cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Proceedings of the 6th symposium on Dynamic languages

Howdy! Welcome to Nevada and the 2010 Dynamic Languages Symposium. Today's symposium, the sixth of its kind, continues our special tradition of communicating research results and practical lore pertinent to dynamic programming languages. This year's program reveals several connections between the classical languages of our heritage (such as Lisp, FORTH, Smalltalk, Self, Icon, Prolog), contemporary dynamic languages (including Ruby, Python, JavaScript, Racket), and a couple of languages that may be as new to you as they were to most of the program committee. The symposium received 28 submissions this year, from which the program committee selected 8 papers. Those papers will be presented in technical sessions that focus on implementation, design, and experience with ideas and languages both old and new. Allen Wirfs-Brock will kick off our program with his keynote address on virtual machines and the mainstreaming of dynamic languages. Beyond that formal program, we hope you'll enjoy your visit to this edge of the high desert, and will take advantage of this opportunity to swap ideas with other researchers and practitioners from around the world.
Hearing Difficulties as a Result of Traumatic Brain Injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been shown to result in hearing difficulties (i.e., deficits in the processing of auditory information) without impacting pure-tone threshold detection. A missed diagnosis of hearing difficulties due to TBI because of normal hearing can lead to reductions in quality of life and missed opportunities to provide an appropriate treatment regimen. This study presents a case report of a female patient with a history of TBI due to a motor vehicle accident that resulted in a broad range of symptoms, including self-perceived hearing difficulties and poorer-than-normal auditory processing performance. Case report. A 58-year-old woman with a history of a mild TBI due to a motor vehicle accident. A neuro-audiology evaluation was conducted to address the patient’s hearing complaints. The evaluation included standard audiometric and auditory processing test batteries. The case report focuses on the patient’s history of TBI and her presentation to our clinic with hearing complaints. Her clinical audiological outcomes, including an auditory processing assessment, and treatment with mild-gain hearing aids are discussed. The use of mild-gain hearing aids resulted in improved auditory processing skills and a significant improvement in quality of life. Patients with a history of TBI often have multiple and debilitating symptoms, including hearing difficulties. Accurate diagnosis of auditory processing deficits in the face of normal pure-tone detection abilities is essential to provide treatment options that can improve daily function and quality of life.
Z.6 and the Regress Argument

In an argument that generates an infinite regress of essences, Aristotle argues that substantial forms are identical with their essences. This might be thought to support basic constituents being identical with their essences. But it can quite naturally be understood to support basic constituents being the same in formula as their essences. Substantial forms are the essences of basic constituents whether basic constituents are individual composites or substantial forms, and a basic constituent is the same in formula as its essence if and only if its essence is its own essences. This way of understanding sameness in Z.6 receives additional support from a sophistical argument about Socrates mentioned near the end of Z.6. Again, individual composites are candidates for basic constituents.
Foreign-educated returnees in the people’s Republic of China: Increasing political influence with limited official power

At a time when China faces daunting challenges both at home and abroad, Chinese leadership is in great need of the expertise, skills, and knowledge of foreign-educated Chinese nationals. Based on an empirical study of senior officials in three important leadership bodies in China, this article shows that the percentage of returnees appointed to high-level leadership positions is small. Meanwhile, the top leadership has frequently solicited advice from returnee-led think tanks affiliated with China’s major universities. This dynamic interaction between political power and academic prowess, between national interest and transnational perspective, is a fascinating development in China today. A une epoque ou la Chine affronte des defis de taille, tant sur le plan domestique qu’a l’echelle internationale, le leadership du pays a un besoin pressant pour l’expertise, les habiletes et les connaissances des ressortissants chinois eduques a l’etranger. Puisant dans une etude empirique aupres de fonctionnaires de rang eleve dans trois organismes dirigeantes importantes en Chine, cet article demontre que le taux de rapatries nommes a des postes de leadership de rang eleve est bas. Toutefois, les dirigeants de haut niveau ont souvent fait appel aux groupes de reflexion diriges par des rapatries et associes aux grandes universites chinoises. Cette interaction dynamique entre le pouvoir politique et l’expertise academique, l’interet national et la perspective transnationale, represente un developpement intriguant dans la Chine d’aujourd’hui.
A 50-Year-Old Woman With Limited Scleroderma Presenting With Shortness of Breath

Case Presentation A 50-year-old woman with a medical history significant for limited scleroderma (SSc) complicated by interstitial lung disease (ILD) and pulmonary arterial hypertension presented to our institution with acute on chronic shortness of breath. Ten years before presentation, she was diagnosed with SSc. Two years before presentation, she was found to have ILD, for which she was started on mycophenolate mofetil and low-dose prednisone. One year before presentation, she noted worsening dyspnea on exertion (New York Heart Association Functional Class III) and required supplemental oxygen, up to 5 L, despite findings of stable ILD on a maintenance dose of mycophenolate mofetil. A subsequent right heart catheterization showed findings consistent with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension: right atrial pressure of 19 mm Hg, pulmonary arterial pressure of 98/39 mm Hg with a mean pulmonary arterial pressure of 58 mm Hg, right ventricular pressure of 59/6 mm Hg, pulmonary arterial wedge pressure of 10 mm Hg, cardiac output of 4.2 L/min with a cardiac index of 2.7 L/min/m2, and a calculated pulmonary vascular resistance of 11.43 Wood units. She had no significant vasoreactivity on inhaled nitric oxide challenge. She was started on IV treprostinil that had been up-titrated over the course of 6 months before presentation. On admission, she denied any cough, fevers, chills, chest pains, palpitations, or lower extremity edema. She denied any sick contacts or any recent travel. She denied any periods of prolonged immobility.
Gradient Descent-Ascent Provably Converges to Strict Local Minmax Equilibria with a Finite Timescale Separation

We study the role that a finite timescale separation parameter $\tau$ has on gradient descent-ascent in two-player non-convex, non-concave zero-sum games where the learning rate of player 1 is denoted by $\gamma_1$ and the learning rate of player 2 is defined to be $\gamma_2=\tau\gamma_1$. Existing work analyzing the role of timescale separation in gradient descent-ascent has primarily focused on the edge cases of players sharing a learning rate ($\tau =1$) and the maximizing player approximately converging between each update of the minimizing player ($\tau \rightarrow \infty$). For the parameter choice of $\tau=1$, it is known that the learning dynamics are not guaranteed to converge to a game-theoretically meaningful equilibria in general. In contrast, Jin et al. (2020) showed that the stable critical points of gradient descent-ascent coincide with the set of strict local minmax equilibria as $\tau\rightarrow\infty$. In this work, we bridge the gap between past work by showing there exists a finite timescale separation parameter $\tau^{\ast}$ such that $x^{\ast}$ is a stable critical point of gradient descent-ascent for all $\tau \in (\tau^{\ast}, \infty)$ if and only if it is a strict local minmax equilibrium. Moreover, we provide an explicit construction for computing $\tau^{\ast}$ along with corresponding convergence rates and results under deterministic and stochastic gradient feedback. The convergence results we present are complemented by a non-convergence result: given a critical point $x^{\ast}$ that is not a strict local minmax equilibrium, then there exists a finite timescale separation $\tau_0$ such that $x^{\ast}$ is unstable for all $\tau\in (\tau_0, \infty)$. Finally, we empirically demonstrate on the CIFAR-10 and CelebA datasets the significant impact timescale separation has on training performance.
Automated pipeline framework for processing of large-scale building energy time series data.

Commercial buildings account for one third of the total electricity consumption in the United States and a significant amount of this energy is wasted. Therefore, there is a need for “virtual” energy audits, to identify energy inefficiencies and their associated savings opportunities using methods that can be non-intrusive and automated for application to large populations of buildings. Here we demonstrate virtual energy audits applied to large populations of buildings’ time-series smart-meter data using a systematic approach and a fully automated Building Energy Analytics (BEA) Pipeline that unifies, cleans, stores and analyzes building energy datasets in a non-relational data warehouse for efficient insights and results. This BEA pipeline is based on a custom compute job scheduler for a high performance computing cluster to enable parallel processing of Slurm jobs. Within the analytics pipeline, we introduced a data qualification tool that enhances data quality by fixing common errors, while also detecting abnormalities in a building’s daily operation using hierarchical clustering. We analyze the HVAC scheduling of a population of 816 buildings, using this analytics pipeline, as part of a cross-sectional study. With our approach, this sample of 816 buildings is improved in data quality and is efficiently analyzed in 34 minutes, which is 85 times faster than the time taken by a sequential processing. The analytical results for the HVAC operational hours of these buildings show that among 10 building use types, food sales buildings with 17.75 hours of daily HVAC cooling operation are decent targets for HVAC savings. Overall, this analytics pipeline enables the identification of statistically significant results from population based studies of large numbers of building energy time-series datasets with robust results. These types of BEA studies can explore numerous factors impacting building energy efficiency and virtual building energy audits. This approach enables a new generation of data-driven buildings energy analysis at scale.
Multidisciplinary effort to improve the diagnosis of malnutrition in hospitalized patients

Malnutrition has been increasingly demonstrated to be common and underrecognized in hospitalized patients. Rates have been demonstrated as high as 55%, but the diagnosis of malnutrition has historically been made in only a minority of inpatients. Laboratory studies, including serum prealbumin level, have been shown to have poor predictive value of malnutrition. In 2014, our institution embarked on a system-wide effort to improve diagnosis of malnutrition in hospitalized patients. We adopted the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics/American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (AND/ASPEN) Clinical Characteristics and implemented the Nutrition-Focused Physical Exam/Assessment into clinical practice. Dietitians recorded malnutrition diagnoses in a flow sheet in the electronic medical record (EMR) and alerted the primary team when a patient met criteria for malnutrition. An editable link to malnutrition diagnosis was created in the discharge summary templates in the EMR. Over 4 years, these efforts led to an increase in our rate of diagnosis of malnutrition from 6% to 12%, which was sustained over the last 2 years. We also found that the percentage of inpatients having serum prealbumin levels checked decreased from 13% to 8% over the study period. We found that a system-wide, stepwise approach to improving our diagnosis of inpatients with malnutrition was effective and appears sustainable over the period studied. We noted a behavior change for providers in both documenting the condition and decreasing their utilization of laboratory studies as part of their clinical diagnostic workup, thus avoiding unnecessary laboratory draws and leading to potential cost saving.
Attention: A Better Way to Measure SEO Marketing Impact

Empirical studies find that marketing efforts can reduce the offer price discount in SEO by attracting more investors’ attention. However, existing measures of investors’ attention are all indirect. This article contributes to the field of SEO marketing the first direct attention measure, the user search frequency index from Google Insight for Search (GIS). We find that a one-point increase in pre-issue GIS index indicates about 3% reduction in offer price discount. More importantly, this effect is not weakened after including all previously found indirect measures, confirming the uniqueness of this direct measure. Last but not least, significant differences between IPO and SEO suggest that this measure works more effectively for SEO.
Lung Transplant Recipients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Have Impaired Alloreactive Immune Responses

Abstract Background: Telomere dysfunction is associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and worse outcomes following lung transplantation. Telomere dysfunction may impair immunity by upregulating p53 and arresting proliferation, but its influence on allograft-specific immune responses is unknown. We hypothesized that subjects undergoing lung transplantation for IPF would have impaired T-cell proliferation to donor antigens. Methods: We analyzed peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 14 IPF lung transplant recipients and 12 age-matched non-IPF subjects, before and 2 years after transplantation, as well as PBMC from 9 non-transplant controls. We quantified T cell proliferation and cytokine secretion to donor antigens. Associations between PBMC telomere length, measured by quantitative PCR, and T cell proliferation to alloantigens were evaluated with generalized estimating equation models. Results: IPF subjects demonstrated impaired CD8+ T cell proliferation to donor antigens pre-transplant (P Conclusions: IPF as an indication for lung transplant is associated with short PBMC telomere length and impaired T cell responses to donor antigens. However, the rescue of proliferation following cytokine exposure suggests that alloimmune anergy could be overcome. Telomere length may inform immunosuppression strategies for IPF recipients.
Krankheitsverarbeitung bei Epilepsien im Kindesalter

Familien mit epilepsiekranken Kindern sind oft korperlich und seelisch belastet und sozial isoliert. Neben einer regelrechten medizinischen Versorgung um die Auswirkungen von Anfallen und Begleitstorungen im Alltag zu reduzieren, ist eine kompetente Beratung uber soziale Hilfen, Eingliederungs- und Fordermasnahmen, Nachteilsausgleich nach dem Schwerbehindertengesetzt und notwendige Pflegeleistungen fur Familien ein wertvoller Ansatz fur die Bewaltigung der Krankheitsfolgen. In diesem Ubersichtsaufsatz werden einige Grundthemen aus sozialmedizinischer Sicht die fur die Beratung und Betreuung durch den Neuropadiater in einem interdisziplinaren Team hilfreich sein konnen zusammengefasst.
The effect of midazolam on the end-tidal concentration of isoflurane necessary to prevent movement in dogs

Objective To determine the possible additive effect of midazolam, a GABAA agonist, on the end-tidal concentration of isoflurane that prevents movement (MACNM) in response to noxious stimulation.
Design and performance analysis of a 32/spl times/32 hybrid ATM switch architecture

Services offered within fibre-based asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) networks may range from circuit emulations, where extremely low cell loss rates are essential, to high-speed variable rate services where a degree of cell loss can be tolerated but whose bandwidth requirements may be extremely bursty and unpredictable. ATM switches deployed within these networks must be extremely robust to support such a broad spectrum of high speed services and must also be scalable to elegantly incorporate future applications without any performance degradation. The authors present a high performance self routing tree/banyan/knockout based 32/spl times/32 hybrid ATM switch that can support a wide range of services having diverse performance objectives and traffic characteristics. The proposed architecture achieves high performance by utilizing a 3 stage expansion network which is completely non-blocking. The philosophy behind this design is the knockout principle which has been shown to achieve cell loss probabilities of the order of 10/sup -6/ with 8 buffers for each output regardless of the traffic load and the switch size. The expansion network is followed by a 2 stage banyan network which makes the switch partially blocking. The final stage is a fast output interface which is the only section of the switch which has to work at 8 times the link speed. The rest of the switch functions at link speed. The proposed switch, thus naturally lends itself to output queueing without any internal speedup.
Étude multicentrique internationale vectarion* (VIMS) chez des patients bronchitiques chroniques hypoxémiques traités à double insu contre placebo pendant un an

Resume L'objectif de l'etude VIMS est de verifier, par une etude internationale a long terme, durant l an, controlee contre placebo, l'efficacite et l'acceptabilite du bismesilate d'almitrine (BMA) par voie orale dans le traitement des bronchopneumopathies chroniques obstructives avec hypoxemie. Cette etude inclut plus de 750 malades traites en ambulatoire dans 70 centres et 12 pays. Plus de 500 malades sont entres dans l'etude avant le 1/1/84, au terme des 9 premiers mois de la periode d'inclusion. Ils sont repartis en 60 p. 100 de malades traites en France, 20 p. 100 en Grande-Bretagne et Irlande et 20 p. 100 en Belgique, Danemark, Italie, Suisse. Leur VEMS moyen est de 0,8 litre; leur PaO2 moyenne de 55 mmHg. Le protocole d'etude prevoit deux visites de controle a 3 semaines d'intervalle avant l'entree dans l'etude pour verifier la stabilite des malades, a la fois clinique, spirometrique et gazometrique; la variation de la PaO2 est inferieure ou egale a 6 mmHg chez plus de 90 p. 100 des malades. La gravite de la maladie est attestee par l'existence d'une hospitalisation au cours de l'annee precedant l'etude chez 2/3 des malades, la necessite d'une oxygenotherapie a domicile d'au moins 12 h/jour chez 1/3 d'entre eux. Ces dernieres malades ont fait l'objet d'une randomisation separee pour rechercher de facon prospective l'interet de l'association oxygene + BMA. Au cours de l'etude, la mortalite de l'ensemble des malades inclus se situe a mi-chemin entre 5 et 10 p. 100 et au total 70 p. 100 des malades terminent l'etude. La surveillance des effets secondaires et des raisons des arrets de traitement est effectuee de facon continue par les investigateurs en relation etroite avec les moniteurs, pour repondre aux imperatifs de pharmacovigilance chez ces malades fragiles et polymediques. L'analyse des resultats effectuee a la fin de l'etude apres verification et correction aupres des investigateurs, devrait permettre d'elargir notre connaissance des parametres cliniques et gazometriques de la bronchopneumopathie chronique obstructive suivie pendant un an et traitee par les moyens conventionnels (groupe controle) et de l'action du bismesilate d'almitrine, et de confirmer son interet therapeutique dans le traitement des bronchopneumopathies chroniques obstructives.
Chip-Scale Bioassays Based on Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering: Fundamentals and Applications

This work explores the development and application of chip-scale bioassays based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) for high throughput and high sensitivity analysis of biomolecules. The size effect of gold nanoparticles on the intensity of SERS is first presented. A sandwich immunoassay was performed using Raman-labeled immunogold nanoparticles with various sizes. The SERS responses were correlated to particle densities, which were obtained by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The response of individual particles was also investigated using Raman-microscope and an array of gold islands on a silicon substrate. The location and the size of individual particles were mapped using AFM. The next study describes a low-level detection of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 and simulants of biological warfare agents in a sandwich immunoassay format using SERS labels, which have been termed Extrinsic Raman labels (ERLs). A new ERL scheme based on a mixed monolayer is also introduced. The mixed monolayer ERLs were created by covering the gold nanoparticles with a mixture of two thiolates, one thiolate for covalently binding antibody to the particle and the other thiolate for producing a strong Raman signal. An assay platform based on mixed self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on gold is then presented. The mixed SAMs were prepared from dithiobis(succinimidyl undecanoate) (DSU) to covalently bind antibodies on gold substrate and oligo(ethylene glycol)-terminated thiol to prevent nonspecific adsorption of antibodies. After the mixed SAMs surfaces, formed from various mole fraction of DSU were incubated with antibodies, AFM was used to image individual antibodies on the surface. The final study presents a collaborative work on the single molecule adsorption of YOYO-I labeled {lambda}-DNA at compositionally patterned SAMs using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. The role of solution pH, {lambda}-DNA concentration, and domain size was investigated. This work also revealed the potential importance of structural defects.
Multi-spacecraft studies in aid of space weather specification and understanding

Abstract We present particle modeling in prescribed magnetic and electric fields during the February 17–18, 1998 magnetic storm in an effort to explain observed ion signatures on three spacecraft (POLAR, EQUATOR-S and FAST) which sampled the inner magnetosphere over a wide range of L-shells. The objective is to improve global electric field models, which are crucial to the evolution of the storm-time particle distributions. We back-trace ion distributions from the satellite locations and keep track of charge-exchange losses. The electric field models used are the Volland-Stern, Weiner 96, Weimer 2000 and a version of the Weimer 96 model modified to best fit instantaneous potential measurements made by the electric field instrument on POLAR and the ion drift meter instrument on DMSP satellites. We find that the Weimer 2000 model provides the best agreement with the data. However differences with observations do exist and cannot be accounted for simply by modification of existing models. Explaining those differences requires addition of either nightside injections or global storm-time inductive electric fields
Solitary Myxoid Neurofibroma of the Palm.

Dear sir A 21-year-old femalepresented with a four-month history of a gradually-enlarging mass of her non-dominant left palm. She denied pain at rest, but noted some discomfort when firm pressure was applied to the area. She also noted mild tingling in the middle and ring fingers. The patient had no history of trauma or prior surgery to the area. Past medical history was unremarkable. On physical exam there was a nodular mass palpable at the base of the middle and ring fingers at the level of the distal palmar crease, measuring approximately one x one centimeters (cm). Sensation to light touch and capillary refill were normal throughout. She had full wrist and digital range of motion. An MRI of the left hand demonstrated a homogenous cylindrical mass measuring 1.9 × 0.7 × 0.8 cm, that was hypo- and hyperintense on T1- and T2-weighted imaging, respectively. The patient underwent surgical excision under tourniquet control, with intravenous sedation and local anesthetic. The mass was seen tenting the common sensory nerve to the ring and middle fingers. The nerve was mobilized and neurolysed from the underlying mass, which was subsequently excised from the surrounding soft tissues. After hemostasis of feeder vessels was achieved, the skin was closed. Gross examination of the specimen revealed a pale yellow well-demarcated, elongated mass measuring 2.0 × 0.7 × 0.7 cm. (Fig. 1).
Mineral loss in the parenteral nutrition patient

The impact of parenteral nutrition on mineral loss was examined in 11 long-term (10-79 mo) and 6 short-term (1-8 mo) patients. In the long-term patients, there was a significant (p less than or equal to 0.02) urinary loss of calcium and magnesium during infusion compared with periods off infusion. The magnitude of urinary excretion of these minerals was much lower than in previously reported series and in short-term patients. Despite this, in long-term patients the mean bone mass at the spine was lower than normal (p less than 0.001) but mean bone mass at the wrist was not. Current data suggest that hypercalciuria is not a consistent feature of parenteral nutrition. Furthermore, osteopenia is a feature of some long-term parenteral nutrition patients.
Viability Control for Mildew Testing of Materials and Equipment in Tropical Chambers

A method is proposed for indicating proper environmental conditions for fungus development in specification tests of materials in "tropical chambers."
Efficient computation of forward kinematics and Jacobian matrix of a Stewart platform-based manipulator

The authors consider the problem of efficient computation of the forward kinematics of a six-degree-of-freedom robot manipulator built to study autonomous assembly of parts in space. The manipulator, based on the Stewart platform mechanism, consists mainly of two platforms and six linear actuators. The closed-form solution of the inverse kinematics is formulated in such a way as to optimize the computation efficiency of the iterative solution of the forward kinematics using the Newton-Raphson method. A modified Jacobian matrix which relates length velocities to Cartesian translational velocities and time rates of change of roll-pitch-yaw angles is introduced. Computer simulation is performed to evaluate the computation efficiency of the developed computation schemes. >
Esophageal intramural pseudodiverticulosis-associated with severe iron deficiency anemia

Purpose: Esophageal intramural pseudodiverticulosis is a rare condition. Although this is strongly associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease, hiatal hernia and esophageal strictures, severe iron deficiency anaemia secondary to esophageal intramural esophageal diverticulosis has not been reported previously.
Desmosomal gene variants in patients with "possible ARVC".

c t v d s In this issue of Heart Rhythm, Gehmlich et al describe novel variant in the desmosomal cadherin-encoding gene esmocollin-2 (DSC2) in a family thought to have arrhythogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) and emonstrate associated disturbance of the gap junction proein connexin43 (Cx43) in the development of ARVC. Recapitulation of the key findings include a 52-year-old oman with palpitations, a resting surface ECG with sinus hythm, PR interval 190 ms, QRS duration 84 ms, proonged terminal S wave in V1 ( 55 ms), but no epsilon aves or inverted T waves. The signal-averaged ECG was egative for late potentials. Noncontact mapping of the right entricle (RV) demonstrated moderately prolonged total RV ndocardial activation times of 82 ms in sinus rhythm (noral 65 ms). Fractionated and low-amplitude electrograms ere seen in the posterior RV wall and posterolateral RV utflow tract segments. No arrhythmias were identified. Her 8-year-old daughter was evaluated and had T-wave inverion in V1 and V2, no arrhythmias, and no clinical symptoms. A family history of sudden death was noted. Genetic testing identified a heterozygous DSC2 deletion in exon 16 resulting in a frameshift that introduces a stop codon at position 855 (DSC2 Q851fsX855), truncating the last 47 amino acids of the DSC2a isoform. A heterozygous variant in exon 11 of desmoglein-2 (DSG2) that results in an alanine to valine change at amino acid position 517 (DSG2 A517V) was also found. Both variants were identified in the daughter but in no other family member, including the individual with sudden death. The index subject underwent cardiac catheterization and endomyocardial biopsy, which demonstrated interstitial and replacement fibrosis. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated severe depression of the plakoglobin (PG) signal at the intercalated disks with normal N-cadherin, whereas Western blot showed minimal reduction of DSG2 and DSC2 expression levels and mild reduction of Cx43. Electrophoretic mobility of Cx43 was abnormal and consistent with differential phosphorylation, suggesting a lower proportion of the highly phosphorylated protein. All other desmosomal proteins were normal. Protein–protein binding studies on the DSC2a variant DSC2
Developmental expression of N-CAM epitopes in the rat spinal cord during corticospinal tract axon outgrowth and target innervation

Abstract The neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) is an integral membrane glycoprotein which mediates the adhesion of neurons to neurons and to other types of cells. During development, the N-CAM molecule is converted from a microheterogenous, highly sialylated, embryonic form (200–230 kDa) to several distinct, less sialylated but more adhesive, adult forms (120, 140 and 180 kDa). Monoclonal antibodies to epitopes of N-CAM (designated 5A5, 12F8, 5B8, 12F11 and 14E6) were used to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of these neural cell adhesion molecules during the development of the corticospinal tract (CST) in rat spinal cord, from postnatal day 1 (P1) until adulthood. The light microscopical observations indicate that the embryonic form of N-CAM (200–230 kDa) recognized by 5A5 and 12F8 antibodies, respectively, is probably involved in the process of initial ingrowth of pioneer CST-fibers into the ventralmost part of the dorsal funiculus. The adult forms of N-CAM (120, 140, 180 kDa) recognized by 5B8, 12F11, and 14E6 antibodies, respectively, are present during later stages of CST white matter ingrowth and probably involved in fasciculation of the later arriving CST axons. During the period of CST target innervation (P4–P21), a gradual shift from embryonic (200–230 kDa) to adult (120, 140 and 180 kDa) forms of N-CAM occurs in spinal white matter and in the spinal gray matter adjacent to the ventral most part of the dorsal funiculus. The presence of embryonic N-CAM (200 kDa), with its low adhesive capacity in the CST outgrowth area may allow the CST axons to branch. If this branching is no longer desirable, only the higher affinity forms of N-CAM (120, 140 and 180 kDa) are expressed. The absence of N-CAM on CST target interneurons in the base of the dorsal horn and intermediate spinal gray matter strongly suggest that N-CAM is not involved in CST synapse formation. Together, these results suggest that various forms of N-CAM are involved in CST spinal white matter tract formation and subsequent target innervation, but not in the process of synapse formation.
Effect of N-methyl-D-aspartate and inhibition of neuronal nitric oxide on collateral cerebral blood flow after middle cerebral artery occlusion.

OBJECTIVE To study the role of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation and selective inhibition of neuronal nitric oxide synthase with 7-nitroindazole (7-NI) on blood flow to collateral-dependent tissue (CDT) after middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion. METHODS A left craniotomy was performed in each of 11 dogs with the animals under halothane anesthesia. A branch of the MCA was occluded and cannulated distally for determination of CDT, using a "shadow flow" technique. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and vascular pressures were measured and used to calculate vascular resistance. TECHNIQUE Our shadow flow model has the ability to identify an area of CDT, with minimal contamination from overlap flow within a morphologically identified "risk area" for MCA branch occlusion. RESULTS NMDA increased blood flow to CDT by 56.2%, while normal ipsilateral and contralateral cerebrum increased by at least 35% from baseline. 7-NI caused a significant drop in regional CBF, with the greatest drop of 41.7% occurring in the CDT. Normal ipsilateral and contralateral CBF was reduced by 31.7 and 23.9%, respectively. The dilator response to NMDA was significantly attenuated after 7-NI administration, except in CDT where flow increased ("inverse steal"). Cerebral vascular resistance decreased in response to NMDA and increased with 7-NI. CONCLUSION Neuronal nitric oxide production seems to play an important role in regulating vascular tone and CBF to CDT after MCA occlusion. Selective preservation of blood flow to CDT seems to be mediated by NMDA receptor activation but independent of neuronal nitric oxide production.
Ground-Water Pollution — An Imminent Disastera

The significance of ground-water pollution depends on our perspective. To those individuals who are directly affected, it is an imminent disaster. Once contaminated, ground water may remain in an unusable or even hazardous condition for decades or even centuries as illustrated by situations in central Ohio, New York, London and many others. All polluted water can be treated to make it potable, but the expense may far exceed the resources of the individual homeowner.
Microbial Processes in the Vadose Zone

Surface soils and their microbiology have been studied for decades. However, subsurface soil, more broadly referred to as the vadose zone, is of increasing interest to microbiologists. The vadose zone, extending from the terrestrial surface to the groundwater table, is rich in microbes of many types. This review summarizes what is known about the abundance and diversity of microbes in the vadose zone and the environmental factors that influence vadose zone microbes and microbial processes. We discuss the roles of vadose zone microbes in nutrient cycling as well as their importance in pollutant remediation. We address a number of fundamental questions in vadose zone microbial ecology, including: What do we need to learn about vadose zone microbes to improve our ability to predict the fates of pollutants? How different are microbial communities and microbial activities in the terrestrial subsurface compared with surface soil? Numerous questions and arguments justify “deepening” soil microbiology9s spatial context to include the whole unsaturated subsurface.
ICP Rotational Spectroscopic Temperature Determination Using N2 and N2

The rotational structure in the origin bands of the Second Positive System of N2 and the First Negative System of N2+ have been used to demonstrate that these bands can be employed to determine a consistent spectroscopic temperature in an ICP. The experimental spectra have been modeled by the use of a computer program which calculates these bands for both species.
Brain disorders where resources are scarce: the unfinished agenda.

In the aggregate, neurologic, psychiatric, and developmental disorders (NPDDs) are the largest contributor to the global burden of disease. Further, more than 90% of the world's NPDDs occur in low- and middle-income countries, while less than 10% of global resources that are intended to alleviate these problems are available to these countries. The “burden” is even larger than usually cited, since many of the disorders that neurologists are called upon to manage are the result of factors arising outside the nervous system, and these entities are not fully captured, as currently tabulated. For example, dementia and depression caused by HIV/AIDS is not fully accounted for within NPDDs. Awareness of the enormous impact of NPDDs globally, and in low- and middle-income countries specifically, is increasing.1 However, translation of this awareness into improved patient care has proceeded slowly. I will explore some of the factors involved in attempting to reduce the health disparity affecting the hundreds of millions of individuals with NPDDs in low- and middle-income countries. NPDDs occur in often-difficult local environmental contexts. Where famines occur, the consequences of malnutrition dominate. Where HIV is prevalent, its nervous system consequences overwhelm other NPDDs. Armed conflict and forced migration make health care delivery difficult to impossible. Where immunization programs are impeded, brain infections flourish. Where alcohol abuse is epidemic, its developmental and adult effects on the nervous system are also epidemic. Local belief systems, stigma, and other cultural features impede recognition and treatment. Poverty alone produces both human capital and facility shortages. All of these fundamental issues are interwoven with national and regional politics and corruption, and all lead to enormous disparities in comparison with wealthy countries. While many of these …
A chemical kinetic model for the selective reduction of nitric oxide by ammonia

Abstract A chemical kinetic model has been developed which explains the important features of the reaction between ammonia and nitric oxide in the presence of oxygen. Essential to the model is a chain branching mechanism, initiated by the reaction between amidogen (NH 2 ) and nitric oxide, which is directly responsible for NO removal and allows the further conversion of ammonia to amidogen. At high temperatures, this process becomes counterproductive, resulting in NO formation; at low temperatures, it is dominated by chain termination steps. Thus there is a narrow temperature window in which nitric oxide reduction is effective. The role of excess oxygen and the effect of adding hydrogen are also explained by the model. Possible products of the NH 2 + NO reaction are discussed in some detail, and it is shown that different product channels can lead to the same effects.
A note on geometric bounds for eigenvalues

Abstract This paper finds a new and improved geometric bound for the second largest eigenvalue of a random walk Markov chain on an undirected graph.
Angiogram, fundus, and oxygen saturation optic nerve head image fusion

A novel multi-modality optic nerve head image fusion approach has been successfully designed. The new approach has been applied on three ophthalmologic modalities: angiogram, fundus, and oxygen saturation retinal optic nerve head images. It has achieved an excellent result by giving the visualization of fundus or oxygen saturation images with a complete angiogram overlay. During this study, two contributions have been made in terms of novelty, efficiency, and accuracy. The first contribution is the automated control point detection algorithm for multi-sensor images. The new method employs retina vasculature and bifurcation features by identifying the initial good-guess of control points using the Adaptive Exploratory Algorithm. The second contribution is the heuristic optimization fusion algorithm. In order to maximize the objective function (Mutual-Pixel-Count), the iteration algorithm adjusts the initial guess of the control points at the sub-pixel level. A refinement of the parameter set is obtained at the end of each loop, and finally an optimal fused image is generated at the end of the iteration. It is the first time that Mutual-Pixel-Count concept has been introduced into biomedical image fusion area. By locking the images in one place, the fused image allows ophthalmologists to match the same eye over time and get a sense of disease progress and pinpoint surgical tools. The new algorithm can be easily expanded to human or animals' 3D eye, brain, or body image registration and fusion.
Conformal Mapping of Multiply Connected Domains

Objective. In Chapters I and II, the conformal mapping of general Riemann domains G on slit domains B was obtained by employing Dirichlet’s Principle to construct functions in G mapping G onto B. A different approachl to the problem of conformal mapping of arbitrary domains G on individuals of any of three classes ℜ of normal domains B is provided by the methods of Chapters III and IV; Dirichlet’s Principle is used there to construct functions in B giving the inverse mapping of B onto G. Restricting ourselves to k-fold connected plane domains G,2 we shall pursue this latter approach to obtain a variety of mapping theorems stating that arbitrary3k-fold connected domains can be mapped conformally onto individuals of a great variety of specific classes ℜ of domains.
Building HTML5 game features from cloud services Filling the gap between cloud services and real-life game features

HTML5 game development is an upcoming trend that enables new technologies to interact in order to produce high quality games entirely based on the web. However, a fully functional web game requires layer upon layer of code to produce each particular game feature. This is because there are many development tools, but no specific solutions. The game developer ends up writing everything from the raw backend server to persist the game state to the end-user game features. Furthermore, the game developer needs to come up with several custom implementations to consume different providers to do things like user player login, game storage, social interaction, analytics, etc. This paper aims to present a practical solution that covers the gap between raw cloud services (the tool) and the high level functionality (the real-life game features) a game needs to be successfully built in less time (and at a lower cost) than the current solutions take.
Chromatographic separation of the enantiomers of 2-carboalkoxyindolines and N-aryl-α-amino esters on chiral stationary phases derived from N-(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl)-α-amino acids

Abstract N-Aryl-α-amino esters, 1, may be considered to be acyclic analogues of 2-carboalkoxyindolines, 2. The enantiomers of both types of compounds may be separated chromatographically on chiral stationary phases (CSPs) prepared from N-(3,5-dinitrobenzoyl) derivatives of ( S )-leucine and ( R )-phenylglycine. The degree of chiral recognition is high. Separation factors greater than 10 have been noted and preparative separations are readily performed. A chiral recognition model is advanced to account for the observed separations and is used to relate elution order to absolute configuration for a series of type 1 and type 2 analytes.
Induced transposition of Ds by a stable Ac in crosses of transgenic tobacco plants.

A two component maize transposon system comprising a stable but trans-active Ac element and a cis responsive Ds element has been established in transgenic tobacco. The development of this system is desirable for the realization of a gene tagging strategy employing these elements in heterologous plant species. Transgenic tobacco with a single transposed Ac element (Ac-18) which has sustained a 4 bp terminal deletion has been identified. Transposase activity of the stable Ac-18 was demonstrated in a tissue culture assay as well as in transgenic plants. When plants containing Ac-18 were crossed with transgenic plants carrying a Ds element, 25%–50% of the F1 progeny showed trans-activation of Ds transposition. Analysis of DNA of several F1 plants showed that each plant displayed a unique pattern of Ds transposition to new chromosomal sites.
The Evolution of a Contested Concept: A Meta-Analysis of Social Capital Definitions and Trends (1988-2006)*

This paper offers a meta-analysis that traces the contested meaning and use of social capital in sociological research over the last 18 years by focusing on journal article definitions. We identify six common definitions in use that closely correspond to the original—and in some cases, independent—formulations offered by Hanifan, Putnam, Coleman, Bourdieu, and Granovetter. Drawing from Kuhnian theory, we contend that these definitions illuminate deep divisions between those who understand social capital as a normative “cure-all” (Portes 1998)—in the tradition of Hanifan, Putnam, and Coleman —and those who view it as a resource—in the tradition of Bourdieu and Granovetter— that may be used to create or maintain social inequality. The transition of social capital from preparadigm to paradigm status may potentially involve an integration of these approaches, but this will require greater consideration of power and inequality on the part of normative theorists, who are currently dominating the debate.
Coffee landscapes as refugia for native woody biodiversity as forest loss continues in southwest Ethiopia

Land-use changes threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services. Some of the last remaining forest fragments in Ethiopia, and the world’s only habitats that retain genetically diverse wild Arabica coffee populations, have experienced rapid recent conversion to coffee farms, plantations and agricultural fields. We examined patterns of remnant woody plant diversity in the remaining forests, and assessed the potential and limitations of coffee agroforests to maintain this diversity. We explored patterns of woody biodiversity, structure, and regeneration in forest fragments and on adjacent smallholder and large-scale state-owned shade-coffee farms. A total of 155 native woody species including rare/threatened species of Baphia, Cordia, Manilkara, and Prunus were recorded. Of these species, 56 (36.2%) and 18 (12%) were restricted to forest fragments and coffee farms respectively. Smallholder and large-scale coffee farms maintained 59% and 26% of the 155 recorded native woody species compared to the 137 species (88%) found in forest fragments. Native woody species regeneration in state-owned plantations was lower than in smallholder farms, which in turn was lower than forest fragments. Coffee farms could support a considerable portion, though not all, of the woody biodiversity of disappearing forests. Persistence of forest woody diversity and associated ecosystem services depends strongly on the scale and type of shade coffee cultivation pursued.
Connectors for optical fibre systems

This paper outlines the requirements of demountable connectors for optical fibres and cables used in data links and telecommunications applications. Problems associated with alignment and termination of the mating fibres are discussed. The various methods for overcoming or minimizing these problems are reviewed and specific examples of connector technology are highlighted. Some techniques for measuring the optical properties of connectors are given and their value and limitations in the assessment of system performance are detailed. Finally future requirements are discussed.
Analogical reasoning in design processes

Abstract We consider the design process as a goal-oriented activity for solving ill-structured problems. To avoid the combinatorial explosion of design alternatives, a control structure embracing heuristic ideas has to be established. One of primary importance is based on AR (analogical reasoning), ubiquitous in human problem-solving in general but hardly used at all in programming systems. First, we investigate AR detached from specific tasks and formulate some of its general principles. We then present a set of plausible working hypotheses and outline the contributive and hierarchical models. Further, advanced processes are discussed which can extend the scope of the above models. Some problems of implementation are followed by the description of practical results obtained in the exploration of a few simple tasks. Suggestions for further work and a summary conclude the paper.