4) were carried out within the density functional formalism. It is shown that the NH 3 adsorption has a significant effect on the magnetism of the Ni n clusters. Starting from bare clusters, the initial adsorption leads to a decrease in the Ni moments, which are completely quenched when the number of NH 3 equals the number of Ni atoms. Further adsorption of NH 3 leads to a reappearance of magnetism. Interestingly, the interplay between magnetism and adsorption is found to result from influences on the Ni–N interactions.