cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Quality-of-life after penile prosthesis placed at radical prostatectomy

Abstract The clinical and psychosocial effects of immediate penile prosthesis implantation at the time of radical prostatectomy (RP) were investigated in 97 consecutive patients and 68 partners. Prosthesis recipients reported more frequent sexual contact, fewer marital problems and slightly fewer sexual functioning problems than the RP-alone patients. There were no group differences on any sociodemographic characteristics, on disease recurrence, on physical and psychosocial functioning, or on reported depression. Patients who chose the prosthesis did, however, evidence less of a link between depression and functional limitations and between depression and marital problems. They also had lower levels of agreement with their partners in reporting their own depression, as compared to the patients who opted for RP surgery alone. We conclude that the penile prosthesis was associated with an increased frequency of sexual contact, a reduction in reported marital problems, and stylistic differences between the tw...
Belowground positive and negative feedbacks on CO2 growth enhancement

In this paper we present a conceptual model of integrated plant-soil interactions which illustrates the importance of identifying the primary belowground feedbacks, both positive and negative, which can simultaneously affect plant growth responses to elevated CO2. The primary negative feedbacks share the common feature of reducing the amount of nutrients available to plants. These negative feedbacks include increased litter C/N ratios, and therefore reduced mineralization rates, increased immobilization of available nutrients by a larger soil microbial pool, and increased storage of nutrients in plant biomass and detritus due to increases in net primary productivity (NPP). Most of the primary positive feedbacks share the common feature of being plant mediated feedbacks, the only exception being Zak et al.'s hypothesis that increased microbial biomass will be accompanied by increased mineralization rates. Plant nutrient uptake may be increased through alterations in root architecture, physiology, or mycorrhizal symbioses. Further, the increased C/N ratios of plant tissue mean that a given level of NPP can be achieved with a smaller supply of nitrogen.
Original article: Approximation algorithm for estimating failure probability of multipath transmission

In a computer network where nodes can fail, multipath transmission can be used to increase the probability of successful transmission. However, even multipath transmission has a probability of failure, which depends on the selected paths. Hence, estimating this probability of failure is of great importance for designing good multipath routing algorithms. In this paper, we show that it is NP-hard to compute the failure probability of multipath transmission. Therefore, we design a polynomial-time approximation algorithm for estimating this failure probability and give analysis of its error bounds. We also compare the results of our approximation algorithm with the results of Matlab simulations.
The pursuit of optimal outcomes in cancer therapy in a new age of rationally designed target-based anticancer agents.

There have been extraordinary advances in anticancer therapy over the last few decades, particularly for patients with relatively uncommon malignancies, largely because of the advent of nonspecific cytotoxic chemotherapeutics. Although these agents have also brought improved outcomes for patients with many of the more common solid cancers, it is clear that the point of ‘diminishing return’ has been reached. The recent development of a plethora of rationally designed target-based anticancer agents has opened up new opportunities and extraordinary therapeutic challenges. Since these agents appear primarily to target malignant cells, they can be expected to be less toxic at clinically effective doses than the cytotoxic agents. Among the various types of rationally designed target-based agents are those that target strategic facets of cell growth signal transduction, angiogenesis, metastasis and cell cycle regulation. While the primary therapeutic benefit of these agents is expected to be decreased tumour growth, evidence suggests that objective tumour responses may also be achieved. However, because of their potentially cytostatic properties, the clinical efficacy of such biologically based agents may not be readily demonstrable with traditional phase I and II study methodologies. Additionally, their dose-toxicity relationships are likely to be less steep than those of the nonspecific cytotoxic agents, thereby rendering such concepts as the maximum tolerated dose less meaningful than alternatives such as the optimal biological dose or the biologically effective dose. Those end-points generally considered, both from a regulatory and clinical viewpoint, to be of secondary importance in trials of cytotoxic agents, such as time to disease progression, disease-related symptoms and quality of life, may evolve into primary end-points. Present findings from preclinical studies suggest that the development, evaluation and general clinical use of rationally designed target-based anticancer agents will require a radical departure from the traditional paradigms if the full potential of these new therapies is to be exploited.
Three Decades of Quality of Life

Over the last few decades, the field of mental retardation has embraced the concept of quality of life as both a sensitizing notion and an overarching principle for service delivery. This article summarizes the current understanding of the quality of life construct by examining previous efforts at defining and clarifying the concept, and examines issues that will affect the utility of the construct well into the new century.
A grammar-based approach to automatic generation of user-interface dialogues

An effective user interface requires a dialogue layer that can handle multiple threads of interaction simultaneously. We propose a notation for specifying dialogues based on context-free attributed grammars with two extensions: fork operators for specifying sub-dialogues and context attributes for dispatching tokens. The notation is useful both as a means of communicating the behavior of the dialogue layer to designers and as input to a dialogue compiler that generates program code. In this paper we explain the motivation for our work and provide practical examples of the use of fork and context. In addition, we outline algorithms for parsing and for generating parser tables.
Values, personal information privacy, and regulatory approaches

The relationships among nationality, cultural values, personal information privacy concerns, and information privacy regulation are examined in this article.
Evaluation of a rapid, multiphase MRE sequence in a heart-simulating phantom.

The aims of this study were to validate stiffness estimates of a phantom undergoing cyclic deformation obtained using a multiphase magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) imaging sequence by comparison with those obtained using a single-phase MRE sequence and to quantify the stability of the multiphase-derived stiffness estimates as a function of deformation frequency and imaging parameters. A spherical rubber shell of 10 cm diameter and 1 cm thickness was connected to a computerized flow pump to produce cyclic pressure variations within the phantom. The phantom was imaged at cyclic pressures between 18–72 bpm using single-phase and multiphase MRE acquisitions. The shear stiffness of the phantom was resolved using a spherical shell wave inversion algorithm. Shear stiffness was averaged over the slice of interest and plotted against pressure within the phantom. A linear correlation was observed between stiffness and pressure. Good correlation (R2 = 0.98) was observed between the stiffness estimates obtained using the standard single-phase and the multiphase pulse sequences. Stiffness estimates obtained using multiphase MRE were stable when the fraction of the deformation period required for acquisition of a single image was not greater than 42%. The results demonstrate the potential of multiphase MRE technique for imaging dynamic organs, such as the heart. Magn Reson Med, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The Obesity Paradox

Purpose Obesity is common after heart transplantation due to corticosteroid use and relative inactivity. It has been reported that obesity after heart transplantation may have a protective effect (obesity paradox) in the development of transplant coronary artery disease. It has not been firmly established whether ongoing obesity after heart transplant has a stronger association to outcome. We sought to evaluate patients with ongoing obesity with BMI greater than 33 which persisted for at least 3 years following heart transplantation and assessed their long-term outcome. Methods and Materials Between 1994 and 2009, we evaluated 357 heart transplant recipients who had BMI greater than 33 for at least 3 years following heart transplantation. These patients were compared to patients with BMI Results Obese patients (BMI>33) have comparable survival, transplant coronary artery disease and NF-MACE after heart transplantation to patients with lower BMI. There is a trend towards lower freedom from any treated rejection associated with obesity. Conclusions Persistently obese patients appear to have similar outcomes compared to patients with lower weight. A larger cohort would be needed to determine whether the Obesity Paradox is applicable in heart transplantation. Outcomes BMI BMI 30-33 (n=21) BMI > 33 (n=36) Log-Rank p-value Subsequent 5-Year Actuarial Survival 80% 71% 83% 0.603 Subsequent 5-Year Freedom from CAV 81% 86% 75% 0.538 Subsequent 5-year Freedom from NF-MACE 90% 91% 90% 0.969 Subsequent 1-Year Freedom from Any-Treated Rejection 99% 100% 94% 0.069
Long-Term Employment Effects of Surviving Cancer

We compare employment and usual hours of work for prime-age cancer survivors from the Penn State Cancer Survivor Survey to a comparison group drawn from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics using cross-sectional and difference-in-differences regression and matching estimators. Because earlier research has emphasized workers diagnosed at older ages, we focus on employment effects for younger workers. We find that as long as two to six years after diagnosis, cancer survivors have lower employment rates and work fewer hours than other similarly aged adults.
Removal of sodium inactivation and block of sodium channels by chloramine-T in crayfish and squid giant axons

Modification of sodium channels by chloramine-T was examined in voltage clamped internally perfused crayfish and squid giant axons using the double sucrose gap and axial wire technique, respectively. Freshly prepared chloramine-T solution exerted two major actions on sodium channels: (a) an irreversible removal of the fast Na inactivation, and (b) a reversible block of the Na current. Both effects were observed when chloramine-T was applied internally or externally (5–10 mM) to axons. The first effect was studied in crayfish axons. We found that the removal of the fast Na inactivation did not depend on the states of the channel since the channel could be modified by chloramine-T at holding potential (from -80 to -100 mV) or at depolarized potential of -30 mV. After removal of fast Na inactivation, the slow inactivation mechanism was still present, and more channels could undergo slow inactivation. This result indicates that in crayfish axons the transition through the fast inactivated state is not a prerequisite for the slow inactivation to occur. During chloramine-T treatment, a distinct blocking phase occurred, which recovered upon washing out the drug. This second effect of chloramine-T was studied in detail in squid axons. After 24 h, chloramine-T solution lost its ability to remove fast inactivation but retained its blocking action. After removal of the fast Na inactivation, both fresh and aged chloramine-T solutions blocked the Na currents with a similar potency and in a voltage-dependent manner, being more pronounced at lower depolarizing potentials.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Husserl as a Tutor in Philosophy

(1988). Husserl as a Tutor in Philosophy. Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology: Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 296-310.
Thin film structure of tetraceno[2,3-b]thiophene characterized by grazing incidence X-ray scattering and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure analysis.

Understanding the structure−property relationship for organic semiconductors is crucial in rational molecular design and organic thin film process control. Charge carrier transport in organic field-effect transistors predominantly occurs in a few semiconductor layers close to the interface in contact with the dielectric layer, and the transport properties depend sensitively on the precise molecular packing. Therefore, a better understanding of the impact of molecular packing and thin film morphology in the first few monolayers above the dielectric layer on charge transport is needed to improve the transistor performance. In this Article, we show that the detailed molecular packing in thin organic semiconductor films can be solved through a combination of grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), near-edge X-ray absorption spectra fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, energy minimization packing calculations, and structure refinement of the diffraction data. We solve the thin film structure for 2 and 20 ...
3-[(2R)-Amino-2-phenylethyl]-1-(2,6-difluorobenzyl)-5-(2-fluoro-3-methoxyphenyl)- 6-methylpyrimidin-2,4-dione (NBI 42902) as a Potent and Orally Active Antagonist of the Human Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor. Design, Synthesis, and in Vitro and in Vivo Characterization

Further structure−activity relationship studies of a series of substituted uracils at the 1, 3, and 5 positions resulted in the discovery of several potent antagonists of the human gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor. Uracils bearing a side chain derived from phenylglycinol at the 3-position were shown to be orally bioavailable in monkeys. 3-[(2R)-Amino-2-phenylethyl]-1-(2,6-difluorobenzyl)-5-(2-fluoro-3-methoxyphenyl)-6-methylpyrimidin-2,4-dione (R-13b, NBI 42902) displayed subnanomolar binding affinity (Ki = 0.56 nM) and was a potent functional antagonist (IC50 = 3.0 nM in Ca2+ flux assay) at the human GnRH receptor. It also bound to the monkey GnRH receptor with high affinity (Ki = 3.9 nM). In addition, R-13b had good plasma exposure in cynomolgus monkeys after oral administration, with a Cmax of 737 ng/mL and an AUC of 2392 ng/mL·h at a 10 mg/kg dose. Moreover, oral administration of R-13b to castrated male cynomolgus monkeys resulted in a significant decrease in serum levels of luteinizing hormon...
Pediatric Functional Independence Measure: clinical trials with disabled and nondisabled children.

~ UNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT instruments in rehabilitation medicine have traditionally evolved out of clinical practice. The clinical and research value of many of these insmtments has yet to be critically evaluated. In this study, the Pediatric Functional Independence Measure (WeeFIM) (Uniform Data System, 1989) was used to evaluate children with and without a disability. This study was an effort to establish the sensitivity of the WeeFIM to functional limitations of disabled children, an issue of construct validity. The study was designed to answer the following questions: 1. Will the WeeFIM measures of children with cerebral palsy (CP) or motor impairment (MI) be lower than those of their nondisabled peers? 2. Will the WeeFIM measures of children with CP stratify the children by severity of disability? That is, will children with mild involvement have WeeFIM measures closer to their nondisabled peers and will children with severe involvement have WeeFIM measures farther from their nondisabled peers? The WeeFIM is intended to assess functional independence in children from birth to 7 years 11 months of age. It consists of a total of 19 items (14 motor items and 5 cognitive items). The focus of this study was the 14 motor items. Each motor item is rated on a 7-point scale of independence; 1 indicating complete dependence to 7 indicating complete independence. The WeeFIM has been shown to have test-related reliability (p -< .05), interrater reliability (p -< .05), and acceptable construct validity (McCabe, 1991). In addition, the WeeFIM has been shown to have acceptable content validity (CVI = .80) (McCabe & Granger, 1990). METHODS
Intelligent Biometric Information Management

We advance here a novel methodology for robust intelligent biometric information management with inferences and predictions made using randomness and complexity concepts. Intelligence refers to learning, adap- tation, and functionality, and robustness refers to the ability to handle incomplete and/or corrupt adversarial information, on one side, and image and or device variability, on the other side. The proposed methodology is model-free and non-parametric. It draws support from discriminative methods using likelihood ratios to link at the conceptual level biometrics and forensics. It further links, at the modeling and implementation level, the Bayesian framework, statistical learning theory (SLT) using transduction and semi-supervised lea- rning, and Information Theory (IY) using mutual information. The key concepts supporting the proposed methodology are a) local estimation to facilitate learning and prediction using both labeled and unlabeled data; b) similarity metrics using regularity of patterns, randomness deficiency, and Kolmogorov complexity (similar to MDL) using strangeness/typicality and ranking p-values; and c) the Cover – Hart theorem on the asymptotical performance of k-nearest neighbors approaching the optimal Bayes error. Several topics on biometric inference and prediction related to 1) multi-level and multi-layer data fusion including quality and multi-modal biometrics; 2) score normalization and revision theory; 3) face selection and tracking; and 4) identity management, are described here using an integrated approach that includes transduction and boosting for ranking and sequential fusion/aggregation, respectively, on one side, and active learning and change/ outlier/intrusion detection realized using information gain and martingale, respectively, on the other side. The methodology proposed can be mapped to additional types of information beyond biometrics.
Enhanced Crystallization of a Glassy Phase in Silicon Nitride by the Addition of Scandia

A Sc2O3-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 melt reacted with bulk pieces of hot-pressed Si3N4, dissolving Si3N4 at the surface and penetrating into the interior via the grain boundaries. During subsequent cooling, the glass phase in the Si3N4 easily crystallized and fine crystallites were formed, but no phase separation was observed. This behavior contrasts strongly with that observed for a similar melt reaction without Sc2O3.
A simplified method for the rapid fluorometric assessment of antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity

We demonstrate that the FATAL cytolysis assay can be adapted into a rapid and fluorometric antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity assay (RFADCC). The RFADCC relies on double-staining target cells with a membrane dye (PKH-26) and a viability dye (CFSE) prior to the addition of antibody and effector cells. We used the RFADCC to assess dose-dependent and envelope-specific anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) ADCC responses mediated by monoclonal antibody-2G12 and human sera. Using the assay, we also detected early anti-simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) ADCC responses in rhesus macaques infected with pathogenic SIV(mac251). Importantly, the RFADCC was further useful in monitoring anti-HIV and anti-SIV ADCC responses elicited by immunizing chimpanzees and rhesus macaques with replicating adenovirus-based AIDS vaccine candidates. In comparison to the standard chromium release assay, the RFADCC provides a higher cell killing readout and is advantageous in allowing use of viably frozen as well as fresh effector cells, thus facilitating assay standardization. The RFADCC is therefore a simple, reliable, and highly sensitive method that can be applied to assess the ADCC activity of monoclonal antibodies as well as ADCC responses elicited by HIV or SIV infection or by AIDS vaccine candidates.
Poliomyelitis and recent tonsillectomy

Summary During three months of the ascending part of an epidemic of poliomyelitis in Utah in 1943, 43 per cent of the bulbar and bulbospinal cases were preceded by a tonsillectomy within thirty days of the onset. The incidence of poliomyelitis in recently tonsillectomized children was found to be 2.6 times greater than in the general child population. The incidence of the bulbar and bulbospinal type of poliomyelitis was found to be sixteen times greater in recently tonsillectomized children than in the general child population.
An Assessment of Permanent and Nonpermanent Plots in Riparian Vegetation Monitoring

ABSTRACT. The aim of this research was to determine whether permanent and nonpermanent plots for describing riparian plant communities would yield the same results. This research was conducted at 4 streams in central eastern Idaho. Permanent and nonpermanent greenline plots (first perennial vegetation adjacent to stream) were sampled repeatedly from June to October 2010, and we assessed differences between plot types by comparing species richness, wetland indicator rating, and percent cover of live vegetation, forbs, graminoids, litter/moss, and bare ground. We found few statistically significant differences between permanent and nonpermanent greenline plots. Because both types of plots yielded similar results, we suggest that nonpermanent plots are a better choice for riparian monitoring because they are defined by their spatial relationship to the stream, rendering a permanent marker unnecessary, and they are also less labor intensive.
Bildgebende Diagnostik der akuten und chronischen Osteomyelitis

For the diagnosis of acute and chronic osteomyelitis imaging methods have become essential. This paper reviews the potential of the different imaging modalities. When there is clinical suspicion of acute osteomyelitis plain films are still the mainstay of diagnosis. In newborns and young children this primary diagnostic modality will be supplemented by sonography. If there is a need for further imaging, MRI and the different scintigraphic methods may be used interchangeably. However, for the spine and other complex anatomical regions MRI is preferred. In contrast, three-phase bone scanning is mostly accepted as the primary additional tool to radiography and sonography in the newborn and in small children. If an abscess is suspected, MRI is the primary imaging modality. In cases of chronic osteomyelitis radiography still forms the basis for obtaining information about the bone. Further imaging is regularly needed, not only because of its diagnostic value but also because radiographs do not demonstrate the extent of lesions correctly. The evaluation of disease extent in bone is a domain of MRI, while scintigraphic methods, like 111In leucocyte scintigraphy and MRI, are of equivalent diagnostic value. CT may have its role in disclosing a sequestrum when radiographs and MRI are equivocal.
Mechanism of alloying element vaporization during laser welding

Vaporization of alloying elements is a serious problem in the laser welding of many important engineering alloys. Since the available mass transfer correlations are not applicable for credible assessment of the rates of transport of vaporized species in the gas phase, the role of gas phase mass transfer in the overall vaporization of alloying elements was examined by conducting several critical experiments. The rates of transport of alloying elements in the weld pool were determined from numerically computed fluid flow fields. Since the weld pool is surrounded by plasma during laser welding, the role of plasma in the vaporization of alloying elements was physically modeled by allowing molten copper drops to vaporize isothermally both in the presence and absence of plasma. The transport of alloying elements in both liquid and gas phases was found to be rapid and the overall vaporization rates were controlled by the plasma influenced intrinsic vaporization of alloying elements at the weld pool surface. The experimentally obtained rates of vaporization of alloying elements from laser melted stainless steel weld pools were compared with the corresponding theoretically calculated values.
Management and prevention of agranulocytosis in patients receiving clozapine

Clozapine is an antipsychotic associated with superior efficacy compared to other atypical antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia. However, clozapine use is limited due to its association with a rare but potentially fatal adverse effect, agranulocytosis. Patients receiving clozapine therapy require frequent monitoring of white blood cell (WBC) and absolute neutrophil counts (ANC). This article reviews the monitoring parameters for patients receiving clozapine therapy, and the management and prevention of clozapine-associated agranulocytosis.
REEXAMINATION OF INFRARED SPECTRA OF Bi NANORODS: L–T TRANSITION OR EXTRINSIC PHASES

Bismuth is a fascinating material system owing to its unusual Fermi surface topology, which depends on size and temperature. Theoretical calculations predict that Bi should undergo a semimetal-to-semiconductor transition as at least one of its dimensions becomes < 50 nm. This prediction was experimentally confirmed by infrared (IR) absorption spectra, which is largely underlain by transitions between the L (electron) and T (hole) pockets of the Fermi surface. In this work, however, we report that in our nanosize samples, the observed IR peak positions are practically independent of temperature, which is hard to reconcile with the predicted behavior of the L–T transition. To help elucidate the origin of these IR peaks, we performed a careful analysis of the IR spectra of Bi nanorods, as well as those of bulk Bi, Bi samples prepared under different conditions and Bi2(CO3)O2 using Fourier transform infrared and photoacoustic spectroscopy measurements. We propose that the observed IR peaks in Bi nanorods arise from the oxygen–carbon containing secondary phases formed on the surface of Bi rather than from the Bi itself. We believe that secondary phases must be taken into account on a general basis in modeling the IR spectra of Bi and that the scenario that ascribes these IR peaks solely to the L–T transitions may not be correct. The results reported herein may also impact the research of Bi-based thermoelectric nanostructures and bulk materials.
On optimization methods for deep learning

The predominant methodology in training deep learning advocates the use of stochastic gradient descent methods (SGDs). Despite its ease of implementation, SGDs are difficult to tune and parallelize. These problems make it challenging to develop, debug and scale up deep learning algorithms with SGDs. In this paper, we show that more sophisticated off-the-shelf optimization methods such as Limited memory BFGS (L-BFGS) and Conjugate gradient (CG) with line search can significantly simplify and speed up the process of pretraining deep algorithms. In our experiments, the difference between L-BFGS/CG and SGDs are more pronounced if we consider algorithmic extensions (e.g., sparsity regularization) and hardware extensions (e.g., GPUs or computer clusters). Our experiments with distributed optimization support the use of L-BFGS with locally connected networks and convolutional neural networks. Using L-BFGS, our convolutional network model achieves 0.69% on the standard MNIST dataset. This is a state-of-the-art result on MNIST among algorithms that do not use distortions or pretraining.
Biological databases: A new scientific literature

Biology is entering a new era in which data are being generated that cannot be published in the traditional literature. Databases are taking the role of scientific literature in distributing this information to the community. The success of some major biological undertakings, such as the Human Genome Project, will depend upon the development of a system for electronic data publishing. Many biological databases began as secondary literature—reviews in which certain kinds of data were collected from the primary literature. Now these databases are becoming a new kind of primary literature with findings being submitted directly to the database and never being published in print form. Some databases are offering publishing on demand services, where users can identify subsets of the data that are of interest, then subscribe to periodic distributions of the requested data. New systems, such as fordable while offering a powerful search tool to the scientific community. Although many questions remain regarding the ultimate interactions between electronic and traditional data publishing and about their respective roles in the scientific process, electronic data publishing is here now, changing the way biology is done. The technical problems associated with mounting cost-effective electronic data publishing are either solved, or solutions seem in reach. What is needed now, to take us all the way into electronic data publishing as a new, formal literature, is the development of more high-quality, professionally operated EDP sites. The key to transforming these into a new scientific literature is the establishment of appropriate editorial and review policies for electronic data publishing sites. Editors have the opportunity and the responsibility to work in the vanguard of a revolution in scientific publishing.
4D multiple-cathode ultrafast electron microscopy

Four-dimensional multiple-cathode ultrafast electron microscopy is developed to enable the capture of multiple images at ultrashort time intervals for a single microscopic dynamic process. The dynamic process is initiated in the specimen by one femtosecond light pulse and probed by multiple packets of electrons generated by one UV laser pulse impinging on multiple, spatially distinct, cathode surfaces. Each packet is distinctly recorded, with timing and detector location controlled by the cathode configuration. In the first demonstration, two packets of electrons on each image frame (of the CCD) probe different times, separated by 19 picoseconds, in the evolution of the diffraction of a gold film following femtosecond heating. Future elaborations of this concept to extend its capabilities and expand the range of applications of 4D ultrafast electron microscopy are discussed. The proof-of-principle demonstration reported here provides a path toward the imaging of irreversible ultrafast phenomena of materials, and opens the door to studies involving the single-frame capture of ultrafast dynamics using single-pump/multiple-probe, embedded stroboscopic imaging.
Capacity of a Relay Acoustic Channel

A relay acoustic link consisting of N hops spanning a fixed distance d is considered. The capacity of the relay link is found to increase with the number of hops as Ngamma, where gamma is a positive constant less than 1. At the same time, the power required to span the link decreases, but because each additional relay introduces a fixed cost, the number of relays in a practical system is limited. Taking this fact into account, an overall cost is defined, based either on a power, or an energy per bit criterion. Minimization of the cost function provides an analytical solution for the optimal number of relays. The cost of relaying is also evident in the delay, as each relay introduces a delay proportional to the data packet length. However, the distance between relays becomes shorter as more relays are added, thus supporting transmission at a higher rate. Assuming transmission at a rate equal to the channel capacity, the overall link delay is found to behave as N1 -gamma. Compared to a situation in which transmission rate is chosen irrespective of the number of relays (a linear increase of the delay with N), rate adjustment offers an improved delay performance.
Modification of Ras in Eukaryotic Cells by Pseudomonas aeruginosa Exoenzyme S

Genetic and functional data suggest that Pseudomonas aeruginosa exoenzyme S (ExoS), an ADP-ribosyltransferase, is translocated into eukaryotic cells by a bacterial type III secretory mechanism activated by contact between bacteria and host cells. Although purified ExoS is not toxic to eukaryotic cells, ExoS-producing bacteria cause reduced proliferation and viability, possibly mediated by bacterially translocated ExoS. To investigate the activity of translocated ExoS, we examined in vivo modification of Ras, a preferred in vitro substrate. The ExoS-producing strain P. aeruginosa 388 and an isogenic mutant strain, 388ΔexoS, which fails to produce ExoS, were cocultured with HT29 colon carcinoma cells. Ras was found to be ADP-ribosylated during coculture with 388 but not with 388ΔexoS, and Ras modification by 388 corresponded with reduction in HT29 cell DNA synthesis. Active translocation by bacteria was found to be required, since exogenous ExoS, alone or in the presence of 388ΔexoS, was unable to modify intracellular Ras. Other ExoS-producing strains caused modification of Ras, indicating that this is not a strain-specific event. ADP-ribosylation of Rap1, an additional Ras family substrate for ExoS in vitro, was not detectable in vivo under conditions sufficient for Ras modification, suggesting possible ExoS substrate preference among Ras-related proteins. These results confirm that intracellular Ras is modified by bacterially translocated ExoS and that the inhibition of target cell proliferation correlates with the efficiency of Ras modification.
Variations in Damage to Wheat Caused by Russian Wheat Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) in Texas

The Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia (Mordvilko), was discovered in Texas on wheat, Triticum aestivum L., in 1986, and 17 collections from 11 Texas counties were made that same year. Two Russian wheat aphid collections, designated as the Randall 2290 colony and the Swisher colony, were tested on four wheat varieties with three infestation levels to differentiate susceptible and resistant plants. Two aphids per plant were the best initial infestation level because higher levels caused too much damage and masked differences between the wheat varieties. Plant height, expressed as a percentage of an uninfested check, was a nonsubjective measure of plant response to Russian wheat aphid. In a second test, all 17 collections were tested on TX78V2290-36-1(TXGH2290) and ‘TAM 107’ with an initial infestation level of two aphids per plant. The results from the second test indicated that there were significant variations in damage between aphid cultures, and differences between colonies occurred within counties and between counties. Reproductive capacity of Russian wheat aphid was affected by variety and was highest overall on TXGH2290. We suggest that TXGH2290 could be used as a susceptible standard in future host plant resistant studies, and this breeding line has been recommended for release. These findings indicate that there are important genetic differences within Russian wheat aphid.
Interactions between Effectors Linked to Serotonin Receptors

: In general, there are two types of interactions between effector signaling pathways. “Homologous” interactions are those that occur within a receptor system to alter its own responsiveness, for example the loss of responsiveness (desensitization) that can occur upon agonist occupancy of a receptor. “Heterologous” interactions are those that occur between different receptor systems where the responsiveness of one receptor system is regulated (positively or negatively) by activation of another receptor system (i.e., “cross-talk”). Many, if not all receptors, couple to multiple cellular effector pathways and alterations in the responsiveness of a receptor system can be effector pathway-dependent which underscores the importance of studying each effector coupled to a receptor. Regulation of receptor system responsiveness, and consequently the efficacy of drugs, is a highly dynamic process. Perhaps by exploiting these interactions, new targets for pharmacotherapy may be uncovered which will provide for increased efficacy and specificity of drug action.
On the orientation of ephemeris reference frames

One may construct complete planetary and lunar ephemerides, referred to the equator and dynamical equinox of some epoch, strictly from ranging data alone. Such an ephemeris would be completely independent from any optical data and therefore independent of any stellar catalogue. By using such an ephemeris to then analyse optical observations, one could theoretically derive many of the pertinent features of the catalogue system to which the optical observations are referred. Such features include the equinox offset, equinox motion and systematic proper motion errors. In practice, the optical observations are used in the fitting process, but essentially the same determinations may be made.
Applying the Service-Oriented Architecture for Network Discovery and Selection in the Next Generation Wireless Mobile Networks

The next generation wireless mobile network will be a heterogeneous networking environment consisting of various networks with heterogeneous implementations. Discovering and selecting the optimal networks for delivering an end-to-end networking service has significant impact on the service quality offered to applications. One of the main challenges to network discovery and selection is the heterogeneity of the coexisting networks in such networking environments. A key to solving this problem lies in flexible and effective interactions among the heterogeneous networks, the network control plane, and various user equipments. The Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) is gaining high attention and acceptance in IT industry due to its power for coordinating heterogeneous systems for supporting various application requirements. The SOA offers a promising solution to network discovery and selection. In this paper, we investigate applying the SOA principles in wireless networking environments and propose a service-oriented architecture for network discovery and selection. The developed architecture and technologies are network-independent; thus are applicable to various network systems in heterogeneous wireless mobile networking environments.
Multirate subharmonic sampling

A new subharmonic sampling approach is introduced whereby the inphase and quadrature mixers are eliminated through the use of a multirate digital signal processing structure. This extends the concept of subharmonic sampling such that a variety of symbol rates can be accommodated. The system outputs can be processed directly or, if desired, easily converted to inphase and quadrature components for further processing by the remaining communications system. An example is given in which the digital outputs are directly utilized in a time tracking discriminator.
TIME‐RESOLVED RESONANCE RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY OF THE BACTERIORHODOPSIN PHOTOCYCLE ON THE PICOSECOND AND NANOSECOND TIME SCALES

— Resonance Raman spectra of the picosecond bacteriorhodopsin intermediate(s) have been obtained by microbeam, flow and subtraction techniques using a synchronously pumped, cavity-dumped dye laser. Nanosecond spectra also were measured with this laser by cavity dumping without mode-locking. The picosecond spectra in the fingerprint region, which is sensitive to the configuration of the retinal chromophore, differ from spectra of the parent bR570 but could be correlated to the spectrum of bRDA550, a “13-cis” species which has been determined from spectra of bR570 and bRDA560. The picosecond transient and bRDA550 also are similar in the 950–1050 cm-1“deuteration fingerprint” region when the medium is changed from H2O to D2O. These results suggest that trans—cis isomerization occurs during the 40-ps pulse duration. The shift relative to the parent bR570 in the ethylenic stretch region suggests that the picosecond and nanosecond transients absorb at wavelengths longer than 570 nm. The C band at 1646 cm-1 is found to shift or to broaden upon photolysis in the picosecond time scale. This might suggest a change in the electronic structure of the group and its environment on the picosecond time domain. The nanosecond spectra obtained in this work (with 15-ns pulses) are similar to the spectra previously observed on the 100-ns time scale but are slightly different from the picosecond spectrum. These data suggest that more than one transient species appears on the picosecond-to-nanosecond time scale. The temporal evolution of Raman bands in the fingerprint as well as the low energy (950–1050 cm-1) region and its implications are discussed.
Pose invariant face recognition using Cellular Simultaneous Recurrent Networks

In this paper, we investigate two novel techniques based on Cellular Simultaneous Recurrent Network (CSRN) that can address the problem of small in-plane image rotation and large out-of-plane pose invariant face recognition in image sequences. In our first technique, for the first time in literature, we investigated the CSRNs for static image registration under affine transformations. Both the readily available CSRN with generalized multilayer perceptrons (GMLPs) and a modified MLP architecture with multi-layered feedback are implemented. Simulation results show that while both the GMLP network and our modified network are able to achieve localized image registration, our modified architecture is more effective in registering image pixels. In our second technique, we investigate the recognition problem for face image sequences with large pose variation as an implicit temporal prediction task for CSRN. CSRN is trained by image sequences to capture the temporal information. The Euclidian distances between successive frames of test and output image sequences indicate either a match or mismatch between the two corresponding face classes. We extensively evaluate our CSRN-based face recognition technique with 5 persons using publicly available VidTIMIT Audio-Video face dataset [1]. In order to verify the performance of CSRN, we also implement Elman neural network for comparison.
The role of lipophilicity in determining binding affinity and functional activity for 5-HT2A receptor ligands.

The lipophilicity of a set of 5-HT2A ligands was determined using immobilized-artificial-membrane chromatography, a method that generates values well-correlated with octanol-water partition coefficients. For agonists, a highly significant linear correlation was observed between binding affinity and lipophilicity. For ligands exhibiting partial agonist or antagonist properties, the lipophilicity was consistently higher than would be expected for an agonist of comparable affinity. The results suggest a possible method for distinguishing agonists from antagonists in high-throughput screening when a direct assay for functional activity is either unavailable or impractical.
Genetic Diversity of ospC in a Local Population of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto

The outer surface protein, OspC, is highly variable in Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, the agent of Lyme disease. We have shown that even within a single population OspC is highly variable. The variation of ospA and ospC in the 40 infected deer ticks collected from a single site on Shelter Island, New York, was determined using PCR-SSCP. There is very strong apparent linkage disequilibrium between ospA and ospC alleles, even though they are located on separate plasmids. Thirteen discernible SSCP mobility classes for ospC were identified and the DNA sequence for each was determined. These sequences, combined with 40 GenBank sequences, allow us to define 19 major ospC groups. Sequences within a major ospC group are, on average, <1% different from each other, while sequences between major ospC groups are, on average, approximately 20% different. The tick sample contains 11 major ospC groups, GenBank contains 16 groups, with 8 groups found in both samples. Thus, the ospC variation within a local population is almost as great as the variation of a similar-sized sample of the entire species. The Ewens-Watterson-Slatkin test of allele frequency showed significant deviation from the neutral expectation, indicating balancing selection for these major ospC groups. The variation represented by major ospC groups needs to be considered if the OspC protein is to be used as a serodiagnostic antigen or a vaccine.
Birth, death, and flight: a theory of Malthusian flocks.

I study ``Malthusian flocks'': moving aggregates of self-propelled entities (e.g., organisms, cytoskeletal actin, microtubules in mitotic spindles) that reproduce and die. Long-ranged order (i.e., the existence of a nonzero average velocity $⟨\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{v}(\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{r},t)⟩\ensuremath{\ne}\stackrel{\ensuremath{\rightarrow}}{0}$) is possible in these systems, even in spatial dimension $d=2$. Their spatiotemporal scaling structure can be determined exactly in $d=2$; furthermore, they lack both the longitudinal sound waves and the giant number fluctuations found in immortal flocks. Number fluctuations are very persistent, and propagate along the direction of flock motion, but at a different speed.
Subversion and reclamation: Indigenous languages in Power, Washburn, and Owens

To call the reading audience of commercially published American Indian literature complex is an understatement. Unlike “mainstream” American writers, American Indian writers must shuffle between Native culture and Western culture, mediating the content and structure of their texts so that the information is not only comprehensible to non-Native readers, but also so that these novels circumvent exploitation or commodification of Indigenous cultures. In doing so, American Indian writers—within the commercial context— are required to appeal to three different audiences: a local one, a pan-tribal one, and a nonNative one. A specific place to begin looking at how American Indian writers appeal to all three implied audiences rests in specific language choices, particularly the authors’ inclusion of Indigenous languages. In analyzing how Susan Power, Frances Washburn, and Louis Owens use both Indigenous and English languages in their respective novels, The Grass Dancer (1994), Elsie’s Business (2006), and The Sharpest Sight (1992), different forms of accommodation for all three implied audiences become clear. While each writer incorporates Indigenous languages in different ways, Power, Washburn, and Owens all convey that Native ways of knowing are not easily translatable for non-Native readers; however, through distinct treatments of Indigenous languages, each writer performs a different level of mediation. As a result, the different levels of mediation uncover the subversive power of language; the linguistic choices of Power, Washburn, and Owens work to both accommodate the three different sets of implied readers while also asserting political implications.
Robust control of tape transport systems with no tension sensor

Controllers for reel-to-reel web transport systems, such as tape drive systems, often employ costly tension sensors. This paper develops a control scheme that does not require such sensors. It is robust to certain motor parameter uncertainties and to a nonlinear phenomenon called "air entrainment". The observer-based controller uses estimates of the spring and damping parameter trajectories, and performance is guaranteed when the error in these estimates is less than a known bound. The web velocity settling time is guaranteed, and it is ensured that tension remains in a certain range. This performance is proven analytically and demonstrated in simulation.