cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Equity Sensitivity: Construction of a Measure and Examination of Its Psychometric Properties

Despite suffering from content ambiguity, a sample-specific scoring procedure, and the inappropriate use of cut scores, the Equity Sensitivity Instrument (Huseman, Hatfield, & Miles, 1985) has been the primary measure used in equity sensitivity research. The purpose of the present undertaking was to propose and evaluate a new measure of equity sensitivity based on systematic item-development procedures that are crucial in both constructing a reliable and content-valid measure and for gaining an unbiased understanding of the nomological network linking equity sensitivity to other theoretically relevant constructs. The design and evaluation of the 16-item Equity Preference Questionnaire (EPQ) occurred in six studies. Two pilot studies were initially conducted to purify the EPQ and assess its reliability. Two validity assessment studies were then undertaken to examine the EPQ’s construct validity. A laboratory experiment was performed next to determine the EPQ’s validity for predicting satisfaction with diff...
A Validity Study of Two Preschool Screening Instruments: The LAP-D and DIAL-R.

Abstract This study compared the Developmental Indicators for the Assessment of Learning—Revised (DIAL-R) and the Learning Accomplishment Profile—Diagnostic (LAP-D) for a sample of 121 children in an urban Head Start program. To examine validity, guidelines suggested by the multitrait-multimethod model (MTMM) were employed. The results indicated significant correlations between like-named scales, providing evidence for convergent validity. However, the within-method correlations often equaled or exceeded the validity coefficients, as did the between-method correlations of dissimilar scales. Thus the simultaneous requirements of both convergent and discriminant validity were not met. From the viewpoint of professional practices, the results suggest that profiles cannot be interpreted with confidence. New instruments and procedures are needed that reflect research and theory associated with the principles of psychosocial Change.
1‐Methoxy­pyrrolidine‐2,5‐dione

The title compound, C5H7NO3, was synthesized by microwave methods. The five-membered pyrrolidine-2,5-dione ring is planar. There is extensive C—H⋯O hydrogen bonding.
A mixed-methods assessment of time spent documenting by nurses using an electronic medical records system

The focus of this quality improvement project was to identify possible improvements to the nursing documentation process at a large academic medical center by developing an understanding of the root causes of electronic medical records documentation inefficiencies, as decreasing the amount of time spent on documentation would allow for increased nurse interaction time with patients. The root cause analysis conducted in this study was grounded in a mixed methods approach, incorporating ethnographic observations, focus groups, and surveys with follow-up interviews. Additionally, phone-based work sampling was conducted to establish a baseline measure of documentation time efficiency. Data were collected from 121 nurses over six months, in four acute care units and one emergency department at the University of Virginia Medical Center. Focus group feedback, observations, and survey data were aggregated and used to identify five categories of possible improvements to the efficiency of documentation: user interface, equipment, process, communication, and extent of documentation. Survey data suggest that a significant proportion of nurses had never used several time-saving tools. When triangulated with the qualitative results, these findings suggest that nurses who understand and use built-in documentation tools spend less time on documentation overall. Work sampling results showed that 45.8% of time was spent on patient care, 16.5% on indirect care, 25.6% on documentation and 12.0% on miscellaneous tasks. While in line with findings from the literature, these task time distributions suggest the potential for further reduction to nursing time spent documenting through efforts to improve training consistency, remove unnecessary or repetitive documentation, and encourage use of time-saving tools.
Electrochemical etching of titanium-alloy castings

We used an electrochemical method to etch cast binary titanium alloys in an attempt to show their dendritic structures.Studies showed that when an alloy could be activated in either sulphuric, oxalic or fluosilicic acid, its anodic polarization curve had the same general shape and passivation potential for all alloys independent of alloying element or concentration. Consequently, in acid solutions, electrochemical etching was conducted at a constant potential slightly less noble than the passivation potential where the anodic current density was near the maximum. Of the alloys examined, only Ti-15%Cr was etchable in a concentrated caustic solution and etching occurred only in the transpassive potential region. Under our conditions we were able to show the dendritic structure in alloys containing 15%Cr, Ta, or Mo; at lower concentrations, or in the case of the 15%Nb alloy, the dissolution rates of the dendritic and interdendritic materials were too similar to differentiate between them on the etched surface.
Aging effects on the interaction of hypercapnia and hypoxia as ventilatory stimuli.

We measured ventilatory responses to progressive hypercapnia at two steady-state levels of oxygenation and to progressive hypoxia at two steady-state levels of CO2 in 10 elderly and 10 young individuals. Under hyperoxic conditions, the ventilatory response to progressive hypercapnia was not significantly different between age groups but, under hypoxic conditions, the response to hypercapnia was lower in the elderly group. The interaction of hypercapnic and hypoxic stimuli was greater among young persons as indicated by a higher ratio of the hypercapnic response slopes (hypoxic/hyperoxic); 1.48 +/- 0.19 versus 0.98 +/- 0.11, p less than .05. The ventilatory response to hypoxia at the lower CO2 level was significantly greater among elderly than among young adults but not significantly different between age groups at the higher CO2 level. The ratio of hypoxic response slopes (high PCO2/lower PCO2) was 1.56 +/- 0.17 among elderly participants and 3.14 +/- 0.63 among young participants (p less than .05). These results suggest that aging diminishes the multiplicative effect of hypercapnia and hypoxia as ventilatory stimuli.
Credit buildups and the stock market in four East Asian economies

We examine the relationship between intermediaries, stock markets, and real activity in four East Asian crisis economies (Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand) using a series of comparative vector autoregressive and error correction models with quarterly data from 1995 through 2010, thus including both the financial crises of 1997-98 and 2008-9. We often find negative effects of traditional measures of financial development on growth and investment, while the effects of stock market development and liquidity are generally positive. The results from these economies suggest that credit can build up to the point of “saturation,” and that a well-functioning stock market can serve as a growth-promoting outlet for funds as a financial system expands and evolves.
Integrated heterodyne receiver and spatial tracker for binary FSK communication

In order to simplify system architectures and make efficient use of laser power, space lasercom system designers often try to consolidate the receiver subsystems. In this paper, we present a receiver which uses a single subsystem for both spatial tracking error sensing and communication signal reception. It makes use of an electro-optic crystal as a conical scanner for tracking error measurement, couples the scanned light into a single mode fiber, and uses standard fiber-based heterodyne techniques to derive an intermediate frequency signal. This signal is processed to retrieve both the binary FSK signal and the tracking error signal, as well as an estimate of signal power for use in normalizing the tracking error. The fiber-coupled receiver makes possible a modular architecture, whereby the transmitter, receiver, and telescope subsystems can reside in different parts of the spacecraft. Such an architecture is known to have a number of desirable properties. We present a discussion of the frequency plan, data demodulation, frequency tracking, spatial tracking, and gain control subsystems. Design considerations and experimental results are presented.
EFFECT OF EXCHANGE TRANSFUSION AND CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) ON BRAIN AND HEART MITOCHONDRIA OF THE NEWBORN ANIMAL

EFFECT OF EXCHANGE TRANSFUSION AND CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) ON BRAIN AND HEART MITOCHONDRIA OF THE NEWBORN ANIMAL
LET spectra of trapped anomalous cosmic rays in low-Earth orbit.

Observations aboard Cosmos satelites discovered trapped anomalous cosmic rays (ACRs), tracked the variation in their intensity in 1986-1988, and measured their fluence, spectrum, and composition at solar minimum in the previous solar cycle. The MAST instrument aboard the SAMPEX satellite has observed trapped anomalous cosmic rays in the present solar cycle, confirmed the general features of the Cosmos data, and provided the first detailed observations of trapped ACRs. In this paper we apply theoretical modeling of trapped ACRs, which is shown to provide a reasonably good description of both the Cosmos and SAMPEX data, to calculate the integral linear-energy-transfer (LET) spectra due to trapped ACRs in typical low-Earth orbits. We compare these calculations with the LET spectra produced by galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) and non-trapped ACRs in order to assess the relative radiation hazard posed by trapped ACRs.
Using binary logistic regression coefficients for the dynamic quantification of comorbidities

Comorbidities are multiple co-occurring disorders related with a series of inpatient effects which affect the overall quality of care. We describe a methodology for the dynamic quantification of the effect of comorbidities on important health outcomes, such as the in-hospital mortality and patient complications. Using a comprehensive Medicare dataset, our algorithm utilizes the coefficients of binary logistic regression models to predict the impact of a comorbidity to a binary outcome and the effect of any new disease to this comorbidity profile. To demonstrate the functionality of the algorithm, we developed a pilot java based web application. The system can be useful upon the first patient encounter as well as during the entire service episode of the care.
Role of national culture in the transfer of information technology

Abstract Implementing an information system developed in one national culture for use in another national culture may present its own set of unique problems. This paper explores the role of national culture and other intervening variables including the competitive environment and task congruency in the process of implementing an application across cultures. A general framework is developed and three case studies, one taken from the literature and two undertaken by the authors, are used to validate this framework.
Lattice-dynamical model for graphite

The lattice dynamics of pristine graphite is presented with the use of a Born---von K\'arm\'an model. With the consideration of interactions to fourth neighbor both intraplane and interplane, good agreement is simultaneously obtained with ir, Raman, and inelastic neutron scattering measurements of lattice modes and with the measured elastic constants. The second-order Raman spectrum is also calculated and compared with experiment.
Evolution of the Triplet Excited State in PtII Perylenediimides

Here, we present the ultrafast dynamics of a series of metal complexes developed to permit access to the perylenediimide (PDI) triplet manifold that preserves the desirable colorfastness and visible light-absorption properties associated with these dyes. To this end, three PtII complexes each bearing two PDI moieties tethered to the metal center through acetylide linkages emanating from one of the PDI bay positions have been thoroughly examined by static spectroscopic methods, electrochemistry, laser flash photolysis, and ultrafast transient absorption spectrometry. Upon ligation to the PtII center, the bright singlet-state fluorescence (Φ = 0.91, τ = 4.53 ns) of the free PDI−CCH chromophore is quantitatively quenched, and no long wavelength photoluminescence is observed from any of the PtII−PDI complexes in deaerated solutions. Ultrafast transient measurements reveal that upon ligation of PDI−CCH to the PtII center, picosecond intersystem crossing (τ = 2−4 ps) from the 1PDI excited state is followed by v...
Detection of Reaction Products Between Water and Soda-Lime-Silica Glass

A simulated extract approach was used to ascertain the identities of the products of reaction between a soda-lime-silica glass and water. The reaction between the glass and water was studied at 90° C. with reaction time periods up to 4 hours. The products of this reaction were found to be sodium metasilicate, calcium meta-silicate, and metasilicic acid.
Steric hindrance in 2,6-disubstituted pyridines Part II. The crystal structures of trans-dichlorobis(2,6-dimethylpyridine)nickel(II) and trans-dichlorobis(2,4,6-trimethylpyridine)nickel(II)

Abstract trans-Dichlorobis(2,6-dimethylpyridine)nickel(II), [NiCl2(2,6-NC5H3(CH3)2] (I):M=343.93, triclinic, P 1 , a=7.611(2), b=8.060(2), c=8.115(2) A, α=62.78(2), β=86.02(3), γ=114.02(3)°, V=383.8(2) A3, Z=1, D=1.488 g cm−3, Mo Kα radiation, λ=0.71069 A, μ=16.08 cm−1, F(000)=178, 296 K, R=0.0328 for 2937 observed reflections with I>3σ,(I). trans-Dichlorobis(2,4,6-trimethylpyridine)nickel(II), [NiCl2(2,4,6-NC5H2(CH3)3)] (II): M=371.98, monoclinic, P21/c, a=7.523(2), b=14.614(3), c=7.959(2), β=92.85(4)°, V=873.9(6) A3, Z=2, D=1.413 g cm−3, Mo Kα radiation, λ=0.71069 A, μ=14.18 cm−1, F(000)=388, 296 K, R=0.0394 for 1652 observed reflections with I>3σ(I). The nickel, chloride and nitrogen donor atoms are strictly planar due to the siting of the molecule on a center of symmetry. Ni-Cl and Ni-N are 2.1940(8) and 1.935(1) A for I and 2.1953(8) and 1.928(2) A for II, respectively. The plane of the substituted pyridine ring in both cases is almost normal to the NiCl2N2 plane.
Are Ultrafine Particles a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Diseases

1885-5857/$ – see front matter 2011 Sociedad Esp doi:10.1016/j.rec.2011.05.006 Numerous epidemiological studies support the association of exposure to air pollution with adverse health effects leading to enhanced morbidity and mortality of considerable significance. In fact, the World Health Organization ranks it as the 13th leading cause of worldwide mortality. Cumulative evidence over the last decade suggests that the largest portion of air pollution-related mortality is due to cardiovascular diseases, on the basis of which it has been proposed to be a ‘‘modifiable’’ novel cardiovascular risk factor of great importance. While air pollution is a complex mixture of compounds in the gaseous and particle phases, more evidence implicates the particulate matter (PM) components as responsible for a major portion of the cardiovascular effects. The PM components are classified according to their aerodynamic diameter into size fractions such as PM10 (‘‘thoracic’’ particles, < 10 mm), PM2.5-10 (‘‘coarse’’ particles, 2.5 to 10 mm), PM2.5 (‘‘fine’’ particles, < 2.5mm) and UFP (‘‘ultrafine’’ particles, < 0.1 mm). These PM of different sizes appear to carry different abilities to cause harmful effects and there is increasing debate about the notion that systemic cardiovascular effects could be favored by a smaller particle size. Thus, exposure to ambient PM leads to enhanced cardiovascularmorbidity andmortality due to amyriad of acute and chronic effects. Acute exposure to PM has been associated with the triggering of acute myocardial infarctions, discharge of implanted automatic cardioverter defibrillators, hospitalizations for ischemic strokes, and decompensated congestive heart failure. Therefore, the article by Dominguez-Rodriguez et al. published in Revista Espanola de Cardiologia is very important as it approached the question whether air pollution could preferentially associate with hospital admissions due to heart failure (HF) vs acute coronary syndromes (ACS), in a terciary university hospital in Tenerife, Spain. While exposure to ambient particulate could enhance the incidence of both HF and ACS, leading to increased hospital admissions due to both causes, the study design evaluated whether there were differences between the two types of admissions. There was a small variation in environmental exposure parameters which impeded the authors from conducting a time series analysis.
Role of c-MET in upper aerodigestive malignancies--from biology to novel therapies

Overactivation and defective downregulation of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) pathways have been implicated in human carcinogenesis. RTKs represent an important class of anticancer novel therapeutic target. Some RTKs are known to be protooncogenes that can mediate signal transduction, alteration of reactive oxygen species (ROS), cellular proliferation, cell motility and migration, apoptosis, and survival. c-MET is a unique RTK that regulates a wide variety of cellular functions. c-MET has been shown to be overexpressed or mutated in a variety of human malignancies. Stimulation of c-MET via its natural ligand hepatocyte growth factor/ scatter factor (HGF/SF) leads to a plethora of biological and biochemical effects in the cell. Activation of c-MET signaling can lead to cell motility and scattering, angiogenesis, proliferation, branching morphogenesis, invasion, and eventual metastasis. This review summarizes the structure and functions of c-MET, with particular emphasis on its role in upper aerodigestive malignancies. The unique biological functions altered by c-MET and its mutations are discussed as well. Finally, c-MET, when mutated or overexpressed in malignant cells, serves as an important therapeutic target, and the most recent data with respect to its inhibition are also summarized in this review.
An experimental anatomic study of indirect myocardial revascularization

Abstract An in vitro method for evaluating indirect myocardial revascularization procedures is presented. This consists of the injection of different colored contrast media into the coronary arteries and the implanted artery simultaneously in which a normal hemodynamic status has been partially restored. Results show the implant connected to and filled the circumflex coronary artery retrograde in 12–15 animals. There was good correlation between the anatomic specimens and in vivo flow rates.
A modular low-clearance wrist orthosis for improving wrist motion in children with cerebral palsy

Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) often exhibit impairments in the coordination of the grip and lift phases of arm movements that directly impact their ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs). The application of assistive robotic therapy to children with spastic hemiplegic CP has shown that augmented movement training can lead to improved functional outcomes and improved arm kinematics. Assistive robotic therapy of the wrist has been shown to help improve motor skills in stroke patients, but the devices employed are often large and obtrusive, focusing on a repeated motion rather than a task-based itinerary. Here, we propose a lightweight low clearance wrist orthosis for use in children with Cerebral Palsy that actuates pronation/supination and flexion/extension of the wrist.
Random Forest with 200 Selected Features: An Optimal Model for Bioinformatics Research

Many problems in bioinformatics involve high-dimensional, difficult-to-process collections of data. For example, gene micro arrays can record the expression levels of thousands of genes, many of which have no relevance to the underlying medical or biological question. Building classification model son such datasets can thus take excessive computational time and still give poor results. Many strategies exist to combat these problems, including feature selection (which chooses only the most relevant genes for building models) and ensemble learners (which combine multiple weak classification learners into one collection which should give a broader view of the data). However, these techniques present a new challenge: choosing which combination of strategies is most appropriate for a given collection of data. This is especially difficult for health informatics and bioinformatics practitioners who do not have an extensive machine learning background. An ideal model should be easy to use and apply, helping the practitioner by either making these choices in advance or by being insensitive to these choices. In this work we demonstrate that the Random Forest learner, when using 100 trees and 200 features (selected by any reasonable feature ranking technique, as the specific choice does not matter), is such a model. To show this, we use 25 bioinformatics datasets from a number of different cancer diagnosis and identification problems, and we compare Random Forest with 5 other learners. We also tested 25 feature ranking techniques and 12 feature subset sizes, to optimize the feature selection step. Our results show that Random Forest with 100 trees and 200 selected features is statistically significantly better than any of the alternatives (orin the case of using 200 features, is statistically equivalent with the top choices), and that the specific choice of ranking technique is statistically insignificant.
A reaction time study of grammaticality judgments in children.

Grammaticality judgments and decision times for two age groups of normally developing children were studied to determine when parsing decisions are made and how linguistic knowledge affects parsing...
Pallidal inputs to subthalamus: Intracellular analysis

Abstract Neuronal responses of the subthalamic nucleus (STH) to stimulation of the globus pallidus (GP) and the substantia nigra (SN) were studied by intracellular recording in the decorticated rat. (1) GP and SN stimulation evoked antidromic spikes in STH neurons with a mean latency of 1.2 ms and 1.1 ms, respectively. Based on the above latencies, the mean conduction velocity of the STH neurons projecting toward GP was estimated to be 2.5 m/s, and that toward SN was 1.4 m/s. Many STH neurons could be activated following stimulation of both GP and SN, indicating that single STH neurons project to two diversely distant areas. In spite of difference in conduction distance of GP and SN from STH, differences in the conduction velocities of bifurcating axons make it possible for a simultaneous arrival of impulses in the target areas to which these STH neurons project. (2) GP stimulation evoked short duration (5–24 ms) hyperpolarizing potentials which were usually followed by depolarizing potentials with durations of 10–20 ms. These potentials were tested by intracellular current applications and intracellular injections of chloride ions. The results indicated that the hyper- and depolarizing potentials were IPSPs and EPSPs respectively. These IPSPs were considered to be monosynaptic in nature since changes in the stimulus intensities of GP did not alter the latency of IPSPs. The mean latency of the IPSPs was 1.3 ms. Based on the above mean latency the mean conduction velocity of GP axons projecting to STH was estimated to be 3.8 m/s. (3) Analysis of electrical properties of STH neurons indicated that: (i) input resistance estimated by a current-voltage relationship ranged from 9 to 28 MΩ; (ii) the membrane showed rectification in the hyperpolarizing direction; (iii) direct stimulation of neurons by depolarizing current pulses produced repetitive firings with frequencies up to 500 Hz. (4) Morphology of the recorded STH neurons was identified by intracellular labeling of neurons with horseradish peroxidase. Light microscopic analysis indicated that the recorded neurons were Golgi type I neurons with bifurcating axons projecting toward GP and SN.
Comparison of alpha-2-opsonic protein concentrations in cryoprecipitate prepared by methods of standard centrifugation and thaw-siphon techniques

Alpha-2-surface-binding glycoprotein (A2SBG) in cryoprecipitate prepared by standard centrifugation and thaw-siphon techniques was compared. The protein was quantitated by electroimmunoassay. The yield of A2SBG in the cryoprecipitate prepared by thaw-siphon (6.2 mg/mL) was significantly higher (P ≤ 0.01) than that prepared by standard centrifugation (3.9 mg/mL). Thaw-siphon cryoprecipitate preparation appears more cost effective in the treatment of patients with opsonic protein deficiency.
Cloning, sequencing, and characterization of the bifunctional xylosidase-arabinosidase from the anaerobic thermophile thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus.

Abstract The gene for the bifunctional xylosidase–arabinosidase ( xarB ) from the thermophilic anaerobe Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus JW200 was cloned, sequenced, and expressed in Escherichia coli (Genebank Accession No. AF135015). Analysis of the recombinant enzyme revealed activity against multiple substrates with the highest affinity towards p -nitrophenyl β- d -xylopyranoside (pNPX) and highest activity against p -nitrophenyl α- l -arabinopyranoside (pNPAP), respectively. Thus, we classify this enzyme as a bifunctional xylosidase–arabinosidase. Even though both sequences are 96% identical on the amino acid level, excluding the amino-terminal end, a frame-shift mutation in the 5′ region of the gene in T. brockii ATCC 33075 and a deletion in a downstream open reading frame in T. ethanolicus seem to have occurred through evolutionary divergence of these two species. This represents an interesting phenomenon of molecular evolution of bacterial species, as PCR analysis of the region around the deletion indicates that the deletion is not present in T. brockii ssp. finnii and T. brockii ssp. brockii type strain HTD4.
Asteroidal source of meteorites.

An effective mechanism for the placement of asteroidal fragments into earth-crossing orbits is discussed. It is pointed out that an asteroid in an orbit with a semimajor axis of about 3.27 AU, corresponding to the most apparent Kirkwood Gap, has a period almost exactly half that of Jupiter and will experience strong resonant perturbations by Jupiter. In the proposed mechanism, fragments 10 to 500 m in diameter resulting from collisions between asteroids located just outside the region in which libration due to the perturbations takes place are injected into the Kirkwood Gap.
Octanoic acid inhibits astrocyte volume control: implications for cerebral edema in Reye's syndrome.

Octanoic acid has been implicated in the pathogenesis of cytotoxic cerebral edema in Reye's syndrome. Using astrocytes from primary culture, we studied the dose-dependent effects of octanoate on cellular volume regulation and metabolism. Astrocyte volume recovery following hypoosmotic swelling was stimulated by 1.0 mM octanoate and inhibited by 3.0 mM octanoate. Parallel effects were obtained at these concentrations on the activity of the Na+,K+-depen-dent ATPase. Cellular ATP concentrations also were reduced 36% with the higher octanoate concentration. These effects of octanoate may contribute to the severe astrocyte swelling observed in the brains of Reye's syndrome patients.
THE ROLE OF AFFECT IN SHORT‐TERM MEMORY FOR PAIRED ASSOCIATES1

Short-term memory (STM) in a “minimal” paired-associate (PA) task was investigated by presenting Ss with two successive picture-trigram (Exp. 1) or picture-letter (Exp. 2) PA units. Affective content of one stimulus term was pleasant (P) and the other was unpleasant (U). After either a 3-, 9-, or 15-sec retention interval, during which Ss engaged in number tracking, one of the two PA units was tested for recall. Recall of U units was inferior to P units for both response classes. However, with letters recall of P was higher than U at immediate recall (3 sec.), but affect did not differentially influence recall at 9 and 15 sec. With trigrams, differential recall extended from 3-15 sec., but differences between P and U were attenuated. These findings suggest that the differential influence of affect on STM varies directly with task difficulty, represented in the PA task by differences in response availability.
A bounded-rationality approach to the study of noncooperative games

A family of solutions for finite noncooperative games is introduced in which players are not confined to use best responses exclusively. Instead, the definition requires that the probability of use of a strategy must be a monotone-nondecreasing function of its expected payoff. For the two-person case, some results characterizing behavior at such solutions are given and some examples are examined.
The Limits of U.S.-China Military Cooperation: Lessons from 1995-1999

Although defense engagement theoretically improves bilateral relations, the experience of the former senior Pentagon official responsible for Asia shows that the inverse relationship is more common. As the U.S. reconsiders its military ties with China, expectations about near‐term progress should be modest.
Problems of grouping individuals and the method of modality

Clustering objects into logical subsets is a frequently encountered problem in biology, psychology, anthropology and many other sciences. Each tends to approach the task in a somewhat different fashion. A brief look at the history of the problem outlines three approaches: frequency curve resolution, factor analysis, and hierarchical clustering, based upon distance measures. A generalization for multidimensional distribution resolution is presented.
Evaluation of extra- and intracellular apparent diffusion in normal and globally ischemic rat brain via 19F NMR

The biophysical mechanism(s) underlying diffusion-weighted MRI contrast following brain injury remains to be elucidated. Although it is generally accepted that water apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) decreases after brain injury, it is unknown whether this is associated with a decrease in intracellular or extracellular water displacement, or both. To address this question, 2-[ 19 F]luoro-2-deoxyglucose-6-phosphate (2FDG-6P) was employed as a compartment-specific marker in normal and globally ischemic rat brain. Through judicious choice of routes of administration, 2FDG-6P was confined to the intra- or extracellular space. There was no statistical difference between intra- and extracellular 2FDG-6P ADCs in normal or in globally ischemic brain (p > 0.16), suggesting that water ADCs in both compartments are similar. However, ischemia did result in a 40% ADC decrease in both compartments (P < 0.001). Assuming that 2FDG-6P reflects water motion, this study shows that water ADC decreases in both spaces after ischemia, with the reduction of intracellular water motion being the primary source of diffusion-weighted contrast.
Slowly varying discrete system xi+1=Aixi

If all eigenvalues of all matrices Ai (i=0, 1, 2, ...) lie in a disc of radius <1 and if the matrices Ai, vary sufficiently slowly, then the system xi+1=Aixi is exponentially stable. An explicit upper bound on the variation rate is given.
Rotation and scale sensitivities of the binary phase-only filter

Abstract The scaling and rotation sensitivity of a bianary phase-only correlator is studied and compared to that of continuous phase-only correlator, classical correlator, and edge-enhanced classical correlator. Computer simulation of the optical system is used to determine values of the correlation peak intensity versus scale and rotation changes of the input signal for the four filter types. The results show that the binary phase-only filter is slightly less sensitive to such input variations than is the continuous phase-only filter.
Editor’s Introduction for the Special Issue on Jewish Demography in the United States

This special issue on Jewish population and demography, part of our regular dedication of one issue every couple of years on these questions, has been a long time in coming. It began as a conference at Brandeis University in 2011 in which scholars and thinkers in the field, largely at the urging of this journal, convened to share ideas on the questions of how many Jews there were, how we would explore that question, what the problems were that confronted researchers, and how sense could be made out of what was learned. Those who gathered at Brandeis also included people who are not commonly engaged in demographic or population studies but are convinced that there is a need to make this research accessible and relevant to a wider audience than simply those who toil in this field. Some of the ideas and matters discussed at that conference as well as others generated by it are available in the papers that make up this volume, guest edited by Professors Sergio DellaPergola of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Leonard Saxe of the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies and the Steinhardt Social Research Institute at Brandeis University. The effort to transform conference papers and to take ideas they have generated and make them into an integrated whole of a special issue of Contemporary Jewry was not an easy one and, as those involved in the process will attest, more complicated and time consuming than anyone expected at the outset. The results of the effort, for a time online, are now joined in a single volume that we all hope will serve as an important resource for students, scholars, and the informed and interested public—at least until our next issue on the subject in a couple of years. Jews have been counting themselves since the exodus from Egypt, and just as long there have been questions about the accuracy and completeness of those counts. In that sense, not a lot has changed in the long course of Jewish history. But we have always understood that while the question of what constitutes Jewish
The iterative shrinkage method for impulsive noise reduction from images

In this paper, we present a novel scheme to compensate impulsive noise from images using the sparse shrinkage method. In this scheme, we assume the remaining noise after using a simple median filtering in place of corrupted pixels, found by boundary discriminative noise detection method, to be Gaussian additive noise. This assumption will later be verified by the means of simulation. Knowing that the pure image in the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) domain is a sparse vector, we define an optimization problem to minimize the l0-norm of the estimated image vector from the noisy one in the DWT domain. l0-norm makes the optimization problem a combinatorial optimization problem which is NP-hard to solve. To come up with a solution for our optimization problem, we convert the l0-norm problem to a continuous optimization problem which is then solved to find the estimated image with reduced noise. In the simulation and discussion part, the performance of our proposed method in reducing impulsive noise is compared to that of existing methods in the literature. We show that our proposed algorithm generally performs better in terms of both subjective and objective evaluations and is less complex.
LSODE and LSODI, two new initial value ordinary differential equation solvers

Two new packages are available for the numerical solution of the initial value problem for stiff and nonstiff systems of ordinary differential equations (ODE's). LSODE solves explicitly given ODE systems, while LSODI solves systems given in linearly implicit form, including differential-algebraic systems. Both are based on older packages that have proved highly popular, but both reflect a wide variety of improvements in the design of the user interface, algorithms, and program structure.
The evolution of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus: quasispecies and emergence of a virus subpopulation during infection of pigs with VR-2332.

GP5, the principal envelope glycoprotein of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV), contains a hypervariable region within the ectodomain which is responsible for generating diversity in field isolates. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the possible origin of this diversity by following GP5 sequence changes in pigs exposed to PRRSV strain VR-2332 in utero. A region of the PRRS virus genome containing portions of ORF4 and ORF5 was amplified directly from tissues of infected pigs from birth to 132 days of age. We observed the emergence of a new PRRSV population, identified by a single nucleotide change in the ectodomain. The Asp to Asn change at amino acid 34 was also found as a minor component in pigs that expressed the wild-type sequence. The results from this study suggest that the variability in the ectodomain of ORF5 is the result of positive or negative selection, of which the mechanism remains to be determined.
Reducing disk power consumption in a portable computer

The problem of minimizing disk power consumption in portable personal computers is studied. Two online algorithms for determining when to stop spinning a disk are presented and analyzed using competitive analysis techniques.
Hydrogen trapping in molybdenum in the presence of radiation damage

Hydrogen was implanted in samples of single crystal molybdenum, many of which had been previously damaged by “He at 18 or 150 keV. The hydrogen implantations were at low energies, usually at 10 keV. Depth profiles (up to 200 nm) of the trapped hydrogen were obtained using the nuclear reaction * H(19F, air)r60. A comparison of the trapping efficiency per dpa for both high and low helium concentrations, realized by the 18 and the 150 keV 4He implant, respectively, indicates that the presence of the implanted helium contributes to the trapping of hydrogen, possibly through the inhibition of damage annealing.
Long-term variations in palaeointensity

We compile a dataset of reliable palaeointensity estimates based both on published work and on new data from basaltic glass. The basaltic glass data more than double the number of reliable (Thellie...
Low cycle fatigue life prediction—a new model

Abstract A new creep-fatigue life prediction method has been developed in this paper to correlate high temperature low cycle fatigue (HTLCF) data on Cr-Mo steels. The new method has been developed within the premise that with the application of cyclic loading, which is plastic strain dominated under HTLCF conditions, damage accrues by means of viscous flow. Concepts of dynamic viscosity were used to describe such a flow behavior and assumed as damage parameter. When the ability of a material to accommodate viscous flow ceases, failure occurs. When these two terms namely; dynamic viscosity and material toughness, equated, produce a life prediction expression, that has been derived in this paper. The assessments of HTLCF data were performed with the new model developed in this paper for lCr-Mo-V, 2.25Cr-Mo, and 9Cr-1Mo steels. Numerous test conditions were employed by the National Research Institute for Metals, Tokyo, Japan, in generating HTLCF data where the assessments show that the new method correlates the data.
Evaluation of feedback mechanisms for wearable visual aids

Sensory substitution devices use other sensory modalities to communicate information typically obtained through the sense of sight. In this paper, we examine the ability of blind subjects to follow simple verbal commands that allow them to accomplish two critical tasks: (1) locating and grasping an object, and (2) navigating a complex path. A total of 5 blind subjects were enrolled in the study. The object localization and tracking system used a glasses-mounted wide-field-of-view camera, a computer vision system to track the object as the subject moved the camera, and a feedback algorithm to provide verbal cues to guide the subject to center the object in the camera field of view. Subjects could successfully locate and grasp an object 60% to 100% of the time, and improved significantly with practice. In order to test navigation and mobility, a custom Android application produced verbal commands to allow an investigator to guide a given subject through a course. Subjects could follow commands with 69% to 95% compliance and reaction times of 1 to 2 seconds, and judged the system usability to be between 67.5% and 100%.
Modelling the response of an alluvial aquifer to anthropogenic and recharge stresses in the United States Southern Great Plains

This paper uses Visual MODFLOW to simulate potential impacts of anthropogenic pumping and recharge variability on an alluvial aquifer in semi-arid northwestern Oklahoma. Groundwater withdrawal from the aquifer is projected to increase by more than 50% (relative to 1990) by the year 2050. In contrast, climate projections indicate declining regional precipitation over the next several decades, creating a potential problem of demand and supply. The following scenarios were simulated: (1) projected groundwater withdrawal, (2) a severe drought, (3) a prolonged wet period, and (4) a human adjustment scenario, which assumes future improvements in water conservation measures. Results indicate that the combined impacts of anthropogenic pumping and droughts would create drawdown of greater than 12 m in the aquifer. Spatially, however, areas of severe drawdown will be localized around large-capacity well clusters. The worst impacts of both pumping and droughts will be on stream–aquifer interaction. For example, the projected aquifer pumpage would lead to a total streamflow loss of 40%, creating losing stream system regionally. Similarly, a severe drought would lead to a total streamflow loss of >80%. A post-audit of the model was also carried out to evaluate model performance. By simulating various stress scenarios on the alluvial aquifer, this study provides important information for evaluating management options for alluvial aquifers.
Optimization techniques for parallel processing

Techniques for optimization on a parallel architecture are presented, and are applied to a proprietary simulation code. Software tools available on most UNIX systems are used extensively in these techniques. Methods for determining where to partition an application for maximum benefit from parallelism are discussed, along with a way for determining what portion of the application has been parallelized. Finally, an algorithm is given which can be used to predict the effect on computation time of adding additional processors.
An Experimental Investigation of Structural Effects on the Auto-Ignition Properties of Two C5 Esters

Ignition studies of two C{sub 5} esters were performed using a rapid compression facility. Methyl butanoate and ethyl propanoate were chosen to have matching molecular weights and C:H:O ratios while varying the length of the constituent alkyl chains. The effect of functional group size on ignition delay time was investigated using pressure time-histories and high-speed digital imaging. Low-temperature, moderate-pressure conditions were selected for study due to the relevance to low temperature combustion strategies and internal combustion engine conditions. The experiments covered a range of conditions: T=935-1117 K, P=4.7-19.6 atm, and {phi}=0.3-0.4. The experimental data are compared to previous high temperature studies and chemical modeling. A new mechanism for methyl butanoate and ethyl propanoate ignition is presented. The modeling and experimental data are in excellent agreement for methyl butanaote and yield good agreement for ethyl propanoate.
Comment on “Optically Induced Damping of the Surface Plasmon Resonance in Gold Colloids”

A Comment on the Letter by M. Perner, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 2192 (1997). The authors of the Letter offer a Reply.
Enzyme technologies for alleviating lactose maldigestion / Tecnologías enzimáticas para aliviar la mala digestion de la lactosa

Lactose reduction in milk by β-galactosidase prior to consumption is one of the current modali ties of alleviating lactose maldigestion. However, hydrolysis of lactose results in flavour changes in milk: glucose and galactose are between three and four times sweeter than lactose, and many lactose maldigesters do not like the taste of lactose-hydrolysed milk. The addition of exogenous β-galactosidase to meals has been shown to alleviate lactose maldigestion adequately, and so β-galactosidase could be added to milk if the lactose could be protected from the hydrolytic action of the added enzyme. Liposomes, which have recently shown potential as carriers of enzymes, could be good vehicles for the addition of β-galactosidase to milk. β-galactosidase can be successfully encapsulated in liposomes which have been shown to be very stable when suspended in milk stored at refrigeration temperature. Lactose hydrolysis is minimal when liposomal β-galactosidase is added to milk. In vitro digestibility studies have shown that the liposomal β-galactosidase is available for digesting lactose in milk. Stable blends of β-galactosidase and dry milk powders have also been used. Results have shown that up to 95% of the original activity of the fungal lactase was retained in blends of the enzyme and milk powder when stored under nitrogen at 45 °C for 6 months.
Sparse sets in NP-P: EXPTIME versus NEXPTIME*

This paper investigates the structural properties of sets in NP-P and shows that the computational difficulty of lower density sets in NP depends explicitly on the relations between higher deterministic and nondeterministic time-bounded complexity classes. The paper exploits the recently discovered upward separation method, which shows for example that there exist sparse sets in NP-P if and only if EXPTIME ≠ NEXPTIME . In addition, the paper uses relativization techniques to determine logical possibilities, limitations of these proof techniques, and exhibits one of the first natural structural differences between relativized NP and CoNP .
A Neural Circuit for Angular Velocity Computation

In one of the most remarkable feats of motor control in the animal world, some Diptera, such as the housefly, can accurately execute corrective flight maneuvers in tens of milliseconds. These reflexive movements are achieved by the halteres, gyroscopic force sensors, in conjunction with rapidly tunable wing steering muscles. Specifically, the mechanosensory campaniform sensilla located at the base of the halteres transduce and transform rotation-induced gyroscopic forces into information about the angular velocity of the fly's body. But how exactly does the fly's neural architecture generate the angular velocity from the lateral strain forces on the left and right halteres? To explore potential algorithms, we built a neuromechanical model of the rotation detection circuit. We propose a neurobiologically plausible method by which the fly could accurately separate and measure the three-dimensional components of an imposed angular velocity. Our model assumes a single sign-inverting synapse and formally resembles some models of directional selectivity by the retina. Using multidimensional error analysis, we demonstrate the robustness of our model under a variety of input conditions. Our analysis reveals the maximum information available to the fly given its physical architecture and the mathematics governing the rotation-induced forces at the haltere's end knob.
Product branching ratio of the HCCO + NO reaction

The reaction of HCCO radicals with NO was studied at room temperature by excimer laser photolysis of ketene precursor molecules followed by infrared absorption spectroscopic detection of CO and CO{sub 2} product molecules. After quantification of product yields and consideration of secondary chemistry, the authors obtain the following product branching ratios (1{sigma} error bars) at 296 K: 0.12 {+-} 0.04 for CO{sub 2} + (HCN) and 0.88 {+-} 0.04 for CO + (HCNO). In addition, they estimate a relative quantum yield for HCCO production in the 193 nm photolysis of CH{sub 2}CO to be 0.17 {+-} 0.02.