cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fatigue susceptibility of an endodontic fibre post material.

Aim To evaluate effects of ageing and fatigue on the elastic modulus and short-beam shear strength of a quartz fibre/epoxy resin post material. Methodology Cylindrical specimens (25 × 2.2 mm) were made. Elastic moduli were dynamically measured before immersion in water; after immersion in water; periodically during storage in water for up to 7 years; periodically during thermal cycling in water for up to 10 000 cycles to produce thermo-mechanical fatigue; and periodically during boiling in water for up to 100 h. After ageing, the specimens underwent short-beam shear strength testing. Results Elastic modulus was significantly decreased by thermal cycling and by immersion in boiling water, but not by water storage. Short-beam shear strength was profoundly decreased by all three ageing processes. Short-beam shear strength was much more sensitive than elastic modulus to the ageing or fatigue processes applied in this study. Conclusions A representative endodontic fibre post material was susceptible to a variety of ageing and fatigue processes. The effects of ageing and fatigue had a more pronounced impact on short-beam shear strength than on elastic modulus. The effects of boiling in water and thermal cycling in water were considerably larger than those of simple storage in water.
A Modified Version of the Rockport Fitness Walking Test for College Men and Women

(1998). A Modified Version of the Rockport Fitness Walking Test for College Men and Women. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport: Vol. 69, No. 2, pp. 205-209.
Hierarchical bayes estimation of normal variances with application to a random effect model

The problem of simultaneously estimating p normal variances is investigated when the parameters are believed a priori to be similar in size. A hierarchical Bayes approach is employed and the resulting estimator is compared to common estimators used including one proposed by Box and Tiao (1973) using a Bayesian approach with a noninformative prior. The technique is then applied to estimate components of variance in the one way layout random effect model of the analysis of variance.
Psychiatric outpatient commitment: one tool along a continuum.

Zanni and Stavis (2007) offer important support in their article for the practice of outpatient civil commitment (OPC). Ultimately, outpatient commitment should be viewed as one tool for the treatm...
Simple Devices for the Determination of Mammography Dose or Radiographic Exposure

Abstract Simple and inexpensive devices for the determination of radiographic dose have been produced. Operation of the dose calculators is based on the principle of a circular slide rule. They provide quick and easy determination of average glandular dose in mammography and entrance skin exposure (ESE) or skin dose in general radiography. Technologist acceptance has been good, and the devices have satisfied the requirements of government and standard organizations that radiation doses be monitored.
Design of a simulation package for automated guided vehicle systems

Abstract The lack of analytical techniques in designing optimal network configurations and control policies in Automated Guided Vehicle Systems (AGVS) leaves simulation as the designer's primary tool. ASP is a general purpose AGVS Simulation Package developed in SIMAN and FORTRAN. This interactive package is designed to relieve the user of programming the simulation model and allow the user to input different design configurations quickly. The package consists of an interactive user interface, a model file which contains the generic portion of the system model and an experiment file which contains user defined parameters which are problem specific. The user enters the network topology, vehicle operating characteristics and selects system and simulation control policies. Waiting time at each intersection and station and total system time are the general output of the package and may be further analyzed using the SIMAN Output Processor.
Evolution of Body Size in Mushroom Corals (Scleractinia: Fungiidae) and Its Ecomorphological Consequences

Most Fungiidae are free-living and therefore they are able to dwell on various kinds of substrata. A large size may facilitate mushroom corals to acquire food and light, but it may also hinder their capacity to move and reject sediments. A cladistic analysis of the Fungiidae suggests that phylogenetic increase in body size may have induced the development of secondary mouths in several independent species lineages. This may have helped the corals to overcome size constraints and grow even larger, especially on reef flats and slopes with relatively little sedimentation, but not necessarily on the soft substrata of reef bases where species with ancestral small forms are most abundant. Fragmentation by autotomy, which occurs most frequently in the latter species, helps corals to remain small. Attached mushroom coral species with one mouth are the smallest, whereas those with more mouths are among the largest. Polystomatous free-living species are relatively rare in deep reef zones. On shallow, hard substrata, the evolution of secondary mouths may primarily increase the feeding efficiency. On soft, relatively deep substrata, additional mouths may help to prevent smothering. In at least one polystomatous species, the onset of secondary mouths starts in an earlier ontogenetic stage than in its oligostomatous sister species with infrequent additional mouths, which is an example of predisplacement in peramorphic heterochrony.
Review, Evaluation, and Discussion of the Challenges of Missing Value Imputation for Mass Spectrometry-Based Label-Free Global Proteomics

In this review, we apply selected imputation strategies to label-free liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) proteomics datasets to evaluate the accuracy with respect to metrics of variance and classification. We evaluate several commonly used imputation approaches for individual merits and discuss the caveats of each approach with respect to the example LC–MS proteomics data. In general, local similarity-based approaches, such as the regularized expectation maximization and least-squares adaptive algorithms, yield the best overall performances with respect to metrics of accuracy and robustness. However, no single algorithm consistently outperforms the remaining approaches, and in some cases, performing classification without imputation sometimes yielded the most accurate classification. Thus, because of the complex mechanisms of missing data in proteomics, which also vary from peptide to protein, no individual method is a single solution for imputation. On the basis of the observations in this r...
The exogenous delivery of amino acids to the modern Earth: An evaluation from polar ices

Exogenous sources have been suggested as an alternative for the Earth-based synthesis of the organic compounds necessary for the origin of life (Chyba and Sagan, 1992). If extraterrestrial sources were significant on the early Earth, they should still be supplying the Earth today with organic material, although at a significantly reduced rate. Based on theoretical considerations, micrometeorites and interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) would be the most important sources of intact organics to the Earth's surface (Anders, 1989: Chyba and Sagan, 1992). Any extraterrestrial organic compounds delivered to the surface of the Earth today would be minuscule in comparison to terrestrial biogenic organic material. The most pristine environment on Earth with respect to terrestrially derived organic components is polar ice. We have searched for the amino acid a-aminoisobutyric acid (AIB) in Greenland ice core samples in order to evaluate the delivery of extraterrestrial organics to the modem Earth (Bada, et al., 1996). This amino acid was selected because, with the exception of a few fungal peptides, it rarely occurs in the terrestrial biosphere. However, it is the most abundant amino acid in many carbonaceous chondrites (Cronin and Pizzarello, 1983). Ice core samples from DYE 3 covering the calendar year period 1860 to 1930, and samples from GISP II from 3000 to 6000 years BP, were analyzed. The ice samples were melted, evaporated to dryness and analyzed as described elsewhere (Bada, et al., 1996). The amount of AIB in the various samples was determined using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection; to enhance the detection of AIB, the protein amino acids were selectively removed using the ninhydrin reaction. With one exception, the amount of AIB found in all the ice core samples was <l-3x10 -12 g per gram of ice. These are upper limits for the AIB ice content based on the detection limits of the method utilized in the analyses. The one exception in which AIB was detected was in 4270-4440 year old ice from the GISP II site. In this sample AIB was
Malignant polyps of the colon and rectum: a clinicopathologic study.

The management of colorectal polyps should be highly individualized. In arriving at a therapeutic decision concerning the treatment of invasive carcinomas arising in colonic polyps, one should have a basic knowledge of the polyps' malignant potential and propensity to metastasize. It is optimal to confirm the presence of invasive malignancy by excisional biopsy examination and weigh the risk of the patient's having involved lymph nodes against the risk of undertaking radical operative treatment. The results reported here give an accurate indication of the risks of metastatic nodal involvement in different types of polyps containing invasive carcinoma.
Quantum theory of photodetachment spectra of transition states

Photodetachment of ions of the type XHY{sup {minus}} where X and Y are halogens produces the unstable neutral species XHY at a geometry that is often close to the transition state for the X + HY {yields} XH + Y reaction. The photodetachment spectra generally show a series of bands that can be interpreted as spectra of this transition state. This article discusses recent theoretical work that has attempted to interpret these spectra, with an emphasis on accurate three-dimensional quantum scattering calculations of the photodetachment spectra of ClHCl{sup {minus}} and IHI{sup {minus}}. The quantum scattering calculations use a recently developed hyperspherical coordinate based coupled channel method to calculate scattering wave functions and photodetachment Franck-Condon factors. Semiempirical potential energy surfaces have been used, and this provides a significant source of uncertainty in the theoretical analysis. In spite of this, the theoretical and experimental spectra are in reasonable agreement, with the same number of major peaks at about the same energies for both ClHCl{sup {minus}} and IHI{sup {minus}}. These peaks can arise from either transition-state resonances or direct scattering reactive thresholds.
On the mechanical fatigue study of second-level interconnects using the E-N curve approach

The authors presented, in an earlier paper, an unified component-level approach for characterizing fatigue behavior of BGA package solder joints under Vibration, Cyclic Bend and Cyclic Shock loading conditions [1,2]. The approach involves creating a board strain versus number of cycles-to- failure curve, also known as E-N curve, using data collected from the three tests. For BGA packages used in mobile notebooks, the authors showed that all of the data points, for a given failure mode, fall along a straight line - similar to the classical metal fatigue (S-N) curves. In this paper, that effort is extended to other market segments, with varying board thickness, and component types. Specifically, applicability of the E-N curve approach to CPU sockets and small-form- factor (SFF) packages used in mobile internet devices and the effect of board thickness on the mechanical fatigue performance are explored. The study was limited to lead-free solders, but the learnings can be applied to leaded solder systems.
Application of pulsed light (PL)-surfactant combination on inactivation of Salmonella and apparent quality of green onions

Abstract In our previous study using pulsed light (PL) and PL-sanitizer/surfactant to inactivate Escherichia coli O157:H7 on green onions, the combination of PL and 1000 ppm of surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS) was more effective than single treatments. In this study, whether PL-surfactant combination would provide similar inactivation efficacy of Salmonella on green onions was tested. Different surfactants (SDS and Tween 80) as well as different concentrations (10, 100 and 1000 ppm) of each surfactant combined with PL were tested. Survival populations of Salmonella and quality of green onions (color and texture) were evaluated after treatments as well as during storage (15 days) at 4 °C. The results showed that PL-SDS and PL-Tween 80 combinations at various surfactant concentrations provided synergistic inactivation efficacy on green onion leaves (2.6–2.9 log10 CFU/g and 2.4–2.7 log10 CFU/g, respectively), but not on their stems (0.4–1.0 log10 CFU/g and 0.3–0.6 log10 CFU/g, respectively). PL-1000 ppm SDS combination negatively impacted color and texture of green onions during 15 day storage at 4 °C. To consider both safety and quality of green onions, PL-10 ppm SDS was selected since it showed similar Salmonella inactivation on green onions as PL-1000 ppm SDS but did not affect quality of green onions during shelf-life.
Text knowledge bases: University of Texas at Austin

Our research is concentrated in two primary natural language research programs, one aimed at understanding expository text and the other at automated translation for technical text from German to English. (This latter project is described separately - see section from "Linguistics Research Center" above. -Ed.)
2D Spatial Frequency Considerations in Comparing 1D Power Spectral Density Measurements

The frequency footprint of ID and 2D profiling instruments needs to be carefully considered in comparing ID surface roughness spectrum measurements made by different instruments. Contributions from orthogonal direction frequency components can not be neglected. The use of optical profiling instruments is ubiquitous in the measurement of the roughness of optical surfaces. Their ease-of-use and non-contact measurement method found widespread use in the optics industry for measuring the quality of delicate optical surfaces. Computerized digital data acquisition with these instruments allowed for quick and easy calculation of surface roughness statistics, such as root-mean-square (RMS) roughness. The computing power of the desktop computer allowed for the rapid conversion of spatial domain data into the frequency domain, enabling the application of sophisticated signal processing techniques to be applied to the analysis of surface roughness, the most powerful of which is the power spectral density (PSP) function. Application of the PSD function to surface statistics introduced the concept of 'bandwidth-limited' roughness, where the value of the RMS roughness depends critically upon the spatial frequency response of the instrument. Different instruments with different spatial frequency response characteristics give different answers when measuring the same surface.
Mink: integrating the live and archived web viewing experience using web browsers and memento

We describe Mink, a new web browser extension that provides a different model for integration of the live and archived web. While a user browses the live web, Mink actively queries the archives and reports other instances of the page in the archives without requiring active querying by the user. Further, by querying the archives dynamically and asynchronously, a user can view the extent to which the currently viewed page on the live web has been archived and proactively submit a request to various archives using an overlay on the live web page and a simple interface.
Validity of the 2‐Thiobarbituric Acid Test for the Quantitative Determination of Rancidity in Fats and Oils

A model system was used to study the pattern of rancidity in linoleic acid and corn oil using the TBA method. It was shown that malonaldehyde is not a stable end product of rancidity and therefore, the TBA test is not a reliable means of quantitative feasurement of degree of rancidity in food products in long term storage. Gultigkeit des 2-Thiobarbitursaure-Tests bei der Bestimmung der Ranziditat von Fetten und Olen Mit Hilfe eines Modell-Systems wurde nach der TBS-Methode die Ranziditat von Linolsaure und Maisol untersucht. Es konnte gezeigt werden, das Malonaldehyd kein bestandiges Endprodukt der Ranziditat ist. Deshalb ist der TBS-Test keine zuverlassige Methode zur Bestimmung des Ranziditatsgrades von Lebensmitteln bei langfristiger Lagerung.
Preliminary comparison of solar wind plasma observations in the geomagnetospheric wake at 1000 and 500 earth radii

Solar wind plasma observations in geomagnetospheric wake compared at 1000 and 500 earth radii, considering ion energy spectra and geomagnetic tail
Deleterious effect of β-estradiol in a rat model of transient forebrain ischemia

Abstract Estrogen has demonstrated great potential as a therapeutic agent in focal ischemic brain injury, as exogenous β-estradiol has proven beneficial in a variety of focal stroke models. In contrast, the relatively few studies of estrogen’s efficacy in transient forebrain ischemia have produced inconsistent results. The present study was therefore designed to clarify estrogen’s neuroprotective potential in selective hippocampal neuronal injury resulting from four-vessel occlusion in the rat. Female Wistar rats (normal, ovariectomized, or ovariectomized and estradiol-treated) received 5 or 10 min of ischemia. No differences in hippocampal cell loss were found amongst the groups with 10 min of ischemia. Amongst the groups with 5 min of ischemia, the mildest injury was found in the ovariectomized animals, which lost only 32% of their CA1 pyramidal cells. In comparison, mean cell losses were 54% and 49%, respectively, in intact females and in ovariectomized animals with estradiol replacement. Linear regression analysis demonstrated a highly significant relationship between cell loss and plasma estradiol levels. The mechanism by which exogenous and endogenous estrogen exacerbated the injury is unclear, as estrogen has many neuroprotective effects. On the other hand, many other reported effects of estrogen in hippocampal area CA1 might confer increased sensitivity to ischemia, either by modulating the excitatory effects of glutamate or by modifying the inhibitory effects of GABA. Determining how to modulate the various competing effects of estrogen is of both theoretical and practical importance, as it is now clear that one cannot assume that estrogen administration will always improve outcome in cerebral ischemia.
Induced Vacuum Quantum Numbers in (2+1)-dimensions

Abstract We calculate the induced vacuum fermionic charge and angular momentum in 2 + 1 dimensions around an abelian magnetic flux tube configuration, using a space compactification technique. It is found that the charge and the total angular momentum are topological invariants and depend on the total magnetic flux, while the fermionic angular momentum depends on the local features of the gauge field configuration and vanishes in the limit of a tube with diameter large compared with the Compton wavelength of the fermions.
Ocular effects of various laser wavelengths

Lasers have become an indispensable tool in management of many ocular disorders. This review describes the principles of lasers and the effects various laser modalities and wavelength modalities can produce on ocular structure. Guidelines are provided for appropriate selection of various wavelengths and prevention of complications of the laser treatment.
MBE growth of high quality GaN on LiGaO2 for high frequency, high power electronic applications

Abstract Lithium gallate is receiving ever increasing attention as a possible candidate for III-nitride material growth due to its superior lattice match. This paper summarizes the recent, promising results from material growths on lithium gallate including aluminum, gallium and indium-nitride alloys. Structural, optical and electrical diagnostics are presented. The use of this material could result in significant advantages for use in power electronic applications. Specifically, the present material quality is in some ways, superior to all other current substrate technologies since very high quality, extremely thin nitride material can be produced. The areas for which lithium gallate still lags other technologies is also discussed. Issues that directly effect electronic devices, such as overcoming the limited thermal conductivity via heat pipes or substrate removal, the possibilities of achieving higher p-type doping and higher indium concentrations through the use of low growth temperatures, obtaining single polarity material with nearly no mosaic spread in grain orientation, along with issues of substrate cost are discussed.
Pronounce : a program for pronunciation by analogy

Humans can pronounce novel orthographically regular text strings such as pseudowords, like “peemers”, or words they have never seen before. How do they do this? Two hypotheses have been proposed to account for this ability. According to one view, pronunciation-by-rule, pseudowords are pronounced by a rule-based phonological process in which the pronunciation for a pseudoword is generated from its spelling by the use of a complex set of spelling-to-sound rules. According to the alternative view, pronunciation-by-analogy, pseudowords are pronounced by analogy to known words which are similar in spelling. Although the pronunciation-by-analogy approach is psychologically plausible, it is not clear that it is computationally feasible. Pronunciation-by-analogy depends on the degree to which orthographic consistency in the spelling patterns of words is related to phonotactic consistency in pronouncing those words. To investigate this theoretical issue, we developed a computer program called PRONOUNCE that automatically generates a set of rank-ordered pronunciations, in the form of a sequence of phonetic segments, using pronunciation-by-analogy with a lexicon of approximately 20 000 words based on Webster's Pocket Dictionary. PRONOUNCE examines every word in the lexicon and builds a pronunciation lattice structure using the phonetic representations of the words that match the input string. In this pronunciation lattice, each node represents a possible phoneme to be used at a particular position in the pronunciation, and each path through the lattice represents a possible pronunciation. At this time, PRONOUNCE performs reasonably well, generally producing pronunciations that agree with those given by native speakers of English. PRONOUNCE was tested on a set of 70 short pseudowords and was found to disagree with human subjects on only 9% of the pseudowords. These results suggest that pronunciation-by-analogy is indeed computationally feasible. Furthermore, the limited success of PRONOUNCE suggests a new approach to spelling-to-sound conversion for text-to-speech conversion systems.
Robust Parameter Design of Multiple-Target Systems

In multiple-target systems, the signal factor is varied based on the signal-response relationship to achieve different targets for the response specified by the customer. Robust parameter design aims to make the signal-response relationship insensitive to the noise variation by choosing appropriate levels for the control factors. Taguchi's dynamic signal-to-noise ratio has several limitations for the optimization in multiple target systems. We give a theoretical formulation of the problem and develop a practical approach for optimization that overcomes these limitations. The methodology is illustrated using a temperature controller example.
Evidence for hormonal effects on metabolism of cockroaches from studies of tissue homogenates

Abstract Among other functions attributed to the corpora allata of insects is the control of respiratory metabolism. Its exact role has not been clarified and, in fact, some reports tend to be somewhat conflicting. The corpora cardiaca in at least one instance also have been described as having a possible role in respiration. The present investigation began as an attempt to demonstrate the efficacy of the retrocerebral complex components in influencing O 2 consumption by adding extracts of them to muscle and fat body homogenates. It became apparent that while these tissues did yield active extracts, similar effects could be elicited by preparations made from brain and suboesophageal ganglia. The role of the suboesophageal ganglion, in fact, appears to be as great as that of the corpora allata. Therefore, a new synthesis of information to explain the origins of ‘metabolic hormones,’ at least for roaches, seems called for.
N-14 magnetic resonance study of the interaction of urea and guanidine hydrochloride with albumins.

Abstract N-14 nuclear magnetic resonance of urea and guanidine hydrochloride in aqueous solutions was studied. It was found that the line width increases in the presence of albumins but does not change with the addition of polylysine.
Chaos and Complexity: Frontiers of Organization Science

Chaos and complexity theory, as developed in mathematics and the natural sciences, has led to major new advances in the understanding of natural phenomena that previously were considered too complex or unpatterned to comprehend. These advances have been slow to filter into organization science. A concerted effort to overcome the built-in inertia and insulation of organization science is needed. Such efforts include investment in new learning-by gatekeepers and a strengthening of ties to the natural sciences. If these efforts are not pursued, organization science will remain scientifically backward and largely irrelevant to the real organizational world.
Differential Adjuvant Activities of TLR7 and TLR9 Agonists Inversely Correlate with Nitric Oxide and PGE2 Production

Activation of different pattern recognition receptors causes distinct profiles of innate immune responses, which in turn dictate the adaptive immune response. We found that mice had higher CD4+ T cell expansion to an immunogen, ovalbumin, when coadministered with CpG than with CL097 in vivo. To account for this differential adjuvanticity, we assessed the activities of CpG and CL097 on antigen-specific CD4+ T cell expansion in vitro using an OT-II CD4+ T cell/bone marrow-derived dendritic cell (DC) co-culture system. Unexpectedly, ovalbumin-stimulated expansion of OT-II CD4+ T cells in vitro was potently suppressed by both TLR agonists, with CL097 being stronger than CpG. The suppression was synergistically reversed by co-inhibition of cyclooxygenases 1 and 2, and inducible nitric oxide (NO) synthase. In addition, stimulation of OT-II CD4+ T cell/DC cultures with CL097 induced higher levels of CD4+ T cell death than stimulation with CpG, and this CD4+ T cell turnover was reversed by NO and PGE2 inhibition. Consistently, the co-cultures stimulated with CL097 produced higher levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and NO than stimulation with CpG. CL097 induced higher PGE2 production in DC cultures and higher IFN-γ in the OT-II CD4+ T cell/DC cultures, accounting for the high levels of PGE2 and NO. This study demonstrates that the adjuvant activities of immunostimulatory molecules may be determined by differential induction of negative regulators, including NO and PGE2 suppressing clonal expansion and promoting cell death of CD4+ T cells.
Survival and health care utilization in elderly medical inpatients with major depression.

Forty-one elderly medical inpatients with active major depression were matched with nondepressed controls from the same population. Survival and health care utilization were examined during a mean follow-up period of five months. Cases and controls were matched by age, functional status, severity and type of medical illness, and extent of disease. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher among depressed compared with nondepressed controls (6 vs 0 deaths, P = .03). For patients discharged from the hospital alive, however, depression did not have a substantial impact on mortality (31.4% cases, 31.7% controls). Health care utilization--in terms of days of inpatient care--was significantly higher both during the index admission (25 vs 14 days, P less than .005) and during the follow-up period (16 vs 7 days, P less than .05) for depressed patients compared with controls. Hence, older medically ill patients with major depression consume more healthcare resources and experience greater mortality during their initial hospital stay. After discharge, while survival is little affected, excess resource utilization persists among those with depression.
Gonadal Steroids Modify Dendritic Spine Density in Ventromedial Hypothalamic Neurons: A Golgi Study in the Adult Rat

Neurons in the adult rat ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN, 4–6 neurons per brain; 3–7 brains per group) were studied under various hormonal conditions using the single-section Golgi impregnation
Space science applications of thermopile detector arrays

Thermal detectors, while typically less sensitive than quantum detectors, are useful when the combination of long wavelength signals and relatively high temperature operation makes quantum detectors unsuitable. Thermal detectors are also appropriate in applications requiring flat spectral response over a broad wavelength range. JPL produces thermopile detectors and linear arrays to meet space science requirements in these categories. Thermopile detectors and arrays are currently being fabricated for two space applications. The first is the Mars Climate Sounder (MCS) instrument, to fly on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission, scheduled to launch in 2005. MCS is an atmospheric limb sounder utilizing nine 21-element thermopile arrays. The second application is the Earth Radiation Budget Suite (ERBS), part of the National Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). This instrument measures upwelling radiation from the earth in the spectral range 0.3-100 μm.
Controlling electrical hazards

This treatment of electrical hazards endeavors to rectify the condition of scanty, incomplete information or misinformation that is too common among a people experiencing greater and greater electrification of their home and industrial equipment. The behavior of electric currents and charges that makes for electrical hazards, what the accident statistics reveal, the physiological effects of electric shock and how it can be treated, all are included.
Applications Of Algebraic Image Operators To Model-Based Vision

A highly structured and compact algebraic representation of grey-level images is expanded. Addition and multiplication are defined for the set of all grey-level images, which can then be described as polynomials of two variables. Utilizing this new algebraic structure, an innovative, efficient edge-detection scheme is devised. A robust method for linear feature extraction is developed by combining the techniques of a Hough transform and a line follower with this new edge detection scheme. The major advantage of this feature extractor is its general, object-independent nature. Target attributes, such as line segment lengths, intersections, angles of intersection, and endpoints are derived by the feature extraction algorithm and employed during model matching. The feature extractor and model matcher are being incorporated into a distributed robot-control system.
STRAW AND WINTER FLOODING BENEFIT MOSQUITOES AND OTHER INSECTS IN A RICE AGROECOSYSTEM

Rice fields are widespread agroecosystems that provide wetland habitat for many species, including pests like mosquitoes and beneficial insects. They can be used as models to understand how basal resources affect food web dynamics in seasonal wetlands. Rice field management may also influence adjacent communities by affecting mosquitoes, wildlife, and air quality. Rice straw incorporation and winter flooding have become common methods used to prepare seedbeds, largely replacing burning of straw. These methods could affect aquatic insects, including mosquitoes, because they increase nutrient availability during the growing season. We studied 16 fields where straw was either burned or incorporated into soil after the previous growing season; these treatments were crossed with either winter flooding or no winter flooding. Algae, mosquitoes, other herbivorous insects and predatory insects all responded positively to one or both treatments that increased nutrients (straw incorporation and winter flooding). While the overall increase in insect production could benefit wildlife, mosquito abatement personnel may need to monitor unburned fields more closely. The issue of mosquito production adds to the complexity of agricultural and environmental concerns bearing on rice field management. Straw incorporation and winter flooding reduce particulate pollutants caused by burning, reduce fertilizer needs, and increase densities of beneficial insects. However, these techniques may increase mosquitoes, methane production, and fungal diseases of rice. Further improvement of straw management practices could minimize these problems.
High temporal resolution fluorescence measurements of a mitochondrial dye for detection of early stage apoptosis

In the present study, early stage apoptosis is explored with high temporal resolution. In addition to monitoring early apoptosis induction in single cells by ultrasensitive confocal fluorescence microscopy (UCFM), the mitochondrial protein release kinetics was explored. The current study shows development and optimization of a novel, rapid apoptosis assay to explore the earliest changes in cells by the intrinsic apoptosis pathway. We show that early apoptotic changes in the mitochondria begin nearly simultaneously with the addition of an apoptosis-inducing drug, such as staurosporine. With a temporal resolution of five minutes, this non-invasive analytical technique can elucidate the earliest apoptotic events in living cells. Moreover, our results show that the mitochondrial inter-membrane proteins are not involved in the extrinsic pathway of Ramos cells mediated by an anti-CD95 antibody. Additional techniques such as light microscopy and flow cytometry were employed to confirm the results obtained by ultrasensitive confocal fluorescence microscopy. The results of this study help to understand the earliest mechanisms of apoptosis induction in cells, enabling new methods of drug testing and dose–response analyses.
Variations in tumor size and position due to irregular breathing in 4D-CT: a simulation study.

Purpose: To estimate the position and volume errors in 4D-CT caused by irregular breathing. Methods: A virtual 4D-CT scanner was designed to reproduce axial mode scans with retrospective resorting. This virtual scanner creates an artificial spherical tumor based on the specifications of the user, and recreates images that might be produced by a 4D-CT scanner using a patient breathing waveform. 155 respiratory waveforms of patients were used to test the variability of 4D-CT scans. Each breathing waveform was normalized and scaled to 1, 2, and 3 cm peak-to-peak motion, and artificial tumors with 2 and 4 cm radius were simulated for each scaled waveform. The center of mass and volume of resorted 4D-CT images were calculated and compared to the expected values of center of mass and volume for the artificial tumor. Intrasubject variability was investigated by running the virtual scanner over different subintervals of each patient’s breathing waveform. Results: The average error in the center of mass location of an artificial tumor was less than 2 mm standard deviation for 2 cm motion. The corresponding average error in volume was less than 4%. In the worst-case scenarios, a center of mass error of 1.0 cm standard deviation and volume errors of 30%–60% at inhale were found. Systematic errors were observed in a subset of patients due to irregular breathing, and these errors were more pronounced when the tumor volume is smaller. Conclusions : Irregular breathing during 4D-CT simulation causes systematic errors in volume and center of mass measurements. These errors are small but depend on the tumor size, motion amplitude, and degree of breathing irregularity.
Planning and evaluating women's participation in primary health care

Abstract Gender planning is specifically applied to primary health care. A theoretical discussion of issues which focus on greater ‘mainstream’ participation of women in health and development programmes is viewed as a process of empowerment. The theoretical discussion is integrated with a methodology for planning and evaluating gender-focused health programmes. Planning and evaluation are linked in a single feed-back relationship. Relevance of all investigations is discussed and specific methods suggested.
The Membrane-Bound Structure and Topology of a Human α-Defensin Indicate a Dimer Pore Mechanism for Membrane Disruption

Defensins are cationic and disulfide-bonded host defense proteins of many animals that target microbial cell membranes. Elucidating the three-dimensional structure, dynamics, and topology of these proteins in phospholipid bilayers is important for understanding their mechanisms of action. Using solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, we have now determined the conformation, dynamics, oligomeric state, and topology of a human α-defensin, HNP-1, in DMPC/DMPG bilayers. Two-dimensional correlation spectra show that membrane-bound HNP-1 exhibits a conformation similar to that of the water-soluble state, except for the turn connecting strands β2 and β3, whose side chains exhibit immobilization and conformational perturbation upon membrane binding. At high protein/lipid ratios, rapid (1)H spin diffusion from the lipid chains to the protein was observed, indicating that HNP-1 was well inserted into the hydrocarbon core of the bilayer. Arg Cζ-lipid (31)P distances indicate that only one of the four Arg residues forms tight hydrogen-bonded guanidinium-phosphate complexes. The protein is predominantly dimerized at high protein/lipid molar ratios, as shown by (19)F spin diffusion experiments. The presence of a small fraction of monomers and the shallower insertion at lower protein concentrations suggest that HNP-1 adopts concentration-dependent oligomerization and membrane-bound structure. These data strongly support a "dimer pore" topology of HNP-1 in which the polar top of the dimer lines an aqueous pore while the hydrophobic bottom faces the lipid chains. In this structure, R25 lies closest to the membrane surface among the four Arg residues. The pore does not have a high degree of lipid disorder, in contrast to the toroidal pores formed by protegrin-1, a two-stranded β-hairpin antimicrobial peptide. These results provide the first glimpse into the membrane-bound structure and mechanism of action of human α-defensins.
“We're There and Queer” Homonormative Mobility and Lived Experience among Gay Expatriates in Manila

This article offers an analysis of lived experiences of transnational mobility for gay-identified expatriates who reside in Manila, the Philippines. Drawing from in-depth interviewing and discourse analysis of eight cases, the author argues that homonormative mobility organizes gay men's travel, even as gay expatriates work to reimagine themselves through their travel and face destabilizing experiences in transnational spaces. The author offers a theorization of homonormative mobility to explain discourses of normative gender, race-nation, and desire in gay travel. Specifically, she argues that expatriates describe their mobility as (1) an escape from the heteronormative controls they face at home, (2) masculine access to freeing places in “foreign” playgrounds, (3) an act of homo-orientalist desire of Filipino men and spaces, (4) a desirable experience that builds their own self-confidence, and (5) troubling for their self-perceptions.
Pressor responses of angiotensin II microinjected into the dorsomedial medulla of the dog

Abstract Angiotensin II (Ang II) was injected into regions of the dorsomedial medulla of dogs where both specific Ang II binding and neural elements containing this peptide are found. Picomole amounts of the peptide were delivered simultaneously from a linear array of 3 micropipettes with tips positioned concurrently in either the area postrema (ap), nucleus tractus solitarii (nTS), dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (dmnX), or hypoglossal nucleus (nXII). Significant increases in blood pressure occurred with Ang II injections into the medial nTS(+12 ± 2mm Hg), the ap(+9 ± 3mm Hg), and the nXIII(+6 ± 2mm Hg). In both the medial nTS and the nXII, the pressor responses were accompanied by significant increases in heart rate(+13 ± 3beats/min and+8 ± 3beats/min, respectively). Ang II injected into the dmnX did not produce consistent effects on blood pressure or heart rate. These data demonstrate that unilateral injections of picomole amounts of Ang II produce changes in blood pressure and heart rate which involve neural elements in the ap and medial nTS.
Data-driven exemplar model selection

We consider the problem of discovering discriminative exemplars suitable for object detection. Due to the diversity in appearance in real world objects, an object detector must capture variations in scale, viewpoint, illumination etc. The current approaches do this by using mixtures of models, where each mixture is designed to capture one (or a few) axis of variation. Current methods usually rely on heuristics to capture these variations; however, it is unclear which axes of variation exist and are relevant to a particular task. Another issue is the requirement of a large set of training images to capture such variations. Current methods do not scale to large training sets either because of training time complexity [31] or test time complexity [26]. In this work, we explore the idea of compactly capturing task-appropriate variation from the data itself. We propose a two stage data-driven process, which selects and learns a compact set of exemplar models for object detection. These selected models have an inherent ranking, which can be used for anytime/budgeted detection scenarios. Another benefit of our approach (beyond the computational speedup) is that the selected set of exemplar models performs better than the entire set.
Spectral properties of hydrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia at thermal infrared wavelengths

The paper presents some results of a theoretical and laboratory program to determine the thermal infrared spectral properties of the principal gaseous constituents of the atmosphere of Jupiter. Birnbaum (1975) has measured laboratory spectra in the 16- to 1000-micron wavelength range for hydrogen and hydrogen-helium mixtures at Jovian temperatures. These are compared with theoretically computed spectra in order to determine the temperature dependence of the line strengths in the pressure-induced rotational band and the overlap parameters from the translational band. Existing spectral data for methane do not agree well with measurements of the nu 4 band at room temperature. A revised allocation of line intensities is proposed. Existing data for the nu 2 (10-micron) band of ammonia agree reasonably well with measurements at room temperature and at -77 C, but there are some important discrepancies which remain to be explained.
ICE CREAM HEADACHE AND ORTHOSTATIC SYMPTOMS IN PATIENTS WITH MIGRAINE

SYNOPSIS Migraine is arbitrarily defined; biological markers for the condition are needed. Two stereotyped phenomena which may be manifestations of central vasomotor instability have been studied in migraineurs and in control subjects. These phenomena are (1) “ice cream headache”, the brief frontal pain that results from cold food contacting the roof of the oropharynx and (2) the presence of vertigo, visual obscurations, and/or scintillating scotomata following rapid postural shifts of the head. Hospitalized (non-neurologic) patients (60 women, 48 men) were interviewed regarding the presence, quality, and intensity of the two phenomena. A history of headache was then elicited in some detail. The headache histories were assessed by the usual arbitrary criteria for migraine; this was done by an independent observer without knowledge of the presence of ice cream headache or postural symptoms. In the non-headache, control population (49), 31% had experienced mild ice cream headache; in the migraine group (59), 93% had experienced ice cream headache (p .001), most of whom (75%) reported that scintillating scotomata accompanied vertigo. Both syndromes occurred more regularly and more prominently in the migraine population.
The control system for the Keck Interferometer Nuller

This viewgraph presentation reviews the control system for the interferometer nuller for the two Keck 10 meter telescopes. This reviews the control system that was implemented to enable operation of the Keck interferometer nuller. An overview of the control system is included.
Cardiac enlargement in a normal infant.

The most obvious finding in this patient is the clear Space between the anterior pericardium and the chest wall. This clear space is frequently seen in infants and small children and represents the thymus lying anterior to the heart . Since the thymus separates the anterior pericardium from the chest Wall, a clear appreciation of the thickness of the right ventricular anterior wall is obtained . In systole a normal small separation is seen anteriorly and posteriorly between the visceral and parietal layers of the pericardium . On the 2-dimensional echocardiogram (Fig . 2), the homogeneous echoes arising from the thymus can be seen anterior to the right ventricular outflow tract in the parasternal long and short axis views . In the suprasternal notch long axis view, the thymus can be seen anterosuperior to the ascending aorta . The differential diagnosis of an anterior clear space on the M-mode echocardiogram includes the thymus, pericardial effusion, and mediastinal mass . The 2-dimensional echocardiogram is helpful in fferentiating these conditions . On the 2-dimenSional echocardiogram, the thymus has the reflectance properties of tissue rather than fluid . Mediastinal tumors frequently exhibit nonuniform echo reflectance because of cystic areas present within Pediatric Cardiology
Fault slip rates from three-dimensional models of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, California

[1] We present results from the first mechanical model of active tectonics in the Los Angeles region to use non-planar, geologically representative fault surfaces compiled by the Southern California Earthquake Center Community Fault Model. The fault slip rates from our three-dimensional model match well the available geologic slip rates. Discrepancies in reverse slip along the Upper Elysian Park fault and strike-slip along the Raymond fault may reflect imprecise knowledge of local fault geometry. Discrepancy in the average dip slip rate along the Palos Verdes fault reveals variations in dip slip along that surface; model predictions at the location of the geological investigation have good match to geologic data. The validated model is used to estimate dip and strike slip rates for 26 active faults in the Los Angeles metropolitan region, many of which are otherwise unconstrained by geologic evidence.