cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Dimension Preserving Contractions and a Finite List of 3-Irreducible Posets

This paper introduces new poset operations—dimension-preserving contractions. These contractions are used to change a poset into a similar, but simpler, poset with the same dimension. In particular, they can be used to turn the well-known infinite list of 3-irreducible posets into seventeen 3-irreducible, noncontractible posets (up to duality).
What Works for the Gander Does Not Work as Well for the Goose: The Effects of Leader Behavior

This study examines the effects of leader behaviors and leader gender on employees' perceptions of support from the organization and employee commitment to the organization. Ninety-one employees completed a survey measuring leader behaviors, perceived organizational support, and organizational commitment. Results confirmed the hypothesis that a high interpersonal orientation and high task orientation had the most positive effect on employee attitudes. However, the high interpersonal orientation and high task orientation were not equally effective for both female and male leaders. Employees perceived more support from the organization when their supervisors, either female or male, used a high consideration–high initiating structure style than when they used a low consideration–low initiating structure style. On the other hand, only those employees who work for a male supervisor who is high in consideration and high in initiating structure were more committed to the organization.
Introduction to Copulas

In 1959, in response to a question by M. Frechet, A. Sklar introduced the notion of a copula and proved the basic theorem that now bears his name. In the next 15 years, all results regarding copulas were obtained in connection with problems stemming from the theory of probabilistic metric spaces. Things changed in 1974, when, quite by accident, I reread a paper by A. Renyi entitled “On Measures of Dependence” and realized that I could easily construct such measures by using copulas. Subsequently, E. F. Wolff and I took up the study of these measures. This led to our 1976 note in the Comptes rendus de l’Academie des Sciences, Paris, followed in 1981 by our paper in the Annals of Statistics. After the publication of these papers and the appearance, in 1983, of the book Probabilistic Metric Spaces, written jointly with A. Sklar, the pace quickened as more of our students and colleagues became involved. Moreover, since interest in questions of statistical dependence was increasing, others came to the subject from different directions. In 1986, the enticingly entitled article “The Joy of Copulas,” by C. Genest and R. C. MacKay, attracted more attention. By the end of the 1980s, the volume of work on copulas and related matters had grown to such an extent that G. Dall’Aglio organized a symposium on distributions with given marginals, which was held in Rome in 1990. At that symposium, I presented a paper entitled “Thirty Years of Copulas” in which I was able to survey virtually the entire field. The conference and the published proceedings that followed G. Dall’Aglio et al. 1991 led to more interest in and involvement with the subject. There followed conferences, with published proceedings, in Seattle in 1993 Ruschendorf et al. 1996 , Prague in 1996 Benes and Stepan 1997 , and Barcelona in 2000 Cuadras et al. 2002 . The century was capped by the publication of An Introduction to Copulas, by R. B. Nelsen 1999 , which has become the standard overview of the basics of the subject. The first years of this new century have witnessed an explosion in copula-centered activity—not only among those who do statistics, but also among those who use statistics. The growth of this activity has been most pronounced in the areas of finance and
SU-E-T-339: Dosimetric Verification of New Accuboost Applicators

Purpose: To confirm dose, dose coverage, and dose homogeneity for two new types of Accuboost™ applicators. Methods: Measurements were performed with the newly designed Skin Dose Optimized (SDO) and Dose Rate Optimized (DRO) Accuboost™ applicators used with an Elekta High Dose Rate (HDR) after‐loader. 5 cm, 6 cm, and 7 cm diameter applicators were tested for both the SDO and DRO designs. Landauer nanoDot dosimeters (OSLD) were placed along the central axis of the applicators at a depth of 2 cm. Dwell times determined for a dose of 200 cGy and a separation of 40 mm were calculated for the standard parallel‐opposed setup. A single posterior applicator was then used to deliver 100 cGy. Dose measured using a parallel plate Markus chamber and the earlier applicator design (7 cm round) was used to normalize the measurements. The Markus chamber was then used to further verify doses from the new applicator designs. Relative film dosimetry was also performed to assess the dose distribution. Gafchromic film was sandwiched between solid water plates at a depth of 2 cm. Results: nanoDot‐measured dose differences ranged from −4.9% to 2.4% for both SDO and DRO applicators across all sizes. Ion chamber measurement differences ranged from −2.76% to 1.1% and from — 2.21% to 0.17% for DRO and SDO applicators, respectively. Gafchromic films were normalized such that the 100% value was consistent with nominal dimension of the applicator. Maximum doses ranged from 130% — 150% and showed reasonable dose distributions in both axial and coronal irradiated films. Conclusion: All applicators showed good dose distribution as well as absolute dose values. Treatments with these applicators should deliver the prescription doses and coverage as intended.
Behavioral and physiological effects of false heart rate feedback: a replication and extension.

Three experiments were conducted to study the behavioral and physiological effects of false heart rate feedback. These experiments were based on a paradigm advanced by Valins (1966) who stressed that the mere belief that one's heart beat is changing, regardless of actual physiological changes, is sufficient to affect behavior. The three experiments involved (1) a replication of Valins' original study with a closer examination of actual physiological responses, (2) examination of the role which subject attention plays, and (3) a substitution of unpleasant stimuli for the pictures of nude females used in the earlier studies. It was concluded that what Valins ascribed to merely the belief that physiological actions were occurring may have, in fact, been due to actual physiological changes precipitated by a general attention factor.
Entropy production by anomalous drift wave transport

Abstract The macroscopic transport equations describing the evolution of the mean density and temperature of a hot confined plasma subject to drift wave fluctuations are shown to lead a positive definite entropy production.
Integrative Agnosia Following Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy

A 43 year-old man with presumed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy developed difficulty recognizing objects and faces in the presence of adequate visual acuity and visual fields. His copying and matching of line drawings was intact, suggesting that his agnosia was associative. However, he had difficulty perceiving overlapping forms and drawings of single objects as integrated wholes. Unlike control subjects, he made fewer errors identifying silhouettes compared to line drawings with internal details. These alterations, together with his feature-by-feature descriptions of objects and copying, suggest that his agnosia was due to a disturbance in integrating local form features, as described by Riddoch and Humphreys (1987). This interpretation is supported by the findings that his tactile recognition and semantic and structural knowledge of the objects he could not identify visually were intact. Furthermore, his deficient performance in categorical matching of photographs to objects was dependent upon the perceptual complexity of the photographs. Similar deficits in early form processing described by other investigators are discussed.
Melville Cosmopolite: The Future of the Melville Text

Iwant to thank Pawel J ↪ edrzejko and Milton Riegelman for making the Melville Conrad conference come to life. When Pawel first shared his dream of bringing Melville to Poland, I thought that I had been plopped into that scene from Chapter 24 of The Confidence-Man, in which Frank Goodman defines himself as “a pledged cosmopolitan” who delights in humanity in its many flavors: “Served up a la Pole, or a la Moor, a la Ladrone, or a la Yankee” (115). I was the Yankee; he the Pole. Here was an enthusiastic scholar with great ideas and strong ideals; a thoughtful fellow and persuasive writer in English as well as Polish, and it didn’t hurt that he had a great accent and a guitar. Here, too, was a cosmopolitan; one who would open new international venues for the study of Melville. And yet, what does one do when one is in
THE ISSUE OF ITEM AND TEST VARIANCE FOR CRITERION‐REFERENCED TESTS1

It has been argued that item variance and test variance are not necessary characteristics for criterion-referenced tests, although they are necessary for normreferenced tests. This position is in error because it considers sample statistics as the criteria for evaluating items and tests. Within a particular sample, an item or test may have no variance, but in the population of observations for which the test was designed, calibrated, and evaluated, both items and tests must have variance.
Magic and the Aesthetic Illusion

The aesthetic illusion is the subjective experience that the content of a work of art is reality. It has an intrinsic relation to magic, an intrapsychic maneuver oriented toward modification and control of the extraspyschic world, principally through ego functioning. Magic is ontogenetically and culturally archaic, expresses the omnipotence inherent in primary narcissism, and operates according to the logic of the primary process. Magic is a constituent of all ego functioning, usually latent in later development. It may persist as an archaic feature or may be evoked regressively in global or circumscribed ways. It causes a general disinhibition of instincts and impulses attended by a sense of confidence, exhiliration, and exuberance. The aesthetic illusion is a combination of illusions: (1) that the daydream embodied by the work of art is the beholder's own, the artist being ignored, and (2) that the artistically described protagonist is a real person with a real “world.” The first illusion arises through...
Control of Robotic Assistance Using Poststroke Residual Voluntary Effort

Poststroke hemiparesis limits the ability to reach, in part due to involuntary muscle co-activation (synergies). Robotic approaches are being developed for both therapeutic benefit and continuous assistance during activities of daily living. Robotic assistance may enable participants to exert less effort, thereby reducing expression of the abnormal co-activation patterns, which could allow participants to reach further. This study evaluated how well participants could perform a reaching task with robotic assistance that was either provided independent of effort in the vertical direction or in the sagittal plane in proportion to voluntary effort estimated from electromyograms (EMG) on the affected side. Participants who could not reach targets without assistance were enabled to reach further with assistance. Constant anti-gravity force assistance that was independent of voluntary effort did not reduce the quality of reach and enabled participants to exert less effort while maintaining different target locations. Force assistance that was proportional to voluntary effort on the affected side enabled participants to exert less effort and could be controlled to successfully reach targets, but participants had increased difficulty maintaining a stable position. These results suggest that residual effort on the affected side can produce an effective command signal for poststroke assistive devices.
Organic/inorganic heterojunction based on conducting polymer and pulse-laser-deposited (PLD) ZnO

Organic/inorganic heterojunctions have been fabricated by spin coating p-type poly (3, 4 ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) onto n-type zinc oxide (ZnO) films. The ZnO films were deposited onto indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass by pulse laser deposition (PLD) technique. The current density-voltage (J-V) characteristics of the PLD-ZnO/PEDOT:PSS junction based on as-deposited PLD-ZnO film shows a good rectifying behavior with a rectification ratio of 156 at ±1 V, indicating the formation of a diode between ZnO and PEDOT:PSS. Using thermionic emission model, the ideality factor (n=2.1) and barrier height (0.66 eV) of the heterojunction were obtained. Those diode parameters are better than those of the chemical vapor deposited ZnO/PEDOT:PSS heterojunction reported elsewhere, indicating that PLD may be a promising technique on fabricating high quality ZnO/polymer heterojunctions.
Chromatographic separation of glucagon and insulin from serum by resin-exchange paper.

ConclusionBy use of 30% Amberlite IRC 50 (W.A. 1) resin-exchange paper, it is possible to separate both insulin and glucagon independently from their mechanical mixtures with non-specific serum or gamma globulin.
Is there a role for partial nephrectomy in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma

Abstract Objectives The incidence of metastatic disease in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC) correlates with tumor size. We sought to determine the incidence of metastatic disease by tumor size, and the utilization and impact of nephron-sparing surgery on survival in those with metastatic disease. Materials and methods Utilizing the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, we identified 56,011 patients between 1988 and 2005 diagnosed with RCC. Patients were initially separated into two groups—those with and without metastatic disease—and stratified by tumor size. Cox proportional hazard modeling and Kaplan-Meier analyses were then utilized to evaluate the role of gender, age, grade, histology, tumor size, and type of surgery (radical vs. partial nephrectomy) on overall- and cancer-specific survival in patients with metastatic disease. Results Eight thousand four hundred ninety-eight patients (15%) had metastatic disease. Four percent of patients with tumors less than 2 cm and 5% of patients with tumors between 2 and 3 cm presented with metastatic disease. Two thousand nine hundred fifty patients (35%) with metastatic disease underwent surgery (radical or partial nephrectomy). Seventy patients (2% of those undergoing surgery) had a partial nephrectomy. Those who underwent partial nephrectomy were 0.49 times less likely to die of RCC than those who underwent radical nephrectomy (95% CI 0.35–0.69, P Conclusions Albeit small, the risk of metastases in patients with small kidney tumors is distinct and should be considered in management discussions. Partial nephrectomy, when able to be done, should be utilized in the setting of metastatic disease.
Superoxide Dismutase: A Differentiation Protein Expressed in Uromyces Germlings during Early Appressorium Development

Abstract Lamboy, J. S., Staples, R. C., and Hoch H. C. 1995. Superoxide dismutase: A differentiation protein expressed in Uromyces germlings during early appressorium development. Experimental Mycology 19, 284-296. Germlings of the bean rust fungus Uromyces appendiculatus detect penetration sites on the surface of the host leaf by thigmosensing topographical features. Within 2-4 min after the apex of a urediospore germ tube encounters the cuticular lip of a stomate, the germling ceases polarized growth and begins to swell over the aperture. The mechanism by which the cells detect topographical signals is not understood; however, previous experiments indicated that the initiation process does not involve de novo gene expression. In order to detect posttranslational modifications, the protein profiles of induced and noninduced germlings were compared at the earliest stages of appressorium formation, and a 21-kDa differentiation protein was identified by a shift in isoelectric point. The N-terminal amino acid sequence exhibited homology with superoxide dismutase (SOD), and antibodies to a synthetic peptide fragment of the respective sequence recognized cooper/zinc isozymes of SOD in electroblots of native gels. Electroelution of the active enzyme bands and separation by SDS-PAGE indicated that the 21-kDa protein is a component of a tetrameric 85-kDa SOD.
High rates of fructose malabsorption are associated with reduced liver fat in obese African Americans.

Objective: African Americans commonly have lower liver fat accumulation than Hispanics, despite a similar propensity for obesity. Both ethnicities exhibit high consumption of fructose-containing beverages, which has been associated with high liver fat owing to the lipogenic properties of fructose. Therefore, differences in fructose absorption may be an important factor in regulating liver fat deposition. We hypothesized that fructose malabsorption in African Americans may reduce hepatic delivery of fructose, thus contributing to lower liver fat deposition compared to Hispanics.Methods: Thirty-seven obese young adults aged 21.4 ± 2.1 years (16 African American, 21 Hispanic) underwent a 3-hour hydrogen (H2) breath test to assess fructose malabsorption. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to determine visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue volume and liver fat. Fructose malabsorption was expressed as an area under the curve for H2 production (H2 AUC).Results: Compared to Hispanics, African Americans had lo...
New Wine, Old Skins: The Sangh Parivār and the Transformation of Hinduism

The Hindu Right has risen from virtual obscurity to become a significant force in modern India. The major agent for this has been the Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates, particularly the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP). The Sangh ‘family’ emphasis has been empowering Hindus and affirming Hindu identity, exemplified by their struggle to construct the Ram Janam Bhumi temple in Ayodhya. Yet even though the Sangh family claims to speak for all Hindus, and characterizes its platform as ‘Hindu-ness’ (Hindutva), its goals and assumptions often diverge sharply from traditional Hindu ideas. Despite the rhetoric of reclamation, it is redefining what it ‘means’ to be Hindu.
On some realistic constraints in prey-predator mathematics.

Abstract Various analytical formulations are presented as candidates for ordinary differential equation models of competitive/predatory animal ecosystems. The two-species case is treated exhaustively, subject to certain realistic constraints. When these constraints were applied to computer simulations of a classical model with six and ten species, no non-trivial equilibrium points or limit cycles were found. As a way of overcoming this possibly ubiquitous defect of the classical system, an augmented model in which conic section formulae appear as factors in the x 1 isocline expressions is suggested.
Degree of Pathology as Related To Readiness To Accept Labels in Process and Reactive Schizophrenics

TWO experiments were performed in order to determine whether readiness to accept deviant labels, as measured by acquiescence set, interacts with type of schizophrenia (process vs. reactive) to influence level of pathology. It was found on both a behavioral measure and a psychometric measure of psychopathology that high acquiescent process schizophrenics manifested more pathology than did either low acquiescent process or reactive schizophrenics, both of whom showed more pathology than high acquiescent reactive schizophrenics. The results suggest that one's ac ceptance of deviant labels as well as one's past history of being assigned social and evaluative labels may influence the patient's level of pathology.Scheff (1966), in viewing the mental patient from a sociological perspective, suggests that an important determinant of mental disorder is the acceptance by the deviant individual of the various labels which stigmatize him as mentally ill. If this is the case, then individual differences in readiness t...
Explicit schematic information in knowledge representation and acquisition

Abstract Schematic descriptions of a domain knowledge, called an ontology ( van Heijst et al., 1996 ), are very useful in facilitating and formalizing the knowledge acquisition process in knowledge-based systems development. This paper introduces the use of explicit ontologies in the knowledge representation and acquisition in KEshell ( Wu, 1991 ), an expert-system-building shell. We have designed a `rule schema+rule body' representation, which represents schematic descriptions of a domain knowledge as an integral part of the domain knowledge in its rule schemata. The rule schemata are acquired and in turn used to guide the acquisition of actual domain knowledge in a structured interactive knowledge transfer program, Sikt, with which subject experts/professionals can interact directly to build executable knowledge bases without the aid of computer programmers. Also, the user of KEshell can start with Prolog rules and explicit rule schemata will be automatically generated from these rules.
Deletions of chromosome 4 occur early during the pathogenesis of colorectal carcinoma

Allelic losses at one or both arms of chromosome 4 are frequent in several tumor types, but information about colorectal carcinoma is limited. We have previously defined 4 nonoverlapping regions of frequent deletions in several tumor types. In an effort to more precisely locate the putative tumor suppressor gene(s) on chromosome 4 involved in the multistage pathogenesis of colorectal carcinomas, we performed loss of heterozygosity (LOH) studies using 19 polymorphic microsatellite markers. After precise microdissection of archival surgical cases, we determined LOH in DNA obtained from 23 colorectal adenocarcinomas, 20 colorectal adenomas, and from corresponding histologically normal-appearing colonic epithelial samples adjacent to the tumors and at the resection margins. We observed localized deletions of chromosome 4 at multiple regions in both carcinomas and adenomas. We identified deletions at 4 previously identified regions: R1 at 4q33-34 (18%-33%), R2 at 4q25-26 (45%-65%), R3 at 4p15.1-15.3 (35%-47%), and R4 at 4p16.3 (40%-49%). Six of fifteen (40%) cases examined with deletions of chromosome 4 in either adenocarcinomas or adenomas had loss of the same parental alleles in adjacent histologically normal epithelium but not in epithelial samples from the surgical resection margins. The deletions, which commenced on the short arm of chromosome 4 (regions R3 and/or R4), were more extensive in adenocarcinomas, intermediate in length in adenomas, and least extensive in histologically normal epithelium. Our results suggest that there may be multiple putative tumor suppressor genes located on both arms of chromosome 4 whose inactivation are important early events in the pathogenesis of colorectal carcinoma.
Regionalism and Religion in America

The purpose of this paper is to continue and perhaps to further discussion of the basic assumptions that long have undergirded the various general interpretative survey histories of Christianity and religion in America.1 Attention to particular problems, issues, and regions and the struggle with new methods have made available fresh insights into the nature of religious history in the American context. These insights raise the question of whether another general survey history of Christianity or of religion in America can or ought to be written until the profession develops a more adequate interpretive framework built solidly on recent research.
The tight-binding method for interpolating first-principles total energy results

This paper presents a new tight-binding method for the evaluation of the total energy in solids. The method is calibrated to reproduce a limited set of first-principles results and is able to interpolate between different structures, at a cost which is orders of magnitude less than that required to do first-principles calculations on the same systems. The new method has been tested on all transition metals and found to produce elastic constants, vacancy formation energies, surface energies, and phonon spectra in very good agreement with first-principles calculations and experiment. The extension of this scheme to transition metal aluminides is in progress and preliminary results using CoAl as a prototype system are presented.
Investigating factors associated with the spillover effect of investments in telecoms: Do some transition economies pay too much for too little?

One of the routes by which investments in information and communication technologies ICT could impact a macroeconomic bottom line of economies is by contributing to total factor productivity TFP, an important component of economic growth. While the more traditional “investments to revenues” resource-intensive path has been well researched, the nature of the indirect “investments to TFP” link remains much less clear. Specifically, it is not well understood what conditions must be present for economies to exhibit the relationship between investments and TFP. In the current study, conducted in the context of 18 transition economies in Europe and the former Soviet Union, we aim to identify some of the factors associated with the presence of the relationship between the subset of investments in ICT, investments in telecoms, and two components of TFP – change in efficiency and change in technology . The results of the analysis of the data set spanning from 1993 to 2002 suggest that while the presence of the link between investments and change in technology was associated with the level of investments, the presence of the relationship between investments and change in efficiency was associated with the quality of a full-time telecom workforce. The consequent analysis of the data set spanning from 2003 to 2008 supports this finding and also provides evidence of the importance of the macroeconomic strategies that balance an increase in the levels of investments with the increase in the levels of efficiency of utilization of investments and the generation of revenues.
Increased luteinizing hormone pulse frequency in obese oligomenorrheic girls with no evidence of hyperandrogenism.

Objective To determine whether obese, nonhirsute adolescents with oligomenorrhea exhibit similar increased LH pulse secretion patterns compared with obese girls with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Design Prospective, observational study. Setting Tertiary university hospital. Patient(s) Nine obese girls with oligomenorrhea, 15 with PCOS, and 10 controls. Intervention(s) Twenty-four-hour IV blood sampling for LH (every 10 minutes); measurement of steroid hormones (every 12 hours); and injection of leuprolide acetate (10 μgm/kg SC). Main Outcome Measure(s) Twenty-four-hour, wake, and sleep LH mean serum concentration, pulse frequency, amplitude; steroid hormones, including free androgen index (FAI); and pre- and post-leuprolide acetate 17-hydroxyprogesterone measurements. Result(s) Twenty-four-hour LH pulse frequency in oligomenorrheic girls (18.6 ± 1.2) (mean ± SE) was comparable to that in girls with PCOS (20.9 ± 0.7) and greater than in normal girls (13.4 ± 0.8). The pulse number during both sleep and wake was identical in oligomenorrheic and PCOS girls and significantly greater than that of normal girls. Mean 24-hour LH level, serum androgen levels, and FAI in oligomenorrheic girls were equivalent to those of normal controls and lower than those of PCOS girls. Conclusion(s) These preliminary results indicate that obese girls with oligomenorrhea exhibit increased LH pulse frequency in the absence of clinical and/or biochemical evidence of hyperandrogenism.
Information routing using a corpus distribution

The research goal of information routing (IR) is to retrieve and rank a collection of text documents that coincide with a user profile (Harman 1995). Ideally, the profile can be derived automatically from a set of documents the user has identified as relevant to a particular topic of interest. The assumption for this work is a user has provided this small set of documents. It is then our goal to rank a previously unseen set . With other researchers trying to solve this problem, the focus has. become a question of which paradigm is able to rank these documents appropriately (Harman 1995). Approaches vary from conventional probabilistic models and vector space models, to Boolean models and complex weighting schemes (Salton 1989). Methods from all fields have been able to effectively retrieve the appropriate documents. The variability in performance, however, comes from their ability to rank them (Harman 1995). This led researchers to focus on weighting methods in order to artificially push more relevant documents toward the top of the list. However, there is no theoretical basis to suggest this approach will generalize. Our methods, on the other hand, have a theoretical foundation in mathematics. With the exception of the Boolean model, all other approaches rely on term frequency in one form or another. This suggests a statistical distribution comparison of the collection of relevant documents to a general corpus. Words of significance should stand out from the much larger broad topic collection. Preliminary study suggests by using a vast collection of documents covering a range of topics as a baseline for term statistics, we can appropriately weight terms for our routing collection in order to effectively rank and retrieve.
Broadband over power line: once more unto the breach

This paper discusses the latest developments in broadband over power line (BPL), a technology that envisions using power lines to do double duty by delivering high-speed Internet access to customers' homes. Widespread operation of Access BPL has raised interference concerns in the protection of licensed radio services. Nevertheless, the FCC has moved the technology one step closer to implementation by issuing a notice for proposed rule making (NPRM) in February 2004, a set of regulations authorizing the operation of BPL.
Relationship between desiccation and viability of maize pollen

Abstract Controlling pollination is necessary to ensure maximum kernel set and high levels of genetic purity in maize. Current approaches for measuring maize pollen production are fairly simple and accurate, but they do not evaluate pollen viability. A simple and reliable technique to assess loss of pollen viability during its transport in air is required to simulate the pollination process and the risk of out-crossing associated with pollen dispersal. Anecdotal evidence indicates that pollen shed from anthers remains viable longer at low temperature and high relative humidity (RH). But a direct temporal relationship between loss of pollen viability and these environmental conditions is lacking. We tested whether vapor pressure deficit (VPD) could be used to simulate the rate of pollen desiccation and subsequent loss of viability. Fresh pollen was harvested from greenhouse and field-grown plants and exposed to a range of VPD generated using a factorial combination of temperatures and RH. After exposure from 0 to 2 h to known VPD, viability of the treated pollen was tested in vitro. These tests indicated that pollen grains are released from anthers at about 55–60% moisture content, and that subsequent desiccation is a function of air temperature, RH and time. These factors were incorporated into a single relationship that described the rate of pollen desiccation for several genotypes. Pollen viability decreased linearly (r2 ranged from 0.77 to 0.93) with pollen moisture content (PMC) to zero at PMC ≈ 30%. Together, these relationships provide a simple approach to assess loss of maize pollen viability under field conditions.
Hydrolysis patterns and the production of peptide intermediates during protein degradation in marine systems

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) was used to evaluate the degradation of the protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) added to seawater. The production of peptides during degradation, the size of the peptides produced and the within-protein locations of protease attack were all monitored in an effort to evaluate whether specific types of proteases or specific peptide bond locations were targeted during BSA degradation. Analysis of products from the bacterial degradation of proteins in both seawater and sediment pore water revealed the creation and release of peptide intermediates into the medium. Peptides observed in seawater degradation experiments were all less than 40 amino acids long, whereas sedimentary digestions of the same protein generated peptide fragments in the pore water ranging from 110 to 508 amino acids in length. Neither of the environments demonstrated recurring cleavages adjacent to one amino acid or functional group that might be indicative of the action of a single protease. Instead, it appears that a mixture of bacterial proteases were involved in the degradation of protein. The MALDI-TOF-MS method presented, in combination with these results, can help us delineate some of the processes responsible in the initial stages of degradation and better understand how proteins are partitioned between dissolved and solid phases in marine systems.
Full-frame video stabilization

Video stabilization is an important video enhancement technology which aims at removing annoying shaky motion from videos. We propose a practical and robust approach of video stabilization that produces full-frame stabilized videos with good visual quality. While most previous methods end up with producing low resolution stabilized videos, our completion method can produce full-frame videos by naturally filling in missing image parts by locally aligning image data of neighboring frames. To achieve this, motion inpainting is proposed to enforce spatial and temporal consistency of the completion in both static and dynamic image areas. In addition, image quality in the stabilized video is enhanced with a new practical deblurring algorithm. Instead of estimating point spread functions, our method transfers and interpolates sharper image pixels of neighbouring frames to increase the sharpness of the frame. The proposed video completion and deblurring methods enabled us to develop a complete video stabilizer which can naturally keep the original image quality in the stabilized videos. The effectiveness of our method is confirmed by extensive experiments over a wide variety of videos.
Mutant Twinkle increases dopaminergic neurodegeneration, mtDNA deletions and modulates Parkin expression

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the developed world, and is characterized by the loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra (SN). Somatic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) deletions reach their highest concentration with age in the SN in humans, and may contribute to PD; yet whether mtDNA deletions cause DA neuron degeneration remains unclear. Inherited mutations of Twinkle helicase involved in mtDNA replication causes a dominant increase in mtDNA deletions in humans. We constructed a mouse model expressing mutant Twinkle in DA neurons. Mutant mice had an increase in age-related mtDNA deletions, reduction of DA neuron number in SN at 17–22 months and displayed abnormalities in rota-rod behavior. Functional analysis of midbrain indicated a slight reduction in mitochondrial state II respiration in mutants, but no decrease in maximal respiration. Also, Parkin expression was significantly decreased in DA neurons in the SN of 22-month-old mutant mice, and in PC12 cells after 48 h transfection of mutant Twinkle. Both confocal imaging and coimmunoprecipitation indicated interaction of Twinkle with Parkin in the mitochondria. Parkin overexpression rescued the reduction of proteasome activity caused by mutant Twinkle in PC12 cells. In addition, the autophagy marker LC3 was increased in the SN of 22-month transgenics, and this increase was similarly mutant Twinkle-dependent in PC12 cells. Collectively, our data demonstrate that mammalian Twinkle is important for mitochondrial integrity in DA neurons and provide a novel mouse model in which increased mtDNA deletions may lead to DA neuron degeneration and parkinsonism.
PROBABILISTIC DAMAGE TOLERANCE FOR SPECIFIED LOW-RISK DESIGN

Probabilistic evaluation of the durability of a composite structure under cyclic loading is discussed. A computer code is utilized for the simulation of composite structural damage and fracture. Structural degradation response is assessed probabilistically during cyclic fatigue. The effects of design variable uncertainties on structural damage characteristics are quantified via the Fast Probabilistic Integrator (FPI). Damage progression is computationally simulated with increasing number of load cycles. Responses analyzed probabilistically include the number of cycles to failure, damage volume, damage energy release rate, and fracture toughness at failure. Effects of constituent material and fabrication parameter uncertainties on the response are computed to assess probabilistic failure. The Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) of the response is evaluated. The sensitivities of the cumulative probability for the failure to uncertainties in design variables are evaluated. The method is demonstrated for a polymer matrix composite specimen under combined tensile and normal loading. In the probabilistic assessment of the effect of design variable uncertainties on the structural response, errors due to the migration of primitive variables outside their observed or assumed scatter ranges and errors due to probabilistic discretization are identified. Design implications with regard to damage progression and damage tolerance of composite structures are examined.
Ultrastructure and quantitative synaptology of the sacral parasympathetic nucleus.

This study examines the anatomical substrate for the spinal micturition reflex. Light microscopy of pyridine silver-stained sections revealed that the sacral parasympathetic nucleus (SPN) exists as a broken column or chain of cell clusters located along the intermediolateral portion of the dorsal horn in sacral segments S2–S4. Quantitative analysis of neuropil components in electron micrographs provides data for each type of bouton identified in this nucleus. On the somata of these neurons, boutons containing clear spherical vesicles (S type) comprise 70% of the bouton population. Terminals containing three or more dense core vesicles (GS boutons) account for 26% and boutons containing flattened vesicles (F boutons) comprise 4% of the population. F boutons are more common on large dendrites where they comprise 10% of the total bouton population.
The Holy Grail: long-acting local anaesthetics and liposomes

The ability to provide an extended duration of analgesia of days following a single injection without the need for catheters, pumps and infusion systems would be a great benefit in acute and chronic pain. Exciting progress is being made in our ability to combine local anaesthetics with liposomes and polymer microspheres. These interesting formulations in animal models have allowed up to 4 days of analgesia. Their use clinically will be a great advance which could possibly occur in the near future.
SCL: A cross-layer protocol for wireless sensor networks

Wireless Sensor Networks are a class of distributed systems that are used to collect information from the physical area they inhabit. Many communication protocols at different layers have been proposed to reduce energy consumption. In this work, the main objective is to improve the channel utilization of wireless sensor networks using a hybrid access protocol based on a clustering routing scheme (SCL). The main idea of SCL is to use a hybrid access protocol to deal with the intra-cluster communications after dividing the whole network into several cells. The access scheme incorporates both contention-based (e.g., CSMA) and contention-free (e.g., TDMA) medium access schemes. TDMA is used when the networks are under high traffic or contention and CSMA is used during the clusters' setup phase as well as low contention scenarios. The results provided by NS-2 simulations show that the SCL scheme, compared to other scheme which uses TDMA stand-alone, improves the throughput and reduces the latency of sensor networks.
Severe hypocalcemia after denosumab in a patient with acquired Fanconi syndrome

We report the case of a 48-year-old man with acquired Fanconi syndrome due to IgG-kappa monoclonal gammopathy, who received a single dose of denosumab 60 mg for secondary prevention of skeletal fractures, in conjunction with oral calcium and vitamin D supplementation. The treatment was complicated with a severe, symptomatic hypocalcemia occurring 1 month after the injection and necessitating 4 weeks of intravenous calcium gluconate therapy. Similarly to bisphosphonates, inhibitors of the receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand may not be appropriate for the treatment of acquired Fanconi syndrome and other forms of osteomalacia regardless of the degree of renal insufficiency and vitamin D levels. Clinicians should carefully interpret the radiographic and bone densitometry results in light of diverse mechanisms of bone demineralization and potential dependence of calcium homeostasis on high bone turnover.
Stabilizability, I/O stability and coprime factorizations

Coprime right factorizations are shown to exist for the input to state mapping of a continuous-time nonlinear system, provided that the smooth feedback stabilization problem be solvable for this system. As a particular case, it follows that feedback linearizable systems admit such factorizations. In order to establish this result, a Lyapunov-theoretic definition is proposed for bounded-input-bounded-output stability. The notion of stabilizability as studied in the state space nonlinear control literature is related to a notion of stability under bounded control perturbations analogous to those studied in operator-theoretic approaches to systems. >
Alternatives to Analog DC Tachogenerators

Analog dc tachogenerators are widely used as velocity transducers in industrial control systems. Despite the widespread use of miniature dc generators for this purpose, there are practical alternatives that should be considered for the analog measurement of velocity. The design and performance characteristics of homopolar and derived tachogenerators are discussed. These transducers are unique in their low inertia and noise generation, making them particularly suitable for velocity-control systems using high-performance dc motors as the power actuators.
Evidence to Support a Continued Stage Migration and Decrease in Prostate Cancer Specific Mortality

Purpose: We evaluated whether the proportion of patients with a postoperative PSA-DT less than 3 months, a surrogate for PCSM, decreased significantly during the PSA era.Materials and Methods: Between July 1988 and July 2002, 3,719 men with clinically localized prostate cancer treated with RP comprised the study cohort. A chi-square metric was used to compare the preoperative and postoperative characteristics, 5-year actual PSA failure rates, and PSA-DTs for patients treated during the 2 equally divided eras of the early PSA era, July 1988 to July 1995 and the late PSA era, August 1995 to July 2002.Results: Patients presenting in the more recent PSA era were of younger age (p <0.0001), with earlier stage (p <0.0001) and lower grade disease (p = 0.01). Similarly, patients had lower grade (p <0.001), stage (p <0.0001), and positive margin (p <0.0001) and lymph node rates (p = 0.0002) at RP. The 5-year actual PSA failure rates decreased from 14.3% in the early PSA era to 2.5% in the later PSA era (p <0.0001)...
Calibration of Pavement ME Design and Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide Performance Prediction Models for Iowa Pavement Systems

AbstractThe AASHTO mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG) pavement performance models and the associated AASHTOWare pavement ME design software are nationally calibrated using design inputs and distress data largely from the national long-term pavement performance (LTPP). Further calibration and validation studies are necessary for local highway agencies’ implementation by taking into account local materials, traffic information, and environmental conditions. This study aims to improve the accuracy of MEPDG/pavement ME design pavement performance predictions for Iowa pavement systems through local calibration of MEPDG prediction models. A total of 70 sites from Iowa representing both jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCPs) and hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements were selected. The accuracy of the nationally calibrated MEPDG prediction models for Iowa conditions was evaluated. The local calibration factors of MEPDG performance prediction models were identified using both linear and nonlinear opti...
Sixty Years of Compulsory Eugenic Sterilization: ‘Three Generations of Imbeciles’ and the Constitution of the United States

Are the lessons of compulsory sterilization still relevant today? This article originally was published by the author in Volume 43 of the Chicago-Kent Law Review. To the extent that it raises issues about the power of government to regulate private reproductive choices it still has relevance. While the practice of compulsory eugenic sterilization has largely disappeared from state statutes, policy debates continue in the United States in connection with other attempts to regulate or prohibit private choice in regard to abortion, sterilization, surrogacy arrangements, implantation of multiple embryos, restriction of reproductive choice by persons in penal confinement, regulation of fertility clinics, the use of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for gender selection, prohibition of reproductive cloning, etc. In each of these examples there are people who argue in favor of state power and regulation, and others who argue for maximum private choice independent of government control. The issue of compulsory state-sponsored sterilization to promote the perceived good of protecting the gene pool in the name of the larger community was raised in the Supreme Court decision in Bell v. Buck, 274 U.S. 200 (1925). The question of individual choice versus state regulation was raised in that case, and in other reproductive contexts that problem continues to exist. Justice Holmes, the author of the Bell decision spoke in favor of the overriding power of the state even if it meant diminishing the power of individual choice. Holmes, perhaps influenced by his service as a soldier in the Civil War seemed convinced that the right of individuals to preserve and use their reproductive power had to give way to the right of the state to take that choice away from the individual. While subsequent decisions in cases such as Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535 (1942), called some of that reasoning into question, the Bell decision has never been overruled and remains the law of land. In thinking about the historical issues raised by the article the reader may consider how these issues could play out in a contemporary legal setting.Charles Kindregan teaches family law and assisted reproduction law at Suffolk University Law School.
VALUATION OF PRIMARY ISSUE CONVERTIBLE BONDS

Little empirical evidence is available on the nature of the trade-offs between the debt- and equity-like components of convertible bonds. Such information would be useful to firms considering the issuance of convertible bonds. Furthermore, complete understanding of the leverage implications of convertible bond issuance depends on the market's view of the proportions of the implicit debt/equity mix. The current study develops a two-equation model that estimates the relative contributions made to the value of primary issue convertible bonds by the debt and implicit warrant components. The model's distinct approach affords an opportunity to evaluate the empirical relationship between the value of the implicit warrant and the theoretical determinants of that value by isolating the individual components of the convertible bond's value.